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diff --git a/old/1410-0.txt b/old/1410-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..905e3ba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1410-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3412 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Commission in Lunacy, 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 Commission in Lunacy + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Clara Bell + +Release Date: August, 1998 [Etext #1410] +Posting Date: February 24, 2010 +Last Updated: November 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY + + +By Honore De Balzac + + +Translated By Clara Bell + + + + DEDICATION + + Dedicated to Monsieur le Contre-Amiral Bazoche, + Governor of the Isle of Bourbon, by the grateful writer. + DE BALZAC. + + + + +THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY + + +In 1828, at about one o’clock one morning, two persons came out of +a large house in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, near the +Elysee-Bourbon. One was the famous doctor, Horace Bianchon; the other +was one of the most elegant men in Paris, the Baron de Rastignac; they +were friends of long standing. Each had sent away his carriage, and +no cab was to be seen in the street; but the night was fine, and the +pavement dry. + +“We will walk as far as the boulevard,” said Eugene de Rastignac to +Bianchon. “You can get a hackney cab at the club; there is always one to +be found there till daybreak. Come with me as far as my house.” + +“With pleasure.” + +“Well, and what have you to say about it?” + +“About that woman?” said the doctor coldly. + +“There I recognize my Bianchon!” exclaimed Rastignac. + +“Why, how?” + +“Well, my dear fellow, you speak of the Marquise d’Espard as if she were +a case for your hospital.” + +“Do you want to know what I think, Eugene? If you throw over Madame de +Nucingen for this Marquise, you will swap a one-eyed horse for a blind +one.” + +“Madame de Nucingen is six-and-thirty, Bianchon.” + +“And this woman is three-and-thirty,” said the doctor quickly. + +“Her worst enemies only say six-and-twenty.” + +“My dear boy, when you really want to know a woman’s age, look at her +temples and the tip of her nose. Whatever women may achieve with their +cosmetics, they can do nothing against those incorruptible witnesses to +their experiences. There each year of life has left its stigmata. When a +woman’s temples are flaccid, seamed, withered in a particular way; when +at the tip of her nose you see those minute specks, which look like the +imperceptible black smuts which are shed in London by the chimneys +in which coal is burnt.... Your servant, sir! That woman is more than +thirty. She may be handsome, witty, loving--whatever you please, but +she is past thirty, she is arriving at maturity. I do not blame men who +attach themselves to that kind of woman; only, a man of your superior +distinction must not mistake a winter pippin for a little summer apple, +smiling on the bough, and waiting for you to crunch it. Love never +goes to study the registers of birth and marriage; no one loves a woman +because she is handsome or ugly, stupid or clever; we love because we +love.” + +“Well, for my part, I love for quite other reasons. She is Marquise +d’Espard; she was a Blamont-Chauvry; she is the fashion; she has soul; +her foot is as pretty as the Duchesse de Berri’s; she has perhaps a +hundred thousand francs a year--some day, perhaps, I may marry her! In +short, she will put me into a position which will enable me to pay my +debts.” + +“I thought you were rich,” interrupted Bianchon. + +“Bah! I have twenty thousand francs a year--just enough to keep up +my stables. I was thoroughly done, my dear fellow, in that Nucingen +business; I will tell you about that.--I have got my sisters married; +that is the clearest profit I can show since we last met; and I would +rather have them provided for than have five hundred thousand francs a +year. No, what would you have me do? I am ambitious. To what can +Madame de Nucingen lead? A year more and I shall be shelved, stuck in a +pigeon-hole like a married man. I have all the discomforts of marriage +and of single life, without the advantages of either; a false position +to which every man must come who remains tied too long to the same +apron-string.” + +“So you think you will come upon a treasure here?” said Bianchon. “Your +Marquise, my dear fellow, does not hit my fancy at all.” + +“Your liberal opinions blur your eyesight. If Madame d’Espard were a +Madame Rabourdin...” + +“Listen to me. Noble or simple, she would still have no soul; she would +still be a perfect type of selfishness. Take my word for it, medical men +are accustomed to judge of people and things; the sharpest of us read +the soul while we study the body. In spite of that pretty boudoir where +we have spent this evening, in spite of the magnificence of the house, +it is quite possible that Madame la Marquise is in debt.” + +“What makes you think so?” + +“I do not assert it; I am supposing. She talked of her soul as Louis +XVIII. used to talk of his heart. I tell you this: That fragile, fair +woman, with her chestnut hair, who pities herself that she may be +pitied, enjoys an iron constitution, an appetite like a wolf’s, and +the strength and cowardice of a tiger. Gauze, and silk, and muslin were +never more cleverly twisted round a lie! Ecco.” + +“Bianchon, you frighten me! You have learned a good many things, then, +since we lived in the Maison Vauquer?” + +“Yes, since then, my boy, I have seen puppets, both dolls and manikins. +I know something of the ways of the fine ladies whose bodies we attend +to, saving that which is dearest to them, their child--if they love +it--or their pretty faces, which they always worship. A man spends +his nights by their pillow, wearing himself to death to spare them the +slightest loss of beauty in any part; he succeeds, he keeps their secret +like the dead; they send to ask for his bill, and think it horribly +exorbitant. Who saved them? Nature. Far from recommending him, they +speak ill of him, fearing lest he should become the physician of their +best friends. + +“My dear fellow, those women of whom you say, ‘They are angels!’ +I--I--have seen stripped of the little grimaces under which they hide +their soul, as well as of the frippery under which they disguise their +defects--without manners and without stays; they are not beautiful. + +“We saw a great deal of mud, a great deal of dirt, under the waters of +the world when we were aground for a time on the shoals of the Maison +Vauquer.--What we saw there was nothing. Since I have gone into high +society, I have seen monsters dressed in satin, Michonneaus in white +gloves, Poirets bedizened with orders, fine gentlemen doing more +usurious business than old Gobseck! To the shame of mankind, when I have +wanted to shake hands with Virtue, I have found her shivering in a loft, +persecuted by calumny, half-starving on a income or a salary of fifteen +hundred francs a year, and regarded as crazy, or eccentric, or imbecile. + +“In short, my dear boy, the Marquise is a woman of fashion, and I have +a particular horror of that kind of woman. Do you want to know why? A +woman who has a lofty soul, fine taste, gentle wit, a generously warm +heart, and who lives a simple life, has not a chance of being the +fashion. Ergo: A woman of fashion and a man in power are analogous; but +there is this difference: the qualities by which a man raises himself +above others ennoble him and are a glory to him; whereas the qualities +by which a woman gains power for a day are hideous vices; she belies her +nature to hide her character, and to live the militant life of the world +she must have iron strength under a frail appearance. + +“I, as a physician, know that a sound stomach excludes a good heart. +Your woman of fashion feels nothing; her rage for pleasure has its +source in a longing to heat up her cold nature, a craving for excitement +and enjoyment, like an old man who stands night after night by +the footlights at the opera. As she has more brain than heart, she +sacrifices genuine passion and true friends to her triumph, as a general +sends his most devoted subalterns to the front in order to win a battle. +The woman of fashion ceases to be a woman; she is neither mother, nor +wife, nor lover. She is, medically speaking, sex in the brain. And your +Marquise, too, has all the characteristics of her monstrosity, the beak +of a bird of prey, the clear, cold eye, the gentle voice--she is as +polished as the steel of a machine, she touches everything except the +heart.” + +“There is some truth in what you say, Bianchon.” + +“Some truth?” replied Bianchon. “It is all true. Do you suppose that +I was not struck to the heart by the insulting politeness by which +she made me measure the imaginary distance which her noble birth sets +between us? That I did not feel the deepest pity for her cat-like +civilities when I remembered what her object was? A year hence she will +not write one word to do me the slightest service, and this evening she +pelted me with smiles, believing that I can influence my uncle Popinot, +on whom the success of her case----” + +“Would you rather she should have played the fool with you, my dear +fellow?--I accept your diatribe against women of fashion; but you are +beside the mark. I should always prefer for a wife a Marquise d’Espard +to the most devout and devoted creature on earth. Marry an angel! you +would have to go and bury your happiness in the depths of the country! +The wife of a politician is a governing machine, a contrivance that +makes compliments and courtesies. She is the most important and most +faithful tool which an ambitious man can use; a friend, in short, who +may compromise herself without mischief, and whom he may belie without +harmful results. Fancy Mahomet in Paris in the nineteenth century! His +wife would be a Rohan, a Duchesse de Chevreuse of the Fronde, as keen +and as flattering as an Ambassadress, as wily as Figaro. Your loving +wives lead nowhere; a woman of the world leads to everything; she is the +diamond with which a man cuts every window when he has not the golden +key which unlocks every door. Leave humdrum virtues to the humdrum, +ambitious vices to the ambitious. + +“Besides, my dear fellow, do you imagine that the love of a Duchesse +de Langeais, or de Maufrigneuse, or of a Lady Dudley does not bestow +immense pleasure? If only you knew how much value the cold, severe style +of such a woman gives to the smallest evidence of their affection! What +a delight it is to see a periwinkle piercing through the snow! A smile +from below a fan contradicts the reserve of an assumed attitude, and is +worth all the unbridled tenderness of your middle-class women with +their mortgaged devotion; for, in love, devotion is nearly akin to +speculation. + +“And, then, a woman of fashion, a Blamont-Chauvry, has her virtues too! +Her virtues are fortune, power, effect, a certain contempt of all that +is beneath her----” + +“Thank you!” said Bianchon. + +“Old curmudgeon!” said Rastignac, laughing. “Come--do not be so common, +do like your friend Desplein; be a Baron, a Knight of Saint-Michael; +become a peer of France, and marry your daughters to dukes.” + +“I! May the five hundred thousand devils----” + +“Come, come! Can you be superior only in medicine? Really, you distress +me...” + +“I hate that sort of people; I long for a revolution to deliver us from +them for ever.” + +“And so, my dear Robespierre of the lancet, you will not go to-morrow to +your uncle Popinot?” + +“Yes, I will,” said Bianchon; “for you I would go to hell to fetch +water...” + +“My good friend, you really touch me. I have sworn that a commission +shall sit on the Marquis. Why, here is even a long-saved tear to thank +you.” + +“But,” Bianchon went on, “I do not promise to succeed as you wish with +Jean-Jules Popinot. You do not know him. However, I will take him to see +your Marquise the day after to-morrow; she may get round him if she can. +I doubt it. If all the truffles, all the Duchesses, all the mistresses, +and all the charmers in Paris were there in the full bloom of their +beauty; if the King promised him the _Prairie_, and the Almighty gave +him the Order of Paradise with the revenues of Purgatory, not one of all +these powers would induce him to transfer a single straw from one saucer +of his scales into the other. He is a judge, as Death is Death.” + +The two friends had reached the office of the Minister for Foreign +Affairs, at the corner of the Boulevard des Capucines. + +“Here you are at home,” said Bianchon, laughing, as he pointed to the +ministerial residence. “And here is my carriage,” he added, calling a +hackney cab. “And these--express our fortune.” + +“You will be happy at the bottom of the sea, while I am still struggling +with the tempests on the surface, till I sink and go to ask you for a +corner in your grotto, old fellow!” + +“Till Saturday,” replied Bianchon. + +“Agreed,” said Rastignac. “And you promise me Popinot?” + +“I will do all my conscience will allow. Perhaps this appeal for a +commission covers some little dramorama, to use a word of our good bad +times.” + +“Poor Bianchon! he will never be anything but a good fellow,” said +Rastignac to himself as the cab drove off. + + + +“Rastignac has given me the most difficult negotiation in the world,” + said Bianchon to himself, remembering, as he rose next morning, the +delicate commission intrusted to him. “However, I have never asked +the smallest service from my uncle in Court, and have paid more than a +thousand visits gratis for him. And, after all, we are not apt to mince +matters between ourselves. He will say Yes or No, and there an end.” + +After this little soliloquy the famous physician bent his steps, at +seven in the morning, towards the Rue du Fouarre, where dwelt Monsieur +Jean-Jules Popinot, judge of the Lower Court of the Department of +the Seine. The Rue du Fouarre--an old word meaning straw--was in the +thirteenth century the most important street in Paris. There stood the +Schools of the University, where the voices of Abelard and of Gerson +were heard in the world of learning. It is now one of the dirtiest +streets of the Twelfth Arrondissement, the poorest quarter of Paris, +that in which two-thirds of the population lack firing in winter, which +leaves most brats at the gate of the Foundling Hospital, which sends +most beggars to the poorhouse, most rag-pickers to the street corners, +most decrepit old folks to bask against the walls on which the sun +shines, most delinquents to the police courts. + +Half-way down this street, which is always damp, and where the gutter +carries to the Seine the blackened waters from some dye-works, there is +an old house, restored no doubt under Francis I., and built of bricks +held together by a few courses of masonry. That it is substantial seems +proved by the shape of its front wall, not uncommonly seen in some +parts of Paris. It bellies, so to speak, in a manner caused by the +protuberance of its first floor, crushed under the weight of the second +and third, but upheld by the strong wall of the ground floor. At first +sight it would seem as though the piers between the windows, though +strengthened by the stone mullions, must give way, but the observer +presently perceives that, as in the tower at Bologna, the old bricks and +old time-eaten stones of this house persistently preserve their centre +of gravity. + +At every season of the year the solid piers of the ground floor have the +yellow tone and the imperceptible sweating surface that moisture gives +to stone. The passer-by feels chilled as he walks close to this wall, +where worn corner-stones ineffectually shelter him from the wheels of +vehicles. As is always the case in houses built before carriages were +in use, the vault of the doorway forms a very low archway not unlike +the barbican of a prison. To the right of this entrance there are three +windows, protected outside by iron gratings of so close a pattern, that +the curious cannot possibly see the use made of the dark, damp rooms +within, and the panes too are dirty and dusty; to the left are two +similar windows, one of which is sometimes open, exposing to view the +porter, his wife, and his children; swarming, working, cooking, eating, +and screaming, in a floored and wainscoted room where everything is +dropping to pieces, and into which you descend two steps--a depth which +seems to suggest the gradual elevation of the soil of Paris. + +If on a rainy day some foot-passenger takes refuge under the long vault, +with projecting lime-washed beams, which leads from the door to +the staircase, he will hardly fail to pause and look at the picture +presented by the interior of this house. To the left is a square +garden-plot, allowing of not more than four long steps in each +direction, a garden of black soil, with trellises bereft of vines, and +where, in default of vegetation under the shade of two trees, papers +collect, old rags, potsherds, bits of mortar fallen from the roof; a +barren ground, where time has shed on the walls, and on the trunks and +branches of the trees, a powdery deposit like cold soot. The two parts +of the house, set at a right angle, derive light from this garden-court +shut in by two adjoining houses built on wooden piers, decrepit and +ready to fall, where on each floor some grotesque evidence is to be seen +of the craft pursued by some lodger within. Here long poles are hung +with immense skeins of dyed worsted put out to dry; there, on ropes, +dance clean-washed shirts; higher up, on a shelf, volumes display their +freshly marbled edges; women sing, husbands whistle, children shout; the +carpenter saws his planks, a copper-turner makes the metal screech; +all kinds of industries combine to produce a noise which the number of +instruments renders distracting. + +The general system of decoration in this passage, which is neither +courtyard, garden, nor vaulted way, though a little of all, consists of +wooden pillars resting on square stone blocks, and forming arches. Two +archways open on to the little garden; two others, facing the front +gateway, lead to a wooden staircase, with an iron balustrade that was +once a miracle of smith’s work, so whimsical are the shapes given to the +metal; the worn steps creak under every tread. The entrance to each flat +has an architrave dark with dirt, grease, and dust, and outer doors, +covered with Utrecht velvet set with brass nails, once gilt, in a +diamond pattern. These relics of splendor show that in the time of Louis +XIV. the house was the residence of some councillor to the Parlement, +some rich priests, or some treasurer of the ecclesiastical revenue. But +these vestiges of former luxury bring a smile to the lips by the artless +contrast of past and present. + +M. Jean-Jules Popinot lived on the first floor of this house, where the +gloom, natural to all first floors in Paris houses, was increased by the +narrowness of the street. This old tenement was known to all the twelfth +arrondissement, on which Providence had bestowed this lawyer, as it +gives a beneficent plant to cure or alleviate every malady. Here is a +sketch of a man whom the brilliant Marquise d’Espard hoped to fascinate. + +M. Popinot, as is seemly for a magistrate, was always dressed in +black--a style which contributed to make him ridiculous in the eyes of +those who were in the habit of judging everything from a superficial +examination. Men who are jealous of maintaining the dignity required +by this color ought to devote themselves to constant and minute care of +their person; but our dear M. Popinot was incapable of forcing himself +to the puritanical cleanliness which black demands. His trousers, always +threadbare, looked like camlet--the stuff of which attorneys’ gowns +are made; and his habitual stoop set them, in time, in such innumerable +creases, that in places they were traced with lines, whitish, rusty, or +shiny, betraying either sordid avarice, or the most unheeding poverty. +His coarse worsted stockings were twisted anyhow in his ill-shaped +shoes. His linen had the tawny tinge acquired by long sojourn in a +wardrobe, showing that the late lamented Madame Popinot had had a mania +for much linen; in the Flemish fashion, perhaps, she had given herself +the trouble of a great wash no more than twice a year. The old man’s +coat and waistcoat were in harmony with his trousers, shoes, stockings, +and linen. He always had the luck of his carelessness; for, the first +day he put on a new coat, he unfailingly matched it with the rest of his +costume by staining it with incredible promptitude. The good man waited +till his housekeeper told him that his hat was too shabby before buying +a new one. His necktie was always crumpled and starchless, and he never +set his dog-eared shirt collar straight after his judge’s bands had +disordered it. He took no care of his gray hair, and shaved but twice +a week. He never wore gloves, and generally kept his hands stuffed into +his empty trousers’ pockets; the soiled pocket-holes, almost always +torn, added a final touch to the slovenliness of his person. + +Any one who knows the Palais de Justice at Paris, where every variety +of black attire may be studied, can easily imagine the appearance of M. +Popinot. The habit of sitting for days at a time modifies the structure +of the body, just as the fatigue of hearing interminable pleadings tells +on the expression of a magistrate’s face. Shut up as he is in courts +ridiculously small, devoid of architectural dignity, and where the air +is quickly vitiated, a Paris judge inevitably acquires a countenance +puckered and seamed by reflection, and depressed by weariness; his +complexion turns pallid, acquiring an earthy or greenish hue according +to his individual temperament. In short, within a given time the most +blooming young man is turned into an “inasmuch” machine--an instrument +which applies the Code to individual cases with the indifference of +clockwork. + +Hence, nature, having bestowed on M. Popinot a not too pleasing +exterior, his life as a lawyer had not improved it. His frame was +graceless and angular. His thick knees, huge feet, and broad hands +formed a contrast with a priest-like face having a vague resemblance +to a calf’s head, meek to unmeaningness, and but little brightened by +divergent bloodless eyes, divided by a straight flat nose, surmounted +by a flat forehead, flanked by enormous ears, flabby and graceless. His +thin, weak hair showed the baldness through various irregular partings. + +One feature only commended this face to the physiognomist. This man +had a mouth to whose lips divine kindness lent its sweetness. They were +wholesome, full, red lips, finely wrinkled, sinuous, mobile, by which +nature had given expression to noble feelings; lips which spoke to the +heart and proclaimed the man’s intelligence and lucidity, a gift of +second-sight, and a heavenly temper; and you would have judged him +wrongly from looking merely at his sloping forehead, his fireless eyes, +and his shambling gait. His life answered to his countenance; it was +full of secret labor, and hid the virtue of a saint. His superior +knowledge of law proved so strong a recommendation at a time when +Napoleon was reorganizing it in 1808 and 1811, that, by the advice of +Cambaceres, he was one of the first men named to sit on the Imperial +High Court of Justice at Paris. Popinot was no schemer. Whenever any +demand was made, any request preferred for an appointment, the Minister +would overlook Popinot, who never set foot in the house of the High +Chancellor or the Chief Justice. From the High Court he was sent down to +the Common Court, and pushed to the lowest rung of the ladder by active +struggling men. There he was appointed supernumerary judge. There was +a general outcry among the lawyers: “Popinot a supernumerary!” Such +injustice struck the legal world with dismay--the attorneys, the +registrars, everybody but Popinot himself, who made no complaint. The +first clamor over, everybody was satisfied that all was for the best +in the best of all possible worlds, which must certainly be the legal +world. Popinot remained supernumerary judge till the day when the most +famous Great Seal under the Restoration avenged the oversights heaped on +this modest and uncomplaining man by the Chief Justices of the Empire. +After being a supernumerary for twelve years, M. Popinot would no doubt +die a puisne judge of the Court of the Seine. + +To account for the obscure fortunes of one of the superior men of the +legal profession, it is necessary to enter here into some details which +will serve to reveal his life and character, and which will, at the same +time, display some of the wheels of the great machine known as Justice. +M. Popinot was classed by the three Presidents who successively +controlled the Court of the Seine under the category of possible judges, +the stuff of which judges are made. Thus classified, he did not achieve +the reputation for capacity which his previous labors had deserved. +Just as a painter is invariably included in a category as a landscape +painter, a portrait painter, a painter of history, of sea pieces, or of +genre, by a public consisting of artists, connoisseurs, and simpletons, +who, out of envy, or critical omnipotence, or prejudice, fence in his +intellect, assuming, one and all, that there are ganglions in every +brain--a narrow judgment which the world applies to writers, to +statesmen, to everybody who begins with some specialty before being +hailed as omniscient; so Popinot’s fate was sealed, and he was hedged +round to do a particular kind of work. Magistrates, attorneys, pleaders, +all who pasture on the legal common, distinguish two elements in +every case--law and equity. Equity is the outcome of facts, law is the +application of principles to facts. A man may be right in equity but +wrong in law, without any blame to the judge. Between his conscience and +the facts there is a whole gulf of determining reasons unknown to the +judge, but which condemn or legitimatize the act. A judge is not God; +the duty is to adapt facts to principles, to judge cases of infinite +variety while measuring them by a fixed standard. + +France employs about six thousand judges; no generation has six thousand +great men at her command, much less can she find them in the legal +profession. Popinot, in the midst of the civilization of Paris, was just +a very clever cadi, who, by the character of his mind, and by dint of +rubbing the letter of the law into the essence of facts, had learned to +see the error of spontaneous and violent decisions. By the help of his +judicial second-sight he could pierce the double casing of lies in +which advocates hide the heart of a trial. He was a judge, as the great +Desplein was a surgeon; he probed men’s consciences as the anatomist +probed their bodies. His life and habits had led him to an exact +appreciation of their most secret thoughts by a thorough study of facts. + +He sifted a case as Cuvier sifted the earth’s crust. Like that great +thinker, he proceeded from deduction to deduction before drawing his +conclusions, and reconstructed the past career of a conscience as Cuvier +reconstructed an Anoplotherium. When considering a brief he would often +wake in the night, startled by a gleam of truth suddenly sparkling +in his brain. Struck by the deep injustice, which is the end of these +contests, in which everything is against the honest man, everything +to the advantage of the rogue, he often summed up in favor of equity +against law in such cases as bore on questions of what may be termed +divination. Hence he was regarded by his colleagues as a man not of +a practical mind; his arguments on two lines of deduction made their +deliberations lengthy. When Popinot observed their dislike to listening +to him he gave his opinion briefly; it was said that he was not a good +judge in this class of cases; but as his gift of discrimination was +remarkable, his opinion lucid, and his penetration profound, he was +considered to have a special aptitude for the laborious duties of an +examining judge. So an examining judge he remained during the greater +part of his legal career. + +Although his qualifications made him eminently fitted for its difficult +functions, and he had the reputation of being so learned in criminal +law that his duty was a pleasure to him, the kindness of his heart +constantly kept him in torture, and he was nipped as in a vise between +his conscience and his pity. The services of an examining judge are +better paid than those of a judge in civil actions, but they do not +therefore prove a temptation; they are too onerous. Popinot, a man of +modest and virtuous learning, without ambition, an indefatigable +worker, never complained of his fate; he sacrificed his tastes and +his compassionate soul to the public good, and allowed himself to be +transported to the noisome pools of criminal examinations, where he +showed himself alike severe and beneficent. His clerk sometimes would +give the accused some money to buy tobacco, or a warm winter garment, +as he led him back from the judge’s office to the Souriciere, the +mouse-trap--the House of Detention where the accused are kept under the +orders of the Examining Judge. He knew how to be an inflexible judge +and a charitable man. And no one extracted a confession so easily as +he without having recourse to judicial trickery. He had, too, all the +acumen of an observer. This man, apparently so foolishly good-natured, +simple, and absent-minded, could guess all the cunning of a prison +wag, unmask the astutest street huzzy, and subdue a scoundrel. Unusual +circumstances had sharpened his perspicacity; but to relate these we +must intrude on his domestic history, for in him the judge was the +social side of the man; another man, greater and less known, existed +within. + +Twelve years before the beginning of this story, in 1816, during the +terrible scarcity which coincided disastrously with the stay in +France of the so-called Allies, Popinot was appointed President of the +Commission Extraordinary formed to distribute food to the poor of his +neighborhood, just when he had planned to move from the Rue du Fouarre, +which he as little liked to live in as his wife did. The great lawyer, +the clear-sighted criminal judge, whose superiority seemed to his +colleagues a form of aberration, had for five years been watching legal +results without seeing their causes. As he scrambled up into the lofts, +as he saw the poverty, as he studied the desperate necessities which +gradually bring the poor to criminal acts, as he estimated their long +struggles, compassion filled his soul. The judge then became the Saint +Vincent de Paul of these grown-up children, these suffering toilers. +The transformation was not immediately complete. Beneficence has its +temptations as vice has. Charity consumes a saint’s purse, as roulette +consumes the possessions of a gambler, quite gradually. Popinot went +from misery to misery, from charity to charity; then, by the time he had +lifted all the rags which cover public pauperism, like a bandage under +which an inflamed wound lies festering, at the end of a year he had +become the Providence incarnate of that quarter of the town. He was +a member of the Benevolent Committee and of the Charity Organization. +Wherever any gratuitous services were needed he was ready, and did +everything without fuss, like the man with the short cloak, who spends +his life in carrying soup round the markets and other places where there +are starving folks. + +Popinot was fortunate in acting on a larger circle and in a higher +sphere; he had an eye on everything, he prevented crime, he gave work to +the unemployed, he found a refuge for the helpless, he distributed +aid with discernment wherever danger threatened, he made himself the +counselor of the widow, the protector of homeless children, the sleeping +partner of small traders. No one at the Courts, no one in Paris, knew of +this secret life of Popinot’s. There are virtues so splendid that they +necessitate obscurity; men make haste to hide them under a bushel. As to +those whom the lawyer succored, they, hard at work all day and tired +at night, were little able to sing his praises; theirs was the +gracelessness of children, who can never pay because they owe too much. +There is such compulsory ingratitude; but what heart that has sown good +to reap gratitude can think itself great? + +By the end of the second year of his apostolic work, Popinot had turned +the storeroom at the bottom of his house into a parlor, lighted by the +three iron-barred windows. The walls and ceiling of this spacious room +were whitewashed, and the furniture consisted of wooden benches like +those seen in schools, a clumsy cupboard, a walnut-wood writing-table, +and an armchair. In the cupboard were his registers of donations, his +tickets for orders for bread, and his diary. He kept his ledger like a +tradesman, that he might not be ruined by kindness. All the sorrows of +the neighborhood were entered and numbered in a book, where each had its +little account, as merchants’ customers have theirs. When there was any +question as to a man or a family needing help, the lawyer could always +command information from the police. + +Lavienne, a man made for his master, was his aide-de-camp. He redeemed +or renewed pawn-tickets, and visited the districts most threatened with +famine, while his master was in court. + +From four till seven in the morning in summer, from six till nine +in winter, this room was full of women, children, and paupers, while +Popinot gave audience. There was no need for a stove in winter; the +crowd was so dense that the air was warmed; only, Lavienne strewed straw +on the wet floor. By long use the benches were as polished as varnished +mahogany; at the height of a man’s shoulders the wall had a coat of +dark, indescribable color, given to it by the rags and tattered clothes +of these poor creatures. The poor wretches loved Popinot so well that +when they assembled before his door was opened, before daybreak on a +winter’s morning, the women warming themselves with their foot-brasiers, +the men swinging their arms for circulation, never a sound had disturbed +his sleep. Rag-pickers and other toilers of the night knew the house, +and often saw a light burning in the lawyer’s private room at unholy +hours. Even thieves, as they passed by, said, “That is his house,” and +respected it. The morning he gave to the poor, the mid-day hours to +criminals, the evening to law work. + +Thus the gift of observation that characterized Popinot was necessarily +bifrons; he could guess the virtues of a pauper--good feelings nipped, +fine actions in embryo, unrecognized self-sacrifice, just as he could +read at the bottom of a man’s conscience the faintest outlines of a +crime, the slenderest threads of wrongdoing, and infer all the rest. + +Popinot’s inherited fortune was a thousand crowns a year. His wife, +sister to M. Bianchon _Senior_, a doctor at Sancerre, had brought him +about twice as much. She, dying five years since, had left her fortune +to her husband. As the salary of a supernumerary judge is not large, +and Popinot had been a fully salaried judge only for four years, we may +guess his reasons for parsimony in all that concerned his person and +mode of life, when we consider how small his means were and how great +his beneficence. Besides, is not such indifference to dress as stamped +Popinot an absent-minded man, a distinguishing mark of scientific +attainment, of art passionately pursued, of a perpetually active mind? +To complete this portrait, it will be enough to add that Popinot was one +of the few judges of the Court of the Seine on whom the ribbon of the +Legion of Honor had not been conferred. + +Such was the man who had been instructed by the President of the +Second Chamber of the Court--to which Popinot had belonged since his +reinstatement among the judges in civil law--to examine the Marquis +d’Espard at the request of his wife, who sued for a Commission in +Lunacy. + +The Rue du Fouarre, where so many unhappy wretches swarmed in the early +morning, would be deserted by nine o’clock, and as gloomy and squalid as +ever. Bianchon put his horse to a trot in order to find his uncle in the +midst of his business. It was not without a smile that he thought of the +curious contrast the judge’s appearance would make in Madame d’Espard’s +room; but he promised himself that he would persuade him to dress in a +way that should not be too ridiculous. + +“If only my uncle happens to have a new coat!” said Bianchon to himself, +as he turned into the Rue du Fouarre, where a pale light shone from +the parlor windows. “I shall do well, I believe, to talk that over with +Lavienne.” + +At the sound of wheels half a score of startled paupers came out from +under the gateway, and took off their hats on recognizing Bianchon; for +the doctor, who treated gratuitously the sick recommended to him by the +lawyer, was not less well known than he to the poor creatures assembled +there. + +Bianchon found his uncle in the middle of the parlor, where the benches +were occupied by patients presenting such grotesque singularities of +costume as would have made the least artistic passer-by turn round +to gaze at them. A draughtsman--a Rembrandt, if there were one in our +day--might have conceived of one of his finest compositions from seeing +these children of misery, in artless attitudes, and all silent. + +Here was the rugged countenance of an old man with a white beard and +an apostolic head--a Saint Peter ready to hand; his chest, partly +uncovered, showed salient muscles, the evidence of an iron constitution +which had served him as a fulcrum to resist a whole poem of sorrows. +There a young woman was suckling her youngest-born to keep it from +crying, while another of about five stood