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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1305 ***
+
+THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+
+
+BY HONORE DE BALZAC
+
+
+
+Translated By Clara Bell
+
+
+
+              To Henri de Balzac, his brother Honore.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+
+
+The Comte de Fontaine, head of one of the oldest families in Poitou, had
+served the Bourbon cause with intelligence and bravery during the war
+in La Vendee against the Republic. After having escaped all the dangers
+which threatened the royalist leaders during this stormy period of
+modern history, he was wont to say in jest, “I am one of the men who
+gave themselves to be killed on the steps of the throne.” And the
+pleasantry had some truth in it, as spoken by a man left for dead at the
+bloody battle of Les Quatre Chemins. Though ruined by confiscation, the
+staunch Vendeen steadily refused the lucrative posts offered to him
+by the Emperor Napoleon. Immovable in his aristocratic faith, he had
+blindly obeyed its precepts when he thought it fitting to choose
+a companion for life. In spite of the blandishments of a rich but
+revolutionary parvenu, who valued the alliance at a high figure, he
+married Mademoiselle de Kergarouet, without a fortune, but belonging to
+one of the oldest families in Brittany.
+
+When the second revolution burst on Monsieur de Fontaine he was
+encumbered with a large family. Though it was no part of the noble
+gentlemen’s views to solicit favors, he yielded to his wife’s wish, left
+his country estate, of which the income barely sufficed to maintain his
+children, and came to Paris. Saddened by seeing the greediness of his
+former comrades in the rush for places and dignities under the new
+Constitution, he was about to return to his property when he received a
+ministerial despatch, in which a well-known magnate announced to him his
+nomination as marechal de camp, or brigadier-general, under a rule
+which allowed the officers of the Catholic armies to count the twenty
+submerged years of Louis XVIII.’s reign as years of service. Some days
+later he further received, without any solicitation, ex officio, the
+crosses of the Legion of Honor and of Saint-Louis.
+
+Shaken in his determination by these successive favors, due, as he
+supposed, to the monarch’s remembrance, he was no longer satisfied with
+taking his family, as he had piously done every Sunday, to cry “Vive le
+Roi” in the hall of the Tuileries when the royal family passed through
+on their way to chapel; he craved the favor of a private audience.
+The audience, at once granted, was in no sense private. The royal
+drawing-room was full of old adherents, whose powdered heads, seen from
+above, suggested a carpet of snow. There the Count met some old friends,
+who received him somewhat coldly; but the princes he thought ADORABLE,
+an enthusiastic expression which escaped him when the most gracious of
+his masters, to whom the Count had supposed himself to be known only
+by name, came to shake hands with him, and spoke of him as the most
+thorough Vendeen of them all. Notwithstanding this ovation, none of
+these august persons thought of inquiring as to the sum of his losses,
+or of the money he had poured so generously into the chests of the
+Catholic regiments. He discovered, a little late, that he had made war
+at his own cost. Towards the end of the evening he thought he might
+venture on a witty allusion to the state of his affairs, similar, as
+it was, to that of many other gentlemen. His Majesty laughed heartily
+enough; any speech that bore the hall-mark of wit was certain to please
+him; but he nevertheless replied with one of those royal pleasantries
+whose sweetness is more formidable than the anger of a rebuke. One of
+the King’s most intimate advisers took an opportunity of going up to the
+fortune-seeking Vendeen, and made him understand by a keen and polite
+hint that the time had not yet come for settling accounts with the
+sovereign; that there were bills of much longer standing than his on the
+books, and there, no doubt, they would remain, as part of the history of
+the Revolution. The Count prudently withdrew from the venerable group,
+which formed a respectful semi-circle before the august family; then,
+having extricated his sword, not without some difficulty, from among the
+lean legs which had got mixed up with it, he crossed the courtyard of
+the Tuileries and got into the hackney cab he had left on the quay. With
+the restive spirit, which is peculiar to the nobility of the old school,
+in whom still survives the memory of the League and the day of the
+Barricades (in 1588), he bewailed himself in his cab, loudly enough
+to compromise him, over the change that had come over the Court.
+“Formerly,” he said to himself, “every one could speak freely to the
+King of his own little affairs; the nobles could ask him a favor, or for
+money, when it suited them, and nowadays one cannot recover the money
+advanced for his service without raising a scandal! By Heaven! the cross
+of Saint-Louis and the rank of brigadier-general will not make good the
+three hundred thousand livres I have spent, out and out, on the royal
+cause. I must speak to the King, face to face, in his own room.”
+
+This scene cooled Monsieur de Fontaine’s ardor all the more effectually
+because his requests for an interview were never answered. And,
+indeed, he saw the upstarts of the Empire obtaining some of the offices
+reserved, under the old monarchy, for the highest families.
+
+“All is lost!” he exclaimed one morning. “The King has certainly never
+been other than a revolutionary. But for Monsieur, who never derogates,
+and is some comfort to his faithful adherents, I do not know what hands
+the crown of France might not fall into if things are to go on
+like this. Their cursed constitutional system is the worst possible
+government, and can never suit France. Louis XVIII. and Monsieur Beugnot
+spoiled everything at Saint Ouen.”
+
+The Count, in despair, was preparing to retire to his estate,
+abandoning, with dignity, all claims to repayment. At this moment
+the events of the 20th March (1815) gave warning of a fresh storm,
+threatening to overwhelm the legitimate monarch and his defenders.
+Monsieur de Fontaine, like one of those generous souls who do not
+dismiss a servant in a torrent of rain; borrowed on his lands to
+follow the routed monarchy, without knowing whether this complicity in
+emigration would prove more propitious to him than his past devotion.
+But when he perceived that the companions of the King’s exile were
+in higher favor than the brave men who had protested, sword in hand,
+against the establishment of the republic, he may perhaps have hoped to
+derive greater profit from this journey into a foreign land than from
+active and dangerous service in the heart of his own country. Nor was
+his courtier-like calculation one of these rash speculations which
+promise splendid results on paper, and are ruinous in effect. He was--to
+quote the wittiest and most successful of our diplomates--one of the
+faithful five hundred who shared the exile of the Court at Ghent,
+and one of the fifty thousand who returned with it. During the short
+banishment of royalty, Monsieur de Fontaine was so happy as to be
+employed by Louis XVIII., and found more than one opportunity of giving
+him proofs of great political honesty and sincere attachment. One
+evening, when the King had nothing better to do, he recalled Monsieur de
+Fontaine’s witticism at the Tuileries. The old Vendeen did not let such
+a happy chance slip; he told his history with so much vivacity that
+a king, who never forgot anything, might remember it at a convenient
+season. The royal amateur of literature also observed the elegant style
+given to some notes which the discreet gentleman had been invited to
+recast. This little success stamped Monsieur de Fontaine on the King’s
+memory as one of the loyal servants of the Crown.
+
+At the second restoration the Count was one of those special envoys who
+were sent throughout the departments charged with absolute jurisdiction
+over the leaders of revolt; but he used his terrible powers with
+moderation. As soon as the temporary commission was ended, the High
+Provost found a seat in the Privy Council, became a deputy, spoke
+little, listened much, and changed his opinions very considerably.
+Certain circumstances, unknown to historians, brought him into such
+intimate relations with the Sovereign, that one day, as he came in, the
+shrewd monarch addressed him thus: “My friend Fontaine, I shall take
+care never to appoint you to be director-general, or minister. Neither
+you nor I, as employees, could keep our place on account of our opinions.
+Representative government has this advantage; it saves Us the trouble We
+used to have, of dismissing Our Secretaries of State. Our Council is
+a perfect inn-parlor, whither public opinion sometimes sends strange
+travelers; however, We can always find a place for Our faithful
+adherents.”
+
+This ironical speech was introductory to a rescript giving Monsieur de
+Fontaine an appointment as administrator in the office of Crown lands.
+As a consequence of the intelligent attention with which he listened to
+his royal Friend’s sarcasms, his name always rose to His Majesty’s
+lips when a commission was to be appointed of which the members were
+to receive a handsome salary. He had the good sense to hold his tongue
+about the favor with which he was honored, and knew how to entertain the
+monarch in those familiar chats in which Louis XVIII. delighted as
+much as in a well-written note, by his brilliant manner of
+repeating political anecdotes, and the political or parliamentary
+tittle-tattle--if the expression may pass--which at that time was rife.
+It is well known that he was immensely amused by every detail of his
+Gouvernementabilite--a word adopted by his facetious Majesty.
+
+Thanks to the Comte de Fontaine’s good sense, wit, and tact, every
+member of his numerous family, however young, ended, as he jestingly
+told his Sovereign, in attaching himself like a silkworm to the leaves
+of the Pay-List. Thus, by the King’s intervention, his eldest son
+found a high and fixed position as a lawyer. The second, before the
+restoration a mere captain, was appointed to the command of a legion on
+the return from Ghent; then, thanks to the confusion of 1815, when the
+regulations were evaded, he passed into the bodyguard, returned to a
+line regiment, and found himself after the affair of the Trocadero
+a lieutenant-general with a commission in the Guards. The youngest,
+appointed sous-prefet, ere long became a legal official and director of
+a municipal board of the city of Paris, where he was safe from changes
+in Legislature. These bounties, bestowed without parade, and as secret
+as the favor enjoyed by the Count, fell unperceived. Though the father
+and his three sons each had sinecures enough to enjoy an income in
+salaries almost equal to that of a chief of department, their political
+good fortune excited no envy. In those early days of the constitutional
+system, few persons had very precise ideas of the peaceful domain of the
+civil service, where astute favorites managed to find an equivalent for
+the demolished abbeys. Monsieur le Comte de Fontaine, who till lately
+boasted that he had not read the Charter, and displayed such indignation
+at the greed of courtiers, had, before long, proved to his august
+master that he understood, as well as the King himself, the spirit
+and resources of the representative system. At the same time,
+notwithstanding the established careers open to his three sons, and the
+pecuniary advantages derived from four official appointments,
+Monsieur de Fontaine was the head of too large a family to be able to
+re-establish his fortune easily and rapidly.
+
+His three sons were rich in prospects, in favor, and in talent; but
+he had three daughters, and was afraid of wearying the monarch’s
+benevolence. It occurred to him to mention only one by one, these
+virgins eager to light their torches. The King had too much good
+taste to leave his work incomplete. The marriage of the eldest with a
+Receiver-General, Planat de Baudry, was arranged by one of those royal
+speeches which cost nothing and are worth millions. One evening, when
+the Sovereign was out of spirits, he smiled on hearing of the existence
+of another Demoiselle de Fontaine, for whom he found a husband in the
+person of a young magistrate, of inferior birth, no doubt, but wealthy,
+and whom he created Baron. When, the year after, the Vendeen spoke of
+Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, the King replied in his thin sharp
+tones, “Amicus Plato sed magis amica Natio.” Then, a few days later, he
+treated his “friend Fontaine” to a quatrain, harmless enough, which
+he styled an epigram, in which he made fun of these three daughters so
+skilfully introduced, under the form of a trinity. Nay, if report is to
+be believed, the monarch had found the point of the jest in the Unity of
+the three Divine Persons.
+
+“If your Majesty would only condescend to turn the epigram into an
+epithalamium?” said the Count, trying to turn the sally to good account.
+
+“Though I see the rhyme of it, I fail to see the reason,” retorted the
+King, who did not relish any pleasantry, however mild, on the subject of
+his poetry.
+
+From that day his intercourse with Monsieur de Fontaine showed less
+amenity. Kings enjoy contradicting more than people think. Like most
+youngest children, Emilie de Fontaine was a Benjamin spoilt by almost
+everybody. The King’s coolness, therefore, caused the Count all the more
+regret, because no marriage was ever so difficult to arrange as that of
+this darling daughter. To understand all the obstacles we must make our
+way into the fine residence where the official was housed at the expense
+of the nation. Emilie had spent her childhood on the family estate,
+enjoying the abundance which suffices for the joys of early youth; her
+lightest wishes had been law to her sisters, her brothers, her mother,
+and even her father. All her relations doted on her. Having come to
+years of discretion just when her family was loaded with the favors of
+fortune, the enchantment of life continued. The luxury of Paris seemed
+to her just as natural as a wealth of flowers or fruit, or as the
+rural plenty which had been the joy of her first years. Just as in her
+childhood she had never been thwarted in the satisfaction of her playful
+desires, so now, at fourteen, she was still obeyed when she rushed into
+the whirl of fashion.
+
+Thus, accustomed by degrees to the enjoyment of money, elegance of
+dress, of gilded drawing-rooms and fine carriages, became as necessary
+to her as the compliments of flattery, sincere or false, and the
+festivities and vanities of court life. Like most spoiled children,
+she tyrannized over those who loved her, and kept her blandishments for
+those who were indifferent. Her faults grew with her growth, and her
+parents were to gather the bitter fruits of this disastrous education.
+At the age of nineteen Emilie de Fontaine had not yet been pleased to
+make a choice from among the many young men whom her father’s politics
+brought to his entertainments. Though so young, she asserted in society
+all the freedom of mind that a married woman can enjoy. Her beauty was
+so remarkable that, for her, to appear in a room was to be its queen;
+but, like sovereigns, she had no friends, though she was everywhere the
+object of attentions to which a finer nature than hers might perhaps
+have succumbed. Not a man, not even an old man, had it in him to
+contradict the opinions of a young girl whose lightest look could
+rekindle love in the coldest heart.
+
+She had been educated with a care which her sisters had not enjoyed;
+painted pretty well, spoke Italian and English, and played the piano
+brilliantly; her voice, trained by the best masters, had a ring in it
+which made her singing irresistibly charming. Clever, and intimate with
+every branch of literature, she might have made folks believe that,
+as Mascarille says, people of quality come into the world knowing
+everything. She could argue fluently on Italian or Flemish painting, on
+the Middle Ages or the Renaissance; pronounced at haphazard on books new
+or old, and could expose the defects of a work with a cruelly graceful
+wit. The simplest thing she said was accepted by an admiring crowd as a
+fetfah of the Sultan by the Turks. She thus dazzled shallow persons; as
+to deeper minds, her natural tact enabled her to discern them, and for
+them she put forth so much fascination that, under cover of her charms,
+she escaped their scrutiny. This enchanting veneer covered a careless
+heart; the opinion--common to many young girls--that no one else dwelt
+in a sphere so lofty as to be able to understand the merits of her
+soul; and a pride based no less on her birth than on her beauty. In
+the absence of the overwhelming sentiment which, sooner or later, works
+havoc in a woman’s heart, she spent her young ardor in an immoderate
+love of distinctions, and expressed the deepest contempt for persons of
+inferior birth. Supremely impertinent to all newly-created nobility, she
+made every effort to get her parents recognized as equals by the most
+illustrious families of the Saint-Germain quarter.
+
+These sentiments had not escaped the observing eye of Monsieur de
+Fontaine, who more than once, when his two elder girls were married, had
+smarted under Emilie’s sarcasm. Logical readers will be surprised to see
+the old Royalist bestowing his eldest daughter on a Receiver-General,
+possessed, indeed, of some old hereditary estates, but whose name
+was not preceded by the little word to which the throne owed so many
+partisans, and his second to a magistrate too lately Baronified to
+obscure the fact that his father had sold firewood. This noteworthy
+change in the ideas of a noble on the verge of his sixtieth year--an age
+when men rarely renounce their convictions--was due not merely to his
+unfortunate residence in the modern Babylon, where, sooner or later,
+country folks all get their corners rubbed down; the Comte de Fontaine’s
+new political conscience was also a result of the King’s advice and
+friendship. The philosophical prince had taken pleasure in converting
+the Vendeen to the ideas required by the advance of the nineteenth
+century, and the new aspect of the Monarchy. Louis XVIII. aimed at
+fusing parties as Napoleon had fused things and men. The legitimate
+King, who was not less clever perhaps than his rival, acted in a
+contrary direction. The last head of the House of Bourbon was just as
+eager to satisfy the third estate and the creations of the Empire, by
+curbing the clergy, as the first of the Napoleons had been to attract
+the grand old nobility, or to endow the Church. The Privy Councillor,
+being in the secret of these royal projects, had insensibly become one
+of the most prudent and influential leaders of that moderate party which
+most desired a fusion of opinion in the interests of the nation. He
+preached the expensive doctrines of constitutional government, and lent
+all his weight to encourage the political see-saw which enabled his
+master to rule France in the midst of storms. Perhaps Monsieur de
+Fontaine hoped that one of the sudden gusts of legislation, whose
+unexpected efforts then startled the oldest politicians, might carry
+him up to the rank of peer. One of his most rigid principles was to
+recognize no nobility in France but that of the peerage--the only
+families that might enjoy any privileges.
+
+“A nobility bereft of privileges,” he would say, “is a tool without a
+handle.”
+
+As far from Lafayette’s party as he was from La Bourdonnaye’s, he
+ardently engaged in the task of general reconciliation, which was to
+result in a new era and splendid fortunes for France. He strove to
+convince the families who frequented his drawing-room, or those whom
+he visited, how few favorable openings would henceforth be offered by a
+civil or military career. He urged mothers to give their boys a start in
+independent and industrial professions, explaining that military posts
+and high Government appointments must at last pertain, in a quite
+constitutional order, to the younger sons of members of the peerage.
+According to him, the people had conquered a sufficiently large share
+in practical government by its elective assembly, its appointments to
+law-offices, and those of the exchequer, which, said he, would always,
+as heretofore, be the natural right of the distinguished men of the
+third estate.
+
+These new notions of the head of the Fontaines, and the prudent matches
+for his eldest girls to which they had led, met with strong resistance
+in the bosom of his family. The Comtesse de Fontaine remained faithful
+to the ancient beliefs which no woman could disown, who, through her
+mother, belonged to the Rohans. Although she had for a while opposed
+the happiness and fortune awaiting her two eldest girls, she yielded
+to those private considerations which husband and wife confide to each
+other when their heads are resting on the same pillow. Monsieur de
+Fontaine calmly pointed out to his wife, by exact arithmetic that their
+residence in Paris, the necessity for entertaining, the magnificence of
+the house which made up to them now for the privations so bravely shared
+in La Vendee, and the expenses of their sons, swallowed up the chief
+part of their income from salaries. They must therefore seize, as a boon
+from heaven, the opportunities which offered for settling their girls
+with such wealth. Would they not some day enjoy sixty--eighty--a hundred
+thousand francs a year? Such advantageous matches were not to be met
+with every day for girls without a portion. Again, it was time that they
+should begin to think of economizing, to add to the estate of Fontaine,
+and re-establish the old territorial fortune of the family. The Countess
+yielded to such cogent arguments, as every mother would have done in her
+place, though perhaps with a better grace; but she declared that Emilie,
+at any rate, should marry in such a way as to satisfy the pride she had
+unfortunately contributed to foster in the girl’s young soul.
+
+Thus events, which ought to have brought joy into the family, had
+introduced a small leaven of discord. The Receiver-General and the young
+lawyer were the objects of a ceremonious formality which the Countess
+and Emilie contrived to create. This etiquette soon found even ampler
+opportunity for the display of domestic tyranny; for Lieutenant-General
+de Fontaine married Mademoiselle Mongenod, the daughter of a rich
+banker; the President very sensibly found a wife in a young lady whose
+father, twice or thrice a millionaire, had traded in salt; and the
+third brother, faithful to his plebeian doctrines, married Mademoiselle
+Grossetete, the only daughter of the Receiver-General at Bourges. The
+three sisters-in-law and the two brothers-in-law found the high
+sphere of political bigwigs, and the drawing-rooms of the Faubourg
+Saint-Germain, so full of charm and of personal advantages, that they
+united in forming a little court round the overbearing Emilie. This
+treaty between interest and pride was not, however, so firmly cemented
+but that the young despot was, not unfrequently, the cause of revolts
+in her little realm. Scenes, which the highest circles would not have
+disowned, kept up a sarcastic temper among all the members of this
+powerful family; and this, without seriously diminishing the regard they
+professed in public, degenerated sometimes in private into sentiments
+far from charitable. Thus the Lieutenant-General’s wife, having become
+a Baronne, thought herself quite as noble as a Kergarouet, and imagined
+that her good hundred thousand francs a year gave her the right to be as
+impertinent as her sister-in-law Emilie, whom she would sometimes wish
+to see happily married, as she announced that the daughter of some peer
+of France had married Monsieur So-and-So with no title to his name. The
+Vicomtesse de Fontaine amused herself by eclipsing Emilie in the taste
+and magnificence that were conspicuous in her dress, her furniture, and
+her carriages. The satirical spirit in which her brothers and sisters
+sometimes received the claims avowed by Mademoiselle de Fontaine roused
+her to wrath that a perfect hailstorm of sharp sayings could hardly
+mitigate. So when the head of the family felt a slight chill in the
+King’s tacit and precarious friendship, he trembled all the more
+because, as a result of her sisters’ defiant mockery, his favorite
+daughter had never looked so high.
+
+In the midst of these circumstances, and at a moment when this petty
+domestic warfare had become serious, the monarch, whose favor Monsieur
+de Fontaine still hoped to regain, was attacked by the malady of which
+he was to die. The great political chief, who knew so well how to steer
+his bark in the midst of tempests, soon succumbed. Certain then of
+favors to come, the Comte de Fontaine made every effort to collect the
+elite of marrying men about his youngest daughter. Those who may
+have tried to solve the difficult problem of settling a haughty and
+capricious girl, will understand the trouble taken by the unlucky
+father. Such an affair, carried out to the liking of his beloved child,
+would worthily crown the career the Count had followed for these ten
+years at Paris. From the way in which his family claimed salaries under
+every department, it might be compared with the House of Austria, which,
+by intermarriage, threatens to pervade Europe. The old Vendeen was
+not to be discouraged in bringing forward suitors, so much had he his
+daughter’s happiness at heart, but nothing could be more absurd than
+the way in which the impertinent young thing pronounced her verdicts and
+judged the merits of her adorers. It might have been supposed that, like
+a princess in the Arabian Nights, Emilie was rich enough and beautiful
+enough to choose from among all the princes in the world. Her objections
+were each more preposterous than the last: one had too thick knees and
+was bow-legged, another was short-sighted, this one’s name was Durand,
+that one limped, and almost all were too fat. Livelier, more attractive,
+and gayer than ever after dismissing two or three suitors, she rushed
+into the festivities of the winter season, and to balls, where her keen
+eyes criticised the celebrities of the day, delighted in encouraging
+proposals which she invariably rejected.
+
+Nature had bestowed on her all the advantages needed for playing the
+part of Celimene. Tall and slight, Emilie de Fontaine could assume a
+dignified or a frolicsome mien at her will. Her neck was rather long,
+allowing her to affect beautiful attitudes of scorn and impertinence.
+She had cultivated a large variety of those turns of the head and
+feminine gestures, which emphasize so cruelly or so happily a hint of
+a smile. Fine black hair, thick and strongly-arched eyebrows, lent her
+countenance an expression of pride, to which her coquettish instincts
+and her mirror had taught her to add terror by a stare, or gentleness by
+the softness of her gaze, by the set of the gracious curve of her lips,
+by the coldness or the sweetness of her smile. When Emilie meant to
+conquer a heart, her pure voice did not lack melody; but she could
+also give it a sort of curt clearness when she was minded to paralyze a
+partner’s indiscreet tongue. Her colorless face and alabaster brow were
+like the limpid surface of a lake, which by turns is rippled by the
+impulse of a breeze and recovers its glad serenity when the air is
+still. More than one young man, a victim to her scorn, accused her of
+acting a part; but she justified herself by inspiring her detractors
+with the desire to please her, and then subjecting them to all her most
+contemptuous caprice. Among the young girls of fashion, not one knew
+better than she how to assume an air of reserve when a man of talent
+was introduced to her, or how to display the insulting politeness which
+treats an equal as an inferior, and to pour out her impertinence on all
+who tried to hold their heads on a level with hers. Wherever she went
+she seemed to be accepting homage rather than compliments, and even in
+a princess her airs and manner would have transformed the chair on which
+she sat into an imperial throne.
+
+Monsieur de Fontaine discovered too late how utterly the education of
+the daughter he loved had been ruined by the tender devotion of the
+whole family. The admiration which the world is at first ready to bestow
+on a young girl, but for which, sooner or later, it takes its revenge,
+had added to Emilie’s pride, and increased her self-confidence.
+Universal subservience had developed in her the selfishness natural to
+spoilt children, who, like kings, make a plaything of everything that
+comes to hand. As yet the graces of youth and the charms of talent hid
+these faults from every eye; faults all the more odious in a woman,
+since she can only please by self-sacrifice and unselfishness; but
+nothing escapes the eye of a good father, and Monsieur de Fontaine
+often tried to explain to his daughter the more important pages of the
+mysterious book of life. Vain effort! He had to lament his daughter’s
+capricious indocility and ironical shrewdness too often to persevere
+in a task so difficult as that of correcting an ill-disposed nature. He
+contented himself with giving her from time to time some gentle and kind
+advice; but he had the sorrow of seeing his tenderest words slide from
+his daughter’s heart as if it were of marble. A father’s eyes are slow
+to be unsealed, and it needed more than one experience before the old
+Royalist perceived that his daughter’s rare caresses were bestowed on
+him with an air of condescension. She was like young children, who seem
+to say to their mother, “Make haste to kiss me, that I may go to play.”
+ In short, Emilie vouchsafed to be fond of her parents. But often, by
+those sudden whims, which seem inexplicable in young girls, she kept
+aloof and scarcely ever appeared; she complained of having to share her
+father’s and mother’s heart with too many people; she was jealous of
+every one, even of her brothers and sisters. Then, after creating a
+desert about her, the strange girl accused all nature of her unreal
+solitude and her wilful griefs. Strong in the experience of her twenty
+years, she blamed fate, because, not knowing that the mainspring of
+happiness is in ourselves, she demanded it of the circumstances of life.
+She would have fled to the ends of the earth to escape a marriage such
+as those of her two sisters, and nevertheless her heart was full of
+horrible jealousy at seeing them married, rich, and happy. In short, she
+sometimes led her mother--who was as much a victim to her vagaries as
+Monsieur de Fontaine--to suspect that she had a touch of madness.
+
+But such aberrations are quite inexplicable; nothing is commoner than
+this unconfessed pride developed in the heart of young girls belonging
+to families high in the social scale, and gifted by nature with great
+beauty. They are almost all convinced that their mothers, now forty or
+fifty years of age, can neither sympathize with their young souls, nor
+conceive of their imaginings. They fancy that most mothers, jealous of
+their girls, want to dress them in their own way with the premeditated
+purpose of eclipsing them or robbing them of admiration. Hence, often,
+secret tears and dumb revolt against supposed tyranny. In the midst of
+these woes, which become very real though built on an imaginary basis,
+they have also a mania for composing a scheme of life, while casting for
+themselves a brilliant horoscope; their magic consists in taking their
+dreams for reality; secretly, in their long meditations, they resolve
+to give their heart and hand to none but the man possessing this or the
+other qualification; and they paint in fancy a model to which, whether
+or no, the future lover must correspond. After some little experience
+of life, and the serious reflections that come with years, by dint of
+seeing the world and its prosaic round, by dint of observing unhappy
+examples, the brilliant hues of their ideal are extinguished. Then, one
+fine day, in the course of events, they are quite astonished to find
+themselves happy without the nuptial poetry of their day-dreams. It was
+on the strength of that poetry that Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine,
+in her slender wisdom, had drawn up a programme to which a suitor must
+conform to be excepted. Hence her disdain and sarcasm.
+
+“Though young and of an ancient family, he must be a peer of France,”
+ said she to herself. “I could not bear not to see my coat-of-arms on the
+panels of my carriage among the folds of azure mantling, not to drive
+like the princes down the broad walk of the Champs-Elysees on the days
+of Longchamps in Holy Week. Besides, my father says that it will someday
+be the highest dignity in France. He must be a soldier--but I reserve
+the right of making him retire; and he must bear an Order, that the
+sentries may present arms to us.”
+
+And these rare qualifications would count for nothing if this creature
+of fancy had not the most amiable temper, a fine figure, intelligence,
+and, above all, if he were not slender. To be lean, a personal grace
+which is but fugitive, especially under a representative government,
+was an indispensable condition. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had an ideal
+standard which was to be the model. A young man who at the first glance
+did not fulfil the requisite conditions did not even get a second look.
+
+“Good Heavens! see how fat he is!” was with her the utmost expression of
+contempt.
+
+To hear her, people of respectable corpulence were incapable of
+sentiment, bad husbands, and unfit for civilized society. Though it is
+esteemed a beauty in the East, to be fat seemed to her a misfortune
+for a woman; but in a man it was a crime. These paradoxical views were
+amusing, thanks to a certain liveliness of rhetoric. The Count felt
+nevertheless that by-and-by his daughter’s affections, of which the
+absurdity would be evident to some women who were not less clear-sighted
+than merciless, would inevitably become a subject of constant ridicule.
+He feared lest her eccentric notions should deviate into bad style. He
+trembled to think that the pitiless world might already be laughing at
+a young woman who remained so long on the stage without arriving at
+any conclusion of the drama she was playing. More than one actor in it,
+disgusted by a refusal, seemed to be waiting for the slightest turn
+of ill-luck to take his revenge. The indifferent, the lookers-on were
+beginning to weary of it; admiration is always exhausting to human
+beings. The old Vendeen knew better than any one that if there is an
+art in choosing the right moment for coming forward on the boards of the
+world, on those of the Court, in a drawing-room or on the stage, it is
+still more difficult to quit them in the nick of time. So during
+the first winter after the accession of Charles X., he redoubled his
+efforts, seconded by his three sons and his sons-in-law, to assemble in
+the rooms of his official residence the best matches which Paris and the
+various deputations from departments could offer. The splendor of his
+entertainments, the luxury of his dining-room, and his dinners, fragrant
+with truffles, rivaled the famous banquets by which the ministers of
+that time secured the vote of their parliamentary recruits.
+
+The Honorable Deputy was consequently pointed at as a most influential
+corrupter of the legislative honesty of the illustrious Chamber that was
+dying as it would seem of indigestion. A whimsical result! his efforts
+to get his daughter married secured him a splendid popularity. He
+perhaps found some covert advantage in selling his truffles twice over.
+This accusation, started by certain mocking Liberals, who made up by
+their flow of words for their small following in the Chamber, was not
+a success. The Poitevin gentleman had always been so noble and so
+honorable, that he was not once the object of those epigrams which the
+malicious journalism of the day hurled at the three hundred votes of the
+centre, at the Ministers, the cooks, the Directors-General, the princely
+Amphitryons, and the official supporters of the Villele Ministry.
+
+At the close of this campaign, during which Monsieur de Fontaine had on
+several occasions brought out all his forces, he believed that this time
+the procession of suitors would not be a mere dissolving view in his
+daughter’s eyes; that it was time she should make up her mind. He felt
+a certain inward satisfaction at having well fulfilled his duty as a
+father. And having left no stone unturned, he hoped that, among so many
+hearts laid at Emilie’s feet, there might be one to which her caprice
+might give a preference. Incapable of repeating such an effort, and
+tired, too, of his daughter’s conduct, one morning, towards the end
+of Lent, when the business at the Chamber did not demand his vote, he
+determined to ask what her views were. While his valet was artistically
+decorating his bald yellow head with the delta of powder which, with
+the hanging “ailes de pigeon,” completed his venerable style of
+hairdressing, Emilie’s father, not without some secret misgivings, told
+his old servant to go and desire the haughty damsel to appear in the
+presence of the head of the family.
+
+“Joseph,” he added, when his hair was dressed, “take away that towel,
+draw back the curtains, put those chairs square, shake the rug, and
+lay it quite straight. Dust everything.--Now, air the room a little by
+opening the window.”
+
+The Count multiplied his orders, putting Joseph out of breath, and the
+old servant, understanding his master’s intentions, aired and tidied the
+room, of course the least cared for of any in the house, and succeeded
+in giving a look of harmony to the files of bills, the letter-boxes, the
+books and furniture of this sanctum, where the interests of the royal
+demesnes were debated over. When Joseph had reduced this chaos to some
+sort of order, and brought to the front such things as might be most
+pleasing to the eye, as if it were a shop front, or such as by their
+color might give the effect of a kind of official poetry, he stood for a
+minute in the midst of the labyrinth of papers piled in some places even
+on the floor, admired his handiwork, jerked his head, and went.
+
+The anxious sinecure-holder did not share his retainer’s favorable
+opinion. Before seating himself in his deep chair, whose rounded back
+screened him from draughts, he looked round him doubtfully, examined
+his dressing-gown with a hostile expression, shook off a few grains of
+snuff, carefully wiped his nose, arranged the tongs and shovel, made the
+fire, pulled up the heels of his slippers, pulled out his little
+queue of hair which had lodged horizontally between the collar of
+his waistcoat and that of his dressing-gown restoring it to its
+perpendicular position; then he swept up the ashes of the hearth, which
+bore witness to a persistent catarrh. Finally, the old man did not
+settle himself till he had once more looked all over the room, hoping
+that nothing could give occasion to the saucy and impertinent remarks
+with which his daughter was apt to answer his good advice. On this
+occasion he was anxious not to compromise his dignity as a father. He
+daintily took a pinch of snuff, cleared his throat two or three times,
+as if he were about to demand a count out of the House; then he heard
+his daughter’s light step, and she came in humming an air from Il
+Barbiere.
+
+“Good-morning, papa. What do you want with me so early?” Having sung
+these words, as though they were the refrain of the melody, she kissed
+the Count, not with the familiar tenderness which makes a daughter’s
+love so sweet a thing, but with the light carelessness of a mistress
+confident of pleasing, whatever she may do.
+
+“My dear child,” said Monsieur de Fontaine, gravely, “I sent for you to
+talk to you very seriously about your future prospects. You are at this
+moment under the necessity of making such a choice of a husband as may
+secure your durable happiness----”
+
+“My good father,” replied Emilie, assuming her most coaxing tone of
+voice to interrupt him, “it strikes me that the armistice on which we
+agreed as to my suitors is not yet expired.”
+
+“Emilie, we must to-day forbear from jesting on so important a matter.
+For some time past the efforts of those who most truly love you, my dear
+child, have been concentrated on the endeavor to settle you suitably;
+and you would be guilty of ingratitude in meeting with levity those
+proofs of kindness which I am not alone in lavishing on you.”
+
+As she heard these words, after flashing a mischievously inquisitive
+look at the furniture of her father’s study, the young girl brought
+forward the armchair which looked as if it had been least used by
+petitioners, set it at the side of the fireplace so as to sit facing
+her father, and settled herself in so solemn an attitude that it was
+impossible not to read in it a mocking intention, crossing her arms over
+the dainty trimmings of a pelerine a la neige, and ruthlessly crushing
+its endless frills of white tulle. After a laughing side glance at her
+old father’s troubled face, she broke silence.
+
+“I never heard you say, my dear father, that the Government issued its
+instructions in its dressing-gown. However,” and she smiled, “that does
+not matter; the mob are probably not particular. Now, what are your
+proposals for legislation, and your official introductions?”
+
+“I shall not always be able to make them, headstrong girl!--Listen,
+Emilie. It is my intention no longer to compromise my reputation, which
+is part of my children’s fortune, by recruiting the regiment of dancers
+which, spring after spring, you put to rout. You have already been the
+cause of many dangerous misunderstandings with certain families. I hope
+to make you perceive more truly the difficulties of your position and of
+ours. You are two-and-twenty, my dear child, and you ought to have been
+married nearly three years since. Your brothers and your two sisters are
+richly and happily provided for. But, my dear, the expenses occasioned
+by these marriages, and the style of housekeeping you require of your
+mother, have made such inroads on our income that I can hardly promise
+you a hundred thousand francs as a marriage portion. From this day
+forth I shall think only of providing for your mother, who must not be
+sacrificed to her children. Emilie, if I were to be taken from my family
+Madame de Fontaine could not be left at anybody’s mercy, and ought to
+enjoy the affluence which I have given her too late as the reward of her
+devotion in my misfortunes. You see, my child, that the amount of your
+fortune bears no relation to your notions of grandeur. Even that
+would be such a sacrifice as I have not hitherto made for either of my
+children; but they have generously agreed not to expect in the future
+any compensation for the advantage thus given to a too favored child.”
+
+“In their position!” said Emilie, with an ironical toss of her head.
+
+“My dear, do not so depreciate those who love you. Only the poor are
+generous as a rule; the rich have always excellent reasons for not
+handing over twenty thousand francs to a relation. Come, my child, do
+not pout, let us talk rationally.--Among the young marrying men have you
+noticed Monsieur de Manerville?”
+
+“Oh, he minces his words--he says Zules instead of Jules; he is always
+looking at his feet, because he thinks them small, and he gazes at
+himself in the glass! Besides, he is fair. I don’t like fair men.”
+
+“Well, then, Monsieur de Beaudenord?”
+
+“He is not noble! he is ill made and stout. He is dark, it is true.--If
+the two gentlemen could agree to combine their fortunes, and the first
+would give his name and his figure to the second, who should keep his
+dark hair, then--perhaps----”
+
+“What can you say against Monsieur de Rastignac?”
+
+“Madame de Nucingen has made a banker of him,” she said with meaning.
+
+“And our cousin, the Vicomte de Portenduere?”
+
+“A mere boy, who dances badly; besides, he has no fortune. And, after
+all, papa, none of these people have titles. I want, at least, to be a
+countess like my mother.”
+
+“Have you seen no one, then, this winter----”
+
+“No, papa.”
+
+“What then do you want?”
+
+“The son of a peer of France.
+
+“My dear girl, you are mad!” said Monsieur de Fontaine, rising.
+
+But he suddenly lifted his eyes to heaven, and seemed to find a fresh
+fount of resignation in some religious thought; then, with a look of
+fatherly pity at his daughter, who herself was moved, he took her
+hand, pressed it, and said with deep feeling: “God is my witness, poor
+mistaken child, I have conscientiously discharged my duty to you as a
+father--conscientiously, do I say? Most lovingly, my Emilie. Yes, God
+knows! This winter I have brought before you more than one good man,
+whose character, whose habits, and whose temper were known to me, and
+all seemed worthy of you. My child, my task is done. From this day forth
+you are the arbiter of your fate, and I consider myself both happy
+and unhappy at finding myself relieved of the heaviest of paternal
+functions. I know not whether you will for any long time, now, hear a
+voice which, to you, has never been stern; but remember that conjugal
+happiness does not rest so much on brilliant qualities and ample fortune
+as on reciprocal esteem. This happiness is, in its nature, modest, and
+devoid of show. So now, my dear, my consent is given beforehand, whoever
+the son-in-law may be whom you introduce to me; but if you should be
+unhappy, remember you will have no right to accuse your father. I shall
+not refuse to take proper steps and help you, only your choice must be
+serious and final. I will never twice compromise the respect due to my
+white hairs.”
+
+The affection thus expressed by her father, the solemn tones of his
+urgent address, deeply touched Mademoiselle de Fontaine; but she
+concealed her emotion, seated herself on her father’s knees--for he had
+dropped all tremulous into his chair again--caressed him fondly, and
+coaxed him so engagingly that the old man’s brow cleared. As soon as
+Emilie thought that her father had got over his painful agitation,
+she said in a gentle voice: “I have to thank you for your graceful
+attention, my dear father. You have had your room set in order to
+receive your beloved daughter. You did not perhaps know that you would
+find her so foolish and so headstrong. But, papa, is it so difficult
+to get married to a peer of France? You declared that they were
+manufactured by dozens. At least, you will not refuse to advise me.”
+
+“No, my poor child, no;--and more than once I may have occasion to cry,
+‘Beware!’ Remember that the making of peers is so recent a force in our
+government machinery that they have no great fortunes. Those who are
+rich look to becoming richer. The wealthiest member of our peerage has
+not half the income of the least rich lord in the English Upper Chamber.
+Thus all the French peers are on the lookout for great heiresses for
+their sons, wherever they may meet with them. The necessity in which
+they find themselves of marrying for money will certainly exist for at
+least two centuries.
+
+“Pending such a fortunate accident as you long for--and this
+fastidiousness may cost you the best years of your life--your
+attractions might work a miracle, for men often marry for love in these
+days. When experience lurks behind so sweet a face as yours it
+may achieve wonders. In the first place, have you not the gift of
+recognizing virtue in the greater or smaller dimensions of a man’s body?
+This is no small matter! To so wise a young person as you are, I need
+not enlarge on all the difficulties of the enterprise. I am sure that
+you would never attribute good sense to a stranger because he had a
+handsome face, or all the virtues because he had a fine figure. And I am
+quite of your mind in thinking that the sons of peers ought to have an
+air peculiar to themselves, and perfectly distinctive manners. Though
+nowadays no external sign stamps a man of rank, those young men will
+have, perhaps, to you the indefinable something that will reveal it.
+Then, again, you have your heart well in hand, like a good horseman who
+is sure his steed cannot bolt. Luck be with you, my dear!”
+
+“You are making game of me, papa. Well, I assure you that I would rather
+die in Mademoiselle de Conde’s convent than not be the wife of a peer of
+France.”
+
+She slipped out of her father’s arms, and proud of being her own
+mistress, went off singing the air of Cara non dubitare, in the
+“Matrimonio Segreto.”
+
+As it happened, the family were that day keeping the anniversary of
+a family fete. At dessert Madame Planat, the Receiver-General’s wife,
+spoke with some enthusiasm of a young American owning an immense
+fortune, who had fallen passionately in love with her sister, and made
+through her the most splendid proposals.
+
+“A banker, I rather think,” observed Emilie carelessly. “I do not like
+money dealers.”
+
+“But, Emilie,” replied the Baron de Villaine, the husband of the Count’s
+second daughter, “you do not like lawyers either; so that if you refuse
+men of wealth who have not titles, I do not quite see in what class you
+are to choose a husband.”
+
+“Especially, Emilie, with your standard of slimness,” added the
+Lieutenant-General.
+
+“I know what I want,” replied the young lady.
+
+“My sister wants a fine name, a fine young man, fine prospects, and a
+hundred thousand francs a year,” said the Baronne de Fontaine. “Monsieur
+de Marsay, for instance.”
+
+“I know, my dear,” retorted Emilie, “that I do not mean to make such a
+foolish marriage as some I have seen. Moreover, to put an end to these
+matrimonial discussions, I hereby declare that I shall look on anyone
+who talks to me of marriage as a foe to my peace of mind.”
+
+An uncle of Emilie’s, a vice-admiral, whose fortune had just been
+increased by twenty thousand francs a year in consequence of the Act of
+Indemnity, and a man of seventy, feeling himself privileged to say hard
+things to his grand-niece, on whom he doted, in order to mollify the
+bitter tone of the discussion now exclaimed:
+
+“Do not tease my poor little Emilie; don’t you see she is waiting till
+the Duc de Bordeaux comes of age!”
+
+The old man’s pleasantry was received with general laughter.
+
+“Take care I don’t marry you, old fool!” replied the young girl, whose
+last words were happily drowned in the noise.
+
+“My dear children,” said Madame de Fontaine, to soften this saucy
+retort, “Emilie, like you, will take no advice but her mother’s.”
+
+“Bless me! I shall take no advice but my own in a matter which concerns
+no one but myself,” said Mademoiselle de Fontaine very distinctly.
+
+At this all eyes were turned to the head of the family. Every one seemed
+anxious as to what he would do to assert his dignity. The venerable
+gentleman enjoyed much consideration, not only in the world; happier
+than many fathers, he was also appreciated by his family, all its
+members having a just esteem for the solid qualities by which he had
+been able to make their fortunes. Hence he was treated with the deep
+respect which is shown by English families, and some aristocratic houses
+on the continent, to the living representatives of an ancient pedigree.
+Deep silence had fallen; and the guests looked alternately from the
+spoilt girl’s proud and sulky pout to the severe faces of Monsieur and
+Madame de Fontaine.
+
+“I have made my daughter Emilie mistress of her own fate,” was the reply
+spoken by the Count in a deep voice.
+
+Relations and guests gazed at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with mingled
+curiosity and pity. The words seemed to declare that fatherly affection
+was weary of the contest with a character that the whole family knew to
+be incorrigible. The sons-in-law muttered, and the brothers glanced at
+their wives with mocking smiles. From that moment every one ceased to
+take any interest in the haughty girl’s prospects of marriage. Her old
+uncle was the only person who, as an old sailor, ventured to stand on
+her tack, and take her broadsides, without ever troubling himself to
+return her fire.
+
+When the fine weather was settled, and after the budget was voted, the
+whole family--a perfect example of the parliamentary families on the
+northern side of the Channel who have a footing in every government
+department, and ten votes in the House of Commons--flew away like a
+brood of young birds to the charming neighborhoods of Aulnay, Antony,
+and Chatenay. The wealthy Receiver-General had lately purchased in this
+part of the world a country-house for his wife, who remained in Paris
+only during the session. Though the fair Emilie despised the commonalty,
+her feeling was not carried so far as to scorn the advantages of a
+fortune acquired in a profession; so she accompanied her sister to the
+sumptuous villa, less out of affection for the members of her family who
+were visiting there, than because fashion has ordained that every woman
+who has any self-respect must leave Paris in the summer. The green
+seclusion of Sceaux answered to perfection the requirements of good
+style and of the duties of an official position.
+
+As it is extremely doubtful that the fame of the “Bal de Sceaux” should
+ever have extended beyond the borders of the Department of the Seine, it
+will be necessary to give some account of this weekly festivity, which
+at that time was important enough to threaten to become an institution.
+The environs of the little town of Sceaux enjoy a reputation due to the
+scenery, which is considered enchanting. Perhaps it is quite ordinary,
+and owes its fame only to the stupidity of the Paris townsfolk, who,
+emerging from the stony abyss in which they are buried, would find
+something to admire in the flats of La Beauce. However, as the poetic
+shades of Aulnay, the hillsides of Antony, and the valley of the Bieve
+are peopled with artists who have traveled far, by foreigners who are
+very hard to please, and by a great many pretty women not devoid of
+taste, it is to be supposed that the Parisians are right. But Sceaux
+possesses another attraction not less powerful to the Parisian. In the
+midst of a garden whence there are delightful views, stands a large
+rotunda open on all sides, with a light, spreading roof supported on
+elegant pillars. This rural baldachino shelters a dancing-floor. The
+most stuck-up landowners of the neighborhood rarely fail to make an
+excursion thither once or twice during the season, arriving at this
+rustic palace of Terpsichore either in dashing parties on horseback,
+or in the light and elegant carriages which powder the philosophical
+pedestrian with dust. The hope of meeting some women of fashion, and
+of being seen by them--and the hope, less often disappointed, of seeing
+young peasant girls, as wily as judges--crowds the ballroom at
+Sceaux with numerous swarms of lawyers’ clerks, of the disciples of
+Aesculapius, and other youths whose complexions are kept pale and moist
+by the damp atmosphere of Paris back-shops. And a good many bourgeois
+marriages have had their beginning to the sound of the band occupying
+the centre of this circular ballroom. If that roof could speak, what
+love-stories could it not tell!
+
+This interesting medley gave the Sceaux balls at that time a spice of
+more amusement than those of two or three places of the same kind near
+Paris; and it had incontestable advantages in its rotunda, and the
+beauty of its situation and its gardens. Emilie was the first to
+express a wish to play at being COMMON FOLK at this gleeful suburban
+entertainment, and promised herself immense pleasure in mingling with
+the crowd. Everybody wondered at her desire to wander through such a
+mob; but is there not a keen pleasure to grand people in an incognito?
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine amused herself with imagining all these
+town-bred figures; she fancied herself leaving the memory of a
+bewitching glance and smile stamped on more than one shopkeeper’s heart,
+laughed beforehand at the damsels’ airs, and sharpened her pencils for
+the scenes she proposed to sketch in her satirical album. Sunday could
+not come soon enough to satisfy her impatience.
+
+The party from the Villa Planat set out on foot, so as not to betray
+the rank of the personages who were about to honor the ball with
+their presence. They dined early. And the month of May humored this
+aristocratic escapade by one of its finest evenings. Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine was quite surprised to find in the rotunda some quadrilles made
+up of persons who seemed to belong to the upper classes. Here and there,
+indeed, were some young men who look as though they must have saved for
+a month to shine for a day; and she perceived several couples whose
+too hearty glee suggested nothing conjugal; still, she could only glean
+instead of gathering a harvest. She was amused to see that pleasure in
+a cotton dress was so very like pleasure robed in satin, and that the
+girls of the middle class danced quite as well as ladies--nay, sometimes
+better. Most of the women were simply and suitably dressed. Those who
+in this assembly represented the ruling power, that is to say,
+the country-folk, kept apart with wonderful politeness. In fact,
+Mademoiselle Emilie had to study the various elements that composed the
+mixture before she could find any subject for pleasantry. But she had
+not time to give herself up to malicious criticism, or opportunity for
+hearing many of the startling speeches which caricaturists so gladly
+pick up. The haughty young lady suddenly found a flower in this wide
+field--the metaphor is reasonable--whose splendor and coloring worked
+on her imagination with all the fascination of novelty. It often happens
+that we look at a dress, a hanging, a blank sheet of paper, with so
+little heed that we do not at first detect a stain or a bright spot
+which afterwards strikes the eye as though it had come there at the
+very instant when we see it; and by a sort of moral phenomenon somewhat
+resembling this, Mademoiselle de Fontaine discovered in a young man the
+external perfection of which she had so long dreamed.
+
+Seated on one of the clumsy chairs which marked the boundary line of the
+circular floor, she had placed herself at the end of the row formed by
+the family party, so as to be able to stand up or push forward as her
+fancy moved her, treating the living pictures and groups in the hall as
+if she were in a picture gallery; impertinently turning her eye-glass
+on persons not two yards away, and making her remarks as though she
+were criticising or praising a study of a head, a painting of genre. Her
+eyes, after wandering over the vast moving picture, were suddenly caught
+by this figure, which seemed to have been placed on purpose in one
+corner of the canvas, and in the best light, like a person out of all
+proportion with the rest.
+
+The stranger, alone and absorbed in thought, leaned lightly against one
+of the columns that supported the roof; his arms were folded, and he
+leaned slightly on one side as though he had placed himself there to
+have his portrait taken by a painter. His attitude, though full of
+elegance and dignity, was devoid of affectation. Nothing suggested that
+he had half turned his head, and bent it a little to the right like
+Alexander, or Lord Byron, and some other great men, for the sole purpose
+of attracting attention. His fixed gaze followed a girl who was dancing,
+and betrayed some strong feeling. His slender, easy frame recalled the
+noble proportions of the Apollo. Fine black hair curled naturally over
+a high forehead. At a glance Mademoiselle de Fontaine observed that his
+linen was fine, his gloves fresh, and evidently bought of a good maker,
+and his feet were small and well shod in boots of Irish kid. He had none
+of the vulgar trinkets displayed by the dandies of the National Guard
+or the Lovelaces of the counting-house. A black ribbon, to which an
+eye-glass was attached, hung over a waistcoat of the most fashionable
+cut. Never had the fastidious Emilie seen a man’s eyes shaded by such
+long, curled lashes. Melancholy and passion were expressed in this face,
+and the complexion was of a manly olive hue. His mouth seemed ready
+to smile, unbending the corners of eloquent lips; but this, far from
+hinting at gaiety, revealed on the contrary a sort of pathetic grace.
+There was too much promise in that head, too much distinction in his
+whole person, to allow of one’s saying, “What a handsome man!” or “What
+a fine man!” One wanted to know him. The most clear-sighted observer, on
+seeing this stranger, could not have helped taking him for a clever man
+attracted to this rural festivity by some powerful motive.
+
+All these observations cost Emilie only a minute’s attention, during
+which the privileged gentleman under her severe scrutiny became the
+object of her secret admiration. She did not say to herself, “He must
+be a peer of France!” but “Oh, if only he is noble, and he surely must
+be----” Without finishing her thought, she suddenly rose, and followed
+by her brother the General, she made her way towards the column,
+affecting to watch the merry quadrille; but by a stratagem of the eye,
+familiar to women, she lost not a gesture of the young man as she went
+towards him. The stranger politely moved to make way for the newcomers,
+and went to lean against another pillar. Emilie, as much nettled by his
+politeness as she might have been by an impertinence, began talking to
+her brother in a louder voice than good taste enjoined; she turned and
+tossed her head, gesticulated eagerly, and laughed for no particular
+reason, less to amuse her brother than to attract the attention of the
+imperturbable stranger. None of her little arts succeeded. Mademoiselle
+de Fontaine then followed the direction in which his eyes were fixed,
+and discovered the cause of his indifference.
+
+In the midst of the quadrille, close in front of them, a pale girl
+was dancing; her face was like one of the divinities which Girodet has
+introduced into his immense composition of French Warriors received by
+Ossian. Emilie fancied that she recognized her as a distinguished milady
+who for some months had been living on a neighboring estate. Her partner
+was a lad of about fifteen, with red hands, and dressed in nankeen
+trousers, a blue coat, and white shoes, which showed that the damsel’s
+love of dancing made her easy to please in the matter of partners.
+Her movements did not betray her apparent delicacy, but a faint flush
+already tinged her white cheeks, and her complexion was gaining color.
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine went nearer, to be able to examine the young
+lady at the moment when she returned to her place, while the side
+couples in their turn danced the figure. But the stranger went up to the
+pretty dancer, and leaning over, said in a gentle but commanding tone:
+
+“Clara, my child, do not dance any more.”
+
+Clara made a little pouting face, bent her head, and finally smiled.
+When the dance was over, the young man wrapped her in a cashmere shawl
+with a lover’s care, and seated her in a place sheltered from the wind.
+Very soon Mademoiselle de Fontaine, seeing them rise and walk round
+the place as if preparing to leave, found means to follow them under
+pretence of admiring the views from the garden. Her brother lent himself
+with malicious good-humor to the divagations of her rather eccentric
+wanderings. Emilie then saw the attractive couple get into an elegant
+tilbury, by which stood a mounted groom in livery. At the moment when,
+from his high seat, the young man was drawing the reins even, she caught
+a glance from his eye such as a man casts aimlessly at the crowd; and
+then she enjoyed the feeble satisfaction of seeing him turn his head to
+look at her. The young lady did the same. Was it from jealousy?
+
+“I imagine you have now seen enough of the garden,” said her brother.
+“We may go back to the dancing.”
+
+“I am ready,” said she. “Do you think the girl can be a relation of Lady
+Dudley’s?”
+
+“Lady Dudley may have some male relation staying with her,” said the
+Baron de Fontaine; “but a young girl!--No!”
+
+Next day Mademoiselle de Fontaine expressed a wish to take a ride. Then
+she gradually accustomed her old uncle and her brothers to escorting her
+in very early rides, excellent, she declared for her health. She had a
+particular fancy for the environs of the hamlet where Lady Dudley was
+living. Notwithstanding her cavalry manoeuvres, she did not meet the
+stranger so soon as the eager search she pursued might have allowed her
+to hope. She went several times to the “Bal de Sceaux” without seeing
+the young Englishman who had dropped from the skies to pervade and
+beautify her dreams. Though nothing spurs on a young girl’s infant
+passion so effectually as an obstacle, there was a time when
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine was on the point of giving up her strange and
+secret search, almost despairing of the success of an enterprise whose
+singularity may give some idea of the boldness of her temper. In point
+of fact, she might have wandered long about the village of Chatenay
+without meeting her Unknown. The fair Clara--since that was the name
+Emilie had overheard--was not English, and the stranger who escorted her
+did not dwell among the flowery and fragrant bowers of Chatenay.
+
+One evening Emilie, out riding with her uncle, who, during the fine
+weather, had gained a fairly long truce from the gout, met Lady Dudley.
+The distinguished foreigner had with her in her open carriage Monsieur
+Vandenesse. Emilie recognized the handsome couple, and her suppositions
+were at once dissipated like a dream. Annoyed, as any woman must be
+whose expectations are frustrated, she touched up her horse so suddenly
+that her uncle had the greatest difficulty in following her, she had set
+off at such a pace.
+
+“I am too old, it would seem, to understand these youthful spirits,”
+ said the old sailor to himself as he put his horse to a canter; “or
+perhaps young people are not what they used to be. But what ails my
+niece? Now she is walking at a foot-pace like a gendarme on patrol in
+the Paris streets. One might fancy she wanted to outflank that worthy
+man, who looks to me like an author dreaming over his poetry, for he
+has, I think, a notebook in his hand. My word, I am a great simpleton!
+Is not that the very young man we are in search of!”
+
+At this idea the old admiral moderated his horse’s pace so as to follow
+his niece without making any noise. He had played too many pranks in the
+years 1771 and soon after, a time of our history when gallantry was held
+in honor, not to guess at once that by the merest chance Emilie had met
+the Unknown of the Sceaux gardens. In spite of the film which age had
+drawn over his gray eyes, the Comte de Kergarouet could recognize the
+signs of extreme agitation in his niece, under the unmoved expression
+she tried to give to her features. The girl’s piercing eyes were fixed
+in a sort of dull amazement on the stranger, who quietly walked on in
+front of her.
+
+“Ay, that’s it,” thought the sailor. “She is following him as a pirate
+follows a merchantman. Then, when she has lost sight of him, she will be
+in despair at not knowing who it is she is in love with, and whether he
+is a marquis or a shopkeeper. Really these young heads need an old fogy
+like me always by their side...”
+
+He unexpectedly spurred his horse in such a way as to make his niece’s
+bolt, and rode so hastily between her and the young man on foot that
+he obliged him to fall back on to the grassy bank which rose from the
+roadside. Then, abruptly drawing up, the Count exclaimed:
+
+“Couldn’t you get out of the way?”
+
+“I beg your pardon, monsieur. But I did not know that it lay with me to
+apologize to you because you almost rode me down.”
+
+“There, enough of that, my good fellow!” replied the sailor harshly, in
+a sneering tone that was nothing less than insulting. At the same time
+the Count raised his hunting-crop as if to strike his horse, and touched
+the young fellow’s shoulder, saying, “A liberal citizen is a reasoner;
+every reasoner should be prudent.”
+
+The young man went up the bankside as he heard the sarcasm; then he
+crossed his arms, and said in an excited tone of voice, “I cannot
+suppose, monsieur, as I look at your white hairs, that you still amuse
+yourself by provoking duels----”
+
+“White hairs!” cried the sailor, interrupting him. “You lie in your
+throat. They are only gray.”
+
+A quarrel thus begun had in a few seconds become so fierce that the
+younger man forgot the moderation he had tried to preserve. Just as the
+Comte de Kergarouet saw his niece coming back to them with every sign
+of the greatest uneasiness, he told his antagonist his name, bidding him
+keep silence before the young lady entrusted to his care. The stranger
+could not help smiling as he gave a visiting card to the old man,
+desiring him to observe that he was living at a country-house at
+Chevreuse; and, after pointing this out to him, he hurried away.
+
+“You very nearly damaged that poor young counter-jumper, my dear,” said
+the Count, advancing hastily to meet Emilie. “Do you not know how to
+hold your horse in?--And there you leave me to compromise my dignity in
+order to screen your folly; whereas if you had but stopped, one of your
+looks, or one of your pretty speeches--one of those you can make so
+prettily when you are not pert--would have set everything right, even if
+you had broken his arm.”
+
+“But, my dear uncle, it was your horse, not mine, that caused the
+accident. I really think you can no longer ride; you are not so good a
+horseman as you were last year.--But instead of talking nonsense----”
+
+“Nonsense, by Gad! Is it nothing to be so impertinent to your uncle?”
+
+“Ought we not to go on and inquire if the young man is hurt? He is
+limping, uncle, only look!”
+
+“No, he is running; I rated him soundly.”
+
+“Oh, yes, uncle; I know you there!”
+
+“Stop,” said the Count, pulling Emilie’s horse by the bridle, “I do not
+see the necessity of making advances to some shopkeeper who is only
+too lucky to have been thrown down by a charming young lady, or the
+commander of La Belle-Poule.”
+
+“Why do you think he is anything so common, my dear uncle? He seems to
+me to have very fine manners.”
+
+“Every one has manners nowadays, my dear.”
+
+“No, uncle, not every one has the air and style which come of the habit
+of frequenting drawing-rooms, and I am ready to lay a bet with you that
+the young man is of noble birth.”
+
+“You had not long to study him.”
+
+“No, but it is not the first time I have seen him.”
+
+“Nor is it the first time you have looked for him,” replied the admiral
+with a laugh.
+
+Emilie colored. Her uncle amused himself for some time with her
+embarrassment; then he said: “Emilie, you know that I love you as my own
+child, precisely because you are the only member of the family who has
+the legitimate pride of high birth. Devil take it, child, who could have
+believed that sound principles would become so rare? Well, I will be
+your confidant. My dear child, I see that his young gentleman is not
+indifferent to you. Hush! All the family would laugh at us if we sailed
+under the wrong flag. You know what that means. We two will keep our
+secret, and I promise to bring him straight into the drawing-room.”
+
+“When, uncle?”
+
+“To-morrow.”
+
+“But, my dear uncle, I am not committed to anything?”
+
+“Nothing whatever, and you may bombard him, set fire to him, and leave
+him to founder like an old hulk if you choose. He won’t be the first, I
+fancy?”
+
+“You ARE kind, uncle!”
+
+As soon as the Count got home he put on his glasses, quietly took
+the card out of his pocket, and read, “Maximilien Longueville, Rue de
+Sentier.”
+
+“Make yourself happy, my dear niece,” he said to Emilie, “you may
+hook him with any easy conscience; he belongs to one of our historical
+families, and if he is not a peer of France, he infallibly will be.”
+
+“How do you know so much?”
+
+“That is my secret.”
+
+“Then do you know his name?”
+
+The old man bowed his gray head, which was not unlike a gnarled
+oak-stump, with a few leaves fluttering about it, withered by autumnal
+frosts; and his niece immediately began to try the ever-new power of her
+coquettish arts. Long familiar with the secret of cajoling the old man,
+she lavished on him the most childlike caresses, the tenderest names;
+she even went so far as to kiss him to induce him to divulge so
+important a secret. The old man, who spent his life in playing off these
+scenes on his niece, often paying for them with a present of jewelry,
+or by giving her his box at the opera, this time amused himself with
+her entreaties, and, above all, her caresses. But as he spun out this
+pleasure too long, Emilie grew angry, passed from coaxing to sarcasm and
+sulks; then, urged by curiosity, she recovered herself. The diplomatic
+admiral extracted a solemn promise from his niece that she would for
+the future be gentler, less noisy, and less wilful, that she would spend
+less, and, above all, tell him everything. The treaty being concluded,
+and signed by a kiss impressed on Emilie’s white brow, he led her into
+a corner of the room, drew her on to his knee, held the card under the
+thumbs so as to hide it, and then uncovered the letters one by one,
+spelling the name of Longueville; but he firmly refused to show her
+anything more.
+
+This incident added to the intensity of Mademoiselle de Fontaine’s
+secret sentiment, and during chief part of the night she evolved the
+most brilliant pictures from the dreams with which she had fed her
+hopes. At last, thanks to chance, to which she had so often
+appealed, Emilie could now see something very unlike a chimera at the
+fountain-head of the imaginary wealth with which she gilded her married
+life. Ignorant, as all young girls are, of the perils of love and
+marriage, she was passionately captivated by the externals of marriage
+and love. Is not this as much as to say that her feeling had birth like
+all the feelings of extreme youth--sweet but cruel mistakes, which exert
+a fatal influence on the lives of young girls so inexperienced as to
+trust their own judgment to take care of their future happiness?
+
+Next morning, before Emilie was awake, her uncle had hastened to
+Chevreuse. On recognizing, in the courtyard of an elegant little villa,
+the young man he had so determinedly insulted the day before, he went up
+to him with the pressing politeness of men of the old court.
+
+“Why, my dear sir, who could have guessed that I should have a brush,
+at the age of seventy-three, with the son, or the grandson, of one of my
+best friends. I am a vice-admiral, monsieur; is not that as much as to
+say that I think no more of fighting a duel than of smoking a cigar?
+Why, in my time, no two young men could be intimate till they had seen
+the color of their blood! But ‘sdeath, sir, last evening, sailor-like,
+I had taken a drop too much grog on board, and I ran you down. Shake
+hands; I would rather take a hundred rebuffs from a Longueville than
+cause his family the smallest regret.”
+
+However coldly the young man tried to behave to the Comte de Kergarouet,
+he could not resist the frank cordiality of his manner, and presently
+gave him his hand.
+
+“You were going out riding,” said the Count. “Do not let me detain you.
+But, unless you have other plans, I beg you will come to dinner to-day
+at the Villa Planat. My nephew, the Comte de Fontaine, is a man it is
+essential that you should know. Ah, ha! And I propose to make up to you
+for my clumsiness by introducing you to five of the prettiest women
+in Paris. So, so, young man, your brow is clearing! I am fond of young
+people, and I like to see them happy. Their happiness reminds me of the
+good times of my youth, when adventures were not lacking, any more
+than duels. We were gay dogs then! Nowadays you think and worry over
+everything, as though there had never been a fifteenth and a sixteenth
+century.”
+
+“But, monsieur, are we not in the right? The sixteenth century only gave
+religious liberty to Europe, and the nineteenth will give it political
+lib----”
+
+“Oh, we will not talk politics. I am a perfect old woman--ultra you see.
+But I do not hinder young men from being revolutionary, so long as they
+leave the King at liberty to disperse their assemblies.”
+
+When they had gone a little way, and the Count and his companion were in
+the heart of the woods, the old sailor pointed out a slender young
+birch sapling, pulled up his horse, took out one of his pistols, and the
+bullet was lodged in the heart of the tree, fifteen paces away.
+
+“You see, my dear fellow, that I am not afraid of a duel,” he said with
+comical gravity, as he looked at Monsieur Longueville.
+
+“Nor am I,” replied the young man, promptly cocking his pistol; he aimed
+at the hole made by the Comte’s bullet, and sent his own close to it.
+
+“That is what I call a well-educated man,” cried the admiral with
+enthusiasm.
+
+During this ride with the youth, whom he already regarded as his nephew,
+he found endless opportunities of catechizing him on all the trifles of
+which a perfect knowledge constituted, according to his private code, an
+accomplished gentleman.
+
+“Have you any debts?” he at last asked of his companion, after many
+other inquiries.
+
+“No, monsieur.”
+
+“What, you pay for all you have?”
+
+“Punctually; otherwise we should lose our credit, and every sort of
+respect.”
+
+“But at least you have more than one mistress? Ah, you blush, comrade!
+Well, manners have changed. All these notions of lawful order, Kantism,
+and liberty have spoilt the young men. You have no Guimard now, no
+Duthe, no creditors--and you know nothing of heraldry; why, my dear
+young friend, you are not fully fledged. The man who does not sow his
+wild oats in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but eighty
+thousand francs a year at the age of seventy, it is because I ran
+through the capital at thirty. Oh! with my wife--in decency and honor.
+However, your imperfections will not interfere with my introducing you
+at the Pavillon Planat. Remember, you have promised to come, and I shall
+expect you.”
+
+“What an odd little old man!” said Longueville to himself. “He is so
+jolly and hale; but though he wishes to seem a good fellow, I will not
+trust him too far.”
+
+Next day, at about four o’clock, when the house party were dispersed
+in the drawing-rooms and billiard-room, a servant announced to the
+inhabitants of the Villa Planat, “Monsieur DE Longueville.” On hearing
+the name of the old admiral’s protege, every one, down to the player who
+was about to miss his stroke, rushed in, as much to study Mademoiselle
+de Fontaine’s countenance as to judge of this phoenix of men, who had
+earned honorable mention to the detriment of so many rivals. A simple
+but elegant style of dress, an air of perfect ease, polite manners, a
+pleasant voice with a ring in it which found a response in the hearer’s
+heart-strings, won the good-will of the family for Monsieur Longueville.
+He did not seem unaccustomed to the luxury of the Receiver-General’s
+ostentatious mansion. Though his conversation was that of a man of the
+world, it was easy to discern that he had had a brilliant education, and
+that his knowledge was as thorough as it was extensive. He knew so well
+the right thing to say in a discussion on naval architecture, trivial,
+it is true, started by the old admiral, that one of the ladies remarked
+that he must have passed through the Ecole Polytechnique.
+
+“And I think, madame,” he replied, “that I may regard it as an honor to
+have got in.”
+
+In spite of urgent pressing, he refused politely but firmly to be kept
+to dinner, and put an end to the persistency of the ladies by saying
+that he was the Hippocrates of his young sister, whose delicate health
+required great care.
+
+“Monsieur is perhaps a medical man?” asked one of Emilie’s
+sisters-in-law with ironical meaning.
+
+“Monsieur has left the Ecole Polytechnique,” Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+kindly put in; her face had flushed with richer color, as she learned
+that the young lady of the ball was Monsieur Longueville’s sister.
+
+“But, my dear, he may be a doctor and yet have been to the Ecole
+Polytechnique--is it not so, monsieur?”
+
+“There is nothing to prevent it, madame,” replied the young man.
+
+Every eye was on Emilie, who was gazing with uneasy curiosity at the
+fascinating stranger. She breathed more freely when he added, not
+without a smile, “I have not the honor of belonging to the medical
+profession; and I even gave up going into the Engineers in order to
+preserve my independence.”
+
+“And you did well,” said the Count. “But how can you regard it as an
+honor to be a doctor?” added the Breton nobleman. “Ah, my young friend,
+such a man as you----”
+
+“Monsieur le Comte, I respect every profession that has a useful
+purpose.”
+
+“Well, in that we agree. You respect those professions, I imagine, as a
+young man respects a dowager.”
+
+Monsieur Longueville made his visit neither too long nor too short. He
+left at the moment when he saw that he had pleased everybody, and that
+each one’s curiosity about him had been roused.
+
+“He is a cunning rascal!” said the Count, coming into the drawing-room
+after seeing him to the door.
+
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine, who had been in the secret of this call, had
+dressed with some care to attract the young man’s eye; but she had the
+little disappointment of finding that he did not bestow on her so much
+attention as she thought she deserved. The family were a good deal
+surprised at the silence into which she had retired. Emilie generally
+displayed all her arts for the benefit of newcomers, her witty prattle,
+and the inexhaustible eloquence of her eyes and attitudes. Whether
+it was that the young man’s pleasing voice and attractive manners had
+charmed her, that she was seriously in love, and that this feeling had
+worked a change in her, her demeanor had lost all its affectations.
+Being simple and natural, she must, no doubt, have seemed more
+beautiful. Some of her sisters, and an old lady, a friend of the family,
+saw in this behavior a refinement of art. They supposed that Emilie,
+judging the man worthy of her, intended to delay revealing her merits,
+so as to dazzle him suddenly when she found that she pleased him. Every
+member of the family was curious to know what this capricious creature
+thought of the stranger; but when, during dinner, every one chose to
+endow Monsieur Longueville with some fresh quality which no one else
+had discovered, Mademoiselle de Fontaine sat for some time in silence. A
+sarcastic remark of her uncle’s suddenly roused her from her apathy;
+she said, somewhat epigrammatically, that such heavenly perfection
+must cover some great defect, and that she would take good care how she
+judged so gifted a man at first sight.
+
+“Those who please everybody, please nobody,” she added; “and the worst
+of all faults is to have none.”
+
+Like all girls who are in love, Emilie cherished the hope of being
+able to hide her feelings at the bottom of her heart by putting the
+Argus-eyes that watched on the wrong tack; but by the end of a fortnight
+there was not a member of the large family party who was not in this
+little domestic secret. When Monsieur Longueville called for the third
+time, Emilie believed it was chiefly for her sake. This discovery gave
+her such intoxicating pleasure that she was startled as she reflected on
+it. There was something in it very painful to her pride. Accustomed as
+she was to be the centre of her world, she was obliged to recognize a
+force that attracted her outside herself; she tried to resist, but she
+could not chase from her heart the fascinating image of the young man.
+
+Then came some anxiety. Two of Monsieur Longueville’s qualities,
+very adverse to general curiosity, and especially to Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine’s, were unexpected modesty and discretion. He never spoke of
+himself, of his pursuits, or of his family. The hints Emilie threw out
+in conversation, and the traps she laid to extract from the young fellow
+some facts concerning himself, he could evade with the adroitness of a
+diplomatist concealing a secret. If she talked of painting, he responded
+as a connoisseur; if she sat down to play, he showed without conceit
+that he was a very good pianist; one evening he delighted all the
+party by joining his delightful voice to Emilie’s in one of Cimarosa’s
+charming duets. But when they tried to find out whether he were a
+professional singer, he baffled them so pleasantly that he did not
+afford these women, practised as they were in the art of reading
+feelings, the least chance of discovering to what social sphere he
+belonged. However boldly the old uncle cast the boarding-hooks over the
+vessel, Longueville slipped away cleverly, so as to preserve the charm
+of mystery; and it was easy to him to remain the “handsome Stranger”
+ at the Villa, because curiosity never overstepped the bounds of good
+breeding.
+
+Emilie, distracted by this reserve, hoped to get more out of the sister
+than the brother, in the form of confidences. Aided by her uncle, who
+was as skilful in such manoeuvres as in handling a ship, she endeavored
+to bring upon the scene the hitherto unseen figure of Mademoiselle Clara
+Longueville. The family party at the Villa Planat soon expressed the
+greatest desire to make the acquaintance of so amiable a young lady, and
+to give her some amusement. An informal dance was proposed and accepted.
+The ladies did not despair of making a young girl of sixteen talk.
+
+Notwithstanding the little clouds piled up by suspicion and created by
+curiosity, a light of joy shone in Emilie’s soul, for she found life
+delicious when thus intimately connected with another than herself. She
+began to understand the relations of life. Whether it is that happiness
+makes us better, or that she was too fully occupied to torment other
+people, she became less caustic, more gentle, and indulgent. This change
+in her temper enchanted and amazed her family. Perhaps, at last, her
+selfishness was being transformed to love. It was a deep delight to her
+to look for the arrival of her bashful and unconfessed adorer. Though
+they had not uttered a word of passion, she knew that she was loved, and
+with what art did she not lead the stranger to unlock the stores of his
+information, which proved to be varied! She perceived that she, too,
+was being studied, and that made her endeavor to remedy the defects her
+education had encouraged. Was not this her first homage to love, and
+a bitter reproach to herself? She desired to please, and she was
+enchanting; she loved, and she was idolized. Her family, knowing that
+her pride would sufficiently protect her, gave her enough freedom to
+enjoy the little childish delights which give to first love its charm
+and its violence. More than once the young man and Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine walked, tete-a-tete, in the avenues of the garden, where nature
+was dressed like a woman going to a ball. More than once they had those
+conversations, aimless and meaningless, in which the emptiest phrases
+are those which cover the deepest feelings. They often admired together
+the setting sun and its gorgeous coloring. They gathered daisies to pull
+the petals off, and sang the most impassioned duets, using the notes set
+down by Pergolesi or Rossini as faithful interpreters to express their
+secrets.
+
+The day of the dance came. Clara Longueville and her brother, whom the
+servants persisted in honoring with the noble DE, were the principle
+guests. For the first time in her life Mademoiselle de Fontaine felt
+pleasure in a young girl’s triumph. She lavished on Clara in all
+sincerity the gracious petting and little attentions which women
+generally give each other only to excite the jealousy of men. Emilie,
+had, indeed, an object in view; she wanted to discover some secrets.
+But, being a girl, Mademoiselle Longueville showed even more mother-wit
+than her brother, for she did not even look as if she were hiding a
+secret, and kept the conversation to subjects unconnected with personal
+interests, while, at the same time, she gave it so much charm that
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine was almost envious, and called her “the Siren.”
+ Though Emilie had intended to make Clara talk, it was Clara, in fact,
+who questioned Emilie; she had meant to judge her, and she was judged by
+her; she was constantly provoked to find that she had betrayed her own
+character in some reply which Clara had extracted from her, while her
+modest and candid manner prohibited any suspicion of perfidy. There was
+a moment when Mademoiselle de Fontaine seemed sorry for an ill-judged
+sally against the commonalty to which Clara had led her.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” said the sweet child, “I have heard so much of you from
+Maximilien that I had the keenest desire to know you, out of affection
+for him; but is not a wish to know you a wish to love you?”
+
+“My dear Clara, I feared I might have displeased you by speaking thus of
+people who are not of noble birth.”
+
+“Oh, be quite easy. That sort of discussion is pointless in these days.
+As for me, it does not affect me. I am beside the question.”
+
+Ambitious as the answer might seem, it filled Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+with the deepest joy; for, like all infatuated people, she explained it,
+as oracles are explained, in the sense that harmonized with her wishes;
+she began dancing again in higher spirits than ever, as she watched
+Longueville, whose figure and grace almost surpassed those of her
+imaginary ideal. She felt added satisfaction in believing him to be well
+born, her black eyes sparkled, and she danced with all the pleasure that
+comes of dancing in the presence of the being we love. The couple had
+never understood each other as well as at this moment; more than once
+they felt their finger tips thrill and tremble as they were married in
+the figures of the dance.
+
+The early autumn had come to the handsome pair, in the midst of country
+festivities and pleasures; they had abandoned themselves softly to the
+tide of the sweetest sentiment in life, strengthening it by a thousand
+little incidents which any one can imagine; for love is in some respects
+always the same. They studied each other through it all, as much as
+lovers can.
+
+“Well, well; a flirtation never turned so quickly into a love match,”
+ said the old uncle, who kept an eye on the two young people as a
+naturalist watches an insect in the microscope.
+
+The speech alarmed Monsieur and Madame Fontaine. The old Vendeen had
+ceased to be so indifferent to his daughter’s prospects as he had
+promised to be. He went to Paris to seek information, and found none.
+Uneasy at this mystery, and not yet knowing what might be the outcome
+of the inquiry which he had begged a Paris friend to institute with
+reference to the family of Longueville, he thought it his duty to warn
+his daughter to behave prudently. The fatherly admonition was received
+with mock submission spiced with irony.
+
+“At least, my dear Emilie, if you love him, do not own it to him.”
+
+“My dear father, I certainly do love him; but I will await your
+permission before I tell him so.”
+
+“But remember, Emilie, you know nothing of his family or his pursuits.”
+
+“I may be ignorant, but I am content to be. But, father, you wished to
+see me married; you left me at liberty to make my choice; my choice is
+irrevocably made--what more is needful?”
+
+“It is needful to ascertain, my dear, whether the man of your choice
+is the son of a peer of France,” the venerable gentleman retorted
+sarcastically.
+
+Emilie was silent for a moment. She presently raised her head, looked at
+her father, and said somewhat anxiously, “Are not the Longuevilles----?”
+
+“They became extinct in the person of the old Duc de Rostein-Limbourg,
+who perished on the scaffold in 1793. He was the last representative of
+the last and younger branch.”
+
+“But, papa, there are some very good families descended from bastards.
+The history of France swarms with princes bearing the bar sinister on
+their shields.”
+
+“Your ideas are much changed,” said the old man, with a smile.
+
+The following day was the last that the Fontaine family were to spend at
+the Pavillon Planat. Emilie, greatly disturbed by her father’s warning,
+awaited with extreme impatience the hour at which young Longueville was
+in the habit of coming, to wring some explanation from him. She went out
+after dinner, and walked alone across the shrubbery towards an arbor fit
+for lovers, where she knew that the eager youth would seek her; and
+as she hastened thither she considered of the best way to discover so
+important a matter without compromising herself--a rather difficult
+thing! Hitherto no direct avowal had sanctioned the feelings which bound
+her to this stranger. Like Maximilien, she had secretly enjoyed the
+sweetness of first love; but both were equally proud, and each feared to
+confess that love.
+
+Maximilien Longueville, to whom Clara had communicated her not unfounded
+suspicions as to Emilie’s character, was by turns carried away by the
+violence of a young man’s passion, and held back by a wish to know and
+test the woman to whom he would be entrusting his happiness. His love
+had not hindered him from perceiving in Emilie the prejudices which
+marred her young nature; but before attempting to counteract them, he
+wished to be sure that she loved him, for he would no sooner risk the
+fate of his love than of his life. He had, therefore, persistently kept
+a silence to which his looks, his behavior, and his smallest actions
+gave the lie.
+
+On her side, the self-respect natural to a young girl, augmented in
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine by the monstrous vanity founded on her birth
+and beauty, kept her from meeting the declaration half-way, which her
+growing passion sometimes urged her to invite. Thus the lovers had
+instinctively understood the situation without explaining to each
+other their secret motives. There are times in life when such vagueness
+pleases youthful minds. Just because each had postponed speaking too
+long, they seemed to be playing a cruel game of suspense. He was trying
+to discover whether he was beloved, by the effort any confession would
+cost his haughty mistress; she every minute hoped that he would break a
+too respectful silence.
+
+Emilie, seated on a rustic bench, was reflecting on all that had
+happened in these three months full of enchantment. Her father’s
+suspicions were the last that could appeal to her; she even disposed
+of them at once by two or three of those reflections natural to an
+inexperienced girl, which, to her, seemed conclusive. Above all, she was
+convinced that it was impossible that she should deceive herself. All
+the summer through she had not been able to detect in Maximilien a
+single gesture, or a single word, which could indicate a vulgar origin
+or vulgar occupations; nay more, his manner of discussing things
+revealed a man devoted to the highest interests of the nation.
+“Besides,” she reflected, “an office clerk, a banker, or a merchant,
+would not be at leisure to spend a whole season in paying his addresses
+to me in the midst of woods and fields; wasting his time as freely as a
+nobleman who has life before him free of all care.”
+
+She had given herself up to meditations far more interesting to her
+than these preliminary thoughts, when a slight rustling in the leaves
+announced to her than Maximilien had been watching her for a minute, not
+probably without admiration.
+
+“Do you know that it is very wrong to take a young girl thus unawares?”
+ she asked him, smiling.
+
+“Especially when they are busy with their secrets,” replied Maximilien
+archly.
+
+“Why should I not have my secrets? You certainly have yours.”
+
+“Then you really were thinking of your secrets?” he went on, laughing.
+
+“No, I was thinking of yours. My own, I know.”
+
+“But perhaps my secrets are yours, and yours mine,” cried the young man,
+softly seizing Mademoiselle de Fontaine’s hand and drawing it through
+his arm.
+
+After walking a few steps they found themselves under a clump of trees
+which the hues of the sinking sun wrapped in a haze of red and brown.
+This touch of natural magic lent a certain solemnity to the moment. The
+young man’s free and eager action, and, above all, the throbbing of his
+surging heart, whose hurried beating spoke to Emilie’s arm, stirred her
+to an emotion that was all the more disturbing because it was produced
+by the simplest and most innocent circumstances. The restraint under
+which the young girls of the upper class live gives incredible force to
+any explosion of feeling, and to meet an impassioned lover is one of
+the greatest dangers they can encounter. Never had Emilie and Maximilien
+allowed their eyes to say so much that they dared never speak. Carried
+a way by this intoxication, they easily forgot the petty stipulations
+of pride, and the cold hesitancies of suspicion. At first, indeed, they
+could only express themselves by a pressure of hands which interpreted
+their happy thoughts.
+
+After slowing pacing a few steps in long silence, Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine spoke. “Monsieur, I have a question to ask you,” she said
+trembling, and in an agitated voice. “But, remember, I beg, that it is
+in a manner compulsory on me, from the rather singular position I am in
+with regard to my family.”
+
+A pause, terrible to Emilie, followed these sentences, which she had
+almost stammered out. During the minute while it lasted, the girl,
+haughty as she was, dared not meet the flashing eye of the man she
+loved, for she was secretly conscious of the meanness of the next words
+she added: “Are you of noble birth?”
+
+As soon as the words were spoken she wished herself at the bottom of a
+lake.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” Longueville gravely replied, and his face assumed a sort
+of stern dignity, “I promise to answer you truly as soon as you shall
+have answered in all sincerity a question I will put to you!”--He
+released her arm, and the girl suddenly felt alone in the world, as he
+said: “What is your object in questioning me as to my birth?”
+
+She stood motionless, cold, and speechless.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” Maximilien went on, “let us go no further if we do not
+understand each other. I love you,” he said, in a voice of deep emotion.
+“Well, then,” he added, as he heard the joyful exclamation she could not
+suppress, “why ask me if I am of noble birth?”
+
+“Could he speak so if he were not?” cried a voice within her, which
+Emilie believed came from the depths of her heart. She gracefully raised
+her head, seemed to find new life in the young man’s gaze, and held out
+her hand as if to renew the alliance.
+
+“You thought I cared very much for dignities?” said she with keen
+archness.
+
+“I have no titles to offer my wife,” he replied, in a half-sportive,
+half-serious tone. “But if I choose one of high rank, and among women
+whom a wealthy home has accustomed to the luxury and pleasures of a
+fine fortune, I know what such a choice requires of me. Love gives
+everything,” he added lightly, “but only to lovers. Once married,
+they need something more than the vault of heaven and the carpet of a
+meadow.”
+
+“He is rich,” she reflected. “As to titles, perhaps he only wants to try
+me. He has been told that I am mad about titles, and bent on marrying
+none but a peer’s son. My priggish sisters have played me that
+trick.”--“I assure you, monsieur,” she said aloud, “that I have had
+very extravagant ideas about life and the world; but now,” she added
+pointedly, looking at him in a perfectly distracting way, “I know where
+true riches are to be found for a wife.”
+
+“I must believe that you are speaking from the depths of your heart,”
+ he said, with gentle gravity. “But this winter, my dear Emilie, in less
+than two months perhaps, I may be proud of what I shall have to offer
+you if you care for the pleasures of wealth. This is the only secret I
+shall keep locked here,” and he laid his hand on his heart, “for on its
+success my happiness depends. I dare not say ours.”
+
+“Yes, yes, ours!”
+
+Exchanging such sweet nothings, they slowly made their way back to
+rejoin the company. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had never found her lover
+more amiable or wittier: his light figure, his engaging manners, seemed
+to her more charming than ever, since the conversation which had made
+her to some extent the possessor of a heart worthy to be the envy of
+every woman. They sang an Italian duet with so much expression that the
+audience applauded enthusiastically. Their adieux were in a conventional
+tone, which concealed their happiness. In short, this day had been to
+Emilie like a chain binding her more closely than ever to the Stranger’s
+fate. The strength and dignity he had displayed in the scene when they
+had confessed their feelings had perhaps impressed Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine with the respect without which there is no true love.
+
+When she was left alone in the drawing-room with her father, the old man
+went up to her affectionately, held her hands, and asked her whether she
+had gained any light at to Monsieur Longueville’s family and fortune.
+
+“Yes, my dear father,” she replied, “and I am happier than I could have
+hoped. In short, Monsieur de Longueville is the only man I could ever
+marry.”
+
+“Very well, Emilie,” said the Count, “then I know what remains for me to
+do.”
+
+“Do you know of any impediment?” she asked, in sincere alarm.
+
+“My dear child, the young man is totally unknown to me; but unless he
+is not a man of honor, so long as you love him, he is as dear to me as a
+son.”
+
+“Not a man of honor!” exclaimed Emilie. “As to that, I am quite easy.
+My uncle, who introduced him to us, will answer for him. Say, my dear
+uncle, has he been a filibuster, an outlaw, a pirate?”
+
+“I knew I should find myself in this fix!” cried the old sailor,
+waking up. He looked round the room, but his niece had vanished “like
+Saint-Elmo’s fires,” to use his favorite expression.
+
+“Well, uncle,” Monsieur de Fontaine went on, “how could you hide from
+us all you knew about this young man? You must have seen how anxious we
+have been. Is Monsieur de Longueville a man of family?”
+
+“I don’t know him from Adam or Eve,” said the Comte de Kergarouet.
+“Trusting to that crazy child’s tact, I got him here by a method of my
+own. I know that the boy shoots with a pistol to admiration, hunts well,
+plays wonderfully at billiards, at chess, and at backgammon; he handles
+the foils, and rides a horse like the late Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
+He has a thorough knowledge of all our vintages. He is as good an
+arithmetician as Bareme, draws, dances, and sings well. The devil’s in
+it! what more do you want? If that is not a perfect gentleman, find me
+a bourgeois who knows all this, or any man who lives more nobly than he
+does. Does he do anything, I ask you? Does he compromise his dignity
+by hanging about an office, bowing down before the upstarts you call
+Directors-General? He walks upright. He is a man.--However, I have
+just found in my waistcoat pocket the card he gave me when he fancied
+I wanted to cut his throat, poor innocent. Young men are very
+simple-minded nowadays! Here it is.”
+
+“Rue du Sentier, No. 5,” said Monsieur de Fontaine, trying to recall
+among all the information he had received, something which might concern
+the stranger. “What the devil can it mean? Messrs. Palma, Werbrust &
+Co., wholesale dealers in muslins, calicoes, and printed cotton goods,
+live there.--Stay, I have it: Longueville the deputy has an interest in
+their house. Well, but so far as I know, Longueville has but one son
+of two-and-thirty, who is not at all like our man, and to whom he gave
+fifty thousand francs a year that he might marry a minister’s daughter;
+he wants to be made a peer like the rest of ‘em.--I never heard him
+mention this Maximilien. Has he a daughter? What is this girl Clara?
+Besides, it is open to any adventurer to call himself Longueville.
+But is not the house of Palma, Werbrust & Co. half ruined by some
+speculation in Mexico or the Indies? I will clear all this up.”
+
+“You speak a soliloquy as if you were on the stage, and seem to account
+me a cipher,” said the old admiral suddenly. “Don’t you know that if he
+is a gentleman, I have more than one bag in my hold that will stop any
+leak in his fortune?”
+
+“As to that, if he is a son of Longueville’s, he will want nothing;
+but,” said Monsieur de Fontaine, shaking his head from side to side,
+“his father has not even washed off the stains of his origin. Before the
+Revolution he was an attorney, and the DE he has since assumed no more
+belongs to him than half of his fortune.”
+
+“Pooh! pooh! happy those whose fathers were hanged!” cried the admiral
+gaily.
+
+
+
+Three or four days after this memorable day, on one of those fine
+mornings in the month of November, which show the boulevards cleaned by
+the sharp cold of an early frost, Mademoiselle de Fontaine, wrapped in a
+new style of fur cape, of which she wished to set the fashion, went out
+with two of her sisters-in-law, on whom she had been wont to discharge
+her most cutting remarks. The three women were tempted to the drive,
+less by their desire to try a very elegant carriage, and wear gowns
+which were to set the fashion for the winter, than by their wish to see
+a cape which a friend had observed in a handsome lace and linen shop at
+the corner of the Rue de la Paix. As soon as they were in the shop the
+Baronne de Fontaine pulled Emilie by the sleeve, and pointed out to her
+Maximilien Longueville seated behind the desk, and engaged in paying out
+the change for a gold piece to one of the workwomen with whom he seemed
+to be in consultation. The “handsome stranger” held in his hand a parcel
+of patterns, which left no doubt as to his honorable profession.
+
+Emilie felt an icy shudder, though no one perceived it. Thanks to the
+good breeding of the best society, she completely concealed the rage in
+her heart, and answered her sister-in-law with the words, “I knew it,”
+ with a fulness of intonation and inimitable decision which the most
+famous actress of the time might have envied her. She went straight up
+to the desk. Longueville looked up, put the patterns in his pocket
+with distracting coolness, bowed to Mademoiselle de Fontaine, and came
+forward, looking at her keenly.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” he said to the shopgirl, who followed him, looking very
+much disturbed, “I will send to settle that account; my house deals
+in that way. But here,” he whispered into her ear, as he gave her a
+thousand-franc note, “take this--it is between ourselves.--You will
+forgive me, I trust, mademoiselle,” he added, turning to Emilie. “You
+will kindly excuse the tyranny of business matters.”
+
+“Indeed, monsieur, it seems to me that it is no concern of mine,”
+ replied Mademoiselle de Fontaine, looking at him with a bold expression
+of sarcastic indifference which might have made any one believe that she
+now saw him for the first time.
+
+“Do you really mean it?” asked Maximilien in a broken voice.
+
+Emilie turned her back upon him with amazing insolence. These words,
+spoken in an undertone, had escaped the ears of her two sisters-in-law.
+When, after buying the cape, the three ladies got into the carriage
+again, Emilie, seated with her back to the horses, could not resist one
+last comprehensive glance into the depths of the odious shop, where she
+saw Maximilien standing with his arms folded, in the attitude of a man
+superior to the disaster that has so suddenly fallen on him. Their eyes
+met and flashed implacable looks. Each hoped to inflict a cruel wound
+on the heart of a lover. In one instant they were as far apart as if one
+had been in China and the other in Greenland.
+
+Does not the breath of vanity wither everything? Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine, a prey to the most violent struggle that can torture the heart
+of a young girl, reaped the richest harvest of anguish that prejudice
+and narrow-mindedness ever sowed in a human soul. Her face, but just now
+fresh and velvety, was streaked with yellow lines and red patches; the
+paleness of her cheeks seemed every now and then to turn green. Hoping
+to hide her despair from her sisters, she would laugh as she pointed out
+some ridiculous dress or passer-by; but her laughter was spasmodic. She
+was more deeply hurt by their unspoken compassion than by any satirical
+comments for which she might have revenged herself. She exhausted her
+wit in trying to engage them in a conversation, in which she tried to
+expend her fury in senseless paradoxes, heaping on all men engaged in
+trade the bitterest insults and witticisms in the worst taste.
+
+On getting home, she had an attack of fever, which at first assumed
+a somewhat serious character. By the end of a month the care of her
+parents and of the physician restored her to her family.
+
+Every one hoped that this lesson would be severe enough to subdue
+Emilie’s nature; but she insensibly fell into her old habits and threw
+herself again into the world of fashion. She declared that there was no
+disgrace in making a mistake. If she, like her father, had a vote in the
+Chamber, she would move for an edict, she said, by which all merchants,
+and especially dealers in calico, should be branded on the forehead,
+like Berri sheep, down to the third generation. She wished that none but
+nobles should have the right to wear the antique French costume, which
+was so becoming to the courtiers of Louis XV. To hear her, it was a
+misfortune for France, perhaps, that there was no outward and visible
+difference between a merchant and a peer of France. And a hundred more
+such pleasantries, easy to imagine, were rapidly poured out when any
+accident brought up the subject.
+
+But those who loved Emilie could see through all her banter a tinge of
+melancholy. It was clear that Maximilien Longueville still reigned over
+that inexorable heart. Sometimes she would be as gentle as she had been
+during the brief summer that had seen the birth of her love; sometimes,
+again, she was unendurable. Every one made excuses for her inequality of
+temper, which had its source in sufferings at once secret and known to
+all. The Comte de Kergarouet had some influence over her, thanks to his
+increased prodigality, a kind of consolation which rarely fails of its
+effect on a Parisian girl.
+
+The first ball at which Mademoiselle de Fontaine appeared was at the
+Neapolitan ambassador’s. As she took her place in the first quadrille
+she saw, a few yards away from her, Maximilien Longueville, who nodded
+slightly to her partner.
+
+“Is that young man a friend of yours?” she asked, with a scornful air.
+
+“Only my brother,” he replied.
+
+Emilie could not help starting. “Ah!” he continued, “and he is the
+noblest soul living----”
+
+“Do you know my name?” asked Emilie, eagerly interrupting him.
+
+“No, mademoiselle. It is a crime, I confess, not to remember a name
+which is on every lip--I ought to say in every heart. But I have a valid
+excuse. I have but just arrived from Germany. My ambassador, who is in
+Paris on leave, sent me here this evening to take care of his amiable
+wife, whom you may see yonder in that corner.”
+
+“A perfect tragic mask!” said Emilie, after looking at the ambassadress.
+
+“And yet that is her ballroom face!” said the young man, laughing.
+“I shall have to dance with her! So I thought I might have some
+compensation.” Mademoiselle de Fontaine courtesied. “I was very much
+surprised,” the voluble young secretary went on, “to find my brother
+here. On arriving from Vienna I heard that the poor boy was ill in bed;
+and I counted on seeing him before coming to this ball; but good policy
+will always allow us to indulge family affection. The Padrona della case
+would not give me time to call on my poor Maximilien.”
+
+“Then, monsieur, your brother is not, like you, in diplomatic
+employment.”
+
+“No,” said the attache, with a sigh, “the poor fellow sacrificed himself
+for me. He and my sister Clara have renounced their share of my father’s
+fortune to make an eldest son of me. My father dreams of a peerage, like
+all who vote for the ministry. Indeed, it is promised him,” he added
+in an undertone. “After saving up a little capital my brother joined a
+banking firm, and I hear he has just effected a speculation in Brazil
+which may make him a millionaire. You see me in the highest spirits at
+having been able, by my diplomatic connections, to contribute to his
+success. I am impatiently expecting a dispatch from the Brazilian
+Legation, which will help to lift the cloud from his brow. What do you
+think of him?”
+
+“Well, your brother’s face does not look to me like that of a man busied
+with money matters.”
+
+The young attache shot a scrutinizing glance at the apparently calm face
+of his partner.
+
+“What!” he exclaimed, with a smile, “can young ladies read the thoughts
+of love behind the silent brow?”
+
+“Your brother is in love, then?” she asked, betrayed into a movement of
+curiosity.
+
+“Yes; my sister Clara, to whom he is as devoted as a mother, wrote to
+me that he had fallen in love this summer with a very pretty girl; but I
+have had no further news of the affair. Would you believe that the poor
+boy used to get up at five in the morning, and went off to settle his
+business that he might be back by four o’clock in the country where the
+lady was? In fact, he ruined a very nice thoroughbred that I had just
+given him. Forgive my chatter, mademoiselle; I have but just come home
+from Germany. For a year I have heard no decent French, I have been
+weaned from French faces, and satiated with Germans, to such a degree
+that, I believe, in my patriotic mania, I could talk to the chimeras on
+a French candlestick. And if I talk with a lack of reserve unbecoming
+in a diplomatist, the fault is yours, mademoiselle. Was it not you who
+pointed out my brother? When he is the theme I become inexhaustible. I
+should like to proclaim to all the world how good and generous he is. He
+gave up no less than a hundred thousand francs a year, the income from
+the Longueville property.”
+
+If Mademoiselle de Fontaine had the benefit of these important
+revelations, it was partly due to the skill with which she continued to
+question her confiding partner from the moment when she found that he
+was the brother of her scorned lover.
+
+“And could you, without being grieved, see your brother selling muslin
+and calico?” asked Emilie, at the end of the third figure of the
+quadrille.
+
+“How do you know that?” asked the attache. “Thank God, though I pour out
+a flood of words, I have already acquired the art of not telling more
+than I intend, like all the other diplomatic apprentices I know.”
+
+“You told me, I assure you.”
+
+Monsieur de Longueville looked at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with a
+surprise that was full of perspicacity. A suspicion flashed upon him. He
+glanced inquiringly from his brother to his partner, guessed everything,
+clasped his hands, fixed his eyes on the ceiling, and began to laugh,
+saying, “I am an idiot! You are the handsomest person here; my brother
+keeps stealing glances at you; he is dancing in spite of his illness,
+and you pretend not to see him. Make him happy,” he added, as he led
+her back to her old uncle. “I shall not be jealous, but I shall always
+shiver a little at calling you my sister----”
+
+The lovers, however, were to prove as inexorable to each other as they
+were to themselves. At about two in the morning, refreshments were
+served in an immense corridor, where, to leave persons of the same
+coterie free to meet each other, the tables were arranged as in a
+restaurant. By one of those accidents which always happen to lovers,
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine found herself at a table next to that at which
+the more important guests were seated. Maximilien was of the group.
+Emilie, who lent an attentive ear to her neighbors’ conversation,
+overheard one of those dialogues into which a young woman so easily
+falls with a young man who has the grace and style of Maximilien
+Longueville. The lady talking to the young banker was a Neapolitan
+duchess, whose eyes shot lightning flashes, and whose skin had the sheen
+of satin. The intimate terms on which Longueville affected to be with
+her stung Mademoiselle de Fontaine all the more because she had just
+given her lover back twenty times as much tenderness as she had ever
+felt for him before.
+
+“Yes, monsieur, in my country true love can make every kind of
+sacrifice,” the Duchess was saying, in a simper.
+
+“You have more passion than Frenchwomen,” said Maximilien, whose burning
+gaze fell on Emilie. “They are all vanity.”
+
+“Monsieur,” Emilie eagerly interposed, “is it not very wrong to
+calumniate your own country? Devotion is to be found in every nation.”
+
+“Do you imagine, mademoiselle,” retorted the Italian, with a sardonic
+smile, “that a Parisian would be capable of following her lover all over
+the world?”
+
+“Oh, madame, let us understand each other. She would follow him to a
+desert and live in a tent but not to sit in a shop.”
+
+A disdainful gesture completed her meaning. Thus, under the influence of
+her disastrous education, Emile for the second time killed her budding
+happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien’s apparent
+indifference, and a woman’s smile, had wrung from her one of those
+sarcasms whose treacherous zest always let her astray.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” said Longueville, in a low voice, under cover of the
+noise made by the ladies as they rose from the table, “no one will ever
+more ardently desire your happiness than I; permit me to assure you
+of this, as I am taking leave of you. I am starting for Italy in a few
+days.”
+
+“With a Duchess, no doubt?”
+
+“No, but perhaps with a mortal blow.”
+
+“Is not that pure fancy?” asked Emilie, with an anxious glance.
+
+“No,” he replied. “There are wounds which never heal.”
+
+“You are not to go,” said the girl, imperiously, and she smiled.
+
+“I shall go,” replied Maximilien, gravely.
+
+“You will find me married on your return, I warn you,” she said
+coquettishly.
+
+“I hope so.”
+
+“Impertinent wretch!” she exclaimed. “How cruel a revenge!”
+
+A fortnight later Maximilien set out with his sister Clara for the warm
+and poetic scenes of beautiful Italy, leaving Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+a prey to the most vehement regret. The young Secretary to the Embassy
+took up his brother’s quarrel, and contrived to take signal vengeance on
+Emilie’s disdain by making known the occasion of the lovers’ separation.
+He repaid his fair partner with interest all the sarcasm with which
+she had formerly attacked Maximilien, and often made more than one
+Excellency smile by describing the fair foe of the counting-house, the
+amazon who preached a crusade against bankers, the young girl whose
+love had evaporated before a bale of muslin. The Comte de Fontaine was
+obliged to use his influence to procure an appointment to Russia for
+Auguste Longueville in order to protect his daughter from the ridicule
+heaped upon her by this dangerous young persecutor.
+
+Not long after, the Ministry being compelled to raise a levy of peers to
+support the aristocratic party, trembling in the Upper Chamber under the
+lash of an illustrious writer, gave Monsieur Guiraudin de Longueville a
+peerage, with the title of Vicomte. Monsieur de Fontaine also obtained
+a peerage, the reward due as much to his fidelity in evil days as to his
+name, which claimed a place in the hereditary Chamber.
+
+About this time Emilie, now of age, made, no doubt, some serious
+reflections on life, for her tone and manners changed perceptibly.
+Instead of amusing herself by saying spiteful things to her uncle, she
+lavished on him the most affectionate attentions; she brought him his
+stick with a persevering devotion that made the cynical smile, she
+gave him her arm, rode in his carriage, and accompanied him in all his
+drives; she even persuaded him that she liked the smell of tobacco, and
+read him his favorite paper La Quotidienne in the midst of clouds of
+smoke, which the malicious old sailor intentionally blew over her;
+she learned piquet to be a match for the old count; and this fantastic
+damsel even listened without impatience to his periodical narratives of
+the battles of the Belle-Poule, the manoeuvres of the Ville de Paris, M.
+de Suffren’s first expedition, or the battle of Aboukir.
+
+Though the old sailor had often said that he knew his longitude and
+latitude too well to allow himself to be captured by a young corvette,
+one fine morning Paris drawing-rooms heard the news of the marriage of
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine to the Comte de Kergarouet. The young Countess
+gave splendid entertainments to drown thought; but she, no doubt,
+found a void at the bottom of the whirlpool; luxury was ineffectual to
+disguise the emptiness and grief of her sorrowing soul; for the most
+part, in spite of the flashes of assumed gaiety, her beautiful face
+expressed unspoken melancholy. Emilie appeared, however, full of
+attentions and consideration for her old husband, who, on retiring to
+his rooms at night, to the sounds of a lively band, would often say, “I
+do not know myself. Was I to wait till the age of seventy-two to embark
+as pilot on board the Belle Emilie after twenty years of matrimonial
+galleys?”
+
+The conduct of the young Countess was marked by such strictness that the
+most clear-sighted criticism had no fault to find with her. Lookers on
+chose to think that the vice-admiral had reserved the right of disposing
+of his fortune to keep his wife more tightly in hand; but this was a
+notion as insulting to the uncle as to the niece. Their conduct was
+indeed so delicately judicious that the men who were most interested in
+guessing the secrets of the couple could never decide whether the old
+Count regarded her as a wife or as a daughter. He was often heard to say
+that he had rescued his niece as a castaway after shipwreck; and that,
+for his part, he had never taken a mean advantage of hospitality when
+he had saved an enemy from the fury of the storm. Though the Countess
+aspired to reign in Paris and tried to keep pace with Mesdames the
+Duchesses de Maufrigneuse and du Chaulieu, the Marquises d’Espard and
+d’Aiglemont, the Comtesses Feraud, de Montcornet, and de Restaud,
+Madame de Camps, and Mademoiselle des Touches, she did not yield to the
+addresses of the young Vicomte de Portenduere, who made her his idol.
+
+Two years after her marriage, in one of the old drawing-rooms in the
+Faubourg Saint-Germain, where she was admired for her character, worthy
+of the old school, Emilie heard the Vicomte de Longueville announced.
+In the corner of the room where she was sitting, playing piquet with
+the Bishop of Persepolis, her agitation was not observed; she turned her
+head and saw her former lover come in, in all the freshness of youth.
+His father’s death, and then that of his brother, killed by the severe
+climate of Saint-Petersburg, had placed on Maximilien’s head the
+hereditary plumes of the French peer’s hat. His fortune matched his
+learning and his merits; only the day before his youthful and fervid
+eloquence had dazzled the Assembly. At this moment he stood before the
+Countess, free, and graced with all the advantages she had formerly
+required of her ideal. Every mother with a daughter to marry made
+amiable advances to a man gifted with the virtues which they attributed
+to him, as they admired his attractive person; but Emilie knew, better
+than any one, that the Vicomte de Longueville had the steadfast nature
+in which a wise woman sees a guarantee of happiness. She looked at the
+admiral who, to use his favorite expression, seemed likely to hold his
+course for a long time yet, and cursed the follies of her youth.
+
+At this moment Monsieur de Persepolis said with Episcopal grace: “Fair
+lady, you have thrown away the king of hearts--I have won. But do not
+regret your money. I keep it for my little seminaries.”
+
+
+PARIS, December 1829.
+
+
+
+
+ADDENDUM
+
+The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
+
+     Beaudenord, Godefroid de
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+
+     Dudley, Lady Arabella
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       Letters of Two Brides
+
+     Fontaine, Comte de
+       The Chouans
+       Modeste Mignon
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Kergarouet, Comte de
+       The Purse
+       Ursule Mirouet
+
+     Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
+       The Chouans
+       The Seamy Side of History
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Colonel Chabert
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Manerville, Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de
+       The Thirteen
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       A Marriage Settlement
+
+     Marsay, Henri de
+       The Thirteen
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Father Goriot
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Marriage Settlement
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       Modest Mignon
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+     Palma (banker)
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Gobseck
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+
+     Portenduere, Vicomte Savinien de
+       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       Beatrix
+
+     Rastignac, Eugene de
+       Father Goriot
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
+       The Interdiction
+       A Study of Woman
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cousin Betty
+       The Member for Arcis
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+
+     Vandenesse, Marquise Charles de (Emilie de Fontaine)
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ball at Sceaux, by Honore de Balzac
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1305 ***
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+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Ball at Sceaux, by Honore de Balzac
+    </title>
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+  <body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1305 ***</div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      BY HONORE DE BALZAC
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      Translated By Clara Bell
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      To Henri de Balzac, his brother Honore.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THE BALL AT SCEAUX </a><br /><br /> <a
+      href="#link2H_4_0002"> ADDENDUM </a><br /><br />
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Comte de Fontaine, head of one of the oldest families in Poitou, had
+      served the Bourbon cause with intelligence and bravery during the war in
+      La Vendee against the Republic. After having escaped all the dangers which
+      threatened the royalist leaders during this stormy period of modern
+      history, he was wont to say in jest, &ldquo;I am one of the men who gave
+      themselves to be killed on the steps of the throne.&rdquo; And the pleasantry
+      had some truth in it, as spoken by a man left for dead at the bloody
+      battle of Les Quatre Chemins. Though ruined by confiscation, the staunch
+      Vendeen steadily refused the lucrative posts offered to him by the Emperor
+      Napoleon. Immovable in his aristocratic faith, he had blindly obeyed its
+      precepts when he thought it fitting to choose a companion for life. In
+      spite of the blandishments of a rich but revolutionary parvenu, who valued
+      the alliance at a high figure, he married Mademoiselle de Kergarouet,
+      without a fortune, but belonging to one of the oldest families in
+      Brittany.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the second revolution burst on Monsieur de Fontaine he was encumbered
+      with a large family. Though it was no part of the noble gentlemen&rsquo;s views
+      to solicit favors, he yielded to his wife&rsquo;s wish, left his country estate,
+      of which the income barely sufficed to maintain his children, and came to
+      Paris. Saddened by seeing the greediness of his former comrades in the
+      rush for places and dignities under the new Constitution, he was about to
+      return to his property when he received a ministerial despatch, in which a
+      well-known magnate announced to him his nomination as marechal de camp, or
+      brigadier-general, under a rule which allowed the officers of the Catholic
+      armies to count the twenty submerged years of Louis XVIII.&lsquo;s reign as
+      years of service. Some days later he further received, without any
+      solicitation, ex officio, the crosses of the Legion of Honor and of
+      Saint-Louis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaken in his determination by these successive favors, due, as he
+      supposed, to the monarch&rsquo;s remembrance, he was no longer satisfied with
+      taking his family, as he had piously done every Sunday, to cry &ldquo;Vive le
+      Roi&rdquo; in the hall of the Tuileries when the royal family passed through on
+      their way to chapel; he craved the favor of a private audience. The
+      audience, at once granted, was in no sense private. The royal drawing-room
+      was full of old adherents, whose powdered heads, seen from above,
+      suggested a carpet of snow. There the Count met some old friends, who
+      received him somewhat coldly; but the princes he thought ADORABLE, an
+      enthusiastic expression which escaped him when the most gracious of his
+      masters, to whom the Count had supposed himself to be known only by name,
+      came to shake hands with him, and spoke of him as the most thorough
+      Vendeen of them all. Notwithstanding this ovation, none of these august
+      persons thought of inquiring as to the sum of his losses, or of the money
+      he had poured so generously into the chests of the Catholic regiments. He
+      discovered, a little late, that he had made war at his own cost. Towards
+      the end of the evening he thought he might venture on a witty allusion to
+      the state of his affairs, similar, as it was, to that of many other
+      gentlemen. His Majesty laughed heartily enough; any speech that bore the
+      hall-mark of wit was certain to please him; but he nevertheless replied
+      with one of those royal pleasantries whose sweetness is more formidable
+      than the anger of a rebuke. One of the King&rsquo;s most intimate advisers took
+      an opportunity of going up to the fortune-seeking Vendeen, and made him
+      understand by a keen and polite hint that the time had not yet come for
+      settling accounts with the sovereign; that there were bills of much longer
+      standing than his on the books, and there, no doubt, they would remain, as
+      part of the history of the Revolution. The Count prudently withdrew from
+      the venerable group, which formed a respectful semi-circle before the
+      august family; then, having extricated his sword, not without some
+      difficulty, from among the lean legs which had got mixed up with it, he
+      crossed the courtyard of the Tuileries and got into the hackney cab he had
+      left on the quay. With the restive spirit, which is peculiar to the
+      nobility of the old school, in whom still survives the memory of the
+      League and the day of the Barricades (in 1588), he bewailed himself in his
+      cab, loudly enough to compromise him, over the change that had come over
+      the Court. &ldquo;Formerly,&rdquo; he said to himself, &ldquo;every one could speak freely
+      to the King of his own little affairs; the nobles could ask him a favor,
+      or for money, when it suited them, and nowadays one cannot recover the
+      money advanced for his service without raising a scandal! By Heaven! the
+      cross of Saint-Louis and the rank of brigadier-general will not make good
+      the three hundred thousand livres I have spent, out and out, on the royal
+      cause. I must speak to the King, face to face, in his own room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This scene cooled Monsieur de Fontaine&rsquo;s ardor all the more effectually
+      because his requests for an interview were never answered. And, indeed, he
+      saw the upstarts of the Empire obtaining some of the offices reserved,
+      under the old monarchy, for the highest families.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All is lost!&rdquo; he exclaimed one morning. &ldquo;The King has certainly never
+      been other than a revolutionary. But for Monsieur, who never derogates,
+      and is some comfort to his faithful adherents, I do not know what hands
+      the crown of France might not fall into if things are to go on like this.
+      Their cursed constitutional system is the worst possible government, and
+      can never suit France. Louis XVIII. and Monsieur Beugnot spoiled
+      everything at Saint Ouen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Count, in despair, was preparing to retire to his estate, abandoning,
+      with dignity, all claims to repayment. At this moment the events of the
+      20th March (1815) gave warning of a fresh storm, threatening to overwhelm
+      the legitimate monarch and his defenders. Monsieur de Fontaine, like one
+      of those generous souls who do not dismiss a servant in a torrent of rain;
+      borrowed on his lands to follow the routed monarchy, without knowing
+      whether this complicity in emigration would prove more propitious to him
+      than his past devotion. But when he perceived that the companions of the
+      King&rsquo;s exile were in higher favor than the brave men who had protested,
+      sword in hand, against the establishment of the republic, he may perhaps
+      have hoped to derive greater profit from this journey into a foreign land
+      than from active and dangerous service in the heart of his own country.
+      Nor was his courtier-like calculation one of these rash speculations which
+      promise splendid results on paper, and are ruinous in effect. He was&mdash;to
+      quote the wittiest and most successful of our diplomates&mdash;one of the
+      faithful five hundred who shared the exile of the Court at Ghent, and one
+      of the fifty thousand who returned with it. During the short banishment of
+      royalty, Monsieur de Fontaine was so happy as to be employed by Louis
+      XVIII., and found more than one opportunity of giving him proofs of great
+      political honesty and sincere attachment. One evening, when the King had
+      nothing better to do, he recalled Monsieur de Fontaine&rsquo;s witticism at the
+      Tuileries. The old Vendeen did not let such a happy chance slip; he told
+      his history with so much vivacity that a king, who never forgot anything,
+      might remember it at a convenient season. The royal amateur of literature
+      also observed the elegant style given to some notes which the discreet
+      gentleman had been invited to recast. This little success stamped Monsieur
+      de Fontaine on the King&rsquo;s memory as one of the loyal servants of the
+      Crown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the second restoration the Count was one of those special envoys who
+      were sent throughout the departments charged with absolute jurisdiction
+      over the leaders of revolt; but he used his terrible powers with
+      moderation. As soon as the temporary commission was ended, the High
+      Provost found a seat in the Privy Council, became a deputy, spoke little,
+      listened much, and changed his opinions very considerably. Certain
+      circumstances, unknown to historians, brought him into such intimate
+      relations with the Sovereign, that one day, as he came in, the shrewd
+      monarch addressed him thus: &ldquo;My friend Fontaine, I shall take care never
+      to appoint you to be director-general, or minister. Neither you nor I, as
+      employees, could keep our place on account of our opinions. Representative
+      government has this advantage; it saves Us the trouble We used to have, of
+      dismissing Our Secretaries of State. Our Council is a perfect inn-parlor,
+      whither public opinion sometimes sends strange travelers; however, We can
+      always find a place for Our faithful adherents.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This ironical speech was introductory to a rescript giving Monsieur de
+      Fontaine an appointment as administrator in the office of Crown lands. As
+      a consequence of the intelligent attention with which he listened to his
+      royal Friend&rsquo;s sarcasms, his name always rose to His Majesty&rsquo;s lips when a
+      commission was to be appointed of which the members were to receive a
+      handsome salary. He had the good sense to hold his tongue about the favor
+      with which he was honored, and knew how to entertain the monarch in those
+      familiar chats in which Louis XVIII. delighted as much as in a
+      well-written note, by his brilliant manner of repeating political
+      anecdotes, and the political or parliamentary tittle-tattle&mdash;if the
+      expression may pass&mdash;which at that time was rife. It is well known
+      that he was immensely amused by every detail of his Gouvernementabilite&mdash;a
+      word adopted by his facetious Majesty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thanks to the Comte de Fontaine&rsquo;s good sense, wit, and tact, every member
+      of his numerous family, however young, ended, as he jestingly told his
+      Sovereign, in attaching himself like a silkworm to the leaves of the
+      Pay-List. Thus, by the King&rsquo;s intervention, his eldest son found a high
+      and fixed position as a lawyer. The second, before the restoration a mere
+      captain, was appointed to the command of a legion on the return from
+      Ghent; then, thanks to the confusion of 1815, when the regulations were
+      evaded, he passed into the bodyguard, returned to a line regiment, and
+      found himself after the affair of the Trocadero a lieutenant-general with
+      a commission in the Guards. The youngest, appointed sous-prefet, ere long
+      became a legal official and director of a municipal board of the city of
+      Paris, where he was safe from changes in Legislature. These bounties,
+      bestowed without parade, and as secret as the favor enjoyed by the Count,
+      fell unperceived. Though the father and his three sons each had sinecures
+      enough to enjoy an income in salaries almost equal to that of a chief of
+      department, their political good fortune excited no envy. In those early
+      days of the constitutional system, few persons had very precise ideas of
+      the peaceful domain of the civil service, where astute favorites managed
+      to find an equivalent for the demolished abbeys. Monsieur le Comte de
+      Fontaine, who till lately boasted that he had not read the Charter, and
+      displayed such indignation at the greed of courtiers, had, before long,
+      proved to his august master that he understood, as well as the King
+      himself, the spirit and resources of the representative system. At the
+      same time, notwithstanding the established careers open to his three sons,
+      and the pecuniary advantages derived from four official appointments,
+      Monsieur de Fontaine was the head of too large a family to be able to
+      re-establish his fortune easily and rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His three sons were rich in prospects, in favor, and in talent; but he had
+      three daughters, and was afraid of wearying the monarch&rsquo;s benevolence. It
+      occurred to him to mention only one by one, these virgins eager to light
+      their torches. The King had too much good taste to leave his work
+      incomplete. The marriage of the eldest with a Receiver-General, Planat de
+      Baudry, was arranged by one of those royal speeches which cost nothing and
+      are worth millions. One evening, when the Sovereign was out of spirits, he
+      smiled on hearing of the existence of another Demoiselle de Fontaine, for
+      whom he found a husband in the person of a young magistrate, of inferior
+      birth, no doubt, but wealthy, and whom he created Baron. When, the year
+      after, the Vendeen spoke of Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, the King
+      replied in his thin sharp tones, &ldquo;Amicus Plato sed magis amica Natio.&rdquo;
+       Then, a few days later, he treated his &ldquo;friend Fontaine&rdquo; to a quatrain,
+      harmless enough, which he styled an epigram, in which he made fun of these
+      three daughters so skilfully introduced, under the form of a trinity. Nay,
+      if report is to be believed, the monarch had found the point of the jest
+      in the Unity of the three Divine Persons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If your Majesty would only condescend to turn the epigram into an
+      epithalamium?&rdquo; said the Count, trying to turn the sally to good account.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Though I see the rhyme of it, I fail to see the reason,&rdquo; retorted the
+      King, who did not relish any pleasantry, however mild, on the subject of
+      his poetry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From that day his intercourse with Monsieur de Fontaine showed less
+      amenity. Kings enjoy contradicting more than people think. Like most
+      youngest children, Emilie de Fontaine was a Benjamin spoilt by almost
+      everybody. The King&rsquo;s coolness, therefore, caused the Count all the more
+      regret, because no marriage was ever so difficult to arrange as that of
+      this darling daughter. To understand all the obstacles we must make our
+      way into the fine residence where the official was housed at the expense
+      of the nation. Emilie had spent her childhood on the family estate,
+      enjoying the abundance which suffices for the joys of early youth; her
+      lightest wishes had been law to her sisters, her brothers, her mother, and
+      even her father. All her relations doted on her. Having come to years of
+      discretion just when her family was loaded with the favors of fortune, the
+      enchantment of life continued. The luxury of Paris seemed to her just as
+      natural as a wealth of flowers or fruit, or as the rural plenty which had
+      been the joy of her first years. Just as in her childhood she had never
+      been thwarted in the satisfaction of her playful desires, so now, at
+      fourteen, she was still obeyed when she rushed into the whirl of fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus, accustomed by degrees to the enjoyment of money, elegance of dress,
+      of gilded drawing-rooms and fine carriages, became as necessary to her as
+      the compliments of flattery, sincere or false, and the festivities and
+      vanities of court life. Like most spoiled children, she tyrannized over
+      those who loved her, and kept her blandishments for those who were
+      indifferent. Her faults grew with her growth, and her parents were to
+      gather the bitter fruits of this disastrous education. At the age of
+      nineteen Emilie de Fontaine had not yet been pleased to make a choice from
+      among the many young men whom her father&rsquo;s politics brought to his
+      entertainments. Though so young, she asserted in society all the freedom
+      of mind that a married woman can enjoy. Her beauty was so remarkable that,
+      for her, to appear in a room was to be its queen; but, like sovereigns,
+      she had no friends, though she was everywhere the object of attentions to
+      which a finer nature than hers might perhaps have succumbed. Not a man,
+      not even an old man, had it in him to contradict the opinions of a young
+      girl whose lightest look could rekindle love in the coldest heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had been educated with a care which her sisters had not enjoyed;
+      painted pretty well, spoke Italian and English, and played the piano
+      brilliantly; her voice, trained by the best masters, had a ring in it
+      which made her singing irresistibly charming. Clever, and intimate with
+      every branch of literature, she might have made folks believe that, as
+      Mascarille says, people of quality come into the world knowing everything.
+      She could argue fluently on Italian or Flemish painting, on the Middle
+      Ages or the Renaissance; pronounced at haphazard on books new or old, and
+      could expose the defects of a work with a cruelly graceful wit. The
+      simplest thing she said was accepted by an admiring crowd as a fetfah of
+      the Sultan by the Turks. She thus dazzled shallow persons; as to deeper
+      minds, her natural tact enabled her to discern them, and for them she put
+      forth so much fascination that, under cover of her charms, she escaped
+      their scrutiny. This enchanting veneer covered a careless heart; the
+      opinion&mdash;common to many young girls&mdash;that no one else dwelt in a
+      sphere so lofty as to be able to understand the merits of her soul; and a
+      pride based no less on her birth than on her beauty. In the absence of the
+      overwhelming sentiment which, sooner or later, works havoc in a woman&rsquo;s
+      heart, she spent her young ardor in an immoderate love of distinctions,
+      and expressed the deepest contempt for persons of inferior birth.
+      Supremely impertinent to all newly-created nobility, she made every effort
+      to get her parents recognized as equals by the most illustrious families
+      of the Saint-Germain quarter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These sentiments had not escaped the observing eye of Monsieur de
+      Fontaine, who more than once, when his two elder girls were married, had
+      smarted under Emilie&rsquo;s sarcasm. Logical readers will be surprised to see
+      the old Royalist bestowing his eldest daughter on a Receiver-General,
+      possessed, indeed, of some old hereditary estates, but whose name was not
+      preceded by the little word to which the throne owed so many partisans,
+      and his second to a magistrate too lately Baronified to obscure the fact
+      that his father had sold firewood. This noteworthy change in the ideas of
+      a noble on the verge of his sixtieth year&mdash;an age when men rarely
+      renounce their convictions&mdash;was due not merely to his unfortunate
+      residence in the modern Babylon, where, sooner or later, country folks all
+      get their corners rubbed down; the Comte de Fontaine&rsquo;s new political
+      conscience was also a result of the King&rsquo;s advice and friendship. The
+      philosophical prince had taken pleasure in converting the Vendeen to the
+      ideas required by the advance of the nineteenth century, and the new
+      aspect of the Monarchy. Louis XVIII. aimed at fusing parties as Napoleon
+      had fused things and men. The legitimate King, who was not less clever
+      perhaps than his rival, acted in a contrary direction. The last head of
+      the House of Bourbon was just as eager to satisfy the third estate and the
+      creations of the Empire, by curbing the clergy, as the first of the
+      Napoleons had been to attract the grand old nobility, or to endow the
+      Church. The Privy Councillor, being in the secret of these royal projects,
+      had insensibly become one of the most prudent and influential leaders of
+      that moderate party which most desired a fusion of opinion in the
+      interests of the nation. He preached the expensive doctrines of
+      constitutional government, and lent all his weight to encourage the
+      political see-saw which enabled his master to rule France in the midst of
+      storms. Perhaps Monsieur de Fontaine hoped that one of the sudden gusts of
+      legislation, whose unexpected efforts then startled the oldest
+      politicians, might carry him up to the rank of peer. One of his most rigid
+      principles was to recognize no nobility in France but that of the peerage&mdash;the
+      only families that might enjoy any privileges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A nobility bereft of privileges,&rdquo; he would say, &ldquo;is a tool without a
+      handle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As far from Lafayette&rsquo;s party as he was from La Bourdonnaye&rsquo;s, he ardently
+      engaged in the task of general reconciliation, which was to result in a
+      new era and splendid fortunes for France. He strove to convince the
+      families who frequented his drawing-room, or those whom he visited, how
+      few favorable openings would henceforth be offered by a civil or military
+      career. He urged mothers to give their boys a start in independent and
+      industrial professions, explaining that military posts and high Government
+      appointments must at last pertain, in a quite constitutional order, to the
+      younger sons of members of the peerage. According to him, the people had
+      conquered a sufficiently large share in practical government by its
+      elective assembly, its appointments to law-offices, and those of the
+      exchequer, which, said he, would always, as heretofore, be the natural
+      right of the distinguished men of the third estate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These new notions of the head of the Fontaines, and the prudent matches
+      for his eldest girls to which they had led, met with strong resistance in
+      the bosom of his family. The Comtesse de Fontaine remained faithful to the
+      ancient beliefs which no woman could disown, who, through her mother,
+      belonged to the Rohans. Although she had for a while opposed the happiness
+      and fortune awaiting her two eldest girls, she yielded to those private
+      considerations which husband and wife confide to each other when their
+      heads are resting on the same pillow. Monsieur de Fontaine calmly pointed
+      out to his wife, by exact arithmetic that their residence in Paris, the
+      necessity for entertaining, the magnificence of the house which made up to
+      them now for the privations so bravely shared in La Vendee, and the
+      expenses of their sons, swallowed up the chief part of their income from
+      salaries. They must therefore seize, as a boon from heaven, the
+      opportunities which offered for settling their girls with such wealth.
+      Would they not some day enjoy sixty&mdash;eighty&mdash;a hundred thousand
+      francs a year? Such advantageous matches were not to be met with every day
+      for girls without a portion. Again, it was time that they should begin to
+      think of economizing, to add to the estate of Fontaine, and re-establish
+      the old territorial fortune of the family. The Countess yielded to such
+      cogent arguments, as every mother would have done in her place, though
+      perhaps with a better grace; but she declared that Emilie, at any rate,
+      should marry in such a way as to satisfy the pride she had unfortunately
+      contributed to foster in the girl&rsquo;s young soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus events, which ought to have brought joy into the family, had
+      introduced a small leaven of discord. The Receiver-General and the young
+      lawyer were the objects of a ceremonious formality which the Countess and
+      Emilie contrived to create. This etiquette soon found even ampler
+      opportunity for the display of domestic tyranny; for Lieutenant-General de
+      Fontaine married Mademoiselle Mongenod, the daughter of a rich banker; the
+      President very sensibly found a wife in a young lady whose father, twice
+      or thrice a millionaire, had traded in salt; and the third brother,
+      faithful to his plebeian doctrines, married Mademoiselle Grossetete, the
+      only daughter of the Receiver-General at Bourges. The three sisters-in-law
+      and the two brothers-in-law found the high sphere of political bigwigs,
+      and the drawing-rooms of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, so full of charm and
+      of personal advantages, that they united in forming a little court round
+      the overbearing Emilie. This treaty between interest and pride was not,
+      however, so firmly cemented but that the young despot was, not
+      unfrequently, the cause of revolts in her little realm. Scenes, which the
+      highest circles would not have disowned, kept up a sarcastic temper among
+      all the members of this powerful family; and this, without seriously
+      diminishing the regard they professed in public, degenerated sometimes in
+      private into sentiments far from charitable. Thus the Lieutenant-General&rsquo;s
+      wife, having become a Baronne, thought herself quite as noble as a
+      Kergarouet, and imagined that her good hundred thousand francs a year gave
+      her the right to be as impertinent as her sister-in-law Emilie, whom she
+      would sometimes wish to see happily married, as she announced that the
+      daughter of some peer of France had married Monsieur So-and-So with no
+      title to his name. The Vicomtesse de Fontaine amused herself by eclipsing
+      Emilie in the taste and magnificence that were conspicuous in her dress,
+      her furniture, and her carriages. The satirical spirit in which her
+      brothers and sisters sometimes received the claims avowed by Mademoiselle
+      de Fontaine roused her to wrath that a perfect hailstorm of sharp sayings
+      could hardly mitigate. So when the head of the family felt a slight chill
+      in the King&rsquo;s tacit and precarious friendship, he trembled all the more
+      because, as a result of her sisters&rsquo; defiant mockery, his favorite
+      daughter had never looked so high.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the midst of these circumstances, and at a moment when this petty
+      domestic warfare had become serious, the monarch, whose favor Monsieur de
+      Fontaine still hoped to regain, was attacked by the malady of which he was
+      to die. The great political chief, who knew so well how to steer his bark
+      in the midst of tempests, soon succumbed. Certain then of favors to come,
+      the Comte de Fontaine made every effort to collect the elite of marrying
+      men about his youngest daughter. Those who may have tried to solve the
+      difficult problem of settling a haughty and capricious girl, will
+      understand the trouble taken by the unlucky father. Such an affair,
+      carried out to the liking of his beloved child, would worthily crown the
+      career the Count had followed for these ten years at Paris. From the way
+      in which his family claimed salaries under every department, it might be
+      compared with the House of Austria, which, by intermarriage, threatens to
+      pervade Europe. The old Vendeen was not to be discouraged in bringing
+      forward suitors, so much had he his daughter&rsquo;s happiness at heart, but
+      nothing could be more absurd than the way in which the impertinent young
+      thing pronounced her verdicts and judged the merits of her adorers. It
+      might have been supposed that, like a princess in the Arabian Nights,
+      Emilie was rich enough and beautiful enough to choose from among all the
+      princes in the world. Her objections were each more preposterous than the
+      last: one had too thick knees and was bow-legged, another was
+      short-sighted, this one&rsquo;s name was Durand, that one limped, and almost all
+      were too fat. Livelier, more attractive, and gayer than ever after
+      dismissing two or three suitors, she rushed into the festivities of the
+      winter season, and to balls, where her keen eyes criticised the
+      celebrities of the day, delighted in encouraging proposals which she
+      invariably rejected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nature had bestowed on her all the advantages needed for playing the part
+      of Celimene. Tall and slight, Emilie de Fontaine could assume a dignified
+      or a frolicsome mien at her will. Her neck was rather long, allowing her
+      to affect beautiful attitudes of scorn and impertinence. She had
+      cultivated a large variety of those turns of the head and feminine
+      gestures, which emphasize so cruelly or so happily a hint of a smile. Fine
+      black hair, thick and strongly-arched eyebrows, lent her countenance an
+      expression of pride, to which her coquettish instincts and her mirror had
+      taught her to add terror by a stare, or gentleness by the softness of her
+      gaze, by the set of the gracious curve of her lips, by the coldness or the
+      sweetness of her smile. When Emilie meant to conquer a heart, her pure
+      voice did not lack melody; but she could also give it a sort of curt
+      clearness when she was minded to paralyze a partner&rsquo;s indiscreet tongue.
+      Her colorless face and alabaster brow were like the limpid surface of a
+      lake, which by turns is rippled by the impulse of a breeze and recovers
+      its glad serenity when the air is still. More than one young man, a victim
+      to her scorn, accused her of acting a part; but she justified herself by
+      inspiring her detractors with the desire to please her, and then
+      subjecting them to all her most contemptuous caprice. Among the young
+      girls of fashion, not one knew better than she how to assume an air of
+      reserve when a man of talent was introduced to her, or how to display the
+      insulting politeness which treats an equal as an inferior, and to pour out
+      her impertinence on all who tried to hold their heads on a level with
+      hers. Wherever she went she seemed to be accepting homage rather than
+      compliments, and even in a princess her airs and manner would have
+      transformed the chair on which she sat into an imperial throne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de Fontaine discovered too late how utterly the education of the
+      daughter he loved had been ruined by the tender devotion of the whole
+      family. The admiration which the world is at first ready to bestow on a
+      young girl, but for which, sooner or later, it takes its revenge, had
+      added to Emilie&rsquo;s pride, and increased her self-confidence. Universal
+      subservience had developed in her the selfishness natural to spoilt
+      children, who, like kings, make a plaything of everything that comes to
+      hand. As yet the graces of youth and the charms of talent hid these faults
+      from every eye; faults all the more odious in a woman, since she can only
+      please by self-sacrifice and unselfishness; but nothing escapes the eye of
+      a good father, and Monsieur de Fontaine often tried to explain to his
+      daughter the more important pages of the mysterious book of life. Vain
+      effort! He had to lament his daughter&rsquo;s capricious indocility and ironical
+      shrewdness too often to persevere in a task so difficult as that of
+      correcting an ill-disposed nature. He contented himself with giving her
+      from time to time some gentle and kind advice; but he had the sorrow of
+      seeing his tenderest words slide from his daughter&rsquo;s heart as if it were
+      of marble. A father&rsquo;s eyes are slow to be unsealed, and it needed more
+      than one experience before the old Royalist perceived that his daughter&rsquo;s
+      rare caresses were bestowed on him with an air of condescension. She was
+      like young children, who seem to say to their mother, &ldquo;Make haste to kiss
+      me, that I may go to play.&rdquo; In short, Emilie vouchsafed to be fond of her
+      parents. But often, by those sudden whims, which seem inexplicable in
+      young girls, she kept aloof and scarcely ever appeared; she complained of
+      having to share her father&rsquo;s and mother&rsquo;s heart with too many people; she
+      was jealous of every one, even of her brothers and sisters. Then, after
+      creating a desert about her, the strange girl accused all nature of her
+      unreal solitude and her wilful griefs. Strong in the experience of her
+      twenty years, she blamed fate, because, not knowing that the mainspring of
+      happiness is in ourselves, she demanded it of the circumstances of life.
+      She would have fled to the ends of the earth to escape a marriage such as
+      those of her two sisters, and nevertheless her heart was full of horrible
+      jealousy at seeing them married, rich, and happy. In short, she sometimes
+      led her mother&mdash;who was as much a victim to her vagaries as Monsieur
+      de Fontaine&mdash;to suspect that she had a touch of madness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But such aberrations are quite inexplicable; nothing is commoner than this
+      unconfessed pride developed in the heart of young girls belonging to
+      families high in the social scale, and gifted by nature with great beauty.
+      They are almost all convinced that their mothers, now forty or fifty years
+      of age, can neither sympathize with their young souls, nor conceive of
+      their imaginings. They fancy that most mothers, jealous of their girls,
+      want to dress them in their own way with the premeditated purpose of
+      eclipsing them or robbing them of admiration. Hence, often, secret tears
+      and dumb revolt against supposed tyranny. In the midst of these woes,
+      which become very real though built on an imaginary basis, they have also
+      a mania for composing a scheme of life, while casting for themselves a
+      brilliant horoscope; their magic consists in taking their dreams for
+      reality; secretly, in their long meditations, they resolve to give their
+      heart and hand to none but the man possessing this or the other
+      qualification; and they paint in fancy a model to which, whether or no,
+      the future lover must correspond. After some little experience of life,
+      and the serious reflections that come with years, by dint of seeing the
+      world and its prosaic round, by dint of observing unhappy examples, the
+      brilliant hues of their ideal are extinguished. Then, one fine day, in the
+      course of events, they are quite astonished to find themselves happy
+      without the nuptial poetry of their day-dreams. It was on the strength of
+      that poetry that Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, in her slender wisdom,
+      had drawn up a programme to which a suitor must conform to be excepted.
+      Hence her disdain and sarcasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Though young and of an ancient family, he must be a peer of France,&rdquo; said
+      she to herself. &ldquo;I could not bear not to see my coat-of-arms on the panels
+      of my carriage among the folds of azure mantling, not to drive like the
+      princes down the broad walk of the Champs-Elysees on the days of
+      Longchamps in Holy Week. Besides, my father says that it will someday be
+      the highest dignity in France. He must be a soldier&mdash;but I reserve
+      the right of making him retire; and he must bear an Order, that the
+      sentries may present arms to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And these rare qualifications would count for nothing if this creature of
+      fancy had not the most amiable temper, a fine figure, intelligence, and,
+      above all, if he were not slender. To be lean, a personal grace which is
+      but fugitive, especially under a representative government, was an
+      indispensable condition. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had an ideal standard
+      which was to be the model. A young man who at the first glance did not
+      fulfil the requisite conditions did not even get a second look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heavens! see how fat he is!&rdquo; was with her the utmost expression of
+      contempt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To hear her, people of respectable corpulence were incapable of sentiment,
+      bad husbands, and unfit for civilized society. Though it is esteemed a
+      beauty in the East, to be fat seemed to her a misfortune for a woman; but
+      in a man it was a crime. These paradoxical views were amusing, thanks to a
+      certain liveliness of rhetoric. The Count felt nevertheless that by-and-by
+      his daughter&rsquo;s affections, of which the absurdity would be evident to some
+      women who were not less clear-sighted than merciless, would inevitably
+      become a subject of constant ridicule. He feared lest her eccentric
+      notions should deviate into bad style. He trembled to think that the
+      pitiless world might already be laughing at a young woman who remained so
+      long on the stage without arriving at any conclusion of the drama she was
+      playing. More than one actor in it, disgusted by a refusal, seemed to be
+      waiting for the slightest turn of ill-luck to take his revenge. The
+      indifferent, the lookers-on were beginning to weary of it; admiration is
+      always exhausting to human beings. The old Vendeen knew better than any
+      one that if there is an art in choosing the right moment for coming
+      forward on the boards of the world, on those of the Court, in a
+      drawing-room or on the stage, it is still more difficult to quit them in
+      the nick of time. So during the first winter after the accession of
+      Charles X., he redoubled his efforts, seconded by his three sons and his
+      sons-in-law, to assemble in the rooms of his official residence the best
+      matches which Paris and the various deputations from departments could
+      offer. The splendor of his entertainments, the luxury of his dining-room,
+      and his dinners, fragrant with truffles, rivaled the famous banquets by
+      which the ministers of that time secured the vote of their parliamentary
+      recruits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Honorable Deputy was consequently pointed at as a most influential
+      corrupter of the legislative honesty of the illustrious Chamber that was
+      dying as it would seem of indigestion. A whimsical result! his efforts to
+      get his daughter married secured him a splendid popularity. He perhaps
+      found some covert advantage in selling his truffles twice over. This
+      accusation, started by certain mocking Liberals, who made up by their flow
+      of words for their small following in the Chamber, was not a success. The
+      Poitevin gentleman had always been so noble and so honorable, that he was
+      not once the object of those epigrams which the malicious journalism of
+      the day hurled at the three hundred votes of the centre, at the Ministers,
+      the cooks, the Directors-General, the princely Amphitryons, and the
+      official supporters of the Villele Ministry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the close of this campaign, during which Monsieur de Fontaine had on
+      several occasions brought out all his forces, he believed that this time
+      the procession of suitors would not be a mere dissolving view in his
+      daughter&rsquo;s eyes; that it was time she should make up her mind. He felt a
+      certain inward satisfaction at having well fulfilled his duty as a father.
+      And having left no stone unturned, he hoped that, among so many hearts
+      laid at Emilie&rsquo;s feet, there might be one to which her caprice might give
+      a preference. Incapable of repeating such an effort, and tired, too, of
+      his daughter&rsquo;s conduct, one morning, towards the end of Lent, when the
+      business at the Chamber did not demand his vote, he determined to ask what
+      her views were. While his valet was artistically decorating his bald
+      yellow head with the delta of powder which, with the hanging &ldquo;ailes de
+      pigeon,&rdquo; completed his venerable style of hairdressing, Emilie&rsquo;s father,
+      not without some secret misgivings, told his old servant to go and desire
+      the haughty damsel to appear in the presence of the head of the family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Joseph,&rdquo; he added, when his hair was dressed, &ldquo;take away that towel, draw
+      back the curtains, put those chairs square, shake the rug, and lay it
+      quite straight. Dust everything.&mdash;Now, air the room a little by
+      opening the window.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Count multiplied his orders, putting Joseph out of breath, and the old
+      servant, understanding his master&rsquo;s intentions, aired and tidied the room,
+      of course the least cared for of any in the house, and succeeded in giving
+      a look of harmony to the files of bills, the letter-boxes, the books and
+      furniture of this sanctum, where the interests of the royal demesnes were
+      debated over. When Joseph had reduced this chaos to some sort of order,
+      and brought to the front such things as might be most pleasing to the eye,
+      as if it were a shop front, or such as by their color might give the
+      effect of a kind of official poetry, he stood for a minute in the midst of
+      the labyrinth of papers piled in some places even on the floor, admired
+      his handiwork, jerked his head, and went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The anxious sinecure-holder did not share his retainer&rsquo;s favorable
+      opinion. Before seating himself in his deep chair, whose rounded back
+      screened him from draughts, he looked round him doubtfully, examined his
+      dressing-gown with a hostile expression, shook off a few grains of snuff,
+      carefully wiped his nose, arranged the tongs and shovel, made the fire,
+      pulled up the heels of his slippers, pulled out his little queue of hair
+      which had lodged horizontally between the collar of his waistcoat and that
+      of his dressing-gown restoring it to its perpendicular position; then he
+      swept up the ashes of the hearth, which bore witness to a persistent
+      catarrh. Finally, the old man did not settle himself till he had once more
+      looked all over the room, hoping that nothing could give occasion to the
+      saucy and impertinent remarks with which his daughter was apt to answer
+      his good advice. On this occasion he was anxious not to compromise his
+      dignity as a father. He daintily took a pinch of snuff, cleared his throat
+      two or three times, as if he were about to demand a count out of the
+      House; then he heard his daughter&rsquo;s light step, and she came in humming an
+      air from Il Barbiere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-morning, papa. What do you want with me so early?&rdquo; Having sung these
+      words, as though they were the refrain of the melody, she kissed the
+      Count, not with the familiar tenderness which makes a daughter&rsquo;s love so
+      sweet a thing, but with the light carelessness of a mistress confident of
+      pleasing, whatever she may do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear child,&rdquo; said Monsieur de Fontaine, gravely, &ldquo;I sent for you to
+      talk to you very seriously about your future prospects. You are at this
+      moment under the necessity of making such a choice of a husband as may
+      secure your durable happiness&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My good father,&rdquo; replied Emilie, assuming her most coaxing tone of voice
+      to interrupt him, &ldquo;it strikes me that the armistice on which we agreed as
+      to my suitors is not yet expired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Emilie, we must to-day forbear from jesting on so important a matter. For
+      some time past the efforts of those who most truly love you, my dear
+      child, have been concentrated on the endeavor to settle you suitably; and
+      you would be guilty of ingratitude in meeting with levity those proofs of
+      kindness which I am not alone in lavishing on you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As she heard these words, after flashing a mischievously inquisitive look
+      at the furniture of her father&rsquo;s study, the young girl brought forward the
+      armchair which looked as if it had been least used by petitioners, set it
+      at the side of the fireplace so as to sit facing her father, and settled
+      herself in so solemn an attitude that it was impossible not to read in it
+      a mocking intention, crossing her arms over the dainty trimmings of a
+      pelerine a la neige, and ruthlessly crushing its endless frills of white
+      tulle. After a laughing side glance at her old father&rsquo;s troubled face, she
+      broke silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never heard you say, my dear father, that the Government issued its
+      instructions in its dressing-gown. However,&rdquo; and she smiled, &ldquo;that does
+      not matter; the mob are probably not particular. Now, what are your
+      proposals for legislation, and your official introductions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not always be able to make them, headstrong girl!&mdash;Listen,
+      Emilie. It is my intention no longer to compromise my reputation, which is
+      part of my children&rsquo;s fortune, by recruiting the regiment of dancers
+      which, spring after spring, you put to rout. You have already been the
+      cause of many dangerous misunderstandings with certain families. I hope to
+      make you perceive more truly the difficulties of your position and of
+      ours. You are two-and-twenty, my dear child, and you ought to have been
+      married nearly three years since. Your brothers and your two sisters are
+      richly and happily provided for. But, my dear, the expenses occasioned by
+      these marriages, and the style of housekeeping you require of your mother,
+      have made such inroads on our income that I can hardly promise you a
+      hundred thousand francs as a marriage portion. From this day forth I shall
+      think only of providing for your mother, who must not be sacrificed to her
+      children. Emilie, if I were to be taken from my family Madame de Fontaine
+      could not be left at anybody&rsquo;s mercy, and ought to enjoy the affluence
+      which I have given her too late as the reward of her devotion in my
+      misfortunes. You see, my child, that the amount of your fortune bears no
+      relation to your notions of grandeur. Even that would be such a sacrifice
+      as I have not hitherto made for either of my children; but they have
+      generously agreed not to expect in the future any compensation for the
+      advantage thus given to a too favored child.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In their position!&rdquo; said Emilie, with an ironical toss of her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, do not so depreciate those who love you. Only the poor are
+      generous as a rule; the rich have always excellent reasons for not handing
+      over twenty thousand francs to a relation. Come, my child, do not pout,
+      let us talk rationally.&mdash;Among the young marrying men have you
+      noticed Monsieur de Manerville?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he minces his words&mdash;he says Zules instead of Jules; he is
+      always looking at his feet, because he thinks them small, and he gazes at
+      himself in the glass! Besides, he is fair. I don&rsquo;t like fair men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, Monsieur de Beaudenord?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is not noble! he is ill made and stout. He is dark, it is true.&mdash;If
+      the two gentlemen could agree to combine their fortunes, and the first
+      would give his name and his figure to the second, who should keep his dark
+      hair, then&mdash;perhaps&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can you say against Monsieur de Rastignac?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Nucingen has made a banker of him,&rdquo; she said with meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And our cousin, the Vicomte de Portenduere?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A mere boy, who dances badly; besides, he has no fortune. And, after all,
+      papa, none of these people have titles. I want, at least, to be a countess
+      like my mother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you seen no one, then, this winter&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, papa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What then do you want?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The son of a peer of France.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear girl, you are mad!&rdquo; said Monsieur de Fontaine, rising.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he suddenly lifted his eyes to heaven, and seemed to find a fresh
+      fount of resignation in some religious thought; then, with a look of
+      fatherly pity at his daughter, who herself was moved, he took her hand,
+      pressed it, and said with deep feeling: &ldquo;God is my witness, poor mistaken
+      child, I have conscientiously discharged my duty to you as a father&mdash;conscientiously,
+      do I say? Most lovingly, my Emilie. Yes, God knows! This winter I have
+      brought before you more than one good man, whose character, whose habits,
+      and whose temper were known to me, and all seemed worthy of you. My child,
+      my task is done. From this day forth you are the arbiter of your fate, and
+      I consider myself both happy and unhappy at finding myself relieved of the
+      heaviest of paternal functions. I know not whether you will for any long
+      time, now, hear a voice which, to you, has never been stern; but remember
+      that conjugal happiness does not rest so much on brilliant qualities and
+      ample fortune as on reciprocal esteem. This happiness is, in its nature,
+      modest, and devoid of show. So now, my dear, my consent is given
+      beforehand, whoever the son-in-law may be whom you introduce to me; but if
+      you should be unhappy, remember you will have no right to accuse your
+      father. I shall not refuse to take proper steps and help you, only your
+      choice must be serious and final. I will never twice compromise the
+      respect due to my white hairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The affection thus expressed by her father, the solemn tones of his urgent
+      address, deeply touched Mademoiselle de Fontaine; but she concealed her
+      emotion, seated herself on her father&rsquo;s knees&mdash;for he had dropped all
+      tremulous into his chair again&mdash;caressed him fondly, and coaxed him
+      so engagingly that the old man&rsquo;s brow cleared. As soon as Emilie thought
+      that her father had got over his painful agitation, she said in a gentle
+      voice: &ldquo;I have to thank you for your graceful attention, my dear father.
+      You have had your room set in order to receive your beloved daughter. You
+      did not perhaps know that you would find her so foolish and so headstrong.
+      But, papa, is it so difficult to get married to a peer of France? You
+      declared that they were manufactured by dozens. At least, you will not
+      refuse to advise me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, my poor child, no;&mdash;and more than once I may have occasion to
+      cry, &lsquo;Beware!&rsquo; Remember that the making of peers is so recent a force in
+      our government machinery that they have no great fortunes. Those who are
+      rich look to becoming richer. The wealthiest member of our peerage has not
+      half the income of the least rich lord in the English Upper Chamber. Thus
+      all the French peers are on the lookout for great heiresses for their
+      sons, wherever they may meet with them. The necessity in which they find
+      themselves of marrying for money will certainly exist for at least two
+      centuries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pending such a fortunate accident as you long for&mdash;and this
+      fastidiousness may cost you the best years of your life&mdash;your
+      attractions might work a miracle, for men often marry for love in these
+      days. When experience lurks behind so sweet a face as yours it may achieve
+      wonders. In the first place, have you not the gift of recognizing virtue
+      in the greater or smaller dimensions of a man&rsquo;s body? This is no small
+      matter! To so wise a young person as you are, I need not enlarge on all
+      the difficulties of the enterprise. I am sure that you would never
+      attribute good sense to a stranger because he had a handsome face, or all
+      the virtues because he had a fine figure. And I am quite of your mind in
+      thinking that the sons of peers ought to have an air peculiar to
+      themselves, and perfectly distinctive manners. Though nowadays no external
+      sign stamps a man of rank, those young men will have, perhaps, to you the
+      indefinable something that will reveal it. Then, again, you have your
+      heart well in hand, like a good horseman who is sure his steed cannot
+      bolt. Luck be with you, my dear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are making game of me, papa. Well, I assure you that I would rather
+      die in Mademoiselle de Conde&rsquo;s convent than not be the wife of a peer of
+      France.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She slipped out of her father&rsquo;s arms, and proud of being her own mistress,
+      went off singing the air of Cara non dubitare, in the &ldquo;Matrimonio
+      Segreto.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As it happened, the family were that day keeping the anniversary of a
+      family fete. At dessert Madame Planat, the Receiver-General&rsquo;s wife, spoke
+      with some enthusiasm of a young American owning an immense fortune, who
+      had fallen passionately in love with her sister, and made through her the
+      most splendid proposals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A banker, I rather think,&rdquo; observed Emilie carelessly. &ldquo;I do not like
+      money dealers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Emilie,&rdquo; replied the Baron de Villaine, the husband of the Count&rsquo;s
+      second daughter, &ldquo;you do not like lawyers either; so that if you refuse
+      men of wealth who have not titles, I do not quite see in what class you
+      are to choose a husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Especially, Emilie, with your standard of slimness,&rdquo; added the
+      Lieutenant-General.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know what I want,&rdquo; replied the young lady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My sister wants a fine name, a fine young man, fine prospects, and a
+      hundred thousand francs a year,&rdquo; said the Baronne de Fontaine. &ldquo;Monsieur
+      de Marsay, for instance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, my dear,&rdquo; retorted Emilie, &ldquo;that I do not mean to make such a
+      foolish marriage as some I have seen. Moreover, to put an end to these
+      matrimonial discussions, I hereby declare that I shall look on anyone who
+      talks to me of marriage as a foe to my peace of mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An uncle of Emilie&rsquo;s, a vice-admiral, whose fortune had just been
+      increased by twenty thousand francs a year in consequence of the Act of
+      Indemnity, and a man of seventy, feeling himself privileged to say hard
+      things to his grand-niece, on whom he doted, in order to mollify the
+      bitter tone of the discussion now exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not tease my poor little Emilie; don&rsquo;t you see she is waiting till the
+      Duc de Bordeaux comes of age!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man&rsquo;s pleasantry was received with general laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take care I don&rsquo;t marry you, old fool!&rdquo; replied the young girl, whose
+      last words were happily drowned in the noise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear children,&rdquo; said Madame de Fontaine, to soften this saucy retort,
+      &ldquo;Emilie, like you, will take no advice but her mother&rsquo;s.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless me! I shall take no advice but my own in a matter which concerns no
+      one but myself,&rdquo; said Mademoiselle de Fontaine very distinctly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this all eyes were turned to the head of the family. Every one seemed
+      anxious as to what he would do to assert his dignity. The venerable
+      gentleman enjoyed much consideration, not only in the world; happier than
+      many fathers, he was also appreciated by his family, all its members
+      having a just esteem for the solid qualities by which he had been able to
+      make their fortunes. Hence he was treated with the deep respect which is
+      shown by English families, and some aristocratic houses on the continent,
+      to the living representatives of an ancient pedigree. Deep silence had
+      fallen; and the guests looked alternately from the spoilt girl&rsquo;s proud and
+      sulky pout to the severe faces of Monsieur and Madame de Fontaine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have made my daughter Emilie mistress of her own fate,&rdquo; was the reply
+      spoken by the Count in a deep voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Relations and guests gazed at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with mingled
+      curiosity and pity. The words seemed to declare that fatherly affection
+      was weary of the contest with a character that the whole family knew to be
+      incorrigible. The sons-in-law muttered, and the brothers glanced at their
+      wives with mocking smiles. From that moment every one ceased to take any
+      interest in the haughty girl&rsquo;s prospects of marriage. Her old uncle was
+      the only person who, as an old sailor, ventured to stand on her tack, and
+      take her broadsides, without ever troubling himself to return her fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the fine weather was settled, and after the budget was voted, the
+      whole family&mdash;a perfect example of the parliamentary families on the
+      northern side of the Channel who have a footing in every government
+      department, and ten votes in the House of Commons&mdash;flew away like a
+      brood of young birds to the charming neighborhoods of Aulnay, Antony, and
+      Chatenay. The wealthy Receiver-General had lately purchased in this part
+      of the world a country-house for his wife, who remained in Paris only
+      during the session. Though the fair Emilie despised the commonalty, her
+      feeling was not carried so far as to scorn the advantages of a fortune
+      acquired in a profession; so she accompanied her sister to the sumptuous
+      villa, less out of affection for the members of her family who were
+      visiting there, than because fashion has ordained that every woman who has
+      any self-respect must leave Paris in the summer. The green seclusion of
+      Sceaux answered to perfection the requirements of good style and of the
+      duties of an official position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As it is extremely doubtful that the fame of the &ldquo;Bal de Sceaux&rdquo; should
+      ever have extended beyond the borders of the Department of the Seine, it
+      will be necessary to give some account of this weekly festivity, which at
+      that time was important enough to threaten to become an institution. The
+      environs of the little town of Sceaux enjoy a reputation due to the
+      scenery, which is considered enchanting. Perhaps it is quite ordinary, and
+      owes its fame only to the stupidity of the Paris townsfolk, who, emerging
+      from the stony abyss in which they are buried, would find something to
+      admire in the flats of La Beauce. However, as the poetic shades of Aulnay,
+      the hillsides of Antony, and the valley of the Bieve are peopled with
+      artists who have traveled far, by foreigners who are very hard to please,
+      and by a great many pretty women not devoid of taste, it is to be supposed
+      that the Parisians are right. But Sceaux possesses another attraction not
+      less powerful to the Parisian. In the midst of a garden whence there are
+      delightful views, stands a large rotunda open on all sides, with a light,
+      spreading roof supported on elegant pillars. This rural baldachino
+      shelters a dancing-floor. The most stuck-up landowners of the neighborhood
+      rarely fail to make an excursion thither once or twice during the season,
+      arriving at this rustic palace of Terpsichore either in dashing parties on
+      horseback, or in the light and elegant carriages which powder the
+      philosophical pedestrian with dust. The hope of meeting some women of
+      fashion, and of being seen by them&mdash;and the hope, less often
+      disappointed, of seeing young peasant girls, as wily as judges&mdash;crowds
+      the ballroom at Sceaux with numerous swarms of lawyers&rsquo; clerks, of the
+      disciples of Aesculapius, and other youths whose complexions are kept pale
+      and moist by the damp atmosphere of Paris back-shops. And a good many
+      bourgeois marriages have had their beginning to the sound of the band
+      occupying the centre of this circular ballroom. If that roof could speak,
+      what love-stories could it not tell!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This interesting medley gave the Sceaux balls at that time a spice of more
+      amusement than those of two or three places of the same kind near Paris;
+      and it had incontestable advantages in its rotunda, and the beauty of its
+      situation and its gardens. Emilie was the first to express a wish to play
+      at being COMMON FOLK at this gleeful suburban entertainment, and promised
+      herself immense pleasure in mingling with the crowd. Everybody wondered at
+      her desire to wander through such a mob; but is there not a keen pleasure
+      to grand people in an incognito? Mademoiselle de Fontaine amused herself
+      with imagining all these town-bred figures; she fancied herself leaving
+      the memory of a bewitching glance and smile stamped on more than one
+      shopkeeper&rsquo;s heart, laughed beforehand at the damsels&rsquo; airs, and sharpened
+      her pencils for the scenes she proposed to sketch in her satirical album.
+      Sunday could not come soon enough to satisfy her impatience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The party from the Villa Planat set out on foot, so as not to betray the
+      rank of the personages who were about to honor the ball with their
+      presence. They dined early. And the month of May humored this aristocratic
+      escapade by one of its finest evenings. Mademoiselle de Fontaine was quite
+      surprised to find in the rotunda some quadrilles made up of persons who
+      seemed to belong to the upper classes. Here and there, indeed, were some
+      young men who look as though they must have saved for a month to shine for
+      a day; and she perceived several couples whose too hearty glee suggested
+      nothing conjugal; still, she could only glean instead of gathering a
+      harvest. She was amused to see that pleasure in a cotton dress was so very
+      like pleasure robed in satin, and that the girls of the middle class
+      danced quite as well as ladies&mdash;nay, sometimes better. Most of the
+      women were simply and suitably dressed. Those who in this assembly
+      represented the ruling power, that is to say, the country-folk, kept apart
+      with wonderful politeness. In fact, Mademoiselle Emilie had to study the
+      various elements that composed the mixture before she could find any
+      subject for pleasantry. But she had not time to give herself up to
+      malicious criticism, or opportunity for hearing many of the startling
+      speeches which caricaturists so gladly pick up. The haughty young lady
+      suddenly found a flower in this wide field&mdash;the metaphor is
+      reasonable&mdash;whose splendor and coloring worked on her imagination
+      with all the fascination of novelty. It often happens that we look at a
+      dress, a hanging, a blank sheet of paper, with so little heed that we do
+      not at first detect a stain or a bright spot which afterwards strikes the
+      eye as though it had come there at the very instant when we see it; and by
+      a sort of moral phenomenon somewhat resembling this, Mademoiselle de
+      Fontaine discovered in a young man the external perfection of which she
+      had so long dreamed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Seated on one of the clumsy chairs which marked the boundary line of the
+      circular floor, she had placed herself at the end of the row formed by the
+      family party, so as to be able to stand up or push forward as her fancy
+      moved her, treating the living pictures and groups in the hall as if she
+      were in a picture gallery; impertinently turning her eye-glass on persons
+      not two yards away, and making her remarks as though she were criticising
+      or praising a study of a head, a painting of genre. Her eyes, after
+      wandering over the vast moving picture, were suddenly caught by this
+      figure, which seemed to have been placed on purpose in one corner of the
+      canvas, and in the best light, like a person out of all proportion with
+      the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stranger, alone and absorbed in thought, leaned lightly against one of
+      the columns that supported the roof; his arms were folded, and he leaned
+      slightly on one side as though he had placed himself there to have his
+      portrait taken by a painter. His attitude, though full of elegance and
+      dignity, was devoid of affectation. Nothing suggested that he had half
+      turned his head, and bent it a little to the right like Alexander, or Lord
+      Byron, and some other great men, for the sole purpose of attracting
+      attention. His fixed gaze followed a girl who was dancing, and betrayed
+      some strong feeling. His slender, easy frame recalled the noble
+      proportions of the Apollo. Fine black hair curled naturally over a high
+      forehead. At a glance Mademoiselle de Fontaine observed that his linen was
+      fine, his gloves fresh, and evidently bought of a good maker, and his feet
+      were small and well shod in boots of Irish kid. He had none of the vulgar
+      trinkets displayed by the dandies of the National Guard or the Lovelaces
+      of the counting-house. A black ribbon, to which an eye-glass was attached,
+      hung over a waistcoat of the most fashionable cut. Never had the
+      fastidious Emilie seen a man&rsquo;s eyes shaded by such long, curled lashes.
+      Melancholy and passion were expressed in this face, and the complexion was
+      of a manly olive hue. His mouth seemed ready to smile, unbending the
+      corners of eloquent lips; but this, far from hinting at gaiety, revealed
+      on the contrary a sort of pathetic grace. There was too much promise in
+      that head, too much distinction in his whole person, to allow of one&rsquo;s
+      saying, &ldquo;What a handsome man!&rdquo; or &ldquo;What a fine man!&rdquo; One wanted to know
+      him. The most clear-sighted observer, on seeing this stranger, could not
+      have helped taking him for a clever man attracted to this rural festivity
+      by some powerful motive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these observations cost Emilie only a minute&rsquo;s attention, during which
+      the privileged gentleman under her severe scrutiny became the object of
+      her secret admiration. She did not say to herself, &ldquo;He must be a peer of
+      France!&rdquo; but &ldquo;Oh, if only he is noble, and he surely must be&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+       Without finishing her thought, she suddenly rose, and followed by her
+      brother the General, she made her way towards the column, affecting to
+      watch the merry quadrille; but by a stratagem of the eye, familiar to
+      women, she lost not a gesture of the young man as she went towards him.
+      The stranger politely moved to make way for the newcomers, and went to
+      lean against another pillar. Emilie, as much nettled by his politeness as
+      she might have been by an impertinence, began talking to her brother in a
+      louder voice than good taste enjoined; she turned and tossed her head,
+      gesticulated eagerly, and laughed for no particular reason, less to amuse
+      her brother than to attract the attention of the imperturbable stranger.
+      None of her little arts succeeded. Mademoiselle de Fontaine then followed
+      the direction in which his eyes were fixed, and discovered the cause of
+      his indifference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the midst of the quadrille, close in front of them, a pale girl was
+      dancing; her face was like one of the divinities which Girodet has
+      introduced into his immense composition of French Warriors received by
+      Ossian. Emilie fancied that she recognized her as a distinguished milady
+      who for some months had been living on a neighboring estate. Her partner
+      was a lad of about fifteen, with red hands, and dressed in nankeen
+      trousers, a blue coat, and white shoes, which showed that the damsel&rsquo;s
+      love of dancing made her easy to please in the matter of partners. Her
+      movements did not betray her apparent delicacy, but a faint flush already
+      tinged her white cheeks, and her complexion was gaining color.
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine went nearer, to be able to examine the young lady
+      at the moment when she returned to her place, while the side couples in
+      their turn danced the figure. But the stranger went up to the pretty
+      dancer, and leaning over, said in a gentle but commanding tone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clara, my child, do not dance any more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Clara made a little pouting face, bent her head, and finally smiled. When
+      the dance was over, the young man wrapped her in a cashmere shawl with a
+      lover&rsquo;s care, and seated her in a place sheltered from the wind. Very soon
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine, seeing them rise and walk round the place as if
+      preparing to leave, found means to follow them under pretence of admiring
+      the views from the garden. Her brother lent himself with malicious
+      good-humor to the divagations of her rather eccentric wanderings. Emilie
+      then saw the attractive couple get into an elegant tilbury, by which stood
+      a mounted groom in livery. At the moment when, from his high seat, the
+      young man was drawing the reins even, she caught a glance from his eye
+      such as a man casts aimlessly at the crowd; and then she enjoyed the
+      feeble satisfaction of seeing him turn his head to look at her. The young
+      lady did the same. Was it from jealousy?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I imagine you have now seen enough of the garden,&rdquo; said her brother. &ldquo;We
+      may go back to the dancing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am ready,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;Do you think the girl can be a relation of Lady
+      Dudley&rsquo;s?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Dudley may have some male relation staying with her,&rdquo; said the Baron
+      de Fontaine; &ldquo;but a young girl!&mdash;No!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Next day Mademoiselle de Fontaine expressed a wish to take a ride. Then
+      she gradually accustomed her old uncle and her brothers to escorting her
+      in very early rides, excellent, she declared for her health. She had a
+      particular fancy for the environs of the hamlet where Lady Dudley was
+      living. Notwithstanding her cavalry manoeuvres, she did not meet the
+      stranger so soon as the eager search she pursued might have allowed her to
+      hope. She went several times to the &ldquo;Bal de Sceaux&rdquo; without seeing the
+      young Englishman who had dropped from the skies to pervade and beautify
+      her dreams. Though nothing spurs on a young girl&rsquo;s infant passion so
+      effectually as an obstacle, there was a time when Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      was on the point of giving up her strange and secret search, almost
+      despairing of the success of an enterprise whose singularity may give some
+      idea of the boldness of her temper. In point of fact, she might have
+      wandered long about the village of Chatenay without meeting her Unknown.
+      The fair Clara&mdash;since that was the name Emilie had overheard&mdash;was
+      not English, and the stranger who escorted her did not dwell among the
+      flowery and fragrant bowers of Chatenay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One evening Emilie, out riding with her uncle, who, during the fine
+      weather, had gained a fairly long truce from the gout, met Lady Dudley.
+      The distinguished foreigner had with her in her open carriage Monsieur
+      Vandenesse. Emilie recognized the handsome couple, and her suppositions
+      were at once dissipated like a dream. Annoyed, as any woman must be whose
+      expectations are frustrated, she touched up her horse so suddenly that her
+      uncle had the greatest difficulty in following her, she had set off at
+      such a pace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am too old, it would seem, to understand these youthful spirits,&rdquo; said
+      the old sailor to himself as he put his horse to a canter; &ldquo;or perhaps
+      young people are not what they used to be. But what ails my niece? Now she
+      is walking at a foot-pace like a gendarme on patrol in the Paris streets.
+      One might fancy she wanted to outflank that worthy man, who looks to me
+      like an author dreaming over his poetry, for he has, I think, a notebook
+      in his hand. My word, I am a great simpleton! Is not that the very young
+      man we are in search of!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this idea the old admiral moderated his horse&rsquo;s pace so as to follow
+      his niece without making any noise. He had played too many pranks in the
+      years 1771 and soon after, a time of our history when gallantry was held
+      in honor, not to guess at once that by the merest chance Emilie had met
+      the Unknown of the Sceaux gardens. In spite of the film which age had
+      drawn over his gray eyes, the Comte de Kergarouet could recognize the
+      signs of extreme agitation in his niece, under the unmoved expression she
+      tried to give to her features. The girl&rsquo;s piercing eyes were fixed in a
+      sort of dull amazement on the stranger, who quietly walked on in front of
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; thought the sailor. &ldquo;She is following him as a pirate
+      follows a merchantman. Then, when she has lost sight of him, she will be
+      in despair at not knowing who it is she is in love with, and whether he is
+      a marquis or a shopkeeper. Really these young heads need an old fogy like
+      me always by their side...&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He unexpectedly spurred his horse in such a way as to make his niece&rsquo;s
+      bolt, and rode so hastily between her and the young man on foot that he
+      obliged him to fall back on to the grassy bank which rose from the
+      roadside. Then, abruptly drawing up, the Count exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Couldn&rsquo;t you get out of the way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon, monsieur. But I did not know that it lay with me to
+      apologize to you because you almost rode me down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, enough of that, my good fellow!&rdquo; replied the sailor harshly, in a
+      sneering tone that was nothing less than insulting. At the same time the
+      Count raised his hunting-crop as if to strike his horse, and touched the
+      young fellow&rsquo;s shoulder, saying, &ldquo;A liberal citizen is a reasoner; every
+      reasoner should be prudent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young man went up the bankside as he heard the sarcasm; then he
+      crossed his arms, and said in an excited tone of voice, &ldquo;I cannot suppose,
+      monsieur, as I look at your white hairs, that you still amuse yourself by
+      provoking duels&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White hairs!&rdquo; cried the sailor, interrupting him. &ldquo;You lie in your
+      throat. They are only gray.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A quarrel thus begun had in a few seconds become so fierce that the
+      younger man forgot the moderation he had tried to preserve. Just as the
+      Comte de Kergarouet saw his niece coming back to them with every sign of
+      the greatest uneasiness, he told his antagonist his name, bidding him keep
+      silence before the young lady entrusted to his care. The stranger could
+      not help smiling as he gave a visiting card to the old man, desiring him
+      to observe that he was living at a country-house at Chevreuse; and, after
+      pointing this out to him, he hurried away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You very nearly damaged that poor young counter-jumper, my dear,&rdquo; said
+      the Count, advancing hastily to meet Emilie. &ldquo;Do you not know how to hold
+      your horse in?&mdash;And there you leave me to compromise my dignity in
+      order to screen your folly; whereas if you had but stopped, one of your
+      looks, or one of your pretty speeches&mdash;one of those you can make so
+      prettily when you are not pert&mdash;would have set everything right, even
+      if you had broken his arm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear uncle, it was your horse, not mine, that caused the
+      accident. I really think you can no longer ride; you are not so good a
+      horseman as you were last year.&mdash;But instead of talking nonsense&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nonsense, by Gad! Is it nothing to be so impertinent to your uncle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ought we not to go on and inquire if the young man is hurt? He is
+      limping, uncle, only look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he is running; I rated him soundly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, uncle; I know you there!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop,&rdquo; said the Count, pulling Emilie&rsquo;s horse by the bridle, &ldquo;I do not
+      see the necessity of making advances to some shopkeeper who is only too
+      lucky to have been thrown down by a charming young lady, or the commander
+      of La Belle-Poule.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you think he is anything so common, my dear uncle? He seems to me
+      to have very fine manners.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every one has manners nowadays, my dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, uncle, not every one has the air and style which come of the habit of
+      frequenting drawing-rooms, and I am ready to lay a bet with you that the
+      young man is of noble birth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had not long to study him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but it is not the first time I have seen him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor is it the first time you have looked for him,&rdquo; replied the admiral
+      with a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie colored. Her uncle amused himself for some time with her
+      embarrassment; then he said: &ldquo;Emilie, you know that I love you as my own
+      child, precisely because you are the only member of the family who has the
+      legitimate pride of high birth. Devil take it, child, who could have
+      believed that sound principles would become so rare? Well, I will be your
+      confidant. My dear child, I see that his young gentleman is not
+      indifferent to you. Hush! All the family would laugh at us if we sailed
+      under the wrong flag. You know what that means. We two will keep our
+      secret, and I promise to bring him straight into the drawing-room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When, uncle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear uncle, I am not committed to anything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing whatever, and you may bombard him, set fire to him, and leave him
+      to founder like an old hulk if you choose. He won&rsquo;t be the first, I
+      fancy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You ARE kind, uncle!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the Count got home he put on his glasses, quietly took the card
+      out of his pocket, and read, &ldquo;Maximilien Longueville, Rue de Sentier.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Make yourself happy, my dear niece,&rdquo; he said to Emilie, &ldquo;you may hook him
+      with any easy conscience; he belongs to one of our historical families,
+      and if he is not a peer of France, he infallibly will be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know so much?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is my secret.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then do you know his name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man bowed his gray head, which was not unlike a gnarled oak-stump,
+      with a few leaves fluttering about it, withered by autumnal frosts; and
+      his niece immediately began to try the ever-new power of her coquettish
+      arts. Long familiar with the secret of cajoling the old man, she lavished
+      on him the most childlike caresses, the tenderest names; she even went so
+      far as to kiss him to induce him to divulge so important a secret. The old
+      man, who spent his life in playing off these scenes on his niece, often
+      paying for them with a present of jewelry, or by giving her his box at the
+      opera, this time amused himself with her entreaties, and, above all, her
+      caresses. But as he spun out this pleasure too long, Emilie grew angry,
+      passed from coaxing to sarcasm and sulks; then, urged by curiosity, she
+      recovered herself. The diplomatic admiral extracted a solemn promise from
+      his niece that she would for the future be gentler, less noisy, and less
+      wilful, that she would spend less, and, above all, tell him everything.
+      The treaty being concluded, and signed by a kiss impressed on Emilie&rsquo;s
+      white brow, he led her into a corner of the room, drew her on to his knee,
+      held the card under the thumbs so as to hide it, and then uncovered the
+      letters one by one, spelling the name of Longueville; but he firmly
+      refused to show her anything more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This incident added to the intensity of Mademoiselle de Fontaine&rsquo;s secret
+      sentiment, and during chief part of the night she evolved the most
+      brilliant pictures from the dreams with which she had fed her hopes. At
+      last, thanks to chance, to which she had so often appealed, Emilie could
+      now see something very unlike a chimera at the fountain-head of the
+      imaginary wealth with which she gilded her married life. Ignorant, as all
+      young girls are, of the perils of love and marriage, she was passionately
+      captivated by the externals of marriage and love. Is not this as much as
+      to say that her feeling had birth like all the feelings of extreme youth&mdash;sweet
+      but cruel mistakes, which exert a fatal influence on the lives of young
+      girls so inexperienced as to trust their own judgment to take care of
+      their future happiness?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning, before Emilie was awake, her uncle had hastened to
+      Chevreuse. On recognizing, in the courtyard of an elegant little villa,
+      the young man he had so determinedly insulted the day before, he went up
+      to him with the pressing politeness of men of the old court.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, my dear sir, who could have guessed that I should have a brush, at
+      the age of seventy-three, with the son, or the grandson, of one of my best
+      friends. I am a vice-admiral, monsieur; is not that as much as to say that
+      I think no more of fighting a duel than of smoking a cigar? Why, in my
+      time, no two young men could be intimate till they had seen the color of
+      their blood! But &lsquo;sdeath, sir, last evening, sailor-like, I had taken a
+      drop too much grog on board, and I ran you down. Shake hands; I would
+      rather take a hundred rebuffs from a Longueville than cause his family the
+      smallest regret.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      However coldly the young man tried to behave to the Comte de Kergarouet,
+      he could not resist the frank cordiality of his manner, and presently gave
+      him his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were going out riding,&rdquo; said the Count. &ldquo;Do not let me detain you.
+      But, unless you have other plans, I beg you will come to dinner to-day at
+      the Villa Planat. My nephew, the Comte de Fontaine, is a man it is
+      essential that you should know. Ah, ha! And I propose to make up to you
+      for my clumsiness by introducing you to five of the prettiest women in
+      Paris. So, so, young man, your brow is clearing! I am fond of young
+      people, and I like to see them happy. Their happiness reminds me of the
+      good times of my youth, when adventures were not lacking, any more than
+      duels. We were gay dogs then! Nowadays you think and worry over
+      everything, as though there had never been a fifteenth and a sixteenth
+      century.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, monsieur, are we not in the right? The sixteenth century only gave
+      religious liberty to Europe, and the nineteenth will give it political lib&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, we will not talk politics. I am a perfect old woman&mdash;ultra you
+      see. But I do not hinder young men from being revolutionary, so long as
+      they leave the King at liberty to disperse their assemblies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When they had gone a little way, and the Count and his companion were in
+      the heart of the woods, the old sailor pointed out a slender young birch
+      sapling, pulled up his horse, took out one of his pistols, and the bullet
+      was lodged in the heart of the tree, fifteen paces away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, my dear fellow, that I am not afraid of a duel,&rdquo; he said with
+      comical gravity, as he looked at Monsieur Longueville.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor am I,&rdquo; replied the young man, promptly cocking his pistol; he aimed
+      at the hole made by the Comte&rsquo;s bullet, and sent his own close to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is what I call a well-educated man,&rdquo; cried the admiral with
+      enthusiasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this ride with the youth, whom he already regarded as his nephew,
+      he found endless opportunities of catechizing him on all the trifles of
+      which a perfect knowledge constituted, according to his private code, an
+      accomplished gentleman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any debts?&rdquo; he at last asked of his companion, after many other
+      inquiries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, monsieur.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, you pay for all you have?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Punctually; otherwise we should lose our credit, and every sort of
+      respect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But at least you have more than one mistress? Ah, you blush, comrade!
+      Well, manners have changed. All these notions of lawful order, Kantism,
+      and liberty have spoilt the young men. You have no Guimard now, no Duthe,
+      no creditors&mdash;and you know nothing of heraldry; why, my dear young
+      friend, you are not fully fledged. The man who does not sow his wild oats
+      in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but eighty thousand
+      francs a year at the age of seventy, it is because I ran through the
+      capital at thirty. Oh! with my wife&mdash;in decency and honor. However,
+      your imperfections will not interfere with my introducing you at the
+      Pavillon Planat. Remember, you have promised to come, and I shall expect
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What an odd little old man!&rdquo; said Longueville to himself. &ldquo;He is so jolly
+      and hale; but though he wishes to seem a good fellow, I will not trust him
+      too far.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Next day, at about four o&rsquo;clock, when the house party were dispersed in
+      the drawing-rooms and billiard-room, a servant announced to the
+      inhabitants of the Villa Planat, &ldquo;Monsieur DE Longueville.&rdquo; On hearing the
+      name of the old admiral&rsquo;s protege, every one, down to the player who was
+      about to miss his stroke, rushed in, as much to study Mademoiselle de
+      Fontaine&rsquo;s countenance as to judge of this phoenix of men, who had earned
+      honorable mention to the detriment of so many rivals. A simple but elegant
+      style of dress, an air of perfect ease, polite manners, a pleasant voice
+      with a ring in it which found a response in the hearer&rsquo;s heart-strings,
+      won the good-will of the family for Monsieur Longueville. He did not seem
+      unaccustomed to the luxury of the Receiver-General&rsquo;s ostentatious mansion.
+      Though his conversation was that of a man of the world, it was easy to
+      discern that he had had a brilliant education, and that his knowledge was
+      as thorough as it was extensive. He knew so well the right thing to say in
+      a discussion on naval architecture, trivial, it is true, started by the
+      old admiral, that one of the ladies remarked that he must have passed
+      through the Ecole Polytechnique.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I think, madame,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that I may regard it as an honor to
+      have got in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of urgent pressing, he refused politely but firmly to be kept to
+      dinner, and put an end to the persistency of the ladies by saying that he
+      was the Hippocrates of his young sister, whose delicate health required
+      great care.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur is perhaps a medical man?&rdquo; asked one of Emilie&rsquo;s sisters-in-law
+      with ironical meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur has left the Ecole Polytechnique,&rdquo; Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      kindly put in; her face had flushed with richer color, as she learned that
+      the young lady of the ball was Monsieur Longueville&rsquo;s sister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear, he may be a doctor and yet have been to the Ecole
+      Polytechnique&mdash;is it not so, monsieur?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is nothing to prevent it, madame,&rdquo; replied the young man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every eye was on Emilie, who was gazing with uneasy curiosity at the
+      fascinating stranger. She breathed more freely when he added, not without
+      a smile, &ldquo;I have not the honor of belonging to the medical profession; and
+      I even gave up going into the Engineers in order to preserve my
+      independence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you did well,&rdquo; said the Count. &ldquo;But how can you regard it as an honor
+      to be a doctor?&rdquo; added the Breton nobleman. &ldquo;Ah, my young friend, such a
+      man as you&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur le Comte, I respect every profession that has a useful purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, in that we agree. You respect those professions, I imagine, as a
+      young man respects a dowager.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur Longueville made his visit neither too long nor too short. He
+      left at the moment when he saw that he had pleased everybody, and that
+      each one&rsquo;s curiosity about him had been roused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is a cunning rascal!&rdquo; said the Count, coming into the drawing-room
+      after seeing him to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine, who had been in the secret of this call, had
+      dressed with some care to attract the young man&rsquo;s eye; but she had the
+      little disappointment of finding that he did not bestow on her so much
+      attention as she thought she deserved. The family were a good deal
+      surprised at the silence into which she had retired. Emilie generally
+      displayed all her arts for the benefit of newcomers, her witty prattle,
+      and the inexhaustible eloquence of her eyes and attitudes. Whether it was
+      that the young man&rsquo;s pleasing voice and attractive manners had charmed
+      her, that she was seriously in love, and that this feeling had worked a
+      change in her, her demeanor had lost all its affectations. Being simple
+      and natural, she must, no doubt, have seemed more beautiful. Some of her
+      sisters, and an old lady, a friend of the family, saw in this behavior a
+      refinement of art. They supposed that Emilie, judging the man worthy of
+      her, intended to delay revealing her merits, so as to dazzle him suddenly
+      when she found that she pleased him. Every member of the family was
+      curious to know what this capricious creature thought of the stranger; but
+      when, during dinner, every one chose to endow Monsieur Longueville with
+      some fresh quality which no one else had discovered, Mademoiselle de
+      Fontaine sat for some time in silence. A sarcastic remark of her uncle&rsquo;s
+      suddenly roused her from her apathy; she said, somewhat epigrammatically,
+      that such heavenly perfection must cover some great defect, and that she
+      would take good care how she judged so gifted a man at first sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those who please everybody, please nobody,&rdquo; she added; &ldquo;and the worst of
+      all faults is to have none.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Like all girls who are in love, Emilie cherished the hope of being able to
+      hide her feelings at the bottom of her heart by putting the Argus-eyes
+      that watched on the wrong tack; but by the end of a fortnight there was
+      not a member of the large family party who was not in this little domestic
+      secret. When Monsieur Longueville called for the third time, Emilie
+      believed it was chiefly for her sake. This discovery gave her such
+      intoxicating pleasure that she was startled as she reflected on it. There
+      was something in it very painful to her pride. Accustomed as she was to be
+      the centre of her world, she was obliged to recognize a force that
+      attracted her outside herself; she tried to resist, but she could not
+      chase from her heart the fascinating image of the young man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then came some anxiety. Two of Monsieur Longueville&rsquo;s qualities, very
+      adverse to general curiosity, and especially to Mademoiselle de
+      Fontaine&rsquo;s, were unexpected modesty and discretion. He never spoke of
+      himself, of his pursuits, or of his family. The hints Emilie threw out in
+      conversation, and the traps she laid to extract from the young fellow some
+      facts concerning himself, he could evade with the adroitness of a
+      diplomatist concealing a secret. If she talked of painting, he responded
+      as a connoisseur; if she sat down to play, he showed without conceit that
+      he was a very good pianist; one evening he delighted all the party by
+      joining his delightful voice to Emilie&rsquo;s in one of Cimarosa&rsquo;s charming
+      duets. But when they tried to find out whether he were a professional
+      singer, he baffled them so pleasantly that he did not afford these women,
+      practised as they were in the art of reading feelings, the least chance of
+      discovering to what social sphere he belonged. However boldly the old
+      uncle cast the boarding-hooks over the vessel, Longueville slipped away
+      cleverly, so as to preserve the charm of mystery; and it was easy to him
+      to remain the &ldquo;handsome Stranger&rdquo; at the Villa, because curiosity never
+      overstepped the bounds of good breeding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie, distracted by this reserve, hoped to get more out of the sister
+      than the brother, in the form of confidences. Aided by her uncle, who was
+      as skilful in such manoeuvres as in handling a ship, she endeavored to
+      bring upon the scene the hitherto unseen figure of Mademoiselle Clara
+      Longueville. The family party at the Villa Planat soon expressed the
+      greatest desire to make the acquaintance of so amiable a young lady, and
+      to give her some amusement. An informal dance was proposed and accepted.
+      The ladies did not despair of making a young girl of sixteen talk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Notwithstanding the little clouds piled up by suspicion and created by
+      curiosity, a light of joy shone in Emilie&rsquo;s soul, for she found life
+      delicious when thus intimately connected with another than herself. She
+      began to understand the relations of life. Whether it is that happiness
+      makes us better, or that she was too fully occupied to torment other
+      people, she became less caustic, more gentle, and indulgent. This change
+      in her temper enchanted and amazed her family. Perhaps, at last, her
+      selfishness was being transformed to love. It was a deep delight to her to
+      look for the arrival of her bashful and unconfessed adorer. Though they
+      had not uttered a word of passion, she knew that she was loved, and with
+      what art did she not lead the stranger to unlock the stores of his
+      information, which proved to be varied! She perceived that she, too, was
+      being studied, and that made her endeavor to remedy the defects her
+      education had encouraged. Was not this her first homage to love, and a
+      bitter reproach to herself? She desired to please, and she was enchanting;
+      she loved, and she was idolized. Her family, knowing that her pride would
+      sufficiently protect her, gave her enough freedom to enjoy the little
+      childish delights which give to first love its charm and its violence.
+      More than once the young man and Mademoiselle de Fontaine walked,
+      tete-a-tete, in the avenues of the garden, where nature was dressed like a
+      woman going to a ball. More than once they had those conversations,
+      aimless and meaningless, in which the emptiest phrases are those which
+      cover the deepest feelings. They often admired together the setting sun
+      and its gorgeous coloring. They gathered daisies to pull the petals off,
+      and sang the most impassioned duets, using the notes set down by Pergolesi
+      or Rossini as faithful interpreters to express their secrets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The day of the dance came. Clara Longueville and her brother, whom the
+      servants persisted in honoring with the noble DE, were the principle
+      guests. For the first time in her life Mademoiselle de Fontaine felt
+      pleasure in a young girl&rsquo;s triumph. She lavished on Clara in all sincerity
+      the gracious petting and little attentions which women generally give each
+      other only to excite the jealousy of men. Emilie, had, indeed, an object
+      in view; she wanted to discover some secrets. But, being a girl,
+      Mademoiselle Longueville showed even more mother-wit than her brother, for
+      she did not even look as if she were hiding a secret, and kept the
+      conversation to subjects unconnected with personal interests, while, at
+      the same time, she gave it so much charm that Mademoiselle de Fontaine was
+      almost envious, and called her &ldquo;the Siren.&rdquo; Though Emilie had intended to
+      make Clara talk, it was Clara, in fact, who questioned Emilie; she had
+      meant to judge her, and she was judged by her; she was constantly provoked
+      to find that she had betrayed her own character in some reply which Clara
+      had extracted from her, while her modest and candid manner prohibited any
+      suspicion of perfidy. There was a moment when Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      seemed sorry for an ill-judged sally against the commonalty to which Clara
+      had led her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; said the sweet child, &ldquo;I have heard so much of you from
+      Maximilien that I had the keenest desire to know you, out of affection for
+      him; but is not a wish to know you a wish to love you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Clara, I feared I might have displeased you by speaking thus of
+      people who are not of noble birth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, be quite easy. That sort of discussion is pointless in these days. As
+      for me, it does not affect me. I am beside the question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ambitious as the answer might seem, it filled Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      with the deepest joy; for, like all infatuated people, she explained it,
+      as oracles are explained, in the sense that harmonized with her wishes;
+      she began dancing again in higher spirits than ever, as she watched
+      Longueville, whose figure and grace almost surpassed those of her
+      imaginary ideal. She felt added satisfaction in believing him to be well
+      born, her black eyes sparkled, and she danced with all the pleasure that
+      comes of dancing in the presence of the being we love. The couple had
+      never understood each other as well as at this moment; more than once they
+      felt their finger tips thrill and tremble as they were married in the
+      figures of the dance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The early autumn had come to the handsome pair, in the midst of country
+      festivities and pleasures; they had abandoned themselves softly to the
+      tide of the sweetest sentiment in life, strengthening it by a thousand
+      little incidents which any one can imagine; for love is in some respects
+      always the same. They studied each other through it all, as much as lovers
+      can.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well; a flirtation never turned so quickly into a love match,&rdquo; said
+      the old uncle, who kept an eye on the two young people as a naturalist
+      watches an insect in the microscope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The speech alarmed Monsieur and Madame Fontaine. The old Vendeen had
+      ceased to be so indifferent to his daughter&rsquo;s prospects as he had promised
+      to be. He went to Paris to seek information, and found none. Uneasy at
+      this mystery, and not yet knowing what might be the outcome of the inquiry
+      which he had begged a Paris friend to institute with reference to the
+      family of Longueville, he thought it his duty to warn his daughter to
+      behave prudently. The fatherly admonition was received with mock
+      submission spiced with irony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At least, my dear Emilie, if you love him, do not own it to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear father, I certainly do love him; but I will await your permission
+      before I tell him so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But remember, Emilie, you know nothing of his family or his pursuits.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may be ignorant, but I am content to be. But, father, you wished to see
+      me married; you left me at liberty to make my choice; my choice is
+      irrevocably made&mdash;what more is needful?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is needful to ascertain, my dear, whether the man of your choice is
+      the son of a peer of France,&rdquo; the venerable gentleman retorted
+      sarcastically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie was silent for a moment. She presently raised her head, looked at
+      her father, and said somewhat anxiously, &ldquo;Are not the Longuevilles&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They became extinct in the person of the old Duc de Rostein-Limbourg, who
+      perished on the scaffold in 1793. He was the last representative of the
+      last and younger branch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, papa, there are some very good families descended from bastards. The
+      history of France swarms with princes bearing the bar sinister on their
+      shields.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your ideas are much changed,&rdquo; said the old man, with a smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following day was the last that the Fontaine family were to spend at
+      the Pavillon Planat. Emilie, greatly disturbed by her father&rsquo;s warning,
+      awaited with extreme impatience the hour at which young Longueville was in
+      the habit of coming, to wring some explanation from him. She went out
+      after dinner, and walked alone across the shrubbery towards an arbor fit
+      for lovers, where she knew that the eager youth would seek her; and as she
+      hastened thither she considered of the best way to discover so important a
+      matter without compromising herself&mdash;a rather difficult thing!