between her knees. Her white +bosom, gleaming amid rags, the baby with its transparent flesh-tints, +and the brother, whose attitude promised a street arab in the future, +touched the fancy with pathos by its almost graceful contrast with the +long row of faces crimson with cold, in the midst of which sat this +family group. Further away, an old woman, pale and rigid, had the +repulsive look of rebellious pauperism, eager to avenge all its past +woes in one day of violence. + +There, again, was the young workman, weakly and indolent, whose brightly +intelligent eye revealed fine faculties crushed by necessity struggled +with in vain, saying nothing of his sufferings, and nearly dead for lack +of an opportunity to squeeze between the bars of the vast stews where +the wretched swim round and round and devour each other. + +The majority were women; their husbands, gone to their work, left it +to them, no doubt, to plead the cause of the family with the ingenuity +which characterizes the woman of the people, who is almost always queen +in her hovel. You would have seen a torn bandana on every head, on every +form a skirt deep in mud, ragged kerchiefs, worn and dirty jackets, but +eyes that burnt like live coals. It was a horrible assemblage, raising +at first sight a feeling of disgust, but giving a certain sense of +terror the instant you perceived that the resignation of these souls, +all engaged in the struggle for every necessary of life, was purely +fortuitous, a speculation on benevolence. The two tallow candles which +lighted the parlor flickered in a sort of fog caused by the fetid +atmosphere of the ill-ventilated room. + +The magistrate himself was not the least picturesque figure in the midst +of this assembly. He had on his head a rusty cotton night-cap; as he had +no cravat, his neck was visible, red with cold and wrinkled, in contrast +with the threadbare collar of his old dressing-gown. His worn face had +the half-stupid look that comes of absorbed attention. His lips, like +those of all men who work, were puckered up like a bag with the strings +drawn tight. His knitted brows seemed to bear the burden of all the +sorrows confided to him: he felt, analyzed, and judged them all. As +watchful as a Jew money-lender, he never raised his eyes from his books +and registers but to look into the very heart of the persons he was +examining, with the flashing glance by which a miser expresses his +alarm. + +Lavienne, standing behind his master, ready to carry out his orders, +served no doubt as a sort of police, and welcomed newcomers by +encouraging them to get over their shyness. When the doctor appeared +there was a stir on the benches. Lavienne turned his head, and was +strangely surprised to see Bianchon. + +“Ah! It is you, old boy!” exclaimed Popinot, stretching himself. “What +brings you so early?” + +“I was afraid lest you should make an official visit about which I wish +to speak to you before I could see you.” + +“Well,” said the lawyer, addressing a stout little woman who was still +standing close to him, “if you do not tell me what it is you want, I +cannot guess it, child.” + +“Make haste,” said Lavienne. “Do not waste other people’s time.” + +“Monsieur,” said the woman at last, turning red, and speaking so low as +only to be heard by Popinot and Lavienne, “I have a green-grocery truck, +and I have my last baby to nurse, and I owe for his keep. Well, I had +hidden my little bit of money----” + +“Yes; and your man took it?” said Popinot, guessing the sequel. + +“Yes, sir.” + +“What is your name?” + +“La Pomponne.” + +“And your husband’s?” + +“Toupinet.” + +“Rue du Petit-Banquier?” said Popinot, turning over his register. “He +is in prison,” he added, reading a note at the margin of the section in +which this family was described. + +“For debt, my kind monsieur.” + +Popinot shook his head. + +“But I have nothing to buy any stock for my truck; the landlord came +yesterday and made me pay up; otherwise I should have been turned out.” + +Lavienne bent over his master, and whispered in his ear. + +“Well, how much do you want to buy fruit in the market?” + +“Why, my good monsieur, to carry on my business, I should want--Yes, I +should certainly want ten francs.” + +Popinot signed to Lavienne, who took ten francs out of a large bag, and +handed them to the woman, while the lawyer made a note of the loan in +his ledger. As he saw the thrill of delight that made the poor hawker +tremble, Bianchon understood the apprehensions that must have agitated +her on her way to the lawyer’s house. + +“You next,” said Lavienne to the old man with the white beard. + +Bianchon drew the servant aside, and asked him how long this audience +would last. + +“Monsieur has had two hundred persons this morning, and there are eight +to be turned off,” said Lavienne. “You will have time to pay your early +visit, sir.” + +“Here, my boy,” said the lawyer, turning round and taking Horace by the +arm; “here are two addresses near this--one in the Rue de Seine, and the +other in the Rue de l’Arbalete. Go there at once. Rue de Seine, a young +girl has just asphyxiated herself; and Rue de l’Arbalete, you will find +a man to remove to your hospital. I will wait breakfast for you.” + +Bianchon returned an hour later. The Rue du Fouarre was deserted; day +was beginning to dawn there; his uncle had gone up to his rooms; the +last poor wretch whose misery the judge had relieved was departing, and +Lavienne’s money bag was empty. + +“Well, how are they going on?” asked the old lawyer, as the doctor came +in. + +“The man is dead,” replied Bianchon; “the girl will get over it.” + +Since the eye and hand of a woman had been lacking, the flat in which +Popinot lived had assumed an aspect in harmony with its master’s. The +indifference of a man who is absorbed in one dominant idea had set its +stamp of eccentricity on everything. Everywhere lay unconquerable +dust, every object was adapted to a wrong purpose with a pertinacity +suggestive of a bachelor’s home. There were papers in the flower vases, +empty ink-bottles on the tables, plates that had been forgotten, matches +used as tapers for a minute when something had to be found, drawers or +boxes half-turned out and left unfinished; in short, all the confusion +and vacancies resulting from plans for order never carried out. The +lawyer’s private room, especially disordered by this incessant rummage, +bore witness to his unresting pace, the hurry of a man overwhelmed with +business, hunted by contradictory necessities. The bookcase looked as +if it had been sacked; there were books scattered over everything, +some piled up open, one on another, others on the floor face downwards; +registers of proceedings laid on the floor in rows, lengthwise, in front +of the shelves; and that floor had not been polished for two years. + +The tables and shelves were covered with ex votos, the offerings of +the grateful poor. On a pair of blue glass jars which ornamented the +chimney-shelf there were two glass balls, of which the core was made up +of many-colored fragments, giving them the appearance of some singular +natural product. Against the wall hung frames of artificial flowers, and +decorations in which Popinot’s initials were surrounded by hearts and +everlasting flowers. Here were boxes of elaborate and useless cabinet +work; there letter-weights carved in the style of work done by +convicts in penal servitude. These masterpieces of patience, enigmas of +gratitude, and withered bouquets gave the lawyer’s room the appearance +of a toyshop. The good man used these works of art as hiding-places +which he filled with bills, worn-out pens, and scraps of paper. All +these pathetic witnesses to his divine charity were thick with dust, +dingy, and faded. + +Some birds, beautifully stuffed, but eaten by moth, perched in this +wilderness of trumpery, presided over by an Angora cat, Madame Popinot’s +pet, restored to her no doubt with all the graces of life by some +impecunious naturalist, who thus repaid a gift of charity with a +perennial treasure. Some local artist whose heart had misguided his +brush had painted portraits of M. and Madame Popinot. Even in the +bedroom there were embroidered pin-cushions, landscapes in cross-stitch, +and crosses in folded paper, so elaborately cockled as to show the +senseless labor they had cost. + +The window-curtains were black with smoke, and the hangings absolutely +colorless. Between the fireplace and the large square table at which the +magistrate worked, the cook had set two cups of coffee on a small table, +and two armchairs, in mahogany and horsehair, awaited the uncle and +nephew. As daylight, darkened by the windows, could not penetrate to +this corner, the cook had left two dips burning, whose unsnuffed wicks +showed a sort of mushroom growth, giving the red light which promises +length of life to the candle from slowness of combustion--a discovery +due to some miser. + +“My dear uncle, you ought to wrap yourself more warmly when you go down +to that parlor.” + +“I cannot bear to keep them waiting, poor souls!--Well, and what do you +want of me?” + +“I have come to ask you to dine to-morrow with the Marquise d’Espard.” + +“A relation of ours?” asked Popinot, with such genuine absence of mind +that Bianchon laughed. + +“No, uncle; the Marquise d’Espard is a high and puissant lady, who has +laid before the Courts a petition desiring that a Commission in Lunacy +should sit on her husband, and you are appointed----” + +“And you want me to dine with her! Are you mad?” said the lawyer, taking +up the code of proceedings. “Here, only read this article, prohibiting +any magistrate’s eating or drinking in the house of either of two +parties whom he is called upon to decide between. Let her come and see +me, your Marquise, if she has anything to say to me. I was, in fact, +to go to examine her husband to-morrow, after working the case up +to-night.” + +He rose, took up a packet of papers that lay under a weight where he +could see it, and after reading the title, he said: + +“Here is the affidavit. Since you take an interest in this high and +puissant lady, let us see what she wants.” + +Popinot wrapped his dressing-gown across his body, from which it was +constantly slipping and leaving his chest bare; he sopped his bread in +the half-cold coffee, and opened the petition, which he read, allowing +himself to throw in a parenthesis now and then, and some discussions, in +which his nephew took part:-- + +“‘To Monsieur the President of the Civil Tribunal of the Lower Court of +the Department of the Seine, sitting at the Palais de Justice. + +“‘Madame Jeanne Clementine Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, wife of +M. Charles Maurice Marie Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis +d’Espard’--a very good family--‘landowner, the said Mme. d’Espard living +in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, No. 104, and the said M. d’Espard +in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, No. 22,’--to be sure, the +President told me he lived in this part of the town--‘having for her +solicitor Maitre Desroches’--Desroches! a pettifogging jobber, a man +looked down upon by his brother lawyers, and who does his clients no +good--” + +“Poor fellow!” said Bianchon, “unluckily he has no money, and he rushes +round like the devil in holy water--That is all.” + +“‘Has the honor to submit to you, Monsieur the President, that for a +year past the moral and intellectual powers of her husband, M. d’Espard, +have undergone so serious a change, that at the present day they have +reached the state of dementia and idiocy provided for by Article 448 of +the Civil Code, and require the application of the remedies set forth +by that article, for the security of his fortune and his person, and to +guard the interest of his children whom he keeps to live with him. + +“‘That, in point of fact, the mental condition of M. d’Espard, which +for some years has given grounds for alarm based on the system he has +pursued in the management of his affairs, has reached, during the last +twelvemonth, a deplorable depth of depression; that his infirm will was +the first thing to show the results of the malady; and that its effete +state leaves M. the Marquis d’Espard exposed to all the perils of his +incompetency, as is proved by the following facts: + +“‘For a long time all the income accruing from M. d’Espard’s estates are +paid, without any reasonable cause, or even temporary advantage, +into the hands of an old woman, whose repulsive ugliness is generally +remarked on, named Madame Jeanrenaud, living sometimes in Paris, Rue +de la Vrilliere, No. 8, sometimes at Villeparisis, near Claye, in the +Department of Seine et Marne, and for the benefit of her son, aged +thirty-six, an officer in the ex-Imperial Guards, whom the Marquis +d’Espard has placed by his influence in the King’s Guards, as Major in +the First Regiment of Cuirassiers. These two persons, who in 1814 +were in extreme poverty, have since then purchased house-property of +considerable value; among other items, quite recently, a large house +in the Grand Rue Verte, where the said Jeanrenaud is laying out +considerable sums in order to settle there with the woman Jeanrenaud, +intending to marry: these sums amount already to more than a hundred +thousand francs. The marriage has been arranged by the intervention of +M. d’Espard with his banker, one Mongenod, whose niece he has asked +in marriage for the said Jeanrenaud, promising to use his influence +to procure him the title and dignity of baron. This has in fact been +secured by His Majesty’s letters patent, dated December 29th of last +year, at the request of the Marquis d’Espard, as can be proved by His +Excellency the Keeper of the Seals, if the Court should think proper to +require his testimony. + +“‘That no reason, not even such as morality and the law would concur in +disapproving, can justify the influence which the said Mme. Jeanrenaud +exerts over M. d’Espard, who, indeed, sees her very seldom; nor account +for his strange affection for the said Baron Jeanrenaud, Major with whom +he has but little intercourse. And yet their power is so considerable, +that whenever they need money, if only to gratify a mere whim, this +lady, or her son----’ Heh, heh! _No reason even such as morality and the +law concur in disapproving!_ What does the clerk or the attorney mean to +insinuate?” said Popinot. + +Bianchon laughed. + +“‘This lady, or her son, obtain whatever they ask of the Marquis +d’Espard without demur; and if he has not ready money, M. d’Espard draws +bills to be paid by the said Mongenod, who has offered to give evidence +to that effect for the petitioner. + +“‘That, moreover, in further proof of these facts, lately, on the +occasion of the renewal of the leases on the Espard estate, the farmers +having paid a considerable premium for the renewal of their leases on +the old terms, M. Jeanrenaud at once secured the payment of it into his +own hands. + +“‘That the Marquis d’Espard parts with these sums of money so little of +his own free-will, that when he was spoken to on the subject he seemed +to remember nothing of the matter; that whenever anybody of any weight +has questioned him as to his devotion to these two persons, his replies +have shown so complete an absence of ideas and of sense of his own +interests, that there obviously must be some occult cause at work to +which the petitioner begs to direct the eye of justice, inasmuch as it +is impossible but that this cause should be criminal, malignant, and +wrongful, or else of a nature to come under medical jurisdiction; +unless this influence is of the kind which constitutes an abuse of moral +power--such as can only be described by the word _possession_----‘The +devil!” exclaimed Popinot. “What do you say to that, doctor. These are +strange statements.” + +“They might certainly,” said Bianchon, “be an effect of magnetic force.” + +“Then do you believe in Mesmer’s nonsense, and his tub, and seeing +through walls?” + +“Yes, uncle,” said the doctor gravely. “As I heard you read that +petition I thought of that. I assure you that I have verified, in +another sphere of action, several analogous facts proving the unlimited +influence one man may acquire over another. In contradiction to the +opinion of my brethren, I am perfectly convinced of the power of the +will regarded as a motor force. All collusion and charlatanism apart, +I have seen the results of such a possession. Actions promised during +sleep by a magnetized patient to the magnetizer have been scrupulously +performed on waking. The will of one had become the will of the other.” + +“Every kind of action?” + +“Yes.” + +“Even a criminal act?” + +“Even a crime.” + +“If it were not from you, I would not listen to such a thing.” + +“I will make you witness it,” said Bianchon. + +“Hm, hm,” muttered the lawyer. “But supposing that this so-called +possession fell under this class of facts, it would be difficult to +prove it as legal evidence.” + +“If this woman Jeanrenaud is so hideously old and ugly, I do not see +what other means of fascination she can have used,” observed Bianchon. + +“But,” observed the lawyer, “in 1814, the time at which this fascination +is supposed to have taken place, this woman was fourteen years younger; +if she had been connected with M. d’Espard ten years before that, these +calculations take us back four-and-twenty years, to a time when the lady +may have been young and pretty, and have won for herself and her son a +power over M. d’Espard which some men do not know how to evade. Though +the source of this power is reprehensible in the sight of justice, it +is justifiable in the eye of nature. Madame Jeanrenaud may have been +aggrieved by the marriage, contracted probably at about that time, +between the Marquis d’Espard and Mademoiselle de Blamont-Chauvry, and at +the bottom of all this there may be nothing more than the rivalry of +two women, since the Marquis had for a long time lived apart from Mme. +d’Espard.” + +“But her repulsive ugliness, uncle?” + +“Power of fascination is in direct proportion to ugliness,” said the +lawyer; “that is the old story. And then think of the smallpox, doctor. +But to proceed. + +“‘That so long ago as in 1815, in order to supply the sums of money +required by these two persons, the Marquis d’Espard went with his two +children to live in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, in +rooms quite unworthy of his name and rank’--well, we may live as +we please--‘that he keeps his two children there, the Comte Clement +d’Espard and Vicomte Camille d’Espard, in a style of living quite +unsuited to their future prospects, their name and fortune; that he +often wants money, to such a point, that not long since the landlord, +one Mariast, put in an execution on the furniture in the rooms; that +when this execution was carried out in his presence, the Marquis +d’Espard helped the bailiff, whom he treated like a man of rank, paying +him all the marks of attention and respect which he would have shown to +a person of superior birth and dignity to himself.’” + +The uncle and nephew glanced at each other and laughed. + +“‘That, moreover, every act of his life, besides the facts with +reference to the widow Jeanrenaud and the Baron Jeanrenaud, her son, are +those of a madman; that for nearly ten years he has given his thoughts +exclusively to China, its customs, manners, and history; that he refers +everything to a Chinese origin; that when he is questioned on the +subject, he confuses the events of the day and the business of +yesterday with facts relating to China; that he censures the acts of +the Government and the conduct of the King, though he is personally much +attached to him, by comparing them with the politics of China; + +“‘That this monomania has driven the Marquis d’Espard to conduct devoid +of all sense: against the customs of men of rank, and, in opposition to +his own professed ideas as to the duties of the nobility, he has joined +a commercial undertaking, for which he constantly draws bills which, as +they fall due, threaten both his honor and his fortune, since they +stamp him as a trader, and in default of payment may lead to his being +declared insolvent; that these debts, which are owing to stationers, +printers, lithographers, and print-colorists, who have supplied the +materials for his publication, called A Picturesque History of China, +now coming out in parts, are so heavy that these tradesmen have +requested the petitioner to apply for a Commission in Lunacy with regard +to the Marquis d’Espard in order to save their own credit.’” + +“The man is mad!” exclaimed Bianchon. + +“You think so, do you?” said his uncle. “If you listen to only one bell, +you hear only one sound.” + +“But it seems to me----” said Bianchon. + +“But it seems to me,” said Popinot, “that if any relation of mine wanted +to get hold of the management of my affairs, and if, instead of being a +humble lawyer, whose colleagues can, any day, verify what his condition +is, I were a duke of the realm, an attorney with a little cunning, like +Desroches, might bring just such a petition against me. + +“‘That his children’s education has been neglected for this monomania; +and that he has taught them, against all the rules of education, the +facts of Chinese history, which contradict the tenets of the Catholic +Church. He also has them taught the Chinese dialects.’” + +“Here Desroches strikes me as funny,” said Bianchon. + +“The petition is drawn up by his head-clerk Godeschal, who, as you know, +is not strong in Chinese,” said the lawyer. + +“‘That he often leaves his children destitute of the most necessary +things; that the petitioner, notwithstanding her entreaties, can never +see them; that the said Marquis d’Espard brings them to her only once a +year; that, knowing the privations to which they are exposed, she makes +vain efforts to give them the things most necessary for their +existence, and which they require----’ Oh! Madame la Marquise, this is +preposterous. By proving too much you prove nothing.--My dear boy,” said +the old man, laying the document on his knee, “where is the mother who +ever lacked heart and wit and yearning to such a degree as to fall +below the inspirations suggested by her animal instinct? A mother is as +cunning to get at her children as a girl can be in the conduct of a love +intrigue. If your Marquise really wanted to give her children food and +clothes, the Devil himself would not have hindered her, heh? That is +rather too big a fable for an old lawyer to swallow!--To proceed. + +“‘That at the age the said children have now attained it is necessary +that steps should be taken to preserve them from the evil effects of +such an education; that they should be provided for as beseems their +rank, and that they should cease to have before their eyes the sad +example of their father’s conduct; + +“‘That there are proofs in support of these allegations which the Court +can easily order to be produced. Many times has M. d’Espard spoken +of the judge of the Twelfth Arrondissement as a mandarin of the third +class; he often speaks of the professors of the College Henri IV. as +“men of letters”’--and that offends them! ‘In speaking of the simplest +things, he says, “They were not done so in China;” in the course of +the most ordinary conversation he will sometimes allude to Madame +Jeanrenaud, or sometimes to events which happened in the time of Louis +XIV., and then sit plunged in the darkest melancholy; sometimes he +fancies he is in China. Several of his neighbors, among others one Edme +Becker, medical student, and Jean Baptiste Fremiot, a professor, living +under the same roof, are of opinion, after frequent intercourse with the +Marquis d’Espard, that his monomania with regard to everything Chinese +is the result of a scheme laid by the said Baron Jeanrenaud and the +widow his mother to bring about the deadening of all the Marquis +d’Espard’s mental faculties, since the only service which Mme. +Jeanrenaud appears to render M. d’Espard is to procure him everything +that relates to the Chinese Empire; + +“‘Finally, that the petitioner is prepared to show to the Court that the +moneys absorbed by the said Baron and Mme. Jeanrenaud between 1814 and +1828 amount to not less than one million francs. + +“‘In confirmation of the facts herein set forth, the petitioner can +bring the evidence of persons who are in the habit of seeing the Marquis +d’Espard, whose names and professions are subjoined, many of whom +have urged her to demand a commission in lunacy to declare M. d’Espard +incapable of managing his own affairs, as being the only way to preserve +his fortune from the effects of his maladministration and his children +from his fatal influence. + +“‘Taking all this into consideration, M. le President, and the +affidavits subjoined, the petitioner desires that it may please you, +inasmuch as the foregoing facts sufficiently prove the insanity and +incompetency of the Marquis d’Espard herein described with his titles +and residence, to order that, to the end that he may be declared +incompetent by law, this petition and the documents in evidence may be +laid before the King’s public prosecutor; and that you will charge one +of the judges of this Court to make his report to you on any day you may +be pleased to name, and thereupon to pronounce judgment,’ etc. + +“And here,” said Popinot, “is the President’s order instructing +me!--Well, what does the Marquise d’Espard want with me? I know +everything. But I shall go to-morrow with my registrar to see M. le +Marquis, for this does not seem at all clear to me.” + +“Listen, my dear uncle, I have never asked the least little favor of you +that had to do with your legal functions; well, now I beg you to show +Madame d’Espard the kindness which her situation deserves. If she came +here, you would listen to her?” + +“Yes.” + +“Well, then, go and listen to her in her own house. Madame d’Espard is +a sickly, nervous, delicate woman, who would faint in your rat-hole of a +place. Go in the evening, instead of accepting her dinner, since the law +forbids your eating or drinking at your client’s expense.” + +“And does not the law forbid you from taking any legacy from your dead?” + said Popinot, fancying that he saw a touch of irony on his nephew’s +lips. + +“Come, uncle, if it were only to enable you to get at the truth of this +business, grant my request. You will come as the examining judge, since +matters do not seem to you very clear. Deuce take it! It is as necessary +to cross-question the Marquise as it is to examine the Marquis.” + +“You are right,” said the lawyer. “It is quite possible that it is she +who is mad. I will go.” + +“I will call for you. Write down in your engagement book: ‘To-morrow +evening at nine, Madame d’Espard.’--Good!” said Bianchon, seeing his +uncle make a note of the engagement. + + + +Next evening at nine Bianchon mounted his uncle’s dusty staircase, and +found him at work on the statement of some complicated judgment. The +coat Lavienne had ordered of the tailor had not been sent, so Popinot +put on his old stained coat, and was the Popinot unadorned whose +appearance made those laugh who did not know the secrets of his +private life. Bianchon, however, obtained permission to pull his cravat +straight, and to button his coat, and he hid the stains by crossing the +breast of it with the right side over the left, and so displaying the +new front of the cloth. But in a minute the judge rucked the coat +up over his chest by the way in which he stuffed his hands into his +pockets, obeying an irresistible habit. Thus the coat, deeply wrinkled +both in front and behind, made a sort of hump in the middle of the back, +leaving a gap between the waistcoat and trousers through which his shirt +showed. Bianchon, to his sorrow, only discovered this crowning absurdity +at the moment when his uncle entered the Marquise’s room. + +A brief sketch of the person and the career of the lady in whose +presence the doctor and the judge now found themselves is necessary for +an understanding of her interview with Popinot. + +Madame d’Espard had, for the last seven years, been very much the +fashion in Paris, where Fashion can raise and drop by turns various +personages who, now great and now small, that is to say, in view or +forgotten, are at last quite intolerable--as discarded ministers are, +and every kind of decayed sovereignty. These flatterers of the past, +odious with their stale pretensions, know everything, speak ill of +everything, and, like ruined profligates, are friends with all the +world. Since her husband had separated from her in 1815, Madame d’Espard +must have married in the beginning of 1812. Her children, therefore, +were aged respectively fifteen and thirteen. By what luck was the mother +of a family, about three-and-thirty years of age, still the fashion? + +Though Fashion is capricious, and no one can foresee who shall be her +favorites, though she often exalts a banker’s wife, or some woman of +very doubtful elegance and beauty, it certainly seems supernatural when +Fashion puts on constitutional airs and gives promotion for age. But +in this case Fashion had done as the world did, and accepted Madame +d’Espard as still young. + +The Marquise, who was thirty-three by her register of birth, was +twenty-two in a drawing-room in the evening. But by what care, what +artifice! Elaborate curls shaded her temples. She condemned herself to +live in twilight, affecting illness so as to sit under the protecting +tones of light filtered through muslin. Like Diane de Poitiers, she used +cold water in her bath, and, like her again, the Marquise slept on a +horse-hair mattress, with morocco-covered pillows to preserve her hair; +she ate very little, only drank water, and observed monastic regularity +in the smallest actions of her life. + +This severe system has, it is said, been carried so far as to the use of +ice instead of water, and nothing but cold food, by a famous Polish lady +of our day who spends a life, now verging on a century old, after the +fashion of a town belle. Fated to live as long as Marion Delorme, whom +history has credited with surviving to be a hundred and thirty, the old +vice-queen of Poland, at the age of nearly a hundred, has the heart +and brain of youth, a charming face, an elegant shape; and in her +conversation, sparkling with brilliancy like faggots in the fire, she +can compare the men and books of our literature with the men and books +of the eighteenth century. Living in Warsaw, she orders her caps of +Herbault in Paris. She is a great lady with the amiability of a mere +girl; she swims, she runs like a schoolboy, and can sink on to a sofa +with the grace of a young coquette; she mocks at death, and laughs at +life. After having astonished the Emperor Alexander, she can still amaze +the Emperor Nicholas by the splendor of her entertainments. She can +still bring tears to the eyes of a youthful lover, for her age is +whatever she pleases, and she has the exquisite self-devotion of a +grisette. In short, she is herself a fairy tale, unless, indeed, she is +a fairy. + +Had Madame d’Espard known Madame Zayonseck? Did she mean to imitate +her career? Be that as it may, the Marquise proved the merits of the +treatment; her complexion was clear, her brow unwrinkled, her figure, +like that of Henri II.’s lady-love, preserved the litheness, the +freshness, the covered charms which bring a woman love and keep it +alive. The simple precautions of this course, suggested by art and +nature, and perhaps by experience, had met in her with a general system +which confirmed the results. The Marquise was absolutely indifferent +to everything that was not herself: men amused her, but no man had +ever caused her those deep agitations which stir both natures to their +depths, and wreck one on the other. She knew neither hatred nor love. +When she was offended, she avenged herself coldly, quietly, at her +leisure, waiting for the opportunity to gratify the ill-will she +cherished against anybody who dwelt in her unfavorable remembrance. She +made no fuss, she did not excite herself, she talked, because she knew +that by two words a woman may cause the death of three men. + +She had parted from M. d’Espard with the greatest satisfaction. Had he +not taken with him two children who at present were troublesome, and in +the future would stand in the way of her pretensions? Her most intimate +friends, as much as her least persistent admirers, seeing about her none +of Cornelia’s jewels, who come and go, and unconsciously betray their +mother’s age, took her for quite a young woman. The two boys, about +whom she seemed so anxious in her petition, were, like their father, as +unknown in the world as the northwest passage is unknown to navigators. +M. d’Espard was supposed to be an eccentric personage who had deserted +his wife without having the smallest cause for complaint against her. + +Mistress of herself at two-and-twenty, and mistress of her fortune of +twenty-six thousand francs a year, the Marquise hesitated long before +deciding on a course of action and ordering her life. Though she +benefited by the expenses her husband had incurred in his house, though +she had all the furniture, the carriages, the horses, in short, all the +details of a handsome establishment, she lived a retired life during the +years 1816, 17, and 18, a time when families were recovering from the +disasters resulting from political tempests. She belonged to one of the +most important and illustrious families of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, +and her parents advised her to live with them as much as possible after +the separation forced upon her by her husband’s inexplicable caprice. + +In 1820 the Marquise roused herself from her lethargy; she went to +Court, appeared at parties, and entertained in her own house. From 1821 +to 1827 she lived in great style, and made herself remarked for her +taste and her dress; she had a day, an hour, for receiving visits, and +ere long she had seated herself on the throne, occupied before her by +Madame la Vicomtesse de Beauseant, the Duchesse de Langeais, and Madame +Firmiani--who on her marriage with M. de Camps had resigned the sceptre +in favor of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, from whom Madame d’Espard +snatched it. The world knew nothing beyond this of the private live +of the Marquise d’Espard. She seemed likely to shine for long on the +Parisian horizon, like the sun near its setting, but which will never +set. + +The Marquise was on terms of great intimacy with a duchess as famous for +her beauty as for her attachment to a prince just now in banishment, +but accustomed to play a leading part in every prospective government. +Madame d’Espard was also a friend of a foreign lady, with whom a famous +and very wily Russian diplomate was in the habit of discussing public +affairs. And then an antiquated countess, who was accustomed to shuffle +the cards for the great game of politics, had adopted her in a maternal +fashion. Thus, to any man of high ambitions, Madame d’Espard was +preparing a covert but very real influence to follow the public and +frivolous ascendency she now owed to fashion. Her drawing-room +was acquiring political individuality: “What do they say at Madame +d’Espard’s?” “Are they against the measure in Madame d’Espard’s +drawing-room?” were questions repeated by a sufficient number of +simpletons to give the flock of the faithful who surrounded her the +importance of a coterie. A few damaged politicians whose wounds she had +bound up, and whom she flattered, pronounced her as capable in diplomacy +as the wife of the Russian ambassador to London. The Marquise had indeed +several times suggested to deputies or to peers words and ideas that had +rung through Europe. She had often judged correctly of certain events on +which her circle of friends dared not express an opinion. The principal +persons about the Court came in the evening to play whist in her rooms. + +Then she also had the qualities of her defects; she was thought to +be--and she was--indiscreet. Her friendship seemed to be staunch; she +worked for her proteges with a persistency which showed that she cared +less for patronage than for increased influence. This conduct was based +on her dominant passion, Vanity. Conquests and pleasure, which so many +women love, to her seemed only means to an end; she aimed at living on +every point of the largest circle that life can describe. + +Among the men still young, and to whom the future belonged, who crowded +her drawing-room on great occasions, were to be seen MM. de Marsay and +de Ronquerolles, de Montriveau, de la Roche-Hugon, de Serizy, Ferraud, +Maxime de Trailles, de Listomere, the two Vandenesses, du Chatelet, +and others. She would frequently receive a man whose wife she would not +admit, and her power was great enough to induce certain ambitious men to +submit to these hard conditions, such as two famous royalist bankers, M. +de Nucingen and Ferdinand du Tillet. She had so thoroughly studied the +strength and the weakness of Paris life, that her conduct had never +given any man the smallest advantage over her. An enormous price might +have been set on a note or letter by which she might have compromised +herself, without one being produced. + +If an arid soul enabled her to play her part to the life, her person was +no less available for it. She had a youthful figure. Her voice was, at +will, soft and fresh, or clear and hard. She possessed in the highest +degree the secret of that aristocratic pose by which a woman wipes out +the past. The Marquise knew well the art of setting an immense space +between herself and the sort of man who fancies he may be familiar after +some chance advances. Her imposing gaze could deny everything. In her +conversation fine and beautiful sentiments and noble resolutions flowed +naturally, as it seemed, from a pure heart and soul; but in reality she +was all self, and quite capable of blasting a man who was clumsy in +his negotiations, at the very time when she was shamelessly making a +compromise for the benefit of her own interest. + +Rastignac, in trying to fasten on to this woman, had discerned her to +be the cleverest of tools, but he had not yet used it; far from handling +it, he was already finding himself crushed by it. This young Condottiere +of the brain, condemned, like Napoleon, to give battle constantly, while +knowing that a single defeat would prove the grave of his fortunes, had +met a dangerous adversary in his protectress. For the first time in his +turbulent life, he was playing a game with a partner worthy of him. He +saw a place as Minister in the conquest of Madame d’Espard, so he was +her tool till he could make her his--a perilous beginning. + +The Hotel d’Espard needed a large household, and the Marquise had +a great number of servants. The grand receptions were held in the +ground-floor rooms, but she lived on the first floor of the house. The +perfect order of a fine staircase splendidly decorated, and rooms fitted +in the dignified style which formerly prevailed at Versailles, spoke of +an immense fortune. When the judge saw the carriage gates thrown open +to admit his nephew’s cab, he took in with a rapid glance the lodge, the +porter, the courtyard, the stables, the arrangement of the house, +the flowers that decorated the stairs, the perfect cleanliness of the +banisters, walls, and carpets, and counted the footmen in livery who, as +the bell rang, appeared on the landing. His eyes, which only yesterday +in his parlor had sounded the dignity of misery under the muddy clothing +of the poor, now studied with the same penetrating vision the furniture +and splendor of the rooms he passed through, to pierce the misery of +grandeur. + +“M. Popinot--M. Bianchon.” + +The two names were pronounced at the door of the boudoir where the +Marquise was sitting, a pretty room recently refurnished, and looking +out on the garden behind the house. At the moment Madame d’Espard was +seated in one of the old rococo armchairs of which Madame had set the +fashion. Rastignac was at her left hand on a low chair, in which he +looked settled like an Italian lady’s “cousin.” A third person was +standing by the corner of the chimney-piece. As the shrewd doctor had +suspected, the Marquise was a woman of a parched and wiry constitution. +But for her regimen her complexion must have taken the ruddy tone +that is produced by constant heat; but she added to the effect of her +acquired pallor by the strong colors of the stuffs she hung her rooms +with, or in which she dressed. Reddish-brown, marone, bistre with a +golden light in it, suited her to perfection. Her boudoir, copied from +that of a famous lady then at the height of fashion in London, was in +tan-colored velvet; but she had added various details of ornament which +moderated the pompous splendor of this royal hue. Her hair was dressed +like a girl’s in bands ending in curls, which emphasized the rather +long oval of her face; but an oval face is as majestic as a round one is +ignoble. The mirrors, cut with facets to lengthen or flatten the face at +will, amply proved the rule as applied to the physiognomy. + +On seeing Popinot, who stood in the doorway craning his neck like a +startled animal, with his left hand in his pocket, and the right hand +holding a hat with a greasy lining, the Marquise gave Rastignac a look +wherein lay a germ of mockery. The good man’s rather foolish appearance +was so completely in harmony with his grotesque figure and scared looks, +that Rastignac, catching sight of Bianchon’s dejected expression of +humiliation through his uncle, could not help laughing, and turned away. +The Marquise bowed a greeting, and made a great effort to rise from her +seat, falling back again, not without grace, with an air of apologizing +for her incivility by affected weakness. + +At this instant the person who was standing between the fireplace and +the door bowed slightly, and pushed forward two chairs, which he offered +by a gesture to the doctor and the judge; then, when they had seated +themselves, he leaned against the wall again, crossing his arms. + +A word as to this man. There is living now, in our day, a +painter--Decamps--who possesses in the very highest degree the art of +commanding your interest in everything he sets before your eyes, whether +it be a stone or a man. In this respect his pencil is more skilful than +his brush. He will sketch an empty room and leave a broom against the +wall. If he chooses, you shall shudder; you shall believe that this +broom has just been the instrument of crime, and is dripping with blood; +it shall be the broom which the widow Bancal used to clean out the room +where Fualdes was murdered. Yes, the painter will touzle that broom like +a man in a rage; he will make each hair of it stand on-end as though +it were on your own bristling scalp; he will make it the interpreter +between the secret poem of his imagination and the poem that shall have +its birth in yours. After terrifying you by the aspect of that broom, +to-morrow he will draw another, and lying by it a cat, asleep, but +mysterious in its sleep, shall tell you that this broom is that on which +the wife of a German cobbler rides off to the Sabbath on the Brocken. Or +it will be a quite harmless broom, on which he will hang the coat of a +clerk in the Treasury. Decamps had in his brush what Paganini had in his +bow--a magnetically communicative power. + +Well, I should have to transfer to my style that striking genius, that +marvelous knack of the pencil, to depict the upright, tall, lean man +dressed in black, with black hair, who stood there without speaking a +word. This gentleman had a face like a knife-blade, cold and harsh, with +a color like Seine water when it was muddy and strewn with fragments +of charcoal from a sunken barge. He looked at the floor, listening and +passing judgment. His attitude was terrifying. He stood there like +the dreadful broom to which Decamps has given the power of revealing a +crime. Now and then, in the course of conversation, the Marquise tried +to get some tacit advice; but however eager her questioning, he was as +grave and as rigid as the statue of the Commendatore. + +The worthy Popinot, sitting on the edge of his chair in front of the +fire, his hat between his knees, stared at the gilt chandeliers, the +clock, and the curiosities with which the chimney-shelf was covered, +the velvet and trimmings of the curtains, and all the costly and elegant +nothings that a woman of fashion collects about her. He was roused from +his homely meditations by Madame d’Espard, who addressed him in a piping +tone: + +“Monsieur, I owe you a million thanks----” + +“A million thanks,” thought he to himself, “that is too many; it does +not mean one.” + +“For the trouble you condescend----” + +“Condescend!” thought he; “she is laughing at me.” + +“To take in coming to see an unhappy client, who is too ill to go +out----” + +Here the lawyer cut the Marquise short by giving her an inquisitorial +look, examining the sanitary condition of the unhappy client. + +“As sound as a bell,” said he to himself. + +“Madame,” said he, assuming a respectful mien, “you owe me nothing. +Although my visit to you is not in strict accordance with the practice +of the Court, we ought to spare no pains to discover the truth in cases +of this kind. Our judgment is then guided less by the letter of the law +than by the promptings of our conscience. Whether I seek the truth here +or in my own consulting-room, so long as I find it, all will be well.” + +While Popinot was speaking, Rastignac was shaking hands with Bianchon; +the Marquise welcomed the doctor with a little bow full of gracious +significance. + +“Who is that?” asked Bianchon in a whisper of Rastignac, indicating the +dark man. + +“The Chevalier d’Espard, the Marquis’ brother.” + +“Your nephew told me,” said the Marquise to Popinot, “how much you are +occupied, and I know too that you are so good as to wish to conceal your +kind actions, so as to release those whom you oblige from the burden of +gratitude. The work in Court is most fatiguing, it would seem. Why have +they not twice as many judges?” + +“Ah, madame, that would not be difficult; we should be none the worse if +they had. But when that happens, fowls will cut their teeth!” + +As he heard this speech, so entirely in character with the lawyer’s +appearance, the Chevalier measured him from head to foot, out of one +eye, as much as to say, “We shall easily manage him.” + +The Marquise looked at Rastignac, who bent over her. “That is the +sort of man,” murmured the dandy in her ear, “who is trusted to pass +judgments on the life and interests of private individuals.” + +Like most men who have grown old in a business, Popinot readily let +himself follow the habits he had acquired, more particularly habits of +mind. His conversation was all of “the shop.” He was fond of questioning +those he talked to, forcing them to unexpected conclusions, making them +tell more than they wished to reveal. Pozzo di Borgo, it is said, used +to amuse himself by discovering other folks’ secrets, and entangling +them in his diplomatic snares, and thus, by invincible habit, showed +how his mind was soaked in wiliness. As soon as Popinot had surveyed +the ground, so to speak, on which he stood, he saw that it would +be necessary to have recourse to the cleverest subtleties, the most +elaborately wrapped up and disguised, which were in use in the Courts, +to detect the truth. + +Bianchon sat cold and stern, as a man who has made up his mind to endure +torture without revealing his sufferings; but in his heart he wished +that his uncle could only trample on this woman as we trample on a +viper--a comparison suggested to him by the Marquise’s long dress, by +the curve of her attitude, her long neck, small head, and undulating +movements. + +“Well, monsieur,” said Madame d’Espard, “however great my dislike to be +or seem selfish, I have been suffering too long not to wish that you may +settle matters at once. Shall I soon get a favorable decision?” + +“Madame, I will do my best to bring matters to a conclusion,” said +Popinot, with an air of frank good-nature. “Are you ignorant of the +reason which made the separation necessary which now subsists between +you and the Marquis d’Espard?” + +“Yes, monsieur,” she replied, evidently prepared with a story to tell. +“At the beginning of 1816 M. d’Espard, whose temper had completely +changed within three months or so, proposed that we should go to live +on one of his estates near Briancon, without any regard for my health, +which that climate would have destroyed, or for my habits of life; I +refused to go. My refusal gave rise to such unjustifiable reproaches on +his part, that from that hour I had my suspicions as to the soundness of +his mind. On the following day he left me, leaving me his house and +the free use of my own income, and he went to live in the Rue de la +Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, taking with him my two children----” + +“One moment, madame,” said the lawyer, interrupting her. “What was that +income?” + +“Twenty-six thousand francs a year,” she replied parenthetically. “I +at once consulted old M. Bordin as to what I ought to do,” she went +on; “but it seems that there are so many difficulties in the way of +depriving a father of the care of his children, that I was forced to +resign myself to remaining alone at the age of twenty-two--an age +at which many young women do very foolish things. You have read my +petition, no doubt, monsieur; you know the principal facts on which I +rely to procure a Commission in Lunacy with regard to M. d’Espard?” + +“Have you ever applied to him, madame, to obtain the care of your +children?” + +“Yes, monsieur; but in vain. It is very hard on a mother to be deprived +of the affection of her children, particularly when they can give her +such happiness as every woman clings to.” + +“The elder must be sixteen,” said Popinot. + +“Fifteen,” said the Marquise eagerly. + +Here Bianchon and Rastignac looked at each other. Madame d’Espard bit +her lips. + +“What can the age of my children matter to you?” + +“Well, madame,” said the lawyer, without seeming to attach any +importance to his words, “a lad of fifteen and his brother, of thirteen, +I suppose, have legs and their wits about them; they might come to see +you on the sly. If they do not, it is because they obey their father, +and to obey him in that matter they must love him very dearly.” + +“I do not understand,” said the Marquise. + +“You do not know, perhaps,” replied Popinot, “that in your petition +your attorney represents your children as being very unhappy with their +father?” + +Madame d’Espard replied with charming innocence: + +“I do not know what my attorney may have put into my mouth.” + +“Forgive my inferences,” said Popinot, “but Justice weighs everything. +What I ask you, madame, is suggested by my wish thoroughly to understand +the matter. By your account M. d’Espard deserted you on the most +frivolous pretext. Instead of going to Briancon, where he wished to take +you, he remained in Paris. This point is not clear. Did he know this +Madame Jeanrenaud before his marriage?” + +“No, monsieur,” replied the Marquise, with some asperity, visible only +to Rastignac and the Chevalier d’Espard. + +She was offended at being cross-examined by this lawyer when she had +intended to beguile his judgment; but as Popinot still looked stupid +from sheer absence of mind, she ended by attributing his interrogatory +to the Questioning Spirit of Voltaire’s bailiff. + +“My parents,” she went on, “married me at the age of sixteen to M. +d’Espard, whose name, fortune, and mode of life were such as my family +looked for in the man who was to be my husband. M. d’Espard was then +six-and-twenty; he was a gentleman in the English sense of the word; +his manners pleased me, he seemed to have plenty of ambition, and I like +ambitious people,” she added, looking at Rastignac. “If M. d’Espard +had never met that Madame Jeanrenaud, his character, his learning, his +acquirements would have raised him--as his friends then believed--to +high office in the Government. King Charles X., at that time Monsieur, +had the greatest esteem for him, and a peer’s seat, an appointment at +Court, some important post certainly would have been his. That woman +turned his head, and has ruined all the prospects of my family.” + +“What were M. d’Espard’s religious opinions at that time?” + +“He was, and is still, a very pious man.” + +“You do not suppose that Madame Jeanrenaud may have influenced him by +mysticism?” + +“No, monsieur.” + +“You have a very fine house, madame,” said Popinot suddenly, taking his +hands out of his pockets, and rising to pick up his coat-tails and warm +himself. “This boudoir is very nice, those chairs are magnificent, the +whole apartment is sumptuous. You must indeed be most unhappy when, +seeing yourself here, you know that your children are ill lodged, ill +clothed, and ill fed. I can imagine nothing more terrible for a mother.” + +“Yes, indeed. I should be so glad to give the poor little fellows some +amusement, while their father keeps them at work from morning till night +at that wretched history of China.” + +“You give handsome balls; they would enjoy them, but they might acquire +a taste for dissipation. However, their father might send them to you +once or twice in the course of the winter.” + +“He brings them here on my birthday and on New Year’s Day. On those days +M. d’Espard does me the favor of dining here with them.” + +“It is very singular behaviour,” said the judge, with an air of +conviction. “Have you ever seen this Dame Jeanrenaud?” + +“My brother-in-law one day, out of interest in his brother----” + +“Ah! monsieur is M. d’Espard’s brother?” said the lawyer, interrupting +her. + +The Chevalier bowed, but did not speak. + +“M. d’Espard, who has watched this affair, took me to the Oratoire, +where this woman goes to sermon, for she is a Protestant. I saw her; +she is not in the least attractive; she looks like a butcher’s wife, +extremely fat, horribly marked with the smallpox; she has feet and hands +like a man’s, she squints, in short, she is monstrous!” + +“It is inconceivable,” said the judge, looking like the most imbecile +judge in the whole kingdom. “And this creature lives near here, Rue +Verte, in a fine house? There are no plain folk left, it would seem?” + +“In a mansion on which her son has spent absurd sums.” + +“Madame,” said Popinot, “I live in the Faubourg Saint-Marceau; I know +nothing of such expenses. What do you call absurd sums?” + +“Well,” said the Marquise, “a stable with five horses and three +carriages, a phaeton, a brougham, and a cabriolet.” + +“That costs a large sum, then?” asked Popinot in surprise. + +“Enormous sums!” said Rastignac, intervening. “Such an establishment +would cost, for the stables, the keeping the carriages in order, and +the liveries for the men, between fifteen and sixteen thousand francs a +year.” + +“Should you think so, madame?” said the judge, looking much astonished. + +“Yes, at least,” replied the Marquise. + +“And the furniture, too, must have cost a lot of money?” + +“More than a hundred thousand francs,” replied Madame d’Espard, who +could not help smiling at the lawyer’s vulgarity. + +“Judges, madame, are apt to be incredulous; it is what they are paid +for, and I am incredulous. The Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother must have +fleeced M. d’Espard most preposterously, if what you say is correct. +There is a stable establishment which, by your account, costs sixteen +thousand francs a year. Housekeeping, servants’ wages, and the gross +expenses of the house itself must run to twice as much; that makes a +total of from fifty to sixty thousand francs a year. Do you suppose that +these people, formerly so extremely poor, can have so large a fortune? A +million yields scarcely forty thousand a year.” + +“Monsieur, the mother and son invested the money given them by M. +d’Espard in the funds when they were at 60 to 80. I should think their +income must be more than sixty thousand francs. And then the son has +fine appointments.” + +“If they spend sixty thousand francs a year,” said the judge, “how much +do you spend?” + +“Well,” said Madame d’Espard, “about the same.” The Chevalier started a +little, the Marquise colored; Bianchon looked at Rastignac; but Popinot +preserved an expression of simplicity which quite deceived Madame +d’Espard. The chevalier took no part in the conversation; he saw that +all was lost. + +“These people, madame, might be indicted before the superior Court,” + said Popinot. + +“That was my opinion,” exclaimed the Marquise, enchanted. “If threatened +with the police, they would have come to terms.” + +“Madame,” said Popinot, “when M. d’Espard left you, did he not give +you a power of attorney enabling you to manage and control your own +affairs?” + +“I do not understand the object of all these questions,” said the +Marquise with petulance. “It seems to me that if you would only consider +the state in which I am placed by my husband’s insanity, you ought to be +troubling yourself about him, and not about me.” + +“We are coming to that, madame,” said the judge. “Before placing in +your hands, or in any others, the control of M. d’Espard’s property, +supposing he were pronounced incapable, the Court must inquire as to how +you have managed your own. If M. d’Espard gave you the power, he would +have shown confidence in you, and the Court would recognize the fact. +Had you any power from him? You might have bought or sold house property +or invested money in business?” + +“No, monsieur, the Blamont-Chauvrys are not in the habit of trading,” + said she, extremely nettled in her pride as an aristocrat, and +forgetting the business in hand. “My property is intact, and M. d’Espard +gave me no power to act.” + +The Chevalier put his hand over his eyes not to betray the vexation +he felt at his sister-in-law’s short-sightedness, for she was ruining +herself by her answers. Popinot had gone straight to the mark in spite +of his apparent doublings. + +“Madame,” said the lawyer, indicating the Chevalier, “this gentleman, of +course, is your near connection? May we speak openly before these other +gentlemen?” + +“Speak on,” said the Marquise, surprised at this caution. + +“Well, madame, granting that you spend only sixty thousand francs +a year, to any one who sees your stables, your house, your train of +servants, and a style of housekeeping which strikes me as far more +luxurious than that of the Jeanrenauds, that sum would seem well laid +out.” + +The Marquise bowed an agreement. + +“But,” continued the judge, “if you have no more than twenty-six +thousand francs a year, you may have a hundred thousand francs of debt. +The Court would therefore have a right to imagine that the motives which +prompt you to ask that your husband may be deprived of the control of +his property are complicated by self-interest and the need of paying +your debts--if--you--have--any. The requests addressed to me have +interested me in your position; consider fully and make your confession. +If my suppositions have hit the truth, there is yet time to avoid the +blame which the Court would have a perfect right to express in the +saving clauses of the verdict if you could not show your attitude to be +absolutely honorable and clear. + +“It is our duty to examine the motives of the applicant as well as +to listen to the plea of the witness under examination, to ascertain +whether the petitioner may not have been prompted by passion, by a +desire for money, which is unfortunately too common----” + +The Marquise was on Saint Laurence’s gridiron. + +“And I must have explanations on this point. Madame, I have no wish to +call you to account; I only want to know how you have managed to live at +the rate of sixty thousand francs a year, and that for some years past. +There are plenty of women who achieve this in their housekeeping, but +you are not one of those. Tell me, you may have the most legitimate +resources, a royal pension, or some claim on the indemnities lately +granted; but even then you must have had your husband’s authority to +receive them.” + +The Marquise did not speak. + +“You must remember,” Popinot went on, “that M. d’Espard may wish to +enter a protest, and his counsel will have a right to find out whether +you have any creditors. This boudoir is newly furnished, your rooms are +not now furnished with the things left to you by M. d’Espard in 1816. +If, as you did me the honor of informing me, furniture is costly for +the Jeanrenauds, it must be yet more so for you, who are a great +lady. Though I am a judge, I am but a man; I may be wrong--tell me so. +Remember the duties imposed on me by the law, and the rigorous inquiries +it demands, when the case before it is the suspension from all his +functions of the father of a family in the prime of life. So you will +pardon me, Madame la Marquise, for laying all these difficulties before +you; it will be easy for you to give me an explanation. + +“When a man is pronounced incapable of the control of his own affairs, a +trustee has to be appointed. Who will be the trustee?” + +“His brother,” said the Marquise. + +The Chevalier bowed. There was a short silence, very uncomfortable for +the five persons who were present. The judge, in sport as it were, +had laid open the woman’s sore place. Popinot’s countenance of common, +clumsy good-nature, at which the Marquise, the Chevalier, and Rastignac +had been inclined to laugh, had gained importance in their eyes. As +they stole a look at him, they discerned the various expressions of +that eloquent mouth. The ridiculous mortal was a judge of acumen. His +studious notice of the boudoir was accounted for: he had started from +the gilt elephant supporting the chimney-clock, examining all this +luxury, and had ended by reading this woman’s soul. + +“If the Marquis d’Espard is mad about China, I see that you are not less +fond of its products,” said Popinot, looking at the porcelain on the +chimney-piece. “But perhaps it was from M. le Marquis that you had these +charming Oriental pieces,” and he pointed to some precious trifles. + +This irony, in very good taste, made Bianchon smile, and petrified +Rastignac, while the Marquise bit her thin lips. + +“Instead of being the protector of a woman placed in a cruel dilemma--an +alternative between losing her fortune and her children, and being +regarded as her husband’s enemy,” she said, “you accuse me, monsieur! +You suspect my motives! You must own that your conduct is strange!” + +“Madame,” said the judge eagerly, “the caution exercised by the Court in +such cases as these might have given you, in any other judge, a perhaps +less indulgent critic than I am.--And do you suppose that M. d’Espard’s +lawyer will show you any great consideration? Will he not be suspicious +of motives which may be perfectly pure and disinterested? Your life will +be at his mercy; he will inquire into it without qualifying his search +by the respectful deference I have for you.” + +“I am much obliged to you, monsieur,” said the Marquise satirically. +“Admitting for the moment that I owe thirty thousand or fifty thousand +francs, in the first place, it would be a mere trifle to the d’Espards +and the Blamont-Chauvrys. But if my husband is not in the possession +of his mental faculties, would that prevent his being pronounced +incapable?” + +“No, madame,” said Popinot. + +“Although you have questioned me with a sort of cunning which I +should not have suspected in a judge, and under circumstances where +straightforwardness would have answered your purpose,” she went on, “I +will tell you without subterfuge that my position in the world, and the +efforts I have to make to keep up my connection, are not in the least +to my taste. I began my life by a long period of solitude; but my +children’s interest appealed to me; I felt that I must fill their +father’s place. By receiving my friends, by keeping up all this +connection, by contracting these debts, I have secured their future +welfare; I have prepared for them a brilliant career where they will +find help and favor; and to have what has thus been acquired, many a man +of business, lawyer or banker, would gladly pay all it has cost me.” + +“I appreciate your devoted conduct, madame,” replied Popinot. “It does +you honor, and I blame you for nothing. A judge belongs to all: he must +know and weigh every fact.” + +Madame d’Espard’s tact and practice in estimating men made +her understand that M. Popinot was not to be influenced by any +consideration. She had counted on an ambitious lawyer, she had found +a man of conscience. She at once thought of finding other means for +securing the success of her side. + +The servants brought in tea. + +“Have you any further explanations to give me, madame?” said Popinot, +seeing these preparations. + +“Monsieur,” she replied haughtily, “do your business your own way; +question M. d’Espard, and you will pity me, I am sure.” She raised her +head, looking Popinot in the face with pride, mingled with impertinence; +the worthy man bowed himself out respectfully. + +“A nice man is your uncle,” said Rastignac to Bianchon. “Is he really +so dense? Does not he know what the Marquise d’Espard is, what her +influence means, her unavowed power over people? The Keeper of the Seals +will be with her to-morrow----” + +“My dear fellow, how can I help it?” said Bianchon. “Did not I warn you? +He is not a man you can get over.” + +“No,” said Rastignac; “he is a man you must run over.” + +The doctor was obliged to make his bow to the Marquise and her mute +Chevalier to catch up Popinot, who, not being the man to endure an +embarrassing position, was pacing through the rooms. + +“That woman owes a hundred thousand crowns,” said the judge, as he +stepped into his nephew’s cab. + +“And what do you think of the case?” + +“I,” said the judge. “I never have an opinion till I have gone into +everything. To-morrow early I will send to Madame Jeanrenaud to call on +me in my private office at four o’clock, to make her explain the facts +which concern her, for she is compromised.” + +“I should very much like to know what the end will be.” + +“Why, bless me, do not you see that the Marquise is the tool of that +tall lean man who never uttered a word? There is a strain of Cain in +him, but of the Cain who goes to the Law Courts for his bludgeon, and +there, unluckily for him, we keep more than one Damocles’ sword.” + +“Oh, Rastignac! what brought you into that boat, I wonder?” exclaimed +Bianchon. + +“Ah, we are used to seeing these little family conspiracies,” + said Popinot. “Not a year passes without a number of verdicts of +‘insufficient evidence’ against applications of this kind. In our state +of society such an attempt brings no dishonor, while we send a poor +devil to the galleys who breaks a pane of glass dividing him from a bowl +full of gold. Our Code is not faultless.” + +“But these are the facts?” + +“My boy, do you not know all the judicial romances with which clients +impose on their attorneys? If the attorneys condemned themselves to +state nothing but the truth, they would not earn enough to keep their +office open.” + + + +Next day, at four in the afternoon, a very stout dame, looking a good +deal like a cask dressed up in a gown and belt, mounted Judge Popinot’s +stairs, perspiring and panting. She had, with great difficulty, got out +of a green landau, which suited her to a miracle; you could not think of +the woman without the landau, or the landau without the woman. + +“It is I, my dear sir,” said she, appearing in the doorway of the +judge’s room. “Madame Jeanrenaud, whom you summoned exactly as if I were +a thief, neither more nor less.” + +The common words were spoken in a common voice, broken by the wheezing +of asthma, and ending in a cough. + +“When I go through a damp place, I can’t tell you what I suffer, sir. I +shall never make old bones, saving your presence. However, here I am.” + +The lawyer was quite amazed at the appearance of this supposed Marechale +d’Ancre. Madame Jeanrenaud’s face was pitted with an infinite number of +little holes, was very red, with a pug nose and a low forehead, and was +as round as a ball; for everything about the good woman was round. She +had the bright eyes of a country woman, an honest gaze, a cheerful tone, +and chestnut hair held in place by a bonnet cap under a green bonnet +decked with a shabby bunch of auriculas. Her stupendous bust was a thing +to laugh at, for it made one fear some grotesque explosion every time +she coughed. Her enormous legs were of the shape which make the Paris +street boy describe such a woman as being built on piles. The widow wore +a green gown trimmed with chinchilla, which looked on her as a splash of +dirty oil would look on a bride’s veil. In short, everything about her +harmonized with her last words: “Here I am.” + +“Madame,” said Popinot, “you are suspected of having used some seductive +arts to induce M. d’Espard to hand over to you very considerable sums of +money.” + +“Of what! of what!” cried she. “Of seductive arts? But, my dear sir, you +are a man to be respected, and, moreover, as a lawyer you ought to have +some good sense. Look at me! Tell me if I am likely to seduce any one. +I cannot tie my own shoes, nor even stoop. For these twenty years past, +the Lord be praised, I have not dared to put on a pair of stays under +pain of sudden death. I was as thin as an asparagus stalk when I was +seventeen, and pretty too--I may say so now. So I married Jeanrenaud, a +good fellow, and headman on the salt-barges. I had my boy, who is a fine +young man; he is my pride, and it is not holding myself cheap to say +he is my best piece of work. My little Jeanrenaud was a soldier who did +Napoleon credit, and who served in the Imperial Guard. But, alas! at the +death of my old man, who was drowned, times changed for the worse. I had +the smallpox. I was kept two years in my room without stirring, and I +came out of it the size you see me, hideous for ever, and as wretched as +could be. These are my seductive arts.” + +“But what, then, can the reasons be that have induced M. d’Espard to +give you sums----” + +“Hugious sums, monsieur, say the word; I do not mind. But as to his +reasons, I am not at liberty to explain them.” + +“You are wrong. At this moment, his family, very naturally alarmed, are +about to bring an action----” + +“Heavens above us!” said the good woman, starting up. “Is it possible +that he should be worried on my account? That king of men, a man that +has not his match! Rather than he should have the smallest trouble, or +hair less on his head I could almost say, we would return every sou, +monsieur. Write that down on your papers. Heaven above us! I will go at +once and tell Jeanrenaud what is going on! A pretty thing indeed!” + +And the little old woman went out, rolled herself downstairs, and +disappeared. + +“That one tells no lies,” said Popinot to himself. “Well, to-morrow I +shall know the whole story, for I shall go to see the Marquis d’Espard.” + +People who have outlived the age when a man wastes his vitality at +random, know how great an influence may be exercised on more important +events by apparently trivial incidents, and will not be surprised at the +weight here given to the following minor fact. Next day Popinot had +an attack of coryza, a complaint which is not dangerous, and generally +known by the absurd and inadequate name of a cold in the head. + +The judge, who could not suppose that the delay could be serious, +feeling himself a little feverish, kept his room, and did not go to see +the Marquis d’Espard. This day lost was, to this affair, what on the Day +of Dupes the cup of soup had been, taken by Marie de Medici, which, by +delaying her meeting with Louis XIII., enabled Richelieu to arrive at +Saint-Germain before her, and recapture his royal slave. + +Before accompanying the lawyer and his registering clerk to the Marquis +d’Espard’s house, it may be as well to glance at the home and the +private affairs of this father of sons whom his wife’s petition +represented to be a madman. + +Here and there in the old parts of Paris a few buildings may still be +seen in which the archaeologist can discern an intention of decorating +the city, and that love of property, which leads the owner to give a +durable character to the structure. The house in which M. d’Espard was +then living, in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, was one of +these old mansions, built in stone, and not devoid of a certain richness +of style; but time had blackened the stone, and revolutions in the town +had damaged it both outside and inside. The dignitaries who formerly +dwelt in the neighborhood of the University having disappeared with +the great ecclesiastical foundations, this house had become the home +of industries and of inhabitants whom it was never destined to shelter. +During the last century a printing establishment had worn down the +polished floors, soiled the carved wood, blackened the walls, and +altered the principal internal arrangements. Formerly the residence of +a Cardinal, this fine house was now divided among plebeian tenants. The +character of the architecture showed that it had been built under the +reigns of Henry III., Henry IV., and Louis XIII., at the time when the +hotels Mignon and Serpente were erected in the same neighborhood, with +the palace of the Princess Palatine, and the Sorbonne. An old man +could remember having heard it called, in the last century, the hotel +Duperron, so it seemed probable that the illustrious Cardinal of that +name had built, or perhaps merely lived in it. + +There still exists, indeed, in the corner of the courtyard, a perron or +flight of several outer steps by which the house is entered; and the way +into the garden on the garden front is down a similar flight of steps. +In spite of dilapidations, the luxury lavished by the architect on the +balustrade and entrance porch crowning these two perrons suggests the +simple-minded purpose of commemorating the owner’s name, a sort of +sculptured pun which our ancestors often allowed themselves. Finally, +in support of this evidence, archaeologists can still discern in the +medallions which show on the principal front some traces of the cords of +the Roman hat. + +M. le Marquis d’Espard lived on the ground floor, in order, no doubt, to +enjoy the garden, which might be called spacious for that neighborhood, +and which lay open for his children’s health. The situation of the +house, in a street on a steep hill, as its name indicates, secured these +ground-floor rooms against ever being damp. M. d’Espard had taken them, +no doubt, for a very moderate price, rents being low at the time when +he settled in that quarter, in order to be among the schools and to +superintend his boys’ education. Moreover, the state in which he found +the place, with everything to repair, had no doubt induced the owner to +be accommodating. Thus M. d’Espard had been able to go to some expense +to settle himself suitably without being accused of extravagance. The +loftiness of the rooms, the paneling, of which nothing survived but the +frames, the decoration of the ceilings, all displayed the dignity which +the prelacy stamped on whatever it attempted or created, and which +artists discern to this day in the smallest relic that remains, though +it be but a book, a dress, the panel of a bookcase, or an armchair. + +The Marquis had the rooms painted in the rich brown tones loved of +the Dutch and of the citizens of Old Paris, hues which lend such good +effects to the painter of genre. The panels were hung with plain paper +in harmony with the paint. The window curtains were of inexpensive +materials, but chosen so as to produce a generally happy result; the +furniture was not too crowded and judiciously placed. Any one on going +into this home