+      Hitherto no direct avowal had sanctioned the feelings which bound her to
+      this stranger. Like Maximilien, she had secretly enjoyed the sweetness of
+      first love; but both were equally proud, and each feared to confess that
+      love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Maximilien Longueville, to whom Clara had communicated her not unfounded
+      suspicions as to Emilie&rsquo;s character, was by turns carried away by the
+      violence of a young man&rsquo;s passion, and held back by a wish to know and
+      test the woman to whom he would be entrusting his happiness. His love had
+      not hindered him from perceiving in Emilie the prejudices which marred her
+      young nature; but before attempting to counteract them, he wished to be
+      sure that she loved him, for he would no sooner risk the fate of his love
+      than of his life. He had, therefore, persistently kept a silence to which
+      his looks, his behavior, and his smallest actions gave the lie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On her side, the self-respect natural to a young girl, augmented in
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine by the monstrous vanity founded on her birth and
+      beauty, kept her from meeting the declaration half-way, which her growing
+      passion sometimes urged her to invite. Thus the lovers had instinctively
+      understood the situation without explaining to each other their secret
+      motives. There are times in life when such vagueness pleases youthful
+      minds. Just because each had postponed speaking too long, they seemed to
+      be playing a cruel game of suspense. He was trying to discover whether he
+      was beloved, by the effort any confession would cost his haughty mistress;
+      she every minute hoped that he would break a too respectful silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie, seated on a rustic bench, was reflecting on all that had happened
+      in these three months full of enchantment. Her father&rsquo;s suspicions were
+      the last that could appeal to her; she even disposed of them at once by
+      two or three of those reflections natural to an inexperienced girl, which,
+      to her, seemed conclusive. Above all, she was convinced that it was
+      impossible that she should deceive herself. All the summer through she had
+      not been able to detect in Maximilien a single gesture, or a single word,
+      which could indicate a vulgar origin or vulgar occupations; nay more, his
+      manner of discussing things revealed a man devoted to the highest
+      interests of the nation. &ldquo;Besides,&rdquo; she reflected, &ldquo;an office clerk, a
+      banker, or a merchant, would not be at leisure to spend a whole season in
+      paying his addresses to me in the midst of woods and fields; wasting his
+      time as freely as a nobleman who has life before him free of all care.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had given herself up to meditations far more interesting to her than
+      these preliminary thoughts, when a slight rustling in the leaves announced
+      to her than Maximilien had been watching her for a minute, not probably
+      without admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know that it is very wrong to take a young girl thus unawares?&rdquo;
+       she asked him, smiling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Especially when they are busy with their secrets,&rdquo; replied Maximilien
+      archly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I not have my secrets? You certainly have yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you really were thinking of your secrets?&rdquo; he went on, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I was thinking of yours. My own, I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But perhaps my secrets are yours, and yours mine,&rdquo; cried the young man,
+      softly seizing Mademoiselle de Fontaine&rsquo;s hand and drawing it through his
+      arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After walking a few steps they found themselves under a clump of trees
+      which the hues of the sinking sun wrapped in a haze of red and brown. This
+      touch of natural magic lent a certain solemnity to the moment. The young
+      man&rsquo;s free and eager action, and, above all, the throbbing of his surging
+      heart, whose hurried beating spoke to Emilie&rsquo;s arm, stirred her to an
+      emotion that was all the more disturbing because it was produced by the
+      simplest and most innocent circumstances. The restraint under which the
+      young girls of the upper class live gives incredible force to any
+      explosion of feeling, and to meet an impassioned lover is one of the
+      greatest dangers they can encounter. Never had Emilie and Maximilien
+      allowed their eyes to say so much that they dared never speak. Carried a
+      way by this intoxication, they easily forgot the petty stipulations of
+      pride, and the cold hesitancies of suspicion. At first, indeed, they could
+      only express themselves by a pressure of hands which interpreted their
+      happy thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After slowing pacing a few steps in long silence, Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      spoke. &ldquo;Monsieur, I have a question to ask you,&rdquo; she said trembling, and
+      in an agitated voice. &ldquo;But, remember, I beg, that it is in a manner
+      compulsory on me, from the rather singular position I am in with regard to
+      my family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A pause, terrible to Emilie, followed these sentences, which she had
+      almost stammered out. During the minute while it lasted, the girl, haughty
+      as she was, dared not meet the flashing eye of the man she loved, for she
+      was secretly conscious of the meanness of the next words she added: &ldquo;Are
+      you of noble birth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the words were spoken she wished herself at the bottom of a
+      lake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; Longueville gravely replied, and his face assumed a sort
+      of stern dignity, &ldquo;I promise to answer you truly as soon as you shall have
+      answered in all sincerity a question I will put to you!&rdquo;&mdash;He released
+      her arm, and the girl suddenly felt alone in the world, as he said: &ldquo;What
+      is your object in questioning me as to my birth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stood motionless, cold, and speechless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; Maximilien went on, &ldquo;let us go no further if we do not
+      understand each other. I love you,&rdquo; he said, in a voice of deep emotion.
+      &ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; he added, as he heard the joyful exclamation she could not
+      suppress, &ldquo;why ask me if I am of noble birth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could he speak so if he were not?&rdquo; cried a voice within her, which Emilie
+      believed came from the depths of her heart. She gracefully raised her
+      head, seemed to find new life in the young man&rsquo;s gaze, and held out her
+      hand as if to renew the alliance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You thought I cared very much for dignities?&rdquo; said she with keen
+      archness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no titles to offer my wife,&rdquo; he replied, in a half-sportive,
+      half-serious tone. &ldquo;But if I choose one of high rank, and among women whom
+      a wealthy home has accustomed to the luxury and pleasures of a fine
+      fortune, I know what such a choice requires of me. Love gives everything,&rdquo;
+       he added lightly, &ldquo;but only to lovers. Once married, they need something
+      more than the vault of heaven and the carpet of a meadow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is rich,&rdquo; she reflected. &ldquo;As to titles, perhaps he only wants to try
+      me. He has been told that I am mad about titles, and bent on marrying none
+      but a peer&rsquo;s son. My priggish sisters have played me that trick.&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;I
+      assure you, monsieur,&rdquo; she said aloud, &ldquo;that I have had very extravagant
+      ideas about life and the world; but now,&rdquo; she added pointedly, looking at
+      him in a perfectly distracting way, &ldquo;I know where true riches are to be
+      found for a wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must believe that you are speaking from the depths of your heart,&rdquo; he
+      said, with gentle gravity. &ldquo;But this winter, my dear Emilie, in less than
+      two months perhaps, I may be proud of what I shall have to offer you if
+      you care for the pleasures of wealth. This is the only secret I shall keep
+      locked here,&rdquo; and he laid his hand on his heart, &ldquo;for on its success my
+      happiness depends. I dare not say ours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes, ours!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Exchanging such sweet nothings, they slowly made their way back to rejoin
+      the company. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had never found her lover more
+      amiable or wittier: his light figure, his engaging manners, seemed to her
+      more charming than ever, since the conversation which had made her to some
+      extent the possessor of a heart worthy to be the envy of every woman. They
+      sang an Italian duet with so much expression that the audience applauded
+      enthusiastically. Their adieux were in a conventional tone, which
+      concealed their happiness. In short, this day had been to Emilie like a
+      chain binding her more closely than ever to the Stranger&rsquo;s fate. The
+      strength and dignity he had displayed in the scene when they had confessed
+      their feelings had perhaps impressed Mademoiselle de Fontaine with the
+      respect without which there is no true love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she was left alone in the drawing-room with her father, the old man
+      went up to her affectionately, held her hands, and asked her whether she
+      had gained any light at to Monsieur Longueville&rsquo;s family and fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, my dear father,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;and I am happier than I could have
+      hoped. In short, Monsieur de Longueville is the only man I could ever
+      marry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Emilie,&rdquo; said the Count, &ldquo;then I know what remains for me to
+      do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know of any impediment?&rdquo; she asked, in sincere alarm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear child, the young man is totally unknown to me; but unless he is
+      not a man of honor, so long as you love him, he is as dear to me as a
+      son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a man of honor!&rdquo; exclaimed Emilie. &ldquo;As to that, I am quite easy. My
+      uncle, who introduced him to us, will answer for him. Say, my dear uncle,
+      has he been a filibuster, an outlaw, a pirate?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew I should find myself in this fix!&rdquo; cried the old sailor, waking
+      up. He looked round the room, but his niece had vanished &ldquo;like
+      Saint-Elmo&rsquo;s fires,&rdquo; to use his favorite expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, uncle,&rdquo; Monsieur de Fontaine went on, &ldquo;how could you hide from us
+      all you knew about this young man? You must have seen how anxious we have
+      been. Is Monsieur de Longueville a man of family?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know him from Adam or Eve,&rdquo; said the Comte de Kergarouet.
+      &ldquo;Trusting to that crazy child&rsquo;s tact, I got him here by a method of my
+      own. I know that the boy shoots with a pistol to admiration, hunts well,
+      plays wonderfully at billiards, at chess, and at backgammon; he handles
+      the foils, and rides a horse like the late Chevalier de Saint-Georges. He
+      has a thorough knowledge of all our vintages. He is as good an
+      arithmetician as Bareme, draws, dances, and sings well. The devil&rsquo;s in it!
+      what more do you want? If that is not a perfect gentleman, find me a
+      bourgeois who knows all this, or any man who lives more nobly than he
+      does. Does he do anything, I ask you? Does he compromise his dignity by
+      hanging about an office, bowing down before the upstarts you call
+      Directors-General? He walks upright. He is a man.&mdash;However, I have
+      just found in my waistcoat pocket the card he gave me when he fancied I
+      wanted to cut his throat, poor innocent. Young men are very simple-minded
+      nowadays! Here it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rue du Sentier, No. 5,&rdquo; said Monsieur de Fontaine, trying to recall among
+      all the information he had received, something which might concern the
+      stranger. &ldquo;What the devil can it mean? Messrs. Palma, Werbrust &amp; Co.,
+      wholesale dealers in muslins, calicoes, and printed cotton goods, live
+      there.&mdash;Stay, I have it: Longueville the deputy has an interest in
+      their house. Well, but so far as I know, Longueville has but one son of
+      two-and-thirty, who is not at all like our man, and to whom he gave fifty
+      thousand francs a year that he might marry a minister&rsquo;s daughter; he wants
+      to be made a peer like the rest of &lsquo;em.&mdash;I never heard him mention
+      this Maximilien. Has he a daughter? What is this girl Clara? Besides, it
+      is open to any adventurer to call himself Longueville. But is not the
+      house of Palma, Werbrust &amp; Co. half ruined by some speculation in
+      Mexico or the Indies? I will clear all this up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak a soliloquy as if you were on the stage, and seem to account me
+      a cipher,&rdquo; said the old admiral suddenly. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you know that if he is a
+      gentleman, I have more than one bag in my hold that will stop any leak in
+      his fortune?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to that, if he is a son of Longueville&rsquo;s, he will want nothing; but,&rdquo;
+       said Monsieur de Fontaine, shaking his head from side to side, &ldquo;his father
+      has not even washed off the stains of his origin. Before the Revolution he
+      was an attorney, and the DE he has since assumed no more belongs to him
+      than half of his fortune.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pooh! pooh! happy those whose fathers were hanged!&rdquo; cried the admiral
+      gaily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three or four days after this memorable day, on one of those fine mornings
+      in the month of November, which show the boulevards cleaned by the sharp
+      cold of an early frost, Mademoiselle de Fontaine, wrapped in a new style
+      of fur cape, of which she wished to set the fashion, went out with two of
+      her sisters-in-law, on whom she had been wont to discharge her most
+      cutting remarks. The three women were tempted to the drive, less by their
+      desire to try a very elegant carriage, and wear gowns which were to set
+      the fashion for the winter, than by their wish to see a cape which a
+      friend had observed in a handsome lace and linen shop at the corner of the
+      Rue de la Paix. As soon as they were in the shop the Baronne de Fontaine
+      pulled Emilie by the sleeve, and pointed out to her Maximilien Longueville
+      seated behind the desk, and engaged in paying out the change for a gold
+      piece to one of the workwomen with whom he seemed to be in consultation.
+      The &ldquo;handsome stranger&rdquo; held in his hand a parcel of patterns, which left
+      no doubt as to his honorable profession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie felt an icy shudder, though no one perceived it. Thanks to the good
+      breeding of the best society, she completely concealed the rage in her
+      heart, and answered her sister-in-law with the words, &ldquo;I knew it,&rdquo; with a
+      fulness of intonation and inimitable decision which the most famous
+      actress of the time might have envied her. She went straight up to the
+      desk. Longueville looked up, put the patterns in his pocket with
+      distracting coolness, bowed to Mademoiselle de Fontaine, and came forward,
+      looking at her keenly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; he said to the shopgirl, who followed him, looking very
+      much disturbed, &ldquo;I will send to settle that account; my house deals in
+      that way. But here,&rdquo; he whispered into her ear, as he gave her a
+      thousand-franc note, &ldquo;take this&mdash;it is between ourselves.&mdash;You
+      will forgive me, I trust, mademoiselle,&rdquo; he added, turning to Emilie. &ldquo;You
+      will kindly excuse the tyranny of business matters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, monsieur, it seems to me that it is no concern of mine,&rdquo; replied
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine, looking at him with a bold expression of
+      sarcastic indifference which might have made any one believe that she now
+      saw him for the first time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you really mean it?&rdquo; asked Maximilien in a broken voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie turned her back upon him with amazing insolence. These words,
+      spoken in an undertone, had escaped the ears of her two sisters-in-law.
+      When, after buying the cape, the three ladies got into the carriage again,
+      Emilie, seated with her back to the horses, could not resist one last
+      comprehensive glance into the depths of the odious shop, where she saw
+      Maximilien standing with his arms folded, in the attitude of a man
+      superior to the disaster that has so suddenly fallen on him. Their eyes
+      met and flashed implacable looks. Each hoped to inflict a cruel wound on
+      the heart of a lover. In one instant they were as far apart as if one had
+      been in China and the other in Greenland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Does not the breath of vanity wither everything? Mademoiselle de Fontaine,
+      a prey to the most violent struggle that can torture the heart of a young
+      girl, reaped the richest harvest of anguish that prejudice and
+      narrow-mindedness ever sowed in a human soul. Her face, but just now fresh
+      and velvety, was streaked with yellow lines and red patches; the paleness
+      of her cheeks seemed every now and then to turn green. Hoping to hide her
+      despair from her sisters, she would laugh as she pointed out some
+      ridiculous dress or passer-by; but her laughter was spasmodic. She was
+      more deeply hurt by their unspoken compassion than by any satirical
+      comments for which she might have revenged herself. She exhausted her wit
+      in trying to engage them in a conversation, in which she tried to expend
+      her fury in senseless paradoxes, heaping on all men engaged in trade the
+      bitterest insults and witticisms in the worst taste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On getting home, she had an attack of fever, which at first assumed a
+      somewhat serious character. By the end of a month the care of her parents
+      and of the physician restored her to her family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one hoped that this lesson would be severe enough to subdue Emilie&rsquo;s
+      nature; but she insensibly fell into her old habits and threw herself
+      again into the world of fashion. She declared that there was no disgrace
+      in making a mistake. If she, like her father, had a vote in the Chamber,
+      she would move for an edict, she said, by which all merchants, and
+      especially dealers in calico, should be branded on the forehead, like
+      Berri sheep, down to the third generation. She wished that none but nobles
+      should have the right to wear the antique French costume, which was so
+      becoming to the courtiers of Louis XV. To hear her, it was a misfortune
+      for France, perhaps, that there was no outward and visible difference
+      between a merchant and a peer of France. And a hundred more such
+      pleasantries, easy to imagine, were rapidly poured out when any accident
+      brought up the subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But those who loved Emilie could see through all her banter a tinge of
+      melancholy. It was clear that Maximilien Longueville still reigned over
+      that inexorable heart. Sometimes she would be as gentle as she had been
+      during the brief summer that had seen the birth of her love; sometimes,
+      again, she was unendurable. Every one made excuses for her inequality of
+      temper, which had its source in sufferings at once secret and known to
+      all. The Comte de Kergarouet had some influence over her, thanks to his
+      increased prodigality, a kind of consolation which rarely fails of its
+      effect on a Parisian girl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first ball at which Mademoiselle de Fontaine appeared was at the
+      Neapolitan ambassador&rsquo;s. As she took her place in the first quadrille she
+      saw, a few yards away from her, Maximilien Longueville, who nodded
+      slightly to her partner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that young man a friend of yours?&rdquo; she asked, with a scornful air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only my brother,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie could not help starting. &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;and he is the noblest
+      soul living&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know my name?&rdquo; asked Emilie, eagerly interrupting him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, mademoiselle. It is a crime, I confess, not to remember a name which
+      is on every lip&mdash;I ought to say in every heart. But I have a valid
+      excuse. I have but just arrived from Germany. My ambassador, who is in
+      Paris on leave, sent me here this evening to take care of his amiable
+      wife, whom you may see yonder in that corner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A perfect tragic mask!&rdquo; said Emilie, after looking at the ambassadress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet that is her ballroom face!&rdquo; said the young man, laughing. &ldquo;I
+      shall have to dance with her! So I thought I might have some
+      compensation.&rdquo; Mademoiselle de Fontaine courtesied. &ldquo;I was very much
+      surprised,&rdquo; the voluble young secretary went on, &ldquo;to find my brother here.
+      On arriving from Vienna I heard that the poor boy was ill in bed; and I
+      counted on seeing him before coming to this ball; but good policy will
+      always allow us to indulge family affection. The Padrona della case would
+      not give me time to call on my poor Maximilien.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, monsieur, your brother is not, like you, in diplomatic employment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the attache, with a sigh, &ldquo;the poor fellow sacrificed himself
+      for me. He and my sister Clara have renounced their share of my father&rsquo;s
+      fortune to make an eldest son of me. My father dreams of a peerage, like
+      all who vote for the ministry. Indeed, it is promised him,&rdquo; he added in an
+      undertone. &ldquo;After saving up a little capital my brother joined a banking
+      firm, and I hear he has just effected a speculation in Brazil which may
+      make him a millionaire. You see me in the highest spirits at having been
+      able, by my diplomatic connections, to contribute to his success. I am
+      impatiently expecting a dispatch from the Brazilian Legation, which will
+      help to lift the cloud from his brow. What do you think of him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, your brother&rsquo;s face does not look to me like that of a man busied
+      with money matters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young attache shot a scrutinizing glance at the apparently calm face
+      of his partner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; he exclaimed, with a smile, &ldquo;can young ladies read the thoughts of
+      love behind the silent brow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your brother is in love, then?&rdquo; she asked, betrayed into a movement of
+      curiosity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; my sister Clara, to whom he is as devoted as a mother, wrote to me
+      that he had fallen in love this summer with a very pretty girl; but I have
+      had no further news of the affair. Would you believe that the poor boy
+      used to get up at five in the morning, and went off to settle his business
+      that he might be back by four o&rsquo;clock in the country where the lady was?
+      In fact, he ruined a very nice thoroughbred that I had just given him.
+      Forgive my chatter, mademoiselle; I have but just come home from Germany.
+      For a year I have heard no decent French, I have been weaned from French
+      faces, and satiated with Germans, to such a degree that, I believe, in my
+      patriotic mania, I could talk to the chimeras on a French candlestick. And
+      if I talk with a lack of reserve unbecoming in a diplomatist, the fault is
+      yours, mademoiselle. Was it not you who pointed out my brother? When he is
+      the theme I become inexhaustible. I should like to proclaim to all the
+      world how good and generous he is. He gave up no less than a hundred
+      thousand francs a year, the income from the Longueville property.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      If Mademoiselle de Fontaine had the benefit of these important
+      revelations, it was partly due to the skill with which she continued to
+      question her confiding partner from the moment when she found that he was
+      the brother of her scorned lover.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And could you, without being grieved, see your brother selling muslin and
+      calico?&rdquo; asked Emilie, at the end of the third figure of the quadrille.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that?&rdquo; asked the attache. &ldquo;Thank God, though I pour out a
+      flood of words, I have already acquired the art of not telling more than I
+      intend, like all the other diplomatic apprentices I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You told me, I assure you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de Longueville looked at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with a surprise
+      that was full of perspicacity. A suspicion flashed upon him. He glanced
+      inquiringly from his brother to his partner, guessed everything, clasped
+      his hands, fixed his eyes on the ceiling, and began to laugh, saying, &ldquo;I
+      am an idiot! You are the handsomest person here; my brother keeps stealing
+      glances at you; he is dancing in spite of his illness, and you pretend not
+      to see him. Make him happy,&rdquo; he added, as he led her back to her old
+      uncle. &ldquo;I shall not be jealous, but I shall always shiver a little at
+      calling you my sister&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The lovers, however, were to prove as inexorable to each other as they
+      were to themselves. At about two in the morning, refreshments were served
+      in an immense corridor, where, to leave persons of the same coterie free
+      to meet each other, the tables were arranged as in a restaurant. By one of
+      those accidents which always happen to lovers, Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      found herself at a table next to that at which the more important guests
+      were seated. Maximilien was of the group. Emilie, who lent an attentive
+      ear to her neighbors&rsquo; conversation, overheard one of those dialogues into
+      which a young woman so easily falls with a young man who has the grace and
+      style of Maximilien Longueville. The lady talking to the young banker was
+      a Neapolitan duchess, whose eyes shot lightning flashes, and whose skin
+      had the sheen of satin. The intimate terms on which Longueville affected
+      to be with her stung Mademoiselle de Fontaine all the more because she had
+      just given her lover back twenty times as much tenderness as she had ever
+      felt for him before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, monsieur, in my country true love can make every kind of sacrifice,&rdquo;
+       the Duchess was saying, in a simper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have more passion than Frenchwomen,&rdquo; said Maximilien, whose burning
+      gaze fell on Emilie. &ldquo;They are all vanity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur,&rdquo; Emilie eagerly interposed, &ldquo;is it not very wrong to calumniate
+      your own country? Devotion is to be found in every nation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you imagine, mademoiselle,&rdquo; retorted the Italian, with a sardonic
+      smile, &ldquo;that a Parisian would be capable of following her lover all over
+      the world?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, madame, let us understand each other. She would follow him to a
+      desert and live in a tent but not to sit in a shop.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A disdainful gesture completed her meaning. Thus, under the influence of
+      her disastrous education, Emile for the second time killed her budding
+      happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien&rsquo;s apparent
+      indifference, and a woman&rsquo;s smile, had wrung from her one of those
+      sarcasms whose treacherous zest always let her astray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; said Longueville, in a low voice, under cover of the noise
+      made by the ladies as they rose from the table, &ldquo;no one will ever more
+      ardently desire your happiness than I; permit me to assure you of this, as
+      I am taking leave of you. I am starting for Italy in a few days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With a Duchess, no doubt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but perhaps with a mortal blow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is not that pure fancy?&rdquo; asked Emilie, with an anxious glance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;There are wounds which never heal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not to go,&rdquo; said the girl, imperiously, and she smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall go,&rdquo; replied Maximilien, gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will find me married on your return, I warn you,&rdquo; she said
+      coquettishly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impertinent wretch!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;How cruel a revenge!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A fortnight later Maximilien set out with his sister Clara for the warm
+      and poetic scenes of beautiful Italy, leaving Mademoiselle de Fontaine a
+      prey to the most vehement regret. The young Secretary to the Embassy took
+      up his brother&rsquo;s quarrel, and contrived to take signal vengeance on
+      Emilie&rsquo;s disdain by making known the occasion of the lovers&rsquo; separation.
+      He repaid his fair partner with interest all the sarcasm with which she
+      had formerly attacked Maximilien, and often made more than one Excellency
+      smile by describing the fair foe of the counting-house, the amazon who
+      preached a crusade against bankers, the young girl whose love had
+      evaporated before a bale of muslin. The Comte de Fontaine was obliged to
+      use his influence to procure an appointment to Russia for Auguste
+      Longueville in order to protect his daughter from the ridicule heaped upon
+      her by this dangerous young persecutor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not long after, the Ministry being compelled to raise a levy of peers to
+      support the aristocratic party, trembling in the Upper Chamber under the
+      lash of an illustrious writer, gave Monsieur Guiraudin de Longueville a
+      peerage, with the title of Vicomte. Monsieur de Fontaine also obtained a
+      peerage, the reward due as much to his fidelity in evil days as to his
+      name, which claimed a place in the hereditary Chamber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About this time Emilie, now of age, made, no doubt, some serious
+      reflections on life, for her tone and manners changed perceptibly. Instead
+      of amusing herself by saying spiteful things to her uncle, she lavished on
+      him the most affectionate attentions; she brought him his stick with a
+      persevering devotion that made the cynical smile, she gave him her arm,
+      rode in his carriage, and accompanied him in all his drives; she even
+      persuaded him that she liked the smell of tobacco, and read him his
+      favorite paper La Quotidienne in the midst of clouds of smoke, which the
+      malicious old sailor intentionally blew over her; she learned piquet to be
+      a match for the old count; and this fantastic damsel even listened without
+      impatience to his periodical narratives of the battles of the Belle-Poule,
+      the manoeuvres of the Ville de Paris, M. de Suffren&rsquo;s first expedition, or
+      the battle of Aboukir.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Though the old sailor had often said that he knew his longitude and
+      latitude too well to allow himself to be captured by a young corvette, one
+      fine morning Paris drawing-rooms heard the news of the marriage of
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine to the Comte de Kergarouet. The young Countess
+      gave splendid entertainments to drown thought; but she, no doubt, found a
+      void at the bottom of the whirlpool; luxury was ineffectual to disguise
+      the emptiness and grief of her sorrowing soul; for the most part, in spite
+      of the flashes of assumed gaiety, her beautiful face expressed unspoken
+      melancholy. Emilie appeared, however, full of attentions and consideration
+      for her old husband, who, on retiring to his rooms at night, to the sounds
+      of a lively band, would often say, &ldquo;I do not know myself. Was I to wait
+      till the age of seventy-two to embark as pilot on board the Belle Emilie
+      after twenty years of matrimonial galleys?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The conduct of the young Countess was marked by such strictness that the
+      most clear-sighted criticism had no fault to find with her. Lookers on
+      chose to think that the vice-admiral had reserved the right of disposing
+      of his fortune to keep his wife more tightly in hand; but this was a
+      notion as insulting to the uncle as to the niece. Their conduct was indeed
+      so delicately judicious that the men who were most interested in guessing
+      the secrets of the couple could never decide whether the old Count
+      regarded her as a wife or as a daughter. He was often heard to say that he
+      had rescued his niece as a castaway after shipwreck; and that, for his
+      part, he had never taken a mean advantage of hospitality when he had saved
+      an enemy from the fury of the storm. Though the Countess aspired to reign
+      in Paris and tried to keep pace with Mesdames the Duchesses de
+      Maufrigneuse and du Chaulieu, the Marquises d&rsquo;Espard and d&rsquo;Aiglemont, the
+      Comtesses Feraud, de Montcornet, and de Restaud, Madame de Camps, and
+      Mademoiselle des Touches, she did not yield to the addresses of the young
+      Vicomte de Portenduere, who made her his idol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two years after her marriage, in one of the old drawing-rooms in the
+      Faubourg Saint-Germain, where she was admired for her character, worthy of
+      the old school, Emilie heard the Vicomte de Longueville announced. In the
+      corner of the room where she was sitting, playing piquet with the Bishop
+      of Persepolis, her agitation was not observed; she turned her head and saw
+      her former lover come in, in all the freshness of youth. His father&rsquo;s
+      death, and then that of his brother, killed by the severe climate of
+      Saint-Petersburg, had placed on Maximilien&rsquo;s head the hereditary plumes of
+      the French peer&rsquo;s hat. His fortune matched his learning and his merits;
+      only the day before his youthful and fervid eloquence had dazzled the
+      Assembly. At this moment he stood before the Countess, free, and graced
+      with all the advantages she had formerly required of her ideal. Every
+      mother with a daughter to marry made amiable advances to a man gifted with
+      the virtues which they attributed to him, as they admired his attractive
+      person; but Emilie knew, better than any one, that the Vicomte de
+      Longueville had the steadfast nature in which a wise woman sees a
+      guarantee of happiness. She looked at the admiral who, to use his favorite
+      expression, seemed likely to hold his course for a long time yet, and
+      cursed the follies of her youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment Monsieur de Persepolis said with Episcopal grace: &ldquo;Fair
+      lady, you have thrown away the king of hearts&mdash;I have won. But do not
+      regret your money. I keep it for my little seminaries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      PARIS, December 1829.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /><a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      ADDENDUM
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Beaudenord, Godefroid de
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+
+     Dudley, Lady Arabella
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       Letters of Two Brides
+
+     Fontaine, Comte de
+       The Chouans
+       Modeste Mignon
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Kergarouet, Comte de
+       The Purse
+       Ursule Mirouet
+
+     Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
+       The Chouans
+       The Seamy Side of History
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       Scenes from a Courtesan&rsquo;s Life
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Colonel Chabert
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Manerville, Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de
+       The Thirteen
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       A Marriage Settlement
+
+     Marsay, Henri de
+       The Thirteen
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Father Goriot
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Marriage Settlement
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       Modest Mignon
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+     Palma (banker)
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Gobseck
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+
+     Portenduere, Vicomte Savinien de
+       Scenes from a Courtesan&rsquo;s Life
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       Beatrix
+
+     Rastignac, Eugene de
+       Father Goriot
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Scenes from a Courtesan&rsquo;s Life
+       The Interdiction
+       A Study of Woman
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cousin Betty
+       The Member for Arcis
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+
+     Vandenesse, Marquise Charles de (Emilie de Fontaine)
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Daughter of Eve
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+  <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1305 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #1305 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1305)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ball at Sceaux, by Honore de Balzac
+
+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: The Ball at Sceaux
+
+Author: Honore de Balzac
+
+Translator: Clara Bell
+
+Release Date: May, 1998  [Etext #1305]
+Posting Date: February 22, 2010
+Last Updated: November 21, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BALL AT SCEAUX ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dagny
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+
+
+BY HONORE DE BALZAC
+
+
+
+Translated By Clara Bell
+
+
+
+              To Henri de Balzac, his brother Honore.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+
+
+The Comte de Fontaine, head of one of the oldest families in Poitou, had
+served the Bourbon cause with intelligence and bravery during the war
+in La Vendee against the Republic. After having escaped all the dangers
+which threatened the royalist leaders during this stormy period of
+modern history, he was wont to say in jest, “I am one of the men who
+gave themselves to be killed on the steps of the throne.” And the
+pleasantry had some truth in it, as spoken by a man left for dead at the
+bloody battle of Les Quatre Chemins. Though ruined by confiscation, the
+staunch Vendeen steadily refused the lucrative posts offered to him
+by the Emperor Napoleon. Immovable in his aristocratic faith, he had
+blindly obeyed its precepts when he thought it fitting to choose
+a companion for life. In spite of the blandishments of a rich but
+revolutionary parvenu, who valued the alliance at a high figure, he
+married Mademoiselle de Kergarouet, without a fortune, but belonging to
+one of the oldest families in Brittany.
+
+When the second revolution burst on Monsieur de Fontaine he was
+encumbered with a large family. Though it was no part of the noble
+gentlemen’s views to solicit favors, he yielded to his wife’s wish, left
+his country estate, of which the income barely sufficed to maintain his
+children, and came to Paris. Saddened by seeing the greediness of his
+former comrades in the rush for places and dignities under the new
+Constitution, he was about to return to his property when he received a
+ministerial despatch, in which a well-known magnate announced to him his
+nomination as marechal de camp, or brigadier-general, under a rule
+which allowed the officers of the Catholic armies to count the twenty
+submerged years of Louis XVIII.’s reign as years of service. Some days
+later he further received, without any solicitation, ex officio, the
+crosses of the Legion of Honor and of Saint-Louis.
+
+Shaken in his determination by these successive favors, due, as he
+supposed, to the monarch’s remembrance, he was no longer satisfied with
+taking his family, as he had piously done every Sunday, to cry “Vive le
+Roi” in the hall of the Tuileries when the royal family passed through
+on their way to chapel; he craved the favor of a private audience.
+The audience, at once granted, was in no sense private. The royal
+drawing-room was full of old adherents, whose powdered heads, seen from
+above, suggested a carpet of snow. There the Count met some old friends,
+who received him somewhat coldly; but the princes he thought ADORABLE,
+an enthusiastic expression which escaped him when the most gracious of
+his masters, to whom the Count had supposed himself to be known only
+by name, came to shake hands with him, and spoke of him as the most
+thorough Vendeen of them all. Notwithstanding this ovation, none of
+these august persons thought of inquiring as to the sum of his losses,
+or of the money he had poured so generously into the chests of the
+Catholic regiments. He discovered, a little late, that he had made war
+at his own cost. Towards the end of the evening he thought he might
+venture on a witty allusion to the state of his affairs, similar, as
+it was, to that of many other gentlemen. His Majesty laughed heartily
+enough; any speech that bore the hall-mark of wit was certain to please
+him; but he nevertheless replied with one of those royal pleasantries
+whose sweetness is more formidable than the anger of a rebuke. One of
+the King’s most intimate advisers took an opportunity of going up to the
+fortune-seeking Vendeen, and made him understand by a keen and polite
+hint that the time had not yet come for settling accounts with the
+sovereign; that there were bills of much longer standing than his on the
+books, and there, no doubt, they would remain, as part of the history of
+the Revolution. The Count prudently withdrew from the venerable group,
+which formed a respectful semi-circle before the august family; then,
+having extricated his sword, not without some difficulty, from among the
+lean legs which had got mixed up with it, he crossed the courtyard of
+the Tuileries and got into the hackney cab he had left on the quay. With
+the restive spirit, which is peculiar to the nobility of the old school,
+in whom still survives the memory of the League and the day of the
+Barricades (in 1588), he bewailed himself in his cab, loudly enough
+to compromise him, over the change that had come over the Court.
+“Formerly,” he said to himself, “every one could speak freely to the
+King of his own little affairs; the nobles could ask him a favor, or for
+money, when it suited them, and nowadays one cannot recover the money
+advanced for his service without raising a scandal! By Heaven! the cross
+of Saint-Louis and the rank of brigadier-general will not make good the
+three hundred thousand livres I have spent, out and out, on the royal
+cause. I must speak to the King, face to face, in his own room.”
+
+This scene cooled Monsieur de Fontaine’s ardor all the more effectually
+because his requests for an interview were never answered. And,
+indeed, he saw the upstarts of the Empire obtaining some of the offices
+reserved, under the old monarchy, for the highest families.
+
+“All is lost!” he exclaimed one morning. “The King has certainly never
+been other than a revolutionary. But for Monsieur, who never derogates,
+and is some comfort to his faithful adherents, I do not know what hands
+the crown of France might not fall into if things are to go on
+like this. Their cursed constitutional system is the worst possible
+government, and can never suit France. Louis XVIII. and Monsieur Beugnot
+spoiled everything at Saint Ouen.”
+
+The Count, in despair, was preparing to retire to his estate,
+abandoning, with dignity, all claims to repayment. At this moment
+the events of the 20th March (1815) gave warning of a fresh storm,
+threatening to overwhelm the legitimate monarch and his defenders.
+Monsieur de Fontaine, like one of those generous souls who do not
+dismiss a servant in a torrent of rain; borrowed on his lands to
+follow the routed monarchy, without knowing whether this complicity in
+emigration would prove more propitious to him than his past devotion.
+But when he perceived that the companions of the King’s exile were
+in higher favor than the brave men who had protested, sword in hand,
+against the establishment of the republic, he may perhaps have hoped to
+derive greater profit from this journey into a foreign land than from
+active and dangerous service in the heart of his own country. Nor was
+his courtier-like calculation one of these rash speculations which
+promise splendid results on paper, and are ruinous in effect. He was--to
+quote the wittiest and most successful of our diplomates--one of the
+faithful five hundred who shared the exile of the Court at Ghent,
+and one of the fifty thousand who returned with it. During the short
+banishment of royalty, Monsieur de Fontaine was so happy as to be
+employed by Louis XVIII., and found more than one opportunity of giving
+him proofs of great political honesty and sincere attachment. One
+evening, when the King had nothing better to do, he recalled Monsieur de
+Fontaine’s witticism at the Tuileries. The old Vendeen did not let such
+a happy chance slip; he told his history with so much vivacity that
+a king, who never forgot anything, might remember it at a convenient
+season. The royal amateur of literature also observed the elegant style
+given to some notes which the discreet gentleman had been invited to
+recast. This little success stamped Monsieur de Fontaine on the King’s
+memory as one of the loyal servants of the Crown.
+
+At the second restoration the Count was one of those special envoys who
+were sent throughout the departments charged with absolute jurisdiction
+over the leaders of revolt; but he used his terrible powers with
+moderation. As soon as the temporary commission was ended, the High
+Provost found a seat in the Privy Council, became a deputy, spoke
+little, listened much, and changed his opinions very considerably.
+Certain circumstances, unknown to historians, brought him into such
+intimate relations with the Sovereign, that one day, as he came in, the
+shrewd monarch addressed him thus: “My friend Fontaine, I shall take
+care never to appoint you to be director-general, or minister. Neither
+you nor I, as employees, could keep our place on account of our opinions.
+Representative government has this advantage; it saves Us the trouble We
+used to have, of dismissing Our Secretaries of State. Our Council is
+a perfect inn-parlor, whither public opinion sometimes sends strange
+travelers; however, We can always find a place for Our faithful
+adherents.”
+
+This ironical speech was introductory to a rescript giving Monsieur de
+Fontaine an appointment as administrator in the office of Crown lands.
+As a consequence of the intelligent attention with which he listened to
+his royal Friend’s sarcasms, his name always rose to His Majesty’s
+lips when a commission was to be appointed of which the members were
+to receive a handsome salary. He had the good sense to hold his tongue
+about the favor with which he was honored, and knew how to entertain the
+monarch in those familiar chats in which Louis XVIII. delighted as
+much as in a well-written note, by his brilliant manner of
+repeating political anecdotes, and the political or parliamentary
+tittle-tattle--if the expression may pass--which at that time was rife.
+It is well known that he was immensely amused by every detail of his
+Gouvernementabilite--a word adopted by his facetious Majesty.
+
+Thanks to the Comte de Fontaine’s good sense, wit, and tact, every
+member of his numerous family, however young, ended, as he jestingly
+told his Sovereign, in attaching himself like a silkworm to the leaves
+of the Pay-List. Thus, by the King’s intervention, his eldest son
+found a high and fixed position as a lawyer. The second, before the
+restoration a mere captain, was appointed to the command of a legion on
+the return from Ghent; then, thanks to the confusion of 1815, when the
+regulations were evaded, he passed into the bodyguard, returned to a
+line regiment, and found himself after the affair of the Trocadero
+a lieutenant-general with a commission in the Guards. The youngest,
+appointed sous-prefet, ere long became a legal official and director of
+a municipal board of the city of Paris, where he was safe from changes
+in Legislature. These bounties, bestowed without parade, and as secret
+as the favor enjoyed by the Count, fell unperceived. Though the father
+and his three sons each had sinecures enough to enjoy an income in
+salaries almost equal to that of a chief of department, their political
+good fortune excited no envy. In those early days of the constitutional
+system, few persons had very precise ideas of the peaceful domain of the
+civil service, where astute favorites managed to find an equivalent for
+the demolished abbeys. Monsieur le Comte de Fontaine, who till lately
+boasted that he had not read the Charter, and displayed such indignation
+at the greed of courtiers, had, before long, proved to his august
+master that he understood, as well as the King himself, the spirit
+and resources of the representative system. At the same time,
+notwithstanding the established careers open to his three sons, and the
+pecuniary advantages derived from four official appointments,
+Monsieur de Fontaine was the head of too large a family to be able to
+re-establish his fortune easily and rapidly.
+
+His three sons were rich in prospects, in favor, and in talent; but
+he had three daughters, and was afraid of wearying the monarch’s
+benevolence. It occurred to him to mention only one by one, these
+virgins eager to light their torches. The King had too much good
+taste to leave his work incomplete. The marriage of the eldest with a
+Receiver-General, Planat de Baudry, was arranged by one of those royal
+speeches which cost nothing and are worth millions. One evening, when
+the Sovereign was out of spirits, he smiled on hearing of the existence
+of another Demoiselle de Fontaine, for whom he found a husband in the
+person of a young magistrate, of inferior birth, no doubt, but wealthy,
+and whom he created Baron. When, the year after, the Vendeen spoke of
+Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, the King replied in his thin sharp
+tones, “Amicus Plato sed magis amica Natio.” Then, a few days later, he
+treated his “friend Fontaine” to a quatrain, harmless enough, which
+he styled an epigram, in which he made fun of these three daughters so
+skilfully introduced, under the form of a trinity. Nay, if report is to
+be believed, the monarch had found the point of the jest in the Unity of
+the three Divine Persons.
+
+“If your Majesty would only condescend to turn the epigram into an
+epithalamium?” said the Count, trying to turn the sally to good account.
+
+“Though I see the rhyme of it, I fail to see the reason,” retorted the
+King, who did not relish any pleasantry, however mild, on the subject of
+his poetry.
+
+From that day his intercourse with Monsieur de Fontaine showed less
+amenity. Kings enjoy contradicting more than people think. Like most
+youngest children, Emilie de Fontaine was a Benjamin spoilt by almost
+everybody. The King’s coolness, therefore, caused the Count all the more
+regret, because no marriage was ever so difficult to arrange as that of
+this darling daughter. To understand all the obstacles we must make our
+way into the fine residence where the official was housed at the expense
+of the nation. Emilie had spent her childhood on the family estate,
+enjoying the abundance which suffices for the joys of early youth; her
+lightest wishes had been law to her sisters, her brothers, her mother,
+and even her father. All her relations doted on her. Having come to
+years of discretion just when her family was loaded with the favors of
+fortune, the enchantment of life continued. The luxury of Paris seemed
+to her just as natural as a wealth of flowers or fruit, or as the
+rural plenty which had been the joy of her first years. Just as in her
+childhood she had never been thwarted in the satisfaction of her playful
+desires, so now, at fourteen, she was still obeyed when she rushed into
+the whirl of fashion.
+
+Thus, accustomed by degrees to the enjoyment of money, elegance of
+dress, of gilded drawing-rooms and fine carriages, became as necessary
+to her as the compliments of flattery, sincere or false, and the
+festivities and vanities of court life. Like most spoiled children,
+she tyrannized over those who loved her, and kept her blandishments for
+those who were indifferent. Her faults grew with her growth, and her
+parents were to gather the bitter fruits of this disastrous education.
+At the age of nineteen Emilie de Fontaine had not yet been pleased to
+make a choice from among the many young men whom her father’s politics
+brought to his entertainments. Though so young, she asserted in society
+all the freedom of mind that a married woman can enjoy. Her beauty was
+so remarkable that, for her, to appear in a room was to be its queen;
+but, like sovereigns, she had no friends, though she was everywhere the
+object of attentions to which a finer nature than hers might perhaps
+have succumbed. Not a man, not even an old man, had it in him to
+contradict the opinions of a young girl whose lightest look could
+rekindle love in the coldest heart.
+
+She had been educated with a care which her sisters had not enjoyed;
+painted pretty well, spoke Italian and English, and played the piano
+brilliantly; her voice, trained by the best masters, had a ring in it
+which made her singing irresistibly charming. Clever, and intimate with
+every branch of literature, she might have made folks believe that,
+as Mascarille says, people of quality come into the world knowing
+everything. She could argue fluently on Italian or Flemish painting, on
+the Middle Ages or the Renaissance; pronounced at haphazard on books new
+or old, and could expose the defects of a work with a cruelly graceful
+wit. The simplest thing she said was accepted by an admiring crowd as a
+fetfah of the Sultan by the Turks. She thus dazzled shallow persons; as
+to deeper minds, her natural tact enabled her to discern them, and for
+them she put forth so much fascination that, under cover of her charms,
+she escaped their scrutiny. This enchanting veneer covered a careless
+heart; the opinion--common to many young girls--that no one else dwelt
+in a sphere so lofty as to be able to understand the merits of her
+soul; and a pride based no less on her birth than on her beauty. In
+the absence of the overwhelming sentiment which, sooner or later, works
+havoc in a woman’s heart, she spent her young ardor in an immoderate
+love of distinctions, and expressed the deepest contempt for persons of
+inferior birth. Supremely impertinent to all newly-created nobility, she
+made every effort to get her parents recognized as equals by the most
+illustrious families of the Saint-Germain quarter.
+
+These sentiments had not escaped the observing eye of Monsieur de
+Fontaine, who more than once, when his two elder girls were married, had
+smarted under Emilie’s sarcasm. Logical readers will be surprised to see
+the old Royalist bestowing his eldest daughter on a Receiver-General,
+possessed, indeed, of some old hereditary estates, but whose name
+was not preceded by the little word to which the throne owed so many
+partisans, and his second to a magistrate too lately Baronified to
+obscure the fact that his father had sold firewood. This noteworthy
+change in the ideas of a noble on the verge of his sixtieth year--an age
+when men rarely renounce their convictions--was due not merely to his
+unfortunate residence in the modern Babylon, where, sooner or later,
+country folks all get their corners rubbed down; the Comte de Fontaine’s
+new political conscience was also a result of the King’s advice and
+friendship. The philosophical prince had taken pleasure in converting
+the Vendeen to the ideas required by the advance of the nineteenth
+century, and the new aspect of the Monarchy. Louis XVIII. aimed at
+fusing parties as Napoleon had fused things and men. The legitimate
+King, who was not less clever perhaps than his rival, acted in a
+contrary direction. The last head of the House of Bourbon was just as
+eager to satisfy the third estate and the creations of the Empire, by
+curbing the clergy, as the first of the Napoleons had been to attract
+the grand old nobility, or to endow the Church. The Privy Councillor,
+being in the secret of these royal projects, had insensibly become one
+of the most prudent and influential leaders of that moderate party which
+most desired a fusion of opinion in the interests of the nation. He
+preached the expensive doctrines of constitutional government, and lent
+all his weight to encourage the political see-saw which enabled his
+master to rule France in the midst of storms. Perhaps Monsieur de
+Fontaine hoped that one of the sudden gusts of legislation, whose
+unexpected efforts then startled the oldest politicians, might carry
+him up to the rank of peer. One of his most rigid principles was to
+recognize no nobility in France but that of the peerage--the only
+families that might enjoy any privileges.
+
+“A nobility bereft of privileges,” he would say, “is a tool without a
+handle.”
+
+As far from Lafayette’s party as he was from La Bourdonnaye’s, he
+ardently engaged in the task of general reconciliation, which was to
+result in a new era and splendid fortunes for France. He strove to
+convince the families who frequented his drawing-room, or those whom
+he visited, how few favorable openings would henceforth be offered by a
+civil or military career. He urged mothers to give their boys a start in
+independent and industrial professions, explaining that military posts
+and high Government appointments must at last pertain, in a quite
+constitutional order, to the younger sons of members of the peerage.
+According to him, the people had conquered a sufficiently large share
+in practical government by its elective assembly, its appointments to
+law-offices, and those of the exchequer, which, said he, would always,
+as heretofore, be the natural right of the distinguished men of the
+third estate.
+
+These new notions of the head of the Fontaines, and the prudent matches
+for his eldest girls to which they had led, met with strong resistance
+in the bosom of his family. The Comtesse de Fontaine remained faithful
+to the ancient beliefs which no woman could disown, who, through her
+mother, belonged to the Rohans. Although she had for a while opposed
+the happiness and fortune awaiting her two eldest girls, she yielded
+to those private considerations which husband and wife confide to each
+other when their heads are resting on the same pillow. Monsieur de
+Fontaine calmly pointed out to his wife, by exact arithmetic that their
+residence in Paris, the necessity for entertaining, the magnificence of
+the house which made up to them now for the privations so bravely shared
+in La Vendee, and the expenses of their sons, swallowed up the chief
+part of their income from salaries. They must therefore seize, as a boon
+from heaven, the opportunities which offered for settling their girls
+with such wealth. Would they not some day enjoy sixty--eighty--a hundred
+thousand francs a year? Such advantageous matches were not to be met
+with every day for girls without a portion. Again, it was time that they
+should begin to think of economizing, to add to the estate of Fontaine,
+and re-establish the old territorial fortune of the family. The Countess
+yielded to such cogent arguments, as every mother would have done in her
+place, though perhaps with a better grace; but she declared that Emilie,
+at any rate, should marry in such a way as to satisfy the pride she had
+unfortunately contributed to foster in the girl’s young soul.
+
+Thus events, which ought to have brought joy into the family, had
+introduced a small leaven of discord. The Receiver-General and the young
+lawyer were the objects of a ceremonious formality which the Countess
+and Emilie contrived to create. This etiquette soon found even ampler
+opportunity for the display of domestic tyranny; for Lieutenant-General
+de Fontaine married Mademoiselle Mongenod, the daughter of a rich
+banker; the President very sensibly found a wife in a young lady whose
+father, twice or thrice a millionaire, had traded in salt; and the
+third brother, faithful to his plebeian doctrines, married Mademoiselle
+Grossetete, the only daughter of the Receiver-General at Bourges. The
+three sisters-in-law and the two brothers-in-law found the high
+sphere of political bigwigs, and the drawing-rooms of the Faubourg
+Saint-Germain, so full of charm and of personal advantages, that they
+united in forming a little court round the overbearing Emilie. This
+treaty between interest and pride was not, however, so firmly cemented
+but that the young despot was, not unfrequently, the cause of revolts
+in her little realm. Scenes, which the highest circles would not have
+disowned, kept up a sarcastic temper among all the members of this
+powerful family; and this, without seriously diminishing the regard they
+professed in public, degenerated sometimes in private into sentiments
+far from charitable. Thus the Lieutenant-General’s wife, having become
+a Baronne, thought herself quite as noble as a Kergarouet, and imagined
+that her good hundred thousand francs a year gave her the right to be as
+impertinent as her sister-in-law Emilie, whom she would sometimes wish
+to see happily married, as she announced that the daughter of some peer
+of France had married Monsieur So-and-So with no title to his name. The
+Vicomtesse de Fontaine amused herself by eclipsing Emilie in the taste
+and magnificence that were conspicuous in her dress, her furniture, and
+her carriages. The satirical spirit in which her brothers and sisters
+sometimes received the claims avowed by Mademoiselle de Fontaine roused
+her to wrath that a perfect hailstorm of sharp sayings could hardly
+mitigate. So when the head of the family felt a slight chill in the
+King’s tacit and precarious friendship, he trembled all the more
+because, as a result of her sisters’ defiant mockery, his favorite
+daughter had never looked so high.
+
+In the midst of these circumstances, and at a moment when this petty
+domestic warfare had become serious, the monarch, whose favor Monsieur
+de Fontaine still hoped to regain, was attacked by the malady of which
+he was to die. The great political chief, who knew so well how to steer
+his bark in the midst of tempests, soon succumbed. Certain then of
+favors to come, the Comte de Fontaine made every effort to collect the
+elite of marrying men about his youngest daughter. Those who may
+have tried to solve the difficult problem of settling a haughty and
+capricious girl, will understand the trouble taken by the unlucky
+father. Such an affair, carried out to the liking of his beloved child,
+would worthily crown the career the Count had followed for these ten
+years at Paris. From the way in which his family claimed salaries under
+every department, it might be compared with the House of Austria, which,
+by intermarriage, threatens to pervade Europe. The old Vendeen was
+not to be discouraged in bringing forward suitors, so much had he his
+daughter’s happiness at heart, but nothing could be more absurd than
+the way in which the impertinent young thing pronounced her verdicts and
+judged the merits of her adorers. It might have been supposed that, like
+a princess in the Arabian Nights, Emilie was rich enough and beautiful
+enough to choose from among all the princes in the world. Her objections
+were each more preposterous than the last: one had too thick knees and
+was bow-legged, another was short-sighted, this one’s name was Durand,
+that one limped, and almost all were too fat. Livelier, more attractive,
+and gayer than ever after dismissing two or three suitors, she rushed
+into the festivities of the winter season, and to balls, where her keen
+eyes criticised the celebrities of the day, delighted in encouraging
+proposals which she invariably rejected.
+
+Nature had bestowed on her all the advantages needed for playing the
+part of Celimene. Tall and slight, Emilie de Fontaine could assume a
+dignified or a frolicsome mien at her will. Her neck was rather long,
+allowing her to affect beautiful attitudes of scorn and impertinence.
+She had cultivated a large variety of those turns of the head and
+feminine gestures, which emphasize so cruelly or so happily a hint of
+a smile. Fine black hair, thick and strongly-arched eyebrows, lent her
+countenance an expression of pride, to which her coquettish instincts
+and her mirror had taught her to add terror by a stare, or gentleness by
+the softness of her gaze, by the set of the gracious curve of her lips,
+by the coldness or the sweetness of her smile. When Emilie meant to
+conquer a heart, her pure voice did not lack melody; but she could
+also give it a sort of curt clearness when she was minded to paralyze a
+partner’s indiscreet tongue. Her colorless face and alabaster brow were
+like the limpid surface of a lake, which by turns is rippled by the
+impulse of a breeze and recovers its glad serenity when the air is
+still. More than one young man, a victim to her scorn, accused her of
+acting a part; but she justified herself by inspiring her detractors
+with the desire to please her, and then subjecting them to all her most
+contemptuous caprice. Among the young girls of fashion, not one knew
+better than she how to assume an air of reserve when a man of talent
+was introduced to her, or how to display the insulting politeness which
+treats an equal as an inferior, and to pour out her impertinence on all
+who tried to hold their heads on a level with hers. Wherever she went
+she seemed to be accepting homage rather than compliments, and even in
+a princess her airs and manner would have transformed the chair on which
+she sat into an imperial throne.
+
+Monsieur de Fontaine discovered too late how utterly the education of
+the daughter he loved had been ruined by the tender devotion of the
+whole family. The admiration which the world is at first ready to bestow
+on a young girl, but for which, sooner or later, it takes its revenge,
+had added to Emilie’s pride, and increased her self-confidence.
+Universal subservience had developed in her the selfishness natural to
+spoilt children, who, like kings, make a plaything of everything that
+comes to hand. As yet the graces of youth and the charms of talent hid
+these faults from every eye; faults all the more odious in a woman,
+since she can only please by self-sacrifice and unselfishness; but
+nothing escapes the eye of a good father, and Monsieur de Fontaine
+often tried to explain to his daughter the more important pages of the
+mysterious book of life. Vain effort! He had to lament his daughter’s
+capricious indocility and ironical shrewdness too often to persevere
+in a task so difficult as that of correcting an ill-disposed nature. He
+contented himself with giving her from time to time some gentle and kind
+advice; but he had the sorrow of seeing his tenderest words slide from
+his daughter’s heart as if it were of marble. A father’s eyes are slow
+to be unsealed, and it needed more than one experience before the old
+Royalist perceived that his daughter’s rare caresses were bestowed on
+him with an air of condescension. She was like young children, who seem
+to say to their mother, “Make haste to kiss me, that I may go to play.”
+ In short, Emilie vouchsafed to be fond of her parents. But often, by
+those sudden whims, which seem inexplicable in young girls, she kept
+aloof and scarcely ever appeared; she complained of having to share her
+father’s and mother’s heart with too many people; she was jealous of
+every one, even of her brothers and sisters. Then, after creating a
+desert about her, the strange girl accused all nature of her unreal
+solitude and her wilful griefs. Strong in the experience of her twenty
+years, she blamed fate, because, not knowing that the mainspring of
+happiness is in ourselves, she demanded it of the circumstances of life.
+She would have fled to the ends of the earth to escape a marriage such
+as those of her two sisters, and nevertheless her heart was full of
+horrible jealousy at seeing them married, rich, and happy. In short, she
+sometimes led her mother--who was as much a victim to her vagaries as
+Monsieur de Fontaine--to suspect that she had a touch of madness.
+
+But such aberrations are quite inexplicable; nothing is commoner than
+this unconfessed pride developed in the heart of young girls belonging
+to families high in the social scale, and gifted by nature with great
+beauty. They are almost all convinced that their mothers, now forty or
+fifty years of age, can neither sympathize with their young souls, nor
+conceive of their imaginings. They fancy that most mothers, jealous of
+their girls, want to dress them in their own way with the premeditated
+purpose of eclipsing them or robbing them of admiration. Hence, often,
+secret tears and dumb revolt against supposed tyranny. In the midst of
+these woes, which become very real though built on an imaginary basis,
+they have also a mania for composing a scheme of life, while casting for
+themselves a brilliant horoscope; their magic consists in taking their
+dreams for reality; secretly, in their long meditations, they resolve
+to give their heart and hand to none but the man possessing this or the
+other qualification; and they paint in fancy a model to which, whether
+or no, the future lover must correspond. After some little experience
+of life, and the serious reflections that come with years, by dint of
+seeing the world and its prosaic round, by dint of observing unhappy
+examples, the brilliant hues of their ideal are extinguished. Then, one
+fine day, in the course of events, they are quite astonished to find
+themselves happy without the nuptial poetry of their day-dreams. It was
+on the strength of that poetry that Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine,
+in her slender wisdom, had drawn up a programme to which a suitor must
+conform to be excepted. Hence her disdain and sarcasm.
+
+“Though young and of an ancient family, he must be a peer of France,”
+ said she to herself. “I could not bear not to see my coat-of-arms on the
+panels of my carriage among the folds of azure mantling, not to drive
+like the princes down the broad walk of the Champs-Elysees on the days
+of Longchamps in Holy Week. Besides, my father says that it will someday
+be the highest dignity in France. He must be a soldier--but I reserve
+the right of making him retire; and he must bear an Order, that the
+sentries may present arms to us.”
+
+And these rare qualifications would count for nothing if this creature
+of fancy had not the most amiable temper, a fine figure, intelligence,
+and, above all, if he were not slender. To be lean, a personal grace
+which is but fugitive, especially under a representative government,
+was an indispensable condition. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had an ideal
+standard which was to be the model. A young man who at the first glance
+did not fulfil the requisite conditions did not even get a second look.
+
+“Good Heavens! see how fat he is!” was with her the utmost expression of
+contempt.
+
+To hear her, people of respectable corpulence were incapable of
+sentiment, bad husbands, and unfit for civilized society. Though it is
+esteemed a beauty in the East, to be fat seemed to her a misfortune
+for a woman; but in a man it was a crime. These paradoxical views were
+amusing, thanks to a certain liveliness of rhetoric. The Count felt
+nevertheless that by-and-by his daughter’s affections, of which the
+absurdity would be evident to some women who were not less clear-sighted
+than merciless, would inevitably become a subject of constant ridicule.
+He feared lest her eccentric notions should deviate into bad style. He
+trembled to think that the pitiless world might already be laughing at
+a young woman who remained so long on the stage without arriving at
+any conclusion of the drama she was playing. More than one actor in it,
+disgusted by a refusal, seemed to be waiting for the slightest turn
+of ill-luck to take his revenge. The indifferent, the lookers-on were
+beginning to weary of it; admiration is always exhausting to human
+beings. The old Vendeen knew better than any one that if there is an
+art in choosing the right moment for coming forward on the boards of the
+world, on those of the Court, in a drawing-room or on the stage, it is
+still more difficult to quit them in the nick of time. So during
+the first winter after the accession of Charles X., he redoubled his
+efforts, seconded by his three sons and his sons-in-law, to assemble in
+the rooms of his official residence the best matches which Paris and the
+various deputations from departments could offer. The splendor of his
+entertainments, the luxury of his dining-room, and his dinners, fragrant
+with truffles, rivaled the famous banquets by which the ministers of
+that time secured the vote of their parliamentary recruits.
+
+The Honorable Deputy was consequently pointed at as a most influential
+corrupter of the legislative honesty of the illustrious Chamber that was
+dying as it would seem of indigestion. A whimsical result! his efforts
+to get his daughter married secured him a splendid popularity. He
+perhaps found some covert advantage in selling his truffles twice over.
+This accusation, started by certain mocking Liberals, who made up by
+their flow of words for their small following in the Chamber, was not
+a success. The Poitevin gentleman had always been so noble and so
+honorable, that he was not once the object of those epigrams which the
+malicious journalism of the day hurled at the three hundred votes of the
+centre, at the Ministers, the cooks, the Directors-General, the princely
+Amphitryons, and the official supporters of the Villele Ministry.
+
+At the close of this campaign, during which Monsieur de Fontaine had on
+several occasions brought out all his forces, he believed that this time
+the procession of suitors would not be a mere dissolving view in his
+daughter’s eyes; that it was time she should make up her mind. He felt
+a certain inward satisfaction at having well fulfilled his duty as a
+father. And having left no stone unturned, he hoped that, among so many
+hearts laid at Emilie’s feet, there might be one to which her caprice
+might give a preference. Incapable of repeating such an effort, and
+tired, too, of his daughter’s conduct, one morning, towards the end
+of Lent, when the business at the Chamber did not demand his vote, he
+determined to ask what her views were. While his valet was artistically
+decorating his bald yellow head with the delta of powder which, with
+the hanging “ailes de pigeon,” completed his venerable style of
+hairdressing, Emilie’s father, not without some secret misgivings, told
+his old servant to go and desire the haughty damsel to appear in the
+presence of the head of the family.
+
+“Joseph,” he added, when his hair was dressed, “take away that towel,
+draw back the curtains, put those chairs square, shake the rug, and
+lay it quite straight. Dust everything.--Now, air the room a little by
+opening the window.”
+
+The Count multiplied his orders, putting Joseph out of breath, and the
+old servant, understanding his master’s intentions, aired and tidied the
+room, of course the least cared for of any in the house, and succeeded
+in giving a look of harmony to the files of bills, the letter-boxes, the
+books and furniture of this sanctum, where the interests of the royal
+demesnes were debated over. When Joseph had reduced this chaos to some
+sort of order, and brought to the front such things as might be most
+pleasing to the eye, as if it were a shop front, or such as by their
+color might give the effect of a kind of official poetry, he stood for a
+minute in the midst of the labyrinth of papers piled in some places even
+on the floor, admired his handiwork, jerked his head, and went.
+
+The anxious sinecure-holder did not share his retainer’s favorable
+opinion. Before seating himself in his deep chair, whose rounded back
+screened him from draughts, he looked round him doubtfully, examined
+his dressing-gown with a hostile expression, shook off a few grains of
+snuff, carefully wiped his nose, arranged the tongs and shovel, made the
+fire, pulled up the heels of his slippers, pulled out his little
+queue of hair which had lodged horizontally between the collar of
+his waistcoat and that of his dressing-gown restoring it to its
+perpendicular position; then he swept up the ashes of the hearth, which
+bore witness to a persistent catarrh. Finally, the old man did not
+settle himself till he had once more looked all over the room, hoping
+that nothing could give occasion to the saucy and impertinent remarks
+with which his daughter was apt to answer his good advice. On this
+occasion he was anxious not to compromise his dignity as a father. He
+daintily took a pinch of snuff, cleared his throat two or three times,
+as if he were about to demand a count out of the House; then he heard
+his daughter’s light step, and she came in humming an air from Il
+Barbiere.
+
+“Good-morning, papa. What do you want with me so early?” Having sung
+these words, as though they were the refrain of the melody, she kissed
+the Count, not with the familiar tenderness which makes a daughter’s
+love so sweet a thing, but with the light carelessness of a mistress
+confident of pleasing, whatever she may do.
+
+“My dear child,” said Monsieur de Fontaine, gravely, “I sent for you to
+talk to you very seriously about your future prospects. You are at this
+moment under the necessity of making such a choice of a husband as may
+secure your durable happiness----”
+
+“My good father,” replied Emilie, assuming her most coaxing tone of
+voice to interrupt him, “it strikes me that the armistice on which we
+agreed as to my suitors is not yet expired.”
+
+“Emilie, we must to-day forbear from jesting on so important a matter.
+For some time past the efforts of those who most truly love you, my dear
+child, have been concentrated on the endeavor to settle you suitably;
+and you would be guilty of ingratitude in meeting with levity those
+proofs of kindness which I am not alone in lavishing on you.”
+
+As she heard these words, after flashing a mischievously inquisitive
+look at the furniture of her father’s study, the young girl brought
+forward the armchair which looked as if it had been least used by
+petitioners, set it at the side of the fireplace so as to sit facing
+her father, and settled herself in so solemn an attitude that it was
+impossible not to read in it a mocking intention, crossing her arms over
+the dainty trimmings of a pelerine a la neige, and ruthlessly crushing
+its endless frills of white tulle. After a laughing side glance at her
+old father’s troubled face, she broke silence.
+
+“I never heard you say, my dear father, that the Government issued its
+instructions in its dressing-gown. However,” and she smiled, “that does
+not matter; the mob are probably not particular. Now, what are your
+proposals for legislation, and your official introductions?”
+
+“I shall not always be able to make them, headstrong girl!--Listen,
+Emilie. It is my intention no longer to compromise my reputation, which
+is part of my children’s fortune, by recruiting the regiment of dancers
+which, spring after spring, you put to rout. You have already been the
+cause of many dangerous misunderstandings with certain families. I hope
+to make you perceive more truly the difficulties of your position and of
+ours. You are two-and-twenty, my dear child, and you ought to have been
+married nearly three years since. Your brothers and your two sisters are
+richly and happily provided for. But, my dear, the expenses occasioned
+by these marriages, and the style of housekeeping you require of your
+mother, have made such inroads on our income that I can hardly promise
+you a hundred thousand francs as a marriage portion. From this day
+forth I shall think only of providing for your mother, who must not be
+sacrificed to her children. Emilie, if I were to be taken from my family
+Madame de Fontaine could not be left at anybody’s mercy, and ought to
+enjoy the affluence which I have given her too late as the reward of her
+devotion in my misfortunes. You see, my child, that the amount of your
+fortune bears no relation to your notions of grandeur. Even that
+would be such a sacrifice as I have not hitherto made for either of my
+children; but they have generously agreed not to expect in the future
+any compensation for the advantage thus given to a too favored child.”
+
+“In their position!” said Emilie, with an ironical toss of her head.
+
+“My dear, do not so depreciate those who love you. Only the poor are
+generous as a rule; the rich have always excellent reasons for not
+handing over twenty thousand francs to a relation. Come, my child, do
+not pout, let us talk rationally.--Among the young marrying men have you
+noticed Monsieur de Manerville?”
+
+“Oh, he minces his words--he says Zules instead of Jules; he is always
+looking at his feet, because he thinks them small, and he gazes at
+himself in the glass! Besides, he is fair. I don’t like fair men.”
+
+“Well, then, Monsieur de Beaudenord?”
+
+“He is not noble! he is ill made and stout. He is dark, it is true.--If
+the two gentlemen could agree to combine their fortunes, and the first
+would give his name and his figure to the second, who should keep his
+dark hair, then--perhaps----”
+
+“What can you say against Monsieur de Rastignac?”
+
+“Madame de Nucingen has made a banker of him,” she said with meaning.
+
+“And our cousin, the Vicomte de Portenduere?”
+
+“A mere boy, who dances badly; besides, he has no fortune. And, after
+all, papa, none of these people have titles. I want, at least, to be a
+countess like my mother.”
+
+“Have you seen no one, then, this winter----”
+
+“No, papa.”
+
+“What then do you want?”
+
+“The son of a peer of France.
+
+“My dear girl, you are mad!” said Monsieur de Fontaine, rising.
+
+But he suddenly lifted his eyes to heaven, and seemed to find a fresh
+fount of resignation in some religious thought; then, with a look of
+fatherly pity at his daughter, who herself was moved, he took her
+hand, pressed it, and said with deep feeling: “God is my witness, poor
+mistaken child, I have conscientiously discharged my duty to you as a
+father--conscientiously, do I say? Most lovingly, my Emilie. Yes, God
+knows! This winter I have brought before you more than one good man,
+whose character, whose habits, and whose temper were known to me, and
+all seemed worthy of you. My child, my task is done. From this day forth
+you are the arbiter of your fate, and I consider myself both happy
+and unhappy at finding myself relieved of the heaviest of paternal
+functions. I know not whether you will for any long time, now, hear a
+voice which, to you, has never been stern; but remember that conjugal
+happiness does not rest so much on brilliant qualities and ample fortune
+as on reciprocal esteem. This happiness is, in its nature, modest, and
+devoid of show. So now, my dear, my consent is given beforehand, whoever
+the son-in-law may be whom you introduce to me; but if you should be
+unhappy, remember you will have no right to accuse your father. I shall
+not refuse to take proper steps and help you, only your choice must be
+serious and final. I will never twice compromise the respect due to my
+white hairs.”
+
+The affection thus expressed by her father, the solemn tones of his
+urgent address, deeply touched Mademoiselle de Fontaine; but she
+concealed her emotion, seated herself on her father’s knees--for he had
+dropped all tremulous into his chair again--caressed him fondly, and
+coaxed him so engagingly that the old man’s brow cleared. As soon as
+Emilie thought that her father had got over his painful agitation,
+she said in a gentle voice: “I have to thank you for your graceful
+attention, my dear father. You have had your room set in order to
+receive your beloved daughter. You did not perhaps know that you would
+find her so foolish and so headstrong. But, papa, is it so difficult
+to get married to a peer of France? You declared that they were
+manufactured by dozens. At least, you will not refuse to advise me.”
+
+“No, my poor child, no;--and more than once I may have occasion to cry,
+‘Beware!’ Remember that the making of peers is so recent a force in our
+government machinery that they have no great fortunes. Those who are
+rich look to becoming richer. The wealthiest member of our peerage has
+not half the income of the least rich lord in the English Upper Chamber.
+Thus all the French peers are on the lookout for great heiresses for
+their sons, wherever they may meet with them. The necessity in which
+they find themselves of marrying for money will certainly exist for at
+least two centuries.
+
+“Pending such a fortunate accident as you long for--and this
+fastidiousness may cost you the best years of your life--your
+attractions might work a miracle, for men often marry for love in these
+days. When experience lurks behind so sweet a face as yours it
+may achieve wonders. In the first place, have you not the gift of
+recognizing virtue in the greater or smaller dimensions of a man’s body?
+This is no small matter! To so wise a young person as you are, I need
+not enlarge on all the difficulties of the enterprise. I am sure that
+you would never attribute good sense to a stranger because he had a
+handsome face, or all the virtues because he had a fine figure. And I am
+quite of your mind in thinking that the sons of peers ought to have an
+air peculiar to themselves, and perfectly distinctive manners. Though
+nowadays no external sign stamps a man of rank, those young men will
+have, perhaps, to you the indefinable something that will reveal it.
+Then, again, you have your heart well in hand, like a good horseman who
+is sure his steed cannot bolt. Luck be with you, my dear!”
+
+“You are making game of me, papa. Well, I assure you that I would rather
+die in Mademoiselle de Conde’s convent than not be the wife of a peer of
+France.”
+
+She slipped out of her father’s arms, and proud of being her own
+mistress, went off singing the air of Cara non dubitare, in the
+“Matrimonio Segreto.”
+
+As it happened, the family were that day keeping the anniversary of
+a family fete. At dessert Madame Planat, the Receiver-General’s wife,
+spoke with some enthusiasm of a young American owning an immense
+fortune, who had fallen passionately in love with her sister, and made
+through her the most splendid proposals.
+
+“A banker, I rather think,” observed Emilie carelessly. “I do not like
+money dealers.”
+
+“But, Emilie,” replied the Baron de Villaine, the husband of the Count’s
+second daughter, “you do not like lawyers either; so that if you refuse
+men of wealth who have not titles, I do not quite see in what class you
+are to choose a husband.”
+
+“Especially, Emilie, with your standard of slimness,” added the
+Lieutenant-General.
+
+“I know what I want,” replied the young lady.
+
+“My sister wants a fine name, a fine young man, fine prospects, and a
+hundred thousand francs a year,” said the Baronne de Fontaine. “Monsieur
+de Marsay, for instance.”
+
+“I know, my dear,” retorted Emilie, “that I do not mean to make such a
+foolish marriage as some I have seen. Moreover, to put an end to these
+matrimonial discussions, I hereby declare that I shall look on anyone
+who talks to me of marriage as a foe to my peace of mind.”
+
+An uncle of Emilie’s, a vice-admiral, whose fortune had just been
+increased by twenty thousand francs a year in consequence of the Act of
+Indemnity, and a man of seventy, feeling himself privileged to say hard
+things to his grand-niece, on whom he doted, in order to mollify the
+bitter tone of the discussion now exclaimed:
+
+“Do not tease my poor little Emilie; don’t you see she is waiting till
+the Duc de Bordeaux comes of age!”
+
+The old man’s pleasantry was received with general laughter.
+
+“Take care I don’t marry you, old fool!” replied the young girl, whose
+last words were happily drowned in the noise.
+
+“My dear children,” said Madame de Fontaine, to soften this saucy
+retort, “Emilie, like you, will take no advice but her mother’s.”
+
+“Bless me! I shall take no advice but my own in a matter which concerns
+no one but myself,” said Mademoiselle de Fontaine very distinctly.
+
+At this all eyes were turned to the head of the family. Every one seemed
+anxious as to what he would do to assert his dignity. The venerable
+gentleman enjoyed much consideration, not only in the world; happier
+than many fathers, he was also appreciated by his family, all its
+members having a just esteem for the solid qualities by which he had
+been able to make their fortunes. Hence he was treated with the deep
+respect which is shown by English families, and some aristocratic houses
+on the continent, to the living representatives of an ancient pedigree.
+Deep silence had fallen; and the guests looked alternately from the
+spoilt girl’s proud and sulky pout to the severe faces of Monsieur and
+Madame de Fontaine.
+
+“I have made my daughter Emilie mistress of her own fate,” was the reply
+spoken by the Count in a deep voice.
+
+Relations and guests gazed at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with mingled
+curiosity and pity. The words seemed to declare that fatherly affection
+was weary of the contest with a character that the whole family knew to
+be incorrigible. The sons-in-law muttered, and the brothers glanced at
+their wives with mocking smiles. From that moment every one ceased to
+take any interest in the haughty girl’s prospects of marriage. Her old
+uncle was the only person who, as an old sailor, ventured to stand on
+her tack, and take her broadsides, without ever troubling himself to
+return her fire.
+
+When the fine weather was settled, and after the budget was voted, the
+whole family--a perfect example of the parliamentary families on the
+northern side of the Channel who have a footing in every government
+department, and ten votes in the House of Commons--flew away like a
+brood of young birds to the charming neighborhoods of Aulnay, Antony,
+and Chatenay. The wealthy Receiver-General had lately purchased in this
+part of the world a country-house for his wife, who remained in Paris
+only during the session. Though the fair Emilie despised the commonalty,
+her feeling was not carried so far as to scorn the advantages of a
+fortune acquired in a profession; so she accompanied her sister to the
+sumptuous villa, less out of affection for the members of her family who
+were visiting there, than because fashion has ordained that every woman
+who has any self-respect must leave Paris in the summer. The green
+seclusion of Sceaux answered to perfection the requirements of good
+style and of the duties of an official position.
+
+As it is extremely doubtful that the fame of the “Bal de Sceaux” should
+ever have extended beyond the borders of the Department of the Seine, it
+will be necessary to give some account of this weekly festivity, which
+at that time was important enough to threaten to become an institution.
+The environs of the little town of Sceaux enjoy a reputation due to the
+scenery, which is considered enchanting. Perhaps it is quite ordinary,
+and owes its fame only to the stupidity of the Paris townsfolk, who,
+emerging from the stony abyss in which they are buried, would find
+something to admire in the flats of La Beauce. However, as the poetic
+shades of Aulnay, the hillsides of Antony, and the valley of the Bieve
+are peopled with artists who have traveled far, by foreigners who are
+very hard to please, and by a great many pretty women not devoid of
+taste, it is to be supposed that the Parisians are right. But Sceaux
+possesses another attraction not less powerful to the Parisian. In the
+midst of a garden whence there are delightful views, stands a large
+rotunda open on all sides, with a light, spreading roof supported on
+elegant pillars. This rural baldachino shelters a dancing-floor. The
+most stuck-up landowners of the neighborhood rarely fail to make an
+excursion thither once or twice during the season, arriving at this
+rustic palace of Terpsichore either in dashing parties on horseback,
+or in the light and elegant carriages which powder the philosophical
+pedestrian with dust. The hope of meeting some women of fashion, and
+of being seen by them--and the hope, less often disappointed, of seeing
+young peasant girls, as wily as judges--crowds the ballroom at
+Sceaux with numerous swarms of lawyers’ clerks, of the disciples of
+Aesculapius, and other youths whose complexions are kept pale and moist
+by the damp atmosphere of Paris back-shops. And a good many bourgeois
+marriages have had their beginning to the sound of the band occupying
+the centre of this circular ballroom. If that roof could speak, what
+love-stories could it not tell!
+
+This interesting medley gave the Sceaux balls at that time a spice of
+more amusement than those of two or three places of the same kind near
+Paris; and it had incontestable advantages in its rotunda, and the
+beauty of its situation and its gardens. Emilie was the first to
+express a wish to play at being COMMON FOLK at this gleeful suburban
+entertainment, and promised herself immense pleasure in mingling with
+the crowd. Everybody wondered at her desire to wander through such a
+mob; but is there not a keen pleasure to grand people in an incognito?
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine amused herself with imagining all these
+town-bred figures; she fancied herself leaving the memory of a
+bewitching glance and smile stamped on more than one shopkeeper’s heart,
+laughed beforehand at the damsels’ airs, and sharpened her pencils for
+the scenes she proposed to sketch in her satirical album. Sunday could
+not come soon enough to satisfy her impatience.
+
+The party from the Villa Planat set out on foot, so as not to betray
+the rank of the personages who were about to honor the ball with
+their presence. They dined early. And the month of May humored this
+aristocratic escapade by one of its finest evenings. Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine was quite surprised to find in the rotunda some quadrilles made
+up of persons who seemed to belong to the upper classes. Here and there,
+indeed, were some young men who look as though they must have saved for
+a month to shine for a day; and she perceived several couples whose
+too hearty glee suggested nothing conjugal; still, she could only glean
+instead of gathering a harvest. She was amused to see that pleasure in
+a cotton dress was so very like pleasure robed in satin, and that the
+girls of the middle class danced quite as well as ladies--nay, sometimes
+better. Most of the women were simply and suitably dressed. Those who
+in this assembly represented the ruling power, that is to say,
+the country-folk, kept apart with wonderful politeness. In fact,
+Mademoiselle Emilie had to study the various elements that composed the
+mixture before she could find any subject for pleasantry. But she had
+not time to give herself up to malicious criticism, or opportunity for
+hearing many of the startling speeches which caricaturists so gladly
+pick up. The haughty young lady suddenly found a flower in this wide
+field--the metaphor is reasonable--whose splendor and coloring worked
+on her imagination with all the fascination of novelty. It often happens
+that we look at a dress, a hanging, a blank sheet of paper, with so
+little heed that we do not at first detect a stain or a bright spot
+which afterwards strikes the eye as though it had come there at the
+very instant when we see it; and by a sort of moral phenomenon somewhat
+resembling this, Mademoiselle de Fontaine discovered in a young man the
+external perfection of which she had so long dreamed.
+
+Seated on one of the clumsy chairs which marked the boundary line of the
+circular floor, she had placed herself at the end of the row formed by
+the family party, so as to be able to stand up or push forward as her
+fancy moved her, treating the living pictures and groups in the hall as
+if she were in a picture gallery; impertinently turning her eye-glass
+on persons not two yards away, and making her remarks as though she
+were criticising or praising a study of a head, a painting of genre. Her
+eyes, after wandering over the vast moving picture, were suddenly caught
+by this figure, which seemed to have been placed on purpose in one
+corner of the canvas, and in the best light, like a person out of all
+proportion with the rest.
+
+The stranger, alone and absorbed in thought, leaned lightly against one
+of the columns that supported the roof; his arms were folded, and he
+leaned slightly on one side as though he had placed himself there to
+have his portrait taken by a painter. His attitude, though full of
+elegance and dignity, was devoid of affectation. Nothing suggested that
+he had half turned his head, and bent it a little to the right like
+Alexander, or Lord Byron, and some other great men, for the sole purpose
+of attracting attention. His fixed gaze followed a girl who was dancing,
+and betrayed some strong feeling. His slender, easy frame recalled the
+noble proportions of the Apollo. Fine black hair curled naturally over
+a high forehead. At a glance Mademoiselle de Fontaine observed that his
+linen was fine, his gloves fresh, and evidently bought of a good maker,
+and his feet were small and well shod in boots of Irish kid. He had none
+of the vulgar trinkets displayed by the dandies of the National Guard
+or the Lovelaces of the counting-house. A black ribbon, to which an
+eye-glass was attached, hung over a waistcoat of the most fashionable
+cut. Never had the fastidious Emilie seen a man’s eyes shaded by such
+long, curled lashes. Melancholy and passion were expressed in this face,
+and the complexion was of a manly olive hue. His mouth seemed ready
+to smile, unbending the corners of eloquent lips; but this, far from
+hinting at gaiety, revealed on the contrary a sort of pathetic grace.
+There was too much promise in that head, too much distinction in his
+whole person, to allow of one’s saying, “What a handsome man!” or “What
+a fine man!” One wanted to know him. The most clear-sighted observer, on
+seeing this stranger, could not have helped taking him for a clever man
+attracted to this rural festivity by some powerful motive.
+
+All these observations cost Emilie only a minute’s attention, during
+which the privileged gentleman under her severe scrutiny became the
+object of her secret admiration. She did not say to herself, “He must
+be a peer of France!” but “Oh, if only he is noble, and he surely must
+be----” Without finishing her thought, she suddenly rose, and followed
+by her brother the General, she made her way towards the column,
+affecting to watch the merry quadrille; but by a stratagem of the eye,
+familiar to women, she lost not a gesture of the young man as she went
+towards him. The stranger politely moved to make way for the newcomers,
+and went to lean against another pillar. Emilie, as much nettled by his
+politeness as she might have been by an impertinence, began talking to
+her brother in a louder voice than good taste enjoined; she turned and
+tossed her head, gesticulated eagerly, and laughed for no particular
+reason, less to amuse her brother than to attract the attention of the
+imperturbable stranger. None of her little arts succeeded. Mademoiselle
+de Fontaine then followed the direction in which his eyes were fixed,
+and discovered the cause of his indifference.
+
+In the midst of the quadrille, close in front of them, a pale girl
+was dancing; her face was like one of the divinities which Girodet has
+introduced into his immense composition of French Warriors received by
+Ossian. Emilie fancied that she recognized her as a distinguished milady
+who for some months had been living on a neighboring estate. Her partner
+was a lad of about fifteen, with red hands, and dressed in nankeen
+trousers, a blue coat, and white shoes, which showed that the damsel’s
+love of dancing made her easy to please in the matter of partners.
+Her movements did not betray her apparent delicacy, but a faint flush
+already tinged her white cheeks, and her complexion was gaining color.
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine went nearer, to be able to examine the young
+lady at the moment when she returned to her place, while the side
+couples in their turn danced the figure. But the stranger went up to the
+pretty dancer, and leaning over, said in a gentle but commanding tone:
+
+“Clara, my child, do not dance any more.”
+
+Clara made a little pouting face, bent her head, and finally smiled.
+When the dance was over, the young man wrapped her in a cashmere shawl
+with a lover’s care, and seated her in a place sheltered from the wind.
+Very soon Mademoiselle de Fontaine, seeing them rise and walk round
+the place as if preparing to leave, found means to follow them under
+pretence of admiring the views from the garden. Her brother lent himself
+with malicious good-humor to the divagations of her rather eccentric
+wanderings. Emilie then saw the attractive couple get into an elegant
+tilbury, by which stood a mounted groom in livery. At the moment when,
+from his high seat, the young man was drawing the reins even, she caught
+a glance from his eye such as a man casts aimlessly at the crowd; and
+then she enjoyed the feeble satisfaction of seeing him turn his head to
+look at her. The young lady did the same. Was it from jealousy?
+
+“I imagine you have now seen enough of the garden,” said her brother.
+“We may go back to the dancing.”
+
+“I am ready,” said she. “Do you think the girl can be a relation of Lady
+Dudley’s?”
+
+“Lady Dudley may have some male relation staying with her,” said the
+Baron de Fontaine; “but a young girl!--No!”
+
+Next day Mademoiselle de Fontaine expressed a wish to take a ride. Then
+she gradually accustomed her old uncle and her brothers to escorting her
+in very early rides, excellent, she declared for her health. She had a
+particular fancy for the environs of the hamlet where Lady Dudley was
+living. Notwithstanding her cavalry manoeuvres, she did not meet the
+stranger so soon as the eager search she pursued might have allowed her
+to hope. She went several times to the “Bal de Sceaux” without seeing
+the young Englishman who had dropped from the skies to pervade and
+beautify her dreams. Though nothing spurs on a young girl’s infant
+passion so effectually as an obstacle, there was a time when
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine was on the point of giving up her strange and
+secret search, almost despairing of the success of an enterprise whose
+singularity may give some idea of the boldness of her temper. In point
+of fact, she might have wandered long about the village of Chatenay
+without meeting her Unknown. The fair Clara--since that was the name
+Emilie had overheard--was not English, and the stranger who escorted her
+did not dwell among the flowery and fragrant bowers of Chatenay.
+
+One evening Emilie, out riding with her uncle, who, during the fine
+weather, had gained a fairly long truce from the gout, met Lady Dudley.
+The distinguished foreigner had with her in her open carriage Monsieur
+Vandenesse. Emilie recognized the handsome couple, and her suppositions
+were at once dissipated like a dream. Annoyed, as any woman must be
+whose expectations are frustrated, she touched up her horse so suddenly
+that her uncle had the greatest difficulty in following her, she had set
+off at such a pace.
+
+“I am too old, it would seem, to understand these youthful spirits,”
+ said the old sailor to himself as he put his horse to a canter; “or
+perhaps young people are not what they used to be. But what ails my
+niece? Now she is walking at a foot-pace like a gendarme on patrol in
+the Paris streets. One might fancy she wanted to outflank that worthy
+man, who looks to me like an author dreaming over his poetry, for he
+has, I think, a notebook in his hand. My word, I am a great simpleton!
+Is not that the very young man we are in search of!”
+
+At this idea the old admiral moderated his horse’s pace so as to follow
+his niece without making any noise. He had played too many pranks in the
+years 1771 and soon after, a time of our history when gallantry was held
+in honor, not to guess at once that by the merest chance Emilie had met
+the Unknown of the Sceaux gardens. In spite of the film which age had
+drawn over his gray eyes, the Comte de Kergarouet could recognize the
+signs of extreme agitation in his niece, under the unmoved expression
+she tried to give to her features. The girl’s piercing eyes were fixed
+in a sort of dull amazement on the stranger, who quietly walked on in
+front of her.
+
+“Ay, that’s it,” thought the sailor. “She is following him as a pirate
+follows a merchantman. Then, when she has lost sight of him, she will be
+in despair at not knowing who it is she is in love with, and whether he
+is a marquis or a shopkeeper. Really these young heads need an old fogy
+like me always by their side...”
+
+He unexpectedly spurred his horse in such a way as to make his niece’s
+bolt, and rode so hastily between her and the young man on foot that
+he obliged him to fall back on to the grassy bank which rose from the
+roadside. Then, abruptly drawing up, the Count exclaimed:
+
+“Couldn’t you get out of the way?”
+
+“I beg your pardon, monsieur. But I did not know that it lay with me to
+apologize to you because you almost rode me down.”
+
+“There, enough of that, my good fellow!” replied the sailor harshly, in
+a sneering tone that was nothing less than insulting. At the same time
+the Count raised his hunting-crop as if to strike his horse, and touched
+the young fellow’s shoulder, saying, “A liberal citizen is a reasoner;
+every reasoner should be prudent.”
+
+The young man went up the bankside as he heard the sarcasm; then he
+crossed his arms, and said in an excited tone of voice, “I cannot
+suppose, monsieur, as I look at your white hairs, that you still amuse
+yourself by provoking duels----”
+
+“White hairs!” cried the sailor, interrupting him. “You lie in your
+throat. They are only gray.”
+
+A quarrel thus begun had in a few seconds become so fierce that the
+younger man forgot the moderation he had tried to preserve. Just as the
+Comte de Kergarouet saw his niece coming back to them with every sign
+of the greatest uneasiness, he told his antagonist his name, bidding him
+keep silence before the young lady entrusted to his care. The stranger
+could not help smiling as he gave a visiting card to the old man,
+desiring him to observe that he was living at a country-house at
+Chevreuse; and, after pointing this out to him, he hurried away.
+
+“You very nearly damaged that poor young counter-jumper, my dear,” said
+the Count, advancing hastily to meet Emilie. “Do you not know how to
+hold your horse in?--And there you leave me to compromise my dignity in
+order to screen your folly; whereas if you had but stopped, one of your
+looks, or one of your pretty speeches--one of those you can make so
+prettily when you are not pert--would have set everything right, even if
+you had broken his arm.”
+
+“But, my dear uncle, it was your horse, not mine, that caused the
+accident. I really think you can no longer ride; you are not so good a
+horseman as you were last year.--But instead of talking nonsense----”
+
+“Nonsense, by Gad! Is it nothing to be so impertinent to your uncle?”
+
+“Ought we not to go on and inquire if the young man is hurt? He is
+limping, uncle, only look!”
+
+“No, he is running; I rated him soundly.”
+
+“Oh, yes, uncle; I know you there!”
+
+“Stop,” said the Count, pulling Emilie’s horse by the bridle, “I do not
+see the necessity of making advances to some shopkeeper who is only
+too lucky to have been thrown down by a charming young lady, or the
+commander of La Belle-Poule.”
+
+“Why do you think he is anything so common, my dear uncle? He seems to
+me to have very fine manners.”
+
+“Every one has manners nowadays, my dear.”
+
+“No, uncle, not every one has the air and style which come of the habit
+of frequenting drawing-rooms, and I am ready to lay a bet with you that
+the young man is of noble birth.”
+
+“You had not long to study him.”
+
+“No, but it is not the first time I have seen him.”
+
+“Nor is it the first time you have looked for him,” replied the admiral
+with a laugh.
+
+Emilie colored. Her uncle amused himself for some time with her
+embarrassment; then he said: “Emilie, you know that I love you as my own
+child, precisely because you are the only member of the family who has
+the legitimate pride of high birth. Devil take it, child, who could have
+believed that sound principles would become so rare? Well, I will be
+your confidant. My dear child, I see that his young gentleman is not
+indifferent to you. Hush! All the family would laugh at us if we sailed
+under the wrong flag. You know what that means. We two will keep our
+secret, and I promise to bring him straight into the drawing-room.”
+
+“When, uncle?”
+
+“To-morrow.”
+
+“But, my dear uncle, I am not committed to anything?”
+
+“Nothing whatever, and you may bombard him, set fire to him, and leave
+him to founder like an old hulk if you choose. He won’t be the first, I
+fancy?”
+
+“You ARE kind, uncle!”
+
+As soon as the Count got home he put on his glasses, quietly took
+the card out of his pocket, and read, “Maximilien Longueville, Rue de
+Sentier.”
+
+“Make yourself happy, my dear niece,” he said to Emilie, “you may
+hook him with any easy conscience; he belongs to one of our historical
+families, and if he is not a peer of France, he infallibly will be.”
+
+“How do you know so much?”
+
+“That is my secret.”
+
+“Then do you know his name?”
+
+The old man bowed his gray head, which was not unlike a gnarled
+oak-stump, with a few leaves fluttering about it, withered by autumnal
+frosts; and his niece immediately began to try the ever-new power of her
+coquettish arts. Long familiar with the secret of cajoling the old man,
+she lavished on him the most childlike caresses, the tenderest names;
+she even went so far as to kiss him to induce him to divulge so
+important a secret. The old man, who spent his life in playing off these
+scenes on his niece, often paying for them with a present of jewelry,
+or by giving her his box at the opera, this time amused himself with
+her entreaties, and, above all, her caresses. But as he spun out this
+pleasure too long, Emilie grew angry, passed from coaxing to sarcasm and
+sulks; then, urged by curiosity, she recovered herself. The diplomatic
+admiral extracted a solemn promise from his niece that she would for
+the future be gentler, less noisy, and less wilful, that she would spend
+less, and, above all, tell him everything. The treaty being concluded,
+and signed by a kiss impressed on Emilie’s white brow, he led her into
+a corner of the room, drew her on to his knee, held the card under the
+thumbs so as to hide it, and then uncovered the letters one by one,
+spelling the name of Longueville; but he firmly refused to show her
+anything more.
+
+This incident added to the intensity of Mademoiselle de Fontaine’s
+secret sentiment, and during chief part of the night she evolved the
+most brilliant pictures from the dreams with which she had fed her
+hopes. At last, thanks to chance, to which she had so often
+appealed, Emilie could now see something very unlike a chimera at the
+fountain-head of the imaginary wealth with which she gilded her married
+life. Ignorant, as all young girls are, of the perils of love and
+marriage, she was passionately captivated by the externals of marriage
+and love. Is not this as much as to say that her feeling had birth like
+all the feelings of extreme youth--sweet but cruel mistakes, which exert
+a fatal influence on the lives of young girls so inexperienced as to
+trust their own judgment to take care of their future happiness?
+
+Next morning, before Emilie was awake, her uncle had hastened to
+Chevreuse. On recognizing, in the courtyard of an elegant little villa,
+the young man he had so determinedly insulted the day before, he went up
+to him with the pressing politeness of men of the old court.
+
+“Why, my dear sir, who could have guessed that I should have a brush,
+at the age of seventy-three, with the son, or the grandson, of one of my
+best friends. I am a vice-admiral, monsieur; is not that as much as to
+say that I think no more of fighting a duel than of smoking a cigar?
+Why, in my time, no two young men could be intimate till they had seen
+the color of their blood! But ‘sdeath, sir, last evening, sailor-like,
+I had taken a drop too much grog on board, and I ran you down. Shake
+hands; I would rather take a hundred rebuffs from a Longueville than
+cause his family the smallest regret.”
+
+However coldly the young man tried to behave to the Comte de Kergarouet,
+he could not resist the frank cordiality of his manner, and presently
+gave him his hand.
+
+“You were going out riding,” said the Count. “Do not let me detain you.
+But, unless you have other plans, I beg you will come to dinner to-day
+at the Villa Planat. My nephew, the Comte de Fontaine, is a man it is
+essential that you should know. Ah, ha! And I propose to make up to you
+for my clumsiness by introducing you to five of the prettiest women
+in Paris. So, so, young man, your brow is clearing! I am fond of young
+people, and I like to see them happy. Their happiness reminds me of the
+good times of my youth, when adventures were not lacking, any more
+than duels. We were gay dogs then! Nowadays you think and worry over
+everything, as though there had never been a fifteenth and a sixteenth
+century.”
+
+“But, monsieur, are we not in the right? The sixteenth century only gave
+religious liberty to Europe, and the nineteenth will give it political
+lib----”
+
+“Oh, we will not talk politics. I am a perfect old woman--ultra you see.
+But I do not hinder young men from being revolutionary, so long as they
+leave the King at liberty to disperse their assemblies.”
+
+When they had gone a little way, and the Count and his companion were in
+the heart of the woods, the old sailor pointed out a slender young
+birch sapling, pulled up his horse, took out one of his pistols, and the
+bullet was lodged in the heart of the tree, fifteen paces away.
+
+“You see, my dear fellow, that I am not afraid of a duel,” he said with
+comical gravity, as he looked at Monsieur Longueville.
+
+“Nor am I,” replied the young man, promptly cocking his pistol; he aimed
+at the hole made by the Comte’s bullet, and sent his own close to it.
+
+“That is what I call a well-educated man,” cried the admiral with
+enthusiasm.
+
+During this ride with the youth, whom he already regarded as his nephew,
+he found endless opportunities of catechizing him on all the trifles of
+which a perfect knowledge constituted, according to his private code, an
+accomplished gentleman.
+
+“Have you any debts?” he at last asked of his companion, after many
+other inquiries.
+
+“No, monsieur.”
+
+“What, you pay for all you have?”
+
+“Punctually; otherwise we should lose our credit, and every sort of
+respect.”
+
+“But at least you have more than one mistress? Ah, you blush, comrade!