could not resist a sense of sweet peacefulness, produced +by the perfect calm, the stillness which prevailed, by the unpretentious +unity of color, the keeping of the picture, in the words a painter might +use. A certain nobleness in the details, the exquisite cleanliness of +the furniture, and a perfect concord of men and things, all brought the +word “suavity” to the lips. + +Few persons were admitted to the rooms used by the Marquis and his two +sons, whose life might perhaps seem mysterious to their neighbors. In a +wing towards the street, on the third floor, there are three large rooms +which had been left in the state of dilapidation and grotesque bareness +to which they had been reduced by the printing works. These three rooms, +devoted to the evolution of the Picturesque History of China, were +contrived to serve as a writing-room, a depository, and a private room, +where M. d’Espard sat during part of the day; for after breakfast till +four in the afternoon the Marquis remained in this room on the third +floor to work at the publication he had undertaken. Visitors wanting to +see him commonly found him there, and often the two boys on their return +from school resorted thither. Thus the ground-floor rooms were a sort +of sanctuary where the father and sons spent their time from the hour +of dinner till the next day, and his domestic life was carefully closed +against the public eye. + +His only servants were a cook--an old woman who had long been attached +to his family--and a man-servant forty years old, who was with him +when he married Mademoiselle de Blamont. His children’s nurse had also +remained with them, and the minute care to which the apartment bore +witness revealed the sense of order and the maternal affections expended +by this woman in her master’s interest, in the management of his house, +and the charge of his children. These three good souls, grave, and +uncommunicative folk, seemed to have entered into the idea which ruled +the Marquis’ domestic life. And the contrast between their habits and +those of most servants was a peculiarity which cast an air of mystery +over the house, and fomented the calumny to which M. d’Espard himself +lent occasion. Very laudable motives had made him determine never to +be on visiting terms with any of the other tenants in the house. In +undertaking to educate his boys he wished to keep them from all contact +with strangers. Perhaps, too, he wished to avoid the intrusion of +neighbors. + +In a man of his rank, at a time when the Quartier Latin was distracted +by Liberalism, such conduct was sure to rouse in opposition a host of +petty passions, of feelings whose folly is only to be measured by their +meanness, the outcome of porters’ gossip and malevolent tattle from door +to door, all unknown to M. d’Espard and his retainers. His man-servant +was stigmatized as a Jesuit, his cook as a sly fox; the nurse was in +collusion with Madame Jeanrenaud to rob the madman. The madman was +the Marquis. By degrees the other tenants came to regard as proofs of +madness a number of things they had noticed in M. d’Espard, and passed +through the sieve of their judgment without discerning any reasonable +motive for them. + +Having no belief in the success of the History of China, they had +managed to convince the landlord of the house that M. d’Espard had no +money just at a time when, with the forgetfulness which often befalls +busy men, he had allowed the tax-collector to send him a summons for +non-payment of arrears. The landlord forthwith claimed his quarter’s +rent from January 1st by sending in a receipt, which the porter’s wife +had amused herself by detaining. On the 15th a summons to pay was served +on M. d’Espard, the portress had delivered it at her leisure, and +he supposed it to be some misunderstanding, not conceiving of any +incivility from a man in whose house he had been living for twelve +years. The Marquis was actually seized by a bailiff at the time when his +man-servant had gone to carry the money for the rent to the landlord. + +This arrest, assiduously reported to the persons with whom he was in +treaty for his undertaking, had alarmed some of them who were already +doubtful of M. d’Espard’s solvency in consequence of the enormous sums +which Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother were said to be receiving from +him. And, indeed, these suspicions on the part of the tenants, the +creditors, and the landlord had some excuse in the Marquis’ extreme +economy in housekeeping. He conducted it as a ruined man might. His +servants always paid in ready money for the most trifling necessaries +of life, and acted as not choosing to take credit; if now they had asked +for anything on credit, it would probably have been refused, calumnious +gossip had been so widely believed in the neighborhood. There are +tradesmen who like those of their customers who pay badly when they +see them often, while they hate others, and very good ones, who hold +themselves on too high a level to allow of any familiarity as CHUMS, a +vulgar but expressive word. Men are made so; in almost every class they +will allow to a gossip, or a vulgar soul that flatters them, facilities +and favors they refuse to the superiority they resent, in whatever +form it may show itself. The shopkeeper who rails at the Court has his +courtiers. + +In short, the manners of the Marquis and his children were certain to +arouse ill-feeling in their neighbors, and to work them up by degrees to +the pitch of malevolence when men do not hesitate at an act of meanness +if only it may damage the adversary they have themselves created. + +M. d’Espard was a gentleman, as his wife was a lady, by birth and +breeding; noble types, already so rare in France that the observer +can easily count the persons who perfectly realize them. These two +characters are based on primitive ideas, on beliefs that may be called +innate, on habits formed in infancy, and which have ceased to exist. To +believe in pure blood, in a privileged race, to stand in thought above +other men, must we not from birth have measured the distance which +divides patricians from the mob? To command, must we not have never +met our equal? And finally, must not education inculcate the ideas with +which Nature inspires those great men on whose brow she has placed a +crown before their mother has ever set a kiss there? These ideas, this +education, are no longer possible in France, where for forty years past +chance has arrogated the right of making noblemen by dipping them in the +blood of battles, by gilding them with glory, by crowning them with the +halo of genius; where the abolition of entail and of eldest sonship, +by frittering away estates, compels the nobleman to attend to his own +business instead of attending to affairs of state, and where personal +greatness can only be such greatness as is acquired by long and patient +toil: quite a new era. + +Regarded as a relic of that great institution know as feudalism, M. +d’Espard deserved respectful admiration. If he believed himself to be by +blood the superior of other men, he also believed in all the obligations +of nobility; he had the virtues and the strength it demands. He had +brought up his children in his own principles, and taught them from the +cradle the religion of their caste. A deep sense of their own dignity, +pride of name, the conviction that they were by birth great, gave rise +in them to a kingly pride, the courage of knights, and the protecting +kindness of a baronial lord; their manners, harmonizing with their +notions, would have become princes, and offended all the world of the +Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve--a world, above all others, of +equality, where every one believed that M. d’Espard was ruined, and +where all, from the lowest to the highest, refused the privileges of +nobility to a nobleman without money, because they were all ready to +allow an enriched bourgeois to usurp them. Thus the lack of communion +between this family and other persons was as much moral as it was +physical. + +In the father and the children alike, their personality harmonized with +the spirit within. M. d’Espard, at this time about fifty, might have +sat as a model to represent the aristocracy of birth in the nineteenth +century. He was slight and fair; there was in the outline and general +expression of his face a native distinction which spoke of lofty +sentiments, but it bore the impress of a deliberate coldness which +commanded respect a little too decidedly. His aquiline nose bent at the +tip from left to right, a slight crookedness which was not devoid of +grace; his blue eyes, his high forehead, prominent enough at the brows +to form a thick ridge that checked the light and shaded his eyes, all +indicated a spirit of rectitude, capable of perseverance and perfect +loyalty, while it gave a singular look to his countenance. This +penthouse forehead might, in fact, hint at a touch of madness, and his +thick-knitted eyebrows added to the apparent eccentricity. He had the +white well-kept hands of a gentleman; his foot was high and narrow. His +hesitating speech--not merely as to his pronunciation, which was that +of a stammerer, but also in the expression of his ideas, his thought +and language--produced on the mind of the hearer the impression of a +man who, in familiar phraseology, comes and goes, feels his way, tries +everything, breaks off his gestures, and finishes nothing. This defect +was purely superficial, and in contrast with the decisiveness of a +firmly-set mouth, and the strongly-marked character of his physiognomy. +His rather jerky gait matched his mode of speech. These peculiarities +helped to affirm his supposed insanity. In spite of his elegant +appearance, he was systematically parsimonious in his personal expenses, +and wore the same black frock-coat for three or four years, brushed with +extreme care by his old man-servant. + +As to the children, they both were handsome, and endowed with a grace +which did not exclude an expression of aristocratic disdain. They had +the bright coloring, the clear eye, the transparent flesh which reveal +habits of purity, regularity of life, and a due proportion of work and +play. They both had black hair and blue eyes, and a twist in their nose, +like their father; but their mother, perhaps, had transmitted to them +the dignity of speech, of look and mien, which are hereditary in the +Blamont-Chauvrys. Their voices, as clear as crystal, had an emotional +quality, the softness which proves so seductive; they had, in short, the +voice a woman would willingly listen to after feeling the flame of their +looks. But, above all, they had the modesty of pride, a chaste reserve, +a _touch-me-not_ which at a maturer age might have seemed intentional +coyness, so much did their demeanor inspire a wish to know them. The +elder, Comte Clement de Negrepelisse, was close upon his sixteenth year. +For the last two years he had ceased to wear the pretty English round +jacket which his brother, Vicomte Camille d’Espard, still wore. The +Count, who for the last six months went no more to the College Henri +IV., was dressed in the style of a young man enjoying the first +pleasures of fashion. His father had not wished to condemn him to a +year’s useless study of philosophy; he was trying to give his knowledge +some consistency by the study of transcendental mathematics. At the +same time, the Marquis was having him taught Eastern languages, the +international law of Europe, heraldry, and history from the original +sources, charters, early documents, and collections of edicts. Camille +had lately begun to study rhetoric. + +The day when Popinot arranged to go to question M. d’Espard was a +Thursday, a holiday. At about nine in the morning, before their father +was awake, the brothers were playing in the garden. Clement was +finding it hard to refuse his brother, who was anxious to go to the +shooting-gallery for the first time, and who begged him to second his +request to the Marquis. The Viscount always rather took advantage of his +weakness, and was very fond of wrestling with his brother. So the couple +were quarreling and fighting in play like schoolboys. As they ran in +the garden, chasing each other, they made so much noise as to wake their +father, who came to the window without their perceiving him in the heat +of the fray. The Marquis amused himself with watching his two children +twisted together like snakes, their faces flushed by the exertion of +their strength; their complexion was rose and white, their eyes flashed +sparks, their limbs writhed like cords in the fire; they fell, sprang up +again, and caught each other like athletes in a circus, affording their +father one of those moments of happiness which would make amends for the +keenest anxieties of a busy life. Two other persons, one on the second +and one on the first floor, were also looking into the garden, and +saying that the old madman was amusing himself by making his children +fight. Immediately a number of heads appeared at the windows; the +Marquis, noticing them, called a word to his sons, who at once climbed +up to the window and jumped into his room, and Clement obtained the +permission asked by Camille. + +All through the house every one was talking of the Marquis’ new form of +insanity. When Popinot arrived at about twelve o’clock, accompanied by +his clerk, the portress, when asked for M. d’Espard, conducted him to +the third floor, telling him “as how M. d’Espard, no longer ago than +that very morning, had set on his two children to fight, and laughed +like the monster he was on seeing the younger biting the elder till he +bled, and as how no doubt he longed to see them kill each other.--Don’t +ask me the reason why,” she added; “he doesn’t show himself!” + +Just as the woman spoke these decisive words, she had brought the judge +to the landing on the third floor, face to face with a door covered with +notices announcing the successive numbers of the Picturesque History of +China. The muddy floor, the dirty banisters, the door where the printers +had left their marks, the dilapidated window, and the ceiling on which +the apprentices had amused themselves with drawing monstrosities with +the smoky flare of their tallow dips, the piles of paper and litter +heaped up in the corners, intentionally or from sheer neglect--in short, +every detail of the picture lying before his eyes, agreed so well +with the facts alleged by the Marquise that the judge, in spite of his +impartiality, could not help believing them. + +“There you are, gentlemen,” said the porter’s wife; “there is the +manifactor, where the Chinese swallow up enough to feed the whole +neighborhood.” + +The clerk looked at the judge with a smile, and Popinot found it hard to +keep his countenance. They went together into the outer room, where +sat an old man, who, no doubt, performed the functions of office clerk, +shopman, and cashier. This old man was the Maitre Jacques of China. +Along the walls ran long shelves, on which the published numbers lay in +piles. A partition in wood, with a grating lined with green curtains, +cut off the end of the room, forming a private office. A till with a +slit to admit or disgorge crown pieces indicated the cash-desk. + +“M. d’Espard?” said Popinot, addressing the man, who wore a gray blouse. + +The shopman opened the door into the next room, where the lawyer and +his companion saw a venerable old man, white-headed and simply dressed, +wearing the Cross of Saint-Louis, seated at a desk. He ceased comparing +some sheets of colored prints to look up at the two visitors. This room +was an unpretentious office, full of books and proof-sheets. There was +a black wood table at which some one, at the moment absent, no doubt was +accustomed to work. + +“The Marquis d’Espard?” said Popinot. + +“No, monsieur,” said the old man, rising; “what do you want with him?” + he added, coming forward, and showing by his demeanor the dignified +manners and habits due to a gentlemanly education. + +“We wish to speak with him on business exclusively personal to himself,” + replied Popinot. + +“D’Espard, here are some gentlemen who want to see you,” then said the +old man, going into the furthest room, where the Marquis was sitting by +the fire reading the newspaper. + +This innermost room had a shabby carpet, the windows were hung with gray +holland curtains; the furniture consisted of a few mahogany chairs, two +armchairs, a desk with a revolving front, an ordinary office table, and +on the chimney-shelf, a dingy clock and two old candlesticks. The old +man led the way for Popinot and his registrar, and pulled forward two +chairs, as though he were master of the place; M. d’Espard left it to +him. After the preliminary civilities, during which the judge watched +the supposed lunatic, the Marquis naturally asked what was the object of +this visit. On this Popinot glanced significantly at the old gentleman +and the Marquis. + +“I believe, Monsieur le Marquis,” said he, “that the character of my +functions, and the inquiry that has brought me here, make it desirable +that we should be alone, though it is understood by law that in such +cases the inquiries have a sort of family publicity. I am judge on the +Inferior Court of Appeal for the Department of the Seine, and charged +by the President with the duty of examining you as to certain facts +set forth in a petition for a Commission in Lunacy on the part of the +Marquise d’Espard.” + +The old man withdrew. When the lawyer and the Marquis were alone, the +clerk shut the door, and seated himself unceremoniously at the office +table, where he laid out his papers and prepared to take down his notes. +Popinot had still kept his eye on M. d’Espard; he was watching the +effect on him of this crude statement, so painful for a man in full +possession of his reason. The Marquis d’Espard, whose face was usually +pale, as are those of fair men, suddenly turned scarlet with anger; he +trembled for an instant, sat down, laid his paper on the chimney-piece, +and looked down. In a moment he had recovered his gentlemanly dignity, +and looked steadily at the judge, as if to read in his countenance the +indications of his character. + +“How is it, monsieur,” he asked, “that I have had no notice of such a +petition?” + +“Monsieur le Marquis, persons on whom such a commission is held not +being supposed to have the use of their reason, any notice of the +petition is unnecessary. The duty of the Court chiefly consists in +verifying the allegations of the petitioner.” + +“Nothing can be fairer,” replied the Marquis. “Well, then, monsieur, be +so good as to tell me what I ought to do----” + +“You have only to answer my questions, omitting nothing. However +delicate the reasons may be which may have led you to act in such a +manner as to give Madame d’Espard a pretext for her petition, speak +without fear. It is unnecessary to assure you that lawyers know their +duties, and that in such cases the profoundest secrecy----” + +“Monsieur,” said the Marquis, whose face expressed the sincerest pain, +“if my explanations should lead to any blame being attached to Madame +d’Espard’s conduct, what will be the result?” + +“The Court may add its censure to its reasons for its decision.” + +“Is such censure optional? If I were to stipulate with you, before +replying, that nothing should be said that could annoy Madame d’Espard +in the event of your report being in my favor, would the Court take my +request into consideration?” + +The judge looked at the Marquis, and the two men exchanged sentiments of +equal magnanimity. + +“Noel,” said Popinot to his registrar, “go into the other room. If you +can be of use, I will call you in.--If, as I am inclined to think,” he +went on, speaking to the Marquis when the clerk had gone out, “I find +that there is some misunderstanding in this case, I can promise you, +monsieur, that on your application the Court will act with due courtesy. + +“There is a leading fact put forward by Madame d’Espard, the most +serious of all, of which I must beg for an explanation,” said the judge +after a pause. “It refers to the dissipation of your fortune to the +advantage of a certain Madame Jeanrenaud, the widow of a bargemaster--or +rather, to that of her son, Colonel Jeanrenaud, for whom you are said to +have procured an appointment, to have exhausted your influence with the +King, and at last to have extended such protection as secures him a good +marriage. The petition suggests that such a friendship is more devoted +than any feelings, even those which morality must disapprove----” + +A sudden flush crimsoned the Marquis’ face and forehead, tears even +started to his eyes, for his eyelashes were wet, then wholesome pride +crushed the emotions, which in a man are accounted a weakness. + +“To tell you the truth, monsieur,” said the Marquis, in a broken voice, +“you place me in a strange dilemma. The motives of my conduct were to +have died with me. To reveal them I must disclose to you some secret +wounds, must place the honor of my family in your keeping, and must +speak of myself, a delicate matter, as you will fully understand. I +hope, monsieur, that it will all remain a secret between us. You will, +no doubt, be able to find in the formulas of the law one which +will allow of judgment being pronounced without any betrayal of my +confidences.” + +“So far as that goes, it is perfectly possible, Monsieur le Marquis.” + +“Some time after my marriage,” said M. d’Espard, “my wife having run +into considerable expenses, I was obliged to have recourse to borrowing. +You know what was the position of noble families during the Revolution; +I had not been able to keep a steward or a man of business. Nowadays +gentlemen are for the most part obliged to manage their affairs +themselves. Most of my title-deeds had been brought to Paris, from +Languedoc, Provence, or le Comtat, by my father, who dreaded, and not +without reason, the inquisition which family title-deeds, and what was +then styled the ‘parchments’ of the privileged class, brought down on +the owners. + +“Our name is Negrepelisse; d’Espard is a title acquired in the time of +Henri IV. by a marriage which brought us the estates and titles of the +house of d’Espard, on condition of our bearing an escutcheon of pretence +on our coat-of-arms, those of the house of d’Espard, an old family of +Bearn, connected in the female line with that of Albret: quarterly, paly +of or and sable; and azure two griffins’ claws armed, gules in saltire, +with the famous motto Des partem leonis. At the time of this alliance +we lost Negrepelisse, a little town which was as famous during the +religious struggles as was my ancestor who then bore the name. Captain +de Negrepelisse was ruined by the burning of all his property, for the +Protestants did not spare a friend of Montluc’s. + +“The Crown was unjust to M. de Negrepelisse; he received neither a +marshal’s baton, nor a post as governor, nor any indemnity; King Charles +IX., who was fond of him, died without being able to reward him; Henri +IV. arranged his marriage with Mademoiselle d’Espard, and secured +him the estates of that house, but all those of the Negrepelisses had +already passed into the hands of his creditors. + +“My great-grandfather, the Marquis d’Espard, was, like me, placed early +in life at the head of his family by the death of his father, who, after +dissipating his wife’s fortune, left his son nothing but the entailed +estates of the d’Espards, burdened with a jointure. The young Marquis +was all the more straitened for money because he held a post at Court. +Being in great favor with Louis XIV., the King’s goodwill brought him +a fortune. But here, monsieur, a blot stained our escutcheon, an +unconfessed and horrible stain of blood and disgrace which I am making +it my business to wipe out. I discovered the secret among the deeds +relating to the estate of Negrepelisse and the packets of letters.” + +At this solemn moment the Marquis spoke without hesitation or any of the +repetition habitual with him; but it is a matter of common observation +that persons who, in ordinary life, are afflicted with these two +defects, are freed from them as soon as any passionate emotion underlies +their speech. + +“The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes was decreed,” he went on. “You +are no doubt aware, monsieur, that this was an opportunity for many +favorites to make their fortunes. Louis XIV. bestowed on the magnates +about his Court the confiscated lands of those Protestant families who +did not take the prescribed steps for the sale of their property. Some +persons in high favor went ‘Protestant-hunting,’ as the phrase was. I +have ascertained beyond a doubt that the fortune enjoyed to this day by +two ducal families is derived from lands seized from hapless merchants. + +“I will not attempt to explain to you, a man of law, all the manoeuvres +employed to entrap the refugees who had large fortunes to carry away. It +is enough to say that the lands of Negrepelisse, comprising twenty-two +churches and rights over the town, and those of Gravenges which had +formerly belonged to us, were at that time in the hands of a Protestant +family. My grandfather recovered them by gift from Louis XIV. This gift +was effected by documents hall-marked by atrocious iniquity. The owner +of these two estates, thinking he would be able to return, had gone +through the form of a sale, and was going to Switzerland to join his +family, whom he had sent in advance. He wished, no doubt, to take +advantage of every delay granted by the law, so as to settle the +concerns of his business. + +“This man was arrested by order of the governor, the trustee confessed +the truth, the poor merchant was hanged, and my ancestor had the two +estates. I would gladly have been able to ignore the share he took in +the plot; but the governor was his uncle on the mother’s side, and I +have unfortunately read the letter in which he begged him to apply to +Deodatus, the name agreed upon by the Court to designate the King. In +this letter there is a tone of jocosity with reference to the victim, +which filled me with horror. In the end, the sums of money sent by the +refugee family to ransom the poor man were kept by the governor, who +despatched the merchant all the same.” + +The Marquis paused, as though the memory of it were still too heavy for +him to bear. + +“This unfortunate family were named Jeanrenaud,” he went on. “That name +is enough to account for my conduct. I could never think without keen +pain of the secret disgrace that weighed on my family. That fortune +enabled my grandfather to marry a demoiselle de Navarreins-Lansac, +heiress to the younger branch of that house, who were at that time much +richer than the elder branch of the Navarreins. My father thus became +one of the largest landowners in the kingdom. He was able to marry +my mother, a Grandlieu of the younger branch. Though ill-gotten, this +property has been singularly profitable. + +“For my part, being determined to remedy the mischief, I wrote +to Switzerland, and knew no peace till I was on the traces of the +Protestant victim’s heirs. At last I discovered that the Jeanrenauds, +reduced to abject want, had left Fribourg and returned to live in +France. Finally, I found a M. Jeanrenaud, lieutenant in a cavalry +regiment under Napoleon, the sole heir of this unhappy family. In my +eyes, monsieur, the rights of the Jeanrenauds were clear. To establish a +prescriptive right is it not necessary that there should have been some +possibility of proceeding against those who are in the enjoyment of it? +To whom could these refugees have appealed? Their Court of Justice was +on high, or rather, monsieur, it was here,” and the Marquis struck his +hand on his heart. “I did not choose that my children should be able to +think of me as I have thought of my father and of my ancestors. I aim at +leaving them an unblemished inheritance and escutcheon. I did not choose +that nobility should be a lie in my person. And, after all, +politically speaking, ought those emigres who are now appealing +against revolutionary confiscations, to keep the property derived from +antecedent confiscations by positive crimes? + +“I found in M. Jeanrenaud and his mother the most perverse honesty; to +hear them you would suppose that they were robbing me. In spite of all +I could say, they will accept no more than the value of the lands at +the time when the King bestowed them on my family. The price was settled +between us at the sum of eleven hundred thousand francs, which I was +to pay at my convenience and without interest. To achieve this I had +to forego my income for a long time. And then, monsieur, began the +destruction of some illusions I had allowed myself as to Madame +d’Espard’s character. When I proposed to her that we should leave Paris +and go into the country, where we could live respected on half of her +income, and so more rapidly complete a restitution of which I spoke to +her without going into the more serious details, Madame d’Espard treated +me as a madman. I then understood my wife’s real character. She would +have approved of my grandfather’s conduct without a scruple, and have +laughed at the Huguenots. Terrified by her coldness, and her little +affection for her children, whom she abandoned to me without regret, +I determined to leave her the command of her fortune, after paying our +common debts. It was no business of hers, as she told me, to pay for +my follies. As I then had not enough to live on and pay for my sons’ +education, I determined to educate them myself, to make them gentlemen +and men of feeling. By investing my money in the funds I have been +enabled to pay off my obligation sooner than I had dared to hope, for +I took advantage of the opportunities afforded by the improvement +in prices. If I had kept four thousand francs a year for my boys and +myself, I could only have paid off twenty thousand crowns a year, and it +would have taken almost eighteen years to achieve my freedom. As it is, +I have lately repaid the whole of the eleven hundred thousand +francs that were due. Thus I enjoy the happiness of having made this +restitution without doing my children the smallest wrong. + +“These, monsieur, are the reasons for the payments made to Madame +Jeanrenaud and her son.” + +“So Madame d’Espard knew the motives of your retirement?” said the +judge, controlling the emotion he felt at this narrative. + +“Yes, monsieur.” + +Popinot gave an expressive shrug; he rose and opened the door into the +next room. + +“Noel, you can go,” said he to his clerk. + +“Monsieur,” he went on, “though what you have told me is enough to +enlighten me thoroughly, I should like to hear what you have to say to +the other facts put forward in the petition. For instance, you are here +carrying on a business such as is not habitually undertaken by a man of +rank.” + +“We cannot discuss that matter here,” said the Marquis, signing to the +judge to quit the room. “Nouvion,” said he to the old man, “I am going +down to my rooms; the children will soon be in; dine with us.” + +“Then, Monsieur le Marquis,” said Popinot on the stairs, “that is not +your apartment?” + +“No, monsieur; I took those rooms for the office of this undertaking. +You see,” and he pointed to an advertisement sheet, “the History is +being brought out by one of the most respectable firms in Paris, and not +by me.” + +The Marquis showed the lawyer into the ground-floor rooms, saying, “This +is my apartment.” + +Popinot was quite touched by the poetry, not aimed at but pervading this +dwelling. The weather was lovely, the windows were open, the air from +the garden brought in a wholesome earthy smell, the sunshine brightened +and gilded the woodwork, of a rather gloomy brown. At the sight Popinot +made up his mind that a madman would hardly be capable of inventing the +tender harmony of which he was at that moment conscious. + +“I should like just such an apartment,” thought he. “You think of +leaving this part of town?” he inquired. + +“I hope so,” replied the Marquis. “But I shall remain till my younger +son has finished his studies, and till the children’s character is +thoroughly formed, before introducing them to the world and to their +mother’s circle. Indeed, after giving them the solid information +they possess, I intend to complete it by taking them to travel to +the capitals of Europe, that they may see men and things, and become +accustomed to speak the languages they have learned. And, monsieur,” + he went on, giving the judge a chair in the drawing-room, “I could not +discuss the book on China with you, in the presence of an old friend of +my family, the Comte de Nouvion, who, having emigrated, has returned +to France without any fortune whatever, and who is my partner in this +concern, less for my profit than his. Without telling him what my +motives were, I explained to him that I was as poor as he, but that I +had enough money to start a speculation in which he might be usefully +employed. My tutor was the Abbe Grozier, whom Charles X. on my +recommendation appointed Keeper of the Books at the Arsenal, which were +returned to that Prince when he was still Monsieur. The Abbe Grozier was +deeply learned with regard to China, its manners and customs; he made +me heir to this knowledge at an age when it is difficult not to become a +fanatic for the things we learn. At five-and-twenty I knew Chinese, +and I confess I have never been able to check myself in an exclusive +admiration for that nation, who conquered their conquerors, whose annals +extend back indisputably to a period more remote than mythological or +Bible times, who by their immutable institutions have preserved +the integrity of their empire, whose monuments are gigantic, whose +administration is perfect, among whom revolutions are impossible, who +have regarded ideal beauty as a barren element in art, who have carried +luxury and industry to such a pitch that we cannot outdo them in +anything, while they are our equals in things where we believe ourselves +superior. + +“Still, monsieur, though I often make a jest of comparing China with the +present condition of European states, I am not a Chinaman, I am a French +gentleman. If you entertain any doubts as to the financial side of this +undertaking, I can prove to you that at this moment we have two +thousand five hundred subscribers to this work, which is literary, +iconographical, statistical, and religious; its importance has been +generally appreciated; our subscribers belong to every nation in Europe, +we have but twelve hundred in France. Our book will cost about three +hundred francs, and the Comte de Nouvion will derive from it from six to +seven thousand francs a year, for his comfort was the real motive of the +undertaking. For my part, I aimed only at the possibility of affording +my children some pleasures. The hundred thousand francs I have made, +quite in spite of myself, will pay for their fencing lessons, horses, +dress, and theatres, pay the masters who teach them accomplishments, +procure them canvases to spoil, the books they may wish to buy, in +short, all the little fancies which a father finds so much pleasure in +gratifying. If I had been compelled to refuse these indulgences to my +poor boys, who are so good and work so hard, the sacrifice I made to the +honor of my name would have been doubly painful. + +“In point of fact, the twelve years I have spent in retirement from the +world to educate my children have led to my being completely forgotten +at Court. I have given up the career of politics; I have lost my +historical fortune, and all the distinctions which I might have acquired +and bequeathed to my children; but our house will have lost nothing; +my boys will be men of mark. Though I have missed the senatorship, they +will win it nobly by devoting themselves to the affairs of the country, +and doing such service as is not soon forgotten. While purifying the +past record of my family, I have insured it a glorious future; and is +not that to have achieved a noble task, though in secret and without +glory?--And now, monsieur, have you any other explanations to ask me?” + +At this instant the tramp of horses was heard in the courtyard. + +“Here they are!” said the Marquis. In a moment the two lads, fashionably +but plainly dressed, came into the room, booted, spurred, and gloved, +and flourishing their riding-whips. Their beaming faces brought in the +freshness of the outer air; they were brilliant with health. They both +grasped their father’s hand, giving him a look, as friends do, a glance +of unspoken affection, and then they bowed coldly to the lawyer. Popinot +felt that it was quite unnecessary to question the Marquis as to his +relations towards his sons. + +“Have you enjoyed yourselves?” asked the Marquis. + +“Yes, father; I knocked down six dolls in twelve shots at the first +trial!” cried Camille. + +“And where did you ride?” + +“In the Bois; we saw my mother.” + +“Did she stop?” + +“We were riding so fast just then that I daresay she did not see us,” + replied the young Count. + +“But, then, why did you not go to speak to her?” + +“I fancy I have noticed, father, that she does not care that we should +speak to her in public,” said Clement in an undertone. “We are a little +too big.” + +The judge’s hearing was keen enough to catch these words, which brought +a cloud to the Marquis’ brow. Popinot took pleasure in contemplating the +picture of the father and his boys. His eyes went back with a sense +of pathos to M. d’Espard’s face; his features, his expression, and his +manner all expressed honesty in its noblest aspect, intellectual and +chivalrous honesty, nobility in all its beauty. + +“You--you see, monsieur,” said the Marquis, and his hesitation had +returned, “you see that Justice may look in--in here at any time--yes, +at any time--here. If there is anybody crazy, it can only be the +children--the children--who are a little crazy about their father, +and the father who is very crazy about his children--but that sort of +madness rings true.” + +At this juncture Madame Jeanrenaud’s voice was heard in the ante-room, +and the good woman came bustling in, in spite of the man-servant’s +remonstrances. + +“I take no roundabout ways, I can tell you!” she exclaimed. “Yes, +Monsieur le Marquis, I want to speak to you, this very minute,” she went +on, with a comprehensive bow to the company. “By George, and I am too +late as it is, since Monsieur the criminal Judge is before me.” + +“Criminal!” cried the two boys. + +“Good reason why I did not find you at your own house, since you are +here. Well, well! the Law is always to the fore when there is mischief +brewing.--I came, Monsieur le Marquis, to tell you that my son and I are +of one mind to give you everything back, since our honor is threatened. +My son and I, we had rather give you back everything than cause you +the smallest trouble. My word, they must be as stupid as pans without +handles to call you a lunatic----” + +“A lunatic! My father?” exclaimed the boys, clinging to the Marquis. +“What is this?” + +“Silence, madame,” said Popinot. + +“Children, leave us,” said the Marquis. + +The two boys went into the garden without a word, but very much alarmed. + +“Madame,” said the judge, “the moneys paid to you by Monsieur le Marquis +were legally due, though given to you in virtue of a very far-reaching +theory of honesty. If all the people possessed of confiscated goods, by +whatever cause, even if acquired by treachery, were compelled to make +restitution every hundred and fifty years, there would be few legitimate +owners in France. The possessions of Jacques Coeur enriched twenty noble +families; the confiscations pronounced by the English to the advantage +of their adherents at the time when they held a part of France made the +fortune of several princely houses. + +“Our law allows M. d’Espard to dispose of his income without accounting +for it, or suffering him to be accused of its misapplication. A +Commission in Lunacy can only be granted when a man’s actions are devoid +of reason; but in this case, the remittances made to you have a reason +based on the most sacred and most honorable motives. Hence you may keep +it all without remorse, and leave the world to misinterpret a noble +action. In Paris, the highest virtue is the object of the foulest +calumny. It is, unfortunately, the present condition of society that +makes the Marquis’ actions sublime. For the honor of my country, I would +that such deeds were regarded as a matter of course; but, as things are, +I am forced by comparison to look upon M. d’Espard as a man to whom a +crown should be awarded, rather than that he should be threatened with a +Commission in Lunacy. + +“In the course of a long professional career, I have seen and heard +nothing that has touched me more deeply than that I have just seen and +heard. But it is not extraordinary that virtue should wear its noblest +aspect when it is practised by men of the highest class. + +“Having heard me express myself in this way, I hope, Monsieur le +Marquis, that you feel certain of my silence, and that you will not +for a moment be uneasy as to the decision pronounced in the case--if it +comes before the Court.” + +“There, now! Well said,” cried Madame Jeanrenaud. “That is something +like a judge! Look here, my dear sir, I would hug you if I were not so +ugly; you speak like a book.” + +The Marquis held out his hand to Popinot, who gently pressed it with +a look full of sympathetic comprehension at this great man in private +life, and the Marquis responded with a pleasant smile. These two +natures, both so large and full--one commonplace but divinely kind, the +other lofty and sublime--had fallen into unison gently, without a jar, +without a flash of passion, as though two pure lights had been merged +into one. The father of a whole district felt himself worthy to grasp +the hand of this man who was doubly noble, and the Marquis felt in the +depths of his soul an instinct that told him that the judge’s hand +was one of those from which the treasures of inexhaustible beneficence +perennially flow. + +“Monsieur le Marquis,” added Popinot, with a bow, “I am happy to be able +to tell you that, from the first words of this inquiry, I regarded my +clerk as quite unnecessary.” + +He went close to M. d’Espard, led him into the window-bay, and said: “It +is time that you should return home, monsieur. I believe that Madame la +Marquise has acted in this matter under an influence which you ought at +once to counteract.” + +Popinot withdrew. He looked back several times as he crossed the +courtyard, touched by the recollection of the scene. It was one of those +which take root in the memory to blossom again in certain hours when the +soul seeks consolation. + +“Those rooms would just suit me,” said he to himself as he reached home. +“If M. d’Espard leaves them, I will take up his lease.” + + + +The next day, at about ten in the morning, Popinot, who had written out +his report the previous evening, made his way to the Palais de Justice, +intending to have prompt and righteous justice done. As he went to the +robing-room to put on his gown and bands, the usher told him that the +President of his Court begged him to attend in his private room, where +he was waiting for him. Popinot forthwith obeyed. + +“Good-morning, my dear Popinot,” said the President, “I have been +waiting for you.” + +“Why, Monsieur le President, is anything wrong?” + +“A mere silly trifle,” said the President. “The Keeper of the Seals, +with whom I had the honor of dining yesterday, led me apart into a +corner. He had heard that you had been to tea with Madame d’Espard, in +whose case you were employed to make inquiries. He gave me to understand +that it would be as well that you should not sit on this case----” + +“But, Monsieur le President, I can prove that I left Madame d’Espard’s +house at the moment when tea was brought in. And my conscience----” + +“Yes, yes; the whole Bench, the two Courts, all the profession know you. +I need not repeat what I said about you to his Eminence; but, you know, +‘Caesar’s wife must not be suspected.’ So we shall not make this +foolish trifle a matter of discipline, but only of proprieties. Between +ourselves, it is not on your account, but on that of the Bench.” + +“But, monsieur, if you only knew the kind of woman----” said the judge, +trying to pull his report out of his pocket. + +“I am perfectly certain that you have proceeded in this matter with the +strictest independence of judgment. I myself, in the provinces, have +often taken more than a cup of tea with the people I had to try; but the +fact that the Keeper of the Seals should have mentioned it, and that you +might be talked about, is enough to make the Court avoid any discussion +of the matter. Any conflict with public opinion must always be dangerous +for a constitutional body, even when the right is on its side against +the public, because their weapons are not equal. Journalism may say or +suppose anything, and our dignity forbids us even to reply. In fact, +I have spoken of the matter to your President, and M. Camusot has been +appointed in your place on your retirement, which you will signify. +It is a family matter, so to speak. And I now beg you to signify your +retirement from the case as a personal favor. To make up, you will get +the Cross of the Legion of Honor, which has so long been due to you. I +make that my business.” + +When he saw M. Camusot, a judge recently called to Paris from a +provincial Court of the same class, as he went forward bowing to the +Judge and the President, Popinot could not repress an ironical smile. +This pale, fair young man, full of covert ambition, looked ready to hang +and unhang, at the pleasure of any earthy king, the innocent and the +guilty alike, and to follow the example of a Laubardemont rather than +that of a Mole. + +Popinot withdrew with a bow; he scorned to deny the lying accusation +that had been brought against him. + + +PARIS, February 1836. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + +Note: The Commission in Lunacy is also known as The Interdiction and is +referred to by that title in certain of the addendums. + + Bianchon, Horace + Father Goriot + The Atheist’s Mass + Cesar Birotteau + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor’s Establishment + The Secrets of a Princess + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Study of Woman + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Magic Skin + A Second Home + A Prince of Bohemia + Letters of Two Brides + The Muse of the Department + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + The Country Parson + In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + La Grande Breteche + + Bordin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Seamy Side of History + Jealousies of a Country Town + + Camusot de Marville + Cousin Pons + Jealousies of a Country Town + Scenes from a Cuortesan’s Life + + Desroches (son) + A Bachelor’s Establishment + Colonel Chabert + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + + Espard, Charles-Maurice-Marie-Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis d’ + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + + Espard, Chevalier d’ + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Secrets of a Princess + + Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d’ + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + Letters of Two Brides + Another Study of Woman + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + Beatrix + + Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + Colonel Chabert + A Bachelor’s Establishment + A Start in Life + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + + Grozier, Abbe + Lost Illusions + + Jeanrenaud + Albert Savarus + + Mongenod, Frederic + The Seamy Side of History + + Negrepelisse, De + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + + Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de + Father Goriot + The Thirteen + Eugenie Grandet + Cesar Birotteau + Melmoth Reconciled + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + Modeste Mignon + The Firm of Nucingen + Another Study of Woman + A Daughter of Eve + The Member for Arcis + + Popinot, Jean-Jules + Cesar Birotteau + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Middle Classes + + Rabourdin, Madame + The Government Clerks + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s The Commission in Lunacy, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY *** + +***** This file should be named 1410-0.txt or 1410-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/1410/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/1410-0.zip b/old/1410-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d58a42 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1410-0.zip diff --git a/old/1410-h.zip b/old/1410-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4114d78 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1410-h.zip diff --git a/old/1410-h/1410-h.htm b/old/1410-h/1410-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3a874b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1410-h/1410-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3869 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Commission in Lunacy, by Honore de Balzac + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Commission in Lunacy, 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 Commission in Lunacy + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Clara Bell + +Release Date: February 24, 2010 [EBook #1410] +Last Updated: November 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY + </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> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + DEDICATION + + Dedicated to Monsieur le Contre-Amiral Bazoche, + Governor of the Isle of Bourbon, by the grateful writer. + DE BALZAC. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0002"> ADDENDUM </a> + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + In 1828, at about one o’clock one morning, two persons came out of a large + house in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, near the Elysee-Bourbon. One + was the famous doctor, Horace Bianchon; the other was one of the most + elegant men in Paris, the Baron de Rastignac; they were friends of long + standing. Each had sent away his carriage, and no cab was to be seen in + the street; but the night was fine, and the pavement dry. + </p> + <p> + “We will walk as far as the boulevard,” said Eugene de Rastignac to + Bianchon. “You can get a hackney cab at the club; there is always one to + be found there till daybreak. Come with me as far as my house.” + </p> + <p> + “With pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, and what have you to say about it?” + </p> + <p> + “About that woman?” said the doctor coldly. + </p> + <p> + “There I recognize my Bianchon!” exclaimed Rastignac. + </p> + <p> + “Why, how?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, my dear fellow, you speak of the Marquise d’Espard as if she were a + case for your hospital.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you want to know what I think, Eugene? If you throw over Madame de + Nucingen for this Marquise, you will swap a one-eyed horse for a blind + one.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame de Nucingen is six-and-thirty, Bianchon.” + </p> + <p> + “And this woman is three-and-thirty,” said the doctor quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Her worst enemies only say six-and-twenty.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear boy, when you really want to know a woman’s age, look at her + temples and the tip of her nose. Whatever women may achieve with their + cosmetics, they can do nothing against those incorruptible witnesses to + their experiences. There each year of life has left its stigmata. When a + woman’s temples are flaccid, seamed, withered in a particular way; when at + the tip of her nose you see those minute specks, which look like the + imperceptible black smuts which are shed in London by the chimneys in + which coal is burnt.... Your servant, sir! That woman is more than thirty. + She may be handsome, witty, loving—whatever you please, but she is + past thirty, she is arriving at maturity. I do not blame men who attach + themselves to that kind of woman; only, a man of your superior distinction + must not mistake a winter pippin for a little summer apple, smiling on the + bough, and waiting for you to crunch it. Love never goes to study the + registers of birth and marriage; no one loves a woman because she is + handsome or ugly, stupid or clever; we love because we love.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, for my part, I love for quite other reasons. She is Marquise + d’Espard; she was a Blamont-Chauvry; she is the fashion; she has soul; her + foot is as pretty as the Duchesse de Berri’s; she has perhaps a hundred + thousand francs a year—some day, perhaps, I may marry her! In short, + she will put me into a position which will enable me to pay my debts.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you were rich,” interrupted Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “Bah! I have twenty thousand francs a year—just enough to keep up my + stables. I was thoroughly done, my dear fellow, in that Nucingen business; + I will tell you about that.—I have got my sisters married; that is + the clearest profit I can show since we last met; and I would rather have + them provided for than have five hundred thousand francs a year. No, what + would you have me do? I am ambitious. To what can Madame de Nucingen lead? + A year more and I shall be shelved, stuck in a pigeon-hole like a married + man. I have all the discomforts of marriage and of single life, without + the advantages of either; a false position to which every man must come + who remains tied too long to the same apron-string.” + </p> + <p> + “So you think you will come upon a treasure here?” said Bianchon. “Your + Marquise, my dear fellow, does not hit my fancy at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Your liberal opinions blur your eyesight. If Madame d’Espard were a + Madame Rabourdin...” + </p> + <p> + “Listen to me. Noble or simple, she would still have no soul; she would + still be a perfect type of selfishness. Take my word for it, medical men + are accustomed to judge of people and things; the sharpest of us read the + soul while we study the body. In spite of that pretty boudoir where we + have spent this evening, in spite of the magnificence of the house, it is + quite possible that Madame la Marquise is in debt.” + </p> + <p> + “What makes you think so?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not assert it; I am supposing. She talked of her soul as Louis + XVIII. used to talk of his heart. I tell you this: That fragile, fair + woman, with her chestnut hair, who pities herself that she may be pitied, + enjoys an iron constitution, an appetite like a wolf’s, and the strength + and cowardice of a tiger. Gauze, and silk, and muslin were never more + cleverly twisted round a lie! Ecco.” + </p> + <p> + “Bianchon, you frighten me! You have learned a good many things, then, + since we lived in the Maison Vauquer?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, since then, my boy, I have seen puppets, both dolls and manikins. I + know something of the ways of the fine ladies whose bodies we attend to, + saving that which is dearest to them, their child—if they love it—or + their pretty faces, which they always worship. A man spends his nights by + their pillow, wearing himself to death to spare them the slightest loss of + beauty in any part; he succeeds, he keeps their secret like the dead; they + send to ask for his bill, and think it horribly exorbitant. Who saved + them? Nature. Far from recommending him, they speak ill of him, fearing + lest he should become the physician of their best friends. + </p> + <p> + “My dear fellow, those women of whom you say, ‘They are angels!’ I—I—have + seen stripped of the little grimaces under which they hide their soul, as + well as of the frippery under which they disguise their defects—without + manners and without stays; they are not beautiful. + </p> + <p> + “We saw a great deal of mud, a great deal of dirt, under the waters of the + world when we were aground for a time on the shoals of the Maison Vauquer.—What + we saw there was nothing. Since I have gone into high society, I have seen + monsters dressed in satin, Michonneaus in white gloves, Poirets bedizened + with orders, fine gentlemen doing more usurious business than old Gobseck! + To the shame of mankind, when I have wanted to shake hands with Virtue, I + have found her shivering in a loft, persecuted by calumny, half-starving + on a income or a salary of fifteen hundred francs a year, and regarded as + crazy, or eccentric, or imbecile. + </p> + <p> + “In short, my dear boy, the Marquise is a woman of fashion, and I have a + particular horror of that kind of woman. Do you want to know why? A woman + who has a lofty soul, fine taste, gentle wit, a generously warm heart, and + who lives a simple life, has not a chance of being the fashion. Ergo: A + woman of fashion and a man in power are analogous; but there is this + difference: the qualities by which a man raises himself above others + ennoble him and are a glory to him; whereas the qualities by which a woman + gains power for a day are hideous vices; she belies her nature to hide her + character, and to live the militant life of the world she must have iron + strength under a frail appearance. + </p> + <p> + “I, as a physician, know that a sound stomach excludes a good heart. Your + woman of fashion feels nothing; her rage for pleasure has its source in a + longing to heat up her cold nature, a craving for excitement and + enjoyment, like an old man who stands night after night by the footlights + at the opera. As she has more brain than heart, she sacrifices genuine + passion and true friends to her triumph, as a general sends his most + devoted subalterns to the front in order to win a battle. The woman of + fashion ceases to be a woman; she is neither mother, nor wife, nor lover. + She is, medically speaking, sex in the brain. And your Marquise, too, has + all the characteristics of her monstrosity, the beak of a bird of prey, + the clear, cold eye, the gentle voice—she is as polished as the + steel of a machine, she touches everything except the heart.” + </p> + <p> + “There is some truth in what you say, Bianchon.” + </p> + <p> + “Some truth?” replied Bianchon. “It is all true. Do you suppose that I was + not struck to the heart by the insulting politeness by which she made me + measure the imaginary distance which her noble birth sets between us? That + I did not feel the deepest pity for her cat-like civilities when I + remembered what her object was? A year hence she will not write one word + to do me the slightest service, and this evening she pelted me with + smiles, believing that I can influence my uncle Popinot, on whom the + success of her case——” + </p> + <p> + “Would you rather she should have played the fool with you, my dear + fellow?—I accept your diatribe against women of fashion; but you are + beside the mark. I should always prefer for a wife a Marquise d’Espard to + the most devout and devoted creature on earth. Marry an angel! you would + have to go and bury your happiness in the depths of the country! The wife + of a politician is a governing machine, a contrivance that makes + compliments and courtesies. She is the most important and most faithful + tool which an ambitious man can use; a friend, in short, who may + compromise herself without mischief, and whom he may belie without harmful + results. Fancy Mahomet in Paris in the nineteenth century! His wife would + be a Rohan, a Duchesse de Chevreuse of the Fronde, as keen and as + flattering as an Ambassadress, as wily as Figaro. Your loving wives lead + nowhere; a woman of the world leads to everything; she is the diamond with + which a man cuts every window when he has not the golden key which unlocks + every door. Leave humdrum virtues to the humdrum, ambitious vices to the + ambitious. + </p> + <p> + “Besides, my dear fellow, do you imagine that the love of a Duchesse de + Langeais, or de Maufrigneuse, or of a Lady Dudley does not bestow immense + pleasure? If only you knew how much value the cold, severe style of such a + woman gives to the smallest evidence of their affection! What a delight it + is to see a periwinkle piercing through the snow! A smile from below a fan + contradicts the reserve of an assumed attitude, and is worth all the + unbridled tenderness of your middle-class women with their mortgaged + devotion; for, in love, devotion is nearly akin to speculation. + </p> + <p> + “And, then, a woman of fashion, a Blamont-Chauvry, has her virtues too! + Her virtues are fortune, power, effect, a certain contempt of all that is + beneath her——” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you!” said Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “Old curmudgeon!” said Rastignac, laughing. “Come—do not be so + common, do like your friend Desplein; be a Baron, a Knight of + Saint-Michael; become a peer of France, and marry your daughters to + dukes.” + </p> + <p> + “I! May the five hundred thousand devils——” + </p> + <p> + “Come, come! Can you be superior only in medicine? Really, you distress + me...” + </p> + <p> + “I hate that sort of people; I long for a revolution to deliver us from + them for ever.” + </p> + <p> + “And so, my dear Robespierre of the lancet, you will not go to-morrow to + your uncle Popinot?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I will,” said Bianchon; “for you I would go to hell to fetch + water...” + </p> + <p> + “My good friend, you really touch me. I have sworn that a commission shall + sit on the Marquis. Why, here is even a long-saved tear to thank you.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” Bianchon went on, “I do not promise to succeed as you wish with + Jean-Jules Popinot. You do not know him. However, I will take him to see + your Marquise the day after to-morrow; she may get round him if she can. I + doubt it. If all the truffles, all the Duchesses, all the mistresses, and + all the charmers in Paris were there in the full bloom of their beauty; if + the King promised him the <i>Prairie</i>, and the Almighty gave him the + Order of Paradise with the revenues of Purgatory, not one of all these + powers would induce him to transfer a single straw from one saucer of his + scales into the other. He is a judge, as Death is Death.” + </p> + <p> + The two friends had reached the office of the Minister for Foreign + Affairs, at the corner of the Boulevard des Capucines. + </p> + <p> + “Here you are at home,” said Bianchon, laughing, as he pointed to the + ministerial residence. “And here is my carriage,” he added, calling a + hackney cab. “And these—express our fortune.” + </p> + <p> + “You will be happy at the bottom of the sea, while I am still struggling + with the tempests on the surface, till I sink and go to ask you for a + corner in your grotto, old fellow!” + </p> + <p> + “Till Saturday,” replied Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “Agreed,” said Rastignac. “And you promise me Popinot?” + </p> + <p> + “I will do all my conscience will allow. Perhaps this appeal for a + commission covers some little dramorama, to use a word of our good bad + times.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor Bianchon! he will never be anything but a good fellow,” said + Rastignac to himself as the cab drove off. + </p> + <p> + “Rastignac has given me the most difficult negotiation in the world,” said + Bianchon to himself, remembering, as he rose next morning, the delicate + commission intrusted to him. “However, I have never asked the smallest + service from my uncle in Court, and have paid more than a thousand visits + gratis for him. And, after all, we are not apt to mince matters between + ourselves. He will say Yes or No, and there an end.” + </p> + <p> + After this little soliloquy the famous physician bent his steps, at seven + in the morning, towards the Rue du Fouarre, where dwelt Monsieur + Jean-Jules Popinot, judge of the Lower Court of the Department of the + Seine. The Rue du Fouarre—an old word meaning straw—was in the + thirteenth century the most important street in Paris. There stood the + Schools of the University, where the voices of Abelard and of Gerson were + heard in the world of learning. It is now one of the dirtiest streets of + the Twelfth Arrondissement, the poorest quarter of Paris, that in which + two-thirds of the population lack firing in winter, which leaves most + brats at the gate of the Foundling Hospital, which sends most beggars to + the poorhouse, most rag-pickers to the street corners, most decrepit old + folks to bask against the walls on which the sun shines, most delinquents + to the police courts. + </p> + <p> + Half-way down this street, which is always damp, and where the gutter + carries to the Seine the blackened waters from some dye-works, there is an + old house, restored no doubt under Francis I., and built of bricks held + together by a few courses of masonry. That it is substantial seems proved + by the shape of its front wall, not uncommonly seen in some parts of + Paris. It bellies, so to speak, in a manner caused by the protuberance of + its first floor, crushed under the weight of the second and third, but + upheld by the strong wall of the ground floor. At first sight it would + seem as though the piers between the windows, though strengthened by the + stone mullions, must give way, but the observer presently perceives that, + as in the tower at Bologna, the old bricks and old time-eaten stones of + this house persistently preserve their centre of gravity. + </p> + <p> + At every season of the year the solid piers of the ground floor have the + yellow tone and the imperceptible sweating surface that moisture gives to + stone. The passer-by feels chilled as he walks close to this wall, where + worn corner-stones ineffectually shelter him from the wheels of vehicles. + As is always the case in houses built before carriages were in use, the + vault of the doorway forms a very low archway not unlike the barbican of a + prison. To the right of this entrance there are three windows, protected + outside by iron gratings of so close a pattern, that the curious cannot + possibly see the use made of the dark, damp rooms within, and the panes + too are dirty and dusty; to the left are two similar windows, one of which + is sometimes open, exposing to view the porter, his wife, and his + children; swarming, working, cooking, eating, and screaming, in a floored + and wainscoted room where everything is dropping to pieces, and into which + you descend two steps—a depth which seems to suggest the gradual + elevation of the soil of Paris. + </p> + <p> + If on a rainy day some foot-passenger takes refuge under the long vault, + with projecting lime-washed beams, which leads from the door to the + staircase, he will hardly fail to pause and look at the picture presented + by the interior of this house. To the left is a square garden-plot, + allowing of not more than four long steps in each direction, a garden of + black soil, with trellises bereft of vines, and where, in default of + vegetation under the shade of two trees, papers collect, old rags, + potsherds, bits of mortar fallen from the roof; a barren ground, where + time has shed on the walls, and on the trunks and branches of the trees, a + powdery deposit like cold soot. The two parts of the house, set at a right + angle, derive light from this garden-court shut in by two adjoining houses + built on wooden piers, decrepit and ready to fall, where on each floor + some grotesque evidence is to be seen of the craft pursued by some lodger + within. Here long poles are hung with immense skeins of dyed worsted put + out to dry; there, on ropes, dance clean-washed shirts; higher up, on a + shelf, volumes display their freshly marbled edges; women sing, husbands + whistle, children shout; the carpenter saws his planks, a copper-turner + makes the metal screech; all kinds of industries combine to produce a + noise which the number of instruments renders distracting. + </p> + <p> + The general system of decoration in this passage, which is neither + courtyard, garden, nor vaulted way, though a little of all, consists of + wooden pillars resting on square stone blocks, and forming arches. Two + archways open on to the little garden; two others, facing the front + gateway, lead to a wooden staircase, with an iron balustrade that was once + a miracle of smith’s work, so whimsical are the shapes given to the metal; + the worn steps creak under every tread. The entrance to each flat has an + architrave dark with dirt, grease, and dust, and outer doors, covered with + Utrecht velvet set with brass nails, once gilt, in a diamond pattern. + These relics of splendor show that in the time of Louis XIV. the house was + the residence of some councillor to the Parlement, some rich priests, or + some treasurer of the ecclesiastical revenue. But these vestiges of former + luxury bring a smile to the lips by the artless contrast of past and + present. + </p> + <p> + M. Jean-Jules Popinot lived on the first floor of this house, where the + gloom, natural to all first floors in Paris houses, was increased by the + narrowness of the street. This old tenement was known to all the twelfth + arrondissement, on which Providence had bestowed this lawyer, as it gives + a beneficent plant to cure or alleviate every malady. Here is a sketch of + a man whom the brilliant Marquise d’Espard hoped to fascinate. + </p> + <p> + M. Popinot, as is seemly for a magistrate, was always dressed in black—a + style which contributed to make him ridiculous in the eyes of those who + were in the habit of judging everything from a superficial examination. + Men who are jealous of maintaining the dignity required by this color + ought to devote themselves to constant and minute care of their person; + but our dear M. Popinot was incapable of forcing himself to the + puritanical cleanliness which black demands. His trousers, always + threadbare, looked like camlet—the stuff of which attorneys’ gowns + are made; and his habitual stoop set them, in time, in such innumerable + creases, that in places they were traced with lines, whitish, rusty, or + shiny, betraying either sordid avarice, or the most unheeding poverty. His + coarse worsted stockings were twisted anyhow in his ill-shaped shoes. His + linen had the tawny tinge acquired by long sojourn in a wardrobe, showing + that the late lamented Madame Popinot had had a mania for much linen; in + the Flemish fashion, perhaps, she had given herself the trouble of a great + wash no more than twice a year. The old man’s coat and waistcoat were in + harmony with his trousers, shoes, stockings, and linen. He always had the + luck of his carelessness; for, the first day he put on a new coat, he + unfailingly matched it with the rest of his costume by staining it with + incredible promptitude. The good man waited till his housekeeper told him + that his hat was too shabby before buying a new one. His necktie was + always crumpled and starchless, and he never set his dog-eared shirt + collar straight after his judge’s bands had disordered it. He took no care + of his gray hair, and shaved but twice a week. He never wore gloves, and + generally kept his hands stuffed into his empty trousers’ pockets; the + soiled pocket-holes, almost always torn, added a final touch to the + slovenliness of his person. + </p> + <p> + Any one who knows the Palais de Justice at Paris, where every variety of + black attire may be studied, can easily imagine the appearance of M. + Popinot. The habit of sitting for days at a time modifies the structure of + the body, just as the fatigue of hearing interminable pleadings tells on + the expression of a magistrate’s face. Shut up as he is in courts + ridiculously small, devoid of architectural dignity, and where the air is + quickly vitiated, a Paris judge inevitably acquires a countenance puckered + and seamed by reflection, and depressed by weariness; his complexion turns + pallid, acquiring an earthy or greenish hue according to his individual + temperament. In short, within a given time the most blooming young man is + turned into an “inasmuch” machine—an instrument which applies the + Code to individual cases with the indifference of clockwork. + </p> + <p> + Hence, nature, having bestowed on M. Popinot a not too pleasing exterior, + his life as a lawyer had not improved it. His frame was graceless and + angular. His thick knees, huge feet, and broad hands formed a contrast + with a priest-like face having a vague resemblance to a calf’s head, meek + to unmeaningness, and but little brightened by divergent bloodless eyes, + divided by a straight flat nose, surmounted by a flat forehead, flanked by + enormous ears, flabby and graceless. His thin, weak hair showed the + baldness through various irregular partings. + </p> + <p> + One feature only commended this face to the physiognomist. This man had a + mouth to whose lips divine kindness lent its sweetness. They were + wholesome, full, red lips, finely wrinkled, sinuous, mobile, by which + nature had given expression to noble feelings; lips which spoke to the + heart and proclaimed the man’s intelligence and lucidity, a gift of + second-sight, and a heavenly temper; and you would have judged him wrongly + from looking merely at his sloping forehead, his fireless eyes, and his + shambling gait. His life answered to his countenance; it was full of + secret labor, and hid the virtue of a saint. His superior knowledge of law + proved so strong a recommendation at a time when Napoleon was reorganizing + it in 1808 and 1811, that, by the advice of Cambaceres, he was one of the + first men named to sit on the Imperial High Court of Justice at Paris. + Popinot was no schemer. Whenever any demand was made, any request + preferred for an appointment, the Minister would overlook Popinot, who + never set foot in the house of the High Chancellor or the Chief Justice. + From the High Court he was sent down to the Common Court, and pushed to + the lowest rung of the ladder by active struggling men. There he was + appointed supernumerary judge. There was a general outcry among the + lawyers: “Popinot a supernumerary!” Such injustice struck the legal world + with dismay—the attorneys, the registrars, everybody but Popinot + himself, who made no complaint. The first clamor over, everybody was + satisfied that all was for the best in the best of all possible worlds, + which must certainly be the legal world. Popinot remained supernumerary + judge till the day when the most famous Great Seal under the Restoration + avenged the oversights heaped on this modest and uncomplaining man by the + Chief Justices of the Empire. After being a supernumerary for twelve + years, M. Popinot would no doubt die a puisne judge of the Court of the + Seine. + </p> + <p> + To account for the obscure fortunes of one of the superior men of the + legal profession, it is necessary to enter here into some details which + will serve to reveal his life and character, and which will, at the same + time, display some of the wheels of the great machine known as Justice. M. + Popinot was classed by the three Presidents who successively controlled + the Court of the Seine under the category of possible judges, the stuff of + which judges are made. Thus classified, he did not achieve the reputation + for capacity which his previous labors had deserved. Just as a painter is + invariably included in a category as a landscape painter, a portrait + painter, a painter of history, of sea pieces, or of genre, by a public + consisting of artists, connoisseurs, and simpletons, who, out of envy, or + critical omnipotence, or prejudice, fence in his intellect, assuming, one + and all, that there are ganglions in every brain—a narrow judgment + which the world applies to writers, to statesmen, to everybody who begins + with some specialty before being hailed as omniscient; so Popinot’s fate + was sealed, and he was hedged round to do a particular kind of work. + Magistrates, attorneys, pleaders, all who pasture on the legal common, + distinguish two elements in every case—law and equity. Equity is the + outcome of facts, law is the application of principles to facts. A man may + be right in equity but wrong in law, without any blame to the judge. + Between his conscience and the facts there is a whole gulf of determining + reasons unknown to the judge, but which condemn or legitimatize the act. A + judge is not God; the duty is to adapt facts to principles, to judge cases + of infinite variety while measuring them by a fixed standard. + </p> + <p> + France employs about six thousand judges; no generation has six thousand + great men at her command, much less can she find them in the legal + profession. Popinot, in the midst of the civilization of Paris, was just a + very clever cadi, who, by the character of his mind, and by dint of + rubbing the letter of the law into the essence of facts, had learned to + see the error of spontaneous and violent decisions. By the help of his + judicial second-sight he could pierce the double casing of lies in which + advocates hide the heart of a trial. He was a judge, as the great Desplein + was a surgeon; he probed men’s consciences as the anatomist probed their + bodies. His life and habits had led him to an exact appreciation of their + most secret thoughts by a thorough study of facts. + </p> + <p> + He sifted a case as Cuvier sifted the earth’s crust. Like that great + thinker, he proceeded from deduction to deduction before drawing his + conclusions, and reconstructed the past career of a conscience as Cuvier + reconstructed an Anoplotherium. When considering a brief he would often + wake in the night, startled by a gleam of truth suddenly sparkling in his + brain. Struck by the deep injustice, which is the end of these contests, + in which everything is against the honest man, everything to the advantage + of the rogue, he often summed up in favor of equity against law in such + cases as bore on questions of what may be termed divination. Hence he was + regarded by his colleagues as a man not of a practical mind; his arguments + on two lines of deduction made their deliberations lengthy. When Popinot + observed their dislike to listening to him he gave his opinion briefly; it + was said that he was not a good judge in this class of cases; but as his + gift of discrimination was remarkable, his opinion lucid, and his + penetration profound, he was considered to have a special aptitude for the + laborious duties of an examining judge. So an examining judge he remained + during the greater part of his legal career. + </p> + <p> + Although his qualifications made him eminently fitted for its difficult + functions, and he had the reputation of being so learned in criminal law + that his duty was a pleasure to him, the kindness of his heart constantly + kept him in torture, and he was nipped as in a vise between his conscience + and his pity. The services of an examining judge are better paid than + those of a judge in civil actions, but they do not therefore prove a + temptation; they are too onerous. Popinot, a man of modest and virtuous + learning, without ambition, an indefatigable worker, never complained of + his fate; he sacrificed his tastes and his compassionate soul to the + public good, and allowed himself to be transported to the noisome pools of + criminal examinations, where he showed himself alike severe and + beneficent. His clerk sometimes would give the accused some money to buy + tobacco, or a warm winter garment, as he led him back from the judge’s + office to the Souriciere, the mouse-trap—the House of Detention + where the accused are kept under the orders of the Examining Judge. He + knew how to be an inflexible judge and a charitable man. And no one + extracted a confession so easily as he without having recourse to judicial + trickery. He had, too, all the acumen of an observer. This man, apparently + so foolishly good-natured, simple, and absent-minded, could guess all the + cunning of a prison wag, unmask the astutest street huzzy, and subdue a + scoundrel. Unusual circumstances had sharpened his perspicacity; but to + relate these we must intrude on his domestic history, for in him the judge + was the social side of the man; another man, greater and less known, + existed within. + </p> + <p> + Twelve years before the beginning of this story, in 1816, during the + terrible scarcity which coincided disastrously with the stay in France of + the so-called Allies, Popinot was appointed President of the Commission + Extraordinary formed to distribute food to the poor of his neighborhood, + just when he had planned to move from the Rue du Fouarre, which he as + little liked to live in as his wife did. The great lawyer, the + clear-sighted criminal judge, whose superiority seemed to his colleagues a + form of aberration, had for five years been watching legal results without + seeing their causes. As he scrambled up into the lofts, as he saw the + poverty, as he studied the desperate necessities which gradually bring the + poor to criminal acts, as he estimated their long struggles, compassion + filled his soul. The judge then became the Saint Vincent de Paul of these + grown-up children, these suffering toilers. The transformation was not + immediately complete. Beneficence has its temptations as vice has. Charity + consumes a saint’s purse, as roulette consumes the possessions of a + gambler, quite gradually. Popinot went from misery to misery, from charity + to charity; then, by the time he had lifted all the rags which cover + public pauperism, like a bandage under which an inflamed wound lies + festering, at the end of a year he had become the Providence incarnate of + that quarter of the town. He was a member of the Benevolent Committee and + of the Charity Organization. Wherever any gratuitous services were needed + he was ready, and did everything without fuss, like the man with the short + cloak, who spends his life in carrying soup round the markets and other + places where there are starving folks. + </p> + <p> + Popinot was fortunate in acting on a larger circle and in a higher sphere; + he had an eye on everything, he prevented crime, he gave work to the + unemployed, he found a refuge for the helpless, he distributed aid with + discernment wherever danger threatened, he made himself the counselor of + the widow, the protector of homeless children, the sleeping partner of + small traders. No one at the Courts, no one in Paris, knew of this secret + life of Popinot’s. There are virtues so splendid that they necessitate + obscurity; men make haste to hide them under a bushel. As to those whom + the lawyer succored, they, hard at work all day and tired at night, were + little able to sing his praises; theirs was the gracelessness of children, + who can never pay because they owe too much. There is such compulsory + ingratitude; but what heart that has sown good to reap gratitude can think + itself great? + </p> + <p> + By the end of the second year of his apostolic work, Popinot had turned + the storeroom at the bottom of his house into a parlor, lighted by the + three iron-barred windows. The walls and ceiling of this spacious room + were whitewashed, and the furniture consisted of wooden benches like those + seen in schools, a clumsy cupboard, a walnut-wood writing-table, and an + armchair. In the cupboard were his registers of donations, his tickets for + orders for bread, and his diary. He kept his ledger like a tradesman, that + he might not be ruined by kindness. All the sorrows of the neighborhood + were entered and numbered in a book, where each had its little account, as + merchants’ customers have theirs. When there was any question as to a man + or a family needing help, the lawyer could always command information from + the police. + </p> + <p> + Lavienne, a man made for his master, was his aide-de-camp. He redeemed or + renewed pawn-tickets, and visited the districts most threatened with + famine, while his master was in court. + </p> + <p> + From four till seven in the morning in summer, from six till nine in + winter, this room was full of women, children, and paupers, while Popinot + gave audience. There was no need for a stove in winter; the crowd was so + dense that the air was warmed; only, Lavienne strewed straw on the wet + floor. By long use the benches were as polished as varnished mahogany; at + the height of a man’s shoulders the wall had a coat of dark, indescribable + color, given to it by the rags and tattered clothes of these poor + creatures. The poor wretches loved Popinot so well that when they + assembled before his door was opened, before daybreak on a winter’s + morning, the women warming themselves with their foot-brasiers, the men + swinging their arms for circulation, never a sound had disturbed his + sleep. Rag-pickers and other toilers of the night knew the house, and + often saw a light burning in the lawyer’s private room at unholy hours. + Even thieves, as they passed by, said, “That is his house,” and respected + it. The morning he gave to the poor, the mid-day hours to criminals, the + evening to law work. + </p> + <p> + Thus the gift of observation that characterized Popinot was necessarily + bifrons; he could guess the virtues of a pauper—good feelings + nipped, fine actions in embryo, unrecognized self-sacrifice, just as he + could read at the bottom of a man’s conscience the faintest outlines of a + crime, the slenderest threads of wrongdoing, and infer all the rest. + </p> + <p> + Popinot’s inherited fortune was a thousand crowns a year. His wife, sister + to M. Bianchon <i>Senior</i>, a doctor at Sancerre, had brought him about + twice as much. She, dying five years since, had left her fortune to her + husband. As the salary of a supernumerary judge is not large, and Popinot + had been a fully salaried judge only for four years, we may guess his + reasons for parsimony in all that concerned his person and mode of life, + when we consider how small his means were and how great his beneficence. + Besides, is not such indifference to dress as stamped Popinot an + absent-minded man, a distinguishing mark of scientific attainment, of art + passionately pursued, of a perpetually active mind? To complete this + portrait, it will be enough to add that Popinot was one of the few judges + of the Court of the Seine on whom the ribbon of the Legion of Honor had + not been conferred. + </p> + <p> + Such was the man who had been instructed by the President of the Second + Chamber of the Court—to which Popinot had belonged since his + reinstatement among the judges in civil law—to examine the Marquis + d’Espard at the request of his wife, who sued for a Commission in Lunacy. + </p> + <p> + The Rue du Fouarre, where so many unhappy wretches swarmed in the early + morning, would be deserted by nine o’clock, and as gloomy and squalid as + ever. Bianchon put his horse to a trot in order to find his uncle in the + midst of his business. It was not without a smile that he thought of the + curious contrast the judge’s appearance would make in Madame d’Espard’s + room; but he promised himself that he would persuade him to dress in a way + that should not be too ridiculous. + </p> + <p> + “If only my uncle happens to have a new coat!” said Bianchon to himself, + as he turned into the Rue du Fouarre, where a pale light shone from the + parlor windows. “I shall do well, I believe, to talk that over with + Lavienne.” + </p> + <p> + At the sound of wheels half a score of startled paupers came out from + under the gateway, and took off their hats on recognizing Bianchon; for + the doctor, who treated gratuitously the sick recommended to him by the + lawyer, was not less well known than he to the poor creatures assembled + there. + </p> + <p> + Bianchon found his uncle in the middle of the parlor, where the benches + were occupied by patients presenting such grotesque singularities of + costume as would have made the least artistic passer-by turn round to gaze + at them. A draughtsman—a Rembrandt, if there were one in our day—might + have conceived of one of his finest compositions from seeing these + children of misery, in artless attitudes, and all silent. + </p> + <p> + Here was the rugged countenance of an old man with a white beard and an + apostolic head—a Saint Peter ready to hand; his chest, partly + uncovered, showed salient muscles, the evidence of an iron constitution + which had served him as a fulcrum to resist a whole poem of sorrows. There + a young woman was suckling her youngest-born to keep it from crying, while + another of about five stood between her knees. Her white bosom, gleaming + amid rags, the baby with its transparent flesh-tints, and the brother, + whose attitude promised a street arab in the future, touched the fancy + with pathos by its almost graceful contrast with the long row of faces + crimson with cold, in the midst of which sat this family group. Further + away, an old woman, pale and rigid, had the repulsive look of rebellious + pauperism, eager to avenge all its past woes in one day of violence. + </p> + <p> + There, again, was the young workman, weakly and indolent, whose brightly + intelligent eye revealed fine faculties crushed by necessity struggled + with in vain, saying nothing of his sufferings, and nearly dead for lack + of an opportunity to squeeze between the bars of the vast stews where the + wretched swim round and round and devour each other. + </p> + <p> + The majority were women; their husbands, gone to their work, left it to + them, no doubt, to plead the cause of the family with the ingenuity which + characterizes the woman of the people, who is almost always queen in her + hovel. You would have seen a torn bandana on every head, on every form a + skirt deep in mud, ragged kerchiefs, worn and dirty jackets, but eyes that + burnt like live coals. It was a horrible assemblage, raising at first + sight a feeling of disgust, but giving a certain sense of terror the + instant you perceived that the resignation of these souls, all engaged in + the struggle for every necessary of life, was purely fortuitous, a + speculation on benevolence. The two tallow candles which lighted the + parlor flickered in a sort of fog caused by the fetid atmosphere of the + ill-ventilated room. + </p> + <p> + The magistrate himself was not the least picturesque figure in the midst + of this assembly. He had on his head a rusty cotton night-cap; as he had + no cravat, his neck was visible, red with cold and wrinkled, in contrast + with the threadbare collar of his old dressing-gown. His worn face had the + half-stupid look that comes of absorbed attention. His lips, like those of + all men who work, were puckered up like a bag with the strings drawn + tight. His knitted brows seemed to bear the burden of all the sorrows + confided to him: he felt, analyzed, and judged them all. As watchful as a + Jew money-lender, he never raised his eyes from his books and registers + but to look into the very heart of the persons he was examining, with the + flashing glance by which a miser expresses his alarm. + </p> + <p> + Lavienne, standing behind his master, ready to carry out his orders, + served no doubt as a sort of police, and welcomed newcomers by encouraging + them to get over their shyness. When the doctor appeared there was a stir + on the benches. Lavienne turned his head, and was strangely surprised to + see Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! It is you, old boy!” exclaimed Popinot, stretching himself. “What + brings you so early?” + </p> + <p> + “I was afraid lest you should make an official visit about which I wish to + speak to you before I could see you.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said the lawyer, addressing a stout little woman who was still + standing close to him, “if you do not tell me what it is you want, I + cannot guess it, child.” + </p> + <p> + “Make haste,” said Lavienne. “Do not waste other people’s time.” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said the woman at last, turning red, and speaking so low as + only to be heard by Popinot and Lavienne, “I have a green-grocery truck, + and I have my last baby to nurse, and I owe for his keep. Well, I had + hidden my little bit of money——” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; and your man took it?” said Popinot, guessing the sequel. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “What is your name?” + </p> + <p> + “La Pomponne.” + </p> + <p> + “And your husband’s?” + </p> + <p> + “Toupinet.” + </p> + <p> + “Rue du Petit-Banquier?” said Popinot, turning over his register. “He is + in prison,” he added, reading a note at the margin of the section in which + this family was described. + </p> + <p> + “For debt, my kind monsieur.” + </p> + <p> + Popinot shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “But I have nothing to buy any stock for my truck; the landlord came + yesterday and made me pay up; otherwise I should have been turned out.” + </p> + <p> + Lavienne bent over his master, and whispered in his ear. + </p> + <p> + “Well, how much do you want to buy fruit in the market?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, my good monsieur, to carry on my business, I should want—Yes, + I should certainly want ten francs.” + </p> + <p> + Popinot signed to Lavienne, who took ten francs out of a large bag, and + handed them to the woman, while the lawyer made a note of the loan in his + ledger. As he saw the thrill of delight that made the poor hawker tremble, + Bianchon understood the apprehensions that must have agitated her on her + way to the lawyer’s house. + </p> + <p> + “You next,” said Lavienne to the old man with the white beard. + </p> + <p> + Bianchon drew the servant aside, and asked him how long this audience + would last. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur has had two hundred persons this morning, and there are eight to + be turned off,” said Lavienne. “You will have time to pay your early + visit, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Here, my boy,” said the lawyer, turning round and taking Horace by the + arm; “here are two addresses near this—one in the Rue de Seine, and + the other in the Rue de l’Arbalete. Go there at once. Rue de Seine, a + young girl has just asphyxiated herself; and Rue de l’Arbalete, you will + find a man to remove to your hospital. I will wait breakfast for you.” + </p> + <p> + Bianchon returned an hour later. The Rue du Fouarre was deserted; day was + beginning to dawn there; his uncle had gone up to his rooms; the last poor + wretch whose misery the judge had relieved was departing, and Lavienne’s + money bag was empty. + </p> + <p> + “Well, how are they going on?” asked the old lawyer, as the doctor came + in. + </p> + <p> + “The man is dead,” replied Bianchon; “the girl will get over it.” + </p> + <p> + Since the eye and hand of a woman had been lacking, the flat in which + Popinot lived had assumed an aspect in harmony with its master’s. The + indifference of a man who is absorbed in one dominant idea had set its + stamp of eccentricity on everything. Everywhere lay unconquerable dust, + every object was adapted to a wrong purpose with a pertinacity suggestive + of a bachelor’s home. There were papers in the flower vases, empty + ink-bottles on the tables, plates that had been forgotten, matches used as + tapers for a minute when something had to be found, drawers or boxes + half-turned out and left unfinished; in short, all the confusion and + vacancies resulting from plans for order never carried out. The lawyer’s + private room, especially disordered by this incessant rummage, bore + witness to his unresting pace, the hurry of a man overwhelmed with + business, hunted by contradictory necessities. The bookcase looked as if + it had been sacked; there were books scattered over everything, some piled + up open, one on another, others on the floor face downwards; registers of + proceedings laid on the floor in rows, lengthwise, in front of the + shelves; and that floor had not been polished for two years. + </p> + <p> + The tables and shelves were covered with ex votos, the offerings of the + grateful poor. On a pair of blue glass jars which ornamented the + chimney-shelf there were two glass balls, of which the core was made up of + many-colored fragments, giving them the appearance of some singular + natural product. Against the wall hung frames of artificial flowers, and + decorations in which Popinot’s initials were surrounded by hearts and + everlasting flowers. Here were boxes of elaborate and useless cabinet + work; there letter-weights carved in the style of work done by convicts in + penal servitude. These masterpieces of patience, enigmas of gratitude, and + withered bouquets gave the lawyer’s room the appearance of a toyshop. The + good man used these works of art as hiding-places which he filled with + bills, worn-out pens, and scraps of paper. All these pathetic witnesses to + his divine charity were thick with dust, dingy, and faded. + </p> + <p> + Some birds, beautifully stuffed, but eaten by moth, perched in this + wilderness of trumpery, presided over by an Angora cat, Madame Popinot’s + pet, restored to her no doubt with all the graces of life by some + impecunious naturalist, who thus repaid a gift of charity with a perennial + treasure. Some local artist whose heart had misguided his brush had + painted portraits of M. and Madame Popinot. Even in the bedroom there were + embroidered pin-cushions, landscapes in cross-stitch, and crosses in + folded paper, so elaborately cockled as to show the senseless labor they + had cost. + </p> + <p> + The window-curtains were black with smoke, and the hangings absolutely + colorless. Between the fireplace and the large square table at which the + magistrate worked, the cook had set two cups of coffee on a small table, + and two armchairs, in mahogany and horsehair, awaited the uncle and + nephew. As daylight, darkened by the windows, could not penetrate to this + corner, the cook had left two dips burning, whose unsnuffed wicks showed a + sort of mushroom growth, giving the red light which promises length of + life to the candle from slowness of combustion—a discovery due to + some miser. + </p> + <p> + “My dear uncle, you ought to wrap yourself more warmly when you go down to + that parlor.” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot bear to keep them waiting, poor souls!—Well, and what do + you want of me?” + </p> + <p> + “I have come to ask you to dine to-morrow with the Marquise d’Espard.” + </p> + <p> + “A relation of ours?” asked Popinot, with such genuine absence of mind + that Bianchon laughed. + </p> + <p> + “No, uncle; the Marquise d’Espard is a high and puissant lady, who has + laid before the Courts a petition desiring that a Commission in Lunacy + should sit on her husband, and you are appointed——” + </p> + <p> + “And you want me to dine with her! Are you mad?” said the lawyer, taking + up the code of proceedings. “Here, only read this article, prohibiting any + magistrate’s eating or drinking in the house of either of two parties whom + he is called upon to decide between. Let her come and see me, your + Marquise, if she has anything to say to me. I was, in fact, to go to + examine her husband to-morrow, after working the case up to-night.” + </p> + <p> + He rose, took up a packet of papers that lay under a weight where he could + see it, and after reading the title, he said: + </p> + <p> + “Here is the affidavit. Since you take an interest in this high and + puissant lady, let us see what she wants.” + </p> + <p> + Popinot wrapped his dressing-gown across his body, from which it was + constantly slipping and leaving his chest bare; he sopped his bread in the + half-cold coffee, and opened the petition, which he read, allowing himself + to throw in a parenthesis now and then, and some discussions, in which his + nephew took part:— + </p> + <p> + “‘To Monsieur the President of the Civil Tribunal of the Lower Court of + the Department of the Seine, sitting at the Palais de Justice. + </p> + <p> + “‘Madame Jeanne Clementine Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, wife of M. Charles + Maurice Marie Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis d’Espard’—a + very good family—‘landowner, the said Mme. d’Espard living in the + Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, No. 104, and the said M. d’Espard in the Rue + de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, No. 22,’—to be sure, the President + told me he lived in this part of the town—‘having for her solicitor + Maitre Desroches’—Desroches! a pettifogging jobber, a man looked + down upon by his brother lawyers, and who does his clients no good—” + </p> + <p> + “Poor fellow!” said Bianchon, “unluckily he has no money, and he rushes + round like the devil in holy water—That is all.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Has the honor to submit to you, Monsieur the President, that for a year + past the moral and intellectual powers of her husband, M. d’Espard, have + undergone so serious a change, that at the present day they have reached + the state of dementia and idiocy provided for by Article 448 of the Civil + Code, and require the application of the remedies set forth by that + article, for the security of his fortune and his person, and to guard the + interest of his children whom he keeps to live with him. + </p> + <p> + “‘That, in point of fact, the mental condition of M. d’Espard, which for + some years has given grounds for alarm based on the system he has pursued + in the management of his affairs, has reached, during the last + twelvemonth, a deplorable depth of depression; that his infirm will was + the first thing to show the results of the malady; and that its effete + state leaves M. the Marquis d’Espard exposed to all the perils of his + incompetency, as is proved by the following facts: + </p> + <p> + “‘For a long time all the income accruing from M. d’Espard’s estates are + paid, without any reasonable cause, or even temporary advantage, into the + hands of an old woman, whose repulsive ugliness is generally remarked on, + named Madame Jeanrenaud, living sometimes in Paris, Rue de la Vrilliere, + No. 8, sometimes at Villeparisis, near Claye, in the Department of Seine + et Marne, and for the benefit of her son, aged thirty-six, an officer in + the ex-Imperial Guards, whom the Marquis d’Espard has placed by his + influence in the King’s Guards, as Major in the First Regiment of + Cuirassiers. These two persons, who in 1814 were in extreme poverty, have + since then purchased house-property of considerable value; among other + items, quite recently, a large house in the Grand Rue Verte, where the + said Jeanrenaud is laying out considerable sums in order to settle there + with the woman Jeanrenaud, intending to marry: these sums amount already + to more than a hundred thousand francs. The marriage has been arranged by + the intervention of M. d’Espard with his banker, one Mongenod, whose niece + he has asked in marriage for the said Jeanrenaud, promising to use his + influence to procure him the title and dignity of baron. This has in fact + been secured by His Majesty’s letters patent, dated December 29th of last + year, at the request of the Marquis d’Espard, as can be proved by His + Excellency the Keeper of the Seals, if the Court should think proper to + require his testimony. + </p> + <p> + “‘That no reason, not even such as morality and the law would concur in + disapproving, can justify the influence which the said Mme. Jeanrenaud + exerts over M. d’Espard, who, indeed, sees her very seldom; nor account + for his strange affection for the said Baron Jeanrenaud, Major with whom + he has but little intercourse. And yet their power is so considerable, + that whenever they need money, if only to gratify a mere whim, this lady, + or her son——’ Heh, heh! <i>No reason even such as morality and + the law concur in disapproving!</i> What does the clerk or the attorney + mean to insinuate?” said Popinot. + </p> + <p> + Bianchon laughed. + </p> + <p> + “‘This lady, or her son, obtain whatever they ask of the Marquis d’Espard + without demur; and if he has not ready money, M. d’Espard draws bills to + be paid by the said Mongenod, who has offered to give evidence to that + effect for the petitioner. + </p> + <p> + “‘That, moreover, in further proof of these facts, lately, on the occasion + of the renewal of the leases on the Espard estate, the farmers having paid + a considerable premium for the renewal of their leases on the old terms, + M. Jeanrenaud at once secured the payment of it into his own hands. + </p> + <p> + “‘That the Marquis d’Espard parts with these sums of money so little of + his own free-will, that when he was spoken to on the subject he seemed to + remember nothing of the matter; that whenever anybody of any weight has + questioned him as to his devotion to these two persons, his replies have + shown so complete an absence of ideas and of sense of his own interests, + that there obviously must be some occult cause at work to which the + petitioner begs to direct the eye of justice, inasmuch as it is impossible + but that this cause should be criminal, malignant, and wrongful, or else + of a nature to come under medical jurisdiction; unless this influence is + of the kind which constitutes an abuse of moral power—such as can + only be described by the word <i>possession</i>——‘The devil!” + exclaimed Popinot. “What do you say to that, doctor. These are strange + statements.” + </p> + <p> + “They might certainly,” said Bianchon, “be an effect of magnetic force.” + </p> + <p> + “Then do you believe in Mesmer’s nonsense, and his tub, and seeing through + walls?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, uncle,” said the doctor gravely. “As I heard you read that petition + I thought of that. I assure you that I have verified, in another sphere of + action, several analogous facts proving the unlimited influence one man + may acquire over another. In contradiction to the opinion of my brethren, + I am perfectly convinced of the power of the will regarded as a motor + force. All collusion and charlatanism apart, I have seen the results of + such a possession. Actions promised during sleep by a magnetized patient + to the magnetizer have been scrupulously performed on waking. The will of + one had become the will of the other.” + </p> + <p> + “Every kind of action?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Even a criminal act?” + </p> + <p> + “Even a crime.” + </p> + <p> + “If it were not from you, I would not listen to such a thing.” + </p> + <p> + “I will make you witness it,” said Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “Hm, hm,” muttered the lawyer. “But supposing that this so-called + possession fell under this class of facts, it would be difficult to prove + it as legal evidence.” + </p> + <p> + “If this woman Jeanrenaud is so hideously old and ugly, I do not see what + other means of fascination she can have used,” observed Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “But,” observed the lawyer, “in 1814, the time at which this fascination + is supposed to have taken place, this woman was fourteen years younger; if + she had been connected with M. d’Espard ten years before that, these + calculations take us back four-and-twenty years, to a time when the lady + may have been young and pretty, and have won for herself and her son a + power over M. d’Espard which some men do not know how to evade. Though the + source of this power is reprehensible in the sight of justice, it is + justifiable in the eye of nature. Madame Jeanrenaud may have been + aggrieved by the marriage, contracted probably at about that time, between + the Marquis d’Espard and Mademoiselle de Blamont-Chauvry, and at the + bottom of all this there may be nothing more than the rivalry of two + women, since the Marquis had for a long time lived apart from Mme. + d’Espard.” + </p> + <p> + “But her repulsive ugliness, uncle?” + </p> + <p> + “Power of fascination is in direct proportion to ugliness,” said the + lawyer; “that is the old story. And then think of the smallpox, doctor. + But to proceed. + </p> + <p> + “‘That so long ago as in 1815, in order to supply the sums of money + required by these two persons, the Marquis d’Espard went with his two + children to live in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, in rooms + quite unworthy of his name and rank’—well, we may live as we please—‘that + he keeps his two children there, the Comte Clement d’Espard and Vicomte + Camille d’Espard, in a style of living quite unsuited to their future + prospects, their name and fortune; that he often wants money, to such a + point, that not long since the landlord, one Mariast, put in an execution + on the furniture in the rooms; that when this execution was carried out in + his presence, the Marquis d’Espard helped the bailiff, whom he treated + like a man of rank, paying him all the marks of attention and respect + which he would have shown to a person of superior birth and dignity to + himself.’” + </p> + <p> + The uncle and nephew glanced at each other and laughed. + </p> + <p> + “‘That, moreover, every act of his life, besides the facts with reference + to the widow Jeanrenaud and the Baron Jeanrenaud, her son, are those of a + madman; that for nearly ten years he has given his thoughts exclusively to + China, its customs, manners, and history; that he refers everything to a + Chinese origin; that when he is questioned on the subject, he confuses the + events of the day and the business of yesterday with facts relating to + China; that he censures the acts of the Government and the conduct of the + King, though he is personally much attached to him, by comparing them with + the politics of China; + </p> + <p> + “‘That this monomania has driven the Marquis d’Espard to conduct devoid of + all sense: against the customs of men of rank, and, in opposition to his + own professed ideas as to the duties of the nobility, he has joined a + commercial undertaking, for which he constantly draws bills which, as they + fall due, threaten both his honor and his fortune, since they stamp him as + a trader, and in default of payment may lead to his being declared + insolvent; that these debts, which are owing to stationers, printers, + lithographers, and print-colorists, who have supplied the materials for + his publication, called A Picturesque History of China, now coming out in + parts, are so heavy that these tradesmen have requested the petitioner to + apply for a Commission in Lunacy with regard to the Marquis d’Espard in + order to save their own credit.’” + </p> + <p> + “The man is mad!” exclaimed Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “You think so, do you?” said his uncle. “If you listen to only one bell, + you hear only one sound.” + </p> + <p> + “But it seems to me——” said Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “But it seems to me,” said Popinot, “that if any relation of mine wanted + to get hold of the management of my affairs, and if, instead of being a + humble lawyer, whose colleagues can, any day, verify what his condition + is, I were a duke of the realm, an attorney with a little cunning, like + Desroches, might bring just such a petition against me. + </p> + <p> + “‘That his children’s education has been neglected for this monomania; and + that he has taught them, against all the rules of education, the facts of + Chinese history, which contradict the tenets of the Catholic Church. He + also has them taught the Chinese dialects.’” + </p> + <p> + “Here Desroches strikes me as funny,” said Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “The petition is drawn up by his head-clerk Godeschal, who, as you know, + is not strong in Chinese,” said the lawyer. + </p> + <p> + “‘That he often leaves his children destitute of the most necessary + things; that the petitioner, notwithstanding her entreaties, can never see + them; that the said Marquis d’Espard brings them to her only once a year; + that, knowing the privations to which they are exposed, she makes vain + efforts to give them the things most necessary for their existence, and + which they require——’ Oh! Madame la Marquise, this is + preposterous. By proving too much you prove nothing.—My dear boy,” + said the old man, laying the document on his knee, “where is the mother + who ever lacked heart and wit and yearning to such a degree as to fall + below the inspirations suggested by her animal instinct? A mother is as + cunning to get at her children as a girl can be in the conduct of a love + intrigue. If your Marquise really wanted to give her children food and + clothes, the Devil himself would not have hindered her, heh? That is + rather too big a fable for an old lawyer to swallow!