+Well, manners have changed. All these notions of lawful order, Kantism,
+and liberty have spoilt the young men. You have no Guimard now, no
+Duthe, no creditors--and you know nothing of heraldry; why, my dear
+young friend, you are not fully fledged. The man who does not sow his
+wild oats in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but eighty
+thousand francs a year at the age of seventy, it is because I ran
+through the capital at thirty. Oh! with my wife--in decency and honor.
+However, your imperfections will not interfere with my introducing you
+at the Pavillon Planat. Remember, you have promised to come, and I shall
+expect you.”
+
+“What an odd little old man!” said Longueville to himself. “He is so
+jolly and hale; but though he wishes to seem a good fellow, I will not
+trust him too far.”
+
+Next day, at about four o’clock, when the house party were dispersed
+in the drawing-rooms and billiard-room, a servant announced to the
+inhabitants of the Villa Planat, “Monsieur DE Longueville.” On hearing
+the name of the old admiral’s protege, every one, down to the player who
+was about to miss his stroke, rushed in, as much to study Mademoiselle
+de Fontaine’s countenance as to judge of this phoenix of men, who had
+earned honorable mention to the detriment of so many rivals. A simple
+but elegant style of dress, an air of perfect ease, polite manners, a
+pleasant voice with a ring in it which found a response in the hearer’s
+heart-strings, won the good-will of the family for Monsieur Longueville.
+He did not seem unaccustomed to the luxury of the Receiver-General’s
+ostentatious mansion. Though his conversation was that of a man of the
+world, it was easy to discern that he had had a brilliant education, and
+that his knowledge was as thorough as it was extensive. He knew so well
+the right thing to say in a discussion on naval architecture, trivial,
+it is true, started by the old admiral, that one of the ladies remarked
+that he must have passed through the Ecole Polytechnique.
+
+“And I think, madame,” he replied, “that I may regard it as an honor to
+have got in.”
+
+In spite of urgent pressing, he refused politely but firmly to be kept
+to dinner, and put an end to the persistency of the ladies by saying
+that he was the Hippocrates of his young sister, whose delicate health
+required great care.
+
+“Monsieur is perhaps a medical man?” asked one of Emilie’s
+sisters-in-law with ironical meaning.
+
+“Monsieur has left the Ecole Polytechnique,” Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+kindly put in; her face had flushed with richer color, as she learned
+that the young lady of the ball was Monsieur Longueville’s sister.
+
+“But, my dear, he may be a doctor and yet have been to the Ecole
+Polytechnique--is it not so, monsieur?”
+
+“There is nothing to prevent it, madame,” replied the young man.
+
+Every eye was on Emilie, who was gazing with uneasy curiosity at the
+fascinating stranger. She breathed more freely when he added, not
+without a smile, “I have not the honor of belonging to the medical
+profession; and I even gave up going into the Engineers in order to
+preserve my independence.”
+
+“And you did well,” said the Count. “But how can you regard it as an
+honor to be a doctor?” added the Breton nobleman. “Ah, my young friend,
+such a man as you----”
+
+“Monsieur le Comte, I respect every profession that has a useful
+purpose.”
+
+“Well, in that we agree. You respect those professions, I imagine, as a
+young man respects a dowager.”
+
+Monsieur Longueville made his visit neither too long nor too short. He
+left at the moment when he saw that he had pleased everybody, and that
+each one’s curiosity about him had been roused.
+
+“He is a cunning rascal!” said the Count, coming into the drawing-room
+after seeing him to the door.
+
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine, who had been in the secret of this call, had
+dressed with some care to attract the young man’s eye; but she had the
+little disappointment of finding that he did not bestow on her so much
+attention as she thought she deserved. The family were a good deal
+surprised at the silence into which she had retired. Emilie generally
+displayed all her arts for the benefit of newcomers, her witty prattle,
+and the inexhaustible eloquence of her eyes and attitudes. Whether
+it was that the young man’s pleasing voice and attractive manners had
+charmed her, that she was seriously in love, and that this feeling had
+worked a change in her, her demeanor had lost all its affectations.
+Being simple and natural, she must, no doubt, have seemed more
+beautiful. Some of her sisters, and an old lady, a friend of the family,
+saw in this behavior a refinement of art. They supposed that Emilie,
+judging the man worthy of her, intended to delay revealing her merits,
+so as to dazzle him suddenly when she found that she pleased him. Every
+member of the family was curious to know what this capricious creature
+thought of the stranger; but when, during dinner, every one chose to
+endow Monsieur Longueville with some fresh quality which no one else
+had discovered, Mademoiselle de Fontaine sat for some time in silence. A
+sarcastic remark of her uncle’s suddenly roused her from her apathy;
+she said, somewhat epigrammatically, that such heavenly perfection
+must cover some great defect, and that she would take good care how she
+judged so gifted a man at first sight.
+
+“Those who please everybody, please nobody,” she added; “and the worst
+of all faults is to have none.”
+
+Like all girls who are in love, Emilie cherished the hope of being
+able to hide her feelings at the bottom of her heart by putting the
+Argus-eyes that watched on the wrong tack; but by the end of a fortnight
+there was not a member of the large family party who was not in this
+little domestic secret. When Monsieur Longueville called for the third
+time, Emilie believed it was chiefly for her sake. This discovery gave
+her such intoxicating pleasure that she was startled as she reflected on
+it. There was something in it very painful to her pride. Accustomed as
+she was to be the centre of her world, she was obliged to recognize a
+force that attracted her outside herself; she tried to resist, but she
+could not chase from her heart the fascinating image of the young man.
+
+Then came some anxiety. Two of Monsieur Longueville’s qualities,
+very adverse to general curiosity, and especially to Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine’s, were unexpected modesty and discretion. He never spoke of
+himself, of his pursuits, or of his family. The hints Emilie threw out
+in conversation, and the traps she laid to extract from the young fellow
+some facts concerning himself, he could evade with the adroitness of a
+diplomatist concealing a secret. If she talked of painting, he responded
+as a connoisseur; if she sat down to play, he showed without conceit
+that he was a very good pianist; one evening he delighted all the
+party by joining his delightful voice to Emilie’s in one of Cimarosa’s
+charming duets. But when they tried to find out whether he were a
+professional singer, he baffled them so pleasantly that he did not
+afford these women, practised as they were in the art of reading
+feelings, the least chance of discovering to what social sphere he
+belonged. However boldly the old uncle cast the boarding-hooks over the
+vessel, Longueville slipped away cleverly, so as to preserve the charm
+of mystery; and it was easy to him to remain the “handsome Stranger”
+ at the Villa, because curiosity never overstepped the bounds of good
+breeding.
+
+Emilie, distracted by this reserve, hoped to get more out of the sister
+than the brother, in the form of confidences. Aided by her uncle, who
+was as skilful in such manoeuvres as in handling a ship, she endeavored
+to bring upon the scene the hitherto unseen figure of Mademoiselle Clara
+Longueville. The family party at the Villa Planat soon expressed the
+greatest desire to make the acquaintance of so amiable a young lady, and
+to give her some amusement. An informal dance was proposed and accepted.
+The ladies did not despair of making a young girl of sixteen talk.
+
+Notwithstanding the little clouds piled up by suspicion and created by
+curiosity, a light of joy shone in Emilie’s soul, for she found life
+delicious when thus intimately connected with another than herself. She
+began to understand the relations of life. Whether it is that happiness
+makes us better, or that she was too fully occupied to torment other
+people, she became less caustic, more gentle, and indulgent. This change
+in her temper enchanted and amazed her family. Perhaps, at last, her
+selfishness was being transformed to love. It was a deep delight to her
+to look for the arrival of her bashful and unconfessed adorer. Though
+they had not uttered a word of passion, she knew that she was loved, and
+with what art did she not lead the stranger to unlock the stores of his
+information, which proved to be varied! She perceived that she, too,
+was being studied, and that made her endeavor to remedy the defects her
+education had encouraged. Was not this her first homage to love, and
+a bitter reproach to herself? She desired to please, and she was
+enchanting; she loved, and she was idolized. Her family, knowing that
+her pride would sufficiently protect her, gave her enough freedom to
+enjoy the little childish delights which give to first love its charm
+and its violence. More than once the young man and Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine walked, tete-a-tete, in the avenues of the garden, where nature
+was dressed like a woman going to a ball. More than once they had those
+conversations, aimless and meaningless, in which the emptiest phrases
+are those which cover the deepest feelings. They often admired together
+the setting sun and its gorgeous coloring. They gathered daisies to pull
+the petals off, and sang the most impassioned duets, using the notes set
+down by Pergolesi or Rossini as faithful interpreters to express their
+secrets.
+
+The day of the dance came. Clara Longueville and her brother, whom the
+servants persisted in honoring with the noble DE, were the principle
+guests. For the first time in her life Mademoiselle de Fontaine felt
+pleasure in a young girl’s triumph. She lavished on Clara in all
+sincerity the gracious petting and little attentions which women
+generally give each other only to excite the jealousy of men. Emilie,
+had, indeed, an object in view; she wanted to discover some secrets.
+But, being a girl, Mademoiselle Longueville showed even more mother-wit
+than her brother, for she did not even look as if she were hiding a
+secret, and kept the conversation to subjects unconnected with personal
+interests, while, at the same time, she gave it so much charm that
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine was almost envious, and called her “the Siren.”
+ Though Emilie had intended to make Clara talk, it was Clara, in fact,
+who questioned Emilie; she had meant to judge her, and she was judged by
+her; she was constantly provoked to find that she had betrayed her own
+character in some reply which Clara had extracted from her, while her
+modest and candid manner prohibited any suspicion of perfidy. There was
+a moment when Mademoiselle de Fontaine seemed sorry for an ill-judged
+sally against the commonalty to which Clara had led her.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” said the sweet child, “I have heard so much of you from
+Maximilien that I had the keenest desire to know you, out of affection
+for him; but is not a wish to know you a wish to love you?”
+
+“My dear Clara, I feared I might have displeased you by speaking thus of
+people who are not of noble birth.”
+
+“Oh, be quite easy. That sort of discussion is pointless in these days.
+As for me, it does not affect me. I am beside the question.”
+
+Ambitious as the answer might seem, it filled Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+with the deepest joy; for, like all infatuated people, she explained it,
+as oracles are explained, in the sense that harmonized with her wishes;
+she began dancing again in higher spirits than ever, as she watched
+Longueville, whose figure and grace almost surpassed those of her
+imaginary ideal. She felt added satisfaction in believing him to be well
+born, her black eyes sparkled, and she danced with all the pleasure that
+comes of dancing in the presence of the being we love. The couple had
+never understood each other as well as at this moment; more than once
+they felt their finger tips thrill and tremble as they were married in
+the figures of the dance.
+
+The early autumn had come to the handsome pair, in the midst of country
+festivities and pleasures; they had abandoned themselves softly to the
+tide of the sweetest sentiment in life, strengthening it by a thousand
+little incidents which any one can imagine; for love is in some respects
+always the same. They studied each other through it all, as much as
+lovers can.
+
+“Well, well; a flirtation never turned so quickly into a love match,”
+ said the old uncle, who kept an eye on the two young people as a
+naturalist watches an insect in the microscope.
+
+The speech alarmed Monsieur and Madame Fontaine. The old Vendeen had
+ceased to be so indifferent to his daughter’s prospects as he had
+promised to be. He went to Paris to seek information, and found none.
+Uneasy at this mystery, and not yet knowing what might be the outcome
+of the inquiry which he had begged a Paris friend to institute with
+reference to the family of Longueville, he thought it his duty to warn
+his daughter to behave prudently. The fatherly admonition was received
+with mock submission spiced with irony.
+
+“At least, my dear Emilie, if you love him, do not own it to him.”
+
+“My dear father, I certainly do love him; but I will await your
+permission before I tell him so.”
+
+“But remember, Emilie, you know nothing of his family or his pursuits.”
+
+“I may be ignorant, but I am content to be. But, father, you wished to
+see me married; you left me at liberty to make my choice; my choice is
+irrevocably made--what more is needful?”
+
+“It is needful to ascertain, my dear, whether the man of your choice
+is the son of a peer of France,” the venerable gentleman retorted
+sarcastically.
+
+Emilie was silent for a moment. She presently raised her head, looked at
+her father, and said somewhat anxiously, “Are not the Longuevilles----?”
+
+“They became extinct in the person of the old Duc de Rostein-Limbourg,
+who perished on the scaffold in 1793. He was the last representative of
+the last and younger branch.”
+
+“But, papa, there are some very good families descended from bastards.
+The history of France swarms with princes bearing the bar sinister on
+their shields.”
+
+“Your ideas are much changed,” said the old man, with a smile.
+
+The following day was the last that the Fontaine family were to spend at
+the Pavillon Planat. Emilie, greatly disturbed by her father’s warning,
+awaited with extreme impatience the hour at which young Longueville was
+in the habit of coming, to wring some explanation from him. She went out
+after dinner, and walked alone across the shrubbery towards an arbor fit
+for lovers, where she knew that the eager youth would seek her; and
+as she hastened thither she considered of the best way to discover so
+important a matter without compromising herself--a rather difficult
+thing! Hitherto no direct avowal had sanctioned the feelings which bound
+her to this stranger. Like Maximilien, she had secretly enjoyed the
+sweetness of first love; but both were equally proud, and each feared to
+confess that love.
+
+Maximilien Longueville, to whom Clara had communicated her not unfounded
+suspicions as to Emilie’s character, was by turns carried away by the
+violence of a young man’s passion, and held back by a wish to know and
+test the woman to whom he would be entrusting his happiness. His love
+had not hindered him from perceiving in Emilie the prejudices which
+marred her young nature; but before attempting to counteract them, he
+wished to be sure that she loved him, for he would no sooner risk the
+fate of his love than of his life. He had, therefore, persistently kept
+a silence to which his looks, his behavior, and his smallest actions
+gave the lie.
+
+On her side, the self-respect natural to a young girl, augmented in
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine by the monstrous vanity founded on her birth
+and beauty, kept her from meeting the declaration half-way, which her
+growing passion sometimes urged her to invite. Thus the lovers had
+instinctively understood the situation without explaining to each
+other their secret motives. There are times in life when such vagueness
+pleases youthful minds. Just because each had postponed speaking too
+long, they seemed to be playing a cruel game of suspense. He was trying
+to discover whether he was beloved, by the effort any confession would
+cost his haughty mistress; she every minute hoped that he would break a
+too respectful silence.
+
+Emilie, seated on a rustic bench, was reflecting on all that had
+happened in these three months full of enchantment. Her father’s
+suspicions were the last that could appeal to her; she even disposed
+of them at once by two or three of those reflections natural to an
+inexperienced girl, which, to her, seemed conclusive. Above all, she was
+convinced that it was impossible that she should deceive herself. All
+the summer through she had not been able to detect in Maximilien a
+single gesture, or a single word, which could indicate a vulgar origin
+or vulgar occupations; nay more, his manner of discussing things
+revealed a man devoted to the highest interests of the nation.
+“Besides,” she reflected, “an office clerk, a banker, or a merchant,
+would not be at leisure to spend a whole season in paying his addresses
+to me in the midst of woods and fields; wasting his time as freely as a
+nobleman who has life before him free of all care.”
+
+She had given herself up to meditations far more interesting to her
+than these preliminary thoughts, when a slight rustling in the leaves
+announced to her than Maximilien had been watching her for a minute, not
+probably without admiration.
+
+“Do you know that it is very wrong to take a young girl thus unawares?”
+ she asked him, smiling.
+
+“Especially when they are busy with their secrets,” replied Maximilien
+archly.
+
+“Why should I not have my secrets? You certainly have yours.”
+
+“Then you really were thinking of your secrets?” he went on, laughing.
+
+“No, I was thinking of yours. My own, I know.”
+
+“But perhaps my secrets are yours, and yours mine,” cried the young man,
+softly seizing Mademoiselle de Fontaine’s hand and drawing it through
+his arm.
+
+After walking a few steps they found themselves under a clump of trees
+which the hues of the sinking sun wrapped in a haze of red and brown.
+This touch of natural magic lent a certain solemnity to the moment. The
+young man’s free and eager action, and, above all, the throbbing of his
+surging heart, whose hurried beating spoke to Emilie’s arm, stirred her
+to an emotion that was all the more disturbing because it was produced
+by the simplest and most innocent circumstances. The restraint under
+which the young girls of the upper class live gives incredible force to
+any explosion of feeling, and to meet an impassioned lover is one of
+the greatest dangers they can encounter. Never had Emilie and Maximilien
+allowed their eyes to say so much that they dared never speak. Carried
+a way by this intoxication, they easily forgot the petty stipulations
+of pride, and the cold hesitancies of suspicion. At first, indeed, they
+could only express themselves by a pressure of hands which interpreted
+their happy thoughts.
+
+After slowing pacing a few steps in long silence, Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine spoke. “Monsieur, I have a question to ask you,” she said
+trembling, and in an agitated voice. “But, remember, I beg, that it is
+in a manner compulsory on me, from the rather singular position I am in
+with regard to my family.”
+
+A pause, terrible to Emilie, followed these sentences, which she had
+almost stammered out. During the minute while it lasted, the girl,
+haughty as she was, dared not meet the flashing eye of the man she
+loved, for she was secretly conscious of the meanness of the next words
+she added: “Are you of noble birth?”
+
+As soon as the words were spoken she wished herself at the bottom of a
+lake.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” Longueville gravely replied, and his face assumed a sort
+of stern dignity, “I promise to answer you truly as soon as you shall
+have answered in all sincerity a question I will put to you!”--He
+released her arm, and the girl suddenly felt alone in the world, as he
+said: “What is your object in questioning me as to my birth?”
+
+She stood motionless, cold, and speechless.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” Maximilien went on, “let us go no further if we do not
+understand each other. I love you,” he said, in a voice of deep emotion.
+“Well, then,” he added, as he heard the joyful exclamation she could not
+suppress, “why ask me if I am of noble birth?”
+
+“Could he speak so if he were not?” cried a voice within her, which
+Emilie believed came from the depths of her heart. She gracefully raised
+her head, seemed to find new life in the young man’s gaze, and held out
+her hand as if to renew the alliance.
+
+“You thought I cared very much for dignities?” said she with keen
+archness.
+
+“I have no titles to offer my wife,” he replied, in a half-sportive,
+half-serious tone. “But if I choose one of high rank, and among women
+whom a wealthy home has accustomed to the luxury and pleasures of a
+fine fortune, I know what such a choice requires of me. Love gives
+everything,” he added lightly, “but only to lovers. Once married,
+they need something more than the vault of heaven and the carpet of a
+meadow.”
+
+“He is rich,” she reflected. “As to titles, perhaps he only wants to try
+me. He has been told that I am mad about titles, and bent on marrying
+none but a peer’s son. My priggish sisters have played me that
+trick.”--“I assure you, monsieur,” she said aloud, “that I have had
+very extravagant ideas about life and the world; but now,” she added
+pointedly, looking at him in a perfectly distracting way, “I know where
+true riches are to be found for a wife.”
+
+“I must believe that you are speaking from the depths of your heart,”
+ he said, with gentle gravity. “But this winter, my dear Emilie, in less
+than two months perhaps, I may be proud of what I shall have to offer
+you if you care for the pleasures of wealth. This is the only secret I
+shall keep locked here,” and he laid his hand on his heart, “for on its
+success my happiness depends. I dare not say ours.”
+
+“Yes, yes, ours!”
+
+Exchanging such sweet nothings, they slowly made their way back to
+rejoin the company. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had never found her lover
+more amiable or wittier: his light figure, his engaging manners, seemed
+to her more charming than ever, since the conversation which had made
+her to some extent the possessor of a heart worthy to be the envy of
+every woman. They sang an Italian duet with so much expression that the
+audience applauded enthusiastically. Their adieux were in a conventional
+tone, which concealed their happiness. In short, this day had been to
+Emilie like a chain binding her more closely than ever to the Stranger’s
+fate. The strength and dignity he had displayed in the scene when they
+had confessed their feelings had perhaps impressed Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine with the respect without which there is no true love.
+
+When she was left alone in the drawing-room with her father, the old man
+went up to her affectionately, held her hands, and asked her whether she
+had gained any light at to Monsieur Longueville’s family and fortune.
+
+“Yes, my dear father,” she replied, “and I am happier than I could have
+hoped. In short, Monsieur de Longueville is the only man I could ever
+marry.”
+
+“Very well, Emilie,” said the Count, “then I know what remains for me to
+do.”
+
+“Do you know of any impediment?” she asked, in sincere alarm.
+
+“My dear child, the young man is totally unknown to me; but unless he
+is not a man of honor, so long as you love him, he is as dear to me as a
+son.”
+
+“Not a man of honor!” exclaimed Emilie. “As to that, I am quite easy.
+My uncle, who introduced him to us, will answer for him. Say, my dear
+uncle, has he been a filibuster, an outlaw, a pirate?”
+
+“I knew I should find myself in this fix!” cried the old sailor,
+waking up. He looked round the room, but his niece had vanished “like
+Saint-Elmo’s fires,” to use his favorite expression.
+
+“Well, uncle,” Monsieur de Fontaine went on, “how could you hide from
+us all you knew about this young man? You must have seen how anxious we
+have been. Is Monsieur de Longueville a man of family?”
+
+“I don’t know him from Adam or Eve,” said the Comte de Kergarouet.
+“Trusting to that crazy child’s tact, I got him here by a method of my
+own. I know that the boy shoots with a pistol to admiration, hunts well,
+plays wonderfully at billiards, at chess, and at backgammon; he handles
+the foils, and rides a horse like the late Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
+He has a thorough knowledge of all our vintages. He is as good an
+arithmetician as Bareme, draws, dances, and sings well. The devil’s in
+it! what more do you want? If that is not a perfect gentleman, find me
+a bourgeois who knows all this, or any man who lives more nobly than he
+does. Does he do anything, I ask you? Does he compromise his dignity
+by hanging about an office, bowing down before the upstarts you call
+Directors-General? He walks upright. He is a man.--However, I have
+just found in my waistcoat pocket the card he gave me when he fancied
+I wanted to cut his throat, poor innocent. Young men are very
+simple-minded nowadays! Here it is.”
+
+“Rue du Sentier, No. 5,” said Monsieur de Fontaine, trying to recall
+among all the information he had received, something which might concern
+the stranger. “What the devil can it mean? Messrs. Palma, Werbrust &
+Co., wholesale dealers in muslins, calicoes, and printed cotton goods,
+live there.--Stay, I have it: Longueville the deputy has an interest in
+their house. Well, but so far as I know, Longueville has but one son
+of two-and-thirty, who is not at all like our man, and to whom he gave
+fifty thousand francs a year that he might marry a minister’s daughter;
+he wants to be made a peer like the rest of ‘em.--I never heard him
+mention this Maximilien. Has he a daughter? What is this girl Clara?
+Besides, it is open to any adventurer to call himself Longueville.
+But is not the house of Palma, Werbrust & Co. half ruined by some
+speculation in Mexico or the Indies? I will clear all this up.”
+
+“You speak a soliloquy as if you were on the stage, and seem to account
+me a cipher,” said the old admiral suddenly. “Don’t you know that if he
+is a gentleman, I have more than one bag in my hold that will stop any
+leak in his fortune?”
+
+“As to that, if he is a son of Longueville’s, he will want nothing;
+but,” said Monsieur de Fontaine, shaking his head from side to side,
+“his father has not even washed off the stains of his origin. Before the
+Revolution he was an attorney, and the DE he has since assumed no more
+belongs to him than half of his fortune.”
+
+“Pooh! pooh! happy those whose fathers were hanged!” cried the admiral
+gaily.
+
+
+
+Three or four days after this memorable day, on one of those fine
+mornings in the month of November, which show the boulevards cleaned by
+the sharp cold of an early frost, Mademoiselle de Fontaine, wrapped in a
+new style of fur cape, of which she wished to set the fashion, went out
+with two of her sisters-in-law, on whom she had been wont to discharge
+her most cutting remarks. The three women were tempted to the drive,
+less by their desire to try a very elegant carriage, and wear gowns
+which were to set the fashion for the winter, than by their wish to see
+a cape which a friend had observed in a handsome lace and linen shop at
+the corner of the Rue de la Paix. As soon as they were in the shop the
+Baronne de Fontaine pulled Emilie by the sleeve, and pointed out to her
+Maximilien Longueville seated behind the desk, and engaged in paying out
+the change for a gold piece to one of the workwomen with whom he seemed
+to be in consultation. The “handsome stranger” held in his hand a parcel
+of patterns, which left no doubt as to his honorable profession.
+
+Emilie felt an icy shudder, though no one perceived it. Thanks to the
+good breeding of the best society, she completely concealed the rage in
+her heart, and answered her sister-in-law with the words, “I knew it,”
+ with a fulness of intonation and inimitable decision which the most
+famous actress of the time might have envied her. She went straight up
+to the desk. Longueville looked up, put the patterns in his pocket
+with distracting coolness, bowed to Mademoiselle de Fontaine, and came
+forward, looking at her keenly.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” he said to the shopgirl, who followed him, looking very
+much disturbed, “I will send to settle that account; my house deals
+in that way. But here,” he whispered into her ear, as he gave her a
+thousand-franc note, “take this--it is between ourselves.--You will
+forgive me, I trust, mademoiselle,” he added, turning to Emilie. “You
+will kindly excuse the tyranny of business matters.”
+
+“Indeed, monsieur, it seems to me that it is no concern of mine,”
+ replied Mademoiselle de Fontaine, looking at him with a bold expression
+of sarcastic indifference which might have made any one believe that she
+now saw him for the first time.
+
+“Do you really mean it?” asked Maximilien in a broken voice.
+
+Emilie turned her back upon him with amazing insolence. These words,
+spoken in an undertone, had escaped the ears of her two sisters-in-law.
+When, after buying the cape, the three ladies got into the carriage
+again, Emilie, seated with her back to the horses, could not resist one
+last comprehensive glance into the depths of the odious shop, where she
+saw Maximilien standing with his arms folded, in the attitude of a man
+superior to the disaster that has so suddenly fallen on him. Their eyes
+met and flashed implacable looks. Each hoped to inflict a cruel wound
+on the heart of a lover. In one instant they were as far apart as if one
+had been in China and the other in Greenland.
+
+Does not the breath of vanity wither everything? Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine, a prey to the most violent struggle that can torture the heart
+of a young girl, reaped the richest harvest of anguish that prejudice
+and narrow-mindedness ever sowed in a human soul. Her face, but just now
+fresh and velvety, was streaked with yellow lines and red patches; the
+paleness of her cheeks seemed every now and then to turn green. Hoping
+to hide her despair from her sisters, she would laugh as she pointed out
+some ridiculous dress or passer-by; but her laughter was spasmodic. She
+was more deeply hurt by their unspoken compassion than by any satirical
+comments for which she might have revenged herself. She exhausted her
+wit in trying to engage them in a conversation, in which she tried to
+expend her fury in senseless paradoxes, heaping on all men engaged in
+trade the bitterest insults and witticisms in the worst taste.
+
+On getting home, she had an attack of fever, which at first assumed
+a somewhat serious character. By the end of a month the care of her
+parents and of the physician restored her to her family.
+
+Every one hoped that this lesson would be severe enough to subdue
+Emilie’s nature; but she insensibly fell into her old habits and threw
+herself again into the world of fashion. She declared that there was no
+disgrace in making a mistake. If she, like her father, had a vote in the
+Chamber, she would move for an edict, she said, by which all merchants,
+and especially dealers in calico, should be branded on the forehead,
+like Berri sheep, down to the third generation. She wished that none but
+nobles should have the right to wear the antique French costume, which
+was so becoming to the courtiers of Louis XV. To hear her, it was a
+misfortune for France, perhaps, that there was no outward and visible
+difference between a merchant and a peer of France. And a hundred more
+such pleasantries, easy to imagine, were rapidly poured out when any
+accident brought up the subject.
+
+But those who loved Emilie could see through all her banter a tinge of
+melancholy. It was clear that Maximilien Longueville still reigned over
+that inexorable heart. Sometimes she would be as gentle as she had been
+during the brief summer that had seen the birth of her love; sometimes,
+again, she was unendurable. Every one made excuses for her inequality of
+temper, which had its source in sufferings at once secret and known to
+all. The Comte de Kergarouet had some influence over her, thanks to his
+increased prodigality, a kind of consolation which rarely fails of its
+effect on a Parisian girl.
+
+The first ball at which Mademoiselle de Fontaine appeared was at the
+Neapolitan ambassador’s. As she took her place in the first quadrille
+she saw, a few yards away from her, Maximilien Longueville, who nodded
+slightly to her partner.
+
+“Is that young man a friend of yours?” she asked, with a scornful air.
+
+“Only my brother,” he replied.
+
+Emilie could not help starting. “Ah!” he continued, “and he is the
+noblest soul living----”
+
+“Do you know my name?” asked Emilie, eagerly interrupting him.
+
+“No, mademoiselle. It is a crime, I confess, not to remember a name
+which is on every lip--I ought to say in every heart. But I have a valid
+excuse. I have but just arrived from Germany. My ambassador, who is in
+Paris on leave, sent me here this evening to take care of his amiable
+wife, whom you may see yonder in that corner.”
+
+“A perfect tragic mask!” said Emilie, after looking at the ambassadress.
+
+“And yet that is her ballroom face!” said the young man, laughing.
+“I shall have to dance with her! So I thought I might have some
+compensation.” Mademoiselle de Fontaine courtesied. “I was very much
+surprised,” the voluble young secretary went on, “to find my brother
+here. On arriving from Vienna I heard that the poor boy was ill in bed;
+and I counted on seeing him before coming to this ball; but good policy
+will always allow us to indulge family affection. The Padrona della case
+would not give me time to call on my poor Maximilien.”
+
+“Then, monsieur, your brother is not, like you, in diplomatic
+employment.”
+
+“No,” said the attache, with a sigh, “the poor fellow sacrificed himself
+for me. He and my sister Clara have renounced their share of my father’s
+fortune to make an eldest son of me. My father dreams of a peerage, like
+all who vote for the ministry. Indeed, it is promised him,” he added
+in an undertone. “After saving up a little capital my brother joined a
+banking firm, and I hear he has just effected a speculation in Brazil
+which may make him a millionaire. You see me in the highest spirits at
+having been able, by my diplomatic connections, to contribute to his
+success. I am impatiently expecting a dispatch from the Brazilian
+Legation, which will help to lift the cloud from his brow. What do you
+think of him?”
+
+“Well, your brother’s face does not look to me like that of a man busied
+with money matters.”
+
+The young attache shot a scrutinizing glance at the apparently calm face
+of his partner.
+
+“What!” he exclaimed, with a smile, “can young ladies read the thoughts
+of love behind the silent brow?”
+
+“Your brother is in love, then?” she asked, betrayed into a movement of
+curiosity.
+
+“Yes; my sister Clara, to whom he is as devoted as a mother, wrote to
+me that he had fallen in love this summer with a very pretty girl; but I
+have had no further news of the affair. Would you believe that the poor
+boy used to get up at five in the morning, and went off to settle his
+business that he might be back by four o’clock in the country where the
+lady was? In fact, he ruined a very nice thoroughbred that I had just
+given him. Forgive my chatter, mademoiselle; I have but just come home
+from Germany. For a year I have heard no decent French, I have been
+weaned from French faces, and satiated with Germans, to such a degree
+that, I believe, in my patriotic mania, I could talk to the chimeras on
+a French candlestick. And if I talk with a lack of reserve unbecoming
+in a diplomatist, the fault is yours, mademoiselle. Was it not you who
+pointed out my brother? When he is the theme I become inexhaustible. I
+should like to proclaim to all the world how good and generous he is. He
+gave up no less than a hundred thousand francs a year, the income from
+the Longueville property.”
+
+If Mademoiselle de Fontaine had the benefit of these important
+revelations, it was partly due to the skill with which she continued to
+question her confiding partner from the moment when she found that he
+was the brother of her scorned lover.
+
+“And could you, without being grieved, see your brother selling muslin
+and calico?” asked Emilie, at the end of the third figure of the
+quadrille.
+
+“How do you know that?” asked the attache. “Thank God, though I pour out
+a flood of words, I have already acquired the art of not telling more
+than I intend, like all the other diplomatic apprentices I know.”
+
+“You told me, I assure you.”
+
+Monsieur de Longueville looked at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with a
+surprise that was full of perspicacity. A suspicion flashed upon him. He
+glanced inquiringly from his brother to his partner, guessed everything,
+clasped his hands, fixed his eyes on the ceiling, and began to laugh,
+saying, “I am an idiot! You are the handsomest person here; my brother
+keeps stealing glances at you; he is dancing in spite of his illness,
+and you pretend not to see him. Make him happy,” he added, as he led
+her back to her old uncle. “I shall not be jealous, but I shall always
+shiver a little at calling you my sister----”
+
+The lovers, however, were to prove as inexorable to each other as they
+were to themselves. At about two in the morning, refreshments were
+served in an immense corridor, where, to leave persons of the same
+coterie free to meet each other, the tables were arranged as in a
+restaurant. By one of those accidents which always happen to lovers,
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine found herself at a table next to that at which
+the more important guests were seated. Maximilien was of the group.
+Emilie, who lent an attentive ear to her neighbors’ conversation,
+overheard one of those dialogues into which a young woman so easily
+falls with a young man who has the grace and style of Maximilien
+Longueville. The lady talking to the young banker was a Neapolitan
+duchess, whose eyes shot lightning flashes, and whose skin had the sheen
+of satin. The intimate terms on which Longueville affected to be with
+her stung Mademoiselle de Fontaine all the more because she had just
+given her lover back twenty times as much tenderness as she had ever
+felt for him before.
+
+“Yes, monsieur, in my country true love can make every kind of
+sacrifice,” the Duchess was saying, in a simper.
+
+“You have more passion than Frenchwomen,” said Maximilien, whose burning
+gaze fell on Emilie. “They are all vanity.”
+
+“Monsieur,” Emilie eagerly interposed, “is it not very wrong to
+calumniate your own country? Devotion is to be found in every nation.”
+
+“Do you imagine, mademoiselle,” retorted the Italian, with a sardonic
+smile, “that a Parisian would be capable of following her lover all over
+the world?”
+
+“Oh, madame, let us understand each other. She would follow him to a
+desert and live in a tent but not to sit in a shop.”
+
+A disdainful gesture completed her meaning. Thus, under the influence of
+her disastrous education, Emile for the second time killed her budding
+happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien’s apparent
+indifference, and a woman’s smile, had wrung from her one of those
+sarcasms whose treacherous zest always let her astray.
+
+“Mademoiselle,” said Longueville, in a low voice, under cover of the
+noise made by the ladies as they rose from the table, “no one will ever
+more ardently desire your happiness than I; permit me to assure you
+of this, as I am taking leave of you. I am starting for Italy in a few
+days.”
+
+“With a Duchess, no doubt?”
+
+“No, but perhaps with a mortal blow.”
+
+“Is not that pure fancy?” asked Emilie, with an anxious glance.
+
+“No,” he replied. “There are wounds which never heal.”
+
+“You are not to go,” said the girl, imperiously, and she smiled.
+
+“I shall go,” replied Maximilien, gravely.
+
+“You will find me married on your return, I warn you,” she said
+coquettishly.
+
+“I hope so.”
+
+“Impertinent wretch!” she exclaimed. “How cruel a revenge!”
+
+A fortnight later Maximilien set out with his sister Clara for the warm
+and poetic scenes of beautiful Italy, leaving Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+a prey to the most vehement regret. The young Secretary to the Embassy
+took up his brother’s quarrel, and contrived to take signal vengeance on
+Emilie’s disdain by making known the occasion of the lovers’ separation.
+He repaid his fair partner with interest all the sarcasm with which
+she had formerly attacked Maximilien, and often made more than one
+Excellency smile by describing the fair foe of the counting-house, the
+amazon who preached a crusade against bankers, the young girl whose
+love had evaporated before a bale of muslin. The Comte de Fontaine was
+obliged to use his influence to procure an appointment to Russia for
+Auguste Longueville in order to protect his daughter from the ridicule
+heaped upon her by this dangerous young persecutor.
+
+Not long after, the Ministry being compelled to raise a levy of peers to
+support the aristocratic party, trembling in the Upper Chamber under the
+lash of an illustrious writer, gave Monsieur Guiraudin de Longueville a
+peerage, with the title of Vicomte. Monsieur de Fontaine also obtained
+a peerage, the reward due as much to his fidelity in evil days as to his
+name, which claimed a place in the hereditary Chamber.
+
+About this time Emilie, now of age, made, no doubt, some serious
+reflections on life, for her tone and manners changed perceptibly.
+Instead of amusing herself by saying spiteful things to her uncle, she
+lavished on him the most affectionate attentions; she brought him his
+stick with a persevering devotion that made the cynical smile, she
+gave him her arm, rode in his carriage, and accompanied him in all his
+drives; she even persuaded him that she liked the smell of tobacco, and
+read him his favorite paper La Quotidienne in the midst of clouds of
+smoke, which the malicious old sailor intentionally blew over her;
+she learned piquet to be a match for the old count; and this fantastic
+damsel even listened without impatience to his periodical narratives of
+the battles of the Belle-Poule, the manoeuvres of the Ville de Paris, M.
+de Suffren’s first expedition, or the battle of Aboukir.
+
+Though the old sailor had often said that he knew his longitude and
+latitude too well to allow himself to be captured by a young corvette,
+one fine morning Paris drawing-rooms heard the news of the marriage of
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine to the Comte de Kergarouet. The young Countess
+gave splendid entertainments to drown thought; but she, no doubt,
+found a void at the bottom of the whirlpool; luxury was ineffectual to
+disguise the emptiness and grief of her sorrowing soul; for the most
+part, in spite of the flashes of assumed gaiety, her beautiful face
+expressed unspoken melancholy. Emilie appeared, however, full of
+attentions and consideration for her old husband, who, on retiring to
+his rooms at night, to the sounds of a lively band, would often say, “I
+do not know myself. Was I to wait till the age of seventy-two to embark
+as pilot on board the Belle Emilie after twenty years of matrimonial
+galleys?”
+
+The conduct of the young Countess was marked by such strictness that the
+most clear-sighted criticism had no fault to find with her. Lookers on
+chose to think that the vice-admiral had reserved the right of disposing
+of his fortune to keep his wife more tightly in hand; but this was a
+notion as insulting to the uncle as to the niece. Their conduct was
+indeed so delicately judicious that the men who were most interested in
+guessing the secrets of the couple could never decide whether the old
+Count regarded her as a wife or as a daughter. He was often heard to say
+that he had rescued his niece as a castaway after shipwreck; and that,
+for his part, he had never taken a mean advantage of hospitality when
+he had saved an enemy from the fury of the storm. Though the Countess
+aspired to reign in Paris and tried to keep pace with Mesdames the
+Duchesses de Maufrigneuse and du Chaulieu, the Marquises d’Espard and
+d’Aiglemont, the Comtesses Feraud, de Montcornet, and de Restaud,
+Madame de Camps, and Mademoiselle des Touches, she did not yield to the
+addresses of the young Vicomte de Portenduere, who made her his idol.
+
+Two years after her marriage, in one of the old drawing-rooms in the
+Faubourg Saint-Germain, where she was admired for her character, worthy
+of the old school, Emilie heard the Vicomte de Longueville announced.
+In the corner of the room where she was sitting, playing piquet with
+the Bishop of Persepolis, her agitation was not observed; she turned her
+head and saw her former lover come in, in all the freshness of youth.
+His father’s death, and then that of his brother, killed by the severe
+climate of Saint-Petersburg, had placed on Maximilien’s head the
+hereditary plumes of the French peer’s hat. His fortune matched his
+learning and his merits; only the day before his youthful and fervid
+eloquence had dazzled the Assembly. At this moment he stood before the
+Countess, free, and graced with all the advantages she had formerly
+required of her ideal. Every mother with a daughter to marry made
+amiable advances to a man gifted with the virtues which they attributed
+to him, as they admired his attractive person; but Emilie knew, better
+than any one, that the Vicomte de Longueville had the steadfast nature
+in which a wise woman sees a guarantee of happiness. She looked at the
+admiral who, to use his favorite expression, seemed likely to hold his
+course for a long time yet, and cursed the follies of her youth.
+
+At this moment Monsieur de Persepolis said with Episcopal grace: “Fair
+lady, you have thrown away the king of hearts--I have won. But do not
+regret your money. I keep it for my little seminaries.”
+
+
+PARIS, December 1829.
+
+
+
+
+ADDENDUM
+
+The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
+
+     Beaudenord, Godefroid de
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+
+     Dudley, Lady Arabella
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       Letters of Two Brides
+
+     Fontaine, Comte de
+       The Chouans
+       Modeste Mignon
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Kergarouet, Comte de
+       The Purse
+       Ursule Mirouet
+
+     Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
+       The Chouans
+       The Seamy Side of History
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Colonel Chabert
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Manerville, Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de
+       The Thirteen
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       A Marriage Settlement
+
+     Marsay, Henri de
+       The Thirteen
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Father Goriot
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Marriage Settlement
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       Modest Mignon
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+     Palma (banker)
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Gobseck
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+
+     Portenduere, Vicomte Savinien de
+       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       Beatrix
+
+     Rastignac, Eugene de
+       Father Goriot
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
+       The Interdiction
+       A Study of Woman
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cousin Betty
+       The Member for Arcis
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+
+     Vandenesse, Marquise Charles de (Emilie de Fontaine)
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ball at Sceaux, by Honore de Balzac
+
+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: The Ball at Sceaux
+
+Author: Honore de Balzac
+
+Translator: Clara Bell
+
+Release Date: February 22, 2010 [EBook #1305]
+Last Updated: November 21, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BALL AT SCEAUX ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dagny, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      BY HONORE DE BALZAC
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      Translated By Clara Bell
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      To Henri de Balzac, his brother Honore.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THE BALL AT SCEAUX </a><br /><br /> <a
+      href="#link2H_4_0002"> ADDENDUM </a><br /><br />
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Comte de Fontaine, head of one of the oldest families in Poitou, had
+      served the Bourbon cause with intelligence and bravery during the war in
+      La Vendee against the Republic. After having escaped all the dangers which
+      threatened the royalist leaders during this stormy period of modern
+      history, he was wont to say in jest, &ldquo;I am one of the men who gave
+      themselves to be killed on the steps of the throne.&rdquo; And the pleasantry
+      had some truth in it, as spoken by a man left for dead at the bloody
+      battle of Les Quatre Chemins. Though ruined by confiscation, the staunch
+      Vendeen steadily refused the lucrative posts offered to him by the Emperor
+      Napoleon. Immovable in his aristocratic faith, he had blindly obeyed its
+      precepts when he thought it fitting to choose a companion for life. In
+      spite of the blandishments of a rich but revolutionary parvenu, who valued
+      the alliance at a high figure, he married Mademoiselle de Kergarouet,
+      without a fortune, but belonging to one of the oldest families in
+      Brittany.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the second revolution burst on Monsieur de Fontaine he was encumbered
+      with a large family. Though it was no part of the noble gentlemen&rsquo;s views
+      to solicit favors, he yielded to his wife&rsquo;s wish, left his country estate,
+      of which the income barely sufficed to maintain his children, and came to
+      Paris. Saddened by seeing the greediness of his former comrades in the
+      rush for places and dignities under the new Constitution, he was about to
+      return to his property when he received a ministerial despatch, in which a
+      well-known magnate announced to him his nomination as marechal de camp, or
+      brigadier-general, under a rule which allowed the officers of the Catholic
+      armies to count the twenty submerged years of Louis XVIII.&lsquo;s reign as
+      years of service. Some days later he further received, without any
+      solicitation, ex officio, the crosses of the Legion of Honor and of
+      Saint-Louis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaken in his determination by these successive favors, due, as he
+      supposed, to the monarch&rsquo;s remembrance, he was no longer satisfied with
+      taking his family, as he had piously done every Sunday, to cry &ldquo;Vive le
+      Roi&rdquo; in the hall of the Tuileries when the royal family passed through on
+      their way to chapel; he craved the favor of a private audience. The
+      audience, at once granted, was in no sense private. The royal drawing-room
+      was full of old adherents, whose powdered heads, seen from above,
+      suggested a carpet of snow. There the Count met some old friends, who
+      received him somewhat coldly; but the princes he thought ADORABLE, an
+      enthusiastic expression which escaped him when the most gracious of his
+      masters, to whom the Count had supposed himself to be known only by name,
+      came to shake hands with him, and spoke of him as the most thorough
+      Vendeen of them all. Notwithstanding this ovation, none of these august
+      persons thought of inquiring as to the sum of his losses, or of the money
+      he had poured so generously into the chests of the Catholic regiments. He
+      discovered, a little late, that he had made war at his own cost. Towards
+      the end of the evening he thought he might venture on a witty allusion to
+      the state of his affairs, similar, as it was, to that of many other
+      gentlemen. His Majesty laughed heartily enough; any speech that bore the
+      hall-mark of wit was certain to please him; but he nevertheless replied
+      with one of those royal pleasantries whose sweetness is more formidable
+      than the anger of a rebuke. One of the King&rsquo;s most intimate advisers took
+      an opportunity of going up to the fortune-seeking Vendeen, and made him
+      understand by a keen and polite hint that the time had not yet come for
+      settling accounts with the sovereign; that there were bills of much longer
+      standing than his on the books, and there, no doubt, they would remain, as
+      part of the history of the Revolution. The Count prudently withdrew from
+      the venerable group, which formed a respectful semi-circle before the
+      august family; then, having extricated his sword, not without some
+      difficulty, from among the lean legs which had got mixed up with it, he
+      crossed the courtyard of the Tuileries and got into the hackney cab he had
+      left on the quay. With the restive spirit, which is peculiar to the
+      nobility of the old school, in whom still survives the memory of the
+      League and the day of the Barricades (in 1588), he bewailed himself in his
+      cab, loudly enough to compromise him, over the change that had come over
+      the Court. &ldquo;Formerly,&rdquo; he said to himself, &ldquo;every one could speak freely
+      to the King of his own little affairs; the nobles could ask him a favor,
+      or for money, when it suited them, and nowadays one cannot recover the
+      money advanced for his service without raising a scandal! By Heaven! the
+      cross of Saint-Louis and the rank of brigadier-general will not make good
+      the three hundred thousand livres I have spent, out and out, on the royal
+      cause. I must speak to the King, face to face, in his own room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This scene cooled Monsieur de Fontaine&rsquo;s ardor all the more effectually
+      because his requests for an interview were never answered. And, indeed, he
+      saw the upstarts of the Empire obtaining some of the offices reserved,
+      under the old monarchy, for the highest families.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All is lost!&rdquo; he exclaimed one morning. &ldquo;The King has certainly never
+      been other than a revolutionary. But for Monsieur, who never derogates,
+      and is some comfort to his faithful adherents, I do not know what hands
+      the crown of France might not fall into if things are to go on like this.
+      Their cursed constitutional system is the worst possible government, and
+      can never suit France. Louis XVIII. and Monsieur Beugnot spoiled
+      everything at Saint Ouen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Count, in despair, was preparing to retire to his estate, abandoning,
+      with dignity, all claims to repayment. At this moment the events of the
+      20th March (1815) gave warning of a fresh storm, threatening to overwhelm
+      the legitimate monarch and his defenders. Monsieur de Fontaine, like one
+      of those generous souls who do not dismiss a servant in a torrent of rain;
+      borrowed on his lands to follow the routed monarchy, without knowing
+      whether this complicity in emigration would prove more propitious to him
+      than his past devotion. But when he perceived that the companions of the
+      King&rsquo;s exile were in higher favor than the brave men who had protested,
+      sword in hand, against the establishment of the republic, he may perhaps
+      have hoped to derive greater profit from this journey into a foreign land
+      than from active and dangerous service in the heart of his own country.
+      Nor was his courtier-like calculation one of these rash speculations which
+      promise splendid results on paper, and are ruinous in effect. He was&mdash;to
+      quote the wittiest and most successful of our diplomates&mdash;one of the
+      faithful five hundred who shared the exile of the Court at Ghent, and one
+      of the fifty thousand who returned with it. During the short banishment of
+      royalty, Monsieur de Fontaine was so happy as to be employed by Louis
+      XVIII., and found more than one opportunity of giving him proofs of great
+      political honesty and sincere attachment. One evening, when the King had
+      nothing better to do, he recalled Monsieur de Fontaine&rsquo;s witticism at the
+      Tuileries. The old Vendeen did not let such a happy chance slip; he told
+      his history with so much vivacity that a king, who never forgot anything,
+      might remember it at a convenient season. The royal amateur of literature
+      also observed the elegant style given to some notes which the discreet
+      gentleman had been invited to recast. This little success stamped Monsieur
+      de Fontaine on the King&rsquo;s memory as one of the loyal servants of the
+      Crown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the second restoration the Count was one of those special envoys who
+      were sent throughout the departments charged with absolute jurisdiction
+      over the leaders of revolt; but he used his terrible powers with
+      moderation. As soon as the temporary commission was ended, the High
+      Provost found a seat in the Privy Council, became a deputy, spoke little,
+      listened much, and changed his opinions very considerably. Certain
+      circumstances, unknown to historians, brought him into such intimate
+      relations with the Sovereign, that one day, as he came in, the shrewd
+      monarch addressed him thus: &ldquo;My friend Fontaine, I shall take care never
+      to appoint you to be director-general, or minister. Neither you nor I, as
+      employees, could keep our place on account of our opinions. Representative
+      government has this advantage; it saves Us the trouble We used to have, of
+      dismissing Our Secretaries of State. Our Council is a perfect inn-parlor,
+      whither public opinion sometimes sends strange travelers; however, We can
+      always find a place for Our faithful adherents.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This ironical speech was introductory to a rescript giving Monsieur de
+      Fontaine an appointment as administrator in the office of Crown lands. As
+      a consequence of the intelligent attention with which he listened to his
+      royal Friend&rsquo;s sarcasms, his name always rose to His Majesty&rsquo;s lips when a
+      commission was to be appointed of which the members were to receive a
+      handsome salary. He had the good sense to hold his tongue about the favor
+      with which he was honored, and knew how to entertain the monarch in those
+      familiar chats in which Louis XVIII. delighted as much as in a
+      well-written note, by his brilliant manner of repeating political
+      anecdotes, and the political or parliamentary tittle-tattle&mdash;if the
+      expression may pass&mdash;which at that time was rife. It is well known
+      that he was immensely amused by every detail of his Gouvernementabilite&mdash;a
+      word adopted by his facetious Majesty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thanks to the Comte de Fontaine&rsquo;s good sense, wit, and tact, every member
+      of his numerous family, however young, ended, as he jestingly told his
+      Sovereign, in attaching himself like a silkworm to the leaves of the
+      Pay-List. Thus, by the King&rsquo;s intervention, his eldest son found a high
+      and fixed position as a lawyer. The second, before the restoration a mere
+      captain, was appointed to the command of a legion on the return from
+      Ghent; then, thanks to the confusion of 1815, when the regulations were
+      evaded, he passed into the bodyguard, returned to a line regiment, and
+      found himself after the affair of the Trocadero a lieutenant-general with
+      a commission in the Guards. The youngest, appointed sous-prefet, ere long
+      became a legal official and director of a municipal board of the city of
+      Paris, where he was safe from changes in Legislature. These bounties,
+      bestowed without parade, and as secret as the favor enjoyed by the Count,
+      fell unperceived. Though the father and his three sons each had sinecures
+      enough to enjoy an income in salaries almost equal to that of a chief of
+      department, their political good fortune excited no envy. In those early
+      days of the constitutional system, few persons had very precise ideas of
+      the peaceful domain of the civil service, where astute favorites managed
+      to find an equivalent for the demolished abbeys. Monsieur le Comte de
+      Fontaine, who till lately boasted that he had not read the Charter, and
+      displayed such indignation at the greed of courtiers, had, before long,
+      proved to his august master that he understood, as well as the King
+      himself, the spirit and resources of the representative system. At the
+      same time, notwithstanding the established careers open to his three sons,
+      and the pecuniary advantages derived from four official appointments,
+      Monsieur de Fontaine was the head of too large a family to be able to
+      re-establish his fortune easily and rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His three sons were rich in prospects, in favor, and in talent; but he had
+      three daughters, and was afraid of wearying the monarch&rsquo;s benevolence. It
+      occurred to him to mention only one by one, these virgins eager to light
+      their torches. The King had too much good taste to leave his work
+      incomplete. The marriage of the eldest with a Receiver-General, Planat de
+      Baudry, was arranged by one of those royal speeches which cost nothing and
+      are worth millions. One evening, when the Sovereign was out of spirits, he
+      smiled on hearing of the existence of another Demoiselle de Fontaine, for
+      whom he found a husband in the person of a young magistrate, of inferior
+      birth, no doubt, but wealthy, and whom he created Baron. When, the year
+      after, the Vendeen spoke of Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, the King
+      replied in his thin sharp tones, &ldquo;Amicus Plato sed magis amica Natio.&rdquo;
+       Then, a few days later, he treated his &ldquo;friend Fontaine&rdquo; to a quatrain,
+      harmless enough, which he styled an epigram, in which he made fun of these
+      three daughters so skilfully introduced, under the form of a trinity. Nay,
+      if report is to be believed, the monarch had found the point of the jest
+      in the Unity of the three Divine Persons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If your Majesty would only condescend to turn the epigram into an
+      epithalamium?&rdquo; said the Count, trying to turn the sally to good account.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Though I see the rhyme of it, I fail to see the reason,&rdquo; retorted the
+      King, who did not relish any pleasantry, however mild, on the subject of
+      his poetry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From that day his intercourse with Monsieur de Fontaine showed less
+      amenity. Kings enjoy contradicting more than people think. Like most
+      youngest children, Emilie de Fontaine was a Benjamin spoilt by almost
+      everybody. The King&rsquo;s coolness, therefore, caused the Count all the more
+      regret, because no marriage was ever so difficult to arrange as that of
+      this darling daughter. To understand all the obstacles we must make our
+      way into the fine residence where the official was housed at the expense
+      of the nation. Emilie had spent her childhood on the family estate,
+      enjoying the abundance which suffices for the joys of early youth; her
+      lightest wishes had been law to her sisters, her brothers, her mother, and
+      even her father. All her relations doted on her. Having come to years of
+      discretion just when her family was loaded with the favors of fortune, the
+      enchantment of life continued. The luxury of Paris seemed to her just as
+      natural as a wealth of flowers or fruit, or as the rural plenty which had
+      been the joy of her first years. Just as in her childhood she had never
+      been thwarted in the satisfaction of her playful desires, so now, at
+      fourteen, she was still obeyed when she rushed into the whirl of fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus, accustomed by degrees to the enjoyment of money, elegance of dress,
+      of gilded drawing-rooms and fine carriages, became as necessary to her as
+      the compliments of flattery, sincere or false, and the festivities and
+      vanities of court life. Like most spoiled children, she tyrannized over
+      those who loved her, and kept her blandishments for those who were
+      indifferent. Her faults grew with her growth, and her parents were to
+      gather the bitter fruits of this disastrous education. At the age of
+      nineteen Emilie de Fontaine had not yet been pleased to make a choice from
+      among the many young men whom her father&rsquo;s politics brought to his
+      entertainments. Though so young, she asserted in society all the freedom
+      of mind that a married woman can enjoy. Her beauty was so remarkable that,
+      for her, to appear in a room was to be its queen; but, like sovereigns,
+      she had no friends, though she was everywhere the object of attentions to
+      which a finer nature than hers might perhaps have succumbed. Not a man,
+      not even an old man, had it in him to contradict the opinions of a young
+      girl whose lightest look could rekindle love in the coldest heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had been educated with a care which her sisters had not enjoyed;
+      painted pretty well, spoke Italian and English, and played the piano
+      brilliantly; her voice, trained by the best masters, had a ring in it
+      which made her singing irresistibly charming. Clever, and intimate with
+      every branch of literature, she might have made folks believe that, as
+      Mascarille says, people of quality come into the world knowing everything.
+      She could argue fluently on Italian or Flemish painting, on the Middle
+      Ages or the Renaissance; pronounced at haphazard on books new or old, and
+      could expose the defects of a work with a cruelly graceful wit. The
+      simplest thing she said was accepted by an admiring crowd as a fetfah of
+      the Sultan by the Turks. She thus dazzled shallow persons; as to deeper
+      minds, her natural tact enabled her to discern them, and for them she put
+      forth so much fascination that, under cover of her charms, she escaped
+      their scrutiny. This enchanting veneer covered a careless heart; the
+      opinion&mdash;common to many young girls&mdash;that no one else dwelt in a
+      sphere so lofty as to be able to understand the merits of her soul; and a
+      pride based no less on her birth than on her beauty. In the absence of the
+      overwhelming sentiment which, sooner or later, works havoc in a woman&rsquo;s
+      heart, she spent her young ardor in an immoderate love of distinctions,
+      and expressed the deepest contempt for persons of inferior birth.
+      Supremely impertinent to all newly-created nobility, she made every effort
+      to get her parents recognized as equals by the most illustrious families
+      of the Saint-Germain quarter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These sentiments had not escaped the observing eye of Monsieur de
+      Fontaine, who more than once, when his two elder girls were married, had
+      smarted under Emilie&rsquo;s sarcasm. Logical readers will be surprised to see
+      the old Royalist bestowing his eldest daughter on a Receiver-General,
+      possessed, indeed, of some old hereditary estates, but whose name was not
+      preceded by the little word to which the throne owed so many partisans,
+      and his second to a magistrate too lately Baronified to obscure the fact
+      that his father had sold firewood. This noteworthy change in the ideas of
+      a noble on the verge of his sixtieth year&mdash;an age when men rarely
+      renounce their convictions&mdash;was due not merely to his unfortunate
+      residence in the modern Babylon, where, sooner or later, country folks all
+      get their corners rubbed down; the Comte de Fontaine&rsquo;s new political
+      conscience was also a result of the King&rsquo;s advice and friendship. The
+      philosophical prince had taken pleasure in converting the Vendeen to the
+      ideas required by the advance of the nineteenth century, and the new
+      aspect of the Monarchy. Louis XVIII. aimed at fusing parties as Napoleon
+      had fused things and men. The legitimate King, who was not less clever
+      perhaps than his rival, acted in a contrary direction. The last head of
+      the House of Bourbon was just as eager to satisfy the third estate and the
+      creations of the Empire, by curbing the clergy, as the first of the
+      Napoleons had been to attract the grand old nobility, or to endow the
+      Church. The Privy Councillor, being in the secret of these royal projects,
+      had insensibly become one of the most prudent and influential leaders of
+      that moderate party which most desired a fusion of opinion in the
+      interests of the nation. He preached the expensive doctrines of
+      constitutional government, and lent all his weight to encourage the
+      political see-saw which enabled his master to rule France in the midst of
+      storms. Perhaps Monsieur de Fontaine hoped that one of the sudden gusts of
+      legislation, whose unexpected efforts then startled the oldest
+      politicians, might carry him up to the rank of peer. One of his most rigid
+      principles was to recognize no nobility in France but that of the peerage&mdash;the
+      only families that might enjoy any privileges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A nobility bereft of privileges,&rdquo; he would say, &ldquo;is a tool without a
+      handle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As far from Lafayette&rsquo;s party as he was from La Bourdonnaye&rsquo;s, he ardently
+      engaged in the task of general reconciliation, which was to result in a
+      new era and splendid fortunes for France. He strove to convince the
+      families who frequented his drawing-room, or those whom he visited, how
+      few favorable openings would henceforth be offered by a civil or military
+      career. He urged mothers to give their boys a start in independent and
+      industrial professions, explaining that military posts and high Government
+      appointments must at last pertain, in a quite constitutional order, to the
+      younger sons of members of the peerage. According to him, the people had
+      conquered a sufficiently large share in practical government by its
+      elective assembly, its appointments to law-offices, and those of the
+      exchequer, which, said he, would always, as heretofore, be the natural
+      right of the distinguished men of the third estate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These new notions of the head of the Fontaines, and the prudent matches
+      for his eldest girls to which they had led, met with strong resistance in
+      the bosom of his family. The Comtesse de Fontaine remained faithful to the
+      ancient beliefs which no woman could disown, who, through her mother,
+      belonged to the Rohans. Although she had for a while opposed the happiness
+      and fortune awaiting her two eldest girls, she yielded to those private
+      considerations which husband and wife confide to each other when their
+      heads are resting on the same pillow. Monsieur de Fontaine calmly pointed
+      out to his wife, by exact arithmetic that their residence in Paris, the
+      necessity for entertaining, the magnificence of the house which made up to
+      them now for the privations so bravely shared in La Vendee, and the
+      expenses of their sons, swallowed up the chief part of their income from
+      salaries. They must therefore seize, as a boon from heaven, the
+      opportunities which offered for settling their girls with such wealth.
+      Would they not some day enjoy sixty&mdash;eighty&mdash;a hundred thousand
+      francs a year? Such advantageous matches were not to be met with every day
+      for girls without a portion. Again, it was time that they should begin to
+      think of economizing, to add to the estate of Fontaine, and re-establish
+      the old territorial fortune of the family. The Countess yielded to such
+      cogent arguments, as every mother would have done in her place, though
+      perhaps with a better grace; but she declared that Emilie, at any rate,
+      should marry in such a way as to satisfy the pride she had unfortunately
+      contributed to foster in the girl&rsquo;s young soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus events, which ought to have brought joy into the family, had
+      introduced a small leaven of discord. The Receiver-General and the young
+      lawyer were the objects of a ceremonious formality which the Countess and
+      Emilie contrived to create. This etiquette soon found even ampler
+      opportunity for the display of domestic tyranny; for Lieutenant-General de
+      Fontaine married Mademoiselle Mongenod, the daughter of a rich banker; the
+      President very sensibly found a wife in a young lady whose father, twice
+      or thrice a millionaire, had traded in salt; and the third brother,
+      faithful to his plebeian doctrines, married Mademoiselle Grossetete, the
+      only daughter of the Receiver-General at Bourges. The three sisters-in-law
+      and the two brothers-in-law found the high sphere of political bigwigs,
+      and the drawing-rooms of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, so full of charm and
+      of personal advantages, that they united in forming a little court round
+      the overbearing Emilie. This treaty between interest and pride was not,
+      however, so firmly cemented but that the young despot was, not
+      unfrequently, the cause of revolts in her little realm. Scenes, which the
+      highest circles would not have disowned, kept up a sarcastic temper among
+      all the members of this powerful family; and this, without seriously
+      diminishing the regard they professed in public, degenerated sometimes in
+      private into sentiments far from charitable. Thus the Lieutenant-General&rsquo;s
+      wife, having become a Baronne, thought herself quite as noble as a
+      Kergarouet, and imagined that her good hundred thousand francs a year gave
+      her the right to be as impertinent as her sister-in-law Emilie, whom she
+      would sometimes wish to see happily married, as she announced that the
+      daughter of some peer of France had married Monsieur So-and-So with no
+      title to his name. The Vicomtesse de Fontaine amused herself by eclipsing
+      Emilie in the taste and magnificence that were conspicuous in her dress,
+      her furniture, and her carriages. The satirical spirit in which her
+      brothers and sisters sometimes received the claims avowed by Mademoiselle
+      de Fontaine roused her to wrath that a perfect hailstorm of sharp sayings
+      could hardly mitigate. So when the head of the family felt a slight chill
+      in the King&rsquo;s tacit and precarious friendship, he trembled all the more
+      because, as a result of her sisters&rsquo; defiant mockery, his favorite
+      daughter had never looked so high.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the midst of these circumstances, and at a moment when this petty
+      domestic warfare had become serious, the monarch, whose favor Monsieur de
+      Fontaine still hoped to regain, was attacked by the malady of which he was
+      to die. The great political chief, who knew so well how to steer his bark
+      in the midst of tempests, soon succumbed. Certain then of favors to come,
+      the Comte de Fontaine made every effort to collect the elite of marrying
+      men about his youngest daughter. Those who may have tried to solve the
+      difficult problem of settling a haughty and capricious girl, will
+      understand the trouble taken by the unlucky father. Such an affair,
+      carried out to the liking of his beloved child, would worthily crown the
+      career the Count had followed for these ten years at Paris. From the way
+      in which his family claimed salaries under every department, it might be
+      compared with the House of Austria, which, by intermarriage, threatens to
+      pervade Europe. The old Vendeen was not to be discouraged in bringing
+      forward suitors, so much had he his daughter&rsquo;s happiness at heart, but
+      nothing could be more absurd than the way in which the impertinent young
+      thing pronounced her verdicts and judged the merits of her adorers. It
+      might have been supposed that, like a princess in the Arabian Nights,
+      Emilie was rich enough and beautiful enough to choose from among all the
+      princes in the world. Her objections were each more preposterous than the
+      last: one had too thick knees and was bow-legged, another was
+      short-sighted, this one&rsquo;s name was Durand, that one limped, and almost all
+      were too fat. Livelier, more attractive, and gayer than ever after
+      dismissing two or three suitors, she rushed into the festivities of the
+      winter season, and to balls, where her keen eyes criticised the
+      celebrities of the day, delighted in encouraging proposals which she
+      invariably rejected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nature had bestowed on her all the advantages needed for playing the part
+      of Celimene. Tall and slight, Emilie de Fontaine could assume a dignified
+      or a frolicsome mien at her will. Her neck was rather long, allowing her
+      to affect beautiful attitudes of scorn and impertinence. She had
+      cultivated a large variety of those turns of the head and feminine
+      gestures, which emphasize so cruelly or so happily a hint of a smile. Fine
+      black hair, thick and strongly-arched eyebrows, lent her countenance an
+      expression of pride, to which her coquettish instincts and her mirror had
+      taught her to add terror by a stare, or gentleness by the softness of her
+      gaze, by the set of the gracious curve of her lips, by the coldness or the
+      sweetness of her smile. When Emilie meant to conquer a heart, her pure
+      voice did not lack melody; but she could also give it a sort of curt
+      clearness when she was minded to paralyze a partner&rsquo;s indiscreet tongue.
+      Her colorless face and alabaster brow were like the limpid surface of a
+      lake, which by turns is rippled by the impulse of a breeze and recovers
+      its glad serenity when the air is still. More than one young man, a victim
+      to her scorn, accused her of acting a part; but she justified herself by
+      inspiring her detractors with the desire to please her, and then
+      subjecting them to all her most contemptuous caprice. Among the young
+      girls of fashion, not one knew better than she how to assume an air of
+      reserve when a man of talent was introduced to her, or how to display the
+      insulting politeness which treats an equal as an inferior, and to pour out
+      her impertinence on all who tried to hold their heads on a level with
+      hers. Wherever she went she seemed to be accepting homage rather than
+      compliments, and even in a princess her airs and manner would have
+      transformed the chair on which she sat into an imperial throne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de Fontaine discovered too late how utterly the education of the
+      daughter he loved had been ruined by the tender devotion of the whole
+      family. The admiration which the world is at first ready to bestow on a
+      young girl, but for which, sooner or later, it takes its revenge, had
+      added to Emilie&rsquo;s pride, and increased her self-confidence. Universal
+      subservience had developed in her the selfishness natural to spoilt
+      children, who, like kings, make a plaything of everything that comes to
+      hand. As yet the graces of youth and the charms of talent hid these faults
+      from every eye; faults all the more odious in a woman, since she can only
+      please by self-sacrifice and unselfishness; but nothing escapes the eye of
+      a good father, and Monsieur de Fontaine often tried to explain to his
+      daughter the more important pages of the mysterious book of life. Vain
+      effort! He had to lament his daughter&rsquo;s capricious indocility and ironical
+      shrewdness too often to persevere in a task so difficult as that of
+      correcting an ill-disposed nature. He contented himself with giving her
+      from time to time some gentle and kind advice; but he had the sorrow of
+      seeing his tenderest words slide from his daughter&rsquo;s heart as if it were
+      of marble. A father&rsquo;s eyes are slow to be unsealed, and it needed more
+      than one experience before the old Royalist perceived that his daughter&rsquo;s
+      rare caresses were bestowed on him with an air of condescension. She was
+      like young children, who seem to say to their mother, &ldquo;Make haste to kiss
+      me, that I may go to play.&rdquo; In short, Emilie vouchsafed to be fond of her
+      parents. But often, by those sudden whims, which seem inexplicable in
+      young girls, she kept aloof and scarcely ever appeared; she complained of
+      having to share her father&rsquo;s and mother&rsquo;s heart with too many people; she
+      was jealous of every one, even of her brothers and sisters. Then, after
+      creating a desert about her, the strange girl accused all nature of her
+      unreal solitude and her wilful griefs. Strong in the experience of her
+      twenty years, she blamed fate, because, not knowing that the mainspring of
+      happiness is in ourselves, she demanded it of the circumstances of life.
+      She would have fled to the ends of the earth to escape a marriage such as
+      those of her two sisters, and nevertheless her heart was full of horrible
+      jealousy at seeing them married, rich, and happy. In short, she sometimes
+      led her mother&mdash;who was as much a victim to her vagaries as Monsieur
+      de Fontaine&mdash;to suspect that she had a touch of madness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But such aberrations are quite inexplicable; nothing is commoner than this
+      unconfessed pride developed in the heart of young girls belonging to
+      families high in the social scale, and gifted by nature with great beauty.
+      They are almost all convinced that their mothers, now forty or fifty years
+      of age, can neither sympathize with their young souls, nor conceive of
+      their imaginings. They fancy that most mothers, jealous of their girls,
+      want to dress them in their own way with the premeditated purpose of
+      eclipsing them or robbing them of admiration. Hence, often, secret tears
+      and dumb revolt against supposed tyranny. In the midst of these woes,
+      which become very real though built on an imaginary basis, they have also
+      a mania for composing a scheme of life, while casting for themselves a
+      brilliant horoscope; their magic consists in taking their dreams for
+      reality; secretly, in their long meditations, they resolve to give their
+      heart and hand to none but the man possessing this or the other
+      qualification; and they paint in fancy a model to which, whether or no,
+      the future lover must correspond. After some little experience of life,
+      and the serious reflections that come with years, by dint of seeing the
+      world and its prosaic round, by dint of observing unhappy examples, the
+      brilliant hues of their ideal are extinguished. Then, one fine day, in the
+      course of events, they are quite astonished to find themselves happy
+      without the nuptial poetry of their day-dreams. It was on the strength of
+      that poetry that Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, in her slender wisdom,
+      had drawn up a programme to which a suitor must conform to be excepted.
+      Hence her disdain and sarcasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Though young and of an ancient family, he must be a peer of France,&rdquo; said
+      she to herself. &ldquo;I could not bear not to see my coat-of-arms on the panels
+      of my carriage among the folds of azure mantling, not to drive like the
+      princes down the broad walk of the Champs-Elysees on the days of
+      Longchamps in Holy Week. Besides, my father says that it will someday be
+      the highest dignity in France. He must be a soldier&mdash;but I reserve
+      the right of making him retire; and he must bear an Order, that the
+      sentries may present arms to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And these rare qualifications would count for nothing if this creature of
+      fancy had not the most amiable temper, a fine figure, intelligence, and,
+      above all, if he were not slender. To be lean, a personal grace which is
+      but fugitive, especially under a representative government, was an
+      indispensable condition. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had an ideal standard
+      which was to be the model. A young man who at the first glance did not
+      fulfil the requisite conditions did not even get a second look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heavens! see how fat he is!&rdquo; was with her the utmost expression of
+      contempt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To hear her, people of respectable corpulence were incapable of sentiment,
+      bad husbands, and unfit for civilized society. Though it is esteemed a
+      beauty in the East, to be fat seemed to her a misfortune for a woman; but
+      in a man it was a crime. These paradoxical views were amusing, thanks to a
+      certain liveliness of rhetoric. The Count felt nevertheless that by-and-by
+      his daughter&rsquo;s affections, of which the absurdity would be evident to some
+      women who were not less clear-sighted than merciless, would inevitably
+      become a subject of constant ridicule. He feared lest her eccentric
+      notions should deviate into bad style. He trembled to think that the
+      pitiless world might already be laughing at a young woman who remained so
+      long on the stage without arriving at any conclusion of the drama she was
+      playing. More than one actor in it, disgusted by a refusal, seemed to be
+      waiting for the slightest turn of ill-luck to take his revenge. The
+      indifferent, the lookers-on were beginning to weary of it; admiration is
+      always exhausting to human beings. The old Vendeen knew better than any
+      one that if there is an art in choosing the right moment for coming
+      forward on the boards of the world, on those of the Court, in a
+      drawing-room or on the stage, it is still more difficult to quit them in
+      the nick of time. So during the first winter after the accession of
+      Charles X., he redoubled his efforts, seconded by his three sons and his
+      sons-in-law, to assemble in the rooms of his official residence the best
+      matches which Paris and the various deputations from departments could
+      offer. The splendor of his entertainments, the luxury of his dining-room,
+      and his dinners, fragrant with truffles, rivaled the famous banquets by
+      which the ministers of that time secured the vote of their parliamentary
+      recruits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Honorable Deputy was consequently pointed at as a most influential
+      corrupter of the legislative honesty of the illustrious Chamber that was
+      dying as it would seem of indigestion. A whimsical result! his efforts to
+      get his daughter married secured him a splendid popularity. He perhaps
+      found some covert advantage in selling his truffles twice over. This
+      accusation, started by certain mocking Liberals, who made up by their flow
+      of words for their small following in the Chamber, was not a success. The
+      Poitevin gentleman had always been so noble and so honorable, that he was
+      not once the object of those epigrams which the malicious journalism of
+      the day hurled at the three hundred votes of the centre, at the Ministers,
+      the cooks, the Directors-General, the princely Amphitryons, and the
+      official supporters of the Villele Ministry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the close of this campaign, during which Monsieur de Fontaine had on
+      several occasions brought out all his forces, he believed that this time
+      the procession of suitors would not be a mere dissolving view in his
+      daughter&rsquo;s eyes; that it was time she should make up her mind. He felt a
+      certain inward satisfaction at having well fulfilled his duty as a father.
+      And having left no stone unturned, he hoped that, among so many hearts
+      laid at Emilie&rsquo;s feet, there might be one to which her caprice might give
+      a preference. Incapable of repeating such an effort, and tired, too, of
+      his daughter&rsquo;s conduct, one morning, towards the end of Lent, when the
+      business at the Chamber did not demand his vote, he determined to ask what
+      her views were. While his valet was artistically decorating his bald
+      yellow head with the delta of powder which, with the hanging &ldquo;ailes de
+      pigeon,&rdquo; completed his venerable style of hairdressing, Emilie&rsquo;s father,
+      not without some secret misgivings, told his old servant to go and desire
+      the haughty damsel to appear in the presence of the head of the family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Joseph,&rdquo; he added, when his hair was dressed, &ldquo;take away that towel, draw
+      back the curtains, put those chairs square, shake the rug, and lay it
+      quite straight. Dust everything.&mdash;Now, air the room a little by
+      opening the window.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Count multiplied his orders, putting Joseph out of breath, and the old
+      servant, understanding his master&rsquo;s intentions, aired and tidied the room,
+      of course the least cared for of any in the house, and succeeded in giving
+      a look of harmony to the files of bills, the letter-boxes, the books and
+      furniture of this sanctum, where the interests of the royal demesnes were
+      debated over. When Joseph had reduced this chaos to some sort of order,
+      and brought to the front such things as might be most pleasing to the eye,
+      as if it were a shop front, or such as by their color might give the
+      effect of a kind of official poetry, he stood for a minute in the midst of
+      the labyrinth of papers piled in some places even on the floor, admired
+      his handiwork, jerked his head, and went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The anxious sinecure-holder did not share his retainer&rsquo;s favorable
+      opinion. Before seating himself in his deep chair, whose rounded back
+      screened him from draughts, he looked round him doubtfully, examined his
+      dressing-gown with a hostile expression, shook off a few grains of snuff,
+      carefully wiped his nose, arranged the tongs and shovel, made the fire,
+      pulled up the heels of his slippers, pulled out his little queue of hair
+      which had lodged horizontally between the collar of his waistcoat and that
+      of his dressing-gown restoring it to its perpendicular position; then he
+      swept up the ashes of the hearth, which bore witness to a persistent
+      catarrh. Finally, the old man did not settle himself till he had once more
+      looked all over the room, hoping that nothing could give occasion to the
+      saucy and impertinent remarks with which his daughter was apt to answer
+      his good advice. On this occasion he was anxious not to compromise his
+      dignity as a father. He daintily took a pinch of snuff, cleared his throat
+      two or three times, as if he were about to demand a count out of the
+      House; then he heard his daughter&rsquo;s light step, and she came in humming an
+      air from Il Barbiere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-morning, papa. What do you want with me so early?&rdquo; Having sung these
+      words, as though they were the refrain of the melody, she kissed the
+      Count, not with the familiar tenderness which makes a daughter&rsquo;s love so
+      sweet a thing, but with the light carelessness of a mistress confident of
+      pleasing, whatever she may do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear child,&rdquo; said Monsieur de Fontaine, gravely, &ldquo;I sent for you to
+      talk to you very seriously about your future prospects. You are at this
+      moment under the necessity of making such a choice of a husband as may
+      secure your durable happiness&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My good father,&rdquo; replied Emilie, assuming her most coaxing tone of voice
+      to interrupt him, &ldquo;it strikes me that the armistice on which we agreed as
+      to my suitors is not yet expired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Emilie, we must to-day forbear from jesting on so important a matter. For
+      some time past the efforts of those who most truly love you, my dear
+      child, have been concentrated on the endeavor to settle you suitably; and
+      you would be guilty of ingratitude in meeting with levity those proofs of
+      kindness which I am not alone in lavishing on you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As she heard these words, after flashing a mischievously inquisitive look
+      at the furniture of her father&rsquo;s study, the young girl brought forward the
+      armchair which looked as if it had been least used by petitioners, set it
+      at the side of the fireplace so as to sit facing her father, and settled
+      herself in so solemn an attitude that it was impossible not to read in it
+      a mocking intention, crossing her arms over the dainty trimmings of a
+      pelerine a la neige, and ruthlessly crushing its endless frills of white
+      tulle. After a laughing side glance at her old father&rsquo;s troubled face, she
+      broke silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never heard you say, my dear father, that the Government issued its
+      instructions in its dressing-gown. However,&rdquo; and she smiled, &ldquo;that does
+      not matter; the mob are probably not particular. Now, what are your
+      proposals for legislation, and your official introductions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not always be able to make them, headstrong girl!&mdash;Listen,
+      Emilie. It is my intention no longer to compromise my reputation, which is
+      part of my children&rsquo;s fortune, by recruiting the regiment of dancers
+      which, spring after spring, you put to rout. You have already been the
+      cause of many dangerous misunderstandings with certain families. I hope to
+      make you perceive more truly the difficulties of your position and of
+      ours. You are two-and-twenty, my dear child, and you ought to have been
+      married nearly three years since. Your brothers and your two sisters are
+      richly and happily provided for. But, my dear, the expenses occasioned by
+      these marriages, and the style of housekeeping you require of your mother,
+      have made such inroads on our income that I can hardly promise you a
+      hundred thousand francs as a marriage portion. From this day forth I shall
+      think only of providing for your mother, who must not be sacrificed to her
+      children. Emilie, if I were to be taken from my family Madame de Fontaine
+      could not be left at anybody&rsquo;s mercy, and ought to enjoy the affluence
+      which I have given her too late as the reward of her devotion in my
+      misfortunes. You see, my child, that the amount of your fortune bears no
+      relation to your notions of grandeur. Even that would be such a sacrifice
+      as I have not hitherto made for either of my children; but they have
+      generously agreed not to expect in the future any compensation for the
+      advantage thus given to a too favored child.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In their position!&rdquo; said Emilie, with an ironical toss of her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, do not so depreciate those who love you. Only the poor are
+      generous as a rule; the rich have always excellent reasons for not handing
+      over twenty thousand francs to a relation. Come, my child, do not pout,
+      let us talk rationally.&mdash;Among the young marrying men have you
+      noticed Monsieur de Manerville?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he minces his words&mdash;he says Zules instead of Jules; he is
+      always looking at his feet, because he thinks them small, and he gazes at
+      himself in the glass! Besides, he is fair. I don&rsquo;t like fair men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, Monsieur de Beaudenord?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is not noble! he is ill made and stout. He is dark, it is true.&mdash;If
+      the two gentlemen could agree to combine their fortunes, and the first
+      would give his name and his figure to the second, who should keep his dark
+      hair, then&mdash;perhaps&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can you say against Monsieur de Rastignac?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Nucingen has made a banker of him,&rdquo; she said with meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And our cousin, the Vicomte de Portenduere?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A mere boy, who dances badly; besides, he has no fortune. And, after all,
+      papa, none of these people have titles. I want, at least, to be a countess
+      like my mother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you seen no one, then, this winter&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, papa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What then do you want?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The son of a peer of France.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear girl, you are mad!&rdquo; said Monsieur de Fontaine, rising.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he suddenly lifted his eyes to heaven, and seemed to find a fresh
+      fount of resignation in some religious thought; then, with a look of
+      fatherly pity at his daughter, who herself was moved, he took her hand,
+      pressed it, and said with deep feeling: &ldquo;God is my witness, poor mistaken
+      child, I have conscientiously discharged my duty to you as a father&mdash;conscientiously,
+      do I say? Most lovingly, my Emilie. Yes, God knows! This winter I have
+      brought before you more than one good man, whose character, whose habits,
+      and whose temper were known to me, and all seemed worthy of you. My child,
+      my task is done. From this day forth you are the arbiter of your fate, and
+      I consider myself both happy and unhappy at finding myself relieved of the
+      heaviest of paternal functions. I know not whether you will for any long
+      time, now, hear a voice which, to you, has never been stern; but remember
+      that conjugal happiness does not rest so much on brilliant qualities and
+      ample fortune as on reciprocal esteem. This happiness is, in its nature,
+      modest, and devoid of show. So now, my dear, my consent is given
+      beforehand, whoever the son-in-law may be whom you introduce to me; but if
+      you should be unhappy, remember you will have no right to accuse your
+      father. I shall not refuse to take proper steps and help you, only your
+      choice must be serious and final. I will never twice compromise the
+      respect due to my white hairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The affection thus expressed by her father, the solemn tones of his urgent
+      address, deeply touched Mademoiselle de Fontaine; but she concealed her
+      emotion, seated herself on her father&rsquo;s knees&mdash;for he had dropped all
+      tremulous into his chair again&mdash;caressed him fondly, and coaxed him
+      so engagingly that the old man&rsquo;s brow cleared. As soon as Emilie thought
+      that her father had got over his painful agitation, she said in a gentle
+      voice: &ldquo;I have to thank you for your graceful attention, my dear father.
+      You have had your room set in order to receive your beloved daughter. You
+      did not perhaps know that you would find her so foolish and so headstrong.
+      But, papa, is it so difficult to get married to a peer of France? You
+      declared that they were manufactured by dozens. At least, you will not
+      refuse to advise me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, my poor child, no;&mdash;and more than once I may have occasion to
+      cry, &lsquo;Beware!&rsquo; Remember that the making of peers is so recent a force in
+      our government machinery that they have no great fortunes. Those who are
+      rich look to becoming richer. The wealthiest member of our peerage has not
+      half the income of the least rich lord in the English Upper Chamber. Thus
+      all the French peers are on the lookout for great heiresses for their
+      sons, wherever they may meet with them. The necessity in which they find
+      themselves of marrying for money will certainly exist for at least two
+      centuries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pending such a fortunate accident as you long for&mdash;and this
+      fastidiousness may cost you the best years of your life&mdash;your
+      attractions might work a miracle, for men often marry for love in these
+      days. When experience lurks behind so sweet a face as yours it may achieve
+      wonders. In the first place, have you not the gift of recognizing virtue
+      in the greater or smaller dimensions of a man&rsquo;s body? This is no small
+      matter! To so wise a young person as you are, I need not enlarge on all
+      the difficulties of the enterprise. I am sure that you would never
+      attribute good sense to a stranger because he had a handsome face, or all
+      the virtues because he had a fine figure. And I am quite of your mind in
+      thinking that the sons of peers ought to have an air peculiar to
+      themselves, and perfectly distinctive manners. Though nowadays no external
+      sign stamps a man of rank, those young men will have, perhaps, to you the
+      indefinable something that will reveal it. Then, again, you have your
+      heart well in hand, like a good horseman who is sure his steed cannot
+      bolt. Luck be with you, my dear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are making game of me, papa. Well, I assure you that I would rather
+      die in Mademoiselle de Conde&rsquo;s convent than not be the wife of a peer of
+      France.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She slipped out of her father&rsquo;s arms, and proud of being her own mistress,
+      went off singing the air of Cara non dubitare, in the &ldquo;Matrimonio
+      Segreto.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As it happened, the family were that day keeping the anniversary of a
+      family fete. At dessert Madame Planat, the Receiver-General&rsquo;s wife, spoke
+      with some enthusiasm of a young American owning an immense fortune, who
+      had fallen passionately in love with her sister, and made through her the
+      most splendid proposals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A banker, I rather think,&rdquo; observed Emilie carelessly. &ldquo;I do not like
+      money dealers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Emilie,&rdquo; replied the Baron de Villaine, the husband of the Count&rsquo;s
+      second daughter, &ldquo;you do not like lawyers either; so that if you refuse
+      men of wealth who have not titles, I do not quite see in what class you
+      are to choose a husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Especially, Emilie, with your standard of slimness,&rdquo; added the
+      Lieutenant-General.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know what I want,&rdquo; replied the young lady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My sister wants a fine name, a fine young man, fine prospects, and a
+      hundred thousand francs a year,&rdquo; said the Baronne de Fontaine. &ldquo;Monsieur
+      de Marsay, for instance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, my dear,&rdquo; retorted Emilie, &ldquo;that I do not mean to make such a
+      foolish marriage as some I have seen. Moreover, to put an end to these
+      matrimonial discussions, I hereby declare that I shall look on anyone who
+      talks to me of marriage as a foe to my peace of mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An uncle of Emilie&rsquo;s, a vice-admiral, whose fortune had just been
+      increased by twenty thousand francs a year in consequence of the Act of
+      Indemnity, and a man of seventy, feeling himself privileged to say hard
+      things to his grand-niece, on whom he doted, in order to mollify the
+      bitter tone of the discussion now exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not tease my poor little Emilie; don&rsquo;t you see she is waiting till the
+      Duc de Bordeaux comes of age!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man&rsquo;s pleasantry was received with general laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take care I don&rsquo;t marry you, old fool!&rdquo; replied the young girl, whose
+      last words were happily drowned in the noise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear children,&rdquo; said Madame de Fontaine, to soften this saucy retort,
+      &ldquo;Emilie, like you, will take no advice but her mother&rsquo;s.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless me! I shall take no advice but my own in a matter which concerns no
+      one but myself,&rdquo; said Mademoiselle de Fontaine very distinctly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this all eyes were turned to the head of the family. Every one seemed
+      anxious as to what he would do to assert his dignity. The venerable
+      gentleman enjoyed much consideration, not only in the world; happier than
+      many fathers, he was also appreciated by his family, all its members
+      having a just esteem for the solid qualities by which he had been able to
+      make their fortunes. Hence he was treated with the deep respect which is
+      shown by English families, and some aristocratic houses on the continent,
+      to the living representatives of an ancient pedigree. Deep silence had
+      fallen; and the guests looked alternately from the spoilt girl&rsquo;s proud and
+      sulky pout to the severe faces of Monsieur and Madame de Fontaine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have made my daughter Emilie mistress of her own fate,&rdquo; was the reply
+      spoken by the Count in a deep voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Relations and guests gazed at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with mingled
+      curiosity and pity. The words seemed to declare that fatherly affection
+      was weary of the contest with a character that the whole family knew to be
+      incorrigible. The sons-in-law muttered, and the brothers glanced at their
+      wives with mocking smiles. From that moment every one ceased to take any
+      interest in the haughty girl&rsquo;s prospects of marriage. Her old uncle was
+      the only person who, as an old sailor, ventured to stand on her tack, and
+      take her broadsides, without ever troubling himself to return her fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the fine weather was settled, and after the budget was voted, the
+      whole family&mdash;a perfect example of the parliamentary families on the
+      northern side of the Channel who have a footing in every government
+      department, and ten votes in the House of Commons&mdash;flew away like a
+      brood of young birds to the charming neighborhoods of Aulnay, Antony, and
+      Chatenay. The wealthy Receiver-General had lately purchased in this part
+      of the world a country-house for his wife, who remained in Paris only
+      during the session. Though the fair Emilie despised the commonalty, her
+      feeling was not carried so far as to scorn the advantages of a fortune
+      acquired in a profession; so she accompanied her sister to the sumptuous
+      villa, less out of affection for the members of her family who were
+      visiting there, than because fashion has ordained that every woman who has
+      any self-respect must leave Paris in the summer. The green seclusion of
+      Sceaux answered to perfection the requirements of good style and of the
+      duties of an official position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As it is extremely doubtful that the fame of the &ldquo;Bal de Sceaux&rdquo; should
+      ever have extended beyond the borders of the Department of the Seine, it
+      will be necessary to give some account of this weekly festivity, which at
+      that time was important enough to threaten to become an institution. The
+      environs of the little town of Sceaux enjoy a reputation due to the
+      scenery, which is considered enchanting. Perhaps it is quite ordinary, and
+      owes its fame only to the stupidity of the Paris townsfolk, who, emerging
+      from the stony abyss in which they are buried, would find something to
+      admire in the flats of La Beauce. However, as the poetic shades of Aulnay,
+      the hillsides of Antony, and the valley of the Bieve are peopled with
+      artists who have traveled far, by foreigners who are very hard to please,
+      and by a great many pretty women not devoid of taste, it is to be supposed
+      that the Parisians are right. But Sceaux possesses another attraction not
+      less powerful to the Parisian. In the midst of a garden whence there are
+      delightful views, stands a large rotunda open on all sides, with a light,
+      spreading roof supported on elegant pillars. This rural baldachino
+      shelters a dancing-floor. The most stuck-up landowners of the neighborhood
+      rarely fail to make an excursion thither once or twice during the season,
+      arriving at this rustic palace of Terpsichore either in dashing parties on
+      horseback, or in the light and elegant carriages which powder the
+      philosophical pedestrian with dust. The hope of meeting some women of
+      fashion, and of being seen by them&mdash;and the hope, less often
+      disappointed, of seeing young peasant girls, as wily as judges&mdash;crowds
+      the ballroom at Sceaux with numerous swarms of lawyers&rsquo; clerks, of the
+      disciples of Aesculapius, and other youths whose complexions are kept pale
+      and moist by the damp atmosphere of Paris back-shops. And a good many
+      bourgeois marriages have had their beginning to the sound of the band
+      occupying the centre of this circular ballroom. If that roof could speak,
+      what love-stories could it not tell!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This interesting medley gave the Sceaux balls at that time a spice of more
+      amusement than those of two or three places of the same kind near Paris;
+      and it had incontestable advantages in its rotunda, and the beauty of its
+      situation and its gardens. Emilie was the first to express a wish to play
+      at being COMMON FOLK at this gleeful suburban entertainment, and promised
+      herself immense pleasure in mingling with the crowd. Everybody wondered at
+      her desire to wander through such a mob; but is there not a keen pleasure
+      to grand people in an incognito? Mademoiselle de Fontaine amused herself
+      with imagining all these town-bred figures; she fancied herself leaving
+      the memory of a bewitching glance and smile stamped on more than one
+      shopkeeper&rsquo;s heart, laughed beforehand at the damsels&rsquo; airs, and sharpened
+      her pencils for the scenes she proposed to sketch in her satirical album.
+      Sunday could not come soon enough to satisfy her impatience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The party from the Villa Planat set out on foot, so as not to betray the
+      rank of the personages who were about to honor the ball with their
+      presence. They dined early. And the month of May humored this aristocratic
+      escapade by one of its finest evenings. Mademoiselle de Fontaine was quite
+      surprised to find in the rotunda some quadrilles made up of persons who
+      seemed to belong to the upper classes. Here and there, indeed, were some
+      young men who look as though they must have saved for a month to shine for
+      a day; and she perceived several couples whose too hearty glee suggested
+      nothing conjugal; still, she could only glean instead of gathering a
+      harvest. She was amused to see that pleasure in a cotton dress was so very
+      like pleasure robed in satin, and that the girls of the middle class
+      danced quite as well as ladies&mdash;nay, sometimes better. Most of the
+      women were simply and suitably dressed. Those who in this assembly
+      represented the ruling power, that is to say, the country-folk, kept apart
+      with wonderful politeness. In fact, Mademoiselle Emilie had to study the
+      various elements that composed the mixture before she could find any
+      subject for pleasantry. But she had not time to give herself up to
+      malicious criticism, or opportunity for hearing many of the startling
+      speeches which caricaturists so gladly pick up. The haughty young lady
+      suddenly found a flower in this wide field&mdash;the metaphor is
+      reasonable&mdash;whose splendor and coloring worked on her imagination
+      with all the fascination of novelty. It often happens that we look at a
+      dress, a hanging, a blank sheet of paper, with so little heed that we do
+      not at first detect a stain or a bright spot which afterwards strikes the
+      eye as though it had come there at the very instant when we see it; and by
+      a sort of moral phenomenon somewhat resembling this, Mademoiselle de
+      Fontaine discovered in a young man the external perfection of which she
+      had so long dreamed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Seated on one of the clumsy chairs which marked the boundary line of the
+      circular floor, she had placed herself at the end of the row formed by the
+      family party, so as to be able to stand up or push forward as her fancy
+      moved her, treating the living pictures and groups in the hall as if she
+      were in a picture gallery; impertinently turning her eye-glass on persons
+      not two yards away, and making her remarks as though she were criticising
+      or praising a study of a head, a painting of genre. Her eyes, after
+      wandering over the vast moving picture, were suddenly caught by this
+      figure, which seemed to have been placed on purpose in one corner of the
+      canvas, and in the best light, like a person out of all proportion with
+      the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stranger, alone and absorbed in thought, leaned lightly against one of
+      the columns that supported the roof; his arms were folded, and he leaned
+      slightly on one side as though he had placed himself there to have his
+      portrait taken by a painter. His attitude, though full of elegance and
+      dignity, was devoid of affectation. Nothing suggested that he had half
+      turned his head, and bent it a little to the right like Alexander, or Lord
+      Byron, and some other great men, for the sole purpose of attracting
+      attention. His fixed gaze followed a girl who was dancing, and betrayed
+      some strong feeling. His slender, easy frame recalled the noble
+      proportions of the Apollo. Fine black hair curled naturally over a high
+      forehead. At a glance Mademoiselle de Fontaine observed that his linen was
+      fine, his gloves fresh, and evidently bought of a good maker, and his feet
+      were small and well shod in boots of Irish kid. He had none of the vulgar
+      trinkets displayed by the dandies of the National Guard or the Lovelaces
+      of the counting-house. A black ribbon, to which an eye-glass was attached,
+      hung over a waistcoat of the most fashionable cut. Never had the
+      fastidious Emilie seen a man&rsquo;s eyes shaded by such long, curled lashes.
+      Melancholy and passion were expressed in this face, and the complexion was
+      of a manly olive hue. His mouth seemed ready to smile, unbending the
+      corners of eloquent lips; but this, far from hinting at gaiety, revealed
+      on the contrary a sort of pathetic grace. There was too much promise in
+      that head, too much distinction in his whole person, to allow of one&rsquo;s
+      saying, &ldquo;What a handsome man!&rdquo; or &ldquo;What a fine man!&rdquo; One wanted to know
+      him. The most clear-sighted observer, on seeing this stranger, could not
+      have helped taking him for a clever man attracted to this rural festivity
+      by some powerful motive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these observations cost Emilie only a minute&rsquo;s attention, during which
+      the privileged gentleman under her severe scrutiny became the object of
+      her secret admiration. She did not say to herself, &ldquo;He must be a peer of
+      France!&rdquo; but &ldquo;Oh, if only he is noble, and he surely must be&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+       Without finishing her thought, she suddenly rose, and followed by her
+      brother the General, she made her way towards the column, affecting to
+      watch the merry quadrille; but by a stratagem of the eye, familiar to
+      women, she lost not a gesture of the young man as she went towards him.
+      The stranger politely moved to make way for the newcomers, and went to
+      lean against another pillar. Emilie, as much nettled by his politeness as
+      she might have been by an impertinence, began talking to her brother in a
+      louder voice than good taste enjoined; she turned and tossed her head,
+      gesticulated eagerly, and laughed for no particular reason, less to amuse
+      her brother than to attract the attention of the imperturbable stranger.
+      None of her little arts succeeded. Mademoiselle de Fontaine then followed
+      the direction in which his eyes were fixed, and discovered the cause of
+      his indifference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the midst of the quadrille, close in front of them, a pale girl was
+      dancing; her face was like one of the divinities which Girodet has
+      introduced into his immense composition of French Warriors received by
+      Ossian. Emilie fancied that she recognized her as a distinguished milady
+      who for some months had been living on a neighboring estate. Her partner
+      was a lad of about fifteen, with red hands, and dressed in nankeen
+      trousers, a blue coat, and white shoes, which showed that the damsel&rsquo;s
+      love of dancing made her easy to please in the matter of partners. Her
+      movements did not betray her apparent delicacy, but a faint flush already
+      tinged her white cheeks, and her complexion was gaining color.
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine went nearer, to be able to examine the young lady
+      at the moment when she returned to her place, while the side couples in
+      their turn danced the figure. But the stranger went up to the pretty
+      dancer, and leaning over, said in a gentle but commanding tone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clara, my child, do not dance any more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Clara made a little pouting face, bent her head, and finally smiled. When
+      the dance was over, the young man wrapped her in a cashmere shawl with a
+      lover&rsquo;s care, and seated her in a place sheltered from the wind. Very soon
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine, seeing them rise and walk round the place as if
+      preparing to leave, found means to follow them under pretence of admiring
+      the views from the garden. Her brother lent himself with malicious
+      good-humor to the divagations of her rather eccentric wanderings. Emilie
+      then saw the attractive couple get into an elegant tilbury, by which stood
+      a mounted groom in livery. At the moment when, from his high seat, the
+      young man was drawing the reins even, she caught a glance from his eye
+      such as a man casts aimlessly at the crowd; and then she enjoyed the
+      feeble satisfaction of seeing him turn his head to look at her. The young
+      lady did the same. Was it from jealousy?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I imagine you have now seen enough of the garden,&rdquo; said her brother. &ldquo;We
+      may go back to the dancing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am ready,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;Do you think the girl can be a relation of Lady
+      Dudley&rsquo;s?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Dudley may have some male relation staying with her,&rdquo; said the Baron
+      de Fontaine; &ldquo;but a young girl!&mdash;No!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Next day Mademoiselle de Fontaine expressed a wish to take a ride. Then
+      she gradually accustomed her old uncle and her brothers to escorting her
+      in very early rides, excellent, she declared for her health. She had a
+      particular fancy for the environs of the hamlet where Lady Dudley was
+      living. Notwithstanding her cavalry manoeuvres, she did not meet the
+      stranger so soon as the eager search she pursued might have allowed her to
+      hope. She went several times to the &ldquo;Bal de Sceaux&rdquo; without seeing the
+      young Englishman who had dropped from the skies to pervade and beautify
+      her dreams. Though nothing spurs on a young girl&rsquo;s infant passion so
+      effectually as an obstacle, there was a time when Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      was on the point of giving up her strange and secret search, almost
+      despairing of the success of an enterprise whose singularity may give some
+      idea of the boldness of her temper. In point of fact, she might have
+      wandered long about the village of Chatenay without meeting her Unknown.
+      The fair Clara&mdash;since that was the name Emilie had overheard&mdash;was
+      not English, and the stranger who escorted her did not dwell among the
+      flowery and fragrant bowers of Chatenay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One evening Emilie, out riding with her uncle, who, during the fine
+      weather, had gained a fairly long truce from the gout, met Lady Dudley.
+      The distinguished foreigner had with her in her open carriage Monsieur
+      Vandenesse. Emilie recognized the handsome couple, and her suppositions
+      were at once dissipated like a dream. Annoyed, as any woman must be whose
+      expectations are frustrated, she touched up her horse so suddenly that her
+      uncle had the greatest difficulty in following her, she had set off at
+      such a pace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am too old, it would seem, to understand these youthful spirits,&rdquo; said
+      the old sailor to himself as he put his horse to a canter; &ldquo;or perhaps
+      young people are not what they used to be. But what ails my niece? Now she
+      is walking at a foot-pace like a gendarme on patrol in the Paris streets.
+      One might fancy she wanted to outflank that worthy man, who looks to me
+      like an author dreaming over his poetry, for he has, I think, a notebook
+      in his hand. My word, I am a great simpleton! Is not that the very young
+      man we are in search of!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this idea the old admiral moderated his horse&rsquo;s pace so as to follow
+      his niece without making any noise. He had played too many pranks in the
+      years 1771 and soon after, a time of our history when gallantry was held
+      in honor, not to guess at once that by the merest chance Emilie had met
+      the Unknown of the Sceaux gardens. In spite of the film which age had
+      drawn over his gray eyes, the Comte de Kergarouet could recognize the
+      signs of extreme agitation in his niece, under the unmoved expression she
+      tried to give to her features. The girl&rsquo;s piercing eyes were fixed in a
+      sort of dull amazement on the stranger, who quietly walked on in front of
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; thought the sailor. &ldquo;She is following him as a pirate
+      follows a merchantman. Then, when she has lost sight of him, she will be
+      in despair at not knowing who it is she is in love with, and whether he is
+      a marquis or a shopkeeper. Really these young heads need an old fogy like
+      me always by their side...&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He unexpectedly spurred his horse in such a way as to make his niece&rsquo;s
+      bolt, and rode so hastily between her and the young man on foot that he
+      obliged him to fall back on to the grassy bank which rose from the
+      roadside. Then, abruptly drawing up, the Count exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Couldn&rsquo;t you get out of the way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon, monsieur. But I did not know that it lay with me to
+      apologize to you because you almost rode me down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, enough of that, my good fellow!&rdquo; replied the sailor harshly, in a
+      sneering tone that was nothing less than insulting. At the same time the
+      Count raised his hunting-crop as if to strike his horse, and touched the
+      young fellow&rsquo;s shoulder, saying, &ldquo;A liberal citizen is a reasoner; every
+      reasoner should be prudent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young man went up the bankside as he heard the sarcasm; then he
+      crossed his arms, and said in an excited tone of voice, &ldquo;I cannot suppose,
+      monsieur, as I look at your white hairs, that you still amuse yourself by
+      provoking duels&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White hairs!&rdquo; cried the sailor, interrupting him. &ldquo;You lie in your
+      throat. They are only gray.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A quarrel thus begun had in a few seconds become so fierce that the
+      younger man forgot the moderation he had tried to preserve. Just as the
+      Comte de Kergarouet saw his niece coming back to them with every sign of
+      the greatest uneasiness, he told his antagonist his name, bidding him keep
+      silence before the young lady entrusted to his care. The stranger could
+      not help smiling as he gave a visiting card to the old man, desiring him
+      to observe that he was living at a country-house at Chevreuse; and, after
+      pointing this out to him, he hurried away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You very nearly damaged that poor young counter-jumper, my dear,&rdquo; said
+      the Count, advancing hastily to meet Emilie. &ldquo;Do you not know how to hold
+      your horse in?&mdash;And there you leave me to compromise my dignity in
+      order to screen your folly; whereas if you had but stopped, one of your
+      looks, or one of your pretty speeches&mdash;one of those you can make so
+      prettily when you are not pert&mdash;would have set everything right, even
+      if you had broken his arm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear uncle, it was your horse, not mine, that caused the
+      accident. I really think you can no longer ride; you are not so good a
+      horseman as you were last year.&mdash;But instead of talking nonsense&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nonsense, by Gad! Is it nothing to be so impertinent to your uncle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ought we not to go on and inquire if the young man is hurt? He is
+      limping, uncle, only look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he is running; I rated him soundly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, uncle; I know you there!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop,&rdquo; said the Count, pulling Emilie&rsquo;s horse by the bridle, &ldquo;I do not
+      see the necessity of making advances to some shopkeeper who is only too
+      lucky to have been thrown down by a charming young lady, or the commander
+      of La Belle-Poule.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you think he is anything so common, my dear uncle? He seems to me
+      to have very fine manners.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every one has manners nowadays, my dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, uncle, not every one has the air and style which come of the habit of
+      frequenting drawing-rooms, and I am ready to lay a bet with you that the
+      young man is of noble birth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had not long to study him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but it is not the first time I have seen him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor is it the first time you have looked for him,&rdquo; replied the admiral
+      with a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie colored. Her uncle amused himself for some time with her
+      embarrassment; then he said: &ldquo;Emilie, you know that I love you as my own
+      child, precisely because you are the only member of the family who has the
+      legitimate pride of high birth. Devil take it, child, who could have
+      believed that sound principles would become so rare? Well, I will be your
+      confidant. My dear child, I see that his young gentleman is not
+      indifferent to you. Hush! All the family would laugh at us if we sailed
+      under the wrong flag. You know what that means. We two will keep our
+      secret, and I promise to bring him straight into the drawing-room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When, uncle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear uncle, I am not committed to anything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing whatever, and you may bombard him, set fire to him, and leave him
+      to founder like an old hulk if you choose. He won&rsquo;t be the first, I
+      fancy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You ARE kind, uncle!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the Count got home he put on his glasses, quietly took the card
+      out of his pocket, and read, &ldquo;Maximilien Longueville, Rue de Sentier.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Make yourself happy, my dear niece,&rdquo; he said to Emilie, &ldquo;you may hook him
+      with any easy conscience; he belongs to one of our historical families,
+      and if he is not a peer of France, he infallibly will be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know so much?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is my secret.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then do you know his name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man bowed his gray head, which was not unlike a gnarled oak-stump,
+      with a few leaves fluttering about it, withered by autumnal frosts; and
+      his niece immediately began to try the ever-new power of her coquettish
+      arts. Long familiar with the secret of cajoling the old man, she lavished
+      on him the most childlike caresses, the tenderest names; she even went so
+      far as to kiss him to induce him to divulge so important a secret. The old
+      man, who spent his life in playing off these scenes on his niece, often
+      paying for them with a present of jewelry, or by giving her his box at the
+      opera, this time amused himself with her entreaties, and, above all, her
+      caresses. But as he spun out this pleasure too long, Emilie grew angry,
+      passed from coaxing to sarcasm and sulks; then, urged by curiosity, she
+      recovered herself. The diplomatic admiral extracted a solemn promise from
+      his niece that she would for the future be gentler, less noisy, and less
+      wilful, that she would spend less, and, above all, tell him everything.
+      The treaty being concluded, and signed by a kiss impressed on Emilie&rsquo;s
+      white brow, he led her into a corner of the room, drew her on to his knee,
+      held the card under the thumbs so as to hide it, and then uncovered the
+      letters one by one, spelling the name of Longueville; but he firmly
+      refused to show her anything more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This incident added to the intensity of Mademoiselle de Fontaine&rsquo;s secret
+      sentiment, and during chief part of the night she evolved the most
+      brilliant pictures from the dreams with which she had fed her hopes. At
+      last, thanks to chance, to which she had so often appealed, Emilie could
+      now see something very unlike a chimera at the fountain-head of the
+      imaginary wealth with which she gilded her married life. Ignorant, as all
+      young girls are, of the perils of love and marriage, she was passionately
+      captivated by the externals of marriage and love. Is not this as much as
+      to say that her feeling had birth like all the feelings of extreme youth&mdash;sweet
+      but cruel mistakes, which exert a fatal influence on the lives of young
+      girls so inexperienced as to trust their own judgment to take care of
+      their future happiness?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning, before Emilie was awake, her uncle had hastened to
+      Chevreuse. On recognizing, in the courtyard of an elegant little villa,
+      the young man he had so determinedly insulted the day before, he went up
+      to him with the pressing politeness of men of the old court.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, my dear sir, who could have guessed that I should have a brush, at
+      the age of seventy-three, with the son, or the grandson, of one of my best
+      friends. I am a vice-admiral, monsieur; is not that as much as to say that
+      I think no more of fighting a duel than of smoking a cigar? Why, in my
+      time, no two young men could be intimate till they had seen the color of
+      their blood! But &lsquo;sdeath, sir, last evening, sailor-like, I had taken a
+      drop too much grog on board, and I ran you down. Shake hands; I would
+      rather take a hundred rebuffs from a Longueville than cause his family the
+      smallest regret.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      However coldly the young man tried to behave to the Comte de Kergarouet,
+      he could not resist the frank cordiality of his manner, and presently gave
+      him his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were going out riding,&rdquo; said the Count. &ldquo;Do not let me detain you.
+      But, unless you have other plans, I beg you will come to dinner to-day at
+      the Villa Planat. My nephew, the Comte de Fontaine, is a man it is
+      essential that you should know. Ah, ha! And I propose to make up to you
+      for my clumsiness by introducing you to five of the prettiest women in
+      Paris. So, so, young man, your brow is clearing! I am fond of young
+      people, and I like to see them happy. Their happiness reminds me of the
+      good times of my youth, when adventures were not lacking, any more than
+      duels. We were gay dogs then! Nowadays you think and worry over
+      everything, as though there had never been a fifteenth and a sixteenth
+      century.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, monsieur, are we not in the right? The sixteenth century only gave
+      religious liberty to Europe, and the nineteenth will give it political lib&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, we will not talk politics. I am a perfect old woman&mdash;ultra you
+      see. But I do not hinder young men from being revolutionary, so long as
+      they leave the King at liberty to disperse their assemblies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When they had gone a little way, and the Count and his companion were in
+      the heart of the woods, the old sailor pointed out a slender young birch
+      sapling, pulled up his horse, took out one of his pistols, and the bullet
+      was lodged in the heart of the tree, fifteen paces away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, my dear fellow, that I am not afraid of a duel,&rdquo; he said with
+      comical gravity, as he looked at Monsieur Longueville.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor am I,&rdquo; replied the young man, promptly cocking his pistol; he aimed
+      at the hole made by the Comte&rsquo;s bullet, and sent his own close to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is what I call a well-educated man,&rdquo; cried the admiral with
+      enthusiasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this ride with the youth, whom he already regarded as his nephew,
+      he found endless opportunities of catechizing him on all the trifles of
+      which a perfect knowledge constituted, according to his private code, an
+      accomplished gentleman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any debts?&rdquo; he at last asked of his companion, after many other
+      inquiries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, monsieur.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, you pay for all you have?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Punctually; otherwise we should lose our credit, and every sort of
+      respect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But at least you have more than one mistress? Ah, you blush, comrade!
+      Well, manners have changed. All these notions of lawful order, Kantism,
+      and liberty have spoilt the young men. You have no Guimard now, no Duthe,
+      no creditors&mdash;and you know nothing of heraldry; why, my dear young
+      friend, you are not fully fledged. The man who does not sow his wild oats
+      in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but eighty thousand
+      francs a year at the age of seventy, it is because I ran through the
+      capital at thirty. Oh! with my wife&mdash;in decency and honor. However,
+      your imperfections will not interfere with my introducing you at the
+      Pavillon Planat. Remember, you have promised to come, and I shall expect
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What an odd little old man!&rdquo; said Longueville to himself. &ldquo;He is so jolly
+      and hale; but though he wishes to seem a good fellow, I will not trust him
+      too far.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Next day, at about four o&rsquo;clock, when the house party were dispersed in
+      the drawing-rooms and billiard-room, a servant announced to the
+      inhabitants of the Villa Planat, &ldquo;Monsieur DE Longueville.&rdquo; On hearing the
+      name of the old admiral&rsquo;s protege, every one, down to the player who was
+      about to miss his stroke, rushed in, as much to study Mademoiselle de
+      Fontaine&rsquo;s countenance as to judge of this phoenix of men, who had earned
+      honorable mention to the detriment of so many rivals. A simple but elegant
+      style of dress, an air of perfect ease, polite manners, a pleasant voice
+      with a ring in it which found a response in the hearer&rsquo;s heart-strings,
+      won the good-will of the family for Monsieur Longueville. He did not seem
+      unaccustomed to the luxury of the Receiver-General&rsquo;s ostentatious mansion.
+      Though his conversation was that of a man of the world, it was easy to
+      discern that he had had a brilliant education, and that his knowledge was
+      as thorough as it was extensive. He knew so well the right thing to say in
+      a discussion on naval architecture, trivial, it is true, started by the
+      old admiral, that one of the ladies remarked that he must have passed
+      through the Ecole Polytechnique.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I think, madame,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that I may regard it as an honor to
+      have got in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of urgent pressing, he refused politely but firmly to be kept to
+      dinner, and put an end to the persistency of the ladies by saying that he
+      was the Hippocrates of his young sister, whose delicate health required
+      great care.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur is perhaps a medical man?&rdquo; asked one of Emilie&rsquo;s sisters-in-law
+      with ironical meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur has left the Ecole Polytechnique,&rdquo; Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      kindly put in; her face had flushed with richer color, as she learned that
+      the young lady of the ball was Monsieur Longueville&rsquo;s sister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear, he may be a doctor and yet have been to the Ecole
+      Polytechnique&mdash;is it not so, monsieur?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is nothing to prevent it, madame,&rdquo; replied the young man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every eye was on Emilie, who was gazing with uneasy curiosity at the
+      fascinating stranger. She breathed more freely when he added, not without
+      a smile, &ldquo;I have not the honor of belonging to the medical profession; and
+      I even gave up going into the Engineers in order to preserve my
+      independence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you did well,&rdquo; said the Count. &ldquo;But how can you regard it as an honor
+      to be a doctor?&rdquo; added the Breton nobleman. &ldquo;Ah, my young friend, such a
+      man as you&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur le Comte, I respect every profession that has a useful purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, in that we agree. You respect those professions, I imagine, as a
+      young man respects a dowager.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur Longueville made his visit neither too long nor too short. He
+      left at the moment when he saw that he had pleased everybody, and that
+      each one&rsquo;s curiosity about him had been roused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is a cunning rascal!&rdquo; said the Count, coming into the drawing-room
+      after seeing him to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine, who had been in the secret of this call, had
+      dressed with some care to attract the young man&rsquo;s eye; but she had the
+      little disappointment of finding that he did not bestow on her so much
+      attention as she thought she deserved. The family were a good deal
+      surprised at the silence into which she had retired. Emilie generally
+      displayed all her arts for the benefit of newcomers, her witty prattle,
+      and the inexhaustible eloquence of her eyes and attitudes. Whether it was
+      that the young man&rsquo;s pleasing voice and attractive manners had charmed
+      her, that she was seriously in love, and that this feeling had worked a
+      change in her, her demeanor had lost all its affectations. Being simple
+      and natural, she must, no doubt, have seemed more beautiful. Some of her
+      sisters, and an old lady, a friend of the family, saw in this behavior a
+      refinement of art. They supposed that Emilie, judging the man worthy of
+      her, intended to delay revealing her merits, so as to dazzle him suddenly
+      when she found that she pleased him. Every member of the family was
+      curious to know what this capricious creature thought of the stranger; but
+      when, during dinner, every one chose to endow Monsieur Longueville with
+      some fresh quality which no one else had discovered, Mademoiselle de
+      Fontaine sat for some time in silence. A sarcastic remark of her uncle&rsquo;s
+      suddenly roused her from her apathy; she said, somewhat epigrammatically,
+      that such heavenly perfection must cover some great defect, and that she
+      would take good care how she judged so gifted a man at first sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those who please everybody, please nobody,&rdquo; she added; &ldquo;and the worst of
+      all faults is to have none.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Like all girls who are in love, Emilie cherished the hope of being able to
+      hide her feelings at the bottom of her heart by putting the Argus-eyes
+      that watched on the wrong tack; but by the end of a fortnight there was
+      not a member of the large family party who was not in this little domestic
+      secret. When Monsieur Longueville called for the third time, Emilie
+      believed it was chiefly for her sake. This discovery gave her such
+      intoxicating pleasure that she was startled as she reflected on it. There
+      was something in it very painful to her pride. Accustomed as she was to be
+      the centre of her world, she was obliged to recognize a force that
+      attracted her outside herself; she tried to resist, but she could not
+      chase from her heart the fascinating image of the young man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then came some anxiety. Two of Monsieur Longueville&rsquo;s qualities, very
+      adverse to general curiosity, and especially to Mademoiselle de
+      Fontaine&rsquo;s, were unexpected modesty and discretion. He never spoke of
+      himself, of his pursuits, or of his family. The hints Emilie threw out in
+      conversation, and the traps she laid to extract from the young fellow some
+      facts concerning himself, he could evade with the adroitness of a
+      diplomatist concealing a secret. If she talked of painting, he responded
+      as a connoisseur; if she sat down to play, he showed without conceit that
+      he was a very good pianist; one evening he delighted all the party by
+      joining his delightful voice to Emilie&rsquo;s in one of Cimarosa&rsquo;s charming
+      duets. But when they tried to find out whether he were a professional
+      singer, he baffled them so pleasantly that he did not afford these women,
+      practised as they were in the art of reading feelings, the least chance of
+      discovering to what social sphere he belonged. However boldly the old
+      uncle cast the boarding-hooks over the vessel, Longueville slipped away
+      cleverly, so as to preserve the charm of mystery; and it was easy to him
+      to remain the &ldquo;handsome Stranger&rdquo; at the Villa, because curiosity never
+      overstepped the bounds of good breeding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie, distracted by this reserve, hoped to get more out of the sister
+      than the brother, in the form of confidences. Aided by her uncle, who was
+      as skilful in such manoeuvres as in handling a ship, she endeavored to
+      bring upon the scene the hitherto unseen figure of Mademoiselle Clara
+      Longueville. The family party at the Villa Planat soon expressed the
+      greatest desire to make the acquaintance of so amiable a young lady, and
+      to give her some amusement. An informal dance was proposed and accepted.
+      The ladies did not despair of making a young girl of sixteen talk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Notwithstanding the little clouds piled up by suspicion and created by
+      curiosity, a light of joy shone in Emilie&rsquo;s soul, for she found life
+      delicious when thus intimately connected with another than herself. She
+      began to understand the relations of life. Whether it is that happiness
+      makes us better, or that she was too fully occupied to torment other
+      people, she became less caustic, more gentle, and indulgent. This change
+      in her temper enchanted and amazed her family. Perhaps, at last, her
+      selfishness was being transformed to love. It was a deep delight to her to
+      look for the arrival of her bashful and unconfessed adorer. Though they
+      had not uttered a word of passion, she knew that she was loved, and with
+      what art did she not lead the stranger to unlock the stores of his
+      information, which proved to be varied! She perceived that she, too, was
+      being studied, and that made her endeavor to remedy the defects her
+      education had encouraged. Was not this her first homage to love, and a
+      bitter reproach to herself? She desired to please, and she was enchanting;
+      she loved, and she was idolized. Her family, knowing that her pride would
+      sufficiently protect her, gave her enough freedom to enjoy the little
+      childish delights which give to first love its charm and its violence.
+      More than once the young man and Mademoiselle de Fontaine walked,
+      tete-a-tete, in the avenues of the garden, where nature was dressed like a
+      woman going to a ball. More than once they had those conversations,
+      aimless and meaningless, in which the emptiest phrases are those which
+      cover the deepest feelings. They often admired together the setting sun
+      and its gorgeous coloring. They gathered daisies to pull the petals off,
+      and sang the most impassioned duets, using the notes set down by Pergolesi
+      or Rossini as faithful interpreters to express their secrets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The day of the dance came. Clara Longueville and her brother, whom the
+      servants persisted in honoring with the noble DE, were the principle
+      guests. For the first time in her life Mademoiselle de Fontaine felt
+      pleasure in a young girl&rsquo;s triumph. She lavished on Clara in all sincerity
+      the gracious petting and little attentions which women generally give each
+      other only to excite the jealousy of men. Emilie, had, indeed, an object
+      in view; she wanted to discover some secrets. But, being a girl,
+      Mademoiselle Longueville showed even more mother-wit than her brother, for
+      she did not even look as if she were hiding a secret, and kept the
+      conversation to subjects unconnected with personal interests, while, at
+      the same time, she gave it so much charm that Mademoiselle de Fontaine was
+      almost envious, and called her &ldquo;the Siren.&rdquo; Though Emilie had intended to
+      make Clara talk, it was Clara, in fact, who questioned Emilie; she had
+      meant to judge her, and she was judged by her; she was constantly provoked
+      to find that she had betrayed her own character in some reply which Clara
+      had extracted from her, while her modest and candid manner prohibited any
+      suspicion of perfidy. There was a moment when Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      seemed sorry for an ill-judged sally against the commonalty to which Clara
+      had led her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; said the sweet child, &ldquo;I have heard so much of you from
+      Maximilien that I had the keenest desire to know you, out of affection for
+      him; but is not a wish to know you a wish to love you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Clara, I feared I might have displeased you by speaking thus of
+      people who are not of noble birth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, be quite easy. That sort of discussion is pointless in these days. As
+      for me, it does not affect me. I am beside the question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ambitious as the answer might seem, it filled Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      with the deepest joy; for, like all infatuated people, she explained it,
+      as oracles are explained, in the sense that harmonized with her wishes;
+      she began dancing again in higher spirits than ever, as she watched
+      Longueville, whose figure and grace almost surpassed those of her
+      imaginary ideal. She felt added satisfaction in believing him to be well
+      born, her black eyes sparkled, and she danced with all the pleasure that
+      comes of dancing in the presence of the being we love. The couple had
+      never understood each other as well as at this moment; more than once they
+      felt their finger tips thrill and tremble as they were married in the
+      figures of the dance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The early autumn had come to the handsome pair, in the midst of country
+      festivities and pleasures; they had abandoned themselves softly to the
+      tide of the sweetest sentiment in life, strengthening it by a thousand
+      little incidents which any one can imagine; for love is in some respects
+      always the same. They studied each other through it all, as much as lovers
+      can.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well; a flirtation never turned so quickly into a love match,&rdquo; said
+      the old uncle, who kept an eye on the two young people as a naturalist
+      watches an insect in the microscope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The speech alarmed Monsieur and Madame Fontaine. The old Vendeen had
+      ceased to be so indifferent to his daughter&rsquo;s prospects as he had promised
+      to be. He went to Paris to seek information, and found none. Uneasy at
+      this mystery, and not yet knowing what might be the outcome of the inquiry
+      which he had begged a Paris friend to institute with reference to the
+      family of Longueville, he thought it his duty to warn his daughter to
+      behave prudently. The fatherly admonition was received with mock
+      submission spiced with irony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At least, my dear Emilie, if you love him, do not own it to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear father, I certainly do love him; but I will await your permission
+      before I tell him so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But remember, Emilie, you know nothing of his family or his pursuits.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may be ignorant, but I am content to be. But, father, you wished to see
+      me married; you left me at liberty to make my choice; my choice is
+      irrevocably made&mdash;what more is needful?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is needful to ascertain, my dear, whether the man of your choice is
+      the son of a peer of France,&rdquo; the venerable gentleman retorted
+      sarcastically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie was silent for a moment. She presently raised her head, looked at
+      her father, and said somewhat anxiously, &ldquo;Are not the Longuevilles&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They became extinct in the person of the old Duc de Rostein-Limbourg, who
+      perished on the scaffold in 1793. He was the last representative of the
+      last and younger branch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, papa, there are some very good families descended from bastards. The
+      history of France swarms with princes bearing the bar sinister on their
+      shields.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your ideas are much changed,&rdquo; said the old man, with a smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following day was the last that the Fontaine family were to spend at
+      the Pavillon Planat. Emilie, greatly disturbed by her father&rsquo;s warning,
+      awaited with extreme impatience the hour at which young Longueville was in
+      the habit of coming, to wring some explanation from him. She went out
+      after dinner, and walked alone across the shrubbery towards an arbor fit
+      for lovers, where she knew that the eager youth would seek her; and as she
+      hastened thither she considered of the best way to discover so important a
+      matter without compromising herself&mdash;a rather difficult thing!
+      Hitherto no direct avowal had sanctioned the feelings which bound her to
+      this stranger. Like Maximilien, she had secretly enjoyed the sweetness of
+      first love; but both were equally proud, and each feared to confess that
+      love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Maximilien Longueville, to whom Clara had communicated her not unfounded
+      suspicions as to Emilie&rsquo;s character, was by turns carried away by the
+      violence of a young man&rsquo;s passion, and held back by a wish to know and
+      test the woman to whom he would be entrusting his happiness. His love had
+      not hindered him from perceiving in Emilie the prejudices which marred her
+      young nature; but before attempting to counteract them, he wished to be
+      sure that she loved him, for he would no sooner risk the fate of his love
+      than of his life. He had, therefore, persistently kept a silence to which
+      his looks, his behavior, and his smallest actions gave the lie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On her side, the self-respect natural to a young girl, augmented in
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine by the monstrous vanity founded on her birth and
+      beauty, kept her from meeting the declaration half-way, which her growing
+      passion sometimes urged her to invite. Thus the lovers had instinctively
+      understood the situation without explaining to each other their secret
+      motives. There are times in life when such vagueness pleases youthful
+      minds. Just because each had postponed speaking too long, they seemed to
+      be playing a cruel game of suspense. He was trying to discover whether he
+      was beloved, by the effort any confession would cost his haughty mistress;
+      she every minute hoped that he would break a too respectful silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie, seated on a rustic bench, was reflecting on all that had happened
+      in these three months full of enchantment. Her father&rsquo;s suspicions were
+      the last that could appeal to her; she even disposed of them at once by
+      two or three of those reflections natural to an inexperienced girl, which,
+      to her, seemed conclusive. Above all, she was convinced that it was
+      impossible that she should deceive herself. All the summer through she had
+      not been able to detect in Maximilien a single gesture, or a single word,
+      which could indicate a vulgar origin or vulgar occupations; nay more, his
+      manner of discussing things revealed a man devoted to the highest
+      interests of the nation. &ldquo;Besides,&rdquo; she reflected, &ldquo;an office clerk, a
+      banker, or a merchant, would not be at leisure to spend a whole season in
+      paying his addresses to me in the midst of woods and fields; wasting his
+      time as freely as a nobleman who has life before him free of all care.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had given herself up to meditations far more interesting to her than
+      these preliminary thoughts, when a slight rustling in the leaves announced
+      to her than Maximilien had been watching her for a minute, not probably
+      without admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know that it is very wrong to take a young girl thus unawares?&rdquo;
+       she asked him, smiling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Especially when they are busy with their secrets,&rdquo; replied Maximilien
+      archly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I not have my secrets? You certainly have yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you really were thinking of your secrets?&rdquo; he went on, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I was thinking of yours. My own, I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But perhaps my secrets are yours, and yours mine,&rdquo; cried the young man,
+      softly seizing Mademoiselle de Fontaine&rsquo;s hand and drawing it through his
+      arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After walking a few steps they found themselves under a clump of trees
+      which the hues of the sinking sun wrapped in a haze of red and brown. This
+      touch of natural magic lent a certain solemnity to the moment. The young
+      man&rsquo;s free and eager action, and, above all, the throbbing of his surging
+      heart, whose hurried beating spoke to Emilie&rsquo;s arm, stirred her to an
+      emotion that was all the more disturbing because it was produced by the
+      simplest and most innocent circumstances. The restraint under which the
+      young girls of the upper class live gives incredible force to any
+      explosion of feeling, and to meet an impassioned lover is one of the
+      greatest dangers they can encounter. Never had Emilie and Maximilien
+      allowed their eyes to say so much that they dared never speak. Carried a
+      way by this intoxication, they easily forgot the petty stipulations of
+      pride, and the cold hesitancies of suspicion. At first, indeed, they could
+      only express themselves by a pressure of hands which interpreted their
+      happy thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After slowing pacing a few steps in long silence, Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      spoke. &ldquo;Monsieur, I have a question to ask you,&rdquo; she said trembling, and
+      in an agitated voice. &ldquo;But, remember, I beg, that it is in a manner
+      compulsory on me, from the rather singular position I am in with regard to
+      my family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A pause, terrible to Emilie, followed these sentences, which she had
+      almost stammered out. During the minute while it lasted, the girl, haughty
+      as she was, dared not meet the flashing eye of the man she loved, for she
+      was secretly conscious of the meanness of the next words she added: &ldquo;Are
+      you of noble birth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the words were spoken she wished herself at the bottom of a
+      lake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; Longueville gravely replied, and his face assumed a sort
+      of stern dignity, &ldquo;I promise to answer you truly as soon as you shall have
+      answered in all sincerity a question I will put to you!&rdquo;&mdash;He released
+      her arm, and the girl suddenly felt alone in the world, as he said: &ldquo;What
+      is your object in questioning me as to my birth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stood motionless, cold, and speechless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; Maximilien went on, &ldquo;let us go no further if we do not
+      understand each other. I love you,&rdquo; he said, in a voice of deep emotion.
+      &ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; he added, as he heard the joyful exclamation she could not
+      suppress, &ldquo;why ask me if I am of noble birth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could he speak so if he were not?&rdquo; cried a voice within her, which Emilie
+      believed came from the depths of her heart. She gracefully raised her
+      head, seemed to find new life in the young man&rsquo;s gaze, and held out her
+      hand as if to renew the alliance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You thought I cared very much for dignities?&rdquo; said she with keen
+      archness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no titles to offer my wife,&rdquo; he replied, in a half-sportive,
+      half-serious tone. &ldquo;But if I choose one of high rank, and among women whom
+      a wealthy home has accustomed to the luxury and pleasures of a fine
+      fortune, I know what such a choice requires of me. Love gives everything,&rdquo;
+       he added lightly, &ldquo;but only to lovers. Once married, they need something
+      more than the vault of heaven and the carpet of a meadow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is rich,&rdquo; she reflected. &ldquo;As to titles, perhaps he only wants to try
+      me. He has been told that I am mad about titles, and bent on marrying none
+      but a peer&rsquo;s son. My priggish sisters have played me that trick.&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;I
+      assure you, monsieur,&rdquo; she said aloud, &ldquo;that I have had very extravagant
+      ideas about life and the world; but now,&rdquo; she added pointedly, looking at
+      him in a perfectly distracting way, &ldquo;I know where true riches are to be
+      found for a wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must believe that you are speaking from the depths of your heart,&rdquo; he
+      said, with gentle gravity. &ldquo;But this winter, my dear Emilie, in less than
+      two months perhaps, I may be proud of what I shall have to offer you if
+      you care for the pleasures of wealth. This is the only secret I shall keep
+      locked here,&rdquo; and he laid his hand on his heart, &ldquo;for on its success my
+      happiness depends. I dare not say ours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes, ours!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Exchanging such sweet nothings, they slowly made their way back to rejoin
+      the company. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had never found her lover more
+      amiable or wittier: his light figure, his engaging manners, seemed to her
+      more charming than ever, since the conversation which had made her to some
+      extent the possessor of a heart worthy to be the envy of every woman. They
+      sang an Italian duet with so much expression that the audience applauded
+      enthusiastically. Their adieux were in a conventional tone, which
+      concealed their happiness. In short, this day had been to Emilie like a
+      chain binding her more closely than ever to the Stranger&rsquo;s fate. The
+      strength and dignity he had displayed in the scene when they had confessed
+      their feelings had perhaps impressed Mademoiselle de Fontaine with the
+      respect without which there is no true love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she was left alone in the drawing-room with her father, the old man
+      went up to her affectionately, held her hands, and asked her whether she
+      had gained any light at to Monsieur Longueville&rsquo;s family and fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, my dear father,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;and I am happier than I could have
+      hoped. In short, Monsieur de Longueville is the only man I could ever
+      marry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Emilie,&rdquo; said the Count, &ldquo;then I know what remains for me to
+      do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know of any impediment?&rdquo; she asked, in sincere alarm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear child, the young man is totally unknown to me; but unless he is
+      not a man of honor, so long as you love him, he is as dear to me as a
+      son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a man of honor!&rdquo; exclaimed Emilie. &ldquo;As to that, I am quite easy. My
+      uncle, who introduced him to us, will answer for him. Say, my dear uncle,
+      has he been a filibuster, an outlaw, a pirate?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew I should find myself in this fix!&rdquo; cried the old sailor, waking
+      up. He looked round the room, but his niece had vanished &ldquo;like
+      Saint-Elmo&rsquo;s fires,&rdquo; to use his favorite expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, uncle,&rdquo; Monsieur de Fontaine went on, &ldquo;how could you hide from us
+      all you knew about this young man? You must have seen how anxious we have
+      been. Is Monsieur de Longueville a man of family?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know him from Adam or Eve,&rdquo; said the Comte de Kergarouet.
+      &ldquo;Trusting to that crazy child&rsquo;s tact, I got him here by a method of my
+      own. I know that the boy shoots with a pistol to admiration, hunts well,
+      plays wonderfully at billiards, at chess, and at backgammon; he handles
+      the foils, and rides a horse like the late Chevalier de Saint-Georges. He
+      has a thorough knowledge of all our vintages. He is as good an
+      arithmetician as Bareme, draws, dances, and sings well. The devil&rsquo;s in it!
+      what more do you want? If that is not a perfect gentleman, find me a
+      bourgeois who knows all this, or any man who lives more nobly than he
+      does. Does he do anything, I ask you? Does he compromise his dignity by
+      hanging about an office, bowing down before the upstarts you call
+      Directors-General? He walks upright. He is a man.&mdash;However, I have
+      just found in my waistcoat pocket the card he gave me when he fancied I
+      wanted to cut his throat, poor innocent. Young men are very simple-minded
+      nowadays! Here it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rue du Sentier, No. 5,&rdquo; said Monsieur de Fontaine, trying to recall among
+      all the information he had received, something which might concern the
+      stranger. &ldquo;What the devil can it mean? Messrs. Palma, Werbrust &amp; Co.,
+      wholesale dealers in muslins, calicoes, and printed cotton goods, live
+      there.&mdash;Stay, I have it: Longueville the deputy has an interest in
+      their house. Well, but so far as I know, Longueville has but one son of
+      two-and-thirty, who is not at all like our man, and to whom he gave fifty
+      thousand francs a year that he might marry a minister&rsquo;s daughter; he wants
+      to be made a peer like the rest of &lsquo;em.&mdash;I never heard him mention
+      this Maximilien. Has he a daughter? What is this girl Clara? Besides, it
+      is open to any adventurer to call himself Longueville. But is not the
+      house of Palma, Werbrust &amp; Co. half ruined by some speculation in
+      Mexico or the Indies? I will clear all this up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak a soliloquy as if you were on the stage, and seem to account me
+      a cipher,&rdquo; said the old admiral suddenly. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you know that if he is a
+      gentleman, I have more than one bag in my hold that will stop any leak in
+      his fortune?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to that, if he is a son of Longueville&rsquo;s, he will want nothing; but,&rdquo;
+       said Monsieur de Fontaine, shaking his head from side to side, &ldquo;his father
+      has not even washed off the stains of his origin. Before the Revolution he
+      was an attorney, and the DE he has since assumed no more belongs to him
+      than half of his fortune.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pooh! pooh! happy those whose fathers were hanged!&rdquo; cried the admiral
+      gaily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three or four days after this memorable day, on one of those fine mornings
+      in the month of November, which show the boulevards cleaned by the sharp
+      cold of an early frost, Mademoiselle de Fontaine, wrapped in a new style
+      of fur cape, of which she wished to set the fashion, went out with two of
+      her sisters-in-law, on whom she had been wont to discharge her most
+      cutting remarks. The three women were tempted to the drive, less by their
+      desire to try a very elegant carriage, and wear gowns which were to set
+      the fashion for the winter, than by their wish to see a cape which a
+      friend had observed in a handsome lace and linen shop at the corner of the
+      Rue de la Paix. As soon as they were in the shop the Baronne de Fontaine
+      pulled Emilie by the sleeve, and pointed out to her Maximilien Longueville
+      seated behind the desk, and engaged in paying out the change for a gold
+      piece to one of the workwomen with whom he seemed to be in consultation.
+      The &ldquo;handsome stranger&rdquo; held in his hand a parcel of patterns, which left
+      no doubt as to his honorable profession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie felt an icy shudder, though no one perceived it. Thanks to the good
+      breeding of the best society, she completely concealed the rage in her
+      heart, and answered her sister-in-law with the words, &ldquo;I knew it,&rdquo; with a
+      fulness of intonation and inimitable decision which the most famous
+      actress of the time might have envied her. She went straight up to the
+      desk. Longueville looked up, put the patterns in his pocket with
+      distracting coolness, bowed to Mademoiselle de Fontaine, and came forward,
+      looking at her keenly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; he said to the shopgirl, who followed him, looking very
+      much disturbed, &ldquo;I will send to settle that account; my house deals in
+      that way. But here,&rdquo; he whispered into her ear, as he gave her a
+      thousand-franc note, &ldquo;take this&mdash;it is between ourselves.&mdash;You
+      will forgive me, I trust, mademoiselle,&rdquo; he added, turning to Emilie. &ldquo;You
+      will kindly excuse the tyranny of business matters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, monsieur, it seems to me that it is no concern of mine,&rdquo; replied
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine, looking at him with a bold expression of
+      sarcastic indifference which might have made any one believe that she now
+      saw him for the first time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you really mean it?&rdquo; asked Maximilien in a broken voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie turned her back upon him with amazing insolence. These words,
+      spoken in an undertone, had escaped the ears of her two sisters-in-law.
+      When, after buying the cape, the three ladies got into the carriage again,
+      Emilie, seated with her back to the horses, could not resist one last
+      comprehensive glance into the depths of the odious shop, where she saw
+      Maximilien standing with his arms folded, in the attitude of a man
+      superior to the disaster that has so suddenly fallen on him. Their eyes
+      met and flashed implacable looks. Each hoped to inflict a cruel wound on
+      the heart of a lover. In one instant they were as far apart as if one had
+      been in China and the other in Greenland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Does not the breath of vanity wither everything? Mademoiselle de Fontaine,
+      a prey to the most violent struggle that can torture the heart of a young
+      girl, reaped the richest harvest of anguish that prejudice and
+      narrow-mindedness ever sowed in a human soul. Her face, but just now fresh
+      and velvety, was streaked with yellow lines and red patches; the paleness
+      of her cheeks seemed every now and then to turn green. Hoping to hide her
+      despair from her sisters, she would laugh as she pointed out some
+      ridiculous dress or passer-by; but her laughter was spasmodic. She was
+      more deeply hurt by their unspoken compassion than by any satirical
+      comments for which she might have revenged herself. She exhausted her wit
+      in trying to engage them in a conversation, in which she tried to expend
+      her fury in senseless paradoxes, heaping on all men engaged in trade the
+      bitterest insults and witticisms in the worst taste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On getting home, she had an attack of fever, which at first assumed a
+      somewhat serious character. By the end of a month the care of her parents
+      and of the physician restored her to her family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one hoped that this lesson would be severe enough to subdue Emilie&rsquo;s
+      nature; but she insensibly fell into her old habits and threw herself
+      again into the world of fashion. She declared that there was no disgrace
+      in making a mistake. If she, like her father, had a vote in the Chamber,
+      she would move for an edict, she said, by which all merchants, and
+      especially dealers in calico, should be branded on the forehead, like
+      Berri sheep, down to the third generation. She wished that none but nobles
+      should have the right to wear the antique French costume, which was so
+      becoming to the courtiers of Louis XV. To hear her, it was a misfortune
+      for France, perhaps, that there was no outward and visible difference
+      between a merchant and a peer of France. And a hundred more such
+      pleasantries, easy to imagine, were rapidly poured out when any accident
+      brought up the subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But those who loved Emilie could see through all her banter a tinge of
+      melancholy. It was clear that Maximilien Longueville still reigned over
+      that inexorable heart. Sometimes she would be as gentle as she had been
+      during the brief summer that had seen the birth of her love; sometimes,
+      again, she was unendurable. Every one made excuses for her inequality of
+      temper, which had its source in sufferings at once secret and known to
+      all. The Comte de Kergarouet had some influence over her, thanks to his
+      increased prodigality, a kind of consolation which rarely fails of its
+      effect on a Parisian girl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first ball at which Mademoiselle de Fontaine appeared was at the
+      Neapolitan ambassador&rsquo;s. As she took her place in the first quadrille she
+      saw, a few yards away from her, Maximilien Longueville, who nodded
+      slightly to her partner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that young man a friend of yours?&rdquo; she asked, with a scornful air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only my brother,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emilie could not help starting. &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;and he is the noblest
+      soul living&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know my name?&rdquo; asked Emilie, eagerly interrupting him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, mademoiselle. It is a crime, I confess, not to remember a name which
+      is on every lip&mdash;I ought to say in every heart. But I have a valid
+      excuse. I have but just arrived from Germany. My ambassador, who is in
+      Paris on leave, sent me here this evening to take care of his amiable
+      wife, whom you may see yonder in that corner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A perfect tragic mask!&rdquo; said Emilie, after looking at the ambassadress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet that is her ballroom face!&rdquo; said the young man, laughing. &ldquo;I
+      shall have to dance with her! So I thought I might have some
+      compensation.&rdquo; Mademoiselle de Fontaine courtesied. &ldquo;I was very much
+      surprised,&rdquo; the voluble young secretary went on, &ldquo;to find my brother here.
+      On arriving from Vienna I heard that the poor boy was ill in bed; and I
+      counted on seeing him before coming to this ball; but good policy will
+      always allow us to indulge family affection. The Padrona della case would
+      not give me time to call on my poor Maximilien.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, monsieur, your brother is not, like you, in diplomatic employment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the attache, with a sigh, &ldquo;the poor fellow sacrificed himself
+      for me. He and my sister Clara have renounced their share of my father&rsquo;s
+      fortune to make an eldest son of me. My father dreams of a peerage, like
+      all who vote for the ministry. Indeed, it is promised him,&rdquo; he added in an
+      undertone. &ldquo;After saving up a little capital my brother joined a banking
+      firm, and I hear he has just effected a speculation in Brazil which may
+      make him a millionaire. You see me in the highest spirits at having been
+      able, by my diplomatic connections, to contribute to his success. I am
+      impatiently expecting a dispatch from the Brazilian Legation, which will
+      help to lift the cloud from his brow. What do you think of him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, your brother&rsquo;s face does not look to me like that of a man busied
+      with money matters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young attache shot a scrutinizing glance at the apparently calm face
+      of his partner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; he exclaimed, with a smile, &ldquo;can young ladies read the thoughts of
+      love behind the silent brow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your brother is in love, then?&rdquo; she asked, betrayed into a movement of
+      curiosity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; my sister Clara, to whom he is as devoted as a mother, wrote to me
+      that he had fallen in love this summer with a very pretty girl; but I have
+      had no further news of the affair. Would you believe that the poor boy
+      used to get up at five in the morning, and went off to settle his business
+      that he might be back by four o&rsquo;clock in the country where the lady was?
+      In fact, he ruined a very nice thoroughbred that I had just given him.
+      Forgive my chatter, mademoiselle; I have but just come home from Germany.
+      For a year I have heard no decent French, I have been weaned from French
+      faces, and satiated with Germans, to such a degree that, I believe, in my
+      patriotic mania, I could talk to the chimeras on a French candlestick. And
+      if I talk with a lack of reserve unbecoming in a diplomatist, the fault is
+      yours, mademoiselle. Was it not you who pointed out my brother? When he is
+      the theme I become inexhaustible. I should like to proclaim to all the
+      world how good and generous he is. He gave up no less than a hundred
+      thousand francs a year, the income from the Longueville property.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      If Mademoiselle de Fontaine had the benefit of these important
+      revelations, it was partly due to the skill with which she continued to
+      question her confiding partner from the moment when she found that he was
+      the brother of her scorned lover.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And could you, without being grieved, see your brother selling muslin and
+      calico?&rdquo; asked Emilie, at the end of the third figure of the quadrille.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that?&rdquo; asked the attache. &ldquo;Thank God, though I pour out a
+      flood of words, I have already acquired the art of not telling more than I
+      intend, like all the other diplomatic apprentices I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You told me, I assure you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de Longueville looked at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with a surprise
+      that was full of perspicacity. A suspicion flashed upon him. He glanced
+      inquiringly from his brother to his partner, guessed everything, clasped
+      his hands, fixed his eyes on the ceiling, and began to laugh, saying, &ldquo;I
+      am an idiot! You are the handsomest person here; my brother keeps stealing
+      glances at you; he is dancing in spite of his illness, and you pretend not
+      to see him. Make him happy,&rdquo; he added, as he led her back to her old
+      uncle. &ldquo;I shall not be jealous, but I shall always shiver a little at
+      calling you my sister&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The lovers, however, were to prove as inexorable to each other as they
+      were to themselves. At about two in the morning, refreshments were served
+      in an immense corridor, where, to leave persons of the same coterie free
+      to meet each other, the tables were arranged as in a restaurant. By one of
+      those accidents which always happen to lovers, Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+      found herself at a table next to that at which the more important guests
+      were seated. Maximilien was of the group. Emilie, who lent an attentive
+      ear to her neighbors&rsquo; conversation, overheard one of those dialogues into
+      which a young woman so easily falls with a young man who has the grace and
+      style of Maximilien Longueville. The lady talking to the young banker was
+      a Neapolitan duchess, whose eyes shot lightning flashes, and whose skin
+      had the sheen of satin. The intimate terms on which Longueville affected
+      to be with her stung Mademoiselle de Fontaine all the more because she had
+      just given her lover back twenty times as much tenderness as she had ever
+      felt for him before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, monsieur, in my country true love can make every kind of sacrifice,&rdquo;
+       the Duchess was saying, in a simper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have more passion than Frenchwomen,&rdquo; said Maximilien, whose burning
+      gaze fell on Emilie. &ldquo;They are all vanity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur,&rdquo; Emilie eagerly interposed, &ldquo;is it not very wrong to calumniate
+      your own country? Devotion is to be found in every nation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you imagine, mademoiselle,&rdquo; retorted the Italian, with a sardonic
+      smile, &ldquo;that a Parisian would be capable of following her lover all over
+      the world?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, madame, let us understand each other. She would follow him to a
+      desert and live in a tent but not to sit in a shop.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A disdainful gesture completed her meaning. Thus, under the influence of
+      her disastrous education, Emile for the second time killed her budding
+      happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien&rsquo;s apparent
+      indifference, and a woman&rsquo;s smile, had wrung from her one of those
+      sarcasms whose treacherous zest always let her astray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle,&rdquo; said Longueville, in a low voice, under cover of the noise
+      made by the ladies as they rose from the table, &ldquo;no one will ever more
+      ardently desire your happiness than I; permit me to assure you of this, as
+      I am taking leave of you. I am starting for Italy in a few days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With a Duchess, no doubt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but perhaps with a mortal blow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is not that pure fancy?&rdquo; asked Emilie, with an anxious glance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;There are wounds which never heal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not to go,&rdquo; said the girl, imperiously, and she smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall go,&rdquo; replied Maximilien, gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will find me married on your return, I warn you,&rdquo; she said
+      coquettishly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impertinent wretch!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;How cruel a revenge!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A fortnight later Maximilien set out with his sister Clara for the warm
+      and poetic scenes of beautiful Italy, leaving Mademoiselle de Fontaine a
+      prey to the most vehement regret. The young Secretary to the Embassy took
+      up his brother&rsquo;s quarrel, and contrived to take signal vengeance on
+      Emilie&rsquo;s disdain by making known the occasion of the lovers&rsquo; separation.
+      He repaid his fair partner with interest all the sarcasm with which she
+      had formerly attacked Maximilien, and often made more than one Excellency
+      smile by describing the fair foe of the counting-house, the amazon who
+      preached a crusade against bankers, the young girl whose love had
+      evaporated before a bale of muslin. The Comte de Fontaine was obliged to
+      use his influence to procure an appointment to Russia for Auguste
+      Longueville in order to protect his daughter from the ridicule heaped upon
+      her by this dangerous young persecutor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not long after, the Ministry being compelled to raise a levy of peers to
+      support the aristocratic party, trembling in the Upper Chamber under the
+      lash of an illustrious writer, gave Monsieur Guiraudin de Longueville a
+      peerage, with the title of Vicomte. Monsieur de Fontaine also obtained a
+      peerage, the reward due as much to his fidelity in evil days as to his
+      name, which claimed a place in the hereditary Chamber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About this time Emilie, now of age, made, no doubt, some serious
+      reflections on life, for her tone and manners changed perceptibly. Instead
+      of amusing herself by saying spiteful things to her uncle, she lavished on
+      him the most affectionate attentions; she brought him his stick with a
+      persevering devotion that made the cynical smile, she gave him her arm,
+      rode in his carriage, and accompanied him in all his drives; she even
+      persuaded him that she liked the smell of tobacco, and read him his
+      favorite paper La Quotidienne in the midst of clouds of smoke, which the
+      malicious old sailor intentionally blew over her; she learned piquet to be
+      a match for the old count; and this fantastic damsel even listened without
+      impatience to his periodical narratives of the battles of the Belle-Poule,
+      the manoeuvres of the Ville de Paris, M. de Suffren&rsquo;s first expedition, or
+      the battle of Aboukir.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Though the old sailor had often said that he knew his longitude and
+      latitude too well to allow himself to be captured by a young corvette, one
+      fine morning Paris drawing-rooms heard the news of the marriage of
+      Mademoiselle de Fontaine to the Comte de Kergarouet. The young Countess
+      gave splendid entertainments to drown thought; but she, no doubt, found a
+      void at the bottom of the whirlpool; luxury was ineffectual to disguise
+      the emptiness and grief of her sorrowing soul; for the most part, in spite
+      of the flashes of assumed gaiety, her beautiful face expressed unspoken
+      melancholy. Emilie appeared, however, full of attentions and consideration
+      for her old husband, who, on retiring to his rooms at night, to the sounds
+      of a lively band, would often say, &ldquo;I do not know myself. Was I to wait
+      till the age of seventy-two to embark as pilot on board the Belle Emilie
+      after twenty years of matrimonial galleys?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The conduct of the young Countess was marked by such strictness that the
+      most clear-sighted criticism had no fault to find with her. Lookers on
+      chose to think that the vice-admiral had reserved the right of disposing
+      of his fortune to keep his wife more tightly in hand; but this was a
+      notion as insulting to the uncle as to the niece. Their conduct was indeed
+      so delicately judicious that the men who were most interested in guessing
+      the secrets of the couple could never decide whether the old Count
+      regarded her as a wife or as a daughter. He was often heard to say that he
+      had rescued his niece as a castaway after shipwreck; and that, for his
+      part, he had never taken a mean advantage of hospitality when he had saved
+      an enemy from the fury of the storm. Though the Countess aspired to reign
+      in Paris and tried to keep pace with Mesdames the Duchesses de
+      Maufrigneuse and du Chaulieu, the Marquises d&rsquo;Espard and d&rsquo;Aiglemont, the
+      Comtesses Feraud, de Montcornet, and de Restaud, Madame de Camps, and
+      Mademoiselle des Touches, she did not yield to the addresses of the young
+      Vicomte de Portenduere, who made her his idol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two years after her marriage, in one of the old drawing-rooms in the
+      Faubourg Saint-Germain, where she was admired for her character, worthy of
+      the old school, Emilie heard the Vicomte de Longueville announced. In the
+      corner of the room where she was sitting, playing piquet with the Bishop
+      of Persepolis, her agitation was not observed; she turned her head and saw
+      her former lover come in, in all the freshness of youth. His father&rsquo;s
+      death, and then that of his brother, killed by the severe climate of
+      Saint-Petersburg, had placed on Maximilien&rsquo;s head the hereditary plumes of
+      the French peer&rsquo;s hat. His fortune matched his learning and his merits;
+      only the day before his youthful and fervid eloquence had dazzled the
+      Assembly. At this moment he stood before the Countess, free, and graced
+      with all the advantages she had formerly required of her ideal. Every
+      mother with a daughter to marry made amiable advances to a man gifted with
+      the virtues which they attributed to him, as they admired his attractive
+      person; but Emilie knew, better than any one, that the Vicomte de
+      Longueville had the steadfast nature in which a wise woman sees a
+      guarantee of happiness. She looked at the admiral who, to use his favorite
+      expression, seemed likely to hold his course for a long time yet, and
+      cursed the follies of her youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment Monsieur de Persepolis said with Episcopal grace: &ldquo;Fair
+      lady, you have thrown away the king of hearts&mdash;I have won. But do not
+      regret your money. I keep it for my little seminaries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      PARIS, December 1829.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /><a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      ADDENDUM
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Beaudenord, Godefroid de
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+
+     Dudley, Lady Arabella
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       Letters of Two Brides
+
+     Fontaine, Comte de
+       The Chouans
+       Modeste Mignon
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Kergarouet, Comte de
+       The Purse
+       Ursule Mirouet
+
+     Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
+       The Chouans
+       The Seamy Side of History
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       Scenes from a Courtesan&rsquo;s Life
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Colonel Chabert
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Manerville, Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de
+       The Thirteen
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       A Marriage Settlement
+
+     Marsay, Henri de
+       The Thirteen
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Father Goriot
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Marriage Settlement
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       Modest Mignon
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+     Palma (banker)
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Gobseck
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+
+     Portenduere, Vicomte Savinien de
+       Scenes from a Courtesan&rsquo;s Life
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       Beatrix
+
+     Rastignac, Eugene de
+       Father Goriot
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Scenes from a Courtesan&rsquo;s Life
+       The Interdiction
+       A Study of Woman
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cousin Betty
+       The Member for Arcis
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+
+     Vandenesse, Marquise Charles de (Emilie de Fontaine)
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Daughter of Eve
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ball at Sceaux, by Honore de Balzac
+
+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: The Ball at Sceaux
+
+Author: Honore de Balzac
+
+Translator: Clara Bell
+
+Release Date: May, 1998  [Etext #1305]
+Posting Date: February 22, 2010
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BALL AT SCEAUX ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dagny
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+
+
+BY HONORE DE BALZAC
+
+
+
+Translated By Clara Bell
+
+
+
+              To Henri de Balzac, his brother Honore.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+
+
+The Comte de Fontaine, head of one of the oldest families in Poitou, had
+served the Bourbon cause with intelligence and bravery during the war
+in La Vendee against the Republic. After having escaped all the dangers
+which threatened the royalist leaders during this stormy period of
+modern history, he was wont to say in jest, "I am one of the men who
+gave themselves to be killed on the steps of the throne." And the
+pleasantry had some truth in it, as spoken by a man left for dead at the
+bloody battle of Les Quatre Chemins. Though ruined by confiscation, the
+staunch Vendeen steadily refused the lucrative posts offered to him
+by the Emperor Napoleon. Immovable in his aristocratic faith, he had
+blindly obeyed its precepts when he thought it fitting to choose
+a companion for life. In spite of the blandishments of a rich but
+revolutionary parvenu, who valued the alliance at a high figure, he
+married Mademoiselle de Kergarouet, without a fortune, but belonging to
+one of the oldest families in Brittany.
+
+When the second revolution burst on Monsieur de Fontaine he was
+encumbered with a large family. Though it was no part of the noble
+gentlemen's views to solicit favors, he yielded to his wife's wish, left
+his country estate, of which the income barely sufficed to maintain his
+children, and came to Paris. Saddened by seeing the greediness of his
+former comrades in the rush for places and dignities under the new
+Constitution, he was about to return to his property when he received a
+ministerial despatch, in which a well-known magnate announced to him his
+nomination as marechal de camp, or brigadier-general, under a rule
+which allowed the officers of the Catholic armies to count the twenty
+submerged years of Louis XVIII.'s reign as years of service. Some days
+later he further received, without any solicitation, ex officio, the
+crosses of the Legion of Honor and of Saint-Louis.
+
+Shaken in his determination by these successive favors, due, as he
+supposed, to the monarch's remembrance, he was no longer satisfied with
+taking his family, as he had piously done every Sunday, to cry "Vive le
+Roi" in the hall of the Tuileries when the royal family passed through
+on their way to chapel; he craved the favor of a private audience.
+The audience, at once granted, was in no sense private. The royal
+drawing-room was full of old adherents, whose powdered heads, seen from
+above, suggested a carpet of snow. There the Count met some old friends,
+who received him somewhat coldly; but the princes he thought ADORABLE,
+an enthusiastic expression which escaped him when the most gracious of
+his masters, to whom the Count had supposed himself to be known only
+by name, came to shake hands with him, and spoke of him as the most
+thorough Vendeen of them all. Notwithstanding this ovation, none of
+these august persons thought of inquiring as to the sum of his losses,
+or of the money he had poured so generously into the chests of the
+Catholic regiments. He discovered, a little late, that he had made war
+at his own cost. Towards the end of the evening he thought he might
+venture on a witty allusion to the state of his affairs, similar, as
+it was, to that of many other gentlemen. His Majesty laughed heartily
+enough; any speech that bore the hall-mark of wit was certain to please
+him; but he nevertheless replied with one of those royal pleasantries
+whose sweetness is more formidable than the anger of a rebuke. One of
+the King's most intimate advisers took an opportunity of going up to the
+fortune-seeking Vendeen, and made him understand by a keen and polite
+hint that the time had not yet come for settling accounts with the
+sovereign; that there were bills of much longer standing than his on the
+books, and there, no doubt, they would remain, as part of the history of
+the Revolution. The Count prudently withdrew from the venerable group,
+which formed a respectful semi-circle before the august family; then,
+having extricated his sword, not without some difficulty, from among the
+lean legs which had got mixed up with it, he crossed the courtyard of
+the Tuileries and got into the hackney cab he had left on the quay. With
+the restive spirit, which is peculiar to the nobility of the old school,
+in whom still survives the memory of the League and the day of the
+Barricades (in 1588), he bewailed himself in his cab, loudly enough
+to compromise him, over the change that had come over the Court.
+"Formerly," he said to himself, "every one could speak freely to the
+King of his own little affairs; the nobles could ask him a favor, or for
+money, when it suited them, and nowadays one cannot recover the money
+advanced for his service without raising a scandal! By Heaven! the cross
+of Saint-Louis and the rank of brigadier-general will not make good the
+three hundred thousand livres I have spent, out and out, on the royal
+cause. I must speak to the King, face to face, in his own room."
+
+This scene cooled Monsieur de Fontaine's ardor all the more effectually
+because his requests for an interview were never answered. And,
+indeed, he saw the upstarts of the Empire obtaining some of the offices
+reserved, under the old monarchy, for the highest families.
+
+"All is lost!" he exclaimed one morning. "The King has certainly never
+been other than a revolutionary. But for Monsieur, who never derogates,
+and is some comfort to his faithful adherents, I do not know what hands
+the crown of France might not fall into if things are to go on
+like this. Their cursed constitutional system is the worst possible
+government, and can never suit France. Louis XVIII. and Monsieur Beugnot
+spoiled everything at Saint Ouen."
+
+The Count, in despair, was preparing to retire to his estate,
+abandoning, with dignity, all claims to repayment. At this moment
+the events of the 20th March (1815) gave warning of a fresh storm,
+threatening to overwhelm the legitimate monarch and his defenders.
+Monsieur de Fontaine, like one of those generous souls who do not
+dismiss a servant in a torrent of rain; borrowed on his lands to
+follow the routed monarchy, without knowing whether this complicity in
+emigration would prove more propitious to him than his past devotion.
+But when he perceived that the companions of the King's exile were
+in higher favor than the brave men who had protested, sword in hand,
+against the establishment of the republic, he may perhaps have hoped to
+derive greater profit from this journey into a foreign land than from
+active and dangerous service in the heart of his own country. Nor was
+his courtier-like calculation one of these rash speculations which
+promise splendid results on paper, and are ruinous in effect. He was--to
+quote the wittiest and most successful of our diplomates--one of the
+faithful five hundred who shared the exile of the Court at Ghent,
+and one of the fifty thousand who returned with it. During the short
+banishment of royalty, Monsieur de Fontaine was so happy as to be
+employed by Louis XVIII., and found more than one opportunity of giving
+him proofs of great political honesty and sincere attachment. One
+evening, when the King had nothing better to do, he recalled Monsieur de
+Fontaine's witticism at the Tuileries. The old Vendeen did not let such
+a happy chance slip; he told his history with so much vivacity that
+a king, who never forgot anything, might remember it at a convenient
+season. The royal amateur of literature also observed the elegant style
+given to some notes which the discreet gentleman had been invited to
+recast. This little success stamped Monsieur de Fontaine on the King's
+memory as one of the loyal servants of the Crown.
+
+At the second restoration the Count was one of those special envoys who
+were sent throughout the departments charged with absolute jurisdiction
+over the leaders of revolt; but he used his terrible powers with
+moderation. As soon as the temporary commission was ended, the High
+Provost found a seat in the Privy Council, became a deputy, spoke
+little, listened much, and changed his opinions very considerably.
+Certain circumstances, unknown to historians, brought him into such
+intimate relations with the Sovereign, that one day, as he came in, the
+shrewd monarch addressed him thus: "My friend Fontaine, I shall take
+care never to appoint you to be director-general, or minister. Neither
+you nor I, as employees, could keep our place on account of our opinions.
+Representative government has this advantage; it saves Us the trouble We
+used to have, of dismissing Our Secretaries of State. Our Council is
+a perfect inn-parlor, whither public opinion sometimes sends strange
+travelers; however, We can always find a place for Our faithful
+adherents."
+
+This ironical speech was introductory to a rescript giving Monsieur de
+Fontaine an appointment as administrator in the office of Crown lands.
+As a consequence of the intelligent attention with which he listened to
+his royal Friend's sarcasms, his name always rose to His Majesty's
+lips when a commission was to be appointed of which the members were
+to receive a handsome salary. He had the good sense to hold his tongue
+about the favor with which he was honored, and knew how to entertain the
+monarch in those familiar chats in which Louis XVIII. delighted as
+much as in a well-written note, by his brilliant manner of
+repeating political anecdotes, and the political or parliamentary
+tittle-tattle--if the expression may pass--which at that time was rife.
+It is well known that he was immensely amused by every detail of his
+Gouvernementabilite--a word adopted by his facetious Majesty.
+
+Thanks to the Comte de Fontaine's good sense, wit, and tact, every
+member of his numerous family, however young, ended, as he jestingly
+told his Sovereign, in attaching himself like a silkworm to the leaves
+of the Pay-List. Thus, by the King's intervention, his eldest son
+found a high and fixed position as a lawyer. The second, before the
+restoration a mere captain, was appointed to the command of a legion on
+the return from Ghent; then, thanks to the confusion of 1815, when the
+regulations were evaded, he passed into the bodyguard, returned to a
+line regiment, and found himself after the affair of the Trocadero
+a lieutenant-general with a commission in the Guards. The youngest,
+appointed sous-prefet, ere long became a legal official and director of
+a municipal board of the city of Paris, where he was safe from changes
+in Legislature. These bounties, bestowed without parade, and as secret
+as the favor enjoyed by the Count, fell unperceived. Though the father
+and his three sons each had sinecures enough to enjoy an income in
+salaries almost equal to that of a chief of department, their political
+good fortune excited no envy. In those early days of the constitutional
+system, few persons had very precise ideas of the peaceful domain of the
+civil service, where astute favorites managed to find an equivalent for
+the demolished abbeys. Monsieur le Comte de Fontaine, who till lately
+boasted that he had not read the Charter, and displayed such indignation
+at the greed of courtiers, had, before long, proved to his august
+master that he understood, as well as the King himself, the spirit
+and resources of the representative system. At the same time,
+notwithstanding the established careers open to his three sons, and the
+pecuniary advantages derived from four official appointments,
+Monsieur de Fontaine was the head of too large a family to be able to
+re-establish his fortune easily and rapidly.
+
+His three sons were rich in prospects, in favor, and in talent; but
+he had three daughters, and was afraid of wearying the monarch's
+benevolence. It occurred to him to mention only one by one, these
+virgins eager to light their torches. The King had too much good
+taste to leave his work incomplete. The marriage of the eldest with a
+Receiver-General, Planat de Baudry, was arranged by one of those royal
+speeches which cost nothing and are worth millions. One evening, when
+the Sovereign was out of spirits, he smiled on hearing of the existence
+of another Demoiselle de Fontaine, for whom he found a husband in the
+person of a young magistrate, of inferior birth, no doubt, but wealthy,
+and whom he created Baron. When, the year after, the Vendeen spoke of
+Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, the King replied in his thin sharp
+tones, "Amicus Plato sed magis amica Natio." Then, a few days later, he
+treated his "friend Fontaine" to a quatrain, harmless enough, which
+he styled an epigram, in which he made fun of these three daughters so
+skilfully introduced, under the form of a trinity. Nay, if report is to
+be believed, the monarch had found the point of the jest in the Unity of
+the three Divine Persons.
+
+"If your Majesty would only condescend to turn the epigram into an
+epithalamium?" said the Count, trying to turn the sally to good account.
+
+"Though I see the rhyme of it, I fail to see the reason," retorted the
+King, who did not relish any pleasantry, however mild, on the subject of
+his poetry.
+
+From that day his intercourse with Monsieur de Fontaine showed less
+amenity. Kings enjoy contradicting more than people think. Like most
+youngest children, Emilie de Fontaine was a Benjamin spoilt by almost
+everybody. The King's coolness, therefore, caused the Count all the more
+regret, because no marriage was ever so difficult to arrange as that of
+this darling daughter. To understand all the obstacles we must make our
+way into the fine residence where the official was housed at the expense
+of the nation. Emilie had spent her childhood on the family estate,
+enjoying the abundance which suffices for the joys of early youth; her
+lightest wishes had been law to her sisters, her brothers, her mother,
+and even her father. All her relations doted on her. Having come to
+years of discretion just when her family was loaded with the favors of
+fortune, the enchantment of life continued. The luxury of Paris seemed
+to her just as natural as a wealth of flowers or fruit, or as the
+rural plenty which had been the joy of her first years. Just as in her
+childhood she had never been thwarted in the satisfaction of her playful
+desires, so now, at fourteen, she was still obeyed when she rushed into
+the whirl of fashion.
+
+Thus, accustomed by degrees to the enjoyment of money, elegance of
+dress, of gilded drawing-rooms and fine carriages, became as necessary
+to her as the compliments of flattery, sincere or false, and the
+festivities and vanities of court life. Like most spoiled children,
+she tyrannized over those who loved her, and kept her blandishments for
+those who were indifferent. Her faults grew with her growth, and her
+parents were to gather the bitter fruits of this disastrous education.
+At the age of nineteen Emilie de Fontaine had not yet been pleased to
+make a choice from among the many young men whom her father's politics
+brought to his entertainments. Though so young, she asserted in society
+all the freedom of mind that a married woman can enjoy. Her beauty was
+so remarkable that, for her, to appear in a room was to be its queen;
+but, like sovereigns, she had no friends, though she was everywhere the
+object of attentions to which a finer nature than hers might perhaps
+have succumbed. Not a man, not even an old man, had it in him to
+contradict the opinions of a young girl whose lightest look could
+rekindle love in the coldest heart.
+
+She had been educated with a care which her sisters had not enjoyed;
+painted pretty well, spoke Italian and English, and played the piano
+brilliantly; her voice, trained by the best masters, had a ring in it
+which made her singing irresistibly charming. Clever, and intimate with
+every branch of literature, she might have made folks believe that,
+as Mascarille says, people of quality come into the world knowing
+everything. She could argue fluently on Italian or Flemish painting, on
+the Middle Ages or the Renaissance; pronounced at haphazard on books new
+or old, and could expose the defects of a work with a cruelly graceful
+wit. The simplest thing she said was accepted by an admiring crowd as a
+fetfah of the Sultan by the Turks. She thus dazzled shallow persons; as
+to deeper minds, her natural tact enabled her to discern them, and for
+them she put forth so much fascination that, under cover of her charms,
+she escaped their scrutiny. This enchanting veneer covered a careless
+heart; the opinion--common to many young girls--that no one else dwelt
+in a sphere so lofty as to be able to understand the merits of her
+soul; and a pride based no less on her birth than on her beauty. In
+the absence of the overwhelming sentiment which, sooner or later, works
+havoc in a woman's heart, she spent her young ardor in an immoderate
+love of distinctions, and expressed the deepest contempt for persons of
+inferior birth. Supremely impertinent to all newly-created nobility, she
+made every effort to get her parents recognized as equals by the most
+illustrious families of the Saint-Germain quarter.
+
+These sentiments had not escaped the observing eye of Monsieur de
+Fontaine, who more than once, when his two elder girls were married, had
+smarted under Emilie's sarcasm. Logical readers will be surprised to see
+the old Royalist bestowing his eldest daughter on a Receiver-General,
+possessed, indeed, of some old hereditary estates, but whose name
+was not preceded by the little word to which the throne owed so many
+partisans, and his second to a magistrate too lately Baronified to
+obscure the fact that his father had sold firewood. This noteworthy
+change in the ideas of a noble on the verge of his sixtieth year--an age
+when men rarely renounce their convictions--was due not merely to his
+unfortunate residence in the modern Babylon, where, sooner or later,
+country folks all get their corners rubbed down; the Comte de Fontaine's
+new political conscience was also a result of the King's advice and
+friendship. The philosophical prince had taken pleasure in converting
+the Vendeen to the ideas required by the advance of the nineteenth
+century, and the new aspect of the Monarchy. Louis XVIII. aimed at
+fusing parties as Napoleon had fused things and men. The legitimate
+King, who was not less clever perhaps than his rival, acted in a
+contrary direction. The last head of the House of Bourbon was just as
+eager to satisfy the third estate and the creations of the Empire, by
+curbing the clergy, as the first of the Napoleons had been to attract
+the grand old nobility, or to endow the Church. The Privy Councillor,
+being in the secret of these royal projects, had insensibly become one
+of the most prudent and influential leaders of that moderate party which
+most desired a fusion of opinion in the interests of the nation. He
+preached the expensive doctrines of constitutional government, and lent
+all his weight to encourage the political see-saw which enabled his
+master to rule France in the midst of storms. Perhaps Monsieur de
+Fontaine hoped that one of the sudden gusts of legislation, whose
+unexpected efforts then startled the oldest politicians, might carry
+him up to the rank of peer. One of his most rigid principles was to
+recognize no nobility in France but that of the peerage--the only
+families that might enjoy any privileges.
+
+"A nobility bereft of privileges," he would say, "is a tool without a
+handle."
+
+As far from Lafayette's party as he was from La Bourdonnaye's, he
+ardently engaged in the task of general reconciliation, which was to
+result in a new era and splendid fortunes for France. He strove to
+convince the families who frequented his drawing-room, or those whom
+he visited, how few favorable openings would henceforth be offered by a
+civil or military career. He urged mothers to give their boys a start in
+independent and industrial professions, explaining that military posts
+and high Government appointments must at last pertain, in a quite
+constitutional order, to the younger sons of members of the peerage.
+According to him, the people had conquered a sufficiently large share
+in practical government by its elective assembly, its appointments to
+law-offices, and those of the exchequer, which, said he, would always,
+as heretofore, be the natural right of the distinguished men of the
+third estate.
+
+These new notions of the head of the Fontaines, and the prudent matches
+for his eldest girls to which they had led, met with strong resistance
+in the bosom of his family. The Comtesse de Fontaine remained faithful
+to the ancient beliefs which no woman could disown, who, through her
+mother, belonged to the Rohans. Although she had for a while opposed
+the happiness and fortune awaiting her two eldest girls, she yielded
+to those private considerations which husband and wife confide to each
+other when their heads are resting on the same pillow. Monsieur de
+Fontaine calmly pointed out to his wife, by exact arithmetic that their
+residence in Paris, the necessity for entertaining, the magnificence of
+the house which made up to them now for the privations so bravely shared
+in La Vendee, and the expenses of their sons, swallowed up the chief
+part of their income from salaries. They must therefore seize, as a boon
+from heaven, the opportunities which offered for settling their girls
+with such wealth. Would they not some day enjoy sixty--eighty--a hundred
+thousand francs a year? Such advantageous matches were not to be met
+with every day for girls without a portion. Again, it was time that they
+should begin to think of economizing, to add to the estate of Fontaine,
+and re-establish the old territorial fortune of the family. The Countess
+yielded to such cogent arguments, as every mother would have done in her
+place, though perhaps with a better grace; but she declared that Emilie,
+at any rate, should marry in such a way as to satisfy the pride she had
+unfortunately contributed to foster in the girl's young soul.
+
+Thus events, which ought to have brought joy into the family, had
+introduced a small leaven of discord. The Receiver-General and the young
+lawyer were the objects of a ceremonious formality which the Countess
+and Emilie contrived to create. This etiquette soon found even ampler
+opportunity for the display of domestic tyranny; for Lieutenant-General
+de Fontaine married Mademoiselle Mongenod, the daughter of a rich
+banker; the President very sensibly found a wife in a young lady whose
+father, twice or thrice a millionaire, had traded in salt; and the
+third brother, faithful to his plebeian doctrines, married Mademoiselle
+Grossetete, the only daughter of the Receiver-General at Bourges. The
+three sisters-in-law and the two brothers-in-law found the high
+sphere of political bigwigs, and the drawing-rooms of the Faubourg
+Saint-Germain, so full of charm and of personal advantages, that they
+united in forming a little court round the overbearing Emilie. This
+treaty between interest and pride was not, however, so firmly cemented
+but that the young despot was, not unfrequently, the cause of revolts
+in her little realm. Scenes, which the highest circles would not have
+disowned, kept up a sarcastic temper among all the members of this
+powerful family; and this, without seriously diminishing the regard they
+professed in public, degenerated sometimes in private into sentiments
+far from charitable. Thus the Lieutenant-General's wife, having become
+a Baronne, thought herself quite as noble as a Kergarouet, and imagined
+that her good hundred thousand francs a year gave her the right to be as
+impertinent as her sister-in-law Emilie, whom she would sometimes wish
+to see happily married, as she announced that the daughter of some peer
+of France had married Monsieur So-and-So with no title to his name. The
+Vicomtesse de Fontaine amused herself by eclipsing Emilie in the taste
+and magnificence that were conspicuous in her dress, her furniture, and
+her carriages. The satirical spirit in which her brothers and sisters
+sometimes received the claims avowed by Mademoiselle de Fontaine roused
+her to wrath that a perfect hailstorm of sharp sayings could hardly
+mitigate. So when the head of the family felt a slight chill in the
+King's tacit and precarious friendship, he trembled all the more
+because, as a result of her sisters' defiant mockery, his favorite
+daughter had never looked so high.
+
+In the midst of these circumstances, and at a moment when this petty
+domestic warfare had become serious, the monarch, whose favor Monsieur
+de Fontaine still hoped to regain, was attacked by the malady of which
+he was to die. The great political chief, who knew so well how to steer
+his bark in the midst of tempests, soon succumbed. Certain then of
+favors to come, the Comte de Fontaine made every effort to collect the
+elite of marrying men about his youngest daughter. Those who may
+have tried to solve the difficult problem of settling a haughty and
+capricious girl, will understand the trouble taken by the unlucky
+father. Such an affair, carried out to the liking of his beloved child,
+would worthily crown the career the Count had followed for these ten
+years at Paris. From the way in which his family claimed salaries under
+every department, it might be compared with the House of Austria, which,
+by intermarriage, threatens to pervade Europe. The old Vendeen was
+not to be discouraged in bringing forward suitors, so much had he his
+daughter's happiness at heart, but nothing could be more absurd than
+the way in which the impertinent young thing pronounced her verdicts and
+judged the merits of her adorers. It might have been supposed that, like
+a princess in the Arabian Nights, Emilie was rich enough and beautiful
+enough to choose from among all the princes in the world. Her objections
+were each more preposterous than the last: one had too thick knees and
+was bow-legged, another was short-sighted, this one's name was Durand,
+that one limped, and almost all were too fat. Livelier, more attractive,
+and gayer than ever after dismissing two or three suitors, she rushed
+into the festivities of the winter season, and to balls, where her keen
+eyes criticised the celebrities of the day, delighted in encouraging
+proposals which she invariably rejected.
+
+Nature had bestowed on her all the advantages needed for playing the
+part of Celimene. Tall and slight, Emilie de Fontaine could assume a
+dignified or a frolicsome mien at her will. Her neck was rather long,
+allowing her to affect beautiful attitudes of scorn and impertinence.
+She had cultivated a large variety of those turns of the head and
+feminine gestures, which emphasize so cruelly or so happily a hint of
+a smile. Fine black hair, thick and strongly-arched eyebrows, lent her
+countenance an expression of pride, to which her coquettish instincts
+and her mirror had taught her to add terror by a stare, or gentleness by
+the softness of her gaze, by the set of the gracious curve of her lips,
+by the coldness or the sweetness of her smile. When Emilie meant to
+conquer a heart, her pure voice did not lack melody; but she could
+also give it a sort of curt clearness when she was minded to paralyze a
+partner's indiscreet tongue. Her colorless face and alabaster brow were
+like the limpid surface of a lake, which by turns is rippled by the
+impulse of a breeze and recovers its glad serenity when the air is
+still. More than one young man, a victim to her scorn, accused her of
+acting a part; but she justified herself by inspiring her detractors
+with the desire to please her, and then subjecting them to all her most
+contemptuous caprice. Among the young girls of fashion, not one knew
+better than she how to assume an air of reserve when a man of talent
+was introduced to her, or how to display the insulting politeness which
+treats an equal as an inferior, and to pour out her impertinence on all
+who tried to hold their heads on a level with hers. Wherever she went
+she seemed to be accepting homage rather than compliments, and even in
+a princess her airs and manner would have transformed the chair on which
+she sat into an imperial throne.
+
+Monsieur de Fontaine discovered too late how utterly the education of
+the daughter he loved had been ruined by the tender devotion of the
+whole family. The admiration which the world is at first ready to bestow
+on a young girl, but for which, sooner or later, it takes its revenge,
+had added to Emilie's pride, and increased her self-confidence.
+Universal subservience had developed in her the selfishness natural to
+spoilt children, who, like kings, make a plaything of everything that
+comes to hand. As yet the graces of youth and the charms of talent hid
+these faults from every eye; faults all the more odious in a woman,
+since she can only please by self-sacrifice and unselfishness; but
+nothing escapes the eye of a good father, and Monsieur de Fontaine
+often tried to explain to his daughter the more important pages of the
+mysterious book of life. Vain effort! He had to lament his daughter's
+capricious indocility and ironical shrewdness too often to persevere
+in a task so difficult as that of correcting an ill-disposed nature. He
+contented himself with giving her from time to time some gentle and kind
+advice; but he had the sorrow of seeing his tenderest words slide from
+his daughter's heart as if it were of marble. A father's eyes are slow
+to be unsealed, and it needed more than one experience before the old
+Royalist perceived that his daughter's rare caresses were bestowed on
+him with an air of condescension. She was like young children, who seem
+to say to their mother, "Make haste to kiss me, that I may go to play."
+In short, Emilie vouchsafed to be fond of her parents. But often, by
+those sudden whims, which seem inexplicable in young girls, she kept
+aloof and scarcely ever appeared; she complained of having to share her
+father's and mother's heart with too many people; she was jealous of
+every one, even of her brothers and sisters. Then, after creating a
+desert about her, the strange girl accused all nature of her unreal
+solitude and her wilful griefs. Strong in the experience of her twenty
+years, she blamed fate, because, not knowing that the mainspring of
+happiness is in ourselves, she demanded it of the circumstances of life.
+She would have fled to the ends of the earth to escape a marriage such
+as those of her two sisters, and nevertheless her heart was full of
+horrible jealousy at seeing them married, rich, and happy. In short, she
+sometimes led her mother--who was as much a victim to her vagaries as
+Monsieur de Fontaine--to suspect that she had a touch of madness.
+
+But such aberrations are quite inexplicable; nothing is commoner than
+this unconfessed pride developed in the heart of young girls belonging
+to families high in the social scale, and gifted by nature with great
+beauty. They are almost all convinced that their mothers, now forty or
+fifty years of age, can neither sympathize with their young souls, nor
+conceive of their imaginings. They fancy that most mothers, jealous of
+their girls, want to dress them in their own way with the premeditated
+purpose of eclipsing them or robbing them of admiration. Hence, often,
+secret tears and dumb revolt against supposed tyranny. In the midst of
+these woes, which become very real though built on an imaginary basis,
+they have also a mania for composing a scheme of life, while casting for
+themselves a brilliant horoscope; their magic consists in taking their
+dreams for reality; secretly, in their long meditations, they resolve
+to give their heart and hand to none but the man possessing this or the
+other qualification; and they paint in fancy a model to which, whether
+or no, the future lover must correspond. After some little experience
+of life, and the serious reflections that come with years, by dint of
+seeing the world and its prosaic round, by dint of observing unhappy
+examples, the brilliant hues of their ideal are extinguished. Then, one
+fine day, in the course of events, they are quite astonished to find
+themselves happy without the nuptial poetry of their day-dreams. It was
+on the strength of that poetry that Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine,
+in her slender wisdom, had drawn up a programme to which a suitor must
+conform to be excepted. Hence her disdain and sarcasm.
+
+"Though young and of an ancient family, he must be a peer of France,"
+said she to herself. "I could not bear not to see my coat-of-arms on the
+panels of my carriage among the folds of azure mantling, not to drive
+like the princes down the broad walk of the Champs-Elysees on the days
+of Longchamps in Holy Week. Besides, my father says that it will someday
+be the highest dignity in France. He must be a soldier--but I reserve
+the right of making him retire; and he must bear an Order, that the
+sentries may present arms to us."
+
+And these rare qualifications would count for nothing if this creature
+of fancy had not the most amiable temper, a fine figure, intelligence,
+and, above all, if he were not slender. To be lean, a personal grace
+which is but fugitive, especially under a representative government,
+was an indispensable condition. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had an ideal
+standard which was to be the model. A young man who at the first glance
+did not fulfil the requisite conditions did not even get a second look.
+
+"Good Heavens! see how fat he is!" was with her the utmost expression of
+contempt.
+
+To hear her, people of respectable corpulence were incapable of
+sentiment, bad husbands, and unfit for civilized society. Though it is
+esteemed a beauty in the East, to be fat seemed to her a misfortune
+for a woman; but in a man it was a crime. These paradoxical views were
+amusing, thanks to a certain liveliness of rhetoric. The Count felt
+nevertheless that by-and-by his daughter's affections, of which the
+absurdity would be evident to some women who were not less clear-sighted
+than merciless, would inevitably become a subject of constant ridicule.
+He feared lest her eccentric notions should deviate into bad style. He
+trembled to think that the pitiless world might already be laughing at
+a young woman who remained so long on the stage without arriving at
+any conclusion of the drama she was playing. More than one actor in it,
+disgusted by a refusal, seemed to be waiting for the slightest turn
+of ill-luck to take his revenge. The indifferent, the lookers-on were
+beginning to weary of it; admiration is always exhausting to human
+beings. The old Vendeen knew better than any one that if there is an
+art in choosing the right moment for coming forward on the boards of the
+world, on those of the Court, in a drawing-room or on the stage, it is
+still more difficult to quit them in the nick of time. So during
+the first winter after the accession of Charles X., he redoubled his
+efforts, seconded by his three sons and his sons-in-law, to assemble in
+the rooms of his official residence the best matches which Paris and the
+various deputations from departments could offer. The splendor of his
+entertainments, the luxury of his dining-room, and his dinners, fragrant
+with truffles, rivaled the famous banquets by which the ministers of
+that time secured the vote of their parliamentary recruits.
+
+The Honorable Deputy was consequently pointed at as a most influential
+corrupter of the legislative honesty of the illustrious Chamber that was
+dying as it would seem of indigestion. A whimsical result! his efforts
+to get his daughter married secured him a splendid popularity. He
+perhaps found some covert advantage in selling his truffles twice over.
+This accusation, started by certain mocking Liberals, who made up by
+their flow of words for their small following in the Chamber, was not
+a success. The Poitevin gentleman had always been so noble and so
+honorable, that he was not once the object of those epigrams which the
+malicious journalism of the day hurled at the three hundred votes of the
+centre, at the Ministers, the cooks, the Directors-General, the princely
+Amphitryons, and the official supporters of the Villele Ministry.
+
+At the close of this campaign, during which Monsieur de Fontaine had on
+several occasions brought out all his forces, he believed that this time
+the procession of suitors would not be a mere dissolving view in his
+daughter's eyes; that it was time she should make up her mind. He felt
+a certain inward satisfaction at having well fulfilled his duty as a
+father. And having left no stone unturned, he hoped that, among so many
+hearts laid at Emilie's feet, there might be one to which her caprice
+might give a preference. Incapable of repeating such an effort, and
+tired, too, of his daughter's conduct, one morning, towards the end
+of Lent, when the business at the Chamber did not demand his vote, he
+determined to ask what her views were. While his valet was artistically
+decorating his bald yellow head with the delta of powder which, with
+the hanging "ailes de pigeon," completed his venerable style of
+hairdressing, Emilie's father, not without some secret misgivings, told
+his old servant to go and desire the haughty damsel to appear in the
+presence of the head of the family.
+
+"Joseph," he added, when his hair was dressed, "take away that towel,
+draw back the curtains, put those chairs square, shake the rug, and
+lay it quite straight. Dust everything.--Now, air the room a little by
+opening the window."
+
+The Count multiplied his orders, putting Joseph out of breath, and the
+old servant, understanding his master's intentions, aired and tidied the
+room, of course the least cared for of any in the house, and succeeded
+in giving a look of harmony to the files of bills, the letter-boxes, the
+books and furniture of this sanctum, where the interests of the royal
+demesnes were debated over. When Joseph had reduced this chaos to some
+sort of order, and brought to the front such things as might be most
+pleasing to the eye, as if it were a shop front, or such as by their
+color might give the effect of a kind of official poetry, he stood for a
+minute in the midst of the labyrinth of papers piled in some places even
+on the floor, admired his handiwork, jerked his head, and went.
+
+The anxious sinecure-holder did not share his retainer's favorable
+opinion. Before seating himself in his deep chair, whose rounded back
+screened him from draughts, he looked round him doubtfully, examined
+his dressing-gown with a hostile expression, shook off a few grains of
+snuff, carefully wiped his nose, arranged the tongs and shovel, made the
+fire, pulled up the heels of his slippers, pulled out his little
+queue of hair which had lodged horizontally between the collar of
+his waistcoat and that of his dressing-gown restoring it to its
+perpendicular position; then he swept up the ashes of the hearth, which
+bore witness to a persistent catarrh. Finally, the old man did not
+settle himself till he had once more looked all over the room, hoping
+that nothing could give occasion to the saucy and impertinent remarks
+with which his daughter was apt to answer his good advice. On this
+occasion he was anxious not to compromise his dignity as a father. He
+daintily took a pinch of snuff, cleared his throat two or three times,
+as if he were about to demand a count out of the House; then he heard
+his daughter's light step, and she came in humming an air from Il
+Barbiere.
+
+"Good-morning, papa. What do you want with me so early?" Having sung
+these words, as though they were the refrain of the melody, she kissed
+the Count, not with the familiar tenderness which makes a daughter's
+love so sweet a thing, but with the light carelessness of a mistress
+confident of pleasing, whatever she may do.
+
+"My dear child," said Monsieur de Fontaine, gravely, "I sent for you to
+talk to you very seriously about your future prospects. You are at this
+moment under the necessity of making such a choice of a husband as may
+secure your durable happiness----"
+
+"My good father," replied Emilie, assuming her most coaxing tone of
+voice to interrupt him, "it strikes me that the armistice on which we
+agreed as to my suitors is not yet expired."
+
+"Emilie, we must to-day forbear from jesting on so important a matter.
+For some time past the efforts of those who most truly love you, my dear
+child, have been concentrated on the endeavor to settle you suitably;
+and you would be guilty of ingratitude in meeting with levity those
+proofs of kindness which I am not alone in lavishing on you."
+
+As she heard these words, after flashing a mischievously inquisitive
+look at the furniture of her father's study, the young girl brought
+forward the armchair which looked as if it had been least used by
+petitioners, set it at the side of the fireplace so as to sit facing
+her father, and settled herself in so solemn an attitude that it was
+impossible not to read in it a mocking intention, crossing her arms over
+the dainty trimmings of a pelerine a la neige, and ruthlessly crushing
+its endless frills of white tulle. After a laughing side glance at her
+old father's troubled face, she broke silence.
+
+"I never heard you say, my dear father, that the Government issued its
+instructions in its dressing-gown. However," and she smiled, "that does
+not matter; the mob are probably not particular. Now, what are your
+proposals for legislation, and your official introductions?"
+
+"I shall not always be able to make them, headstrong girl!--Listen,
+Emilie. It is my intention no longer to compromise my reputation, which
+is part of my children's fortune, by recruiting the regiment of dancers
+which, spring after spring, you put to rout. You have already been the
+cause of many dangerous misunderstandings with certain families. I hope
+to make you perceive more truly the difficulties of your position and of
+ours. You are two-and-twenty, my dear child, and you ought to have been
+married nearly three years since. Your brothers and your two sisters are
+richly and happily provided for. But, my dear, the expenses occasioned
+by these marriages, and the style of housekeeping you require of your
+mother, have made such inroads on our income that I can hardly promise
+you a hundred thousand francs as a marriage portion. From this day
+forth I shall think only of providing for your mother, who must not be
+sacrificed to her children. Emilie, if I were to be taken from my family
+Madame de Fontaine could not be left at anybody's mercy, and ought to
+enjoy the affluence which I have given her too late as the reward of her
+devotion in my misfortunes. You see, my child, that the amount of your
+fortune bears no relation to your notions of grandeur. Even that
+would be such a sacrifice as I have not hitherto made for either of my
+children; but they have generously agreed not to expect in the future
+any compensation for the advantage thus given to a too favored child."
+
+"In their position!" said Emilie, with an ironical toss of her head.
+
+"My dear, do not so depreciate those who love you. Only the poor are
+generous as a rule; the rich have always excellent reasons for not
+handing over twenty thousand francs to a relation. Come, my child, do
+not pout, let us talk rationally.--Among the young marrying men have you
+noticed Monsieur de Manerville?"
+
+"Oh, he minces his words--he says Zules instead of Jules; he is always
+looking at his feet, because he thinks them small, and he gazes at
+himself in the glass! Besides, he is fair. I don't like fair men."
+
+"Well, then, Monsieur de Beaudenord?"
+
+"He is not noble! he is ill made and stout. He is dark, it is true.--If
+the two gentlemen could agree to combine their fortunes, and the first
+would give his name and his figure to the second, who should keep his
+dark hair, then--perhaps----"
+
+"What can you say against Monsieur de Rastignac?"
+
+"Madame de Nucingen has made a banker of him," she said with meaning.
+
+"And our cousin, the Vicomte de Portenduere?"
+
+"A mere boy, who dances badly; besides, he has no fortune. And, after
+all, papa, none of these people have titles. I want, at least, to be a
+countess like my mother."
+
+"Have you seen no one, then, this winter----"
+
+"No, papa."
+
+"What then do you want?"
+
+"The son of a peer of France.