—To proceed. + </p> + <p> + “‘That at the age the said children have now attained it is necessary that + steps should be taken to preserve them from the evil effects of such an + education; that they should be provided for as beseems their rank, and + that they should cease to have before their eyes the sad example of their + father’s conduct; + </p> + <p> + “‘That there are proofs in support of these allegations which the Court + can easily order to be produced. Many times has M. d’Espard spoken of the + judge of the Twelfth Arrondissement as a mandarin of the third class; he + often speaks of the professors of the College Henri IV. as “men of + letters”’—and that offends them! ‘In speaking of the simplest + things, he says, “They were not done so in China;” in the course of the + most ordinary conversation he will sometimes allude to Madame Jeanrenaud, + or sometimes to events which happened in the time of Louis XIV., and then + sit plunged in the darkest melancholy; sometimes he fancies he is in + China. Several of his neighbors, among others one Edme Becker, medical + student, and Jean Baptiste Fremiot, a professor, living under the same + roof, are of opinion, after frequent intercourse with the Marquis + d’Espard, that his monomania with regard to everything Chinese is the + result of a scheme laid by the said Baron Jeanrenaud and the widow his + mother to bring about the deadening of all the Marquis d’Espard’s mental + faculties, since the only service which Mme. Jeanrenaud appears to render + M. d’Espard is to procure him everything that relates to the Chinese + Empire; + </p> + <p> + “‘Finally, that the petitioner is prepared to show to the Court that the + moneys absorbed by the said Baron and Mme. Jeanrenaud between 1814 and + 1828 amount to not less than one million francs. + </p> + <p> + “‘In confirmation of the facts herein set forth, the petitioner can bring + the evidence of persons who are in the habit of seeing the Marquis + d’Espard, whose names and professions are subjoined, many of whom have + urged her to demand a commission in lunacy to declare M. d’Espard + incapable of managing his own affairs, as being the only way to preserve + his fortune from the effects of his maladministration and his children + from his fatal influence. + </p> + <p> + “‘Taking all this into consideration, M. le President, and the affidavits + subjoined, the petitioner desires that it may please you, inasmuch as the + foregoing facts sufficiently prove the insanity and incompetency of the + Marquis d’Espard herein described with his titles and residence, to order + that, to the end that he may be declared incompetent by law, this petition + and the documents in evidence may be laid before the King’s public + prosecutor; and that you will charge one of the judges of this Court to + make his report to you on any day you may be pleased to name, and + thereupon to pronounce judgment,’ etc. + </p> + <p> + “And here,” said Popinot, “is the President’s order instructing me!—Well, + what does the Marquise d’Espard want with me? I know everything. But I + shall go to-morrow with my registrar to see M. le Marquis, for this does + not seem at all clear to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Listen, my dear uncle, I have never asked the least little favor of you + that had to do with your legal functions; well, now I beg you to show + Madame d’Espard the kindness which her situation deserves. If she came + here, you would listen to her?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, go and listen to her in her own house. Madame d’Espard is a + sickly, nervous, delicate woman, who would faint in your rat-hole of a + place. Go in the evening, instead of accepting her dinner, since the law + forbids your eating or drinking at your client’s expense.” + </p> + <p> + “And does not the law forbid you from taking any legacy from your dead?” + said Popinot, fancying that he saw a touch of irony on his nephew’s lips. + </p> + <p> + “Come, uncle, if it were only to enable you to get at the truth of this + business, grant my request. You will come as the examining judge, since + matters do not seem to you very clear. Deuce take it! It is as necessary + to cross-question the Marquise as it is to examine the Marquis.” + </p> + <p> + “You are right,” said the lawyer. “It is quite possible that it is she who + is mad. I will go.” + </p> + <p> + “I will call for you. Write down in your engagement book: ‘To-morrow + evening at nine, Madame d’Espard.’—Good!” said Bianchon, seeing his + uncle make a note of the engagement. + </p> + <p> + Next evening at nine Bianchon mounted his uncle’s dusty staircase, and + found him at work on the statement of some complicated judgment. The coat + Lavienne had ordered of the tailor had not been sent, so Popinot put on + his old stained coat, and was the Popinot unadorned whose appearance made + those laugh who did not know the secrets of his private life. Bianchon, + however, obtained permission to pull his cravat straight, and to button + his coat, and he hid the stains by crossing the breast of it with the + right side over the left, and so displaying the new front of the cloth. + But in a minute the judge rucked the coat up over his chest by the way in + which he stuffed his hands into his pockets, obeying an irresistible + habit. Thus the coat, deeply wrinkled both in front and behind, made a + sort of hump in the middle of the back, leaving a gap between the + waistcoat and trousers through which his shirt showed. Bianchon, to his + sorrow, only discovered this crowning absurdity at the moment when his + uncle entered the Marquise’s room. + </p> + <p> + A brief sketch of the person and the career of the lady in whose presence + the doctor and the judge now found themselves is necessary for an + understanding of her interview with Popinot. + </p> + <p> + Madame d’Espard had, for the last seven years, been very much the fashion + in Paris, where Fashion can raise and drop by turns various personages + who, now great and now small, that is to say, in view or forgotten, are at + last quite intolerable—as discarded ministers are, and every kind of + decayed sovereignty. These flatterers of the past, odious with their stale + pretensions, know everything, speak ill of everything, and, like ruined + profligates, are friends with all the world. Since her husband had + separated from her in 1815, Madame d’Espard must have married in the + beginning of 1812. Her children, therefore, were aged respectively fifteen + and thirteen. By what luck was the mother of a family, about + three-and-thirty years of age, still the fashion? + </p> + <p> + Though Fashion is capricious, and no one can foresee who shall be her + favorites, though she often exalts a banker’s wife, or some woman of very + doubtful elegance and beauty, it certainly seems supernatural when Fashion + puts on constitutional airs and gives promotion for age. But in this case + Fashion had done as the world did, and accepted Madame d’Espard as still + young. + </p> + <p> + The Marquise, who was thirty-three by her register of birth, was + twenty-two in a drawing-room in the evening. But by what care, what + artifice! Elaborate curls shaded her temples. She condemned herself to + live in twilight, affecting illness so as to sit under the protecting + tones of light filtered through muslin. Like Diane de Poitiers, she used + cold water in her bath, and, like her again, the Marquise slept on a + horse-hair mattress, with morocco-covered pillows to preserve her hair; + she ate very little, only drank water, and observed monastic regularity in + the smallest actions of her life. + </p> + <p> + This severe system has, it is said, been carried so far as to the use of + ice instead of water, and nothing but cold food, by a famous Polish lady + of our day who spends a life, now verging on a century old, after the + fashion of a town belle. Fated to live as long as Marion Delorme, whom + history has credited with surviving to be a hundred and thirty, the old + vice-queen of Poland, at the age of nearly a hundred, has the heart and + brain of youth, a charming face, an elegant shape; and in her + conversation, sparkling with brilliancy like faggots in the fire, she can + compare the men and books of our literature with the men and books of the + eighteenth century. Living in Warsaw, she orders her caps of Herbault in + Paris. She is a great lady with the amiability of a mere girl; she swims, + she runs like a schoolboy, and can sink on to a sofa with the grace of a + young coquette; she mocks at death, and laughs at life. After having + astonished the Emperor Alexander, she can still amaze the Emperor Nicholas + by the splendor of her entertainments. She can still bring tears to the + eyes of a youthful lover, for her age is whatever she pleases, and she has + the exquisite self-devotion of a grisette. In short, she is herself a + fairy tale, unless, indeed, she is a fairy. + </p> + <p> + Had Madame d’Espard known Madame Zayonseck? Did she mean to imitate her + career? Be that as it may, the Marquise proved the merits of the + treatment; her complexion was clear, her brow unwrinkled, her figure, like + that of Henri II.‘s lady-love, preserved the litheness, the freshness, the + covered charms which bring a woman love and keep it alive. The simple + precautions of this course, suggested by art and nature, and perhaps by + experience, had met in her with a general system which confirmed the + results. The Marquise was absolutely indifferent to everything that was + not herself: men amused her, but no man had ever caused her those deep + agitations which stir both natures to their depths, and wreck one on the + other. She knew neither hatred nor love. When she was offended, she + avenged herself coldly, quietly, at her leisure, waiting for the + opportunity to gratify the ill-will she cherished against anybody who + dwelt in her unfavorable remembrance. She made no fuss, she did not excite + herself, she talked, because she knew that by two words a woman may cause + the death of three men. + </p> + <p> + She had parted from M. d’Espard with the greatest satisfaction. Had he not + taken with him two children who at present were troublesome, and in the + future would stand in the way of her pretensions? Her most intimate + friends, as much as her least persistent admirers, seeing about her none + of Cornelia’s jewels, who come and go, and unconsciously betray their + mother’s age, took her for quite a young woman. The two boys, about whom + she seemed so anxious in her petition, were, like their father, as unknown + in the world as the northwest passage is unknown to navigators. M. + d’Espard was supposed to be an eccentric personage who had deserted his + wife without having the smallest cause for complaint against her. + </p> + <p> + Mistress of herself at two-and-twenty, and mistress of her fortune of + twenty-six thousand francs a year, the Marquise hesitated long before + deciding on a course of action and ordering her life. Though she benefited + by the expenses her husband had incurred in his house, though she had all + the furniture, the carriages, the horses, in short, all the details of a + handsome establishment, she lived a retired life during the years 1816, + 17, and 18, a time when families were recovering from the disasters + resulting from political tempests. She belonged to one of the most + important and illustrious families of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and her + parents advised her to live with them as much as possible after the + separation forced upon her by her husband’s inexplicable caprice. + </p> + <p> + In 1820 the Marquise roused herself from her lethargy; she went to Court, + appeared at parties, and entertained in her own house. From 1821 to 1827 + she lived in great style, and made herself remarked for her taste and her + dress; she had a day, an hour, for receiving visits, and ere long she had + seated herself on the throne, occupied before her by Madame la Vicomtesse + de Beauseant, the Duchesse de Langeais, and Madame Firmiani—who on + her marriage with M. de Camps had resigned the sceptre in favor of the + Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, from whom Madame d’Espard snatched it. The world + knew nothing beyond this of the private live of the Marquise d’Espard. She + seemed likely to shine for long on the Parisian horizon, like the sun near + its setting, but which will never set. + </p> + <p> + The Marquise was on terms of great intimacy with a duchess as famous for + her beauty as for her attachment to a prince just now in banishment, but + accustomed to play a leading part in every prospective government. Madame + d’Espard was also a friend of a foreign lady, with whom a famous and very + wily Russian diplomate was in the habit of discussing public affairs. And + then an antiquated countess, who was accustomed to shuffle the cards for + the great game of politics, had adopted her in a maternal fashion. Thus, + to any man of high ambitions, Madame d’Espard was preparing a covert but + very real influence to follow the public and frivolous ascendency she now + owed to fashion. Her drawing-room was acquiring political individuality: + “What do they say at Madame d’Espard’s?” “Are they against the measure in + Madame d’Espard’s drawing-room?” were questions repeated by a sufficient + number of simpletons to give the flock of the faithful who surrounded her + the importance of a coterie. A few damaged politicians whose wounds she + had bound up, and whom she flattered, pronounced her as capable in + diplomacy as the wife of the Russian ambassador to London. The Marquise + had indeed several times suggested to deputies or to peers words and ideas + that had rung through Europe. She had often judged correctly of certain + events on which her circle of friends dared not express an opinion. The + principal persons about the Court came in the evening to play whist in her + rooms. + </p> + <p> + Then she also had the qualities of her defects; she was thought to be—and + she was—indiscreet. Her friendship seemed to be staunch; she worked + for her proteges with a persistency which showed that she cared less for + patronage than for increased influence. This conduct was based on her + dominant passion, Vanity. Conquests and pleasure, which so many women + love, to her seemed only means to an end; she aimed at living on every + point of the largest circle that life can describe. + </p> + <p> + Among the men still young, and to whom the future belonged, who crowded + her drawing-room on great occasions, were to be seen MM. de Marsay and de + Ronquerolles, de Montriveau, de la Roche-Hugon, de Serizy, Ferraud, Maxime + de Trailles, de Listomere, the two Vandenesses, du Chatelet, and others. + She would frequently receive a man whose wife she would not admit, and her + power was great enough to induce certain ambitious men to submit to these + hard conditions, such as two famous royalist bankers, M. de Nucingen and + Ferdinand du Tillet. She had so thoroughly studied the strength and the + weakness of Paris life, that her conduct had never given any man the + smallest advantage over her. An enormous price might have been set on a + note or letter by which she might have compromised herself, without one + being produced. + </p> + <p> + If an arid soul enabled her to play her part to the life, her person was + no less available for it. She had a youthful figure. Her voice was, at + will, soft and fresh, or clear and hard. She possessed in the highest + degree the secret of that aristocratic pose by which a woman wipes out the + past. The Marquise knew well the art of setting an immense space between + herself and the sort of man who fancies he may be familiar after some + chance advances. Her imposing gaze could deny everything. In her + conversation fine and beautiful sentiments and noble resolutions flowed + naturally, as it seemed, from a pure heart and soul; but in reality she + was all self, and quite capable of blasting a man who was clumsy in his + negotiations, at the very time when she was shamelessly making a + compromise for the benefit of her own interest. + </p> + <p> + Rastignac, in trying to fasten on to this woman, had discerned her to be + the cleverest of tools, but he had not yet used it; far from handling it, + he was already finding himself crushed by it. This young Condottiere of + the brain, condemned, like Napoleon, to give battle constantly, while + knowing that a single defeat would prove the grave of his fortunes, had + met a dangerous adversary in his protectress. For the first time in his + turbulent life, he was playing a game with a partner worthy of him. He saw + a place as Minister in the conquest of Madame d’Espard, so he was her tool + till he could make her his—a perilous beginning. + </p> + <p> + The Hotel d’Espard needed a large household, and the Marquise had a great + number of servants. The grand receptions were held in the ground-floor + rooms, but she lived on the first floor of the house. The perfect order of + a fine staircase splendidly decorated, and rooms fitted in the dignified + style which formerly prevailed at Versailles, spoke of an immense fortune. + When the judge saw the carriage gates thrown open to admit his nephew’s + cab, he took in with a rapid glance the lodge, the porter, the courtyard, + the stables, the arrangement of the house, the flowers that decorated the + stairs, the perfect cleanliness of the banisters, walls, and carpets, and + counted the footmen in livery who, as the bell rang, appeared on the + landing. His eyes, which only yesterday in his parlor had sounded the + dignity of misery under the muddy clothing of the poor, now studied with + the same penetrating vision the furniture and splendor of the rooms he + passed through, to pierce the misery of grandeur. + </p> + <p> + “M. Popinot—M. Bianchon.” + </p> + <p> + The two names were pronounced at the door of the boudoir where the + Marquise was sitting, a pretty room recently refurnished, and looking out + on the garden behind the house. At the moment Madame d’Espard was seated + in one of the old rococo armchairs of which Madame had set the fashion. + Rastignac was at her left hand on a low chair, in which he looked settled + like an Italian lady’s “cousin.” A third person was standing by the corner + of the chimney-piece. As the shrewd doctor had suspected, the Marquise was + a woman of a parched and wiry constitution. But for her regimen her + complexion must have taken the ruddy tone that is produced by constant + heat; but she added to the effect of her acquired pallor by the strong + colors of the stuffs she hung her rooms with, or in which she dressed. + Reddish-brown, marone, bistre with a golden light in it, suited her to + perfection. Her boudoir, copied from that of a famous lady then at the + height of fashion in London, was in tan-colored velvet; but she had added + various details of ornament which moderated the pompous splendor of this + royal hue. Her hair was dressed like a girl’s in bands ending in curls, + which emphasized the rather long oval of her face; but an oval face is as + majestic as a round one is ignoble. The mirrors, cut with facets to + lengthen or flatten the face at will, amply proved the rule as applied to + the physiognomy. + </p> + <p> + On seeing Popinot, who stood in the doorway craning his neck like a + startled animal, with his left hand in his pocket, and the right hand + holding a hat with a greasy lining, the Marquise gave Rastignac a look + wherein lay a germ of mockery. The good man’s rather foolish appearance + was so completely in harmony with his grotesque figure and scared looks, + that Rastignac, catching sight of Bianchon’s dejected expression of + humiliation through his uncle, could not help laughing, and turned away. + The Marquise bowed a greeting, and made a great effort to rise from her + seat, falling back again, not without grace, with an air of apologizing + for her incivility by affected weakness. + </p> + <p> + At this instant the person who was standing between the fireplace and the + door bowed slightly, and pushed forward two chairs, which he offered by a + gesture to the doctor and the judge; then, when they had seated + themselves, he leaned against the wall again, crossing his arms. + </p> + <p> + A word as to this man. There is living now, in our day, a painter—Decamps—who + possesses in the very highest degree the art of commanding your interest + in everything he sets before your eyes, whether it be a stone or a man. In + this respect his pencil is more skilful than his brush. He will sketch an + empty room and leave a broom against the wall. If he chooses, you shall + shudder; you shall believe that this broom has just been the instrument of + crime, and is dripping with blood; it shall be the broom which the widow + Bancal used to clean out the room where Fualdes was murdered. Yes, the + painter will touzle that broom like a man in a rage; he will make each + hair of it stand on-end as though it were on your own bristling scalp; he + will make it the interpreter between the secret poem of his imagination + and the poem that shall have its birth in yours. After terrifying you by + the aspect of that broom, to-morrow he will draw another, and lying by it + a cat, asleep, but mysterious in its sleep, shall tell you that this broom + is that on which the wife of a German cobbler rides off to the Sabbath on + the Brocken. Or it will be a quite harmless broom, on which he will hang + the coat of a clerk in the Treasury. Decamps had in his brush what + Paganini had in his bow—a magnetically communicative power. + </p> + <p> + Well, I should have to transfer to my style that striking genius, that + marvelous knack of the pencil, to depict the upright, tall, lean man + dressed in black, with black hair, who stood there without speaking a + word. This gentleman had a face like a knife-blade, cold and harsh, with a + color like Seine water when it was muddy and strewn with fragments of + charcoal from a sunken barge. He looked at the floor, listening and + passing judgment. His attitude was terrifying. He stood there like the + dreadful broom to which Decamps has given the power of revealing a crime. + Now and then, in the course of conversation, the Marquise tried to get + some tacit advice; but however eager her questioning, he was as grave and + as rigid as the statue of the Commendatore. + </p> + <p> + The worthy Popinot, sitting on the edge of his chair in front of the fire, + his hat between his knees, stared at the gilt chandeliers, the clock, and + the curiosities with which the chimney-shelf was covered, the velvet and + trimmings of the curtains, and all the costly and elegant nothings that a + woman of fashion collects about her. He was roused from his homely + meditations by Madame d’Espard, who addressed him in a piping tone: + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur, I owe you a million thanks——” + </p> + <p> + “A million thanks,” thought he to himself, “that is too many; it does not + mean one.” + </p> + <p> + “For the trouble you condescend——” + </p> + <p> + “Condescend!” thought he; “she is laughing at me.” + </p> + <p> + “To take in coming to see an unhappy client, who is too ill to go out——” + </p> + <p> + Here the lawyer cut the Marquise short by giving her an inquisitorial + look, examining the sanitary condition of the unhappy client. + </p> + <p> + “As sound as a bell,” said he to himself. + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said he, assuming a respectful mien, “you owe me nothing. + Although my visit to you is not in strict accordance with the practice of + the Court, we ought to spare no pains to discover the truth in cases of + this kind. Our judgment is then guided less by the letter of the law than + by the promptings of our conscience. Whether I seek the truth here or in + my own consulting-room, so long as I find it, all will be well.” + </p> + <p> + While Popinot was speaking, Rastignac was shaking hands with Bianchon; the + Marquise welcomed the doctor with a little bow full of gracious + significance. + </p> + <p> + “Who is that?” asked Bianchon in a whisper of Rastignac, indicating the + dark man. + </p> + <p> + “The Chevalier d’Espard, the Marquis’ brother.” + </p> + <p> + “Your nephew told me,” said the Marquise to Popinot, “how much you are + occupied, and I know too that you are so good as to wish to conceal your + kind actions, so as to release those whom you oblige from the burden of + gratitude. The work in Court is most fatiguing, it would seem. Why have + they not twice as many judges?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, madame, that would not be difficult; we should be none the worse if + they had. But when that happens, fowls will cut their teeth!” + </p> + <p> + As he heard this speech, so entirely in character with the lawyer’s + appearance, the Chevalier measured him from head to foot, out of one eye, + as much as to say, “We shall easily manage him.” + </p> + <p> + The Marquise looked at Rastignac, who bent over her. “That is the sort of + man,” murmured the dandy in her ear, “who is trusted to pass judgments on + the life and interests of private individuals.” + </p> + <p> + Like most men who have grown old in a business, Popinot readily let + himself follow the habits he had acquired, more particularly habits of + mind. His conversation was all of “the shop.” He was fond of questioning + those he talked to, forcing them to unexpected conclusions, making them + tell more than they wished to reveal. Pozzo di Borgo, it is said, used to + amuse himself by discovering other folks’ secrets, and entangling them in + his diplomatic snares, and thus, by invincible habit, showed how his mind + was soaked in wiliness. As soon as Popinot had surveyed the ground, so to + speak, on which he stood, he saw that it would be necessary to have + recourse to the cleverest subtleties, the most elaborately wrapped up and + disguised, which were in use in the Courts, to detect the truth. + </p> + <p> + Bianchon sat cold and stern, as a man who has made up his mind to endure + torture without revealing his sufferings; but in his heart he wished that + his uncle could only trample on this woman as we trample on a viper—a + comparison suggested to him by the Marquise’s long dress, by the curve of + her attitude, her long neck, small head, and undulating movements. + </p> + <p> + “Well, monsieur,” said Madame d’Espard, “however great my dislike to be or + seem selfish, I have been suffering too long not to wish that you may + settle matters at once. Shall I soon get a favorable decision?” + </p> + <p> + “Madame, I will do my best to bring matters to a conclusion,” said + Popinot, with an air of frank good-nature. “Are you ignorant of the reason + which made the separation necessary which now subsists between you and the + Marquis d’Espard?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, monsieur,” she replied, evidently prepared with a story to tell. “At + the beginning of 1816 M. d’Espard, whose temper had completely changed + within three months or so, proposed that we should go to live on one of + his estates near Briancon, without any regard for my health, which that + climate would have destroyed, or for my habits of life; I refused to go. + My refusal gave rise to such unjustifiable reproaches on his part, that + from that hour I had my suspicions as to the soundness of his mind. On the + following day he left me, leaving me his house and the free use of my own + income, and he went to live in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, + taking with him my two children——” + </p> + <p> + “One moment, madame,” said the lawyer, interrupting her. “What was that + income?” + </p> + <p> + “Twenty-six thousand francs a year,” she replied parenthetically. “I at + once consulted old M. Bordin as to what I ought to do,” she went on; “but + it seems that there are so many difficulties in the way of depriving a + father of the care of his children, that I was forced to resign myself to + remaining alone at the age of twenty-two—an age at which many young + women do very foolish things. You have read my petition, no doubt, + monsieur; you know the principal facts on which I rely to procure a + Commission in Lunacy with regard to M. d’Espard?” + </p> + <p> + “Have you ever applied to him, madame, to obtain the care of your + children?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, monsieur; but in vain. It is very hard on a mother to be deprived of + the affection of her children, particularly when they can give her such + happiness as every woman clings to.” + </p> + <p> + “The elder must be sixteen,” said Popinot. + </p> + <p> + “Fifteen,” said the Marquise eagerly. + </p> + <p> + Here Bianchon and Rastignac looked at each other. Madame d’Espard bit her + lips. + </p> + <p> + “What can the age of my children matter to you?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, madame,” said the lawyer, without seeming to attach any importance + to his words, “a lad of fifteen and his brother, of thirteen, I suppose, + have legs and their wits about them; they might come to see you on the + sly. If they do not, it is because they obey their father, and to obey him + in that matter they must love him very dearly.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not understand,” said the Marquise. + </p> + <p> + “You do not know, perhaps,” replied Popinot, “that in your petition your + attorney represents your children as being very unhappy with their + father?” + </p> + <p> + Madame d’Espard replied with charming innocence: + </p> + <p> + “I do not know what my attorney may have put into my mouth.” + </p> + <p> + “Forgive my inferences,” said Popinot, “but Justice weighs everything. + What I ask you, madame, is suggested by my wish thoroughly to understand + the matter. By your account M. d’Espard deserted you on the most frivolous + pretext. Instead of going to Briancon, where he wished to take you, he + remained in Paris. This point is not clear. Did he know this Madame + Jeanrenaud before his marriage?” + </p> + <p> + “No, monsieur,” replied the Marquise, with some asperity, visible only to + Rastignac and the Chevalier d’Espard. + </p> + <p> + She was offended at being cross-examined by this lawyer when she had + intended to beguile his judgment; but as Popinot still looked stupid from + sheer absence of mind, she ended by attributing his interrogatory to the + Questioning Spirit of Voltaire’s bailiff. + </p> + <p> + “My parents,” she went on, “married me at the age of sixteen to M. + d’Espard, whose name, fortune, and mode of life were such as my family + looked for in the man who was to be my husband. M. d’Espard was then + six-and-twenty; he was a gentleman in the English sense of the word; his + manners pleased me, he seemed to have plenty of ambition, and I like + ambitious people,” she added, looking at Rastignac. “If M. d’Espard had + never met that Madame Jeanrenaud, his character, his learning, his + acquirements would have raised him—as his friends then believed—to + high office in the Government. King Charles X., at that time Monsieur, had + the greatest esteem for him, and a peer’s seat, an appointment at Court, + some important post certainly would have been his. That woman turned his + head, and has ruined all the prospects of my family.” + </p> + <p> + “What were M. d’Espard’s religious opinions at that time?” + </p> + <p> + “He was, and is still, a very pious man.” + </p> + <p> + “You do not suppose that Madame Jeanrenaud may have influenced him by + mysticism?” + </p> + <p> + “No, monsieur.” + </p> + <p> + “You have a very fine house, madame,” said Popinot suddenly, taking his + hands out of his pockets, and rising to pick up his coat-tails and warm + himself. “This boudoir is very nice, those chairs are magnificent, the + whole apartment is sumptuous. You must indeed be most unhappy when, seeing + yourself here, you know that your children are ill lodged, ill clothed, + and ill fed. I can imagine nothing more terrible for a mother.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, indeed. I should be so glad to give the poor little fellows some + amusement, while their father keeps them at work from morning till night + at that wretched history of China.” + </p> + <p> + “You give handsome balls; they would enjoy them, but they might acquire a + taste for dissipation. However, their father might send them to you once + or twice in the course of the winter.” + </p> + <p> + “He brings them here on my birthday and on New Year’s Day. On those days + M. d’Espard does me the favor of dining here with them.” + </p> + <p> + “It is very singular behaviour,” said the judge, with an air of + conviction. “Have you ever seen this Dame Jeanrenaud?” + </p> + <p> + “My brother-in-law one day, out of interest in his brother——” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! monsieur is M. d’Espard’s brother?” said the lawyer, interrupting + her. + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier bowed, but did not speak. + </p> + <p> + “M. d’Espard, who has watched this affair, took me to the Oratoire, where + this woman goes to sermon, for she is a Protestant. I saw her; she is not + in the least attractive; she looks like a butcher’s wife, extremely fat, + horribly marked with the smallpox; she has feet and hands like a man’s, + she squints, in short, she is monstrous!” + </p> + <p> + “It is inconceivable,” said the judge, looking like the most imbecile + judge in the whole kingdom. “And this creature lives near here, Rue Verte, + in a fine house? There are no plain folk left, it would seem?” + </p> + <p> + “In a mansion on which her son has spent absurd sums.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said Popinot, “I live in the Faubourg Saint-Marceau; I know + nothing of such expenses. What do you call absurd sums?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said the Marquise, “a stable with five horses and three carriages, + a phaeton, a brougham, and a cabriolet.” + </p> + <p> + “That costs a large sum, then?” asked Popinot in surprise. + </p> + <p> + “Enormous sums!” said Rastignac, intervening. “Such an establishment would + cost, for the stables, the keeping the carriages in order, and the + liveries for the men, between fifteen and sixteen thousand francs a year.” + </p> + <p> + “Should you think so, madame?” said the judge, looking much astonished. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, at least,” replied the Marquise. + </p> + <p> + “And the furniture, too, must have cost a lot of money?” + </p> + <p> + “More than a hundred thousand francs,” replied Madame d’Espard, who could + not help smiling at the lawyer’s vulgarity. + </p> + <p> + “Judges, madame, are apt to be incredulous; it is what they are paid for, + and I am incredulous. The Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother must have + fleeced M. d’Espard most preposterously, if what you say is correct. There + is a stable establishment which, by your account, costs sixteen thousand + francs a year. Housekeeping, servants’ wages, and the gross expenses of + the house itself must run to twice as much; that makes a total of from + fifty to sixty thousand francs a year. Do you suppose that these people, + formerly so extremely poor, can have so large a fortune? A million yields + scarcely forty thousand a year.” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur, the mother and son invested the money given them by M. d’Espard + in the funds when they were at 60 to 80. I should think their income must + be more than sixty thousand francs. And then the son has fine + appointments.” + </p> + <p> + “If they spend sixty thousand francs a year,” said the judge, “how much do + you spend?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Madame d’Espard, “about the same.” The Chevalier started a + little, the Marquise colored; Bianchon looked at Rastignac; but Popinot + preserved an expression of simplicity which quite deceived Madame + d’Espard. The chevalier took no part in the conversation; he saw that all + was lost. + </p> + <p> + “These people, madame, might be indicted before the superior Court,” said + Popinot. + </p> + <p> + “That was my opinion,” exclaimed the Marquise, enchanted. “If threatened + with the police, they would have come to terms.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said Popinot, “when M. d’Espard left you, did he not give you a + power of attorney enabling you to manage and control your own affairs?