+
+"My dear girl, you are mad!" said Monsieur de Fontaine, rising.
+
+But he suddenly lifted his eyes to heaven, and seemed to find a fresh
+fount of resignation in some religious thought; then, with a look of
+fatherly pity at his daughter, who herself was moved, he took her
+hand, pressed it, and said with deep feeling: "God is my witness, poor
+mistaken child, I have conscientiously discharged my duty to you as a
+father--conscientiously, do I say? Most lovingly, my Emilie. Yes, God
+knows! This winter I have brought before you more than one good man,
+whose character, whose habits, and whose temper were known to me, and
+all seemed worthy of you. My child, my task is done. From this day forth
+you are the arbiter of your fate, and I consider myself both happy
+and unhappy at finding myself relieved of the heaviest of paternal
+functions. I know not whether you will for any long time, now, hear a
+voice which, to you, has never been stern; but remember that conjugal
+happiness does not rest so much on brilliant qualities and ample fortune
+as on reciprocal esteem. This happiness is, in its nature, modest, and
+devoid of show. So now, my dear, my consent is given beforehand, whoever
+the son-in-law may be whom you introduce to me; but if you should be
+unhappy, remember you will have no right to accuse your father. I shall
+not refuse to take proper steps and help you, only your choice must be
+serious and final. I will never twice compromise the respect due to my
+white hairs."
+
+The affection thus expressed by her father, the solemn tones of his
+urgent address, deeply touched Mademoiselle de Fontaine; but she
+concealed her emotion, seated herself on her father's knees--for he had
+dropped all tremulous into his chair again--caressed him fondly, and
+coaxed him so engagingly that the old man's brow cleared. As soon as
+Emilie thought that her father had got over his painful agitation,
+she said in a gentle voice: "I have to thank you for your graceful
+attention, my dear father. You have had your room set in order to
+receive your beloved daughter. You did not perhaps know that you would
+find her so foolish and so headstrong. But, papa, is it so difficult
+to get married to a peer of France? You declared that they were
+manufactured by dozens. At least, you will not refuse to advise me."
+
+"No, my poor child, no;--and more than once I may have occasion to cry,
+'Beware!' Remember that the making of peers is so recent a force in our
+government machinery that they have no great fortunes. Those who are
+rich look to becoming richer. The wealthiest member of our peerage has
+not half the income of the least rich lord in the English Upper Chamber.
+Thus all the French peers are on the lookout for great heiresses for
+their sons, wherever they may meet with them. The necessity in which
+they find themselves of marrying for money will certainly exist for at
+least two centuries.
+
+"Pending such a fortunate accident as you long for--and this
+fastidiousness may cost you the best years of your life--your
+attractions might work a miracle, for men often marry for love in these
+days. When experience lurks behind so sweet a face as yours it
+may achieve wonders. In the first place, have you not the gift of
+recognizing virtue in the greater or smaller dimensions of a man's body?
+This is no small matter! To so wise a young person as you are, I need
+not enlarge on all the difficulties of the enterprise. I am sure that
+you would never attribute good sense to a stranger because he had a
+handsome face, or all the virtues because he had a fine figure. And I am
+quite of your mind in thinking that the sons of peers ought to have an
+air peculiar to themselves, and perfectly distinctive manners. Though
+nowadays no external sign stamps a man of rank, those young men will
+have, perhaps, to you the indefinable something that will reveal it.
+Then, again, you have your heart well in hand, like a good horseman who
+is sure his steed cannot bolt. Luck be with you, my dear!"
+
+"You are making game of me, papa. Well, I assure you that I would rather
+die in Mademoiselle de Conde's convent than not be the wife of a peer of
+France."
+
+She slipped out of her father's arms, and proud of being her own
+mistress, went off singing the air of Cara non dubitare, in the
+"Matrimonio Segreto."
+
+As it happened, the family were that day keeping the anniversary of
+a family fete. At dessert Madame Planat, the Receiver-General's wife,
+spoke with some enthusiasm of a young American owning an immense
+fortune, who had fallen passionately in love with her sister, and made
+through her the most splendid proposals.
+
+"A banker, I rather think," observed Emilie carelessly. "I do not like
+money dealers."
+
+"But, Emilie," replied the Baron de Villaine, the husband of the Count's
+second daughter, "you do not like lawyers either; so that if you refuse
+men of wealth who have not titles, I do not quite see in what class you
+are to choose a husband."
+
+"Especially, Emilie, with your standard of slimness," added the
+Lieutenant-General.
+
+"I know what I want," replied the young lady.
+
+"My sister wants a fine name, a fine young man, fine prospects, and a
+hundred thousand francs a year," said the Baronne de Fontaine. "Monsieur
+de Marsay, for instance."
+
+"I know, my dear," retorted Emilie, "that I do not mean to make such a
+foolish marriage as some I have seen. Moreover, to put an end to these
+matrimonial discussions, I hereby declare that I shall look on anyone
+who talks to me of marriage as a foe to my peace of mind."
+
+An uncle of Emilie's, a vice-admiral, whose fortune had just been
+increased by twenty thousand francs a year in consequence of the Act of
+Indemnity, and a man of seventy, feeling himself privileged to say hard
+things to his grand-niece, on whom he doted, in order to mollify the
+bitter tone of the discussion now exclaimed:
+
+"Do not tease my poor little Emilie; don't you see she is waiting till
+the Duc de Bordeaux comes of age!"
+
+The old man's pleasantry was received with general laughter.
+
+"Take care I don't marry you, old fool!" replied the young girl, whose
+last words were happily drowned in the noise.
+
+"My dear children," said Madame de Fontaine, to soften this saucy
+retort, "Emilie, like you, will take no advice but her mother's."
+
+"Bless me! I shall take no advice but my own in a matter which concerns
+no one but myself," said Mademoiselle de Fontaine very distinctly.
+
+At this all eyes were turned to the head of the family. Every one seemed
+anxious as to what he would do to assert his dignity. The venerable
+gentleman enjoyed much consideration, not only in the world; happier
+than many fathers, he was also appreciated by his family, all its
+members having a just esteem for the solid qualities by which he had
+been able to make their fortunes. Hence he was treated with the deep
+respect which is shown by English families, and some aristocratic houses
+on the continent, to the living representatives of an ancient pedigree.
+Deep silence had fallen; and the guests looked alternately from the
+spoilt girl's proud and sulky pout to the severe faces of Monsieur and
+Madame de Fontaine.
+
+"I have made my daughter Emilie mistress of her own fate," was the reply
+spoken by the Count in a deep voice.
+
+Relations and guests gazed at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with mingled
+curiosity and pity. The words seemed to declare that fatherly affection
+was weary of the contest with a character that the whole family knew to
+be incorrigible. The sons-in-law muttered, and the brothers glanced at
+their wives with mocking smiles. From that moment every one ceased to
+take any interest in the haughty girl's prospects of marriage. Her old
+uncle was the only person who, as an old sailor, ventured to stand on
+her tack, and take her broadsides, without ever troubling himself to
+return her fire.
+
+When the fine weather was settled, and after the budget was voted, the
+whole family--a perfect example of the parliamentary families on the
+northern side of the Channel who have a footing in every government
+department, and ten votes in the House of Commons--flew away like a
+brood of young birds to the charming neighborhoods of Aulnay, Antony,
+and Chatenay. The wealthy Receiver-General had lately purchased in this
+part of the world a country-house for his wife, who remained in Paris
+only during the session. Though the fair Emilie despised the commonalty,
+her feeling was not carried so far as to scorn the advantages of a
+fortune acquired in a profession; so she accompanied her sister to the
+sumptuous villa, less out of affection for the members of her family who
+were visiting there, than because fashion has ordained that every woman
+who has any self-respect must leave Paris in the summer. The green
+seclusion of Sceaux answered to perfection the requirements of good
+style and of the duties of an official position.
+
+As it is extremely doubtful that the fame of the "Bal de Sceaux" should
+ever have extended beyond the borders of the Department of the Seine, it
+will be necessary to give some account of this weekly festivity, which
+at that time was important enough to threaten to become an institution.
+The environs of the little town of Sceaux enjoy a reputation due to the
+scenery, which is considered enchanting. Perhaps it is quite ordinary,
+and owes its fame only to the stupidity of the Paris townsfolk, who,
+emerging from the stony abyss in which they are buried, would find
+something to admire in the flats of La Beauce. However, as the poetic
+shades of Aulnay, the hillsides of Antony, and the valley of the Bieve
+are peopled with artists who have traveled far, by foreigners who are
+very hard to please, and by a great many pretty women not devoid of
+taste, it is to be supposed that the Parisians are right. But Sceaux
+possesses another attraction not less powerful to the Parisian. In the
+midst of a garden whence there are delightful views, stands a large
+rotunda open on all sides, with a light, spreading roof supported on
+elegant pillars. This rural baldachino shelters a dancing-floor. The
+most stuck-up landowners of the neighborhood rarely fail to make an
+excursion thither once or twice during the season, arriving at this
+rustic palace of Terpsichore either in dashing parties on horseback,
+or in the light and elegant carriages which powder the philosophical
+pedestrian with dust. The hope of meeting some women of fashion, and
+of being seen by them--and the hope, less often disappointed, of seeing
+young peasant girls, as wily as judges--crowds the ballroom at
+Sceaux with numerous swarms of lawyers' clerks, of the disciples of
+Aesculapius, and other youths whose complexions are kept pale and moist
+by the damp atmosphere of Paris back-shops. And a good many bourgeois
+marriages have had their beginning to the sound of the band occupying
+the centre of this circular ballroom. If that roof could speak, what
+love-stories could it not tell!
+
+This interesting medley gave the Sceaux balls at that time a spice of
+more amusement than those of two or three places of the same kind near
+Paris; and it had incontestable advantages in its rotunda, and the
+beauty of its situation and its gardens. Emilie was the first to
+express a wish to play at being COMMON FOLK at this gleeful suburban
+entertainment, and promised herself immense pleasure in mingling with
+the crowd. Everybody wondered at her desire to wander through such a
+mob; but is there not a keen pleasure to grand people in an incognito?
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine amused herself with imagining all these
+town-bred figures; she fancied herself leaving the memory of a
+bewitching glance and smile stamped on more than one shopkeeper's heart,
+laughed beforehand at the damsels' airs, and sharpened her pencils for
+the scenes she proposed to sketch in her satirical album. Sunday could
+not come soon enough to satisfy her impatience.
+
+The party from the Villa Planat set out on foot, so as not to betray
+the rank of the personages who were about to honor the ball with
+their presence. They dined early. And the month of May humored this
+aristocratic escapade by one of its finest evenings. Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine was quite surprised to find in the rotunda some quadrilles made
+up of persons who seemed to belong to the upper classes. Here and there,
+indeed, were some young men who look as though they must have saved for
+a month to shine for a day; and she perceived several couples whose
+too hearty glee suggested nothing conjugal; still, she could only glean
+instead of gathering a harvest. She was amused to see that pleasure in
+a cotton dress was so very like pleasure robed in satin, and that the
+girls of the middle class danced quite as well as ladies--nay, sometimes
+better. Most of the women were simply and suitably dressed. Those who
+in this assembly represented the ruling power, that is to say,
+the country-folk, kept apart with wonderful politeness. In fact,
+Mademoiselle Emilie had to study the various elements that composed the
+mixture before she could find any subject for pleasantry. But she had
+not time to give herself up to malicious criticism, or opportunity for
+hearing many of the startling speeches which caricaturists so gladly
+pick up. The haughty young lady suddenly found a flower in this wide
+field--the metaphor is reasonable--whose splendor and coloring worked
+on her imagination with all the fascination of novelty. It often happens
+that we look at a dress, a hanging, a blank sheet of paper, with so
+little heed that we do not at first detect a stain or a bright spot
+which afterwards strikes the eye as though it had come there at the
+very instant when we see it; and by a sort of moral phenomenon somewhat
+resembling this, Mademoiselle de Fontaine discovered in a young man the
+external perfection of which she had so long dreamed.
+
+Seated on one of the clumsy chairs which marked the boundary line of the
+circular floor, she had placed herself at the end of the row formed by
+the family party, so as to be able to stand up or push forward as her
+fancy moved her, treating the living pictures and groups in the hall as
+if she were in a picture gallery; impertinently turning her eye-glass
+on persons not two yards away, and making her remarks as though she
+were criticising or praising a study of a head, a painting of genre. Her
+eyes, after wandering over the vast moving picture, were suddenly caught
+by this figure, which seemed to have been placed on purpose in one
+corner of the canvas, and in the best light, like a person out of all
+proportion with the rest.
+
+The stranger, alone and absorbed in thought, leaned lightly against one
+of the columns that supported the roof; his arms were folded, and he
+leaned slightly on one side as though he had placed himself there to
+have his portrait taken by a painter. His attitude, though full of
+elegance and dignity, was devoid of affectation. Nothing suggested that
+he had half turned his head, and bent it a little to the right like
+Alexander, or Lord Byron, and some other great men, for the sole purpose
+of attracting attention. His fixed gaze followed a girl who was dancing,
+and betrayed some strong feeling. His slender, easy frame recalled the
+noble proportions of the Apollo. Fine black hair curled naturally over
+a high forehead. At a glance Mademoiselle de Fontaine observed that his
+linen was fine, his gloves fresh, and evidently bought of a good maker,
+and his feet were small and well shod in boots of Irish kid. He had none
+of the vulgar trinkets displayed by the dandies of the National Guard
+or the Lovelaces of the counting-house. A black ribbon, to which an
+eye-glass was attached, hung over a waistcoat of the most fashionable
+cut. Never had the fastidious Emilie seen a man's eyes shaded by such
+long, curled lashes. Melancholy and passion were expressed in this face,
+and the complexion was of a manly olive hue. His mouth seemed ready
+to smile, unbending the corners of eloquent lips; but this, far from
+hinting at gaiety, revealed on the contrary a sort of pathetic grace.
+There was too much promise in that head, too much distinction in his
+whole person, to allow of one's saying, "What a handsome man!" or "What
+a fine man!" One wanted to know him. The most clear-sighted observer, on
+seeing this stranger, could not have helped taking him for a clever man
+attracted to this rural festivity by some powerful motive.
+
+All these observations cost Emilie only a minute's attention, during
+which the privileged gentleman under her severe scrutiny became the
+object of her secret admiration. She did not say to herself, "He must
+be a peer of France!" but "Oh, if only he is noble, and he surely must
+be----" Without finishing her thought, she suddenly rose, and followed
+by her brother the General, she made her way towards the column,
+affecting to watch the merry quadrille; but by a stratagem of the eye,
+familiar to women, she lost not a gesture of the young man as she went
+towards him. The stranger politely moved to make way for the newcomers,
+and went to lean against another pillar. Emilie, as much nettled by his
+politeness as she might have been by an impertinence, began talking to
+her brother in a louder voice than good taste enjoined; she turned and
+tossed her head, gesticulated eagerly, and laughed for no particular
+reason, less to amuse her brother than to attract the attention of the
+imperturbable stranger. None of her little arts succeeded. Mademoiselle
+de Fontaine then followed the direction in which his eyes were fixed,
+and discovered the cause of his indifference.
+
+In the midst of the quadrille, close in front of them, a pale girl
+was dancing; her face was like one of the divinities which Girodet has
+introduced into his immense composition of French Warriors received by
+Ossian. Emilie fancied that she recognized her as a distinguished milady
+who for some months had been living on a neighboring estate. Her partner
+was a lad of about fifteen, with red hands, and dressed in nankeen
+trousers, a blue coat, and white shoes, which showed that the damsel's
+love of dancing made her easy to please in the matter of partners.
+Her movements did not betray her apparent delicacy, but a faint flush
+already tinged her white cheeks, and her complexion was gaining color.
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine went nearer, to be able to examine the young
+lady at the moment when she returned to her place, while the side
+couples in their turn danced the figure. But the stranger went up to the
+pretty dancer, and leaning over, said in a gentle but commanding tone:
+
+"Clara, my child, do not dance any more."
+
+Clara made a little pouting face, bent her head, and finally smiled.
+When the dance was over, the young man wrapped her in a cashmere shawl
+with a lover's care, and seated her in a place sheltered from the wind.
+Very soon Mademoiselle de Fontaine, seeing them rise and walk round
+the place as if preparing to leave, found means to follow them under
+pretence of admiring the views from the garden. Her brother lent himself
+with malicious good-humor to the divagations of her rather eccentric
+wanderings. Emilie then saw the attractive couple get into an elegant
+tilbury, by which stood a mounted groom in livery. At the moment when,
+from his high seat, the young man was drawing the reins even, she caught
+a glance from his eye such as a man casts aimlessly at the crowd; and
+then she enjoyed the feeble satisfaction of seeing him turn his head to
+look at her. The young lady did the same. Was it from jealousy?
+
+"I imagine you have now seen enough of the garden," said her brother.
+"We may go back to the dancing."
+
+"I am ready," said she. "Do you think the girl can be a relation of Lady
+Dudley's?"
+
+"Lady Dudley may have some male relation staying with her," said the
+Baron de Fontaine; "but a young girl!--No!"
+
+Next day Mademoiselle de Fontaine expressed a wish to take a ride. Then
+she gradually accustomed her old uncle and her brothers to escorting her
+in very early rides, excellent, she declared for her health. She had a
+particular fancy for the environs of the hamlet where Lady Dudley was
+living. Notwithstanding her cavalry manoeuvres, she did not meet the
+stranger so soon as the eager search she pursued might have allowed her
+to hope. She went several times to the "Bal de Sceaux" without seeing
+the young Englishman who had dropped from the skies to pervade and
+beautify her dreams. Though nothing spurs on a young girl's infant
+passion so effectually as an obstacle, there was a time when
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine was on the point of giving up her strange and
+secret search, almost despairing of the success of an enterprise whose
+singularity may give some idea of the boldness of her temper. In point
+of fact, she might have wandered long about the village of Chatenay
+without meeting her Unknown. The fair Clara--since that was the name
+Emilie had overheard--was not English, and the stranger who escorted her
+did not dwell among the flowery and fragrant bowers of Chatenay.
+
+One evening Emilie, out riding with her uncle, who, during the fine
+weather, had gained a fairly long truce from the gout, met Lady Dudley.
+The distinguished foreigner had with her in her open carriage Monsieur
+Vandenesse. Emilie recognized the handsome couple, and her suppositions
+were at once dissipated like a dream. Annoyed, as any woman must be
+whose expectations are frustrated, she touched up her horse so suddenly
+that her uncle had the greatest difficulty in following her, she had set
+off at such a pace.
+
+"I am too old, it would seem, to understand these youthful spirits,"
+said the old sailor to himself as he put his horse to a canter; "or
+perhaps young people are not what they used to be. But what ails my
+niece? Now she is walking at a foot-pace like a gendarme on patrol in
+the Paris streets. One might fancy she wanted to outflank that worthy
+man, who looks to me like an author dreaming over his poetry, for he
+has, I think, a notebook in his hand. My word, I am a great simpleton!
+Is not that the very young man we are in search of!"
+
+At this idea the old admiral moderated his horse's pace so as to follow
+his niece without making any noise. He had played too many pranks in the
+years 1771 and soon after, a time of our history when gallantry was held
+in honor, not to guess at once that by the merest chance Emilie had met
+the Unknown of the Sceaux gardens. In spite of the film which age had
+drawn over his gray eyes, the Comte de Kergarouet could recognize the
+signs of extreme agitation in his niece, under the unmoved expression
+she tried to give to her features. The girl's piercing eyes were fixed
+in a sort of dull amazement on the stranger, who quietly walked on in
+front of her.
+
+"Ay, that's it," thought the sailor. "She is following him as a pirate
+follows a merchantman. Then, when she has lost sight of him, she will be
+in despair at not knowing who it is she is in love with, and whether he
+is a marquis or a shopkeeper. Really these young heads need an old fogy
+like me always by their side..."
+
+He unexpectedly spurred his horse in such a way as to make his niece's
+bolt, and rode so hastily between her and the young man on foot that
+he obliged him to fall back on to the grassy bank which rose from the
+roadside. Then, abruptly drawing up, the Count exclaimed:
+
+"Couldn't you get out of the way?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, monsieur. But I did not know that it lay with me to
+apologize to you because you almost rode me down."
+
+"There, enough of that, my good fellow!" replied the sailor harshly, in
+a sneering tone that was nothing less than insulting. At the same time
+the Count raised his hunting-crop as if to strike his horse, and touched
+the young fellow's shoulder, saying, "A liberal citizen is a reasoner;
+every reasoner should be prudent."
+
+The young man went up the bankside as he heard the sarcasm; then he
+crossed his arms, and said in an excited tone of voice, "I cannot
+suppose, monsieur, as I look at your white hairs, that you still amuse
+yourself by provoking duels----"
+
+"White hairs!" cried the sailor, interrupting him. "You lie in your
+throat. They are only gray."
+
+A quarrel thus begun had in a few seconds become so fierce that the
+younger man forgot the moderation he had tried to preserve. Just as the
+Comte de Kergarouet saw his niece coming back to them with every sign
+of the greatest uneasiness, he told his antagonist his name, bidding him
+keep silence before the young lady entrusted to his care. The stranger
+could not help smiling as he gave a visiting card to the old man,
+desiring him to observe that he was living at a country-house at
+Chevreuse; and, after pointing this out to him, he hurried away.
+
+"You very nearly damaged that poor young counter-jumper, my dear," said
+the Count, advancing hastily to meet Emilie. "Do you not know how to
+hold your horse in?--And there you leave me to compromise my dignity in
+order to screen your folly; whereas if you had but stopped, one of your
+looks, or one of your pretty speeches--one of those you can make so
+prettily when you are not pert--would have set everything right, even if
+you had broken his arm."
+
+"But, my dear uncle, it was your horse, not mine, that caused the
+accident. I really think you can no longer ride; you are not so good a
+horseman as you were last year.--But instead of talking nonsense----"
+
+"Nonsense, by Gad! Is it nothing to be so impertinent to your uncle?"
+
+"Ought we not to go on and inquire if the young man is hurt? He is
+limping, uncle, only look!"
+
+"No, he is running; I rated him soundly."
+
+"Oh, yes, uncle; I know you there!"
+
+"Stop," said the Count, pulling Emilie's horse by the bridle, "I do not
+see the necessity of making advances to some shopkeeper who is only
+too lucky to have been thrown down by a charming young lady, or the
+commander of La Belle-Poule."
+
+"Why do you think he is anything so common, my dear uncle? He seems to
+me to have very fine manners."
+
+"Every one has manners nowadays, my dear."
+
+"No, uncle, not every one has the air and style which come of the habit
+of frequenting drawing-rooms, and I am ready to lay a bet with you that
+the young man is of noble birth."
+
+"You had not long to study him."
+
+"No, but it is not the first time I have seen him."
+
+"Nor is it the first time you have looked for him," replied the admiral
+with a laugh.
+
+Emilie colored. Her uncle amused himself for some time with her
+embarrassment; then he said: "Emilie, you know that I love you as my own
+child, precisely because you are the only member of the family who has
+the legitimate pride of high birth. Devil take it, child, who could have
+believed that sound principles would become so rare? Well, I will be
+your confidant. My dear child, I see that his young gentleman is not
+indifferent to you. Hush! All the family would laugh at us if we sailed
+under the wrong flag. You know what that means. We two will keep our
+secret, and I promise to bring him straight into the drawing-room."
+
+"When, uncle?"
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+"But, my dear uncle, I am not committed to anything?"
+
+"Nothing whatever, and you may bombard him, set fire to him, and leave
+him to founder like an old hulk if you choose. He won't be the first, I
+fancy?"
+
+"You ARE kind, uncle!"
+
+As soon as the Count got home he put on his glasses, quietly took
+the card out of his pocket, and read, "Maximilien Longueville, Rue de
+Sentier."
+
+"Make yourself happy, my dear niece," he said to Emilie, "you may
+hook him with any easy conscience; he belongs to one of our historical
+families, and if he is not a peer of France, he infallibly will be."
+
+"How do you know so much?"
+
+"That is my secret."
+
+"Then do you know his name?"
+
+The old man bowed his gray head, which was not unlike a gnarled
+oak-stump, with a few leaves fluttering about it, withered by autumnal
+frosts; and his niece immediately began to try the ever-new power of her
+coquettish arts. Long familiar with the secret of cajoling the old man,
+she lavished on him the most childlike caresses, the tenderest names;
+she even went so far as to kiss him to induce him to divulge so
+important a secret. The old man, who spent his life in playing off these
+scenes on his niece, often paying for them with a present of jewelry,
+or by giving her his box at the opera, this time amused himself with
+her entreaties, and, above all, her caresses. But as he spun out this
+pleasure too long, Emilie grew angry, passed from coaxing to sarcasm and
+sulks; then, urged by curiosity, she recovered herself. The diplomatic
+admiral extracted a solemn promise from his niece that she would for
+the future be gentler, less noisy, and less wilful, that she would spend
+less, and, above all, tell him everything. The treaty being concluded,
+and signed by a kiss impressed on Emilie's white brow, he led her into
+a corner of the room, drew her on to his knee, held the card under the
+thumbs so as to hide it, and then uncovered the letters one by one,
+spelling the name of Longueville; but he firmly refused to show her
+anything more.
+
+This incident added to the intensity of Mademoiselle de Fontaine's
+secret sentiment, and during chief part of the night she evolved the
+most brilliant pictures from the dreams with which she had fed her
+hopes. At last, thanks to chance, to which she had so often
+appealed, Emilie could now see something very unlike a chimera at the
+fountain-head of the imaginary wealth with which she gilded her married
+life. Ignorant, as all young girls are, of the perils of love and
+marriage, she was passionately captivated by the externals of marriage
+and love. Is not this as much as to say that her feeling had birth like
+all the feelings of extreme youth--sweet but cruel mistakes, which exert
+a fatal influence on the lives of young girls so inexperienced as to
+trust their own judgment to take care of their future happiness?
+
+Next morning, before Emilie was awake, her uncle had hastened to
+Chevreuse. On recognizing, in the courtyard of an elegant little villa,
+the young man he had so determinedly insulted the day before, he went up
+to him with the pressing politeness of men of the old court.
+
+"Why, my dear sir, who could have guessed that I should have a brush,
+at the age of seventy-three, with the son, or the grandson, of one of my
+best friends. I am a vice-admiral, monsieur; is not that as much as to
+say that I think no more of fighting a duel than of smoking a cigar?
+Why, in my time, no two young men could be intimate till they had seen
+the color of their blood! But 'sdeath, sir, last evening, sailor-like,
+I had taken a drop too much grog on board, and I ran you down. Shake
+hands; I would rather take a hundred rebuffs from a Longueville than
+cause his family the smallest regret."
+
+However coldly the young man tried to behave to the Comte de Kergarouet,
+he could not resist the frank cordiality of his manner, and presently
+gave him his hand.
+
+"You were going out riding," said the Count. "Do not let me detain you.
+But, unless you have other plans, I beg you will come to dinner to-day
+at the Villa Planat. My nephew, the Comte de Fontaine, is a man it is
+essential that you should know. Ah, ha! And I propose to make up to you
+for my clumsiness by introducing you to five of the prettiest women
+in Paris. So, so, young man, your brow is clearing! I am fond of young
+people, and I like to see them happy. Their happiness reminds me of the
+good times of my youth, when adventures were not lacking, any more
+than duels. We were gay dogs then! Nowadays you think and worry over
+everything, as though there had never been a fifteenth and a sixteenth
+century."
+
+"But, monsieur, are we not in the right? The sixteenth century only gave
+religious liberty to Europe, and the nineteenth will give it political
+lib----"
+
+"Oh, we will not talk politics. I am a perfect old woman--ultra you see.
+But I do not hinder young men from being revolutionary, so long as they
+leave the King at liberty to disperse their assemblies."
+
+When they had gone a little way, and the Count and his companion were in
+the heart of the woods, the old sailor pointed out a slender young
+birch sapling, pulled up his horse, took out one of his pistols, and the
+bullet was lodged in the heart of the tree, fifteen paces away.
+
+"You see, my dear fellow, that I am not afraid of a duel," he said with
+comical gravity, as he looked at Monsieur Longueville.
+
+"Nor am I," replied the young man, promptly cocking his pistol; he aimed
+at the hole made by the Comte's bullet, and sent his own close to it.
+
+"That is what I call a well-educated man," cried the admiral with
+enthusiasm.
+
+During this ride with the youth, whom he already regarded as his nephew,
+he found endless opportunities of catechizing him on all the trifles of
+which a perfect knowledge constituted, according to his private code, an
+accomplished gentleman.
+
+"Have you any debts?" he at last asked of his companion, after many
+other inquiries.
+
+"No, monsieur."
+
+"What, you pay for all you have?"
+
+"Punctually; otherwise we should lose our credit, and every sort of
+respect."
+
+"But at least you have more than one mistress? Ah, you blush, comrade!
+Well, manners have changed. All these notions of lawful order, Kantism,
+and liberty have spoilt the young men. You have no Guimard now, no
+Duthe, no creditors--and you know nothing of heraldry; why, my dear
+young friend, you are not fully fledged. The man who does not sow his
+wild oats in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but eighty
+thousand francs a year at the age of seventy, it is because I ran
+through the capital at thirty. Oh! with my wife--in decency and honor.
+However, your imperfections will not interfere with my introducing you
+at the Pavillon Planat. Remember, you have promised to come, and I shall
+expect you."
+
+"What an odd little old man!" said Longueville to himself. "He is so
+jolly and hale; but though he wishes to seem a good fellow, I will not
+trust him too far."
+
+Next day, at about four o'clock, when the house party were dispersed
+in the drawing-rooms and billiard-room, a servant announced to the
+inhabitants of the Villa Planat, "Monsieur DE Longueville." On hearing
+the name of the old admiral's protege, every one, down to the player who
+was about to miss his stroke, rushed in, as much to study Mademoiselle
+de Fontaine's countenance as to judge of this phoenix of men, who had
+earned honorable mention to the detriment of so many rivals. A simple
+but elegant style of dress, an air of perfect ease, polite manners, a
+pleasant voice with a ring in it which found a response in the hearer's
+heart-strings, won the good-will of the family for Monsieur Longueville.
+He did not seem unaccustomed to the luxury of the Receiver-General's
+ostentatious mansion. Though his conversation was that of a man of the
+world, it was easy to discern that he had had a brilliant education, and
+that his knowledge was as thorough as it was extensive. He knew so well
+the right thing to say in a discussion on naval architecture, trivial,
+it is true, started by the old admiral, that one of the ladies remarked
+that he must have passed through the Ecole Polytechnique.
+
+"And I think, madame," he replied, "that I may regard it as an honor to
+have got in."
+
+In spite of urgent pressing, he refused politely but firmly to be kept
+to dinner, and put an end to the persistency of the ladies by saying
+that he was the Hippocrates of his young sister, whose delicate health
+required great care.
+
+"Monsieur is perhaps a medical man?" asked one of Emilie's
+sisters-in-law with ironical meaning.
+
+"Monsieur has left the Ecole Polytechnique," Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+kindly put in; her face had flushed with richer color, as she learned
+that the young lady of the ball was Monsieur Longueville's sister.
+
+"But, my dear, he may be a doctor and yet have been to the Ecole
+Polytechnique--is it not so, monsieur?"
+
+"There is nothing to prevent it, madame," replied the young man.
+
+Every eye was on Emilie, who was gazing with uneasy curiosity at the
+fascinating stranger. She breathed more freely when he added, not
+without a smile, "I have not the honor of belonging to the medical
+profession; and I even gave up going into the Engineers in order to
+preserve my independence."
+
+"And you did well," said the Count. "But how can you regard it as an
+honor to be a doctor?" added the Breton nobleman. "Ah, my young friend,
+such a man as you----"
+
+"Monsieur le Comte, I respect every profession that has a useful
+purpose."
+
+"Well, in that we agree. You respect those professions, I imagine, as a
+young man respects a dowager."
+
+Monsieur Longueville made his visit neither too long nor too short. He
+left at the moment when he saw that he had pleased everybody, and that
+each one's curiosity about him had been roused.
+
+"He is a cunning rascal!" said the Count, coming into the drawing-room
+after seeing him to the door.
+
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine, who had been in the secret of this call, had
+dressed with some care to attract the young man's eye; but she had the
+little disappointment of finding that he did not bestow on her so much
+attention as she thought she deserved. The family were a good deal
+surprised at the silence into which she had retired. Emilie generally
+displayed all her arts for the benefit of newcomers, her witty prattle,
+and the inexhaustible eloquence of her eyes and attitudes. Whether
+it was that the young man's pleasing voice and attractive manners had
+charmed her, that she was seriously in love, and that this feeling had
+worked a change in her, her demeanor had lost all its affectations.
+Being simple and natural, she must, no doubt, have seemed more
+beautiful. Some of her sisters, and an old lady, a friend of the family,
+saw in this behavior a refinement of art. They supposed that Emilie,
+judging the man worthy of her, intended to delay revealing her merits,
+so as to dazzle him suddenly when she found that she pleased him. Every
+member of the family was curious to know what this capricious creature
+thought of the stranger; but when, during dinner, every one chose to
+endow Monsieur Longueville with some fresh quality which no one else
+had discovered, Mademoiselle de Fontaine sat for some time in silence. A
+sarcastic remark of her uncle's suddenly roused her from her apathy;
+she said, somewhat epigrammatically, that such heavenly perfection
+must cover some great defect, and that she would take good care how she
+judged so gifted a man at first sight.
+
+"Those who please everybody, please nobody," she added; "and the worst
+of all faults is to have none."
+
+Like all girls who are in love, Emilie cherished the hope of being
+able to hide her feelings at the bottom of her heart by putting the
+Argus-eyes that watched on the wrong tack; but by the end of a fortnight
+there was not a member of the large family party who was not in this
+little domestic secret. When Monsieur Longueville called for the third
+time, Emilie believed it was chiefly for her sake. This discovery gave
+her such intoxicating pleasure that she was startled as she reflected on
+it. There was something in it very painful to her pride. Accustomed as
+she was to be the centre of her world, she was obliged to recognize a
+force that attracted her outside herself; she tried to resist, but she
+could not chase from her heart the fascinating image of the young man.
+
+Then came some anxiety. Two of Monsieur Longueville's qualities,
+very adverse to general curiosity, and especially to Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine's, were unexpected modesty and discretion. He never spoke of
+himself, of his pursuits, or of his family. The hints Emilie threw out
+in conversation, and the traps she laid to extract from the young fellow
+some facts concerning himself, he could evade with the adroitness of a
+diplomatist concealing a secret. If she talked of painting, he responded
+as a connoisseur; if she sat down to play, he showed without conceit
+that he was a very good pianist; one evening he delighted all the
+party by joining his delightful voice to Emilie's in one of Cimarosa's
+charming duets. But when they tried to find out whether he were a
+professional singer, he baffled them so pleasantly that he did not
+afford these women, practised as they were in the art of reading
+feelings, the least chance of discovering to what social sphere he
+belonged. However boldly the old uncle cast the boarding-hooks over the
+vessel, Longueville slipped away cleverly, so as to preserve the charm
+of mystery; and it was easy to him to remain the "handsome Stranger"
+at the Villa, because curiosity never overstepped the bounds of good
+breeding.
+
+Emilie, distracted by this reserve, hoped to get more out of the sister
+than the brother, in the form of confidences. Aided by her uncle, who
+was as skilful in such manoeuvres as in handling a ship, she endeavored
+to bring upon the scene the hitherto unseen figure of Mademoiselle Clara
+Longueville. The family party at the Villa Planat soon expressed the
+greatest desire to make the acquaintance of so amiable a young lady, and
+to give her some amusement. An informal dance was proposed and accepted.
+The ladies did not despair of making a young girl of sixteen talk.
+
+Notwithstanding the little clouds piled up by suspicion and created by
+curiosity, a light of joy shone in Emilie's soul, for she found life
+delicious when thus intimately connected with another than herself. She
+began to understand the relations of life. Whether it is that happiness
+makes us better, or that she was too fully occupied to torment other
+people, she became less caustic, more gentle, and indulgent. This change
+in her temper enchanted and amazed her family. Perhaps, at last, her
+selfishness was being transformed to love. It was a deep delight to her
+to look for the arrival of her bashful and unconfessed adorer. Though
+they had not uttered a word of passion, she knew that she was loved, and
+with what art did she not lead the stranger to unlock the stores of his
+information, which proved to be varied! She perceived that she, too,
+was being studied, and that made her endeavor to remedy the defects her
+education had encouraged. Was not this her first homage to love, and
+a bitter reproach to herself? She desired to please, and she was
+enchanting; she loved, and she was idolized. Her family, knowing that
+her pride would sufficiently protect her, gave her enough freedom to
+enjoy the little childish delights which give to first love its charm
+and its violence. More than once the young man and Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine walked, tete-a-tete, in the avenues of the garden, where nature
+was dressed like a woman going to a ball. More than once they had those
+conversations, aimless and meaningless, in which the emptiest phrases
+are those which cover the deepest feelings. They often admired together
+the setting sun and its gorgeous coloring. They gathered daisies to pull
+the petals off, and sang the most impassioned duets, using the notes set
+down by Pergolesi or Rossini as faithful interpreters to express their
+secrets.
+
+The day of the dance came. Clara Longueville and her brother, whom the
+servants persisted in honoring with the noble DE, were the principle
+guests. For the first time in her life Mademoiselle de Fontaine felt
+pleasure in a young girl's triumph. She lavished on Clara in all
+sincerity the gracious petting and little attentions which women
+generally give each other only to excite the jealousy of men. Emilie,
+had, indeed, an object in view; she wanted to discover some secrets.
+But, being a girl, Mademoiselle Longueville showed even more mother-wit
+than her brother, for she did not even look as if she were hiding a
+secret, and kept the conversation to subjects unconnected with personal
+interests, while, at the same time, she gave it so much charm that
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine was almost envious, and called her "the Siren."
+Though Emilie had intended to make Clara talk, it was Clara, in fact,
+who questioned Emilie; she had meant to judge her, and she was judged by
+her; she was constantly provoked to find that she had betrayed her own
+character in some reply which Clara had extracted from her, while her
+modest and candid manner prohibited any suspicion of perfidy. There was
+a moment when Mademoiselle de Fontaine seemed sorry for an ill-judged
+sally against the commonalty to which Clara had led her.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said the sweet child, "I have heard so much of you from
+Maximilien that I had the keenest desire to know you, out of affection
+for him; but is not a wish to know you a wish to love you?"
+
+"My dear Clara, I feared I might have displeased you by speaking thus of
+people who are not of noble birth."
+
+"Oh, be quite easy. That sort of discussion is pointless in these days.
+As for me, it does not affect me. I am beside the question."
+
+Ambitious as the answer might seem, it filled Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+with the deepest joy; for, like all infatuated people, she explained it,
+as oracles are explained, in the sense that harmonized with her wishes;
+she began dancing again in higher spirits than ever, as she watched
+Longueville, whose figure and grace almost surpassed those of her
+imaginary ideal. She felt added satisfaction in believing him to be well
+born, her black eyes sparkled, and she danced with all the pleasure that
+comes of dancing in the presence of the being we love. The couple had
+never understood each other as well as at this moment; more than once
+they felt their finger tips thrill and tremble as they were married in
+the figures of the dance.
+
+The early autumn had come to the handsome pair, in the midst of country
+festivities and pleasures; they had abandoned themselves softly to the
+tide of the sweetest sentiment in life, strengthening it by a thousand
+little incidents which any one can imagine; for love is in some respects
+always the same. They studied each other through it all, as much as
+lovers can.
+
+"Well, well; a flirtation never turned so quickly into a love match,"
+said the old uncle, who kept an eye on the two young people as a
+naturalist watches an insect in the microscope.
+
+The speech alarmed Monsieur and Madame Fontaine. The old Vendeen had
+ceased to be so indifferent to his daughter's prospects as he had
+promised to be. He went to Paris to seek information, and found none.
+Uneasy at this mystery, and not yet knowing what might be the outcome
+of the inquiry which he had begged a Paris friend to institute with
+reference to the family of Longueville, he thought it his duty to warn
+his daughter to behave prudently. The fatherly admonition was received
+with mock submission spiced with irony.
+
+"At least, my dear Emilie, if you love him, do not own it to him."
+
+"My dear father, I certainly do love him; but I will await your
+permission before I tell him so."
+
+"But remember, Emilie, you know nothing of his family or his pursuits."
+
+"I may be ignorant, but I am content to be. But, father, you wished to
+see me married; you left me at liberty to make my choice; my choice is
+irrevocably made--what more is needful?"
+
+"It is needful to ascertain, my dear, whether the man of your choice
+is the son of a peer of France," the venerable gentleman retorted
+sarcastically.
+
+Emilie was silent for a moment. She presently raised her head, looked at
+her father, and said somewhat anxiously, "Are not the Longuevilles----?"
+
+"They became extinct in the person of the old Duc de Rostein-Limbourg,
+who perished on the scaffold in 1793. He was the last representative of
+the last and younger branch."
+
+"But, papa, there are some very good families descended from bastards.
+The history of France swarms with princes bearing the bar sinister on
+their shields."
+
+"Your ideas are much changed," said the old man, with a smile.
+
+The following day was the last that the Fontaine family were to spend at
+the Pavillon Planat. Emilie, greatly disturbed by her father's warning,
+awaited with extreme impatience the hour at which young Longueville was
+in the habit of coming, to wring some explanation from him. She went out
+after dinner, and walked alone across the shrubbery towards an arbor fit
+for lovers, where she knew that the eager youth would seek her; and
+as she hastened thither she considered of the best way to discover so
+important a matter without compromising herself--a rather difficult
+thing! Hitherto no direct avowal had sanctioned the feelings which bound
+her to this stranger. Like Maximilien, she had secretly enjoyed the
+sweetness of first love; but both were equally proud, and each feared to
+confess that love.
+
+Maximilien Longueville, to whom Clara had communicated her not unfounded
+suspicions as to Emilie's character, was by turns carried away by the
+violence of a young man's passion, and held back by a wish to know and
+test the woman to whom he would be entrusting his happiness. His love
+had not hindered him from perceiving in Emilie the prejudices which
+marred her young nature; but before attempting to counteract them, he
+wished to be sure that she loved him, for he would no sooner risk the
+fate of his love than of his life. He had, therefore, persistently kept
+a silence to which his looks, his behavior, and his smallest actions
+gave the lie.
+
+On her side, the self-respect natural to a young girl, augmented in
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine by the monstrous vanity founded on her birth
+and beauty, kept her from meeting the declaration half-way, which her
+growing passion sometimes urged her to invite. Thus the lovers had
+instinctively understood the situation without explaining to each
+other their secret motives. There are times in life when such vagueness
+pleases youthful minds. Just because each had postponed speaking too
+long, they seemed to be playing a cruel game of suspense. He was trying
+to discover whether he was beloved, by the effort any confession would
+cost his haughty mistress; she every minute hoped that he would break a
+too respectful silence.
+
+Emilie, seated on a rustic bench, was reflecting on all that had
+happened in these three months full of enchantment. Her father's
+suspicions were the last that could appeal to her; she even disposed
+of them at once by two or three of those reflections natural to an
+inexperienced girl, which, to her, seemed conclusive. Above all, she was
+convinced that it was impossible that she should deceive herself. All
+the summer through she had not been able to detect in Maximilien a
+single gesture, or a single word, which could indicate a vulgar origin
+or vulgar occupations; nay more, his manner of discussing things
+revealed a man devoted to the highest interests of the nation.
+"Besides," she reflected, "an office clerk, a banker, or a merchant,
+would not be at leisure to spend a whole season in paying his addresses
+to me in the midst of woods and fields; wasting his time as freely as a
+nobleman who has life before him free of all care."
+
+She had given herself up to meditations far more interesting to her
+than these preliminary thoughts, when a slight rustling in the leaves
+announced to her than Maximilien had been watching her for a minute, not
+probably without admiration.
+
+"Do you know that it is very wrong to take a young girl thus unawares?"
+she asked him, smiling.
+
+"Especially when they are busy with their secrets," replied Maximilien
+archly.
+
+"Why should I not have my secrets? You certainly have yours."
+
+"Then you really were thinking of your secrets?" he went on, laughing.
+
+"No, I was thinking of yours. My own, I know."
+
+"But perhaps my secrets are yours, and yours mine," cried the young man,
+softly seizing Mademoiselle de Fontaine's hand and drawing it through
+his arm.
+
+After walking a few steps they found themselves under a clump of trees
+which the hues of the sinking sun wrapped in a haze of red and brown.
+This touch of natural magic lent a certain solemnity to the moment. The
+young man's free and eager action, and, above all, the throbbing of his
+surging heart, whose hurried beating spoke to Emilie's arm, stirred her
+to an emotion that was all the more disturbing because it was produced
+by the simplest and most innocent circumstances. The restraint under
+which the young girls of the upper class live gives incredible force to
+any explosion of feeling, and to meet an impassioned lover is one of
+the greatest dangers they can encounter. Never had Emilie and Maximilien
+allowed their eyes to say so much that they dared never speak. Carried
+a way by this intoxication, they easily forgot the petty stipulations
+of pride, and the cold hesitancies of suspicion. At first, indeed, they
+could only express themselves by a pressure of hands which interpreted
+their happy thoughts.
+
+After slowing pacing a few steps in long silence, Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine spoke. "Monsieur, I have a question to ask you," she said
+trembling, and in an agitated voice. "But, remember, I beg, that it is
+in a manner compulsory on me, from the rather singular position I am in
+with regard to my family."
+
+A pause, terrible to Emilie, followed these sentences, which she had
+almost stammered out. During the minute while it lasted, the girl,
+haughty as she was, dared not meet the flashing eye of the man she
+loved, for she was secretly conscious of the meanness of the next words
+she added: "Are you of noble birth?"
+
+As soon as the words were spoken she wished herself at the bottom of a
+lake.
+
+"Mademoiselle," Longueville gravely replied, and his face assumed a sort
+of stern dignity, "I promise to answer you truly as soon as you shall
+have answered in all sincerity a question I will put to you!"--He
+released her arm, and the girl suddenly felt alone in the world, as he
+said: "What is your object in questioning me as to my birth?"
+
+She stood motionless, cold, and speechless.
+
+"Mademoiselle," Maximilien went on, "let us go no further if we do not
+understand each other. I love you," he said, in a voice of deep emotion.
+"Well, then," he added, as he heard the joyful exclamation she could not
+suppress, "why ask me if I am of noble birth?"
+
+"Could he speak so if he were not?" cried a voice within her, which
+Emilie believed came from the depths of her heart. She gracefully raised
+her head, seemed to find new life in the young man's gaze, and held out
+her hand as if to renew the alliance.
+
+"You thought I cared very much for dignities?" said she with keen
+archness.
+
+"I have no titles to offer my wife," he replied, in a half-sportive,
+half-serious tone. "But if I choose one of high rank, and among women
+whom a wealthy home has accustomed to the luxury and pleasures of a
+fine fortune, I know what such a choice requires of me. Love gives
+everything," he added lightly, "but only to lovers. Once married,
+they need something more than the vault of heaven and the carpet of a
+meadow."
+
+"He is rich," she reflected. "As to titles, perhaps he only wants to try
+me. He has been told that I am mad about titles, and bent on marrying
+none but a peer's son. My priggish sisters have played me that
+trick."--"I assure you, monsieur," she said aloud, "that I have had
+very extravagant ideas about life and the world; but now," she added
+pointedly, looking at him in a perfectly distracting way, "I know where
+true riches are to be found for a wife."
+
+"I must believe that you are speaking from the depths of your heart,"
+he said, with gentle gravity. "But this winter, my dear Emilie, in less
+than two months perhaps, I may be proud of what I shall have to offer
+you if you care for the pleasures of wealth. This is the only secret I
+shall keep locked here," and he laid his hand on his heart, "for on its
+success my happiness depends. I dare not say ours."
+
+"Yes, yes, ours!"
+
+Exchanging such sweet nothings, they slowly made their way back to
+rejoin the company. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had never found her lover
+more amiable or wittier: his light figure, his engaging manners, seemed
+to her more charming than ever, since the conversation which had made
+her to some extent the possessor of a heart worthy to be the envy of
+every woman. They sang an Italian duet with so much expression that the
+audience applauded enthusiastically. Their adieux were in a conventional
+tone, which concealed their happiness. In short, this day had been to
+Emilie like a chain binding her more closely than ever to the Stranger's
+fate. The strength and dignity he had displayed in the scene when they
+had confessed their feelings had perhaps impressed Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine with the respect without which there is no true love.
+
+When she was left alone in the drawing-room with her father, the old man
+went up to her affectionately, held her hands, and asked her whether she
+had gained any light at to Monsieur Longueville's family and fortune.
+
+"Yes, my dear father," she replied, "and I am happier than I could have
+hoped. In short, Monsieur de Longueville is the only man I could ever
+marry."
+
+"Very well, Emilie," said the Count, "then I know what remains for me to
+do."
+
+"Do you know of any impediment?" she asked, in sincere alarm.
+
+"My dear child, the young man is totally unknown to me; but unless he
+is not a man of honor, so long as you love him, he is as dear to me as a
+son."
+
+"Not a man of honor!" exclaimed Emilie. "As to that, I am quite easy.
+My uncle, who introduced him to us, will answer for him. Say, my dear
+uncle, has he been a filibuster, an outlaw, a pirate?"
+
+"I knew I should find myself in this fix!" cried the old sailor,
+waking up. He looked round the room, but his niece had vanished "like
+Saint-Elmo's fires," to use his favorite expression.
+
+"Well, uncle," Monsieur de Fontaine went on, "how could you hide from
+us all you knew about this young man? You must have seen how anxious we
+have been. Is Monsieur de Longueville a man of family?"
+
+"I don't know him from Adam or Eve," said the Comte de Kergarouet.
+"Trusting to that crazy child's tact, I got him here by a method of my
+own. I know that the boy shoots with a pistol to admiration, hunts well,
+plays wonderfully at billiards, at chess, and at backgammon; he handles
+the foils, and rides a horse like the late Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
+He has a thorough knowledge of all our vintages. He is as good an
+arithmetician as Bareme, draws, dances, and sings well. The devil's in
+it! what more do you want? If that is not a perfect gentleman, find me
+a bourgeois who knows all this, or any man who lives more nobly than he
+does. Does he do anything, I ask you? Does he compromise his dignity
+by hanging about an office, bowing down before the upstarts you call
+Directors-General? He walks upright. He is a man.--However, I have
+just found in my waistcoat pocket the card he gave me when he fancied
+I wanted to cut his throat, poor innocent. Young men are very
+simple-minded nowadays! Here it is."
+
+"Rue du Sentier, No. 5," said Monsieur de Fontaine, trying to recall
+among all the information he had received, something which might concern
+the stranger. "What the devil can it mean? Messrs. Palma, Werbrust &
+Co., wholesale dealers in muslins, calicoes, and printed cotton goods,
+live there.--Stay, I have it: Longueville the deputy has an interest in
+their house. Well, but so far as I know, Longueville has but one son
+of two-and-thirty, who is not at all like our man, and to whom he gave
+fifty thousand francs a year that he might marry a minister's daughter;
+he wants to be made a peer like the rest of 'em.--I never heard him
+mention this Maximilien. Has he a daughter? What is this girl Clara?
+Besides, it is open to any adventurer to call himself Longueville.
+But is not the house of Palma, Werbrust & Co. half ruined by some
+speculation in Mexico or the Indies? I will clear all this up."
+
+"You speak a soliloquy as if you were on the stage, and seem to account
+me a cipher," said the old admiral suddenly. "Don't you know that if he
+is a gentleman, I have more than one bag in my hold that will stop any
+leak in his fortune?"
+
+"As to that, if he is a son of Longueville's, he will want nothing;
+but," said Monsieur de Fontaine, shaking his head from side to side,
+"his father has not even washed off the stains of his origin. Before the
+Revolution he was an attorney, and the DE he has since assumed no more
+belongs to him than half of his fortune."
+
+"Pooh! pooh! happy those whose fathers were hanged!" cried the admiral
+gaily.
+
+
+
+Three or four days after this memorable day, on one of those fine
+mornings in the month of November, which show the boulevards cleaned by
+the sharp cold of an early frost, Mademoiselle de Fontaine, wrapped in a
+new style of fur cape, of which she wished to set the fashion, went out
+with two of her sisters-in-law, on whom she had been wont to discharge
+her most cutting remarks. The three women were tempted to the drive,
+less by their desire to try a very elegant carriage, and wear gowns
+which were to set the fashion for the winter, than by their wish to see
+a cape which a friend had observed in a handsome lace and linen shop at
+the corner of the Rue de la Paix. As soon as they were in the shop the
+Baronne de Fontaine pulled Emilie by the sleeve, and pointed out to her
+Maximilien Longueville seated behind the desk, and engaged in paying out
+the change for a gold piece to one of the workwomen with whom he seemed
+to be in consultation. The "handsome stranger" held in his hand a parcel
+of patterns, which left no doubt as to his honorable profession.
+
+Emilie felt an icy shudder, though no one perceived it. Thanks to the
+good breeding of the best society, she completely concealed the rage in
+her heart, and answered her sister-in-law with the words, "I knew it,"
+with a fulness of intonation and inimitable decision which the most
+famous actress of the time might have envied her. She went straight up
+to the desk. Longueville looked up, put the patterns in his pocket
+with distracting coolness, bowed to Mademoiselle de Fontaine, and came
+forward, looking at her keenly.
+
+"Mademoiselle," he said to the shopgirl, who followed him, looking very
+much disturbed, "I will send to settle that account; my house deals
+in that way. But here," he whispered into her ear, as he gave her a
+thousand-franc note, "take this--it is between ourselves.--You will
+forgive me, I trust, mademoiselle," he added, turning to Emilie. "You
+will kindly excuse the tyranny of business matters."
+
+"Indeed, monsieur, it seems to me that it is no concern of mine,"
+replied Mademoiselle de Fontaine, looking at him with a bold expression
+of sarcastic indifference which might have made any one believe that she
+now saw him for the first time.
+
+"Do you really mean it?" asked Maximilien in a broken voice.
+
+Emilie turned her back upon him with amazing insolence. These words,
+spoken in an undertone, had escaped the ears of her two sisters-in-law.
+When, after buying the cape, the three ladies got into the carriage
+again, Emilie, seated with her back to the horses, could not resist one
+last comprehensive glance into the depths of the odious shop, where she
+saw Maximilien standing with his arms folded, in the attitude of a man
+superior to the disaster that has so suddenly fallen on him. Their eyes
+met and flashed implacable looks. Each hoped to inflict a cruel wound
+on the heart of a lover. In one instant they were as far apart as if one
+had been in China and the other in Greenland.
+
+Does not the breath of vanity wither everything? Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine, a prey to the most violent struggle that can torture the heart
+of a young girl, reaped the richest harvest of anguish that prejudice
+and narrow-mindedness ever sowed in a human soul. Her face, but just now
+fresh and velvety, was streaked with yellow lines and red patches; the
+paleness of her cheeks seemed every now and then to turn green. Hoping
+to hide her despair from her sisters, she would laugh as she pointed out
+some ridiculous dress or passer-by; but her laughter was spasmodic. She
+was more deeply hurt by their unspoken compassion than by any satirical
+comments for which she might have revenged herself. She exhausted her
+wit in trying to engage them in a conversation, in which she tried to
+expend her fury in senseless paradoxes, heaping on all men engaged in
+trade the bitterest insults and witticisms in the worst taste.
+
+On getting home, she had an attack of fever, which at first assumed
+a somewhat serious character. By the end of a month the care of her
+parents and of the physician restored her to her family.
+
+Every one hoped that this lesson would be severe enough to subdue
+Emilie's nature; but she insensibly fell into her old habits and threw
+herself again into the world of fashion. She declared that there was no
+disgrace in making a mistake. If she, like her father, had a vote in the
+Chamber, she would move for an edict, she said, by which all merchants,
+and especially dealers in calico, should be branded on the forehead,
+like Berri sheep, down to the third generation. She wished that none but
+nobles should have the right to wear the antique French costume, which
+was so becoming to the courtiers of Louis XV. To hear her, it was a
+misfortune for France, perhaps, that there was no outward and visible
+difference between a merchant and a peer of France. And a hundred more
+such pleasantries, easy to imagine, were rapidly poured out when any
+accident brought up the subject.
+
+But those who loved Emilie could see through all her banter a tinge of
+melancholy. It was clear that Maximilien Longueville still reigned over
+that inexorable heart. Sometimes she would be as gentle as she had been
+during the brief summer that had seen the birth of her love; sometimes,
+again, she was unendurable. Every one made excuses for her inequality of
+temper, which had its source in sufferings at once secret and known to
+all. The Comte de Kergarouet had some influence over her, thanks to his
+increased prodigality, a kind of consolation which rarely fails of its
+effect on a Parisian girl.
+
+The first ball at which Mademoiselle de Fontaine appeared was at the
+Neapolitan ambassador's. As she took her place in the first quadrille
+she saw, a few yards away from her, Maximilien Longueville, who nodded
+slightly to her partner.
+
+"Is that young man a friend of yours?" she asked, with a scornful air.
+
+"Only my brother," he replied.
+
+Emilie could not help starting. "Ah!" he continued, "and he is the
+noblest soul living----"
+
+"Do you know my name?" asked Emilie, eagerly interrupting him.
+
+"No, mademoiselle. It is a crime, I confess, not to remember a name
+which is on every lip--I ought to say in every heart. But I have a valid
+excuse. I have but just arrived from Germany. My ambassador, who is in
+Paris on leave, sent me here this evening to take care of his amiable
+wife, whom you may see yonder in that corner."
+
+"A perfect tragic mask!" said Emilie, after looking at the ambassadress.
+
+"And yet that is her ballroom face!" said the young man, laughing.
+"I shall have to dance with her! So I thought I might have some
+compensation." Mademoiselle de Fontaine courtesied. "I was very much
+surprised," the voluble young secretary went on, "to find my brother
+here. On arriving from Vienna I heard that the poor boy was ill in bed;
+and I counted on seeing him before coming to this ball; but good policy
+will always allow us to indulge family affection. The Padrona della case
+would not give me time to call on my poor Maximilien."
+
+"Then, monsieur, your brother is not, like you, in diplomatic
+employment."
+
+"No," said the attache, with a sigh, "the poor fellow sacrificed himself
+for me. He and my sister Clara have renounced their share of my father's
+fortune to make an eldest son of me. My father dreams of a peerage, like
+all who vote for the ministry. Indeed, it is promised him," he added
+in an undertone. "After saving up a little capital my brother joined a
+banking firm, and I hear he has just effected a speculation in Brazil
+which may make him a millionaire. You see me in the highest spirits at
+having been able, by my diplomatic connections, to contribute to his
+success. I am impatiently expecting a dispatch from the Brazilian
+Legation, which will help to lift the cloud from his brow. What do you
+think of him?"
+
+"Well, your brother's face does not look to me like that of a man busied
+with money matters."
+
+The young attache shot a scrutinizing glance at the apparently calm face
+of his partner.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, with a smile, "can young ladies read the thoughts
+of love behind the silent brow?"
+
+"Your brother is in love, then?" she asked, betrayed into a movement of
+curiosity.
+
+"Yes; my sister Clara, to whom he is as devoted as a mother, wrote to
+me that he had fallen in love this summer with a very pretty girl; but I
+have had no further news of the affair. Would you believe that the poor
+boy used to get up at five in the morning, and went off to settle his
+business that he might be back by four o'clock in the country where the
+lady was? In fact, he ruined a very nice thoroughbred that I had just
+given him. Forgive my chatter, mademoiselle; I have but just come home
+from Germany. For a year I have heard no decent French, I have been
+weaned from French faces, and satiated with Germans, to such a degree
+that, I believe, in my patriotic mania, I could talk to the chimeras on
+a French candlestick. And if I talk with a lack of reserve unbecoming
+in a diplomatist, the fault is yours, mademoiselle. Was it not you who
+pointed out my brother? When he is the theme I become inexhaustible. I
+should like to proclaim to all the world how good and generous he is. He
+gave up no less than a hundred thousand francs a year, the income from
+the Longueville property."
+
+If Mademoiselle de Fontaine had the benefit of these important
+revelations, it was partly due to the skill with which she continued to
+question her confiding partner from the moment when she found that he
+was the brother of her scorned lover.
+
+"And could you, without being grieved, see your brother selling muslin
+and calico?" asked Emilie, at the end of the third figure of the
+quadrille.
+
+"How do you know that?" asked the attache. "Thank God, though I pour out
+a flood of words, I have already acquired the art of not telling more
+than I intend, like all the other diplomatic apprentices I know."
+
+"You told me, I assure you."
+
+Monsieur de Longueville looked at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with a
+surprise that was full of perspicacity. A suspicion flashed upon him. He
+glanced inquiringly from his brother to his partner, guessed everything,
+clasped his hands, fixed his eyes on the ceiling, and began to laugh,
+saying, "I am an idiot! You are the handsomest person here; my brother
+keeps stealing glances at you; he is dancing in spite of his illness,
+and you pretend not to see him. Make him happy," he added, as he led
+her back to her old uncle. "I shall not be jealous, but I shall always
+shiver a little at calling you my sister----"
+
+The lovers, however, were to prove as inexorable to each other as they
+were to themselves. At about two in the morning, refreshments were
+served in an immense corridor, where, to leave persons of the same
+coterie free to meet each other, the tables were arranged as in a
+restaurant. By one of those accidents which always happen to lovers,
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine found herself at a table next to that at which
+the more important guests were seated. Maximilien was of the group.
+Emilie, who lent an attentive ear to her neighbors' conversation,
+overheard one of those dialogues into which a young woman so easily
+falls with a young man who has the grace and style of Maximilien
+Longueville. The lady talking to the young banker was a Neapolitan
+duchess, whose eyes shot lightning flashes, and whose skin had the sheen
+of satin. The intimate terms on which Longueville affected to be with
+her stung Mademoiselle de Fontaine all the more because she had just
+given her lover back twenty times as much tenderness as she had ever
+felt for him before.
+
+"Yes, monsieur, in my country true love can make every kind of
+sacrifice," the Duchess was saying, in a simper.
+
+"You have more passion than Frenchwomen," said Maximilien, whose burning
+gaze fell on Emilie. "They are all vanity."
+
+"Monsieur," Emilie eagerly interposed, "is it not very wrong to
+calumniate your own country? Devotion is to be found in every nation."
+
+"Do you imagine, mademoiselle," retorted the Italian, with a sardonic
+smile, "that a Parisian would be capable of following her lover all over
+the world?"
+
+"Oh, madame, let us understand each other. She would follow him to a
+desert and live in a tent but not to sit in a shop."
+
+A disdainful gesture completed her meaning. Thus, under the influence of
+her disastrous education, Emile for the second time killed her budding
+happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien's apparent
+indifference, and a woman's smile, had wrung from her one of those
+sarcasms whose treacherous zest always let her astray.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said Longueville, in a low voice, under cover of the
+noise made by the ladies as they rose from the table, "no one will ever
+more ardently desire your happiness than I; permit me to assure you
+of this, as I am taking leave of you. I am starting for Italy in a few
+days."
+
+"With a Duchess, no doubt?"
+
+"No, but perhaps with a mortal blow."
+
+"Is not that pure fancy?" asked Emilie, with an anxious glance.
+
+"No," he replied. "There are wounds which never heal."
+
+"You are not to go," said the girl, imperiously, and she smiled.
+
+"I shall go," replied Maximilien, gravely.
+
+"You will find me married on your return, I warn you," she said
+coquettishly.
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"Impertinent wretch!" she exclaimed. "How cruel a revenge!"
+
+A fortnight later Maximilien set out with his sister Clara for the warm
+and poetic scenes of beautiful Italy, leaving Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+a prey to the most vehement regret. The young Secretary to the Embassy
+took up his brother's quarrel, and contrived to take signal vengeance on
+Emilie's disdain by making known the occasion of the lovers' separation.
+He repaid his fair partner with interest all the sarcasm with which
+she had formerly attacked Maximilien, and often made more than one
+Excellency smile by describing the fair foe of the counting-house, the
+amazon who preached a crusade against bankers, the young girl whose
+love had evaporated before a bale of muslin. The Comte de Fontaine was
+obliged to use his influence to procure an appointment to Russia for
+Auguste Longueville in order to protect his daughter from the ridicule
+heaped upon her by this dangerous young persecutor.
+
+Not long after, the Ministry being compelled to raise a levy of peers to
+support the aristocratic party, trembling in the Upper Chamber under the
+lash of an illustrious writer, gave Monsieur Guiraudin de Longueville a
+peerage, with the title of Vicomte. Monsieur de Fontaine also obtained
+a peerage, the reward due as much to his fidelity in evil days as to his
+name, which claimed a place in the hereditary Chamber.
+
+About this time Emilie, now of age, made, no doubt, some serious
+reflections on life, for her tone and manners changed perceptibly.
+Instead of amusing herself by saying spiteful things to her uncle, she
+lavished on him the most affectionate attentions; she brought him his
+stick with a persevering devotion that made the cynical smile, she
+gave him her arm, rode in his carriage, and accompanied him in all his
+drives; she even persuaded him that she liked the smell of tobacco, and
+read him his favorite paper La Quotidienne in the midst of clouds of
+smoke, which the malicious old sailor intentionally blew over her;
+she learned piquet to be a match for the old count; and this fantastic
+damsel even listened without impatience to his periodical narratives of
+the battles of the Belle-Poule, the manoeuvres of the Ville de Paris, M.
+de Suffren's first expedition, or the battle of Aboukir.
+
+Though the old sailor had often said that he knew his longitude and
+latitude too well to allow himself to be captured by a young corvette,
+one fine morning Paris drawing-rooms heard the news of the marriage of
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine to the Comte de Kergarouet. The young Countess
+gave splendid entertainments to drown thought; but she, no doubt,
+found a void at the bottom of the whirlpool; luxury was ineffectual to
+disguise the emptiness and grief of her sorrowing soul; for the most
+part, in spite of the flashes of assumed gaiety, her beautiful face
+expressed unspoken melancholy. Emilie appeared, however, full of
+attentions and consideration for her old husband, who, on retiring to
+his rooms at night, to the sounds of a lively band, would often say, "I
+do not know myself. Was I to wait till the age of seventy-two to embark
+as pilot on board the Belle Emilie after twenty years of matrimonial
+galleys?"
+
+The conduct of the young Countess was marked by such strictness that the
+most clear-sighted criticism had no fault to find with her. Lookers on
+chose to think that the vice-admiral had reserved the right of disposing
+of his fortune to keep his wife more tightly in hand; but this was a
+notion as insulting to the uncle as to the niece. Their conduct was
+indeed so delicately judicious that the men who were most interested in
+guessing the secrets of the couple could never decide whether the old
+Count regarded her as a wife or as a daughter. He was often heard to say
+that he had rescued his niece as a castaway after shipwreck; and that,
+for his part, he had never taken a mean advantage of hospitality when
+he had saved an enemy from the fury of the storm. Though the Countess
+aspired to reign in Paris and tried to keep pace with Mesdames the
+Duchesses de Maufrigneuse and du Chaulieu, the Marquises d'Espard and
+d'Aiglemont, the Comtesses Feraud, de Montcornet, and de Restaud,
+Madame de Camps, and Mademoiselle des Touches, she did not yield to the
+addresses of the young Vicomte de Portenduere, who made her his idol.
+
+Two years after her marriage, in one of the old drawing-rooms in the
+Faubourg Saint-Germain, where she was admired for her character, worthy
+of the old school, Emilie heard the Vicomte de Longueville announced.
+In the corner of the room where she was sitting, playing piquet with
+the Bishop of Persepolis, her agitation was not observed; she turned her
+head and saw her former lover come in, in all the freshness of youth.
+His father's death, and then that of his brother, killed by the severe
+climate of Saint-Petersburg, had placed on Maximilien's head the
+hereditary plumes of the French peer's hat. His fortune matched his
+learning and his merits; only the day before his youthful and fervid
+eloquence had dazzled the Assembly. At this moment he stood before the
+Countess, free, and graced with all the advantages she had formerly
+required of her ideal. Every mother with a daughter to marry made
+amiable advances to a man gifted with the virtues which they attributed
+to him, as they admired his attractive person; but Emilie knew, better
+than any one, that the Vicomte de Longueville had the steadfast nature
+in which a wise woman sees a guarantee of happiness. She looked at the
+admiral who, to use his favorite expression, seemed likely to hold his
+course for a long time yet, and cursed the follies of her youth.
+
+At this moment Monsieur de Persepolis said with Episcopal grace: "Fair
+lady, you have thrown away the king of hearts--I have won. But do not
+regret your money. I keep it for my little seminaries."
+
+
+PARIS, December 1829.
+
+
+
+
+ADDENDUM
+
+The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
+
+     Beaudenord, Godefroid de
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+
+     Dudley, Lady Arabella
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       Letters of Two Brides
+
+     Fontaine, Comte de
+       The Chouans
+       Modeste Mignon
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Kergarouet, Comte de
+       The Purse
+       Ursule Mirouet
+
+     Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
+       The Chouans
+       The Seamy Side of History
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Colonel Chabert
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Manerville, Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de
+       The Thirteen
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       A Marriage Settlement
+
+     Marsay, Henri de
+       The Thirteen
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Father Goriot
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Marriage Settlement
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       Modest Mignon
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+     Palma (banker)
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Gobseck
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+
+     Portenduere, Vicomte Savinien de
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       Beatrix
+
+     Rastignac, Eugene de
+       Father Goriot
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       The Interdiction
+       A Study of Woman
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cousin Betty
+       The Member for Arcis
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+
+     Vandenesse, Marquise Charles de (Emilie de Fontaine)
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ball at Sceaux, by Honore de Balzac
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ball at Sceaux, by Honore de Balzac
+
+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.net
+
+
+Title: The Ball at Sceaux
+
+Author: Honore de Balzac
+
+Release Date: June 13, 2004 [EBook #1305]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BALL AT SCEAUX ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dagny
+
+
+
+
+                         THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+
+                                 BY
+
+                          HONORE DE BALZAC
+
+
+
+                           Translated By
+                            Clara Bell
+
+
+
+              To Henri de Balzac, his brother Honore.
+
+
+
+The Comte de Fontaine, head of one of the oldest families in Poitou,
+had served the Bourbon cause with intelligence and bravery during the
+war in La Vendee against the Republic. After having escaped all the
+dangers which threatened the royalist leaders during this stormy
+period of modern history, he was wont to say in jest, "I am one of the
+men who gave themselves to be killed on the steps of the throne." And
+the pleasantry had some truth in it, as spoken by a man left for dead
+at the bloody battle of Les Quatre Chemins. Though ruined by
+confiscation, the staunch Vendeen steadily refused the lucrative posts
+offered to him by the Emperor Napoleon. Immovable in his aristocratic
+faith, he had blindly obeyed its precepts when he thought it fitting
+to choose a companion for life. In spite of the blandishments of a
+rich but revolutionary parvenu, who valued the alliance at a high
+figure, he married Mademoiselle de Kergarouet, without a fortune, but
+belonging to one of the oldest families in Brittany.
+
+When the second revolution burst on Monsieur de Fontaine he was
+encumbered with a large family. Though it was no part of the noble
+gentlemen's views to solicit favors, he yielded to his wife's wish,
+left his country estate, of which the income barely sufficed to
+maintain his children, and came to Paris. Saddened by seeing the
+greediness of his former comrades in the rush for places and dignities
+under the new Constitution, he was about to return to his property
+when he received a ministerial despatch, in which a well-known
+magnate announced to him his nomination as marechal de camp, or
+brigadier-general, under a rule which allowed the officers of the
+Catholic armies to count the twenty submerged years of Louis XVIII.'s
+reign as years of service. Some days later he further received, without
+any solicitation, ex officio, the crosses of the Legion of Honor and of
+Saint-Louis.
+
+Shaken in his determination by these successive favors, due, as he
+supposed, to the monarch's remembrance, he was no longer satisfied
+with taking his family, as he had piously done every Sunday, to cry
+"Vive le Roi" in the hall of the Tuileries when the royal family
+passed through on their way to chapel; he craved the favor of a
+private audience. The audience, at once granted, was in no sense
+private. The royal drawing-room was full of old adherents, whose
+powdered heads, seen from above, suggested a carpet of snow. There the
+Count met some old friends, who received him somewhat coldly; but the
+princes he thought ADORABLE, an enthusiastic expression which escaped
+him when the most gracious of his masters, to whom the Count had
+supposed himself to be known only by name, came to shake hands with
+him, and spoke of him as the most thorough Vendeen of them all.
+Notwithstanding this ovation, none of these august persons thought of
+inquiring as to the sum of his losses, or of the money he had poured
+so generously into the chests of the Catholic regiments. He
+discovered, a little late, that he had made war at his own cost.
+Towards the end of the evening he thought he might venture on a witty
+allusion to the state of his affairs, similar, as it was, to that of
+many other gentlemen. His Majesty laughed heartily enough; any speech
+that bore the hall-mark of wit was certain to please him; but he
+nevertheless replied with one of those royal pleasantries whose
+sweetness is more formidable than the anger of a rebuke. One of the
+King's most intimate advisers took an opportunity of going up to the
+fortune-seeking Vendeen, and made him understand by a keen and polite
+hint that the time had not yet come for settling accounts with the
+sovereign; that there were bills of much longer standing than his on
+the books, and there, no doubt, they would remain, as part of the
+history of the Revolution. The Count prudently withdrew from the
+venerable group, which formed a respectful semi-circle before the
+august family; then, having extricated his sword, not without some
+difficulty, from among the lean legs which had got mixed up with it,
+he crossed the courtyard of the Tuileries and got into the hackney cab
+he had left on the quay. With the restive spirit, which is peculiar to
+the nobility of the old school, in whom still survives the memory of
+the League and the day of the Barricades (in 1588), he bewailed
+himself in his cab, loudly enough to compromise him, over the change
+that had come over the Court. "Formerly," he said to himself, "every
+one could speak freely to the King of his own little affairs; the
+nobles could ask him a favor, or for money, when it suited them, and
+nowadays one cannot recover the money advanced for his service without
+raising a scandal! By Heaven! the cross of Saint-Louis and the rank of
+brigadier-general will not make good the three hundred thousand livres
+I have spent, out and out, on the royal cause. I must speak to the
+King, face to face, in his own room."
+
+This scene cooled Monsieur de Fontaine's ardor all the more
+effectually because his requests for an interview were never answered.
+And, indeed, he saw the upstarts of the Empire obtaining some of the
+offices reserved, under the old monarchy, for the highest families.
+
+"All is lost!" he exclaimed one morning. "The King has certainly never
+been other than a revolutionary. But for Monsieur, who never
+derogates, and is some comfort to his faithful adherents, I do not
+know what hands the crown of France might not fall into if things are
+to go on like this. Their cursed constitutional system is the worst
+possible government, and can never suit France. Louis XVIII. and
+Monsieur Beugnot spoiled everything at Saint Ouen."
+
+The Count, in despair, was preparing to retire to his estate,
+abandoning, with dignity, all claims to repayment. At this moment the
+events of the 20th March (1815) gave warning of a fresh storm,
+threatening to overwhelm the legitimate monarch and his defenders.
+Monsieur de Fontaine, like one of those generous souls who do not
+dismiss a servant in a torrent of rain; borrowed on his lands to
+follow the routed monarchy, without knowing whether this complicity in
+emigration would prove more propitious to him than his past devotion.
+But when he perceived that the companions of the King's exile were in
+higher favor than the brave men who had protested, sword in hand,
+against the establishment of the republic, he may perhaps have hoped
+to derive greater profit from this journey into a foreign land than
+from active and dangerous service in the heart of his own country. Nor
+was his courtier-like calculation one of these rash speculations which
+promise splendid results on paper, and are ruinous in effect. He was
+--to quote the wittiest and most successful of our diplomates--one of
+the faithful five hundred who shared the exile of the Court at Ghent,
+and one of the fifty thousand who returned with it. During the short
+banishment of royalty, Monsieur de Fontaine was so happy as to be
+employed by Louis XVIII., and found more than one opportunity of
+giving him proofs of great political honesty and sincere attachment.
+One evening, when the King had nothing better to do, he recalled
+Monsieur de Fontaine's witticism at the Tuileries. The old Vendeen did
+not let such a happy chance slip; he told his history with so much
+vivacity that a king, who never forgot anything, might remember it at
+a convenient season. The royal amateur of literature also observed the
+elegant style given to some notes which the discreet gentleman had
+been invited to recast. This little success stamped Monsieur de
+Fontaine on the King's memory as one of the loyal servants of the
+Crown.
+
+At the second restoration the Count was one of those special envoys
+who were sent throughout the departments charged with absolute
+jurisdiction over the leaders of revolt; but he used his terrible
+powers with moderation. As soon as the temporary commission was ended,
+the High Provost found a seat in the Privy Council, became a deputy,
+spoke little, listened much, and changed his opinions very
+considerably. Certain circumstances, unknown to historians, brought
+him into such intimate relations with the Sovereign, that one day, as
+he came in, the shrewd monarch addressed him thus: "My friend
+Fontaine, I shall take care never to appoint you to be
+director-general, or minister. Neither you nor I, as employes, could
+keep our place on account of our opinions. Representative government
+has this advantage; it saves Us the trouble We used to have, of
+dismissing Our Secretaries of State. Our Council is a perfect inn-parlor,
+whither public opinion sometimes sends strange travelers; however, We
+can always find a place for Our faithful adherents."
+
+This ironical speech was introductory to a rescript giving Monsieur de
+Fontaine an appointment as administrator in the office of Crown lands.
+As a consequence of the intelligent attention with which he listened
+to his royal Friend's sarcasms, his name always rose to His Majesty's
+lips when a commission was to be appointed of which the members were
+to receive a handsome salary. He had the good sense to hold his tongue
+about the favor with which he was honored, and knew how to entertain
+the monarch in those familiar chats in which Louis XVIII. delighted as
+much as in a well-written note, by his brilliant manner of repeating
+political anecdotes, and the political or parliamentary tittle-tattle
+--if the expression may pass--which at that time was rife. It is well
+known that he was immensely amused by every detail of his
+Gouvernementabilite--a word adopted by his facetious Majesty.
+
+Thanks to the Comte de Fontaine's good sense, wit, and tact, every
+member of his numerous family, however young, ended, as he jestingly
+told his Sovereign, in attaching himself like a silkworm to the leaves
+of the Pay-List. Thus, by the King's intervention, his eldest son
+found a high and fixed position as a lawyer. The second, before the
+restoration a mere captain, was appointed to the command of a legion
+on the return from Ghent; then, thanks to the confusion of 1815, when
+the regulations were evaded, he passed into the bodyguard, returned to
+a line regiment, and found himself after the affair of the Trocadero a
+lieutenant-general with a commission in the Guards. The youngest,
+appointed sous-prefet, ere long became a legal official and director
+of a municipal board of the city of Paris, where he was safe from
+changes in Legislature. These bounties, bestowed without parade, and
+as secret as the favor enjoyed by the Count, fell unperceived. Though
+the father and his three sons each had sinecures enough to enjoy an
+income in salaries almost equal to that of a chief of department,
+their political good fortune excited no envy. In those early days of
+the constitutional system, few persons had very precise ideas of the
+peaceful domain of the civil service, where astute favorites managed
+to find an equivalent for the demolished abbeys. Monsieur le Comte de
+Fontaine, who till lately boasted that he had not read the Charter,
+and displayed such indignation at the greed of courtiers, had, before
+long, proved to his august master that he understood, as well as the
+King himself, the spirit and resources of the representative system.
+At the same time, notwithstanding the established careers open to his
+three sons, and the pecuniary advantages derived from four official
+appointments, Monsieur de Fontaine was the head of too large a family
+to be able to re-establish his fortune easily and rapidly.
+
+His three sons were rich in prospects, in favor, and in talent; but he
+had three daughters, and was afraid of wearying the monarch's
+benevolence. It occurred to him to mention only one by one, these
+virgins eager to light their torches. The King had too much good taste
+to leave his work incomplete. The marriage of the eldest with a
+Receiver-General, Planat de Baudry, was arranged by one of those royal
+speeches which cost nothing and are worth millions. One evening, when
+the Sovereign was out of spirits, he smiled on hearing of the
+existence of another Demoiselle de Fontaine, for whom he found a
+husband in the person of a young magistrate, of inferior birth, no
+doubt, but wealthy, and whom he created Baron. When, the year after,
+the Vendeen spoke of Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, the King replied
+in his thin sharp tones, "Amicus Plato sed magis amica Natio." Then, a
+few days later, he treated his "friend Fontaine" to a quatrain,
+harmless enough, which he styled an epigram, in which he made fun of
+these three daughters so skilfully introduced, under the form of a
+trinity. Nay, if report is to be believed, the monarch had found the
+point of the jest in the Unity of the three Divine Persons.
+
+"If your Majesty would only condescend to turn the epigram into an
+epithalamium?" said the Count, trying to turn the sally to good
+account.
+
+"Though I see the rhyme of it, I fail to see the reason," retorted the
+King, who did not relish any pleasantry, however mild, on the subject
+of his poetry.
+
+From that day his intercourse with Monsieur de Fontaine showed less
+amenity. Kings enjoy contradicting more than people think. Like most
+youngest children, Emilie de Fontaine was a Benjamin spoilt by almost
+everybody. The King's coolness, therefore, caused the Count all the
+more regret, because no marriage was ever so difficult to arrange as
+that of this darling daughter. To understand all the obstacles we must
+make our way into the fine residence where the official was housed at
+the expense of the nation. Emilie had spent her childhood on the
+family estate, enjoying the abundance which suffices for the joys of
+early youth; her lightest wishes had been law to her sisters, her
+brothers, her mother, and even her father. All her relations doted on
+her. Having come to years of discretion just when her family was
+loaded with the favors of fortune, the enchantment of life continued.
+The luxury of Paris seemed to her just as natural as a wealth of
+flowers or fruit, or as the rural plenty which had been the joy of her
+first years. Just as in her childhood she had never been thwarted in
+the satisfaction of her playful desires, so now, at fourteen, she was
+still obeyed when she rushed into the whirl of fashion.
+
+Thus, accustomed by degrees to the enjoyment of money, elegance of
+dress, of gilded drawing-rooms and fine carriages, became as necessary
+to her as the compliments of flattery, sincere or false, and the
+festivities and vanities of court life. Like most spoiled children,
+she tyrannized over those who loved her, and kept her blandishments
+for those who were indifferent. Her faults grew with her growth, and
+her parents were to gather the bitter fruits of this disastrous
+education. At the age of nineteen Emilie de Fontaine had not yet been
+pleased to make a choice from among the many young men whom her
+father's politics brought to his entertainments. Though so young, she
+asserted in society all the freedom of mind that a married woman can
+enjoy. Her beauty was so remarkable that, for her, to appear in a room
+was to be its queen; but, like sovereigns, she had no friends, though
+she was everywhere the object of attentions to which a finer nature
+than hers might perhaps have succumbed. Not a man, not even an old
+man, had it in him to contradict the opinions of a young girl whose
+lightest look could rekindle love in the coldest heart.
+
+She had been educated with a care which her sisters had not enjoyed;
+painted pretty well, spoke Italian and English, and played the piano
+brilliantly; her voice, trained by the best masters, had a ring in it
+which made her singing irresistibly charming. Clever, and intimate
+with every branch of literature, she might have made folks believe
+that, as Mascarille says, people of quality come into the world
+knowing everything. She could argue fluently on Italian or Flemish
+painting, on the Middle Ages or the Renaissance; pronounced at
+haphazard on books new or old, and could expose the defects of a work
+with a cruelly graceful wit. The simplest thing she said was accepted
+by an admiring crowd as a fetfah of the Sultan by the Turks. She thus
+dazzled shallow persons; as to deeper minds, her natural tact enabled
+her to discern them, and for them she put forth so much fascination
+that, under cover of her charms, she escaped their scrutiny. This
+enchanting veneer covered a careless heart; the opinion--common to
+many young girls--that no one else dwelt in a sphere so lofty as to be
+able to understand the merits of her soul; and a pride based no less
+on her birth than on her beauty. In the absence of the overwhelming
+sentiment which, sooner or later, works havoc in a woman's heart, she
+spent her young ardor in an immoderate love of distinctions, and
+expressed the deepest contempt for persons of inferior birth.
+Supremely impertinent to all newly-created nobility, she made every
+effort to get her parents recognized as equals by the most illustrious
+families of the Saint-Germain quarter.
+
+These sentiments had not escaped the observing eye of Monsieur de
+Fontaine, who more than once, when his two elder girls were married,
+had smarted under Emilie's sarcasm. Logical readers will be surprised
+to see the old Royalist bestowing his eldest daughter on a
+Receiver-General, possessed, indeed, of some old hereditary estates, but
+whose name was not preceded by the little word to which the throne owed
+so many partisans, and his second to a magistrate too lately Baronified
+to obscure the fact that his father had sold firewood. This noteworthy
+change in the ideas of a noble on the verge of his sixtieth year--an
+age when men rarely renounce their convictions--was due not merely to
+his unfortunate residence in the modern Babylon, where, sooner or
+later, country folks all get their corners rubbed down; the Comte de
+Fontaine's new political conscience was also a result of the King's
+advice and friendship. The philosophical prince had taken pleasure in
+converting the Vendeen to the ideas required by the advance of the
+nineteenth century, and the new aspect of the Monarchy. Louis XVIII.
+aimed at fusing parties as Napoleon had fused things and men. The
+legitimate King, who was not less clever perhaps than his rival, acted
+in a contrary direction. The last head of the House of Bourbon was
+just as eager to satisfy the third estate and the creations of the
+Empire, by curbing the clergy, as the first of the Napoleons had been
+to attract the grand old nobility, or to endow the Church. The Privy
+Councillor, being in the secret of these royal projects, had
+insensibly become one of the most prudent and influential leaders of
+that moderate party which most desired a fusion of opinion in the
+interests of the nation. He preached the expensive doctrines of
+constitutional government, and lent all his weight to encourage the
+political see-saw which enabled his master to rule France in the midst
+of storms. Perhaps Monsieur de Fontaine hoped that one of the sudden
+gusts of legislation, whose unexpected efforts then startled the
+oldest politicians, might carry him up to the rank of peer. One of his
+most rigid principles was to recognize no nobility in France but that
+of the peerage--the only families that might enjoy any privileges.
+
+"A nobility bereft of privileges," he would say, "is a tool without a
+handle."
+
+As far from Lafayette's party as he was from La Bourdonnaye's, he
+ardently engaged in the task of general reconciliation, which was
+to result in a new era and splendid fortunes for France. He
+strove to convince the families who frequented his drawing-room,
+or those whom he visited, how few favorable openings would
+henceforth be offered by a civil or military career. He urged
+mothers to give their boys a start in independent and industrial
+professions, explaining that military posts and high Government
+appointments must at last pertain, in a quite constitutional
+order, to the younger sons of members of the peerage. According
+to him, the people had conquered a sufficiently large share in
+practical government by its elective assembly, its appointments
+to law-offices, and those of the exchequer, which, said he, would
+always, as heretofore, be the natural right of the distinguished
+men of the third estate.
+
+These new notions of the head of the Fontaines, and the prudent
+matches for his eldest girls to which they had led, met with strong
+resistance in the bosom of his family. The Comtesse de Fontaine
+remained faithful to the ancient beliefs which no woman could disown,
+who, through her mother, belonged to the Rohans. Although she had for
+a while opposed the happiness and fortune awaiting her two eldest
+girls, she yielded to those private considerations which husband and
+wife confide to each other when their heads are resting on the same
+pillow. Monsieur de Fontaine calmly pointed out to his wife, by exact
+arithmetic that their residence in Paris, the necessity for
+entertaining, the magnificence of the house which made up to them now
+for the privations so bravely shared in La Vendee, and the expenses of
+their sons, swallowed up the chief part of their income from salaries.
+They must therefore seize, as a boon from heaven, the opportunities
+which offered for settling their girls with such wealth. Would they
+not some day enjoy sixty--eighty--a hundred thousand francs a year?
+Such advantageous matches were not to be met with every day for girls
+without a portion. Again, it was time that they should begin to think
+of economizing, to add to the estate of Fontaine, and re-establish the
+old territorial fortune of the family. The Countess yielded to such
+cogent arguments, as every mother would have done in her place, though
+perhaps with a better grace; but she declared that Emilie, at any
+rate, should marry in such a way as to satisfy the pride she had
+unfortunately contributed to foster in the girl's young soul.
+
+Thus events, which ought to have brought joy into the family, had
+introduced a small leaven of discord. The Receiver-General and the
+young lawyer were the objects of a ceremonious formality which the
+Countess and Emilie contrived to create. This etiquette soon found
+even ampler opportunity for the display of domestic tyranny; for
+Lieutenant-General de Fontaine married Mademoiselle Mongenod, the
+daughter of a rich banker; the President very sensibly found a wife in
+a young lady whose father, twice or thrice a millionaire, had traded
+in salt; and the third brother, faithful to his plebeian doctrines,
+married Mademoiselle Grossetete, the only daughter of the
+Receiver-General at Bourges. The three sisters-in-law and the two
+brothers-in-law found the high sphere of political bigwigs, and the
+drawing-rooms of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, so full of charm and of
+personal advantages, that they united in forming a little court round
+the overbearing Emilie. This treaty between interest and pride was not,
+however, so firmly cemented but that the young despot was, not
+unfrequently, the cause of revolts in her little realm. Scenes, which
+the highest circles would not have disowned, kept up a sarcastic
+temper among all the members of this powerful family; and this,
+without seriously diminishing the regard they professed in public,
+degenerated sometimes in private into sentiments far from charitable.
+Thus the Lieutenant-General's wife, having become a Baronne, thought
+herself quite as noble as a Kergarouet, and imagined that her good
+hundred thousand francs a year gave her the right to be as impertinent
+as her sister-in-law Emilie, whom she would sometimes wish to see
+happily married, as she announced that the daughter of some peer of
+France had married Monsieur So-and-So with no title to his name. The
+Vicomtesse de Fontaine amused herself by eclipsing Emilie in the taste
+and magnificence that were conspicuous in her dress, her furniture,
+and her carriages. The satirical spirit in which her brothers and
+sisters sometimes received the claims avowed by Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine roused her to wrath that a perfect hailstorm of sharp sayings
+could hardly mitigate. So when the head of the family felt a slight
+chill in the King's tacit and precarious friendship, he trembled all
+the more because, as a result of her sisters' defiant mockery, his
+favorite daughter had never looked so high.
+
+In the midst of these circumstances, and at a moment when this petty
+domestic warfare had become serious, the monarch, whose favor Monsieur
+de Fontaine still hoped to regain, was attacked by the malady of which
+he was to die. The great political chief, who knew so well how to
+steer his bark in the midst of tempests, soon succumbed. Certain then
+of favors to come, the Comte de Fontaine made every effort to collect
+the elite of marrying men about his youngest daughter. Those who may
+have tried to solve the difficult problem of settling a haughty and
+capricious girl, will understand the trouble taken by the unlucky
+father. Such an affair, carried out to the liking of his beloved
+child, would worthily crown the career the Count had followed for
+these ten years at Paris. From the way in which his family claimed
+salaries under every department, it might be compared with the House
+of Austria, which, by intermarriage, threatens to pervade Europe. The
+old Vendeen was not to be discouraged in bringing forward suitors, so
+much had he his daughter's happiness at heart, but nothing could be
+more absurd than the way in which the impertinent young thing
+pronounced her verdicts and judged the merits of her adorers. It might
+have been supposed that, like a princess in the Arabian Nights, Emilie
+was rich enough and beautiful enough to choose from among all the
+princes in the world. Her objections were each more preposterous than
+the last: one had too thick knees and was bow-legged, another was
+short-sighted, this one's name was Durand, that one limped, and almost
+all were too fat. Livelier, more attractive, and gayer than ever after
+dismissing two or three suitors, she rushed into the festivities of
+the winter season, and to balls, where her keen eyes criticised the
+celebrities of the day, delighted in encouraging proposals which she
+invariably rejected.
+
+Nature had bestowed on her all the advantages needed for playing the
+part of Celimene. Tall and slight, Emilie de Fontaine could assume a
+dignified or a frolicsome mien at her will. Her neck was rather long,
+allowing her to affect beautiful attitudes of scorn and impertinence.
+She had cultivated a large variety of those turns of the head and
+feminine gestures, which emphasize so cruelly or so happily a hint of
+a smile. Fine black hair, thick and strongly-arched eyebrows, lent her
+countenance an expression of pride, to which her coquettish instincts
+and her mirror had taught her to add terror by a stare, or gentleness
+by the softness of her gaze, by the set of the gracious curve of her
+lips, by the coldness or the sweetness of her smile. When Emilie meant
+to conquer a heart, her pure voice did not lack melody; but she could
+also give it a sort of curt clearness when she was minded to paralyze
+a partner's indiscreet tongue. Her colorless face and alabaster brow
+were like the limpid surface of a lake, which by turns is rippled by
+the impulse of a breeze and recovers its glad serenity when the air is
+still. More than one young man, a victim to her scorn, accused her of
+acting a part; but she justified herself by inspiring her detractors
+with the desire to please her, and then subjecting them to all her
+most contemptuous caprice. Among the young girls of fashion, not one
+knew better than she how to assume an air of reserve when a man of
+talent was introduced to her, or how to display the insulting
+politeness which treats an equal as an inferior, and to pour out her
+impertinence on all who tried to hold their heads on a level with
+hers. Wherever she went she seemed to be accepting homage rather than
+compliments, and even in a princess her airs and manner would have
+transformed the chair on which she sat into an imperial throne.
+
+Monsieur de Fontaine discovered too late how utterly the education of
+the daughter he loved had been ruined by the tender devotion of the
+whole family. The admiration which the world is at first ready to
+bestow on a young girl, but for which, sooner or later, it takes
+its revenge, had added to Emilie's pride, and increased her
+self-confidence. Universal subservience had developed in her the
+selfishness natural to spoilt children, who, like kings, make a
+plaything of everything that comes to hand. As yet the graces of
+youth and the charms of talent hid these faults from every eye; faults
+all the more odious in a woman, since she can only please by
+self-sacrifice and unselfishness; but nothing escapes the eye of a
+good father, and Monsieur de Fontaine often tried to explain to his
+daughter the more important pages of the mysterious book of life. Vain
+effort! He had to lament his daughter's capricious indocility and
+ironical shrewdness too often to persevere in a task so difficult as
+that of correcting an ill-disposed nature. He contented himself with
+giving her from time to time some gentle and kind advice; but he had
+the sorrow of seeing his tenderest words slide from his daughter's
+heart as if it were of marble. A father's eyes are slow to be
+unsealed, and it needed more than one experience before the old
+Royalist perceived that his daughter's rare caresses were bestowed on
+him with an air of condescension. She was like young children, who
+seem to say to their mother, "Make haste to kiss me, that I may go to
+play." In short, Emilie vouchsafed to be fond of her parents. But
+often, by those sudden whims, which seem inexplicable in young girls,
+she kept aloof and scarcely ever appeared; she complained of having to
+share her father's and mother's heart with too many people; she was
+jealous of every one, even of her brothers and sisters. Then, after
+creating a desert about her, the strange girl accused all nature of
+her unreal solitude and her wilful griefs. Strong in the experience of
+her twenty years, she blamed fate, because, not knowing that the
+mainspring of happiness is in ourselves, she demanded it of the
+circumstances of life. She would have fled to the ends of the earth to
+escape a marriage such as those of her two sisters, and nevertheless
+her heart was full of horrible jealousy at seeing them married, rich,
+and happy. In short, she sometimes led her mother--who was as much a
+victim to her vagaries as Monsieur de Fontaine--to suspect that she
+had a touch of madness.
+
+But such aberrations are quite inexplicable; nothing is commoner than
+this unconfessed pride developed in the heart of young girls belonging
+to families high in the social scale, and gifted by nature with great
+beauty. They are almost all convinced that their mothers, now forty or
+fifty years of age, can neither sympathize with their young souls, nor
+conceive of their imaginings. They fancy that most mothers, jealous of
+their girls, want to dress them in their own way with the premeditated
+purpose of eclipsing them or robbing them of admiration. Hence, often,
+secret tears and dumb revolt against supposed tyranny. In the midst of
+these woes, which become very real though built on an imaginary basis,
+they have also a mania for composing a scheme of life, while casting
+for themselves a brilliant horoscope; their magic consists in taking
+their dreams for reality; secretly, in their long meditations, they
+resolve to give their heart and hand to none but the man possessing
+this or the other qualification; and they paint in fancy a model to
+which, whether or no, the future lover must correspond. After some
+little experience of life, and the serious reflections that come with
+years, by dint of seeing the world and its prosaic round, by dint of
+observing unhappy examples, the brilliant hues of their ideal are
+extinguished. Then, one fine day, in the course of events, they are
+quite astonished to find themselves happy without the nuptial poetry
+of their day-dreams. It was on the strength of that poetry that
+Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, in her slender wisdom, had drawn up a
+programme to which a suitor must conform to be excepted. Hence her
+disdain and sarcasm.
+
+"Though young and of an ancient family, he must be a peer of France,"
+said she to herself. "I could not bear not to see my coat-of-arms on
+the panels of my carriage among the folds of azure mantling, not to
+drive like the princes down the broad walk of the Champs-Elysees on
+the days of Longchamps in Holy Week. Besides, my father says that it
+will someday be the highest dignity in France. He must be a soldier
+--but I reserve the right of making him retire; and he must bear an
+Order, that the sentries may present arms to us."
+
+And these rare qualifications would count for nothing if this creature
+of fancy had not the most amiable temper, a fine figure, intelligence,
+and, above all, if he were not slender. To be lean, a personal grace
+which is but fugitive, especially under a representative government,
+was an indispensable condition. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had an ideal
+standard which was to be the model. A young man who at the first
+glance did not fulfil the requisite conditions did not even get a
+second look.
+
+"Good Heavens! see how fat he is!" was with her the utmost expression
+of contempt.
+
+To hear her, people of respectable corpulence were incapable of
+sentiment, bad husbands, and unfit for civilized society. Though it is
+esteemed a beauty in the East, to be fat seemed to her a misfortune
+for a woman; but in a man it was a crime. These paradoxical views were
+amusing, thanks to a certain liveliness of rhetoric. The Count felt
+nevertheless that by-and-by his daughter's affections, of which
+the absurdity would be evident to some women who were not less
+clear-sighted than merciless, would inevitably become a subject of
+constant ridicule. He feared lest her eccentric notions should deviate
+into bad style. He trembled to think that the pitiless world might
+already be laughing at a young woman who remained so long on the stage
+without arriving at any conclusion of the drama she was playing. More
+than one actor in it, disgusted by a refusal, seemed to be waiting for
+the slightest turn of ill-luck to take his revenge. The indifferent,
+the lookers-on were beginning to weary of it; admiration is always
+exhausting to human beings. The old Vendeen knew better than any one
+that if there is an art in choosing the right moment for coming
+forward on the boards of the world, on those of the Court, in a
+drawing-room or on the stage, it is still more difficult to quit them
+in the nick of time. So during the first winter after the accession of
+Charles X., he redoubled his efforts, seconded by his three sons and
+his sons-in-law, to assemble in the rooms of his official residence
+the best matches which Paris and the various deputations from
+departments could offer. The splendor of his entertainments, the
+luxury of his dining-room, and his dinners, fragrant with truffles,
+rivaled the famous banquets by which the ministers of that time
+secured the vote of their parliamentary recruits.
+
+The Honorable Deputy was consequently pointed at as a most influential
+corrupter of the legislative honesty of the illustrious Chamber that
+was dying as it would seem of indigestion. A whimsical result! his
+efforts to get his daughter married secured him a splendid popularity.
+He perhaps found some covert advantage in selling his truffles twice
+over. This accusation, started by certain mocking Liberals, who made
+up by their flow of words for their small following in the Chamber,
+was not a success. The Poitevin gentleman had always been so noble and
+so honorable, that he was not once the object of those epigrams which
+the malicious journalism of the day hurled at the three hundred votes
+of the centre, at the Ministers, the cooks, the Directors-General, the
+princely Amphitryons, and the official supporters of the Villele
+Ministry.
+
+At the close of this campaign, during which Monsieur de Fontaine had
+on several occasions brought out all his forces, he believed that this
+time the procession of suitors would not be a mere dissolving view in
+his daughter's eyes; that it was time she should make up her mind. He
+felt a certain inward satisfaction at having well fulfilled his duty
+as a father. And having left no stone unturned, he hoped that, among
+so many hearts laid at Emilie's feet, there might be one to which her
+caprice might give a preference. Incapable of repeating such an
+effort, and tired, too, of his daughter's conduct, one morning,
+towards the end of Lent, when the business at the Chamber did not
+demand his vote, he determined to ask what her views were. While his
+valet was artistically decorating his bald yellow head with the delta
+of powder which, with the hanging "ailes de pigeon," completed his
+venerable style of hairdressing, Emilie's father, not without some
+secret misgivings, told his old servant to go and desire the haughty
+damsel to appear in the presence of the head of the family.
+
+"Joseph," he added, when his hair was dressed, "take away that towel,
+draw back the curtains, put those chairs square, shake the rug, and
+lay it quite straight. Dust everything.--Now, air the room a little by
+opening the window."
+
+The Count multiplied his orders, putting Joseph out of breath, and the
+old servant, understanding his master's intentions, aired and tidied
+the room, of course the least cared for of any in the house, and
+succeeded in giving a look of harmony to the files of bills, the
+letter-boxes, the books and furniture of this sanctum, where the
+interests of the royal demesnes were debated over. When Joseph had
+reduced this chaos to some sort of order, and brought to the front
+such things as might be most pleasing to the eye, as if it were a shop
+front, or such as by their color might give the effect of a kind of
+official poetry, he stood for a minute in the midst of the labyrinth
+of papers piled in some places even on the floor, admired his
+handiwork, jerked his head, and went.
+
+The anxious sinecure-holder did not share his retainer's favorable
+opinion. Before seating himself in his deep chair, whose rounded back
+screened him from draughts, he looked round him doubtfully, examined
+his dressing-gown with a hostile expression, shook off a few grains of
+snuff, carefully wiped his nose, arranged the tongs and shovel, made
+the fire, pulled up the heels of his slippers, pulled out his little
+queue of hair which had lodged horizontally between the collar of his
+waistcoat and that of his dressing-gown restoring it to its
+perpendicular position; then he swept up the ashes of the hearth,
+which bore witness to a persistent catarrh. Finally, the old man did
+not settle himself till he had once more looked all over the room,
+hoping that nothing could give occasion to the saucy and impertinent
+remarks with which his daughter was apt to answer his good advice. On
+this occasion he was anxious not to compromise his dignity as a
+father. He daintily took a pinch of snuff, cleared his throat two or
+three times, as if he were about to demand a count out of the House;
+then he heard his daughter's light step, and she came in humming an
+air from Il Barbiere.
+
+"Good-morning, papa. What do you want with me so early?" Having sung
+these words, as though they were the refrain of the melody, she kissed
+the Count, not with the familiar tenderness which makes a daughter's
+love so sweet a thing, but with the light carelessness of a mistress
+confident of pleasing, whatever she may do.
+
+"My dear child," said Monsieur de Fontaine, gravely, "I sent for you
+to talk to you very seriously about your future prospects. You are at
+this moment under the necessity of making such a choice of a husband
+as may secure your durable happiness----"
+
+"My good father," replied Emilie, assuming her most coaxing tone of
+voice to interrupt him, "it strikes me that the armistice on which we
+agreed as to my suitors is not yet expired."
+
+"Emilie, we must to-day forbear from jesting on so important a matter.
+For some time past the efforts of those who most truly love you, my
+dear child, have been concentrated on the endeavor to settle you
+suitably; and you would be guilty of ingratitude in meeting with
+levity those proofs of kindness which I am not alone in lavishing on
+you."
+
+As she heard these words, after flashing a mischievously inquisitive
+look at the furniture of her father's study, the young girl brought
+forward the armchair which looked as if it had been least used by
+petitioners, set it at the side of the fireplace so as to sit facing
+her father, and settled herself in so solemn an attitude that it was
+impossible not to read in it a mocking intention, crossing her arms
+over the dainty trimmings of a pelerine a la neige, and ruthlessly
+crushing its endless frills of white tulle. After a laughing side
+glance at her old father's troubled face, she broke silence.
+
+"I never heard you say, my dear father, that the Government issued its
+instructions in its dressing-gown. However," and she smiled, "that
+does not matter; the mob are probably not particular. Now, what are
+your proposals for legislation, and your official introductions?"
+
+"I shall not always be able to make them, headstrong girl!--Listen,
+Emilie. It is my intention no longer to compromise my reputation,
+which is part of my children's fortune, by recruiting the regiment of
+dancers which, spring after spring, you put to rout. You have already
+been the cause of many dangerous misunderstandings with certain
+families. I hope to make you perceive more truly the difficulties of
+your position and of ours. You are two-and-twenty, my dear child, and
+you ought to have been married nearly three years since. Your brothers
+and your two sisters are richly and happily provided for. But, my
+dear, the expenses occasioned by these marriages, and the style of
+housekeeping you require of your mother, have made such inroads on our
+income that I can hardly promise you a hundred thousand francs as a
+marriage portion. From this day forth I shall think only of providing
+for your mother, who must not be sacrificed to her children. Emilie,
+if I were to be taken from my family Madame de Fontaine could not be
+left at anybody's mercy, and ought to enjoy the affluence which I have
+given her too late as the reward of her devotion in my misfortunes.
+You see, my child, that the amount of your fortune bears no relation
+to your notions of grandeur. Even that would be such a sacrifice as I
+have not hitherto made for either of my children; but they have
+generously agreed not to expect in the future any compensation for the
+advantage thus given to a too favored child."
+
+"In their position!" said Emilie, with an ironical toss of her head.
+
+"My dear, do not so depreciate those who love you. Only the poor are
+generous as a rule; the rich have always excellent reasons for not
+handing over twenty thousand francs to a relation. Come, my child, do
+not pout, let us talk rationally.--Among the young marrying men have
+you noticed Monsieur de Manerville?"
+
+"Oh, he minces his words--he says Zules instead of Jules; he is always
+looking at his feet, because he thinks them small, and he gazes at
+himself in the glass! Besides, he is fair. I don't like fair men."
+
+"Well, then, Monsieur de Beaudenord?"
+
+"He is not noble! he is ill made and stout. He is dark, it is true.
+--If the two gentlemen could agree to combine their fortunes, and the
+first would give his name and his figure to the second, who should
+keep his dark hair, then--perhaps----"
+
+"What can you say against Monsieur de Rastignac?"
+
+"Madame de Nucingen has made a banker of him," she said with meaning.
+
+"And our cousin, the Vicomte de Portenduere?"
+
+"A mere boy, who dances badly; besides, he has no fortune. And, after
+all, papa, none of these people have titles. I want, at least, to be a
+countess like my mother."
+
+"Have you seen no one, then, this winter----"
+
+"No, papa."
+
+"What then do you want?"
+
+"The son of a peer of France.
+
+"My dear girl, you are mad!" said Monsieur de Fontaine, rising.
+
+But he suddenly lifted his eyes to heaven, and seemed to find a fresh
+fount of resignation in some religious thought; then, with a look of
+fatherly pity at his daughter, who herself was moved, he took her
+hand, pressed it, and said with deep feeling: "God is my witness, poor
+mistaken child, I have conscientiously discharged my duty to you as a
+father--conscientiously, do I say? Most lovingly, my Emilie. Yes, God
+knows! This winter I have brought before you more than one good man,
+whose character, whose habits, and whose temper were known to me, and
+all seemed worthy of you. My child, my task is done. From this day
+forth you are the arbiter of your fate, and I consider myself both
+happy and unhappy at finding myself relieved of the heaviest of
+paternal functions. I know not whether you will for any long time,
+now, hear a voice which, to you, has never been stern; but remember
+that conjugal happiness does not rest so much on brilliant qualities
+and ample fortune as on reciprocal esteem. This happiness is, in its
+nature, modest, and devoid of show. So now, my dear, my consent is
+given beforehand, whoever the son-in-law may be whom you introduce to
+me; but if you should be unhappy, remember you will have no right to
+accuse your father. I shall not refuse to take proper steps and help
+you, only your choice must be serious and final. I will never twice
+compromise the respect due to my white hairs."
+
+The affection thus expressed by her father, the solemn tones of his
+urgent address, deeply touched Mademoiselle de Fontaine; but she
+concealed her emotion, seated herself on her father's knees--for he
+had dropped all tremulous into his chair again--caressed him fondly,
+and coaxed him so engagingly that the old man's brow cleared. As soon
+as Emilie thought that her father had got over his painful agitation,
+she said in a gentle voice: "I have to thank you for your graceful
+attention, my dear father. You have had your room set in order to
+receive your beloved daughter. You did not perhaps know that you would
+find her so foolish and so headstrong. But, papa, is it so difficult
+to get married to a peer of France? You declared that they were
+manufactured by dozens. At least, you will not refuse to advise me."
+
+"No, my poor child, no;--and more than once I may have occasion to
+cry, 'Beware!' Remember that the making of peers is so recent a force
+in our government machinery that they have no great fortunes. Those
+who are rich look to becoming richer. The wealthiest member of our
+peerage has not half the income of the least rich lord in the English
+Upper Chamber. Thus all the French peers are on the lookout for great
+heiresses for their sons, wherever they may meet with them. The
+necessity in which they find themselves of marrying for money will
+certainly exist for at least two centuries.
+
+"Pending such a fortunate accident as you long for--and this
+fastidiousness may cost you the best years of your life--your
+attractions might work a miracle, for men often marry for love in
+these days. When experience lurks behind so sweet a face as yours it
+may achieve wonders. In the first place, have you not the gift of
+recognizing virtue in the greater or smaller dimensions of a man's
+body? This is no small matter! To so wise a young person as you are, I
+need not enlarge on all the difficulties of the enterprise. I am sure
+that you would never attribute good sense to a stranger because he had
+a handsome face, or all the virtues because he had a fine figure. And
+I am quite of your mind in thinking that the sons of peers ought to
+have an air peculiar to themselves, and perfectly distinctive manners.
+Though nowadays no external sign stamps a man of rank, those young men
+will have, perhaps, to you the indefinable something that will reveal
+it. Then, again, you have your heart well in hand, like a good
+horseman who is sure his steed cannot bolt. Luck be with you, my
+dear!"
+
+"You are making game of me, papa. Well, I assure you that I would
+rather die in Mademoiselle de Conde's convent than not be the wife of
+a peer of France."
+
+She slipped out of her father's arms, and proud of being her own
+mistress, went off singing the air of Cara non dubitare, in the
+"Matrimonio Segreto."
+
+As it happened, the family were that day keeping the anniversary of a
+family fete. At dessert Madame Planat, the Receiver-General's wife,
+spoke with some enthusiasm of a young American owning an immense
+fortune, who had fallen passionately in love with her sister, and made
+through her the most splendid proposals.
+
+"A banker, I rather think," observed Emilie carelessly. "I do not like
+money dealers."
+
+"But, Emilie," replied the Baron de Villaine, the husband of the
+Count's second daughter, "you do not like lawyers either; so that if
+you refuse men of wealth who have not titles, I do not quite see in
+what class you are to choose a husband."
+
+"Especially, Emilie, with your standard of slimness," added the
+Lieutenant-General.
+
+"I know what I want," replied the young lady.
+
+"My sister wants a fine name, a fine young man, fine prospects, and a
+hundred thousand francs a year," said the Baronne de Fontaine.
+"Monsieur de Marsay, for instance."
+
+"I know, my dear," retorted Emilie, "that I do not mean to make such a
+foolish marriage as some I have seen. Moreover, to put an end to these
+matrimonial discussions, I hereby declare that I shall look on anyone
+who talks to me of marriage as a foe to my peace of mind."
+
+An uncle of Emilie's, a vice-admiral, whose fortune had just been
+increased by twenty thousand francs a year in consequence of the Act
+of Indemnity, and a man of seventy, feeling himself privileged to say
+hard things to his grand-niece, on whom he doted, in order to mollify
+the bitter tone of the discussion now exclaimed:
+
+"Do not tease my poor little Emilie; don't you see she is waiting till
+the Duc de Bordeaux comes of age!"
+
+The old man's pleasantry was received with general laughter.
+
+"Take care I don't marry you, old fool!" replied the young girl, whose
+last words were happily drowned in the noise.
+
+"My dear children," said Madame de Fontaine, to soften this saucy
+retort, "Emilie, like you, will take no advice but her mother's."
+
+"Bless me! I shall take no advice but my own in a matter which
+concerns no one but myself," said Mademoiselle de Fontaine very
+distinctly.
+
+At this all eyes were turned to the head of the family. Every one
+seemed anxious as to what he would do to assert his dignity. The
+venerable gentleman enjoyed much consideration, not only in the world;
+happier than many fathers, he was also appreciated by his family, all
+its members having a just esteem for the solid qualities by which he
+had been able to make their fortunes. Hence he was treated with the
+deep respect which is shown by English families, and some aristocratic
+houses on the continent, to the living representatives of an ancient
+pedigree. Deep silence had fallen; and the guests looked alternately
+from the spoilt girl's proud and sulky pout to the severe faces of
+Monsieur and Madame de Fontaine.
+
+"I have made my daughter Emilie mistress of her own fate," was the
+reply spoken by the Count in a deep voice.
+
+Relations and guests gazed at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with mingled
+curiosity and pity. The words seemed to declare that fatherly
+affection was weary of the contest with a character that the whole
+family knew to be incorrigible. The sons-in-law muttered, and the
+brothers glanced at their wives with mocking smiles. From that moment
+every one ceased to take any interest in the haughty girl's prospects
+of marriage. Her old uncle was the only person who, as an old sailor,
+ventured to stand on her tack, and take her broadsides, without ever
+troubling himself to return her fire.
+
+When the fine weather was settled, and after the budget was voted, the
+whole family--a perfect example of the parliamentary families on the
+northern side of the Channel who have a footing in every government
+department, and ten votes in the House of Commons--flew away like a
+brood of young birds to the charming neighborhoods of Aulnay, Antony,
+and Chatenay. The wealthy Receiver-General had lately purchased in
+this part of the world a country-house for his wife, who remained in
+Paris only during the session. Though the fair Emilie despised the
+commonalty, her feeling was not carried so far as to scorn the
+advantages of a fortune acquired in a profession; so she accompanied
+her sister to the sumptuous villa, less out of affection for the
+members of her family who were visiting there, than because fashion
+has ordained that every woman who has any self-respect must leave
+Paris in the summer. The green seclusion of Sceaux answered to
+perfection the requirements of good style and of the duties of an
+official position.
+
+As it is extremely doubtful that the fame of the "Bal de Sceaux"
+should ever have extended beyond the borders of the Department of the
+Seine, it will be necessary to give some account of this weekly
+festivity, which at that time was important enough to threaten to
+become an institution. The environs of the little town of Sceaux enjoy
+a reputation due to the scenery, which is considered enchanting.
+Perhaps it is quite ordinary, and owes its fame only to the stupidity
+of the Paris townsfolk, who, emerging from the stony abyss in which
+they are buried, would find something to admire in the flats of La
+Beauce. However, as the poetic shades of Aulnay, the hillsides of
+Antony, and the valley of the Bieve are peopled with artists who have
+traveled far, by foreigners who are very hard to please, and by a
+great many pretty women not devoid of taste, it is to be supposed that
+the Parisians are right. But Sceaux possesses another attraction not
+less powerful to the Parisian. In the midst of a garden whence there
+are delightful views, stands a large rotunda open on all sides, with a
+light, spreading roof supported on elegant pillars. This rural
+baldachino shelters a dancing-floor. The most stuck-up landowners of
+the neighborhood rarely fail to make an excursion thither once or
+twice during the season, arriving at this rustic palace of Terpsichore
+either in dashing parties on horseback, or in the light and elegant
+carriages which powder the philosophical pedestrian with dust. The
+hope of meeting some women of fashion, and of being seen by them--and
+the hope, less often disappointed, of seeing young peasant girls, as
+wily as judges--crowds the ballroom at Sceaux with numerous swarms of
+lawyers' clerks, of the disciples of Aesculapius, and other youths
+whose complexions are kept pale and moist by the damp atmosphere of
+Paris back-shops. And a good many bourgeois marriages have had their
+beginning to the sound of the band occupying the centre of this
+circular ballroom. If that roof could speak, what love-stories could
+it not tell!
+
+This interesting medley gave the Sceaux balls at that time a spice of
+more amusement than those of two or three places of the same kind near
+Paris; and it had incontestable advantages in its rotunda, and the
+beauty of its situation and its gardens. Emilie was the first to
+express a wish to play at being COMMON FOLK at this gleeful suburban
+entertainment, and promised herself immense pleasure in mingling with
+the crowd. Everybody wondered at her desire to wander through such a
+mob; but is there not a keen pleasure to grand people in an incognito?
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine amused herself with imagining all these
+town-bred figures; she fancied herself leaving the memory of a
+bewitching glance and smile stamped on more than one shopkeeper's heart,
+laughed beforehand at the damsels' airs, and sharpened her pencils for
+the scenes she proposed to sketch in her satirical album. Sunday could
+not come soon enough to satisfy her impatience.
+
+The party from the Villa Planat set out on foot, so as not to betray
+the rank of the personages who were about to honor the ball with their
+presence. They dined early. And the month of May humored this
+aristocratic escapade by one of its finest evenings. Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine was quite surprised to find in the rotunda some quadrilles
+made up of persons who seemed to belong to the upper classes. Here and
+there, indeed, were some young men who look as though they must have
+saved for a month to shine for a day; and she perceived several
+couples whose too hearty glee suggested nothing conjugal; still, she
+could only glean instead of gathering a harvest. She was amused to see
+that pleasure in a cotton dress was so very like pleasure robed in
+satin, and that the girls of the middle class danced quite as well as
+ladies--nay, sometimes better. Most of the women were simply and
+suitably dressed. Those who in this assembly represented the ruling
+power, that is to say, the country-folk, kept apart with wonderful
+politeness. In fact, Mademoiselle Emilie had to study the various
+elements that composed the mixture before she could find any subject
+for pleasantry. But she had not time to give herself up to malicious
+criticism, or opportunity for hearing many of the startling speeches
+which caricaturists so gladly pick up. The haughty young lady suddenly
+found a flower in this wide field--the metaphor is reasonable--whose
+splendor and coloring worked on her imagination with all the
+fascination of novelty. It often happens that we look at a dress, a
+hanging, a blank sheet of paper, with so little heed that we do not at
+first detect a stain or a bright spot which afterwards strikes the eye
+as though it had come there at the very instant when we see it; and by
+a sort of moral phenomenon somewhat resembling this, Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine discovered in a young man the external perfection of which
+she had so long dreamed.
+
+Seated on one of the clumsy chairs which marked the boundary line of
+the circular floor, she had placed herself at the end of the row
+formed by the family party, so as to be able to stand up or push
+forward as her fancy moved her, treating the living pictures and
+groups in the hall as if she were in a picture gallery; impertinently
+turning her eye-glass on persons not two yards away, and making her
+remarks as though she were criticising or praising a study of a head,
+a painting of genre. Her eyes, after wandering over the vast moving
+picture, were suddenly caught by this figure, which seemed to have
+been placed on purpose in one corner of the canvas, and in the best
+light, like a person out of all proportion with the rest.
+
+The stranger, alone and absorbed in thought, leaned lightly against
+one of the columns that supported the roof; his arms were folded, and
+he leaned slightly on one side as though he had placed himself there
+to have his portrait taken by a painter. His attitude, though full of
+elegance and dignity, was devoid of affectation. Nothing suggested
+that he had half turned his head, and bent it a little to the right
+like Alexander, or Lord Byron, and some other great men, for the sole
+purpose of attracting attention. His fixed gaze followed a girl who
+was dancing, and betrayed some strong feeling. His slender, easy frame
+recalled the noble proportions of the Apollo. Fine black hair curled
+naturally over a high forehead. At a glance Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+observed that his linen was fine, his gloves fresh, and evidently
+bought of a good maker, and his feet were small and well shod in boots
+of Irish kid. He had none of the vulgar trinkets displayed by the
+dandies of the National Guard or the Lovelaces of the counting-house.
+A black ribbon, to which an eye-glass was attached, hung over a
+waistcoat of the most fashionable cut. Never had the fastidious Emilie
+seen a man's eyes shaded by such long, curled lashes. Melancholy and
+passion were expressed in this face, and the complexion was of a manly
+olive hue. His mouth seemed ready to smile, unbending the corners of
+eloquent lips; but this, far from hinting at gaiety, revealed on the
+contrary a sort of pathetic grace. There was too much promise in that
+head, too much distinction in his whole person, to allow of one's
+saying, "What a handsome man!" or "What a fine man!" One wanted to
+know him. The most clear-sighted observer, on seeing this stranger,
+could not have helped taking him for a clever man attracted to this
+rural festivity by some powerful motive.
+
+All these observations cost Emilie only a minute's attention, during
+which the privileged gentleman under her severe scrutiny became the
+object of her secret admiration. She did not say to herself, "He must
+be a peer of France!" but "Oh, if only he is noble, and he surely must
+be----" Without finishing her thought, she suddenly rose, and followed
+by her brother the General, she made her way towards the column,
+affecting to watch the merry quadrille; but by a stratagem of the eye,
+familiar to women, she lost not a gesture of the young man as she went
+towards him. The stranger politely moved to make way for the
+newcomers, and went to lean against another pillar. Emilie, as much
+nettled by his politeness as she might have been by an impertinence,
+began talking to her brother in a louder voice than good taste
+enjoined; she turned and tossed her head, gesticulated eagerly, and
+laughed for no particular reason, less to amuse her brother than to
+attract the attention of the imperturbable stranger. None of her
+little arts succeeded. Mademoiselle de Fontaine then followed the
+direction in which his eyes were fixed, and discovered the cause of
+his indifference.
+
+In the midst of the quadrille, close in front of them, a pale girl was
+dancing; her face was like one of the divinities which Girodet has
+introduced into his immense composition of French Warriors received by
+Ossian. Emilie fancied that she recognized her as a distinguished
+milady who for some months had been living on a neighboring estate.
+Her partner was a lad of about fifteen, with red hands, and dressed in
+nankeen trousers, a blue coat, and white shoes, which showed that the
+damsel's love of dancing made her easy to please in the matter of
+partners. Her movements did not betray her apparent delicacy, but a
+faint flush already tinged her white cheeks, and her complexion was
+gaining color. Mademoiselle de Fontaine went nearer, to be able to
+examine the young lady at the moment when she returned to her place,
+while the side couples in their turn danced the figure. But the
+stranger went up to the pretty dancer, and leaning over, said in a
+gentle but commanding tone:
+
+"Clara, my child, do not dance any more."
+
+Clara made a little pouting face, bent her head, and finally smiled.
+When the dance was over, the young man wrapped her in a cashmere shawl
+with a lover's care, and seated her in a place sheltered from the
+wind. Very soon Mademoiselle de Fontaine, seeing them rise and walk
+round the place as if preparing to leave, found means to follow them
+under pretence of admiring the views from the garden. Her brother lent
+himself with malicious good-humor to the divagations of her rather
+eccentric wanderings. Emilie then saw the attractive couple get into
+an elegant tilbury, by which stood a mounted groom in livery. At the
+moment when, from his high seat, the young man was drawing the reins
+even, she caught a glance from his eye such as a man casts aimlessly
+at the crowd; and then she enjoyed the feeble satisfaction of seeing
+him turn his head to look at her. The young lady did the same. Was it
+from jealousy?
+
+"I imagine you have now seen enough of the garden," said her brother.
+"We may go back to the dancing."
+
+"I am ready," said she. "Do you think the girl can be a relation of
+Lady Dudley's?"
+
+"Lady Dudley may have some male relation staying with her," said the
+Baron de Fontaine; "but a young girl!--No!"
+
+Next day Mademoiselle de Fontaine expressed a wish to take a ride.
+Then she gradually accustomed her old uncle and her brothers to
+escorting her in very early rides, excellent, she declared for her
+health. She had a particular fancy for the environs of the hamlet
+where Lady Dudley was living. Notwithstanding her cavalry manoeuvres,
+she did not meet the stranger so soon as the eager search she pursued
+might have allowed her to hope. She went several times to the "Bal de
+Sceaux" without seeing the young Englishman who had dropped from the
+skies to pervade and beautify her dreams. Though nothing spurs on a
+young girl's infant passion so effectually as an obstacle, there was a
+time when Mademoiselle de Fontaine was on the point of giving up her
+strange and secret search, almost despairing of the success of an
+enterprise whose singularity may give some idea of the boldness of her
+temper. In point of fact, she might have wandered long about the
+village of Chatenay without meeting her Unknown. The fair Clara--since
+that was the name Emilie had overheard--was not English, and the
+stranger who escorted her did not dwell among the flowery and fragrant
+bowers of Chatenay.
+
+One evening Emilie, out riding with her uncle, who, during the fine
+weather, had gained a fairly long truce from the gout, met Lady
+Dudley. The distinguished foreigner had with her in her open carriage
+Monsieur Vandenesse. Emilie recognized the handsome couple, and her
+suppositions were at once dissipated like a dream. Annoyed, as any
+woman must be whose expectations are frustrated, she touched up her
+horse so suddenly that her uncle had the greatest difficulty in
+following her, she had set off at such a pace.
+
+"I am too old, it would seem, to understand these youthful spirits,"
+said the old sailor to himself as he put his horse to a canter; "or
+perhaps young people are not what they used to be. But what ails my
+niece? Now she is walking at a foot-pace like a gendarme on patrol in
+the Paris streets. One might fancy she wanted to outflank that worthy
+man, who looks to me like an author dreaming over his poetry, for he
+has, I think, a notebook in his hand. My word, I am a great simpleton!
+Is not that the very young man we are in search of!"
+
+At this idea the old admiral moderated his horse's pace so as to
+follow his niece without making any noise. He had played too many
+pranks in the years 1771 and soon after, a time of our history when
+gallantry was held in honor, not to guess at once that by the merest
+chance Emilie had met the Unknown of the Sceaux gardens. In spite of
+the film which age had drawn over his gray eyes, the Comte de
+Kergarouet could recognize the signs of extreme agitation in his
+niece, under the unmoved expression she tried to give to her features.
+The girl's piercing eyes were fixed in a sort of dull amazement on the
+stranger, who quietly walked on in front of her.
+
+"Ay, that's it," thought the sailor. "She is following him as a pirate
+follows a merchantman. Then, when she has lost sight of him, she will
+be in despair at not knowing who it is she is in love with, and
+whether he is a marquis or a shopkeeper. Really these young heads need
+an old fogy like me always by their side . . ."
+
+He unexpectedly spurred his horse in such a way as to make his niece's
+bolt, and rode so hastily between her and the young man on foot that
+he obliged him to fall back on to the grassy bank which rose from the
+roadside. Then, abruptly drawing up, the Count exclaimed:
+
+"Couldn't you get out of the way?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, monsieur. But I did not know that it lay with me
+to apologize to you because you almost rode me down."
+
+"There, enough of that, my good fellow!" replied the sailor harshly,
+in a sneering tone that was nothing less than insulting. At the same
+time the Count raised his hunting-crop as if to strike his horse, and
+touched the young fellow's shoulder, saying, "A liberal citizen is a
+reasoner; every reasoner should be prudent."
+
+The young man went up the bankside as he heard the sarcasm; then he
+crossed his arms, and said in an excited tone of voice, "I cannot
+suppose, monsieur, as I look at your white hairs, that you still amuse
+yourself by provoking duels----"
+
+"White hairs!" cried the sailor, interrupting him. "You lie in your
+throat. They are only gray."
+
+A quarrel thus begun had in a few seconds become so fierce that the
+younger man forgot the moderation he had tried to preserve. Just as
+the Comte de Kergarouet saw his niece coming back to them with every
+sign of the greatest uneasiness, he told his antagonist his name,
+bidding him keep silence before the young lady entrusted to his care.
+The stranger could not help smiling as he gave a visiting card to the
+old man, desiring him to observe that he was living at a country-house
+at Chevreuse; and, after pointing this out to him, he hurried away.
+
+"You very nearly damaged that poor young counter-jumper, my dear,"
+said the Count, advancing hastily to meet Emilie. "Do you not know how
+to hold your horse in?--And there you leave me to compromise my
+dignity in order to screen your folly; whereas if you had but stopped,
+one of your looks, or one of your pretty speeches--one of those you
+can make so prettily when you are not pert--would have set everything
+right, even if you had broken his arm."
+
+"But, my dear uncle, it was your horse, not mine, that caused the
+accident. I really think you can no longer ride; you are not so good a
+horseman as you were last year.--But instead of talking nonsense----"
+
+"Nonsense, by Gad! Is it nothing to be so impertinent to your uncle?"
+
+"Ought we not to go on and inquire if the young man is hurt? He is
+limping, uncle, only look!"
+
+"No, he is running; I rated him soundly."
+
+"Oh, yes, uncle; I know you there!"
+
+"Stop," said the Count, pulling Emilie's horse by the bridle, "I do
+not see the necessity of making advances to some shopkeeper who is
+only too lucky to have been thrown down by a charming young lady, or
+the commander of La Belle-Poule."
+
+"Why do you think he is anything so common, my dear uncle? He seems to
+me to have very fine manners."
+
+"Every one has manners nowadays, my dear."
+
+"No, uncle, not every one has the air and style which come of the
+habit of frequenting drawing-rooms, and I am ready to lay a bet with
+you that the young man is of noble birth."
+
+"You had not long to study him."
+
+"No, but it is not the first time I have seen him."
+
+"Nor is it the first time you have looked for him," replied the
+admiral with a laugh.
+
+Emilie colored. Her uncle amused himself for some time with her
+embarrassment; then he said: "Emilie, you know that I love you as my
+own child, precisely because you are the only member of the family who
+has the legitimate pride of high birth. Devil take it, child, who
+could have believed that sound principles would become so rare? Well,
+I will be your confidant. My dear child, I see that his young
+gentleman is not indifferent to you. Hush! All the family would laugh
+at us if we sailed under the wrong flag. You know what that means. We
+two will keep our secret, and I promise to bring him straight into the
+drawing-room."
+
+"When, uncle?"
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+"But, my dear uncle, I am not committed to anything?"
+
+"Nothing whatever, and you may bombard him, set fire to him, and leave
+him to founder like an old hulk if you choose. He won't be the first,
+I fancy?"
+
+"You ARE kind, uncle!"
+
+As soon as the Count got home he put on his glasses, quietly took the
+card out of his pocket, and read, "Maximilien Longueville, Rue de
+Sentier."
+
+"Make yourself happy, my dear niece," he said to Emilie, "you may hook
+him with any easy conscience; he belongs to one of our historical
+families, and if he is not a peer of France, he infallibly will be."
+
+"How do you know so much?"
+
+"That is my secret."
+
+"Then do you know his name?"
+
+The old man bowed his gray head, which was not unlike a gnarled
+oak-stump, with a few leaves fluttering about it, withered by autumnal
+frosts; and his niece immediately began to try the ever-new power of
+her coquettish arts. Long familiar with the secret of cajoling the old
+man, she lavished on him the most childlike caresses, the tenderest
+names; she even went so far as to kiss him to induce him to divulge so
+important a secret. The old man, who spent his life in playing off
+these scenes on his niece, often paying for them with a present of
+jewelry, or by giving her his box at the opera, this time amused
+himself with her entreaties, and, above all, her caresses. But as he
+spun out this pleasure too long, Emilie grew angry, passed from
+coaxing to sarcasm and sulks; then, urged by curiosity, she recovered
+herself. The diplomatic admiral extracted a solemn promise from his
+niece that she would for the future be gentler, less noisy, and less
+wilful, that she would spend less, and, above all, tell him
+everything. The treaty being concluded, and signed by a kiss impressed
+on Emilie's white brow, he led her into a corner of the room, drew her
+on to his knee, held the card under the thumbs so as to hide it, and
+then uncovered the letters one by one, spelling the name of
+Longueville; but he firmly refused to show her anything more.
+
+This incident added to the intensity of Mademoiselle de Fontaine's
+secret sentiment, and during chief part of the night she evolved the
+most brilliant pictures from the dreams with which she had fed her
+hopes. At last, thanks to chance, to which she had so often appealed,
+Emilie could now see something very unlike a chimera at the
+fountain-head of the imaginary wealth with which she gilded her married
+life. Ignorant, as all young girls are, of the perils of love and
+marriage, she was passionately captivated by the externals of marriage
+and love. Is not this as much as to say that her feeling had birth like
+all the feelings of extreme youth--sweet but cruel mistakes, which exert
+a fatal influence on the lives of young girls so inexperienced as to
+trust their own judgment to take care of their future happiness?
+
+Next morning, before Emilie was awake, her uncle had hastened to
+Chevreuse. On recognizing, in the courtyard of an elegant little
+villa, the young man he had so determinedly insulted the day before,
+he went up to him with the pressing politeness of men of the old
+court.
+
+"Why, my dear sir, who could have guessed that I should have a brush,
+at the age of seventy-three, with the son, or the grandson, of one of
+my best friends. I am a vice-admiral, monsieur; is not that as much as
+to say that I think no more of fighting a duel than of smoking a
+cigar? Why, in my time, no two young men could be intimate till they
+had seen the color of their blood! But 'sdeath, sir, last evening,
+sailor-like, I had taken a drop too much grog on board, and I ran you
+down. Shake hands; I would rather take a hundred rebuffs from a
+Longueville than cause his family the smallest regret."
+
+However coldly the young man tried to behave to the Comte de
+Kergarouet, he could not resist the frank cordiality of his manner,
+and presently gave him his hand.
+
+"You were going out riding," said the Count. "Do not let me detain
+you. But, unless you have other plans, I beg you will come to dinner
+to-day at the Villa Planat. My nephew, the Comte de Fontaine, is a man
+it is essential that you should know. Ah, ha! And I propose to make up
+to you for my clumsiness by introducing you to five of the prettiest
+women in Paris. So, so, young man, your brow is clearing! I am fond of
+young people, and I like to see them happy. Their happiness reminds me
+of the good times of my youth, when adventures were not lacking, any
+more than duels. We were gay dogs then! Nowadays you think and worry
+over everything, as though there had never been a fifteenth and a
+sixteenth century."
+
+"But, monsieur, are we not in the right? The sixteenth century only
+gave religious liberty to Europe, and the nineteenth will give it
+political lib----"
+
+"Oh, we will not talk politics. I am a perfect old woman--ultra you
+see. But I do not hinder young men from being revolutionary, so long
+as they leave the King at liberty to disperse their assemblies."
+
+When they had gone a little way, and the Count and his companion were
+in the heart of the woods, the old sailor pointed out a slender young
+birch sapling, pulled up his horse, took out one of his pistols, and
+the bullet was lodged in the heart of the tree, fifteen paces away.
+
+"You see, my dear fellow, that I am not afraid of a duel," he said
+with comical gravity, as he looked at Monsieur Longueville.
+
+"Nor am I," replied the young man, promptly cocking his pistol; he
+aimed at the hole made by the Comte's bullet, and sent his own close
+to it.
+
+"That is what I call a well-educated man," cried the admiral with
+enthusiasm.
+
+During this ride with the youth, whom he already regarded as his
+nephew, he found endless opportunities of catechizing him on all the
+trifles of which a perfect knowledge constituted, according to his
+private code, an accomplished gentleman.
+
+"Have you any debts?" he at last asked of his companion, after many
+other inquiries.
+
+"No, monsieur."
+
+"What, you pay for all you have?"
+
+"Punctually; otherwise we should lose our credit, and every sort of
+respect."
+
+"But at least you have more than one mistress? Ah, you blush, comrade!
+Well, manners have changed. All these notions of lawful order,
+Kantism, and liberty have spoilt the young men. You have no Guimard
+now, no Duthe, no creditors--and you know nothing of heraldry; why, my
+dear young friend, you are not fully fledged. The man who does not sow
+his wild oats in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but
+eighty thousand francs a year at the age of seventy, it is because I
+ran through the capital at thirty. Oh! with my wife--in decency and
+honor. However, your imperfections will not interfere with my
+introducing you at the Pavillon Planat. Remember, you have promised to
+come, and I shall expect you."
+
+"What an odd little old man!" said Longueville to himself. "He is so
+jolly and hale; but though he wishes to seem a good fellow, I will not
+trust him too far."
+
+Next day, at about four o'clock, when the house party were dispersed
+in the drawing-rooms and billiard-room, a servant announced to the
+inhabitants of the Villa Planat, "Monsieur DE Longueville." On hearing
+the name of the old admiral's protege, every one, down to the player
+who was about to miss his stroke, rushed in, as much to study
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine's countenance as to judge of this phoenix of
+men, who had earned honorable mention to the detriment of so many
+rivals. A simple but elegant style of dress, an air of perfect ease,
+polite manners, a pleasant voice with a ring in it which found a
+response in the hearer's heart-strings, won the good-will of the
+family for Monsieur Longueville. He did not seem unaccustomed to the
+luxury of the Receiver-General's ostentatious mansion. Though his
+conversation was that of a man of the world, it was easy to discern
+that he had had a brilliant education, and that his knowledge was as
+thorough as it was extensive. He knew so well the right thing to say
+in a discussion on naval architecture, trivial, it is true, started by
+the old admiral, that one of the ladies remarked that he must have
+passed through the Ecole Polytechnique.
+
+"And I think, madame," he replied, "that I may regard it as an honor
+to have got in."
+
+In spite of urgent pressing, he refused politely but firmly to be kept
+to dinner, and put an end to the persistency of the ladies by saying
+that he was the Hippocrates of his young sister, whose delicate health
+required great care.
+
+"Monsieur is perhaps a medical man?" asked one of Emilie's
+sisters-in-law with ironical meaning.
+
+"Monsieur has left the Ecole Polytechnique," Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+kindly put in; her face had flushed with richer color, as she learned
+that the young lady of the ball was Monsieur Longueville's sister.
+
+"But, my dear, he may be a doctor and yet have been to the Ecole
+Polytechnique--is it not so, monsieur?"
+
+"There is nothing to prevent it, madame," replied the young man.
+
+Every eye was on Emilie, who was gazing with uneasy curiosity at the
+fascinating stranger. She breathed more freely when he added, not
+without a smile, "I have not the honor of belonging to the medical
+profession; and I even gave up going into the Engineers in order to
+preserve my independence."
+
+"And you did well," said the Count. "But how can you regard it as an
+honor to be a doctor?" added the Breton nobleman. "Ah, my young
+friend, such a man as you----"
+
+"Monsieur le Comte, I respect every profession that has a useful
+purpose."
+
+"Well, in that we agree. You respect those professions, I imagine, as
+a young man respects a dowager."
+
+Monsieur Longueville made his visit neither too long nor too short. He
+left at the moment when he saw that he had pleased everybody, and that
+each one's curiosity about him had been roused.
+
+"He is a cunning rascal!" said the Count, coming into the drawing-room
+after seeing him to the door.
+
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine, who had been in the secret of this call, had
+dressed with some care to attract the young man's eye; but she had the
+little disappointment of finding that he did not bestow on her so much
+attention as she thought she deserved. The family were a good deal
+surprised at the silence into which she had retired. Emilie generally
+displayed all her arts for the benefit of newcomers, her witty
+prattle, and the inexhaustible eloquence of her eyes and attitudes.
+Whether it was that the young man's pleasing voice and attractive
+manners had charmed her, that she was seriously in love, and that this
+feeling had worked a change in her, her demeanor had lost all its
+affectations. Being simple and natural, she must, no doubt, have
+seemed more beautiful. Some of her sisters, and an old lady, a friend
+of the family, saw in this behavior a refinement of art. They supposed
+that Emilie, judging the man worthy of her, intended to delay
+revealing her merits, so as to dazzle him suddenly when she found that
+she pleased him. Every member of the family was curious to know what
+this capricious creature thought of the stranger; but when, during
+dinner, every one chose to endow Monsieur Longueville with some fresh
+quality which no one else had discovered, Mademoiselle de Fontaine sat
+for some time in silence. A sarcastic remark of her uncle's suddenly
+roused her from her apathy; she said, somewhat epigrammatically, that
+such heavenly perfection must cover some great defect, and that she
+would take good care how she judged so gifted a man at first sight.
+
+"Those who please everybody, please nobody," she added; "and the worst
+of all faults is to have none."
+
+Like all girls who are in love, Emilie cherished the hope of being
+able to hide her feelings at the bottom of her heart by putting the
+Argus-eyes that watched on the wrong tack; but by the end of a
+fortnight there was not a member of the large family party who was not
+in this little domestic secret. When Monsieur Longueville called for
+the third time, Emilie believed it was chiefly for her sake. This
+discovery gave her such intoxicating pleasure that she was startled as
+she reflected on it. There was something in it very painful to her
+pride. Accustomed as she was to be the centre of her world, she was
+obliged to recognize a force that attracted her outside herself; she
+tried to resist, but she could not chase from her heart the
+fascinating image of the young man.
+
+Then came some anxiety. Two of Monsieur Longueville's qualities, very
+adverse to general curiosity, and especially to Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine's, were unexpected modesty and discretion. He never spoke of
+himself, of his pursuits, or of his family. The hints Emilie threw out
+in conversation, and the traps she laid to extract from the young
+fellow some facts concerning himself, he could evade with the
+adroitness of a diplomatist concealing a secret. If she talked of
+painting, he responded as a connoisseur; if she sat down to play, he
+showed without conceit that he was a very good pianist; one evening he
+delighted all the party by joining his delightful voice to Emilie's in
+one of Cimarosa's charming duets. But when they tried to find out
+whether he were a professional singer, he baffled them so pleasantly
+that he did not afford these women, practised as they were in the art
+of reading feelings, the least chance of discovering to what social
+sphere he belonged. However boldly the old uncle cast the
+boarding-hooks over the vessel, Longueville slipped away cleverly, so
+as to preserve the charm of mystery; and it was easy to him to remain
+the "handsome Stranger" at the Villa, because curiosity never
+overstepped the bounds of good breeding.
+
+Emilie, distracted by this reserve, hoped to get more out of the
+sister than the brother, in the form of confidences. Aided by her
+uncle, who was as skilful in such manoeuvres as in handling a ship,
+she endeavored to bring upon the scene the hitherto unseen figure of
+Mademoiselle Clara Longueville. The family party at the Villa Planat
+soon expressed the greatest desire to make the acquaintance of so
+amiable a young lady, and to give her some amusement. An informal
+dance was proposed and accepted. The ladies did not despair of making
+a young girl of sixteen talk.
+
+Notwithstanding the little clouds piled up by suspicion and created by
+curiosity, a light of joy shone in Emilie's soul, for she found life
+delicious when thus intimately connected with another than herself.
+She began to understand the relations of life. Whether it is that
+happiness makes us better, or that she was too fully occupied to
+torment other people, she became less caustic, more gentle, and
+indulgent. This change in her temper enchanted and amazed her family.
+Perhaps, at last, her selfishness was being transformed to love. It
+was a deep delight to her to look for the arrival of her bashful and
+unconfessed adorer. Though they had not uttered a word of passion, she
+knew that she was loved, and with what art did she not lead the
+stranger to unlock the stores of his information, which proved to be
+varied! She perceived that she, too, was being studied, and that made
+her endeavor to remedy the defects her education had encouraged. Was
+not this her first homage to love, and a bitter reproach to herself?
+She desired to please, and she was enchanting; she loved, and she was
+idolized. Her family, knowing that her pride would sufficiently
+protect her, gave her enough freedom to enjoy the little childish
+delights which give to first love its charm and its violence. More
+than once the young man and Mademoiselle de Fontaine walked,
+tete-a-tete, in the avenues of the garden, where nature was dressed like
+a woman going to a ball. More than once they had those conversations,
+aimless and meaningless, in which the emptiest phrases are those which
+cover the deepest feelings. They often admired together the setting
+sun and its gorgeous coloring. They gathered daisies to pull the
+petals off, and sang the most impassioned duets, using the notes set
+down by Pergolesi or Rossini as faithful interpreters to express their
+secrets.
+
+The day of the dance came. Clara Longueville and her brother, whom the
+servants persisted in honoring with the noble DE, were the principle
+guests. For the first time in her life Mademoiselle de Fontaine felt
+pleasure in a young girl's triumph. She lavished on Clara in all
+sincerity the gracious petting and little attentions which women
+generally give each other only to excite the jealousy of men. Emilie,
+had, indeed, an object in view; she wanted to discover some secrets.
+But, being a girl, Mademoiselle Longueville showed even more
+mother-wit than her brother, for she did not even look as if she were
+hiding a secret, and kept the conversation to subjects unconnected with
+personal interests, while, at the same time, she gave it so much charm
+that Mademoiselle de Fontaine was almost envious, and called her "the
+Siren." Though Emilie had intended to make Clara talk, it was Clara,
+in fact, who questioned Emilie; she had meant to judge her, and she
+was judged by her; she was constantly provoked to find that she had
+betrayed her own character in some reply which Clara had extracted
+from her, while her modest and candid manner prohibited any suspicion
+of perfidy. There was a moment when Mademoiselle de Fontaine seemed
+sorry for an ill-judged sally against the commonalty to which Clara
+had led her.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said the sweet child, "I have heard so much of you
+from Maximilien that I had the keenest desire to know you, out of
+affection for him; but is not a wish to know you a wish to love you?"
+
+"My dear Clara, I feared I might have displeased you by speaking thus
+of people who are not of noble birth."
+
+"Oh, be quite easy. That sort of discussion is pointless in these
+days. As for me, it does not affect me. I am beside the question."
+
+Ambitious as the answer might seem, it filled Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+with the deepest joy; for, like all infatuated people, she explained
+it, as oracles are explained, in the sense that harmonized with her
+wishes; she began dancing again in higher spirits than ever, as she
+watched Longueville, whose figure and grace almost surpassed those of
+her imaginary ideal. She felt added satisfaction in believing him to
+be well born, her black eyes sparkled, and she danced with all the
+pleasure that comes of dancing in the presence of the being we love.
+The couple had never understood each other as well as at this moment;
+more than once they felt their finger tips thrill and tremble as they
+were married in the figures of the dance.
+
+The early autumn had come to the handsome pair, in the midst of
+country festivities and pleasures; they had abandoned themselves
+softly to the tide of the sweetest sentiment in life, strengthening it
+by a thousand little incidents which any one can imagine; for love is
+in some respects always the same. They studied each other through it
+all, as much as lovers can.
+
+"Well, well; a flirtation never turned so quickly into a love match,"
+said the old uncle, who kept an eye on the two young people as a
+naturalist watches an insect in the microscope.
+
+The speech alarmed Monsieur and Madame Fontaine. The old Vendeen had
+ceased to be so indifferent to his daughter's prospects as he had
+promised to be. He went to Paris to seek information, and found none.
+Uneasy at this mystery, and not yet knowing what might be the outcome
+of the inquiry which he had begged a Paris friend to institute with
+reference to the family of Longueville, he thought it his duty to warn
+his daughter to behave prudently. The fatherly admonition was received
+with mock submission spiced with irony.
+
+"At least, my dear Emilie, if you love him, do not own it to him."
+
+"My dear father, I certainly do love him; but I will await your
+permission before I tell him so."
+
+"But remember, Emilie, you know nothing of his family or his
+pursuits."
+
+"I may be ignorant, but I am content to be. But, father, you wished to
+see me married; you left me at liberty to make my choice; my choice is
+irrevocably made--what more is needful?"
+
+"It is needful to ascertain, my dear, whether the man of your choice
+is the son of a peer of France," the venerable gentleman retorted
+sarcastically.
+
+Emilie was silent for a moment. She presently raised her head, looked
+at her father, and said somewhat anxiously, "Are not the
+Longuevilles----?"
+
+"They became extinct in the person of the old Duc de Rostein-Limbourg,
+who perished on the scaffold in 1793. He was the last representative
+of the last and younger branch."
+
+"But, papa, there are some very good families descended from bastards.
+The history of France swarms with princes bearing the bar sinister on
+their shields."
+
+"Your ideas are much changed," said the old man, with a smile.
+
+The following day was the last that the Fontaine family were to spend
+at the Pavillon Planat. Emilie, greatly disturbed by her father's
+warning, awaited with extreme impatience the hour at which young
+Longueville was in the habit of coming, to wring some explanation from
+him. She went out after dinner, and walked alone across the shrubbery
+towards an arbor fit for lovers, where she knew that the eager youth
+would seek her; and as she hastened thither she considered of the best
+way to discover so important a matter without compromising herself--a
+rather difficult thing! Hitherto no direct avowal had sanctioned the
+feelings which bound her to this stranger. Like Maximilien, she had
+secretly enjoyed the sweetness of first love; but both were equally
+proud, and each feared to confess that love.
+
+Maximilien Longueville, to whom Clara had communicated her not
+unfounded suspicions as to Emilie's character, was by turns carried
+away by the violence of a young man's passion, and held back by a wish
+to know and test the woman to whom he would be entrusting his
+happiness. His love had not hindered him from perceiving in Emilie the
+prejudices which marred her young nature; but before attempting to
+counteract them, he wished to be sure that she loved him, for he would
+no sooner risk the fate of his love than of his life. He had,
+therefore, persistently kept a silence to which his looks, his
+behavior, and his smallest actions gave the lie.
+
+On her side, the self-respect natural to a young girl, augmented in
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine by the monstrous vanity founded on her birth
+and beauty, kept her from meeting the declaration half-way, which her
+growing passion sometimes urged her to invite. Thus the lovers had
+instinctively understood the situation without explaining to each
+other their secret motives. There are times in life when such
+vagueness pleases youthful minds. Just because each had postponed
+speaking too long, they seemed to be playing a cruel game of suspense.
+He was trying to discover whether he was beloved, by the effort any
+confession would cost his haughty mistress; she every minute hoped
+that he would break a too respectful silence.
+
+Emilie, seated on a rustic bench, was reflecting on all that had
+happened in these three months full of enchantment. Her father's
+suspicions were the last that could appeal to her; she even disposed
+of them at once by two or three of those reflections natural to an
+inexperienced girl, which, to her, seemed conclusive. Above all, she
+was convinced that it was impossible that she should deceive herself.
+All the summer through she had not been able to detect in Maximilien a
+single gesture, or a single word, which could indicate a vulgar origin
+or vulgar occupations; nay more, his manner of discussing things
+revealed a man devoted to the highest interests of the nation.
+"Besides," she reflected, "an office clerk, a banker, or a merchant,
+would not be at leisure to spend a whole season in paying his
+addresses to me in the midst of woods and fields; wasting his time as
+freely as a nobleman who has life before him free of all care."
+
+She had given herself up to meditations far more interesting to her
+than these preliminary thoughts, when a slight rustling in the leaves
+announced to her than Maximilien had been watching her for a minute,
+not probably without admiration.
+
+"Do you know that it is very wrong to take a young girl thus
+unawares?" she asked him, smiling.
+
+"Especially when they are busy with their secrets," replied Maximilien
+archly.
+
+"Why should I not have my secrets? You certainly have yours."
+
+"Then you really were thinking of your secrets?" he went on, laughing.
+
+"No, I was thinking of yours. My own, I know."
+
+"But perhaps my secrets are yours, and yours mine," cried the young
+man, softly seizing Mademoiselle de Fontaine's hand and drawing it
+through his arm.
+
+After walking a few steps they found themselves under a clump of trees
+which the hues of the sinking sun wrapped in a haze of red and brown.
+This touch of natural magic lent a certain solemnity to the moment.
+The young man's free and eager action, and, above all, the throbbing
+of his surging heart, whose hurried beating spoke to Emilie's arm,
+stirred her to an emotion that was all the more disturbing because it
+was produced by the simplest and most innocent circumstances. The
+restraint under which the young girls of the upper class live gives
+incredible force to any explosion of feeling, and to meet an
+impassioned lover is one of the greatest dangers they can encounter.
+Never had Emilie and Maximilien allowed their eyes to say so much that
+they dared never speak. Carried a way by this intoxication, they
+easily forgot the petty stipulations of pride, and the cold
+hesitancies of suspicion. At first, indeed, they could only express
+themselves by a pressure of hands which interpreted their happy
+thoughts.
+
+After slowing pacing a few steps in long silence, Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine spoke. "Monsieur, I have a question to ask you," she said
+trembling, and in an agitated voice. "But, remember, I beg, that it is
+in a manner compulsory on me, from the rather singular position I am
+in with regard to my family."
+
+A pause, terrible to Emilie, followed these sentences, which she had
+almost stammered out. During the minute while it lasted, the girl,
+haughty as she was, dared not meet the flashing eye of the man she
+loved, for she was secretly conscious of the meanness of the next
+words she added: "Are you of noble birth?"
+
+As soon as the words were spoken she wished herself at the bottom of a
+lake.
+
+"Mademoiselle," Longueville gravely replied, and his face assumed a
+sort of stern dignity, "I promise to answer you truly as soon as you
+shall have answered in all sincerity a question I will put to you!"
+--He released her arm, and the girl suddenly felt alone in the world, as
+he said: "What is your object in questioning me as to my birth?"
+
+She stood motionless, cold, and speechless.
+
+"Mademoiselle," Maximilien went on, "let us go no further if we do not
+understand each other. I love you," he said, in a voice of deep
+emotion. "Well, then," he added, as he heard the joyful exclamation
+she could not suppress, "why ask me if I am of noble birth?"
+
+"Could he speak so if he were not?" cried a voice within her, which
+Emilie believed came from the depths of her heart. She gracefully
+raised her head, seemed to find new life in the young man's gaze, and
+held out her hand as if to renew the alliance.
+
+"You thought I cared very much for dignities?" said she with keen
+archness.
+
+"I have no titles to offer my wife," he replied, in a half-sportive,
+half-serious tone. "But if I choose one of high rank, and among women
+whom a wealthy home has accustomed to the luxury and pleasures of a
+fine fortune, I know what such a choice requires of me. Love gives
+everything," he added lightly, "but only to lovers. Once married, they
+need something more than the vault of heaven and the carpet of a
+meadow."
+
+"He is rich," she reflected. "As to titles, perhaps he only wants to
+try me. He has been told that I am mad about titles, and bent on
+marrying none but a peer's son. My priggish sisters have played me
+that trick."--"I assure you, monsieur," she said aloud, "that I have
+had very extravagant ideas about life and the world; but now," she
+added pointedly, looking at him in a perfectly distracting way, "I
+know where true riches are to be found for a wife."
+
+"I must believe that you are speaking from the depths of your heart,"
+he said, with gentle gravity. "But this winter, my dear Emilie, in
+less than two months perhaps, I may be proud of what I shall have to
+offer you if you care for the pleasures of wealth. This is the only
+secret I shall keep locked here," and he laid his hand on his heart,
+"for on its success my happiness depends. I dare not say ours."
+
+"Yes, yes, ours!"
+
+Exchanging such sweet nothings, they slowly made their way back to
+rejoin the company. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had never found her lover
+more amiable or wittier: his light figure, his engaging manners,
+seemed to her more charming than ever, since the conversation which
+had made her to some extent the possessor of a heart worthy to be the
+envy of every woman. They sang an Italian duet with so much expression
+that the audience applauded enthusiastically. Their adieux were in a
+conventional tone, which concealed their happiness. In short, this day
+had been to Emilie like a chain binding her more closely than ever to
+the Stranger's fate. The strength and dignity he had displayed in the
+scene when they had confessed their feelings had perhaps impressed
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine with the respect without which there is no
+true love.
+
+When she was left alone in the drawing-room with her father, the old
+man went up to her affectionately, held her hands, and asked her
+whether she had gained any light at to Monsieur Longueville's family
+and fortune.
+
+"Yes, my dear father," she replied, "and I am happier than I could
+have hoped. In short, Monsieur de Longueville is the only man I could
+ever marry."
+
+"Very well, Emilie," said the Count, "then I know what remains for me
+to do."
+
+"Do you know of any impediment?" she asked, in sincere alarm.
+
+"My dear child, the young man is totally unknown to me; but unless he
+is not a man of honor, so long as you love him, he is as dear to me as
+a son."
+
+"Not a man of honor!" exclaimed Emilie. "As to that, I am quite easy.
+My uncle, who introduced him to us, will answer for him. Say, my dear
+uncle, has he been a filibuster, an outlaw, a pirate?"
+
+"I knew I should find myself in this fix!" cried the old sailor,
+waking up. He looked round the room, but his niece had vanished "like
+Saint-Elmo's fires," to use his favorite expression.
+
+"Well, uncle," Monsieur de Fontaine went on, "how could you hide from
+us all you knew about this young man? You must have seen how anxious
+we have been. Is Monsieur de Longueville a man of family?"
+
+"I don't know him from Adam or Eve," said the Comte de Kergarouet.
+"Trusting to that crazy child's tact, I got him here by a method of my
+own. I know that the boy shoots with a pistol to admiration, hunts
+well, plays wonderfully at billiards, at chess, and at backgammon; he
+handles the foils, and rides a horse like the late Chevalier de
+Saint-Georges. He has a thorough knowledge of all our vintages. He is
+as good an arithmetician as Bareme, draws, dances, and sings well. The
+devil's in it! what more do you want? If that is not a perfect
+gentleman, find me a bourgeois who knows all this, or any man who
+lives more nobly than he does. Does he do anything, I ask you? Does he
+compromise his dignity by hanging about an office, bowing down before
+the upstarts you call Directors-General? He walks upright. He is a
+man.--However, I have just found in my waistcoat pocket the card he
+gave me when he fancied I wanted to cut his throat, poor innocent.
+Young men are very simple-minded nowadays! Here it is."
+
+"Rue du Sentier, No. 5," said Monsieur de Fontaine, trying to recall
+among all the information he had received, something which might
+concern the stranger. "What the devil can it mean? Messrs. Palma,
+Werbrust & Co., wholesale dealers in muslins, calicoes, and printed
+cotton goods, live there.--Stay, I have it: Longueville the deputy has
+an interest in their house. Well, but so far as I know, Longueville
+has but one son of two-and-thirty, who is not at all like our man, and
+to whom he gave fifty thousand francs a year that he might marry a
+minister's daughter; he wants to be made a peer like the rest of 'em.
+--I never heard him mention this Maximilien. Has he a daughter? What
+is this girl Clara? Besides, it is open to any adventurer to call
+himself Longueville. But is not the house of Palma, Werbrust & Co.
+half ruined by some speculation in Mexico or the Indies? I will clear
+all this up."
+
+"You speak a soliloquy as if you were on the stage, and seem to
+account me a cipher," said the old admiral suddenly. "Don't you know
+that if he is a gentleman, I have more than one bag in my hold that
+will stop any leak in his fortune?"
+
+"As to that, if he is a son of Longueville's, he will want nothing;
+but," said Monsieur de Fontaine, shaking his head from side to side,
+"his father has not even washed off the stains of his origin. Before
+the Revolution he was an attorney, and the DE he has since assumed no
+more belongs to him than half of his fortune."
+
+"Pooh! pooh! happy those whose fathers were hanged!" cried the admiral
+gaily.
+
+
+
+Three or four days after this memorable day, on one of those fine
+mornings in the month of November, which show the boulevards cleaned
+by the sharp cold of an early frost, Mademoiselle de Fontaine, wrapped
+in a new style of fur cape, of which she wished to set the fashion,
+went out with two of her sisters-in-law, on whom she had been wont to
+discharge her most cutting remarks. The three women were tempted to
+the drive, less by their desire to try a very elegant carriage, and
+wear gowns which were to set the fashion for the winter, than by their
+wish to see a cape which a friend had observed in a handsome lace and
+linen shop at the corner of the Rue de la Paix. As soon as they were
+in the shop the Baronne de Fontaine pulled Emilie by the sleeve, and
+pointed out to her Maximilien Longueville seated behind the desk, and
+engaged in paying out the change for a gold piece to one of the
+workwomen with whom he seemed to be in consultation. The "handsome
+stranger" held in his hand a parcel of patterns, which left no doubt
+as to his honorable profession.
+
+Emilie felt an icy shudder, though no one perceived it. Thanks to the
+good breeding of the best society, she completely concealed the rage
+in her heart, and answered her sister-in-law with the words, "I knew
+it," with a fulness of intonation and inimitable decision which the
+most famous actress of the time might have envied her. She went
+straight up to the desk. Longueville looked up, put the patterns in
+his pocket with distracting coolness, bowed to Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine, and came forward, looking at her keenly.
+
+"Mademoiselle," he said to the shopgirl, who followed him, looking
+very much disturbed, "I will send to settle that account; my house
+deals in that way. But here," he whispered into her ear, as he gave
+her a thousand-franc note, "take this--it is between ourselves.--You
+will forgive me, I trust, mademoiselle," he added, turning to Emilie.
+"You will kindly excuse the tyranny of business matters."
+
+"Indeed, monsieur, it seems to me that it is no concern of mine,"
+replied Mademoiselle de Fontaine, looking at him with a bold
+expression of sarcastic indifference which might have made any one
+believe that she now saw him for the first time.
+
+"Do you really mean it?" asked Maximilien in a broken voice.
+
+Emilie turned her back upon him with amazing insolence. These words,
+spoken in an undertone, had escaped the ears of her two
+sisters-in-law. When, after buying the cape, the three ladies got into
+the carriage again, Emilie, seated with her back to the horses, could
+not resist one last comprehensive glance into the depths of the odious
+shop, where she saw Maximilien standing with his arms folded, in the
+attitude of a man superior to the disaster that has so suddenly fallen
+on him. Their eyes met and flashed implacable looks. Each hoped to
+inflict a cruel wound on the heart of a lover. In one instant they
+were as far apart as if one had been in China and the other in
+Greenland.
+
+Does not the breath of vanity wither everything? Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine, a prey to the most violent struggle that can torture the
+heart of a young girl, reaped the richest harvest of anguish that
+prejudice and narrow-mindedness ever sowed in a human soul. Her face,
+but just now fresh and velvety, was streaked with yellow lines and red
+patches; the paleness of her cheeks seemed every now and then to turn
+green. Hoping to hide her despair from her sisters, she would laugh as
+she pointed out some ridiculous dress or passer-by; but her laughter
+was spasmodic. She was more deeply hurt by their unspoken compassion
+than by any satirical comments for which she might have revenged
+herself. She exhausted her wit in trying to engage them in a
+conversation, in which she tried to expend her fury in senseless
+paradoxes, heaping on all men engaged in trade the bitterest insults
+and witticisms in the worst taste.
+
+On getting home, she had an attack of fever, which at first assumed a
+somewhat serious character. By the end of a month the care of her
+parents and of the physician restored her to her family.
+
+Every one hoped that this lesson would be severe enough to subdue
+Emilie's nature; but she insensibly fell into her old habits and threw
+herself again into the world of fashion. She declared that there was
+no disgrace in making a mistake. If she, like her father, had a vote
+in the Chamber, she would move for an edict, she said, by which all
+merchants, and especially dealers in calico, should be branded on the
+forehead, like Berri sheep, down to the third generation. She wished
+that none but nobles should have the right to wear the antique French
+costume, which was so becoming to the courtiers of Louis XV. To hear
+her, it was a misfortune for France, perhaps, that there was no
+outward and visible difference between a merchant and a peer of
+France. And a hundred more such pleasantries, easy to imagine, were
+rapidly poured out when any accident brought up the subject.
+
+But those who loved Emilie could see through all her banter a tinge of
+melancholy. It was clear that Maximilien Longueville still reigned
+over that inexorable heart. Sometimes she would be as gentle as she
+had been during the brief summer that had seen the birth of her love;
+sometimes, again, she was unendurable. Every one made excuses for her
+inequality of temper, which had its source in sufferings at once
+secret and known to all. The Comte de Kergarouet had some influence
+over her, thanks to his increased prodigality, a kind of consolation
+which rarely fails of its effect on a Parisian girl.
+
+The first ball at which Mademoiselle de Fontaine appeared was at the
+Neapolitan ambassador's. As she took her place in the first quadrille
+she saw, a few yards away from her, Maximilien Longueville, who nodded
+slightly to her partner.
+
+"Is that young man a friend of yours?" she asked, with a scornful air.
+
+"Only my brother," he replied.
+
+Emilie could not help starting. "Ah!" he continued, "and he is the
+noblest soul living----"
+
+"Do you know my name?" asked Emilie, eagerly interrupting him.
+
+"No, mademoiselle. It is a crime, I confess, not to remember a name
+which is on every lip--I ought to say in every heart. But I have a
+valid excuse. I have but just arrived from Germany. My ambassador, who
+is in Paris on leave, sent me here this evening to take care of his
+amiable wife, whom you may see yonder in that corner."
+
+"A perfect tragic mask!" said Emilie, after looking at the
+ambassadress.
+
+"And yet that is her ballroom face!" said the young man, laughing. "I
+shall have to dance with her! So I thought I might have some
+compensation." Mademoiselle de Fontaine courtesied. "I was very much
+surprised," the voluble young secretary went on, "to find my brother
+here. On arriving from Vienna I heard that the poor boy was ill in
+bed; and I counted on seeing him before coming to this ball; but good
+policy will always allow us to indulge family affection. The Padrona
+della case would not give me time to call on my poor Maximilien."
+
+"Then, monsieur, your brother is not, like you, in diplomatic
+employment."
+
+"No," said the attache, with a sigh, "the poor fellow sacrificed
+himself for me. He and my sister Clara have renounced their share of
+my father's fortune to make an eldest son of me. My father dreams of a
+peerage, like all who vote for the ministry. Indeed, it is promised
+him," he added in an undertone. "After saving up a little capital my
+brother joined a banking firm, and I hear he has just effected a
+speculation in Brazil which may make him a millionaire. You see me in
+the highest spirits at having been able, by my diplomatic connections,
+to contribute to his success. I am impatiently expecting a dispatch
+from the Brazilian Legation, which will help to lift the cloud from
+his brow. What do you think of him?"
+
+"Well, your brother's face does not look to me like that of a man
+busied with money matters."
+
+The young attache shot a scrutinizing glance at the apparently calm
+face of his partner.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, with a smile, "can young ladies read the
+thoughts of love behind the silent brow?"
+
+"Your brother is in love, then?" she asked, betrayed into a movement
+of curiosity.
+
+"Yes; my sister Clara, to whom he is as devoted as a mother, wrote to
+me that he had fallen in love this summer with a very pretty girl; but
+I have had no further news of the affair. Would you believe that the
+poor boy used to get up at five in the morning, and went off to settle
+his business that he might be back by four o'clock in the country
+where the lady was? In fact, he ruined a very nice thoroughbred that I
+had just given him. Forgive my chatter, mademoiselle; I have but just
+come home from Germany. For a year I have heard no decent French, I
+have been weaned from French faces, and satiated with Germans, to such
+a degree that, I believe, in my patriotic mania, I could talk to the
+chimeras on a French candlestick. And if I talk with a lack of reserve
+unbecoming in a diplomatist, the fault is yours, mademoiselle. Was it
+not you who pointed out my brother? When he is the theme I become
+inexhaustible. I should like to proclaim to all the world how good and
+generous he is. He gave up no less than a hundred thousand francs a
+year, the income from the Longueville property."
+
+If Mademoiselle de Fontaine had the benefit of these important
+revelations, it was partly due to the skill with which she continued
+to question her confiding partner from the moment when she found that
+he was the brother of her scorned lover.
+
+"And could you, without being grieved, see your brother selling muslin
+and calico?" asked Emilie, at the end of the third figure of the
+quadrille.
+
+"How do you know that?" asked the attache. "Thank God, though I pour
+out a flood of words, I have already acquired the art of not telling
+more than I intend, like all the other diplomatic apprentices I know."
+
+"You told me, I assure you."
+
+Monsieur de Longueville looked at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with a
+surprise that was full of perspicacity. A suspicion flashed upon him.
+He glanced inquiringly from his brother to his partner, guessed
+everything, clasped his hands, fixed his eyes on the ceiling, and
+began to laugh, saying, "I am an idiot! You are the handsomest person
+here; my brother keeps stealing glances at you; he is dancing in spite
+of his illness, and you pretend not to see him. Make him happy," he
+added, as he led her back to her old uncle. "I shall not be jealous,
+but I shall always shiver a little at calling you my sister----"
+
+The lovers, however, were to prove as inexorable to each other as they
+were to themselves. At about two in the morning, refreshments were
+served in an immense corridor, where, to leave persons of the same
+coterie free to meet each other, the tables were arranged as in a
+restaurant. By one of those accidents which always happen to lovers,
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine found herself at a table next to that at
+which the more important guests were seated. Maximilien was of the
+group. Emilie, who lent an attentive ear to her neighbors'
+conversation, overheard one of those dialogues into which a young
+woman so easily falls with a young man who has the grace and style of
+Maximilien Longueville. The lady talking to the young banker was a
+Neapolitan duchess, whose eyes shot lightning flashes, and whose skin
+had the sheen of satin. The intimate terms on which Longueville
+affected to be with her stung Mademoiselle de Fontaine all the more
+because she had just given her lover back twenty times as much
+tenderness as she had ever felt for him before.
+
+"Yes, monsieur, in my country true love can make every kind of
+sacrifice," the Duchess was saying, in a simper.
+
+"You have more passion than Frenchwomen," said Maximilien, whose
+burning gaze fell on Emilie. "They are all vanity."
+
+"Monsieur," Emilie eagerly interposed, "is it not very wrong to
+calumniate your own country? Devotion is to be found in every nation."
+
+"Do you imagine, mademoiselle," retorted the Italian, with a sardonic
+smile, "that a Parisian would be capable of following her lover all
+over the world?"
+
+"Oh, madame, let us understand each other. She would follow him to a
+desert and live in a tent but not to sit in a shop."
+
+A disdainful gesture completed her meaning. Thus, under the influence
+of her disastrous education, Emile for the second time killed her
+budding happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien's
+apparent indifference, and a woman's smile, had wrung from her one of
+those sarcasms whose treacherous zest always let her astray.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said Longueville, in a low voice, under cover of the
+noise made by the ladies as they rose from the table, "no one will
+ever more ardently desire your happiness than I; permit me to assure
+you of this, as I am taking leave of you. I am starting for Italy in a
+few days."
+
+"With a Duchess, no doubt?"
+
+"No, but perhaps with a mortal blow."
+
+"Is not that pure fancy?" asked Emilie, with an anxious glance.
+
+"No," he replied. "There are wounds which never heal."
+
+"You are not to go," said the girl, imperiously, and she smiled.
+
+"I shall go," replied Maximilien, gravely.
+
+"You will find me married on your return, I warn you," she said
+coquettishly.
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"Impertinent wretch!" she exclaimed. "How cruel a revenge!"
+
+A fortnight later Maximilien set out with his sister Clara for the
+warm and poetic scenes of beautiful Italy, leaving Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine a prey to the most vehement regret. The young Secretary to
+the Embassy took up his brother's quarrel, and contrived to take
+signal vengeance on Emilie's disdain by making known the occasion of
+the lovers' separation. He repaid his fair partner with interest all
+the sarcasm with which she had formerly attacked Maximilien, and often
+made more than one Excellency smile by describing the fair foe of the
+counting-house, the amazon who preached a crusade against bankers, the
+young girl whose love had evaporated before a bale of muslin. The
+Comte de Fontaine was obliged to use his influence to procure an
+appointment to Russia for Auguste Longueville in order to protect his
+daughter from the ridicule heaped upon her by this dangerous young
+persecutor.
+
+Not long after, the Ministry being compelled to raise a levy of peers
+to support the aristocratic party, trembling in the Upper Chamber
+under the lash of an illustrious writer, gave Monsieur Guiraudin de
+Longueville a peerage, with the title of Vicomte. Monsieur de Fontaine
+also obtained a peerage, the reward due as much to his fidelity in
+evil days as to his name, which claimed a place in the hereditary
+Chamber.
+
+About this time Emilie, now of age, made, no doubt, some serious
+reflections on life, for her tone and manners changed perceptibly.
+Instead of amusing herself by saying spiteful things to her uncle, she
+lavished on him the most affectionate attentions; she brought him his
+stick with a persevering devotion that made the cynical smile, she
+gave him her arm, rode in his carriage, and accompanied him in all his
+drives; she even persuaded him that she liked the smell of tobacco,
+and read him his favorite paper La Quotidienne in the midst of clouds
+of smoke, which the malicious old sailor intentionally blew over her;
+she learned piquet to be a match for the old count; and this fantastic
+damsel even listened without impatience to his periodical narratives
+of the battles of the Belle-Poule, the manoeuvres of the Ville de
+Paris, M. de Suffren's first expedition, or the battle of Aboukir.
+
+Though the old sailor had often said that he knew his longitude and
+latitude too well to allow himself to be captured by a young corvette,
+one fine morning Paris drawing-rooms heard the news of the marriage of
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine to the Comte de Kergarouet. The young
+Countess gave splendid entertainments to drown thought; but she, no
+doubt, found a void at the bottom of the whirlpool; luxury was
+ineffectual to disguise the emptiness and grief of her sorrowing soul;
+for the most part, in spite of the flashes of assumed gaiety, her
+beautiful face expressed unspoken melancholy. Emilie appeared,
+however, full of attentions and consideration for her old husband,
+who, on retiring to his rooms at night, to the sounds of a lively
+band, would often say, "I do not know myself. Was I to wait till the
+age of seventy-two to embark as pilot on board the Belle Emilie after
+twenty years of matrimonial galleys?"
+
+The conduct of the young Countess was marked by such strictness that
+the most clear-sighted criticism had no fault to find with her.
+Lookers on chose to think that the vice-admiral had reserved the right
+of disposing of his fortune to keep his wife more tightly in hand; but
+this was a notion as insulting to the uncle as to the niece. Their
+conduct was indeed so delicately judicious that the men who were most
+interested in guessing the secrets of the couple could never decide
+whether the old Count regarded her as a wife or as a daughter. He was
+often heard to say that he had rescued his niece as a castaway after
+shipwreck; and that, for his part, he had never taken a mean advantage
+of hospitality when he had saved an enemy from the fury of the storm.
+Though the Countess aspired to reign in Paris and tried to keep pace
+with Mesdames the Duchesses de Maufrigneuse and du Chaulieu, the
+Marquises d'Espard and d'Aiglemont, the Comtesses Feraud, de
+Montcornet, and de Restaud, Madame de Camps, and Mademoiselle des
+Touches, she did not yield to the addresses of the young Vicomte de
+Portenduere, who made her his idol.
+
+Two years after her marriage, in one of the old drawing-rooms in the
+Faubourg Saint-Germain, where she was admired for her character,
+worthy of the old school, Emilie heard the Vicomte de Longueville
+announced. In the corner of the room where she was sitting, playing
+piquet with the Bishop of Persepolis, her agitation was not observed;
+she turned her head and saw her former lover come in, in all the
+freshness of youth. His father's death, and then that of his brother,
+killed by the severe climate of Saint-Petersburg, had placed on
+Maximilien's head the hereditary plumes of the French peer's hat. His
+fortune matched his learning and his merits; only the day before his
+youthful and fervid eloquence had dazzled the Assembly. At this moment
+he stood before the Countess, free, and graced with all the advantages
+she had formerly required of her ideal. Every mother with a daughter
+to marry made amiable advances to a man gifted with the virtues which
+they attributed to him, as they admired his attractive person; but
+Emilie knew, better than any one, that the Vicomte de Longueville had
+the steadfast nature in which a wise woman sees a guarantee of
+happiness. She looked at the admiral who, to use his favorite
+expression, seemed likely to hold his course for a long time yet, and
+cursed the follies of her youth.
+
+At this moment Monsieur de Persepolis said with Episcopal grace: "Fair
+lady, you have thrown away the king of hearts--I have won. But do not
+regret your money. I keep it for my little seminaries."
+
+
+
+PARIS, December 1829.
+
+
+
+
+ADDENDUM
+
+The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
+
+Beaudenord, Godefroid de
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+  The Firm of Nucingen
+
+Dudley, Lady Arabella
+  The Lily of the Valley
+  The Magic Skin
+  The Secrets of a Princess
+  A Daughter of Eve
+  Letters of Two Brides
+
+Fontaine, Comte de
+  The Chouans
+  Modeste Mignon
+  Cesar Birotteau
+  The Government Clerks
+
+Kergarouet, Comte de
+  The Purse
+  Ursule Mirouet
+
+Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
+  The Chouans
+  The Seamy Side of History
+  The Gondreville Mystery
+  Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+  The Lily of the Valley
+  Colonel Chabert
+  The Government Clerks
+
+Manerville, Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de
+  The Thirteen
+  Lost Illusions
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+  A Marriage Settlement
+
+Marsay, Henri de
+  The Thirteen
+  The Unconscious Humorists
+  Another Study of Woman
+  The Lily of the Valley
+  Father Goriot
+  Jealousies of a Country Town
+  Ursule Mirouet
+  A Marriage Settlement
+  Lost Illusions
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+  Letters of Two Brides
+  Modest Mignon
+  The Secrets of a Princess
+  The Gondreville Mystery
+  A Daughter of Eve
+
+Palma (banker)
+  The Firm of Nucingen
+  Cesar Birotteau
+  Gobseck
+  Lost Illusions
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+
+Portenduere, Vicomte Savinien de
+  Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+  Ursule Mirouet
+  Beatrix
+
+Rastignac, Eugene de
+  Father Goriot
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+  Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+  The Interdiction
+  A Study of Woman
+  Another Study of Woman
+  The Magic Skin
+  The Secrets of a Princess
+  A Daughter of Eve
+  The Gondreville Mystery
+  The Firm of Nucingen
+  Cousin Betty
+  The Member for Arcis
+  The Unconscious Humorists
+
+Vandenesse, Marquise Charles de (Emilie de Fontaine)
+  Cesar Birotteau
+  Ursule Mirouet
+  A Daughter of Eve
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ball at Sceaux, by Honore de Balzac
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+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac
+#12 in our series by de Balzac
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+The Ball at Sceaux
+
+by Honore de Balzac
+
+Translated by Clara Bell
+
+May, 1998  [Etext #1305]
+
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+
+
+THE BALL AT SCEAUX
+
+BY
+
+HONORE DE BALZAC
+
+
+
+Translated By
+Clara Bell
+
+
+
+To Henri de Balzac, his brother Honore.
+
+
+
+The Comte de Fontaine, head of one of the oldest families in Poitou,
+had served the Bourbon cause with intelligence and bravery during the
+war in La Vendee against the Republic. After having escaped all the
+dangers which threatened the royalist leaders during this stormy
+period of modern history, he was wont to say in jest, "I am one of the
+men who gave themselves to be killed on the steps of the throne." And
+the pleasantry had some truth in it, as spoken by a man left for dead
+at the bloody battle of Les Quatre Chemins. Though ruined by
+confiscation, the staunch Vendeen steadily refused the lucrative posts
+offered to him by the Emperor Napoleon. Immovable in his aristocratic
+faith, he had blindly obeyed its precepts when he thought it fitting
+to choose a companion for life. In spite of the blandishments of a
+rich but revolutionary parvenu, who valued the alliance at a high
+figure, he married Mademoiselle de Kergarouet, without a fortune, but
+belonging to one of the oldest families in Brittany.
+
+When the second revolution burst on Monsieur de Fontaine he was
+encumbered with a large family. Though it was no part of the noble
+gentlemen's views to solicit favors, he yielded to his wife's wish,
+left his country estate, of which the income barely sufficed to
+maintain his children, and came to Paris. Saddened by seeing the
+greediness of his former comrades in the rush for places and dignities
+under the new Constitution, he was about to return to his property
+when he received a ministerial despatch, in which a well-known magnate
+announced to him his nomination as marechal de camp, or brigadier-
+general, under a rule which allowed the officers of the Catholic
+armies to count the twenty submerged years of Louis XVIII.'s reign as
+years of service. Some days later he further received, without any
+solicitation, ex officio, the crosses of the Legion of Honor and of
+Saint-Louis.
+
+Shaken in his determination by these successive favors, due, as he
+supposed, to the monarch's remembrance, he was no longer satisfied
+with taking his family, as he had piously done every Sunday, to cry
+"Vive le Roi" in the hall of the Tuileries when the royal family
+passed through on their way to chapel; he craved the favor of a
+private audience. The audience, at once granted, was in no sense
+private. The royal drawing-room was full of old adherents, whose
+powdered heads, seen from above, suggested a carpet of snow. There the
+Count met some old friends, who received him somewhat coldly; but the
+princes he thought ADORABLE, an enthusiastic expression which escaped
+him when the most gracious of his masters, to whom the Count had
+supposed himself to be known only by name, came to shake hands with
+him, and spoke of him as the most thorough Vendeen of them all.
+Notwithstanding this ovation, none of these august persons thought of
+inquiring as to the sum of his losses, or of the money he had poured
+so generously into the chests of the Catholic regiments. He
+discovered, a little late, that he had made war at his own cost.
+Towards the end of the evening he thought he might venture on a witty
+allusion to the state of his affairs, similar, as it was, to that of
+many other gentlemen. His Majesty laughed heartily enough; any speech
+that bore the hall-mark of wit was certain to please him; but he
+nevertheless replied with one of those royal pleasantries whose
+sweetness is more formidable than the anger of a rebuke. One of the
+King's most intimate advisers took an opportunity of going up to the
+fortune-seeking Vendeen, and made him understand by a keen and polite
+hint that the time had not yet come for settling accounts with the
+sovereign; that there were bills of much longer standing than his on
+the books, and there, no doubt, they would remain, as part of the
+history of the Revolution. The Count prudently withdrew from the
+venerable group, which formed a respectful semi-circle before the
+august family; then, having extricated his sword, not without some
+difficulty, from among the lean legs which had got mixed up with it,
+he crossed the courtyard of the Tuileries and got into the hackney cab
+he had left on the quay. With the restive spirit, which is peculiar to
+the nobility of the old school, in whom still survives the memory of
+the League and the day of the Barricades (in 1588), he bewailed
+himself in his cab, loudly enough to compromise him, over the change
+that had come over the Court. "Formerly," he said to himself, "every
+one could speak freely to the King of his own little affairs; the
+nobles could ask him a favor, or for money, when it suited them, and
+nowadays one cannot recover the money advanced for his service without
+raising a scandal! By Heaven! the cross of Saint-Louis and the rank of
+brigadier-general will not make good the three hundred thousand livres
+I have spent, out and out, on the royal cause. I must speak to the
+King, face to face, in his own room."
+
+This scene cooled Monsieur de Fontaine's ardor all the more
+effectually because his requests for an interview were never answered.
+And, indeed, he saw the upstarts of the Empire obtaining some of the
+offices reserved, under the old monarchy, for the highest families.
+
+"All is lost!" he exclaimed one morning. "The King has certainly never
+been other than a revolutionary. But for Monsieur, who never
+derogates, and is some comfort to his faithful adherents, I do not
+know what hands the crown of France might not fall into if things are
+to go on like this. Their cursed constitutional system is the worst
+possible government, and can never suit France. Louis XVIII. and
+Monsieur Beugnot spoiled everything at Saint Ouen."
+
+The Count, in despair, was preparing to retire to his estate,
+abandoning, with dignity, all claims to repayment. At this moment the
+events of the 20th March (1815) gave warning of a fresh storm,
+threatening to overwhelm the legitimate monarch and his defenders.
+Monsieur de Fontaine, like one of those generous souls who do not
+dismiss a servant in a torrent of rain; borrowed on his lands to
+follow the routed monarchy, without knowing whether this complicity in
+emigration would prove more propitious to him than his past devotion.
+But when he perceived that the companions of the King's exile were in
+higher favor than the brave men who had protested, sword in hand,
+against the establishment of the republic, he may perhaps have hoped
+to derive greater profit from this journey into a foreign land than
+from active and dangerous service in the heart of his own country. Nor
+was his courtier-like calculation one of these rash speculations which
+promise splendid results on paper, and are ruinous in effect. He was--
+to quote the wittiest and most successful of our diplomates--one of
+the faithful five hundred who shared the exile of the Court at Ghent,
+and one of the fifty thousand who returned with it. During the short
+banishment of royalty, Monsieur de Fontaine was so happy as to be
+employed by Louis XVIII., and found more than one opportunity of
+giving him proofs of great political honesty and sincere attachment.
+One evening, when the King had nothing better to do, he recalled
+Monsieur de Fontaine's witticism at the Tuileries. The old Vendeen did
+not let such a happy chance slip; he told his history with so much
+vivacity that a king, who never forgot anything, might remember it at
+a convenient season. The royal amateur of literature also observed the
+elegant style given to some notes which the discreet gentleman had
+been invited to recast. This little success stamped Monsieur de
+Fontaine on the King's memory as one of the loyal servants of the
+Crown.
+
+At the second restoration the Count was one of those special envoys
+who were sent throughout the departments charged with absolute
+jurisdiction over the leaders of revolt; but he used his terrible
+powers with moderation. As soon as the temporary commission was ended,
+the High Provost found a seat in the Privy Council, became a deputy,
+spoke little, listened much, and changed his opinions very
+considerably. Certain circumstances, unknown to historians, brought
+him into such intimate relations with the Sovereign, that one day, as
+he came in, the shrewd monarch addressed him thus: "My friend
+Fontaine, I shall take care never to appoint you to be director-
+general, or minister. Neither you nor I, as employes, could keep our
+place on account of our opinions. Representative government has this
+advantage; it saves Us the trouble We used to have, of dismissing Our
+Secretaries of State. Our Council is a perfect inn-parlor, whither
+public opinion sometimes sends strange travelers; however, We can
+always find a place for Our faithful adherents."
+
+This ironical speech was introductory to a rescript giving Monsieur de
+Fontaine an appointment as administrator in the office of Crown lands.
+As a consequence of the intelligent attention with which he listened
+to his royal Friend's sarcasms, his name always rose to His Majesty's
+lips when a commission was to be appointed of which the members were
+to receive a handsome salary. He had the good sense to hold his tongue
+about the favor with which he was honored, and knew how to entertain
+the monarch in those familiar chats in which Louis XVIII. delighted as
+much as in a well-written note, by his brilliant manner of repeating
+political anecdotes, and the political or parliamentary tittle-tattle
+--if the expression may pass--which at that time was rife. It is well
+known that he was immensely amused by every detail of his
+Gouvernementabilite--a word adopted by his facetious Majesty.
+
+Thanks to the Comte de Fontaine's good sense, wit, and tact, every
+member of his numerous family, however young, ended, as he jestingly
+told his Sovereign, in attaching himself like a silkworm to the leaves
+of the Pay-List. Thus, by the King's intervention, his eldest son
+found a high and fixed position as a lawyer. The second, before the
+restoration a mere captain, was appointed to the command of a legion
+on the return from Ghent; then, thanks to the confusion of 1815, when
+the regulations were evaded, he passed into the bodyguard, returned to
+a line regiment, and found himself after the affair of the Trocadero a
+lieutenant-general with a commission in the Guards. The youngest,
+appointed sous-prefet, ere long became a legal official and director
+of a municipal board of the city of Paris, where he was safe from
+changes in Legislature. These bounties, bestowed without parade, and
+as secret as the favor enjoyed by the Count, fell unperceived. Though
+the father and his three sons each had sinecures enough to enjoy an
+income in salaries almost equal to that of a chief of department,
+their political good fortune excited no envy. In those early days of
+the constitutional system, few persons had very precise ideas of the
+peaceful domain of the civil service, where astute favorites managed
+to find an equivalent for the demolished abbeys. Monsieur le Comte de
+Fontaine, who till lately boasted that he had not read the Charter,
+and displayed such indignation at the greed of courtiers, had, before
+long, proved to his august master that he understood, as well as the
+King himself, the spirit and resources of the representative system.
+At the same time, notwithstanding the established careers open to his
+three sons, and the pecuniary advantages derived from four official
+appointments, Monsieur de Fontaine was the head of too large a family
+to be able to re-establish his fortune easily and rapidly.
+
+His three sons were rich in prospects, in favor, and in talent; but he
+had three daughters, and was afraid of wearying the monarch's
+benevolence. It occurred to him to mention only one by one, these
+virgins eager to light their torches. The King had too much good taste
+to leave his work incomplete. The marriage of the eldest with a
+Receiver-General, Planat de Baudry, was arranged by one of those royal
+speeches which cost nothing and are worth millions. One evening, when
+the Sovereign was out of spirits, he smiled on hearing of the
+existence of another Demoiselle de Fontaine, for whom he found a
+husband in the person of a young magistrate, of inferior birth, no
+doubt, but wealthy, and whom he created Baron. When, the year after,
+the Vendeen spoke of Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, the King replied
+in his thin sharp tones, "Amicus Plato sed magis amica Natio." Then, a
+few days later, he treated his "friend Fontaine" to a quatrain,
+harmless enough, which he styled an epigram, in which he made fun of
+these three daughters so skilfully introduced, under the form of a
+trinity. Nay, if report is to be believed, the monarch had found the
+point of the jest in the Unity of the three Divine Persons.
+
+"If your Majesty would only condescend to turn the epigram into an
+epithalamium?" said the Count, trying to turn the sally to good
+account.
+
+"Though I see the rhyme of it, I fail to see the reason," retorted the
+King, who did not relish any pleasantry, however mild, on the subject
+of his poetry.
+
+From that day his intercourse with Monsieur de Fontaine showed less
+amenity. Kings enjoy contradicting more than people think. Like most
+youngest children, Emilie de Fontaine was a Benjamin spoilt by almost
+everybody. The King's coolness, therefore, caused the Count all the
+more regret, because no marriage was ever so difficult to arrange as
+that of this darling daughter. To understand all the obstacles we must
+make our way into the fine residence where the official was housed at
+the expense of the nation. Emilie had spent her childhood on the
+family estate, enjoying the abundance which suffices for the joys of
+early youth; her lightest wishes had been law to her sisters, her
+brothers, her mother, and even her father. All her relations doted on
+her. Having come to years of discretion just when her family was
+loaded with the favors of fortune, the enchantment of life continued.
+The luxury of Paris seemed to her just as natural as a wealth of
+flowers or fruit, or as the rural plenty which had been the joy of her
+first years. Just as in her childhood she had never been thwarted in
+the satisfaction of her playful desires, so now, at fourteen, she was
+still obeyed when she rushed into the whirl of fashion.
+
+Thus, accustomed by degrees to the enjoyment of money, elegance of
+dress, of gilded drawing-rooms and fine carriages, became as necessary
+to her as the compliments of flattery, sincere or false, and the
+festivities and vanities of court life. Like most spoiled children,
+she tyrannized over those who loved her, and kept her blandishments
+for those who were indifferent. Her faults grew with her growth, and
+her parents were to gather the bitter fruits of this disastrous
+education. At the age of nineteen Emilie de Fontaine had not yet been
+pleased to make a choice from among the many young men whom her
+father's politics brought to his entertainments. Though so young, she
+asserted in society all the freedom of mind that a married woman can
+enjoy. Her beauty was so remarkable that, for her, to appear in a room
+was to be its queen; but, like sovereigns, she had no friends, though
+she was everywhere the object of attentions to which a finer nature
+than hers might perhaps have succumbed. Not a man, not even an old
+man, had it in him to contradict the opinions of a young girl whose
+lightest look could rekindle love in the coldest heart.
+
+She had been educated with a care which her sisters had not enjoyed;
+painted pretty well, spoke Italian and English, and played the piano
+brilliantly; her voice, trained by the best masters, had a ring in it
+which made her singing irresistibly charming. Clever, and intimate
+with every branch of literature, she might have made folks believe
+that, as Mascarille says, people of quality come into the world
+knowing everything. She could argue fluently on Italian or Flemish
+painting, on the Middle Ages or the Renaissance; pronounced at
+haphazard on books new or old, and could expose the defects of a work
+with a cruelly graceful wit. The simplest thing she said was accepted
+by an admiring crowd as a fetfah of the Sultan by the Turks. She thus
+dazzled shallow persons; as to deeper minds, her natural tact enabled
+her to discern them, and for them she put forth so much fascination
+that, under cover of her charms, she escaped their scrutiny. This
+enchanting veneer covered a careless heart; the opinion--common to
+many young girls--that no one else dwelt in a sphere so lofty as to be
+able to understand the merits of her soul; and a pride based no less
+on her birth than on her beauty. In the absence of the overwhelming
+sentiment which, sooner or later, works havoc in a woman's heart, she
+spent her young ardor in an immoderate love of distinctions, and
+expressed the deepest contempt for persons of inferior birth.
+Supremely impertinent to all newly-created nobility, she made every
+effort to get her parents recognized as equals by the most illustrious
+families of the Saint-Germain quarter.
+
+These sentiments had not escaped the observing eye of Monsieur de
+Fontaine, who more than once, when his two elder girls were married,
+had smarted under Emilie's sarcasm. Logical readers will be surprised
+to see the old Royalist bestowing his eldest daughter on a Receiver-
+General, possessed, indeed, of some old hereditary estates, but whose
+name was not preceded by the little word to which the throne owed so
+many partisans, and his second to a magistrate too lately Baronified
+to obscure the fact that his father had sold firewood. This noteworthy
+change in the ideas of a noble on the verge of his sixtieth year--an
+age when men rarely renounce their convictions--was due not merely to
+his unfortunate residence in the modern Babylon, where, sooner or
+later, country folks all get their corners rubbed down; the Comte de
+Fontaine's new political conscience was also a result of the King's
+advice and friendship. The philosophical prince had taken pleasure in
+converting the Vendeen to the ideas required by the advance of the
+nineteenth century, and the new aspect of the Monarchy. Louis XVIII.
+aimed at fusing parties as Napoleon had fused things and men. The
+legitimate King, who was not less clever perhaps than his rival, acted
+in a contrary direction. The last head of the House of Bourbon was
+just as eager to satisfy the third estate and the creations of the
+Empire, by curbing the clergy, as the first of the Napoleons had been
+to attract the grand old nobility, or to endow the Church. The Privy
+Councillor, being in the secret of these royal projects, had
+insensibly become one of the most prudent and influential leaders of
+that moderate party which most desired a fusion of opinion in the
+interests of the nation. He preached the expensive doctrines of
+constitutional government, and lent all his weight to encourage the
+political see-saw which enabled his master to rule France in the midst
+of storms. Perhaps Monsieur de Fontaine hoped that one of the sudden
+gusts of legislation, whose unexpected efforts then startled the
+oldest politicians, might carry him up to the rank of peer. One of his
+most rigid principles was to recognize no nobility in France but that
+of the peerage--the only families that might enjoy any privileges.
+
+"A nobility bereft of privileges," he would say, "is a tool without a
+handle."
+
+As far from Lafayette's party as he was from La Bourdonnaye's, he
+ardently engaged in the task of general reconciliation, which was
+to result in a new era and splendid fortunes for France. He
+strove to convince the families who frequented his drawing-room,
+or those whom he visited, how few favorable openings would
+henceforth be offered by a civil or military career. He urged
+mothers to give their boys a start in independent and industrial
+professions, explaining that military posts and high Government
+appointments must at last pertain, in a quite constitutional
+order, to the younger sons of members of the peerage. According
+to him, the people had conquered a sufficiently large share in
+practical government by its elective assembly, its appointments
+to law-offices, and those of the exchequer, which, said he, would
+always, as heretofore, be the natural right of the distinguished
+men of the third estate.
+
+These new notions of the head of the Fontaines, and the prudent
+matches for his eldest girls to which they had led, met with strong
+resistance in the bosom of his family. The Comtesse de Fontaine
+remained faithful to the ancient beliefs which no woman could disown,
+who, through her mother, belonged to the Rohans. Although she had for
+a while opposed the happiness and fortune awaiting her two eldest
+girls, she yielded to those private considerations which husband and
+wife confide to each other when their heads are resting on the same
+pillow. Monsieur de Fontaine calmly pointed out to his wife, by exact
+arithmetic that their residence in Paris, the necessity for
+entertaining, the magnificence of the house which made up to them now
+for the privations so bravely shared in La Vendee, and the expenses of
+their sons, swallowed up the chief part of their income from salaries.
+They must therefore seize, as a boon from heaven, the opportunities
+which offered for settling their girls with such wealth. Would they
+not some day enjoy sixty--eighty--a hundred thousand francs a year?
+Such advantageous matches were not to be met with every day for girls
+without a portion. Again, it was time that they should begin to think
+of economizing, to add to the estate of Fontaine, and re-establish the
+old territorial fortune of the family. The Countess yielded to such
+cogent arguments, as every mother would have done in her place, though
+perhaps with a better grace; but she declared that Emilie, at any
+rate, should marry in such a way as to satisfy the pride she had
+unfortunately contributed to foster in the girl's young soul.
+
+Thus events, which ought to have brought joy into the family, had
+introduced a small leaven of discord. The Receiver-General and the
+young lawyer were the objects of a ceremonious formality which the
+Countess and Emilie contrived to create. This etiquette soon found
+even ampler opportunity for the display of domestic tyranny; for
+Lieutenant-General de Fontaine married Mademoiselle Mongenod, the
+daughter of a rich banker; the President very sensibly found a wife in
+a young lady whose father, twice or thrice a millionaire, had traded
+in salt; and the third brother, faithful to his plebeian doctrines,
+married Mademoiselle Grossetete, the only daughter of the Receiver-
+General at Bourges. The three sisters-in-law and the two brothers-in-
+law found the high sphere of political bigwigs, and the drawing-rooms
+of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, so full of charm and of personal
+advantages, that they united in forming a little court round the
+overbearing Emilie. This treaty between interest and pride was not,
+however, so firmly cemented but that the young despot was, not
+unfrequently, the cause of revolts in her little realm. Scenes, which
+the highest circles would not have disowned, kept up a sarcastic
+temper among all the members of this powerful family; and this,
+without seriously diminishing the regard they professed in public,
+degenerated sometimes in private into sentiments far from charitable.
+Thus the Lieutenant-General's wife, having become a Baronne, thought
+herself quite as noble as a Kergarouet, and imagined that her good
+hundred thousand francs a year gave her the right to be as impertinent
+as her sister-in-law Emilie, whom she would sometimes wish to see
+happily married, as she announced that the daughter of some peer of
+France had married Monsieur So-and-So with no title to his name. The
+Vicomtesse de Fontaine amused herself by eclipsing Emilie in the taste
+and magnificence that were conspicuous in her dress, her furniture,
+and her carriages. The satirical spirit in which her brothers and
+sisters sometimes received the claims avowed by Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine roused her to wrath that a perfect hailstorm of sharp sayings
+could hardly mitigate. So when the head of the family felt a slight
+chill in the King's tacit and precarious friendship, he trembled all
+the more because, as a result of her sisters' defiant mockery, his
+favorite daughter had never looked so high.
+
+In the midst of these circumstances, and at a moment when this petty
+domestic warfare had become serious, the monarch, whose favor Monsieur
+de Fontaine still hoped to regain, was attacked by the malady of which
+he was to die. The great political chief, who knew so well how to
+steer his bark in the midst of tempests, soon succumbed. Certain then
+of favors to come, the Comte de Fontaine made every effort to collect
+the elite of marrying men about his youngest daughter. Those who may
+have tried to solve the difficult problem of settling a haughty and
+capricious girl, will understand the trouble taken by the unlucky
+father. Such an affair, carried out to the liking of his beloved
+child, would worthily crown the career the Count had followed for
+these ten years at Paris. From the way in which his family claimed
+salaries under every department, it might be compared with the House
+of Austria, which, by intermarriage, threatens to pervade Europe. The
+old Vendeen was not to be discouraged in bringing forward suitors, so
+much had he his daughter's happiness at heart, but nothing could be
+more absurd than the way in which the impertinent young thing
+pronounced her verdicts and judged the merits of her adorers. It might
+have been supposed that, like a princess in the Arabian Nights, Emilie
+was rich enough and beautiful enough to choose from among all the
+princes in the world. Her objections were each more preposterous than
+the last: one had too thick knees and was bow-legged, another was
+short-sighted, this one's name was Durand, that one limped, and almost
+all were too fat. Livelier, more attractive, and gayer than ever after
+dismissing two or three suitors, she rushed into the festivities of
+the winter season, and to balls, where her keen eyes criticised the
+celebrities of the day, delighted in encouraging proposals which she
+invariably rejected.
+
+Nature had bestowed on her all the advantages needed for playing the
+part of Celimene. Tall and slight, Emilie de Fontaine could assume a
+dignified or a frolicsome mien at her will. Her neck was rather long,
+allowing her to affect beautiful attitudes of scorn and impertinence.
+She had cultivated a large variety of those turns of the head and
+feminine gestures, which emphasize so cruelly or so happily a hint of
+a smile. Fine black hair, thick and strongly-arched eyebrows, lent her
+countenance an expression of pride, to which her coquettish instincts
+and her mirror had taught her to add terror by a stare, or gentleness
+by the softness of her gaze, by the set of the gracious curve of her
+lips, by the coldness or the sweetness of her smile. When Emilie meant
+to conquer a heart, her pure voice did not lack melody; but she could
+also give it a sort of curt clearness when she was minded to paralyze
+a partner's indiscreet tongue. Her colorless face and alabaster brow
+were like the limpid surface of a lake, which by turns is rippled by
+the impulse of a breeze and recovers its glad serenity when the air is
+still. More than one young man, a victim to her scorn, accused her of
+acting a part; but she justified herself by inspiring her detractors
+with the desire to please her, and then subjecting them to all her
+most contemptuous caprice. Among the young girls of fashion, not one
+knew better than she how to assume an air of reserve when a man of
+talent was introduced to her, or how to display the insulting
+politeness which treats an equal as an inferior, and to pour out her
+impertinence on all who tried to hold their heads on a level with
+hers. Wherever she went she seemed to be accepting homage rather than
+compliments, and even in a princess her airs and manner would have
+transformed the chair on which she sat into an imperial throne.
+
+Monsieur de Fontaine discovered too late how utterly the education of
+the daughter he loved had been ruined by the tender devotion of the
+whole family. The admiration which the world is at first ready to
+bestow on a young girl, but for which, sooner or later, it takes its
+revenge, had added to Emilie's pride, and increased her self-
+confidence. Universal subservience had developed in her the
+selfishness natural to spoilt children, who, like kings, make a
+plaything of everything that comes to hand. As yet the graces of youth
+and the charms of talent hid these faults from every eye; faults all
+the more odious in a woman, since she can only please by self-
+sacrifice and unselfishness; but nothing escapes the eye of a good
+father, and Monsieur de Fontaine often tried to explain to his
+daughter the more important pages of the mysterious book of life. Vain
+effort! He had to lament his daughter's capricious indocility and
+ironical shrewdness too often to persevere in a task so difficult as
+that of correcting an ill-disposed nature. He contented himself with
+giving her from time to time some gentle and kind advice; but he had
+the sorrow of seeing his tenderest words slide from his daughter's
+heart as if it were of marble. A father's eyes are slow to be
+unsealed, and it needed more than one experience before the old
+Royalist perceived that his daughter's rare caresses were bestowed on
+him with an air of condescension. She was like young children, who
+seem to say to their mother, "Make haste to kiss me, that I may go to
+play." In short, Emilie vouchsafed to be fond of her parents. But
+often, by those sudden whims, which seem inexplicable in young girls,
+she kept aloof and scarcely ever appeared; she complained of having to
+share her father's and mother's heart with too many people; she was
+jealous of every one, even of her brothers and sisters. Then, after
+creating a desert about her, the strange girl accused all nature of
+her unreal solitude and her wilful griefs. Strong in the experience of
+her twenty years, she blamed fate, because, not knowing that the
+mainspring of happiness is in ourselves, she demanded it of the
+circumstances of life. She would have fled to the ends of the earth to
+escape a marriage such as those of her two sisters, and nevertheless
+her heart was full of horrible jealousy at seeing them married, rich,
+and happy. In short, she sometimes led her mother--who was as much a
+victim to her vagaries as Monsieur de Fontaine--to suspect that she
+had a touch of madness.
+
+But such aberrations are quite inexplicable; nothing is commoner than
+this unconfessed pride developed in the heart of young girls belonging
+to families high in the social scale, and gifted by nature with great
+beauty. They are almost all convinced that their mothers, now forty or
+fifty years of age, can neither sympathize with their young souls, nor
+conceive of their imaginings. They fancy that most mothers, jealous of
+their girls, want to dress them in their own way with the premeditated
+purpose of eclipsing them or robbing them of admiration. Hence, often,
+secret tears and dumb revolt against supposed tyranny. In the midst of
+these woes, which become very real though built on an imaginary basis,
+they have also a mania for composing a scheme of life, while casting
+for themselves a brilliant horoscope; their magic consists in taking
+their dreams for reality; secretly, in their long meditations, they
+resolve to give their heart and hand to none but the man possessing
+this or the other qualification; and they paint in fancy a model to
+which, whether or no, the future lover must correspond. After some
+little experience of life, and the serious reflections that come with
+years, by dint of seeing the world and its prosaic round, by dint of
+observing unhappy examples, the brilliant hues of their ideal are
+extinguished. Then, one fine day, in the course of events, they are
+quite astonished to find themselves happy without the nuptial poetry
+of their day-dreams. It was on the strength of that poetry that
+Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, in her slender wisdom, had drawn up a
+programme to which a suitor must conform to be excepted. Hence her
+disdain and sarcasm.
+
+"Though young and of an ancient family, he must be a peer of France,"
+said she to herself. "I could not bear not to see my coat-of-arms on
+the panels of my carriage among the folds of azure mantling, not to
+drive like the princes down the broad walk of the Champs-Elysees on
+the days of Longchamps in Holy Week. Besides, my father says that it
+will someday be the highest dignity in France. He must be a soldier--
+but I reserve the right of making him retire; and he must bear an
+Order, that the sentries may present arms to us."
+
+And these rare qualifications would count for nothing if this creature
+of fancy had not the most amiable temper, a fine figure, intelligence,
+and, above all, if he were not slender. To be lean, a personal grace
+which is but fugitive, especially under a representative government,
+was an indispensable condition. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had an ideal
+standard which was to be the model. A young man who at the first
+glance did not fulfil the requisite conditions did not even get a
+second look.
+
+"Good Heavens! see how fat he is!" was with her the utmost expression
+of contempt.
+
+To hear her, people of respectable corpulence were incapable of
+sentiment, bad husbands, and unfit for civilized society. Though it is
+esteemed a beauty in the East, to be fat seemed to her a misfortune
+for a woman; but in a man it was a crime. These paradoxical views were
+amusing, thanks to a certain liveliness of rhetoric. The Count felt
+nevertheless that by-and-by his daughter's affections, of which the
+absurdity would be evident to some women who were not less clear-
+sighted than merciless, would inevitably become a subject of constant
+ridicule. He feared lest her eccentric notions should deviate into bad
+style. He trembled to think that the pitiless world might already be
+laughing at a young woman who remained so long on the stage without
+arriving at any conclusion of the drama she was playing. More than one
+actor in it, disgusted by a refusal, seemed to be waiting for the
+slightest turn of ill-luck to take his revenge. The indifferent, the
+lookers-on were beginning to weary of it; admiration is always
+exhausting to human beings. The old Vendeen knew better than any one
+that if there is an art in choosing the right moment for coming
+forward on the boards of the world, on those of the Court, in a
+drawing-room or on the stage, it is still more difficult to quit them
+in the nick of time. So during the first winter after the accession of
+Charles X., he redoubled his efforts, seconded by his three sons and
+his sons-in-law, to assemble in the rooms of his official residence
+the best matches which Paris and the various deputations from
+departments could offer. The splendor of his entertainments, the
+luxury of his dining-room, and his dinners, fragrant with truffles,
+rivaled the famous banquets by which the ministers of that time
+secured the vote of their parliamentary recruits.
+
+The Honorable Deputy was consequently pointed at as a most influential
+corrupter of the legislative honesty of the illustrious Chamber that
+was dying as it would seem of indigestion. A whimsical result! his
+efforts to get his daughter married secured him a splendid popularity.
+He perhaps found some covert advantage in selling his truffles twice
+over. This accusation, started by certain mocking Liberals, who made
+up by their flow of words for their small following in the Chamber,
+was not a success. The Poitevin gentleman had always been so noble and
+so honorable, that he was not once the object of those epigrams which
+the malicious journalism of the day hurled at the three hundred votes
+of the centre, at the Ministers, the cooks, the Directors-General, the
+princely Amphitryons, and the official supporters of the Villele
+Ministry.
+
+At the close of this campaign, during which Monsieur de Fontaine had
+on several occasions brought out all his forces, he believed that this
+time the procession of suitors would not be a mere dissolving view in
+his daughter's eyes; that it was time she should make up her mind. He
+felt a certain inward satisfaction at having well fulfilled his duty
+as a father. And having left no stone unturned, he hoped that, among
+so many hearts laid at Emilie's feet, there might be one to which her
+caprice might give a preference. Incapable of repeating such an
+effort, and tired, too, of his daughter's conduct, one morning,
+towards the end of Lent, when the business at the Chamber did not
+demand his vote, he determined to ask what her views were. While his
+valet was artistically decorating his bald yellow head with the delta
+of powder which, with the hanging "ailes de pigeon," completed his
+venerable style of hairdressing, Emilie's father, not without some
+secret misgivings, told his old servant to go and desire the haughty
+damsel to appear in the presence of the head of the family.
+
+"Joseph," he added, when his hair was dressed, "take away that towel,
+draw back the curtains, put those chairs square, shake the rug, and
+lay it quite straight. Dust everything.--Now, air the room a little by
+opening the window."
+
+The Count multiplied his orders, putting Joseph out of breath, and the
+old servant, understanding his master's intentions, aired and tidied
+the room, of course the least cared for of any in the house, and
+succeeded in giving a look of harmony to the files of bills, the
+letter-boxes, the books and furniture of this sanctum, where the
+interests of the royal demesnes were debated over. When Joseph had
+reduced this chaos to some sort of order, and brought to the front
+such things as might be most pleasing to the eye, as if it were a shop
+front, or such as by their color might give the effect of a kind of
+official poetry, he stood for a minute in the midst of the labyrinth
+of papers piled in some places even on the floor, admired his
+handiwork, jerked his head, and went.
+
+The anxious sinecure-holder did not share his retainer's favorable
+opinion. Before seating himself in his deep chair, whose rounded back
+screened him from draughts, he looked round him doubtfully, examined
+his dressing-gown with a hostile expression, shook off a few grains of
+snuff, carefully wiped his nose, arranged the tongs and shovel, made
+the fire, pulled up the heels of his slippers, pulled out his little
+queue of hair which had lodged horizontally between the collar of his
+waistcoat and that of his dressing-gown restoring it to its
+perpendicular position; then he swept up the ashes of the hearth,
+which bore witness to a persistent catarrh. Finally, the old man did
+not settle himself till he had once more looked all over the room,
+hoping that nothing could give occasion to the saucy and impertinent
+remarks with which his daughter was apt to answer his good advice. On
+this occasion he was anxious not to compromise his dignity as a
+father. He daintily took a pinch of snuff, cleared his throat two or
+three times, as if he were about to demand a count out of the House;
+then he heard his daughter's light step, and she came in humming an
+air from Il Barbiere.
+
+"Good-morning, papa. What do you want with me so early?" Having sung
+these words, as though they were the refrain of the melody, she kissed
+the Count, not with the familiar tenderness which makes a daughter's
+love so sweet a thing, but with the light carelessness of a mistress
+confident of pleasing, whatever she may do.
+
+"My dear child," said Monsieur de Fontaine, gravely, "I sent for you
+to talk to you very seriously about your future prospects. You are at
+this moment under the necessity of making such a choice of a husband
+as may secure your durable happiness----"
+
+"My good father," replied Emilie, assuming her most coaxing tone of
+voice to interrupt him, "it strikes me that the armistice on which we
+agreed as to my suitors is not yet expired."
+
+"Emilie, we must to-day forbear from jesting on so important a matter.
+For some time past the efforts of those who most truly love you, my
+dear child, have been concentrated on the endeavor to settle you
+suitably; and you would be guilty of ingratitude in meeting with
+levity those proofs of kindness which I am not alone in lavishing on
+you."
+
+As she heard these words, after flashing a mischievously inquisitive
+look at the furniture of her father's study, the young girl brought
+forward the armchair which looked as if it had been least used by
+petitioners, set it at the side of the fireplace so as to sit facing
+her father, and settled herself in so solemn an attitude that it was
+impossible not to read in it a mocking intention, crossing her arms
+over the dainty trimmings of a pelerine a la neige, and ruthlessly
+crushing its endless frills of white tulle. After a laughing side
+glance at her old father's troubled face, she broke silence.
+
+"I never heard you say, my dear father, that the Government issued its
+instructions in its dressing-gown. However," and she smiled, "that
+does not matter; the mob are probably not particular. Now, what are
+your proposals for legislation, and your official introductions?"
+
+"I shall not always be able to make them, headstrong girl!--Listen,
+Emilie. It is my intention no longer to compromise my reputation,
+which is part of my children's fortune, by recruiting the regiment of
+dancers which, spring after spring, you put to rout. You have already
+been the cause of many dangerous misunderstandings with certain
+families. I hope to make you perceive more truly the difficulties of
+your position and of ours. You are two-and-twenty, my dear child, and
+you ought to have been married nearly three years since. Your brothers
+and your two sisters are richly and happily provided for. But, my
+dear, the expenses occasioned by these marriages, and the style of
+housekeeping you require of your mother, have made such inroads on our
+income that I can hardly promise you a hundred thousand francs as a
+marriage portion. From this day forth I shall think only of providing
+for your mother, who must not be sacrificed to her children. Emilie,
+if I were to be taken from my family Madame de Fontaine could not be
+left at anybody's mercy, and ought to enjoy the affluence which I have
+given her too late as the reward of her devotion in my misfortunes.
+You see, my child, that the amount of your fortune bears no relation
+to your notions of grandeur. Even that would be such a sacrifice as I
+have not hitherto made for either of my children; but they have
+generously agreed not to expect in the future any compensation for the
+advantage thus given to a too favored child."
+
+"In their position!" said Emilie, with an ironical toss of her head.
+
+"My dear, do not so depreciate those who love you. Only the poor are
+generous as a rule; the rich have always excellent reasons for not
+handing over twenty thousand francs to a relation. Come, my child, do
+not pout, let us talk rationally.--Among the young marrying men have
+you noticed Monsieur de Manerville?"
+
+"Oh, he minces his words--he says Zules instead of Jules; he is always
+looking at his feet, because he thinks them small, and he gazes at
+himself in the glass! Besides, he is fair. I don't like fair men."
+
+"Well, then, Monsieur de Beaudenord?"
+
+"He is not noble! he is ill made and stout. He is dark, it is true.--
+If the two gentlemen could agree to combine their fortunes, and the
+first would give his name and his figure to the second, who should
+keep his dark hair, then--perhaps----"
+
+"What can you say against Monsieur de Rastignac?"
+
+"Madame de Nucingen has made a banker of him," she said with meaning.
+
+"And our cousin, the Vicomte de Portenduere?"
+
+"A mere boy, who dances badly; besides, he has no fortune. And, after
+all, papa, none of these people have titles. I want, at least, to be a
+countess like my mother."
+
+"Have you seen no one, then, this winter----"
+
+"No, papa."
+
+"What then do you want?"
+
+"The son of a peer of France.
+
+"My dear girl, you are mad!" said Monsieur de Fontaine, rising.
+
+But he suddenly lifted his eyes to heaven, and seemed to find a fresh
+fount of resignation in some religious thought; then, with a look of
+fatherly pity at his daughter, who herself was moved, he took her
+hand, pressed it, and said with deep feeling: "God is my witness, poor
+mistaken child, I have conscientiously discharged my duty to you as a
+father--conscientiously, do I say? Most lovingly, my Emilie. Yes, God
+knows! This winter I have brought before you more than one good man,
+whose character, whose habits, and whose temper were known to me, and
+all seemed worthy of you. My child, my task is done. From this day
+forth you are the arbiter of your fate, and I consider myself both
+happy and unhappy at finding myself relieved of the heaviest of
+paternal functions. I know not whether you will for any long time,
+now, hear a voice which, to you, has never been stern; but remember
+that conjugal happiness does not rest so much on brilliant qualities
+and ample fortune as on reciprocal esteem. This happiness is, in its
+nature, modest, and devoid of show. So now, my dear, my consent is
+given beforehand, whoever the son-in-law may be whom you introduce to
+me; but if you should be unhappy, remember you will have no right to
+accuse your father. I shall not refuse to take proper steps and help
+you, only your choice must be serious and final. I will never twice
+compromise the respect due to my white hairs."
+
+The affection thus expressed by her father, the solemn tones of his
+urgent address, deeply touched Mademoiselle de Fontaine; but she
+concealed her emotion, seated herself on her father's knees--for he
+had dropped all tremulous into his chair again--caressed him fondly,
+and coaxed him so engagingly that the old man's brow cleared. As soon
+as Emilie thought that her father had got over his painful agitation,
+she said in a gentle voice: "I have to thank you for your graceful
+attention, my dear father. You have had your room set in order to
+receive your beloved daughter. You did not perhaps know that you would
+find her so foolish and so headstrong. But, papa, is it so difficult
+to get married to a peer of France? You declared that they were
+manufactured by dozens. At least, you will not refuse to advise me."
+
+"No, my poor child, no;--and more than once I may have occasion to
+cry, 'Beware!' Remember that the making of peers is so recent a force
+in our government machinery that they have no great fortunes. Those
+who are rich look to becoming richer. The wealthiest member of our
+peerage has not half the income of the least rich lord in the English
+Upper Chamber. Thus all the French peers are on the lookout for great
+heiresses for their sons, wherever they may meet with them. The
+necessity in which they find themselves of marrying for money will
+certainly exist for at least two centuries.
+
+"Pending such a fortunate accident as you long for--and this
+fastidiousness may cost you the best years of your life--your
+attractions might work a miracle, for men often marry for love in
+these days. When experience lurks behind so sweet a face as yours it
+may achieve wonders. In the first place, have you not the gift of
+recognizing virtue in the greater or smaller dimensions of a man's
+body? This is no small matter! To so wise a young person as you are, I
+need not enlarge on all the difficulties of the enterprise. I am sure
+that you would never attribute good sense to a stranger because he had
+a handsome face, or all the virtues because he had a fine figure. And
+I am quite of your mind in thinking that the sons of peers ought to
+have an air peculiar to themselves, and perfectly distinctive manners.
+Though nowadays no external sign stamps a man of rank, those young men
+will have, perhaps, to you the indefinable something that will reveal
+it. Then, again, you have your heart well in hand, like a good
+horseman who is sure his steed cannot bolt. Luck be with you, my
+dear!"
+
+"You are making game of me, papa. Well, I assure you that I would
+rather die in Mademoiselle de Conde's convent than not be the wife of
+a peer of France."
+
+She slipped out of her father's arms, and proud of being her own
+mistress, went off singing the air of Cara non dubitare, in the
+"Matrimonio Segreto."
+
+As it happened, the family were that day keeping the anniversary of a
+family fete. At dessert Madame Planat, the Receiver-General's wife,
+spoke with some enthusiasm of a young American owning an immense
+fortune, who had fallen passionately in love with her sister, and made
+through her the most splendid proposals.
+
+"A banker, I rather think," observed Emilie carelessly. "I do not like
+money dealers."
+
+"But, Emilie," replied the Baron de Villaine, the husband of the
+Count's second daughter, "you do not like lawyers either; so that if
+you refuse men of wealth who have not titles, I do not quite see in
+what class you are to choose a husband."
+
+"Especially, Emilie, with your standard of slimness," added the
+Lieutenant-General.
+
+"I know what I want," replied the young lady.
+
+"My sister wants a fine name, a fine young man, fine prospects, and a
+hundred thousand francs a year," said the Baronne de Fontaine.
+"Monsieur de Marsay, for instance."
+
+"I know, my dear," retorted Emilie, "that I do not mean to make such a
+foolish marriage as some I have seen. Moreover, to put an end to these
+matrimonial discussions, I hereby declare that I shall look on anyone
+who talks to me of marriage as a foe to my peace of mind."
+
+An uncle of Emilie's, a vice-admiral, whose fortune had just been
+increased by twenty thousand francs a year in consequence of the Act
+of Indemnity, and a man of seventy, feeling himself privileged to say
+hard things to his grand-niece, on whom he doted, in order to mollify
+the bitter tone of the discussion now exclaimed:
+
+"Do not tease my poor little Emilie; don't you see she is waiting till
+the Duc de Bordeaux comes of age!"
+
+The old man's pleasantry was received with general laughter.
+
+"Take care I don't marry you, old fool!" replied the young girl, whose
+last words were happily drowned in the noise.
+
+"My dear children," said Madame de Fontaine, to soften this saucy
+retort, "Emilie, like you, will take no advice but her mother's."
+
+"Bless me! I shall take no advice but my own in a matter which
+concerns no one but myself," said Mademoiselle de Fontaine very
+distinctly.
+
+At this all eyes were turned to the head of the family. Every one
+seemed anxious as to what he would do to assert his dignity. The
+venerable gentleman enjoyed much consideration, not only in the world;
+happier than many fathers, he was also appreciated by his family, all
+its members having a just esteem for the solid qualities by which he
+had been able to make their fortunes. Hence he was treated with the
+deep respect which is shown by English families, and some aristocratic
+houses on the continent, to the living representatives of an ancient
+pedigree. Deep silence had fallen; and the guests looked alternately
+from the spoilt girl's proud and sulky pout to the severe faces of
+Monsieur and Madame de Fontaine.
+
+"I have made my daughter Emilie mistress of her own fate," was the
+reply spoken by the Count in a deep voice.
+
+Relations and guests gazed at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with mingled
+curiosity and pity. The words seemed to declare that fatherly
+affection was weary of the contest with a character that the whole
+family knew to be incorrigible. The sons-in-law muttered, and the
+brothers glanced at their wives with mocking smiles. From that moment
+every one ceased to take any interest in the haughty girl's prospects
+of marriage. Her old uncle was the only person who, as an old sailor,
+ventured to stand on her tack, and take her broadsides, without ever
+troubling himself to return her fire.
+
+When the fine weather was settled, and after the budget was voted, the
+whole family--a perfect example of the parliamentary families on the
+northern side of the Channel who have a footing in every government
+department, and ten votes in the House of Commons--flew away like a
+brood of young birds to the charming neighborhoods of Aulnay, Antony,
+and Chatenay. The wealthy Receiver-General had lately purchased in
+this part of the world a country-house for his wife, who remained in
+Paris only during the session. Though the fair Emilie despised the
+commonalty, her feeling was not carried so far as to scorn the
+advantages of a fortune acquired in a profession; so she accompanied
+her sister to the sumptuous villa, less out of affection for the
+members of her family who were visiting there, than because fashion
+has ordained that every woman who has any self-respect must leave
+Paris in the summer. The green seclusion of Sceaux answered to
+perfection the requirements of good style and of the duties of an
+official position.
+
+As it is extremely doubtful that the fame of the "Bal de Sceaux"
+should ever have extended beyond the borders of the Department of the
+Seine, it will be necessary to give some account of this weekly
+festivity, which at that time was important enough to threaten to
+become an institution. The environs of the little town of Sceaux enjoy
+a reputation due to the scenery, which is considered enchanting.
+Perhaps it is quite ordinary, and owes its fame only to the stupidity
+of the Paris townsfolk, who, emerging from the stony abyss in which
+they are buried, would find something to admire in the flats of La
+Beauce. However, as the poetic shades of Aulnay, the hillsides of
+Antony, and the valley of the Bieve are peopled with artists who have
+traveled far, by foreigners who are very hard to please, and by a
+great many pretty women not devoid of taste, it is to be supposed that
+the Parisians are right. But Sceaux possesses another attraction not
+less powerful to the Parisian. In the midst of a garden whence there
+are delightful views, stands a large rotunda open on all sides, with a
+light, spreading roof supported on elegant pillars. This rural
+baldachino shelters a dancing-floor. The most stuck-up landowners of
+the neighborhood rarely fail to make an excursion thither once or
+twice during the season, arriving at this rustic palace of Terpsichore
+either in dashing parties on horseback, or in the light and elegant
+carriages which powder the philosophical pedestrian with dust. The
+hope of meeting some women of fashion, and of being seen by them--and
+the hope, less often disappointed, of seeing young peasant girls, as
+wily as judges--crowds the ballroom at Sceaux with numerous swarms of
+lawyers' clerks, of the disciples of Aesculapius, and other youths
+whose complexions are kept pale and moist by the damp atmosphere of
+Paris back-shops. And a good many bourgeois marriages have had their
+beginning to the sound of the band occupying the centre of this
+circular ballroom. If that roof could speak, what love-stories could
+it not tell!
+
+This interesting medley gave the Sceaux balls at that time a spice of
+more amusement than those of two or three places of the same kind near
+Paris; and it had incontestable advantages in its rotunda, and the
+beauty of its situation and its gardens. Emilie was the first to
+express a wish to play at being COMMON FOLK at this gleeful suburban
+entertainment, and promised herself immense pleasure in mingling with
+the crowd. Everybody wondered at her desire to wander through such a
+mob; but is there not a keen pleasure to grand people in an incognito?
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine amused herself with imagining all these town-
+bred figures; she fancied herself leaving the memory of a bewitching
+glance and smile stamped on more than one shopkeeper's heart, laughed
+beforehand at the damsels' airs, and sharpened her pencils for the
+scenes she proposed to sketch in her satirical album. Sunday could not
+come soon enough to satisfy her impatience.
+
+The party from the Villa Planat set out on foot, so as not to betray
+the rank of the personages who were about to honor the ball with their
+presence. They dined early. And the month of May humored this
+aristocratic escapade by one of its finest evenings. Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine was quite surprised to find in the rotunda some quadrilles
+made up of persons who seemed to belong to the upper classes. Here and
+there, indeed, were some young men who look as though they must have
+saved for a month to shine for a day; and she perceived several
+couples whose too hearty glee suggested nothing conjugal; still, she
+could only glean instead of gathering a harvest. She was amused to see
+that pleasure in a cotton dress was so very like pleasure robed in
+satin, and that the girls of the middle class danced quite as well as
+ladies--nay, sometimes better. Most of the women were simply and
+suitably dressed. Those who in this assembly represented the ruling
+power, that is to say, the country-folk, kept apart with wonderful
+politeness. In fact, Mademoiselle Emilie had to study the various
+elements that composed the mixture before she could find any subject
+for pleasantry. But she had not time to give herself up to malicious
+criticism, or opportunity for hearing many of the startling speeches
+which caricaturists so gladly pick up. The haughty young lady suddenly
+found a flower in this wide field--the metaphor is reasonable--whose
+splendor and coloring worked on her imagination with all the
+fascination of novelty. It often happens that we look at a dress, a
+hanging, a blank sheet of paper, with so little heed that we do not at
+first detect a stain or a bright spot which afterwards strikes the eye
+as though it had come there at the very instant when we see it; and by
+a sort of moral phenomenon somewhat resembling this, Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine discovered in a young man the external perfection of which
+she had so long dreamed.
+
+Seated on one of the clumsy chairs which marked the boundary line of
+the circular floor, she had placed herself at the end of the row
+formed by the family party, so as to be able to stand up or push
+forward as her fancy moved her, treating the living pictures and
+groups in the hall as if she were in a picture gallery; impertinently
+turning her eye-glass on persons not two yards away, and making her
+remarks as though she were criticising or praising a study of a head,
+a painting of genre. Her eyes, after wandering over the vast moving
+picture, were suddenly caught by this figure, which seemed to have
+been placed on purpose in one corner of the canvas, and in the best
+light, like a person out of all proportion with the rest.
+
+The stranger, alone and absorbed in thought, leaned lightly against
+one of the columns that supported the roof; his arms were folded, and
+he leaned slightly on one side as though he had placed himself there
+to have his portrait taken by a painter. His attitude, though full of
+elegance and dignity, was devoid of affectation. Nothing suggested
+that he had half turned his head, and bent it a little to the right
+like Alexander, or Lord Byron, and some other great men, for the sole
+purpose of attracting attention. His fixed gaze followed a girl who
+was dancing, and betrayed some strong feeling. His slender, easy frame
+recalled the noble proportions of the Apollo. Fine black hair curled
+naturally over a high forehead. At a glance Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+observed that his linen was fine, his gloves fresh, and evidently
+bought of a good maker, and his feet were small and well shod in boots
+of Irish kid. He had none of the vulgar trinkets displayed by the
+dandies of the National Guard or the Lovelaces of the counting-house.
+A black ribbon, to which an eye-glass was attached, hung over a
+waistcoat of the most fashionable cut. Never had the fastidious Emilie
+seen a man's eyes shaded by such long, curled lashes. Melancholy and
+passion were expressed in this face, and the complexion was of a manly
+olive hue. His mouth seemed ready to smile, unbending the corners of
+eloquent lips; but this, far from hinting at gaiety, revealed on the
+contrary a sort of pathetic grace. There was too much promise in that
+head, too much distinction in his whole person, to allow of one's
+saying, "What a handsome man!" or "What a fine man!" One wanted to
+know him. The most clear-sighted observer, on seeing this stranger,
+could not have helped taking him for a clever man attracted to this
+rural festivity by some powerful motive.
+
+All these observations cost Emilie only a minute's attention, during
+which the privileged gentleman under her severe scrutiny became the
+object of her secret admiration. She did not say to herself, "He must
+be a peer of France!" but "Oh, if only he is noble, and he surely must
+be----" Without finishing her thought, she suddenly rose, and followed
+by her brother the General, she made her way towards the column,
+affecting to watch the merry quadrille; but by a stratagem of the eye,
+familiar to women, she lost not a gesture of the young man as she went
+towards him. The stranger politely moved to make way for the
+newcomers, and went to lean against another pillar. Emilie, as much
+nettled by his politeness as she might have been by an impertinence,
+began talking to her brother in a louder voice than good taste
+enjoined; she turned and tossed her head, gesticulated eagerly, and
+laughed for no particular reason, less to amuse her brother than to
+attract the attention of the imperturbable stranger. None of her
+little arts succeeded. Mademoiselle de Fontaine then followed the
+direction in which his eyes were fixed, and discovered the cause of
+his indifference.
+
+In the midst of the quadrille, close in front of them, a pale girl was
+dancing; her face was like one of the divinities which Girodet has
+introduced into his immense composition of French Warriors received by
+Ossian. Emilie fancied that she recognized her as a distinguished
+milady who for some months had been living on a neighboring estate.
+Her partner was a lad of about fifteen, with red hands, and dressed in
+nankeen trousers, a blue coat, and white shoes, which showed that the
+damsel's love of dancing made her easy to please in the matter of
+partners. Her movements did not betray her apparent delicacy, but a
+faint flush already tinged her white cheeks, and her complexion was
+gaining color. Mademoiselle de Fontaine went nearer, to be able to
+examine the young lady at the moment when she returned to her place,
+while the side couples in their turn danced the figure. But the
+stranger went up to the pretty dancer, and leaning over, said in a
+gentle but commanding tone:
+
+"Clara, my child, do not dance any more."
+
+Clara made a little pouting face, bent her head, and finally smiled.
+When the dance was over, the young man wrapped her in a cashmere shawl
+with a lover's care, and seated her in a place sheltered from the
+wind. Very soon Mademoiselle de Fontaine, seeing them rise and walk
+round the place as if preparing to leave, found means to follow them
+under pretence of admiring the views from the garden. Her brother lent
+himself with malicious good-humor to the divagations of her rather
+eccentric wanderings. Emilie then saw the attractive couple get into
+an elegant tilbury, by which stood a mounted groom in livery. At the
+moment when, from his high seat, the young man was drawing the reins
+even, she caught a glance from his eye such as a man casts aimlessly
+at the crowd; and then she enjoyed the feeble satisfaction of seeing
+him turn his head to look at her. The young lady did the same. Was it
+from jealousy?
+
+"I imagine you have now seen enough of the garden," said her brother.
+"We may go back to the dancing."
+
+"I am ready," said she. "Do you think the girl can be a relation of
+Lady Dudley's?"
+
+"Lady Dudley may have some male relation staying with her," said the
+Baron de Fontaine; "but a young girl!--No!"
+
+Next day Mademoiselle de Fontaine expressed a wish to take a ride.
+Then she gradually accustomed her old uncle and her brothers to
+escorting her in very early rides, excellent, she declared for her
+health. She had a particular fancy for the environs of the hamlet
+where Lady Dudley was living. Notwithstanding her cavalry manoeuvres,
+she did not meet the stranger so soon as the eager search she pursued
+might have allowed her to hope. She went several times to the "Bal de
+Sceaux" without seeing the young Englishman who had dropped from the
+skies to pervade and beautify her dreams. Though nothing spurs on a
+young girl's infant passion so effectually as an obstacle, there was a
+time when Mademoiselle de Fontaine was on the point of giving up her
+strange and secret search, almost despairing of the success of an
+enterprise whose singularity may give some idea of the boldness of her
+temper. In point of fact, she might have wandered long about the
+village of Chatenay without meeting her Unknown. The fair Clara--since
+that was the name Emilie had overheard--was not English, and the
+stranger who escorted her did not dwell among the flowery and fragrant
+bowers of Chatenay.
+
+One evening Emilie, out riding with her uncle, who, during the fine
+weather, had gained a fairly long truce from the gout, met Lady
+Dudley. The distinguished foreigner had with her in her open carriage
+Monsieur Vandenesse. Emilie recognized the handsome couple, and her
+suppositions were at once dissipated like a dream. Annoyed, as any
+woman must be whose expectations are frustrated, she touched up her
+horse so suddenly that her uncle had the greatest difficulty in
+following her, she had set off at such a pace.
+
+"I am too old, it would seem, to understand these youthful spirits,"
+said the old sailor to himself as he put his horse to a canter; "or
+perhaps young people are not what they used to be. But what ails my
+niece? Now she is walking at a foot-pace like a gendarme on patrol in
+the Paris streets. One might fancy she wanted to outflank that worthy
+man, who looks to me like an author dreaming over his poetry, for he
+has, I think, a notebook in his hand. My word, I am a great simpleton!
+Is not that the very young man we are in search of!"
+
+At this idea the old admiral moderated his horse's pace so as to
+follow his niece without making any noise. He had played too many
+pranks in the years 1771 and soon after, a time of our history when
+gallantry was held in honor, not to guess at once that by the merest
+chance Emilie had met the Unknown of the Sceaux gardens. In spite of
+the film which age had drawn over his gray eyes, the Comte de
+Kergarouet could recognize the signs of extreme agitation in his
+niece, under the unmoved expression she tried to give to her features.
+The girl's piercing eyes were fixed in a sort of dull amazement on the
+stranger, who quietly walked on in front of her.
+
+"Ay, that's it," thought the sailor. "She is following him as a pirate
+follows a merchantman. Then, when she has lost sight of him, she will
+be in despair at not knowing who it is she is in love with, and
+whether he is a marquis or a shopkeeper. Really these young heads need
+an old fogy like me always by their side . . ."
+
+He unexpectedly spurred his horse in such a way as to make his niece's
+bolt, and rode so hastily between her and the young man on foot that
+he obliged him to fall back on to the grassy bank which rose from the
+roadside. Then, abruptly drawing up, the Count exclaimed:
+
+"Couldn't you get out of the way?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, monsieur. But I did not know that it lay with me
+to apologize to you because you almost rode me down."
+
+"There, enough of that, my good fellow!" replied the sailor harshly,
+in a sneering tone that was nothing less than insulting. At the same
+time the Count raised his hunting-crop as if to strike his horse, and
+touched the young fellow's shoulder, saying, "A liberal citizen is a
+reasoner; every reasoner should be prudent."
+
+The young man went up the bankside as he heard the sarcasm; then he
+crossed his arms, and said in an excited tone of voice, "I cannot
+suppose, monsieur, as I look at your white hairs, that you still amuse
+yourself by provoking duels----"
+
+"White hairs!" cried the sailor, interrupting him. "You lie in your
+throat. They are only gray."
+
+A quarrel thus begun had in a few seconds become so fierce that the
+younger man forgot the moderation he had tried to preserve. Just as
+the Comte de Kergarouet saw his niece coming back to them with every
+sign of the greatest uneasiness, he told his antagonist his name,
+bidding him keep silence before the young lady entrusted to his care.
+The stranger could not help smiling as he gave a visiting card to the
+old man, desiring him to observe that he was living at a country-house
+at Chevreuse; and, after pointing this out to him, he hurried away.
+
+"You very nearly damaged that poor young counter-jumper, my dear,"
+said the Count, advancing hastily to meet Emilie. "Do you not know how
+to hold your horse in?--And there you leave me to compromise my
+dignity in order to screen your folly; whereas if you had but stopped,
+one of your looks, or one of your pretty speeches--one of those you
+can make so prettily when you are not pert--would have set everything
+right, even if you had broken his arm."
+
+"But, my dear uncle, it was your horse, not mine, that caused the
+accident. I really think you can no longer ride; you are not so good a
+horseman as you were last year.--But instead of talking nonsense----"
+
+"Nonsense, by Gad! Is it nothing to be so impertinent to your uncle?"
+
+"Ought we not to go on and inquire if the young man is hurt? He is
+limping, uncle, only look!"
+
+"No, he is running; I rated him soundly."
+
+"Oh, yes, uncle; I know you there!"
+
+"Stop," said the Count, pulling Emilie's horse by the bridle, "I do
+not see the necessity of making advances to some shopkeeper who is
+only too lucky to have been thrown down by a charming young lady, or
+the commander of La Belle-Poule."
+
+"Why do you think he is anything so common, my dear uncle? He seems to
+me to have very fine manners."
+
+"Every one has manners nowadays, my dear."
+
+"No, uncle, not every one has the air and style which come of the
+habit of frequenting drawing-rooms, and I am ready to lay a bet with
+you that the young man is of noble birth."
+
+"You had not long to study him."
+
+"No, but it is not the first time I have seen him."
+
+"Nor is it the first time you have looked for him," replied the
+admiral with a laugh.
+
+Emilie colored. Her uncle amused himself for some time with her
+embarrassment; then he said: "Emilie, you know that I love you as my
+own child, precisely because you are the only member of the family who
+has the legitimate pride of high birth. Devil take it, child, who
+could have believed that sound principles would become so rare? Well,
+I will be your confidant. My dear child, I see that his young
+gentleman is not indifferent to you. Hush! All the family would laugh
+at us if we sailed under the wrong flag. You know what that means. We
+two will keep our secret, and I promise to bring him straight into the
+drawing-room."
+
+"When, uncle?"
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+"But, my dear uncle, I am not committed to anything?"
+
+"Nothing whatever, and you may bombard him, set fire to him, and leave
+him to founder like an old hulk if you choose. He won't be the first,
+I fancy?"
+
+"You ARE kind, uncle!"
+
+As soon as the Count got home he put on his glasses, quietly took the
+card out of his pocket, and read, "Maximilien Longueville, Rue de
+Sentier."
+
+"Make yourself happy, my dear niece," he said to Emilie, "you may hook
+him with any easy conscience; he belongs to one of our historical
+families, and if he is not a peer of France, he infallibly will be."
+
+"How do you know so much?"
+
+"That is my secret."
+
+"Then do you know his name?"
+
+The old man bowed his gray head, which was not unlike a gnarled oak-
+stump, with a few leaves fluttering about it, withered by autumnal
+frosts; and his niece immediately began to try the ever-new power of
+her coquettish arts. Long familiar with the secret of cajoling the old
+man, she lavished on him the most childlike caresses, the tenderest
+names; she even went so far as to kiss him to induce him to divulge so
+important a secret. The old man, who spent his life in playing off
+these scenes on his niece, often paying for them with a present of
+jewelry, or by giving her his box at the opera, this time amused
+himself with her entreaties, and, above all, her caresses. But as he
+spun out this pleasure too long, Emilie grew angry, passed from
+coaxing to sarcasm and sulks; then, urged by curiosity, she recovered
+herself. The diplomatic admiral extracted a solemn promise from his
+niece that she would for the future be gentler, less noisy, and less
+wilful, that she would spend less, and, above all, tell him
+everything. The treaty being concluded, and signed by a kiss impressed
+on Emilie's white brow, he led her into a corner of the room, drew her
+on to his knee, held the card under the thumbs so as to hide it, and
+then uncovered the letters one by one, spelling the name of
+Longueville; but he firmly refused to show her anything more.
+
+This incident added to the intensity of Mademoiselle de Fontaine's
+secret sentiment, and during chief part of the night she evolved the
+most brilliant pictures from the dreams with which she had fed her
+hopes. At last, thanks to chance, to which she had so often appealed,
+Emilie could now see something very unlike a chimera at the fountain-
+head of the imaginary wealth with which she gilded her married life.
+Ignorant, as all young girls are, of the perils of love and marriage,
+she was passionately captivated by the externals of marriage and love.
+Is not this as much as to say that her feeling had birth like all the
+feelings of extreme youth--sweet but cruel mistakes, which exert a
+fatal influence on the lives of young girls so inexperienced as to
+trust their own judgment to take care of their future happiness?
+
+Next morning, before Emilie was awake, her uncle had hastened to
+Chevreuse. On recognizing, in the courtyard of an elegant little
+villa, the young man he had so determinedly insulted the day before,
+he went up to him with the pressing politeness of men of the old
+court.
+
+"Why, my dear sir, who could have guessed that I should have a brush,
+at the age of seventy-three, with the son, or the grandson, of one of
+my best friends. I am a vice-admiral, monsieur; is not that as much as
+to say that I think no more of fighting a duel than of smoking a
+cigar? Why, in my time, no two young men could be intimate till they
+had seen the color of their blood! But 'sdeath, sir, last evening,
+sailor-like, I had taken a drop too much grog on board, and I ran you
+down. Shake hands; I would rather take a hundred rebuffs from a
+Longueville than cause his family the smallest regret."
+
+However coldly the young man tried to behave to the Comte de
+Kergarouet, he could not resist the frank cordiality of his manner,
+and presently gave him his hand.
+
+"You were going out riding," said the Count. "Do not let me detain
+you. But, unless you have other plans, I beg you will come to dinner
+to-day at the Villa Planat. My nephew, the Comte de Fontaine, is a man
+it is essential that you should know. Ah, ha! And I propose to make up
+to you for my clumsiness by introducing you to five of the prettiest
+women in Paris. So, so, young man, your brow is clearing! I am fond of
+young people, and I like to see them happy. Their happiness reminds me
+of the good times of my youth, when adventures were not lacking, any
+more than duels. We were gay dogs then! Nowadays you think and worry
+over everything, as though there had never been a fifteenth and a
+sixteenth century."
+
+"But, monsieur, are we not in the right? The sixteenth century only
+gave religious liberty to Europe, and the nineteenth will give it
+political lib----"
+
+"Oh, we will not talk politics. I am a perfect old woman--ultra you
+see. But I do not hinder young men from being revolutionary, so long
+as they leave the King at liberty to disperse their assemblies."
+
+When they had gone a little way, and the Count and his companion were
+in the heart of the woods, the old sailor pointed out a slender young
+birch sapling, pulled up his horse, took out one of his pistols, and
+the bullet was lodged in the heart of the tree, fifteen paces away.
+
+"You see, my dear fellow, that I am not afraid of a duel," he said
+with comical gravity, as he looked at Monsieur Longueville.
+
+"Nor am I," replied the young man, promptly cocking his pistol; he
+aimed at the hole made by the Comte's bullet, and sent his own close
+to it.
+
+"That is what I call a well-educated man," cried the admiral with
+enthusiasm.
+
+During this ride with the youth, whom he already regarded as his
+nephew, he found endless opportunities of catechizing him on all the
+trifles of which a perfect knowledge constituted, according to his
+private code, an accomplished gentleman.
+
+"Have you any debts?" he at last asked of his companion, after many
+other inquiries.
+
+"No, monsieur."
+
+"What, you pay for all you have?"
+
+"Punctually; otherwise we should lose our credit, and every sort of
+respect."
+
+"But at least you have more than one mistress? Ah, you blush, comrade!
+Well, manners have changed. All these notions of lawful order,
+Kantism, and liberty have spoilt the young men. You have no Guimard
+now, no Duthe, no creditors--and you know nothing of heraldry; why, my
+dear young friend, you are not fully fledged. The man who does not sow
+his wild oats in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but
+eighty thousand francs a year at the age of seventy, it is because I
+ran through the capital at thirty. Oh! with my wife--in decency and
+honor. However, your imperfections will not interfere with my
+introducing you at the Pavillon Planat. Remember, you have promised to
+come, and I shall expect you."
+
+"What an odd little old man!" said Longueville to himself. "He is so
+jolly and hale; but though he wishes to seem a good fellow, I will not
+trust him too far."
+
+Next day, at about four o'clock, when the house party were dispersed
+in the drawing-rooms and billiard-room, a servant announced to the
+inhabitants of the Villa Planat, "Monsieur DE Longueville." On hearing
+the name of the old admiral's protege, every one, down to the player
+who was about to miss his stroke, rushed in, as much to study
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine's countenance as to judge of this phoenix of
+men, who had earned honorable mention to the detriment of so many
+rivals. A simple but elegant style of dress, an air of perfect ease,
+polite manners, a pleasant voice with a ring in it which found a
+response in the hearer's heart-strings, won the good-will of the
+family for Monsieur Longueville. He did not seem unaccustomed to the
+luxury of the Receiver-General's ostentatious mansion. Though his
+conversation was that of a man of the world, it was easy to discern
+that he had had a brilliant education, and that his knowledge was as
+thorough as it was extensive. He knew so well the right thing to say
+in a discussion on naval architecture, trivial, it is true, started by
+the old admiral, that one of the ladies remarked that he must have
+passed through the Ecole Polytechnique.
+
+"And I think, madame," he replied, "that I may regard it as an honor
+to have got in."
+
+In spite of urgent pressing, he refused politely but firmly to be kept
+to dinner, and put an end to the persistency of the ladies by saying
+that he was the Hippocrates of his young sister, whose delicate health
+required great care.
+
+"Monsieur is perhaps a medical man?" asked one of Emilie's sisters-in-
+law with ironical meaning.
+
+"Monsieur has left the Ecole Polytechnique," Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+kindly put in; her face had flushed with richer color, as she learned
+that the young lady of the ball was Monsieur Longueville's sister.
+
+"But, my dear, he may be a doctor and yet have been to the Ecole
+Polytechnique--is it not so, monsieur?"
+
+"There is nothing to prevent it, madame," replied the young man.
+
+Every eye was on Emilie, who was gazing with uneasy curiosity at the
+fascinating stranger. She breathed more freely when he added, not
+without a smile, "I have not the honor of belonging to the medical
+profession; and I even gave up going into the Engineers in order to
+preserve my independence."
+
+"And you did well," said the Count. "But how can you regard it as an
+honor to be a doctor?" added the Breton nobleman. "Ah, my young
+friend, such a man as you----"
+
+"Monsieur le Comte, I respect every profession that has a useful
+purpose."
+
+"Well, in that we agree. You respect those professions, I imagine, as
+a young man respects a dowager."
+
+Monsieur Longueville made his visit neither too long nor too short. He
+left at the moment when he saw that he had pleased everybody, and that
+each one's curiosity about him had been roused.
+
+"He is a cunning rascal!" said the Count, coming into the drawing-room
+after seeing him to the door.
+
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine, who had been in the secret of this call, had
+dressed with some care to attract the young man's eye; but she had the
+little disappointment of finding that he did not bestow on her so much
+attention as she thought she deserved. The family were a good deal
+surprised at the silence into which she had retired. Emilie generally
+displayed all her arts for the benefit of newcomers, her witty
+prattle, and the inexhaustible eloquence of her eyes and attitudes.
+Whether it was that the young man's pleasing voice and attractive
+manners had charmed her, that she was seriously in love, and that this
+feeling had worked a change in her, her demeanor had lost all its
+affectations. Being simple and natural, she must, no doubt, have
+seemed more beautiful. Some of her sisters, and an old lady, a friend
+of the family, saw in this behavior a refinement of art. They supposed
+that Emilie, judging the man worthy of her, intended to delay
+revealing her merits, so as to dazzle him suddenly when she found that
+she pleased him. Every member of the family was curious to know what
+this capricious creature thought of the stranger; but when, during
+dinner, every one chose to endow Monsieur Longueville with some fresh
+quality which no one else had discovered, Mademoiselle de Fontaine sat
+for some time in silence. A sarcastic remark of her uncle's suddenly
+roused her from her apathy; she said, somewhat epigrammatically, that
+such heavenly perfection must cover some great defect, and that she
+would take good care how she judged so gifted a man at first sight.
+
+"Those who please everybody, please nobody," she added; "and the worst
+of all faults is to have none."
+
+Like all girls who are in love, Emilie cherished the hope of being
+able to hide her feelings at the bottom of her heart by putting the
+Argus-eyes that watched on the wrong tack; but by the end of a
+fortnight there was not a member of the large family party who was not
+in this little domestic secret. When Monsieur Longueville called for
+the third time, Emilie believed it was chiefly for her sake. This
+discovery gave her such intoxicating pleasure that she was startled as
+she reflected on it. There was something in it very painful to her
+pride. Accustomed as she was to be the centre of her world, she was
+obliged to recognize a force that attracted her outside herself; she
+tried to resist, but she could not chase from her heart the
+fascinating image of the young man.
+
+Then came some anxiety. Two of Monsieur Longueville's qualities, very
+adverse to general curiosity, and especially to Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine's, were unexpected modesty and discretion. He never spoke of
+himself, of his pursuits, or of his family. The hints Emilie threw out
+in conversation, and the traps she laid to extract from the young
+fellow some facts concerning himself, he could evade with the
+adroitness of a diplomatist concealing a secret. If she talked of
+painting, he responded as a connoisseur; if she sat down to play, he
+showed without conceit that he was a very good pianist; one evening he
+delighted all the party by joining his delightful voice to Emilie's in
+one of Cimarosa's charming duets. But when they tried to find out
+whether he were a professional singer, he baffled them so pleasantly
+that he did not afford these women, practised as they were in the art
+of reading feelings, the least chance of discovering to what social
+sphere he belonged. However boldly the old uncle cast the boarding-
+hooks over the vessel, Longueville slipped away cleverly, so as to
+preserve the charm of mystery; and it was easy to him to remain the
+"handsome Stranger" at the Villa, because curiosity never overstepped
+the bounds of good breeding.
+
+Emilie, distracted by this reserve, hoped to get more out of the
+sister than the brother, in the form of confidences. Aided by her
+uncle, who was as skilful in such manoeuvres as in handling a ship,
+she endeavored to bring upon the scene the hitherto unseen figure of
+Mademoiselle Clara Longueville. The family party at the Villa Planat
+soon expressed the greatest desire to make the acquaintance of so
+amiable a young lady, and to give her some amusement. An informal
+dance was proposed and accepted. The ladies did not despair of making
+a young girl of sixteen talk.
+
+Notwithstanding the little clouds piled up by suspicion and created by
+curiosity, a light of joy shone in Emilie's soul, for she found life
+delicious when thus intimately connected with another than herself.
+She began to understand the relations of life. Whether it is that
+happiness makes us better, or that she was too fully occupied to
+torment other people, she became less caustic, more gentle, and
+indulgent. This change in her temper enchanted and amazed her family.
+Perhaps, at last, her selfishness was being transformed to love. It
+was a deep delight to her to look for the arrival of her bashful and
+unconfessed adorer. Though they had not uttered a word of passion, she
+knew that she was loved, and with what art did she not lead the
+stranger to unlock the stores of his information, which proved to be
+varied! She perceived that she, too, was being studied, and that made
+her endeavor to remedy the defects her education had encouraged. Was
+not this her first homage to love, and a bitter reproach to herself?
+She desired to please, and she was enchanting; she loved, and she was
+idolized. Her family, knowing that her pride would sufficiently
+protect her, gave her enough freedom to enjoy the little childish
+delights which give to first love its charm and its violence. More
+than once the young man and Mademoiselle de Fontaine walked, tete-a-
+tete, in the avenues of the garden, where nature was dressed like a
+woman going to a ball. More than once they had those conversations,
+aimless and meaningless, in which the emptiest phrases are those which
+cover the deepest feelings. They often admired together the setting
+sun and its gorgeous coloring. They gathered daisies to pull the
+petals off, and sang the most impassioned duets, using the notes set
+down by Pergolesi or Rossini as faithful interpreters to express their
+secrets.
+
+The day of the dance came. Clara Longueville and her brother, whom the
+servants persisted in honoring with the noble DE, were the principle
+guests. For the first time in her life Mademoiselle de Fontaine felt
+pleasure in a young girl's triumph. She lavished on Clara in all
+sincerity the gracious petting and little attentions which women
+generally give each other only to excite the jealousy of men. Emilie,
+had, indeed, an object in view; she wanted to discover some secrets.
+But, being a girl, Mademoiselle Longueville showed even more mother-
+wit than her brother, for she did not even look as if she were hiding
+a secret, and kept the conversation to subjects unconnected with
+personal interests, while, at the same time, she gave it so much charm
+that Mademoiselle de Fontaine was almost envious, and called her "the
+Siren." Though Emilie had intended to make Clara talk, it was Clara,
+in fact, who questioned Emilie; she had meant to judge her, and she
+was judged by her; she was constantly provoked to find that she had
+betrayed her own character in some reply which Clara had extracted
+from her, while her modest and candid manner prohibited any suspicion
+of perfidy. There was a moment when Mademoiselle de Fontaine seemed
+sorry for an ill-judged sally against the commonalty to which Clara
+had led her.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said the sweet child, "I have heard so much of you
+from Maximilien that I had the keenest desire to know you, out of
+affection for him; but is not a wish to know you a wish to love you?"
+
+"My dear Clara, I feared I might have displeased you by speaking thus
+of people who are not of noble birth."
+
+"Oh, be quite easy. That sort of discussion is pointless in these
+days. As for me, it does not affect me. I am beside the question."
+
+Ambitious as the answer might seem, it filled Mademoiselle de Fontaine
+with the deepest joy; for, like all infatuated people, she explained
+it, as oracles are explained, in the sense that harmonized with her
+wishes; she began dancing again in higher spirits than ever, as she
+watched Longueville, whose figure and grace almost surpassed those of
+her imaginary ideal. She felt added satisfaction in believing him to
+be well born, her black eyes sparkled, and she danced with all the
+pleasure that comes of dancing in the presence of the being we love.
+The couple had never understood each other as well as at this moment;
+more than once they felt their finger tips thrill and tremble as they
+were married in the figures of the dance.
+
+The early autumn had come to the handsome pair, in the midst of
+country festivities and pleasures; they had abandoned themselves
+softly to the tide of the sweetest sentiment in life, strengthening it
+by a thousand little incidents which any one can imagine; for love is
+in some respects always the same. They studied each other through it
+all, as much as lovers can.
+
+"Well, well; a flirtation never turned so quickly into a love match,"
+said the old uncle, who kept an eye on the two young people as a
+naturalist watches an insect in the microscope.
+
+The speech alarmed Monsieur and Madame Fontaine. The old Vendeen had
+ceased to be so indifferent to his daughter's prospects as he had
+promised to be. He went to Paris to seek information, and found none.
+Uneasy at this mystery, and not yet knowing what might be the outcome
+of the inquiry which he had begged a Paris friend to institute with
+reference to the family of Longueville, he thought it his duty to warn
+his daughter to behave prudently. The fatherly admonition was received
+with mock submission spiced with irony.
+
+"At least, my dear Emilie, if you love him, do not own it to him."
+
+"My dear father, I certainly do love him; but I will await your
+permission before I tell him so."
+
+"But remember, Emilie, you know nothing of his family or his
+pursuits."
+
+"I may be ignorant, but I am content to be. But, father, you wished to
+see me married; you left me at liberty to make my choice; my choice is
+irrevocably made--what more is needful?"
+
+"It is needful to ascertain, my dear, whether the man of your choice
+is the son of a peer of France," the venerable gentleman retorted
+sarcastically.
+
+Emilie was silent for a moment. She presently raised her head, looked
+at her father, and said somewhat anxiously, "Are not the
+Longuevilles----?"
+
+"They became extinct in the person of the old Duc de Rostein-Limbourg,
+who perished on the scaffold in 1793. He was the last representative
+of the last and younger branch."
+
+"But, papa, there are some very good families descended from bastards.
+The history of France swarms with princes bearing the bar sinister on
+their shields."
+
+"Your ideas are much changed," said the old man, with a smile.
+
+The following day was the last that the Fontaine family were to spend
+at the Pavillon Planat. Emilie, greatly disturbed by her father's
+warning, awaited with extreme impatience the hour at which young
+Longueville was in the habit of coming, to wring some explanation from
+him. She went out after dinner, and walked alone across the shrubbery
+towards an arbor fit for lovers, where she knew that the eager youth
+would seek her; and as she hastened thither she considered of the best
+way to discover so important a matter without compromising herself--a
+rather difficult thing! Hitherto no direct avowal had sanctioned the
+feelings which bound her to this stranger. Like Maximilien, she had
+secretly enjoyed the sweetness of first love; but both were equally
+proud, and each feared to confess that love.
+
+Maximilien Longueville, to whom Clara had communicated her not
+unfounded suspicions as to Emilie's character, was by turns carried
+away by the violence of a young man's passion, and held back by a wish
+to know and test the woman to whom he would be entrusting his
+happiness. His love had not hindered him from perceiving in Emilie the
+prejudices which marred her young nature; but before attempting to
+counteract them, he wished to be sure that she loved him, for he would
+no sooner risk the fate of his love than of his life. He had,
+therefore, persistently kept a silence to which his looks, his
+behavior, and his smallest actions gave the lie.
+
+On her side, the self-respect natural to a young girl, augmented in
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine by the monstrous vanity founded on her birth
+and beauty, kept her from meeting the declaration half-way, which her
+growing passion sometimes urged her to invite. Thus the lovers had
+instinctively understood the situation without explaining to each
+other their secret motives. There are times in life when such
+vagueness pleases youthful minds. Just because each had postponed
+speaking too long, they seemed to be playing a cruel game of suspense.
+He was trying to discover whether he was beloved, by the effort any
+confession would cost his haughty mistress; she every minute hoped
+that he would break a too respectful silence.
+
+Emilie, seated on a rustic bench, was reflecting on all that had
+happened in these three months full of enchantment. Her father's
+suspicions were the last that could appeal to her; she even disposed
+of them at once by two or three of those reflections natural to an
+inexperienced girl, which, to her, seemed conclusive. Above all, she
+was convinced that it was impossible that she should deceive herself.
+All the summer through she had not been able to detect in Maximilien a
+single gesture, or a single word, which could indicate a vulgar origin
+or vulgar occupations; nay more, his manner of discussing things
+revealed a man devoted to the highest interests of the nation.
+"Besides," she reflected, "an office clerk, a banker, or a merchant,
+would not be at leisure to spend a whole season in paying his
+addresses to me in the midst of woods and fields; wasting his time as
+freely as a nobleman who has life before him free of all care."
+
+She had given herself up to meditations far more interesting to her
+than these preliminary thoughts, when a slight rustling in the leaves
+announced to her than Maximilien had been watching her for a minute,
+not probably without admiration.
+
+"Do you know that it is very wrong to take a young girl thus
+unawares?" she asked him, smiling.
+
+"Especially when they are busy with their secrets," replied Maximilien
+archly.
+
+"Why should I not have my secrets? You certainly have yours."
+
+"Then you really were thinking of your secrets?" he went on, laughing.
+
+"No, I was thinking of yours. My own, I know."
+
+"But perhaps my secrets are yours, and yours mine," cried the young
+man, softly seizing Mademoiselle de Fontaine's hand and drawing it
+through his arm.
+
+After walking a few steps they found themselves under a clump of trees
+which the hues of the sinking sun wrapped in a haze of red and brown.
+This touch of natural magic lent a certain solemnity to the moment.
+The young man's free and eager action, and, above all, the throbbing
+of his surging heart, whose hurried beating spoke to Emilie's arm,
+stirred her to an emotion that was all the more disturbing because it
+was produced by the simplest and most innocent circumstances. The
+restraint under which the young girls of the upper class live gives
+incredible force to any explosion of feeling, and to meet an
+impassioned lover is one of the greatest dangers they can encounter.
+Never had Emilie and Maximilien allowed their eyes to say so much that
+they dared never speak. Carried a way by this intoxication, they
+easily forgot the petty stipulations of pride, and the cold
+hesitancies of suspicion. At first, indeed, they could only express
+themselves by a pressure of hands which interpreted their happy
+thoughts.
+
+After slowing pacing a few steps in long silence, Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine spoke. "Monsieur, I have a question to ask you," she said
+trembling, and in an agitated voice. "But, remember, I beg, that it is
+in a manner compulsory on me, from the rather singular position I am
+in with regard to my family."
+
+A pause, terrible to Emilie, followed these sentences, which she had
+almost stammered out. During the minute while it lasted, the girl,
+haughty as she was, dared not meet the flashing eye of the man she
+loved, for she was secretly conscious of the meanness of the next
+words she added: "Are you of noble birth?"
+
+As soon as the words were spoken she wished herself at the bottom of a
+lake.
+
+"Mademoiselle," Longueville gravely replied, and his face assumed a
+sort of stern dignity, "I promise to answer you truly as soon as you
+shall have answered in all sincerity a question I will put to you!"--
+He released her arm, and the girl suddenly felt alone in the world, as
+he said: "What is your object in questioning me as to my birth?"
+
+She stood motionless, cold, and speechless.
+
+"Mademoiselle," Maximilien went on, "let us go no further if we do not
+understand each other. I love you," he said, in a voice of deep
+emotion. "Well, then," he added, as he heard the joyful exclamation
+she could not suppress, "why ask me if I am of noble birth?"
+
+"Could he speak so if he were not?" cried a voice within her, which
+Emilie believed came from the depths of her heart. She gracefully
+raised her head, seemed to find new life in the young man's gaze, and
+held out her hand as if to renew the alliance.
+
+"You thought I cared very much for dignities?" said she with keen
+archness.
+
+"I have no titles to offer my wife," he replied, in a half-sportive,
+half-serious tone. "But if I choose one of high rank, and among women
+whom a wealthy home has accustomed to the luxury and pleasures of a
+fine fortune, I know what such a choice requires of me. Love gives
+everything," he added lightly, "but only to lovers. Once married, they
+need something more than the vault of heaven and the carpet of a
+meadow."
+
+"He is rich," she reflected. "As to titles, perhaps he only wants to
+try me. He has been told that I am mad about titles, and bent on
+marrying none but a peer's son. My priggish sisters have played me
+that trick."--"I assure you, monsieur," she said aloud, "that I have
+had very extravagant ideas about life and the world; but now," she
+added pointedly, looking at him in a perfectly distracting way, "I
+know where true riches are to be found for a wife."
+
+"I must believe that you are speaking from the depths of your heart,"
+he said, with gentle gravity. "But this winter, my dear Emilie, in
+less than two months perhaps, I may be proud of what I shall have to
+offer you if you care for the pleasures of wealth. This is the only
+secret I shall keep locked here," and he laid his hand on his heart,
+"for on its success my happiness depends. I dare not say ours."
+
+"Yes, yes, ours!"
+
+Exchanging such sweet nothings, they slowly made their way back to
+rejoin the company. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had never found her lover
+more amiable or wittier: his light figure, his engaging manners,
+seemed to her more charming than ever, since the conversation which
+had made her to some extent the possessor of a heart worthy to be the
+envy of every woman. They sang an Italian duet with so much expression
+that the audience applauded enthusiastically. Their adieux were in a
+conventional tone, which concealed their happiness. In short, this day
+had been to Emilie like a chain binding her more closely than ever to
+the Stranger's fate. The strength and dignity he had displayed in the
+scene when they had confessed their feelings had perhaps impressed
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine with the respect without which there is no
+true love.
+
+When she was left alone in the drawing-room with her father, the old
+man went up to her affectionately, held her hands, and asked her
+whether she had gained any light at to Monsieur Longueville's family
+and fortune.
+
+"Yes, my dear father," she replied, "and I am happier than I could
+have hoped. In short, Monsieur de Longueville is the only man I could
+ever marry."
+
+"Very well, Emilie," said the Count, "then I know what remains for me
+to do."
+
+"Do you know of any impediment?" she asked, in sincere alarm.
+
+"My dear child, the young man is totally unknown to me; but unless he
+is not a man of honor, so long as you love him, he is as dear to me as
+a son."
+
+"Not a man of honor!" exclaimed Emilie. "As to that, I am quite easy.
+My uncle, who introduced him to us, will answer for him. Say, my dear
+uncle, has he been a filibuster, an outlaw, a pirate?"
+
+"I knew I should find myself in this fix!" cried the old sailor,
+waking up. He looked round the room, but his niece had vanished "like
+Saint-Elmo's fires," to use his favorite expression.
+
+"Well, uncle," Monsieur de Fontaine went on, "how could you hide from
+us all you knew about this young man? You must have seen how anxious
+we have been. Is Monsieur de Longueville a man of family?"
+
+"I don't know him from Adam or Eve," said the Comte de Kergarouet.
+"Trusting to that crazy child's tact, I got him here by a method of my
+own. I know that the boy shoots with a pistol to admiration, hunts
+well, plays wonderfully at billiards, at chess, and at backgammon; he
+handles the foils, and rides a horse like the late Chevalier de Saint-
+Georges. He has a thorough knowledge of all our vintages. He is as
+good an arithmetician as Bareme, draws, dances, and sings well. The
+devil's in it! what more do you want? If that is not a perfect
+gentleman, find me a bourgeois who knows all this, or any man who
+lives more nobly than he does. Does he do anything, I ask you? Does he
+compromise his dignity by hanging about an office, bowing down before
+the upstarts you call Directors-General? He walks upright. He is a
+man.--However, I have just found in my waistcoat pocket the card he
+gave me when he fancied I wanted to cut his throat, poor innocent.
+Young men are very simple-minded nowadays! Here it is."
+
+"Rue du Sentier, No. 5," said Monsieur de Fontaine, trying to recall
+among all the information he had received, something which might
+concern the stranger. "What the devil can it mean? Messrs. Palma,
+Werbrust & Co., wholesale dealers in muslins, calicoes, and printed
+cotton goods, live there.--Stay, I have it: Longueville the deputy has
+an interest in their house. Well, but so far as I know, Longueville
+has but one son of two-and-thirty, who is not at all like our man, and
+to whom he gave fifty thousand francs a year that he might marry a
+minister's daughter; he wants to be made a peer like the rest of 'em.
+--I never heard him mention this Maximilien. Has he a daughter? What
+is this girl Clara? Besides, it is open to any adventurer to call
+himself Longueville. But is not the house of Palma, Werbrust & Co.
+half ruined by some speculation in Mexico or the Indies? I will clear
+all this up."
+
+"You speak a soliloquy as if you were on the stage, and seem to
+account me a cipher," said the old admiral suddenly. "Don't you know
+that if he is a gentleman, I have more than one bag in my hold that
+will stop any leak in his fortune?"
+
+"As to that, if he is a son of Longueville's, he will want nothing;
+but," said Monsieur de Fontaine, shaking his head from side to side,
+"his father has not even washed off the stains of his origin. Before
+the Revolution he was an attorney, and the DE he has since assumed no
+more belongs to him than half of his fortune."
+
+"Pooh! pooh! happy those whose fathers were hanged!" cried the admiral
+gaily.
+
+
+
+Three or four days after this memorable day, on one of those fine
+mornings in the month of November, which show the boulevards cleaned
+by the sharp cold of an early frost, Mademoiselle de Fontaine, wrapped
+in a new style of fur cape, of which she wished to set the fashion,
+went out with two of her sisters-in-law, on whom she had been wont to
+discharge her most cutting remarks. The three women were tempted to
+the drive, less by their desire to try a very elegant carriage, and
+wear gowns which were to set the fashion for the winter, than by their
+wish to see a cape which a friend had observed in a handsome lace and
+linen shop at the corner of the Rue de la Paix. As soon as they were
+in the shop the Baronne de Fontaine pulled Emilie by the sleeve, and
+pointed out to her Maximilien Longueville seated behind the desk, and
+engaged in paying out the change for a gold piece to one of the
+workwomen with whom he seemed to be in consultation. The "handsome
+stranger" held in his hand a parcel of patterns, which left no doubt
+as to his honorable profession.
+
+Emilie felt an icy shudder, though no one perceived it. Thanks to the
+good breeding of the best society, she completely concealed the rage
+in her heart, and answered her sister-in-law with the words, "I knew
+it," with a fulness of intonation and inimitable decision which the
+most famous actress of the time might have envied her. She went
+straight up to the desk. Longueville looked up, put the patterns in
+his pocket with distracting coolness, bowed to Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine, and came forward, looking at her keenly.
+
+"Mademoiselle," he said to the shopgirl, who followed him, looking
+very much disturbed, "I will send to settle that account; my house
+deals in that way. But here," he whispered into her ear, as he gave
+her a thousand-franc note, "take this--it is between ourselves.--You
+will forgive me, I trust, mademoiselle," he added, turning to Emilie.
+"You will kindly excuse the tyranny of business matters."
+
+"Indeed, monsieur, it seems to me that it is no concern of mine,"
+replied Mademoiselle de Fontaine, looking at him with a bold
+expression of sarcastic indifference which might have made any one
+believe that she now saw him for the first time.
+
+"Do you really mean it?" asked Maximilien in a broken voice.
+
+Emilie turned her back upon him with amazing insolence. These words,
+spoken in an undertone, had escaped the ears of her two sisters-in-
+law. When, after buying the cape, the three ladies got into the
+carriage again, Emilie, seated with her back to the horses, could not
+resist one last comprehensive glance into the depths of the odious
+shop, where she saw Maximilien standing with his arms folded, in the
+attitude of a man superior to the disaster that has so suddenly fallen
+on him. Their eyes met and flashed implacable looks. Each hoped to
+inflict a cruel wound on the heart of a lover. In one instant they
+were as far apart as if one had been in China and the other in
+Greenland.
+
+Does not the breath of vanity wither everything? Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine, a prey to the most violent struggle that can torture the
+heart of a young girl, reaped the richest harvest of anguish that
+prejudice and narrow-mindedness ever sowed in a human soul. Her face,
+but just now fresh and velvety, was streaked with yellow lines and red
+patches; the paleness of her cheeks seemed every now and then to turn
+green. Hoping to hide her despair from her sisters, she would laugh as
+she pointed out some ridiculous dress or passer-by; but her laughter
+was spasmodic. She was more deeply hurt by their unspoken compassion
+than by any satirical comments for which she might have revenged
+herself. She exhausted her wit in trying to engage them in a
+conversation, in which she tried to expend her fury in senseless
+paradoxes, heaping on all men engaged in trade the bitterest insults
+and witticisms in the worst taste.
+
+On getting home, she had an attack of fever, which at first assumed a
+somewhat serious character. By the end of a month the care of her
+parents and of the physician restored her to her family.
+
+Every one hoped that this lesson would be severe enough to subdue
+Emilie's nature; but she insensibly fell into her old habits and threw
+herself again into the world of fashion. She declared that there was
+no disgrace in making a mistake. If she, like her father, had a vote
+in the Chamber, she would move for an edict, she said, by which all
+merchants, and especially dealers in calico, should be branded on the
+forehead, like Berri sheep, down to the third generation. She wished
+that none but nobles should have the right to wear the antique French
+costume, which was so becoming to the courtiers of Louis XV. To hear
+her, it was a misfortune for France, perhaps, that there was no
+outward and visible difference between a merchant and a peer of
+France. And a hundred more such pleasantries, easy to imagine, were
+rapidly poured out when any accident brought up the subject.
+
+But those who loved Emilie could see through all her banter a tinge of
+melancholy. It was clear that Maximilien Longueville still reigned
+over that inexorable heart. Sometimes she would be as gentle as she
+had been during the brief summer that had seen the birth of her love;
+sometimes, again, she was unendurable. Every one made excuses for her
+inequality of temper, which had its source in sufferings at once
+secret and known to all. The Comte de Kergarouet had some influence
+over her, thanks to his increased prodigality, a kind of consolation
+which rarely fails of its effect on a Parisian girl.
+
+The first ball at which Mademoiselle de Fontaine appeared was at the
+Neapolitan ambassador's. As she took her place in the first quadrille
+she saw, a few yards away from her, Maximilien Longueville, who nodded
+slightly to her partner.
+
+"Is that young man a friend of yours?" she asked, with a scornful air.
+
+"Only my brother," he replied.
+
+Emilie could not help starting. "Ah!" he continued, "and he is the
+noblest soul living----"
+
+"Do you know my name?" asked Emilie, eagerly interrupting him.
+
+"No, mademoiselle. It is a crime, I confess, not to remember a name
+which is on every lip--I ought to say in every heart. But I have a
+valid excuse. I have but just arrived from Germany. My ambassador, who
+is in Paris on leave, sent me here this evening to take care of his
+amiable wife, whom you may see yonder in that corner."
+
+"A perfect tragic mask!" said Emilie, after looking at the
+ambassadress.
+
+"And yet that is her ballroom face!" said the young man, laughing. "I
+shall have to dance with her! So I thought I might have some
+compensation." Mademoiselle de Fontaine courtesied. "I was very much
+surprised," the voluble young secretary went on, "to find my brother
+here. On arriving from Vienna I heard that the poor boy was ill in
+bed; and I counted on seeing him before coming to this ball; but good
+policy will always allow us to indulge family affection. The Padrona
+della case would not give me time to call on my poor Maximilien."
+
+"Then, monsieur, your brother is not, like you, in diplomatic
+employment."
+
+"No," said the attache, with a sigh, "the poor fellow sacrificed
+himself for me. He and my sister Clara have renounced their share of
+my father's fortune to make an eldest son of me. My father dreams of a
+peerage, like all who vote for the ministry. Indeed, it is promised
+him," he added in an undertone. "After saving up a little capital my
+brother joined a banking firm, and I hear he has just effected a
+speculation in Brazil which may make him a millionaire. You see me in
+the highest spirits at having been able, by my diplomatic connections,
+to contribute to his success. I am impatiently expecting a dispatch
+from the Brazilian Legation, which will help to lift the cloud from
+his brow. What do you think of him?"
+
+"Well, your brother's face does not look to me like that of a man
+busied with money matters."
+
+The young attache shot a scrutinizing glance at the apparently calm
+face of his partner.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, with a smile, "can young ladies read the
+thoughts of love behind the silent brow?"
+
+"Your brother is in love, then?" she asked, betrayed into a movement
+of curiosity.
+
+"Yes; my sister Clara, to whom he is as devoted as a mother, wrote to
+me that he had fallen in love this summer with a very pretty girl; but
+I have had no further news of the affair. Would you believe that the
+poor boy used to get up at five in the morning, and went off to settle
+his business that he might be back by four o'clock in the country
+where the lady was? In fact, he ruined a very nice thoroughbred that I
+had just given him. Forgive my chatter, mademoiselle; I have but just
+come home from Germany. For a year I have heard no decent French, I
+have been weaned from French faces, and satiated with Germans, to such
+a degree that, I believe, in my patriotic mania, I could talk to the
+chimeras on a French candlestick. And if I talk with a lack of reserve
+unbecoming in a diplomatist, the fault is yours, mademoiselle. Was it
+not you who pointed out my brother? When he is the theme I become
+inexhaustible. I should like to proclaim to all the world how good and
+generous he is. He gave up no less than a hundred thousand francs a
+year, the income from the Longueville property."
+
+If Mademoiselle de Fontaine had the benefit of these important
+revelations, it was partly due to the skill with which she continued
+to question her confiding partner from the moment when she found that
+he was the brother of her scorned lover.
+
+"And could you, without being grieved, see your brother selling muslin
+and calico?" asked Emilie, at the end of the third figure of the
+quadrille.
+
+"How do you know that?" asked the attache. "Thank God, though I pour
+out a flood of words, I have already acquired the art of not telling
+more than I intend, like all the other diplomatic apprentices I know."
+
+"You told me, I assure you."
+
+Monsieur de Longueville looked at Mademoiselle de Fontaine with a
+surprise that was full of perspicacity. A suspicion flashed upon him.
+He glanced inquiringly from his brother to his partner, guessed
+everything, clasped his hands, fixed his eyes on the ceiling, and
+began to laugh, saying, "I am an idiot! You are the handsomest person
+here; my brother keeps stealing glances at you; he is dancing in spite
+of his illness, and you pretend not to see him. Make him happy," he
+added, as he led her back to her old uncle. "I shall not be jealous,
+but I shall always shiver a little at calling you my sister----"
+
+The lovers, however, were to prove as inexorable to each other as they
+were to themselves. At about two in the morning, refreshments were
+served in an immense corridor, where, to leave persons of the same
+coterie free to meet each other, the tables were arranged as in a
+restaurant. By one of those accidents which always happen to lovers,
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine found herself at a table next to that at
+which the more important guests were seated. Maximilien was of the
+group. Emilie, who lent an attentive ear to her neighbors'
+conversation, overheard one of those dialogues into which a young
+woman so easily falls with a young man who has the grace and style of
+Maximilien Longueville. The lady talking to the young banker was a
+Neapolitan duchess, whose eyes shot lightning flashes, and whose skin
+had the sheen of satin. The intimate terms on which Longueville
+affected to be with her stung Mademoiselle de Fontaine all the more
+because she had just given her lover back twenty times as much
+tenderness as she had ever felt for him before.
+
+"Yes, monsieur, in my country true love can make every kind of
+sacrifice," the Duchess was saying, in a simper.
+
+"You have more passion than Frenchwomen," said Maximilien, whose
+burning gaze fell on Emilie. "They are all vanity."
+
+"Monsieur," Emilie eagerly interposed, "is it not very wrong to
+calumniate your own country? Devotion is to be found in every nation."
+
+"Do you imagine, mademoiselle," retorted the Italian, with a sardonic
+smile, "that a Parisian would be capable of following her lover all
+over the world?"
+
+"Oh, madame, let us understand each other. She would follow him to a
+desert and live in a tent but not to sit in a shop."
+
+A disdainful gesture completed her meaning. Thus, under the influence
+of her disastrous education, Emile for the second time killed her
+budding happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien's
+apparent indifference, and a woman's smile, had wrung from her one of
+those sarcasms whose treacherous zest always let her astray.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said Longueville, in a low voice, under cover of the
+noise made by the ladies as they rose from the table, "no one will
+ever more ardently desire your happiness than I; permit me to assure
+you of this, as I am taking leave of you. I am starting for Italy in a
+few days."
+
+"With a Duchess, no doubt?"
+
+"No, but perhaps with a mortal blow."
+
+"Is not that pure fancy?" asked Emilie, with an anxious glance.
+
+"No," he replied. "There are wounds which never heal."
+
+"You are not to go," said the girl, imperiously, and she smiled.
+
+"I shall go," replied Maximilien, gravely.
+
+"You will find me married on your return, I warn you," she said
+coquettishly.
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"Impertinent wretch!" she exclaimed. "How cruel a revenge!"
+
+A fortnight later Maximilien set out with his sister Clara for the
+warm and poetic scenes of beautiful Italy, leaving Mademoiselle de
+Fontaine a prey to the most vehement regret. The young Secretary to
+the Embassy took up his brother's quarrel, and contrived to take
+signal vengeance on Emilie's disdain by making known the occasion of
+the lovers' separation. He repaid his fair partner with interest all
+the sarcasm with which she had formerly attacked Maximilien, and often
+made more than one Excellency smile by describing the fair foe of the
+counting-house, the amazon who preached a crusade against bankers, the
+young girl whose love had evaporated before a bale of muslin. The
+Comte de Fontaine was obliged to use his influence to procure an
+appointment to Russia for Auguste Longueville in order to protect his
+daughter from the ridicule heaped upon her by this dangerous young
+persecutor.
+
+Not long after, the Ministry being compelled to raise a levy of peers
+to support the aristocratic party, trembling in the Upper Chamber
+under the lash of an illustrious writer, gave Monsieur Guiraudin de
+Longueville a peerage, with the title of Vicomte. Monsieur de Fontaine
+also obtained a peerage, the reward due as much to his fidelity in
+evil days as to his name, which claimed a place in the hereditary
+Chamber.
+
+About this time Emilie, now of age, made, no doubt, some serious
+reflections on life, for her tone and manners changed perceptibly.
+Instead of amusing herself by saying spiteful things to her uncle, she
+lavished on him the most affectionate attentions; she brought him his
+stick with a persevering devotion that made the cynical smile, she
+gave him her arm, rode in his carriage, and accompanied him in all his
+drives; she even persuaded him that she liked the smell of tobacco,
+and read him his favorite paper La Quotidienne in the midst of clouds
+of smoke, which the malicious old sailor intentionally blew over her;
+she learned piquet to be a match for the old count; and this fantastic
+damsel even listened without impatience to his periodical narratives
+of the battles of the Belle-Poule, the manoeuvres of the Ville de
+Paris, M. de Suffren's first expedition, or the battle of Aboukir.
+
+Though the old sailor had often said that he knew his longitude and
+latitude too well to allow himself to be captured by a young corvette,
+one fine morning Paris drawing-rooms heard the news of the marriage of
+Mademoiselle de Fontaine to the Comte de Kergarouet. The young
+Countess gave splendid entertainments to drown thought; but she, no
+doubt, found a void at the bottom of the whirlpool; luxury was
+ineffectual to disguise the emptiness and grief of her sorrowing soul;
+for the most part, in spite of the flashes of assumed gaiety, her
+beautiful face expressed unspoken melancholy. Emilie appeared,
+however, full of attentions and consideration for her old husband,
+who, on retiring to his rooms at night, to the sounds of a lively
+band, would often say, "I do not know myself. Was I to wait till the
+age of seventy-two to embark as pilot on board the Belle Emilie after
+twenty years of matrimonial galleys?"
+
+The conduct of the young Countess was marked by such strictness that
+the most clear-sighted criticism had no fault to find with her.
+Lookers on chose to think that the vice-admiral had reserved the right
+of disposing of his fortune to keep his wife more tightly in hand; but
+this was a notion as insulting to the uncle as to the niece. Their
+conduct was indeed so delicately judicious that the men who were most
+interested in guessing the secrets of the couple could never decide
+whether the old Count regarded her as a wife or as a daughter. He was
+often heard to say that he had rescued his niece as a castaway after
+shipwreck; and that, for his part, he had never taken a mean advantage
+of hospitality when he had saved an enemy from the fury of the storm.
+Though the Countess aspired to reign in Paris and tried to keep pace
+with Mesdames the Duchesses de Maufrigneuse and du Chaulieu, the
+Marquises d'Espard and d'Aiglemont, the Comtesses Feraud, de
+Montcornet, and de Restaud, Madame de Camps, and Mademoiselle des
+Touches, she did not yield to the addresses of the young Vicomte de
+Portenduere, who made her his idol.
+
+Two years after her marriage, in one of the old drawing-rooms in the
+Faubourg Saint-Germain, where she was admired for her character,
+worthy of the old school, Emilie heard the Vicomte de Longueville
+announced. In the corner of the room where she was sitting, playing
+piquet with the Bishop of Persepolis, her agitation was not observed;
+she turned her head and saw her former lover come in, in all the
+freshness of youth. His father's death, and then that of his brother,
+killed by the severe climate of Saint-Petersburg, had placed on
+Maximilien's head the hereditary plumes of the French peer's hat. His
+fortune matched his learning and his merits; only the day before his
+youthful and fervid eloquence had dazzled the Assembly. At this moment
+he stood before the Countess, free, and graced with all the advantages
+she had formerly required of her ideal. Every mother with a daughter
+to marry made amiable advances to a man gifted with the virtues which
+they attributed to him, as they admired his attractive person; but
+Emilie knew, better than any one, that the Vicomte de Longueville had
+the steadfast nature in which a wise woman sees a guarantee of
+happiness. She looked at the admiral who, to use his favorite
+expression, seemed likely to hold his course for a long time yet, and
+cursed the follies of her youth.
+
+At this moment Monsieur de Persepolis said with Episcopal grace: "Fair
+lady, you have thrown away the king of hearts--I have won. But do not
+regret your money. I keep it for my little seminaries."
+
+
+
+PARIS, December 1829.
+
+
+
+
+ADDENDUM
+
+The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
+
+Beaudenord, Godefroid de
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+  The Firm of Nucingen
+
+Dudley, Lady Arabella
+  The Lily of the Valley
+  The Magic Skin
+  The Secrets of a Princess
+  A Daughter of Eve
+  Letters of Two Brides
+
+Fontaine, Comte de
+  The Chouans
+  Modeste Mignon
+  Cesar Birotteau
+  The Government Clerks
+
+Kergarouet, Comte de
+  The Purse
+  Ursule Mirouet
+
+Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
+  The Chouans
+  The Seamy Side of History
+  The Gondreville Mystery
+  Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+  The Lily of the Valley
+  Colonel Chabert
+  The Government Clerks
+
+Manerville, Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de
+  The Thirteen
+  Lost Illusions
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+  A Marriage Settlement
+
+Marsay, Henri de
+  The Thirteen
+  The Unconscious Humorists
+  Another Study of Woman
+  The Lily of the Valley
+  Father Goriot
+  Jealousies of a Country Town
+  Ursule Mirouet
+  A Marriage Settlement
+  Lost Illusions
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+  Letters of Two Brides
+  Modest Mignon
+  The Secrets of a Princess
+  The Gondreville Mystery
+  A Daughter of Eve
+
+Palma (banker)
+  The Firm of Nucingen
+  Cesar Birotteau
+  Gobseck
+  Lost Illusions
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+
+Portenduere, Vicomte Savinien de
+  Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+  Ursule Mirouet
+  Beatrix
+
+Rastignac, Eugene de
+  Father Goriot
+  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+  Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+  The Interdiction
+  A Study of Woman
+  Another Study of Woman
+  The Magic Skin
+  The Secrets of a Princess
+  A Daughter of Eve
+  The Gondreville Mystery
+  The Firm of Nucingen
+  Cousin Betty
+  The Member for Arcis
+  The Unconscious Humorists
+
+Vandenesse, Marquise Charles de (Emilie de Fontaine)
+  Cesar Birotteau
+  Ursule Mirouet
+  A Daughter of Eve
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac
+
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