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not understand the object of all these questions,” said the Marquise + with petulance. “It seems to me that if you would only consider the state + in which I am placed by my husband’s insanity, you ought to be troubling + yourself about him, and not about me.” + </p> + <p> + “We are coming to that, madame,” said the judge. “Before placing in your + hands, or in any others, the control of M. d’Espard’s property, supposing + he were pronounced incapable, the Court must inquire as to how you have + managed your own. If M. d’Espard gave you the power, he would have shown + confidence in you, and the Court would recognize the fact. Had you any + power from him? You might have bought or sold house property or invested + money in business?” + </p> + <p> + “No, monsieur, the Blamont-Chauvrys are not in the habit of trading,” said + she, extremely nettled in her pride as an aristocrat, and forgetting the + business in hand. “My property is intact, and M. d’Espard gave me no power + to act.” + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier put his hand over his eyes not to betray the vexation he + felt at his sister-in-law’s short-sightedness, for she was ruining herself + by her answers. Popinot had gone straight to the mark in spite of his + apparent doublings. + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said the lawyer, indicating the Chevalier, “this gentleman, of + course, is your near connection? May we speak openly before these other + gentlemen?” + </p> + <p> + “Speak on,” said the Marquise, surprised at this caution. + </p> + <p> + “Well, madame, granting that you spend only sixty thousand francs a year, + to any one who sees your stables, your house, your train of servants, and + a style of housekeeping which strikes me as far more luxurious than that + of the Jeanrenauds, that sum would seem well laid out.” + </p> + <p> + The Marquise bowed an agreement. + </p> + <p> + “But,” continued the judge, “if you have no more than twenty-six thousand + francs a year, you may have a hundred thousand francs of debt. The Court + would therefore have a right to imagine that the motives which prompt you + to ask that your husband may be deprived of the control of his property + are complicated by self-interest and the need of paying your debts—if—you—have—any. + The requests addressed to me have interested me in your position; consider + fully and make your confession. If my suppositions have hit the truth, + there is yet time to avoid the blame which the Court would have a perfect + right to express in the saving clauses of the verdict if you could not + show your attitude to be absolutely honorable and clear. + </p> + <p> + “It is our duty to examine the motives of the applicant as well as to + listen to the plea of the witness under examination, to ascertain whether + the petitioner may not have been prompted by passion, by a desire for + money, which is unfortunately too common——” + </p> + <p> + The Marquise was on Saint Laurence’s gridiron. + </p> + <p> + “And I must have explanations on this point. Madame, I have no wish to + call you to account; I only want to know how you have managed to live at + the rate of sixty thousand francs a year, and that for some years past. + There are plenty of women who achieve this in their housekeeping, but you + are not one of those. Tell me, you may have the most legitimate resources, + a royal pension, or some claim on the indemnities lately granted; but even + then you must have had your husband’s authority to receive them.” + </p> + <p> + The Marquise did not speak. + </p> + <p> + “You must remember,” Popinot went on, “that M. d’Espard may wish to enter + a protest, and his counsel will have a right to find out whether you have + any creditors. This boudoir is newly furnished, your rooms are not now + furnished with the things left to you by M. d’Espard in 1816. If, as you + did me the honor of informing me, furniture is costly for the Jeanrenauds, + it must be yet more so for you, who are a great lady. Though I am a judge, + I am but a man; I may be wrong—tell me so. Remember the duties + imposed on me by the law, and the rigorous inquiries it demands, when the + case before it is the suspension from all his functions of the father of a + family in the prime of life. So you will pardon me, Madame la Marquise, + for laying all these difficulties before you; it will be easy for you to + give me an explanation. + </p> + <p> + “When a man is pronounced incapable of the control of his own affairs, a + trustee has to be appointed. Who will be the trustee?” + </p> + <p> + “His brother,” said the Marquise. + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier bowed. There was a short silence, very uncomfortable for the + five persons who were present. The judge, in sport as it were, had laid + open the woman’s sore place. Popinot’s countenance of common, clumsy + good-nature, at which the Marquise, the Chevalier, and Rastignac had been + inclined to laugh, had gained importance in their eyes. As they stole a + look at him, they discerned the various expressions of that eloquent + mouth. The ridiculous mortal was a judge of acumen. His studious notice of + the boudoir was accounted for: he had started from the gilt elephant + supporting the chimney-clock, examining all this luxury, and had ended by + reading this woman’s soul. + </p> + <p> + “If the Marquis d’Espard is mad about China, I see that you are not less + fond of its products,” said Popinot, looking at the porcelain on the + chimney-piece. “But perhaps it was from M. le Marquis that you had these + charming Oriental pieces,” and he pointed to some precious trifles. + </p> + <p> + This irony, in very good taste, made Bianchon smile, and petrified + Rastignac, while the Marquise bit her thin lips. + </p> + <p> + “Instead of being the protector of a woman placed in a cruel dilemma—an + alternative between losing her fortune and her children, and being + regarded as her husband’s enemy,” she said, “you accuse me, monsieur! You + suspect my motives! You must own that your conduct is strange!” + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said the judge eagerly, “the caution exercised by the Court in + such cases as these might have given you, in any other judge, a perhaps + less indulgent critic than I am.—And do you suppose that M. + d’Espard’s lawyer will show you any great consideration? Will he not be + suspicious of motives which may be perfectly pure and disinterested? Your + life will be at his mercy; he will inquire into it without qualifying his + search by the respectful deference I have for you.” + </p> + <p> + “I am much obliged to you, monsieur,” said the Marquise satirically. + “Admitting for the moment that I owe thirty thousand or fifty thousand + francs, in the first place, it would be a mere trifle to the d’Espards and + the Blamont-Chauvrys. But if my husband is not in the possession of his + mental faculties, would that prevent his being pronounced incapable?” + </p> + <p> + “No, madame,” said Popinot. + </p> + <p> + “Although you have questioned me with a sort of cunning which I should not + have suspected in a judge, and under circumstances where + straightforwardness would have answered your purpose,” she went on, “I + will tell you without subterfuge that my position in the world, and the + efforts I have to make to keep up my connection, are not in the least to + my taste. I began my life by a long period of solitude; but my children’s + interest appealed to me; I felt that I must fill their father’s place. By + receiving my friends, by keeping up all this connection, by contracting + these debts, I have secured their future welfare; I have prepared for them + a brilliant career where they will find help and favor; and to have what + has thus been acquired, many a man of business, lawyer or banker, would + gladly pay all it has cost me.” + </p> + <p> + “I appreciate your devoted conduct, madame,” replied Popinot. “It does you + honor, and I blame you for nothing. A judge belongs to all: he must know + and weigh every fact.” + </p> + <p> + Madame d’Espard’s tact and practice in estimating men made her understand + that M. Popinot was not to be influenced by any consideration. She had + counted on an ambitious lawyer, she had found a man of conscience. She at + once thought of finding other means for securing the success of her side. + </p> + <p> + The servants brought in tea. + </p> + <p> + “Have you any further explanations to give me, madame?” said Popinot, + seeing these preparations. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” she replied haughtily, “do your business your own way; + question M. d’Espard, and you will pity me, I am sure.” She raised her + head, looking Popinot in the face with pride, mingled with impertinence; + the worthy man bowed himself out respectfully. + </p> + <p> + “A nice man is your uncle,” said Rastignac to Bianchon. “Is he really so + dense? Does not he know what the Marquise d’Espard is, what her influence + means, her unavowed power over people? The Keeper of the Seals will be + with her to-morrow——” + </p> + <p> + “My dear fellow, how can I help it?” said Bianchon. “Did not I warn you? + He is not a man you can get over.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Rastignac; “he is a man you must run over.” + </p> + <p> + The doctor was obliged to make his bow to the Marquise and her mute + Chevalier to catch up Popinot, who, not being the man to endure an + embarrassing position, was pacing through the rooms. + </p> + <p> + “That woman owes a hundred thousand crowns,” said the judge, as he stepped + into his nephew’s cab. + </p> + <p> + “And what do you think of the case?” + </p> + <p> + “I,” said the judge. “I never have an opinion till I have gone into + everything. To-morrow early I will send to Madame Jeanrenaud to call on me + in my private office at four o’clock, to make her explain the facts which + concern her, for she is compromised.” + </p> + <p> + “I should very much like to know what the end will be.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, bless me, do not you see that the Marquise is the tool of that tall + lean man who never uttered a word? There is a strain of Cain in him, but + of the Cain who goes to the Law Courts for his bludgeon, and there, + unluckily for him, we keep more than one Damocles’ sword.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Rastignac! what brought you into that boat, I wonder?” exclaimed + Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, we are used to seeing these little family conspiracies,” said + Popinot. “Not a year passes without a number of verdicts of ‘insufficient + evidence’ against applications of this kind. In our state of society such + an attempt brings no dishonor, while we send a poor devil to the galleys + who breaks a pane of glass dividing him from a bowl full of gold. Our Code + is not faultless.” + </p> + <p> + “But these are the facts?” + </p> + <p> + “My boy, do you not know all the judicial romances with which clients + impose on their attorneys? If the attorneys condemned themselves to state + nothing but the truth, they would not earn enough to keep their office + open.” + </p> + <p> + Next day, at four in the afternoon, a very stout dame, looking a good deal + like a cask dressed up in a gown and belt, mounted Judge Popinot’s stairs, + perspiring and panting. She had, with great difficulty, got out of a green + landau, which suited her to a miracle; you could not think of the woman + without the landau, or the landau without the woman. + </p> + <p> + “It is I, my dear sir,” said she, appearing in the doorway of the judge’s + room. “Madame Jeanrenaud, whom you summoned exactly as if I were a thief, + neither more nor less.” + </p> + <p> + The common words were spoken in a common voice, broken by the wheezing of + asthma, and ending in a cough. + </p> + <p> + “When I go through a damp place, I can’t tell you what I suffer, sir. I + shall never make old bones, saving your presence. However, here I am.” + </p> + <p> + The lawyer was quite amazed at the appearance of this supposed Marechale + d’Ancre. Madame Jeanrenaud’s face was pitted with an infinite number of + little holes, was very red, with a pug nose and a low forehead, and was as + round as a ball; for everything about the good woman was round. She had + the bright eyes of a country woman, an honest gaze, a cheerful tone, and + chestnut hair held in place by a bonnet cap under a green bonnet decked + with a shabby bunch of auriculas. Her stupendous bust was a thing to laugh + at, for it made one fear some grotesque explosion every time she coughed. + Her enormous legs were of the shape which make the Paris street boy + describe such a woman as being built on piles. The widow wore a green gown + trimmed with chinchilla, which looked on her as a splash of dirty oil + would look on a bride’s veil. In short, everything about her harmonized + with her last words: “Here I am.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said Popinot, “you are suspected of having used some seductive + arts to induce M. d’Espard to hand over to you very considerable sums of + money.” + </p> + <p> + “Of what! of what!” cried she. “Of seductive arts? But, my dear sir, you + are a man to be respected, and, moreover, as a lawyer you ought to have + some good sense. Look at me! Tell me if I am likely to seduce any one. I + cannot tie my own shoes, nor even stoop. For these twenty years past, the + Lord be praised, I have not dared to put on a pair of stays under pain of + sudden death. I was as thin as an asparagus stalk when I was seventeen, + and pretty too—I may say so now. So I married Jeanrenaud, a good + fellow, and headman on the salt-barges. I had my boy, who is a fine young + man; he is my pride, and it is not holding myself cheap to say he is my + best piece of work. My little Jeanrenaud was a soldier who did Napoleon + credit, and who served in the Imperial Guard. But, alas! at the death of + my old man, who was drowned, times changed for the worse. I had the + smallpox. I was kept two years in my room without stirring, and I came out + of it the size you see me, hideous for ever, and as wretched as could be. + These are my seductive arts.” + </p> + <p> + “But what, then, can the reasons be that have induced M. d’Espard to give + you sums——” + </p> + <p> + “Hugious sums, monsieur, say the word; I do not mind. But as to his + reasons, I am not at liberty to explain them.” + </p> + <p> + “You are wrong. At this moment, his family, very naturally alarmed, are + about to bring an action——” + </p> + <p> + “Heavens above us!” said the good woman, starting up. “Is it possible that + he should be worried on my account? That king of men, a man that has not + his match! Rather than he should have the smallest trouble, or hair less + on his head I could almost say, we would return every sou, monsieur. Write + that down on your papers. Heaven above us! I will go at once and tell + Jeanrenaud what is going on! A pretty thing indeed!” + </p> + <p> + And the little old woman went out, rolled herself downstairs, and + disappeared. + </p> + <p> + “That one tells no lies,” said Popinot to himself. “Well, to-morrow I + shall know the whole story, for I shall go to see the Marquis d’Espard.” + </p> + <p> + People who have outlived the age when a man wastes his vitality at random, + know how great an influence may be exercised on more important events by + apparently trivial incidents, and will not be surprised at the weight here + given to the following minor fact. Next day Popinot had an attack of + coryza, a complaint which is not dangerous, and generally known by the + absurd and inadequate name of a cold in the head. + </p> + <p> + The judge, who could not suppose that the delay could be serious, feeling + himself a little feverish, kept his room, and did not go to see the + Marquis d’Espard. This day lost was, to this affair, what on the Day of + Dupes the cup of soup had been, taken by Marie de Medici, which, by + delaying her meeting with Louis XIII., enabled Richelieu to arrive at + Saint-Germain before her, and recapture his royal slave. + </p> + <p> + Before accompanying the lawyer and his registering clerk to the Marquis + d’Espard’s house, it may be as well to glance at the home and the private + affairs of this father of sons whom his wife’s petition represented to be + a madman. + </p> + <p> + Here and there in the old parts of Paris a few buildings may still be seen + in which the archaeologist can discern an intention of decorating the + city, and that love of property, which leads the owner to give a durable + character to the structure. The house in which M. d’Espard was then + living, in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, was one of these old + mansions, built in stone, and not devoid of a certain richness of style; + but time had blackened the stone, and revolutions in the town had damaged + it both outside and inside. The dignitaries who formerly dwelt in the + neighborhood of the University having disappeared with the great + ecclesiastical foundations, this house had become the home of industries + and of inhabitants whom it was never destined to shelter. During the last + century a printing establishment had worn down the polished floors, soiled + the carved wood, blackened the walls, and altered the principal internal + arrangements. Formerly the residence of a Cardinal, this fine house was + now divided among plebeian tenants. The character of the architecture + showed that it had been built under the reigns of Henry III., Henry IV., + and Louis XIII., at the time when the hotels Mignon and Serpente were + erected in the same neighborhood, with the palace of the Princess + Palatine, and the Sorbonne. An old man could remember having heard it + called, in the last century, the hotel Duperron, so it seemed probable + that the illustrious Cardinal of that name had built, or perhaps merely + lived in it. + </p> + <p> + There still exists, indeed, in the corner of the courtyard, a perron or + flight of several outer steps by which the house is entered; and the way + into the garden on the garden front is down a similar flight of steps. In + spite of dilapidations, the luxury lavished by the architect on the + balustrade and entrance porch crowning these two perrons suggests the + simple-minded purpose of commemorating the owner’s name, a sort of + sculptured pun which our ancestors often allowed themselves. Finally, in + support of this evidence, archaeologists can still discern in the + medallions which show on the principal front some traces of the cords of + the Roman hat. + </p> + <p> + M. le Marquis d’Espard lived on the ground floor, in order, no doubt, to + enjoy the garden, which might be called spacious for that neighborhood, + and which lay open for his children’s health. The situation of the house, + in a street on a steep hill, as its name indicates, secured these + ground-floor rooms against ever being damp. M. d’Espard had taken them, no + doubt, for a very moderate price, rents being low at the time when he + settled in that quarter, in order to be among the schools and to + superintend his boys’ education. Moreover, the state in which he found the + place, with everything to repair, had no doubt induced the owner to be + accommodating. Thus M. d’Espard had been able to go to some expense to + settle himself suitably without being accused of extravagance. The + loftiness of the rooms, the paneling, of which nothing survived but the + frames, the decoration of the ceilings, all displayed the dignity which + the prelacy stamped on whatever it attempted or created, and which artists + discern to this day in the smallest relic that remains, though it be but a + book, a dress, the panel of a bookcase, or an armchair. + </p> + <p> + The Marquis had the rooms painted in the rich brown tones loved of the + Dutch and of the citizens of Old Paris, hues which lend such good effects + to the painter of genre. The panels were hung with plain paper in harmony + with the paint. The window curtains were of inexpensive materials, but + chosen so as to produce a generally happy result; the furniture was not + too crowded and judiciously placed. Any one on going into this home could + not resist a sense of sweet peacefulness, produced by the perfect calm, + the stillness which prevailed, by the unpretentious unity of color, the + keeping of the picture, in the words a painter might use. A certain + nobleness in the details, the exquisite cleanliness of the furniture, and + a perfect concord of men and things, all brought the word “suavity” to the + lips. + </p> + <p> + Few persons were admitted to the rooms used by the Marquis and his two + sons, whose life might perhaps seem mysterious to their neighbors. In a + wing towards the street, on the third floor, there are three large rooms + which had been left in the state of dilapidation and grotesque bareness to + which they had been reduced by the printing works. These three rooms, + devoted to the evolution of the Picturesque History of China, were + contrived to serve as a writing-room, a depository, and a private room, + where M. d’Espard sat during part of the day; for after breakfast till + four in the afternoon the Marquis remained in this room on the third floor + to work at the publication he had undertaken. Visitors wanting to see him + commonly found him there, and often the two boys on their return from + school resorted thither. Thus the ground-floor rooms were a sort of + sanctuary where the father and sons spent their time from the hour of + dinner till the next day, and his domestic life was carefully closed + against the public eye. + </p> + <p> + His only servants were a cook—an old woman who had long been + attached to his family—and a man-servant forty years old, who was + with him when he married Mademoiselle de Blamont. His children’s nurse had + also remained with them, and the minute care to which the apartment bore + witness revealed the sense of order and the maternal affections expended + by this woman in her master’s interest, in the management of his house, + and the charge of his children. These three good souls, grave, and + uncommunicative folk, seemed to have entered into the idea which ruled the + Marquis’ domestic life. And the contrast between their habits and those of + most servants was a peculiarity which cast an air of mystery over the + house, and fomented the calumny to which M. d’Espard himself lent + occasion. Very laudable motives had made him determine never to be on + visiting terms with any of the other tenants in the house. In undertaking + to educate his boys he wished to keep them from all contact with + strangers. Perhaps, too, he wished to avoid the intrusion of neighbors. + </p> + <p> + In a man of his rank, at a time when the Quartier Latin was distracted by + Liberalism, such conduct was sure to rouse in opposition a host of petty + passions, of feelings whose folly is only to be measured by their + meanness, the outcome of porters’ gossip and malevolent tattle from door + to door, all unknown to M. d’Espard and his retainers. His man-servant was + stigmatized as a Jesuit, his cook as a sly fox; the nurse was in collusion + with Madame Jeanrenaud to rob the madman. The madman was the Marquis. By + degrees the other tenants came to regard as proofs of madness a number of + things they had noticed in M. d’Espard, and passed through the sieve of + their judgment without discerning any reasonable motive for them. + </p> + <p> + Having no belief in the success of the History of China, they had managed + to convince the landlord of the house that M. d’Espard had no money just + at a time when, with the forgetfulness which often befalls busy men, he + had allowed the tax-collector to send him a summons for non-payment of + arrears. The landlord forthwith claimed his quarter’s rent from January + 1st by sending in a receipt, which the porter’s wife had amused herself by + detaining. On the 15th a summons to pay was served on M. d’Espard, the + portress had delivered it at her leisure, and he supposed it to be some + misunderstanding, not conceiving of any incivility from a man in whose + house he had been living for twelve years. The Marquis was actually seized + by a bailiff at the time when his man-servant had gone to carry the money + for the rent to the landlord. + </p> + <p> + This arrest, assiduously reported to the persons with whom he was in + treaty for his undertaking, had alarmed some of them who were already + doubtful of M. d’Espard’s solvency in consequence of the enormous sums + which Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother were said to be receiving from him. + And, indeed, these suspicions on the part of the tenants, the creditors, + and the landlord had some excuse in the Marquis’ extreme economy in + housekeeping. He conducted it as a ruined man might. His servants always + paid in ready money for the most trifling necessaries of life, and acted + as not choosing to take credit; if now they had asked for anything on + credit, it would probably have been refused, calumnious gossip had been so + widely believed in the neighborhood. There are tradesmen who like those of + their customers who pay badly when they see them often, while they hate + others, and very good ones, who hold themselves on too high a level to + allow of any familiarity as CHUMS, a vulgar but expressive word. Men are + made so; in almost every class they will allow to a gossip, or a vulgar + soul that flatters them, facilities and favors they refuse to the + superiority they resent, in whatever form it may show itself. The + shopkeeper who rails at the Court has his courtiers. + </p> + <p> + In short, the manners of the Marquis and his children were certain to + arouse ill-feeling in their neighbors, and to work them up by degrees to + the pitch of malevolence when men do not hesitate at an act of meanness if + only it may damage the adversary they have themselves created. + </p> + <p> + M. d’Espard was a gentleman, as his wife was a lady, by birth and + breeding; noble types, already so rare in France that the observer can + easily count the persons who perfectly realize them. These two characters + are based on primitive ideas, on beliefs that may be called innate, on + habits formed in infancy, and which have ceased to exist. To believe in + pure blood, in a privileged race, to stand in thought above other men, + must we not from birth have measured the distance which divides patricians + from the mob? To command, must we not have never met our equal? And + finally, must not education inculcate the ideas with which Nature inspires + those great men on whose brow she has placed a crown before their mother + has ever set a kiss there? These ideas, this education, are no longer + possible in France, where for forty years past chance has arrogated the + right of making noblemen by dipping them in the blood of battles, by + gilding them with glory, by crowning them with the halo of genius; where + the abolition of entail and of eldest sonship, by frittering away estates, + compels the nobleman to attend to his own business instead of attending to + affairs of state, and where personal greatness can only be such greatness + as is acquired by long and patient toil: quite a new era. + </p> + <p> + Regarded as a relic of that great institution know as feudalism, M. + d’Espard deserved respectful admiration. If he believed himself to be by + blood the superior of other men, he also believed in all the obligations + of nobility; he had the virtues and the strength it demands. He had + brought up his children in his own principles, and taught them from the + cradle the religion of their caste. A deep sense of their own dignity, + pride of name, the conviction that they were by birth great, gave rise in + them to a kingly pride, the courage of knights, and the protecting + kindness of a baronial lord; their manners, harmonizing with their + notions, would have become princes, and offended all the world of the Rue + de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve—a world, above all others, of + equality, where every one believed that M. d’Espard was ruined, and where + all, from the lowest to the highest, refused the privileges of nobility to + a nobleman without money, because they were all ready to allow an enriched + bourgeois to usurp them. Thus the lack of communion between this family + and other persons was as much moral as it was physical. + </p> + <p> + In the father and the children alike, their personality harmonized with + the spirit within. M. d’Espard, at this time about fifty, might have sat + as a model to represent the aristocracy of birth in the nineteenth + century. He was slight and fair; there was in the outline and general + expression of his face a native distinction which spoke of lofty + sentiments, but it bore the impress of a deliberate coldness which + commanded respect a little too decidedly. His aquiline nose bent at the + tip from left to right, a slight crookedness which was not devoid of + grace; his blue eyes, his high forehead, prominent enough at the brows to + form a thick ridge that checked the light and shaded his eyes, all + indicated a spirit of rectitude, capable of perseverance and perfect + loyalty, while it gave a singular look to his countenance. This penthouse + forehead might, in fact, hint at a touch of madness, and his thick-knitted + eyebrows added to the apparent eccentricity. He had the white well-kept + hands of a gentleman; his foot was high and narrow. His hesitating speech—not + merely as to his pronunciation, which was that of a stammerer, but also in + the expression of his ideas, his thought and language—produced on + the mind of the hearer the impression of a man who, in familiar + phraseology, comes and goes, feels his way, tries everything, breaks off + his gestures, and finishes nothing. This defect was purely superficial, + and in contrast with the decisiveness of a firmly-set mouth, and the + strongly-marked character of his physiognomy. His rather jerky gait + matched his mode of speech. These peculiarities helped to affirm his + supposed insanity. In spite of his elegant appearance, he was + systematically parsimonious in his personal expenses, and wore the same + black frock-coat for three or four years, brushed with extreme care by his + old man-servant. + </p> + <p> + As to the children, they both were handsome, and endowed with a grace + which did not exclude an expression of aristocratic disdain. They had the + bright coloring, the clear eye, the transparent flesh which reveal habits + of purity, regularity of life, and a due proportion of work and play. They + both had black hair and blue eyes, and a twist in their nose, like their + father; but their mother, perhaps, had transmitted to them the dignity of + speech, of look and mien, which are hereditary in the Blamont-Chauvrys. + Their voices, as clear as crystal, had an emotional quality, the softness + which proves so seductive; they had, in short, the voice a woman would + willingly listen to after feeling the flame of their looks. But, above + all, they had the modesty of pride, a chaste reserve, a <i>touch-me-not</i> + which at a maturer age might have seemed intentional coyness, so much did + their demeanor inspire a wish to know them. The elder, Comte Clement de + Negrepelisse, was close upon his sixteenth year. For the last two years he + had ceased to wear the pretty English round jacket which his brother, + Vicomte Camille d’Espard, still wore. The Count, who for the last six + months went no more to the College Henri IV., was dressed in the style of + a young man enjoying the first pleasures of fashion. His father had not + wished to condemn him to a year’s useless study of philosophy; he was + trying to give his knowledge some consistency by the study of + transcendental mathematics. At the same time, the Marquis was having him + taught Eastern languages, the international law of Europe, heraldry, and + history from the original sources, charters, early documents, and + collections of edicts. Camille had lately begun to study rhetoric. + </p> + <p> + The day when Popinot arranged to go to question M. d’Espard was a + Thursday, a holiday. At about nine in the morning, before their father was + awake, the brothers were playing in the garden. Clement was finding it + hard to refuse his brother, who was anxious to go to the shooting-gallery + for the first time, and who begged him to second his request to the + Marquis. The Viscount always rather took advantage of his weakness, and + was very fond of wrestling with his brother. So the couple were quarreling + and fighting in play like schoolboys. As they ran in the garden, chasing + each other, they made so much noise as to wake their father, who came to + the window without their perceiving him in the heat of the fray. The + Marquis amused himself with watching his two children twisted together + like snakes, their faces flushed by the exertion of their strength; their + complexion was rose and white, their eyes flashed sparks, their limbs + writhed like cords in the fire; they fell, sprang up again, and caught + each other like athletes in a circus, affording their father one of those + moments of happiness which would make amends for the keenest anxieties of + a busy life. Two other persons, one on the second and one on the first + floor, were also looking into the garden, and saying that the old madman + was amusing himself by making his children fight. Immediately a number of + heads appeared at the windows; the Marquis, noticing them, called a word + to his sons, who at once climbed up to the window and jumped into his + room, and Clement obtained the permission asked by Camille. + </p> + <p> + All through the house every one was talking of the Marquis’ new form of + insanity. When Popinot arrived at about twelve o’clock, accompanied by his + clerk, the portress, when asked for M. d’Espard, conducted him to the + third floor, telling him “as how M. d’Espard, no longer ago than that very + morning, had set on his two children to fight, and laughed like the + monster he was on seeing the younger biting the elder till he bled, and as + how no doubt he longed to see them kill each other.—Don’t ask me the + reason why,” she added; “he doesn’t show himself!” + </p> + <p> + Just as the woman spoke these decisive words, she had brought the judge to + the landing on the third floor, face to face with a door covered with + notices announcing the successive numbers of the Picturesque History of + China. The muddy floor, the dirty banisters, the door where the printers + had left their marks, the dilapidated window, and the ceiling on which the + apprentices had amused themselves with drawing monstrosities with the + smoky flare of their tallow dips, the piles of paper and litter heaped up + in the corners, intentionally or from sheer neglect—in short, every + detail of the picture lying before his eyes, agreed so well with the facts + alleged by the Marquise that the judge, in spite of his impartiality, + could not help believing them. + </p> + <p> + “There you are, gentlemen,” said the porter’s wife; “there is the + manifactor, where the Chinese swallow up enough to feed the whole + neighborhood.” + </p> + <p> + The clerk looked at the judge with a smile, and Popinot found it hard to + keep his countenance. They went together into the outer room, where sat an + old man, who, no doubt, performed the functions of office clerk, shopman, + and cashier. This old man was the Maitre Jacques of China. Along the walls + ran long shelves, on which the published numbers lay in piles. A partition + in wood, with a grating lined with green curtains, cut off the end of the + room, forming a private office. A till with a slit to admit or disgorge + crown pieces indicated the cash-desk. + </p> + <p> + “M. d’Espard?” said Popinot, addressing the man, who wore a gray blouse. + </p> + <p> + The shopman opened the door into the next room, where the lawyer and his + companion saw a venerable old man, white-headed and simply dressed, + wearing the Cross of Saint-Louis, seated at a desk. He ceased comparing + some sheets of colored prints to look up at the two visitors. This room + was an unpretentious office, full of books and proof-sheets. There was a + black wood table at which some one, at the moment absent, no doubt was + accustomed to work. + </p> + <p> + “The Marquis d’Espard?” said Popinot. + </p> + <p> + “No, monsieur,” said the old man, rising; “what do you want with him?” he + added, coming forward, and showing by his demeanor the dignified manners + and habits due to a gentlemanly education. + </p> + <p> + “We wish to speak with him on business exclusively personal to himself,” + replied Popinot. + </p> + <p> + “D’Espard, here are some gentlemen who want to see you,” then said the old + man, going into the furthest room, where the Marquis was sitting by the + fire reading the newspaper. + </p> + <p> + This innermost room had a shabby carpet, the windows were hung with gray + holland curtains; the furniture consisted of a few mahogany chairs, two + armchairs, a desk with a revolving front, an ordinary office table, and on + the chimney-shelf, a dingy clock and two old candlesticks. The old man led + the way for Popinot and his registrar, and pulled forward two chairs, as + though he were master of the place; M. d’Espard left it to him. After the + preliminary civilities, during which the judge watched the supposed + lunatic, the Marquis naturally asked what was the object of this visit. On + this Popinot glanced significantly at the old gentleman and the Marquis. + </p> + <p> + “I believe, Monsieur le Marquis,” said he, “that the character of my + functions, and the inquiry that has brought me here, make it desirable + that we should be alone, though it is understood by law that in such cases + the inquiries have a sort of family publicity. I am judge on the Inferior + Court of Appeal for the Department of the Seine, and charged by the + President with the duty of examining you as to certain facts set forth in + a petition for a Commission in Lunacy on the part of the Marquise + d’Espard.” + </p> + <p> + The old man withdrew. When the lawyer and the Marquis were alone, the + clerk shut the door, and seated himself unceremoniously at the office + table, where he laid out his papers and prepared to take down his notes. + Popinot had still kept his eye on M. d’Espard; he was watching the effect + on him of this crude statement, so painful for a man in full possession of + his reason. The Marquis d’Espard, whose face was usually pale, as are + those of fair men, suddenly turned scarlet with anger; he trembled for an + instant, sat down, laid his paper on the chimney-piece, and looked down. + In a moment he had recovered his gentlemanly dignity, and looked steadily + at the judge, as if to read in his countenance the indications of his + character. + </p> + <p> + “How is it, monsieur,” he asked, “that I have had no notice of such a + petition?” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur le Marquis, persons on whom such a commission is held not being + supposed to have the use of their reason, any notice of the petition is + unnecessary. The duty of the Court chiefly consists in verifying the + allegations of the petitioner.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing can be fairer,” replied the Marquis. “Well, then, monsieur, be so + good as to tell me what I ought to do——” + </p> + <p> + “You have only to answer my questions, omitting nothing. However delicate + the reasons may be which may have led you to act in such a manner as to + give Madame d’Espard a pretext for her petition, speak without fear. It is + unnecessary to assure you that lawyers know their duties, and that in such + cases the profoundest secrecy——” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said the Marquis, whose face expressed the sincerest pain, “if + my explanations should lead to any blame being attached to Madame + d’Espard’s conduct, what will be the result?” + </p> + <p> + “The Court may add its censure to its reasons for its decision.” + </p> + <p> + “Is such censure optional? If I were to stipulate with you, before + replying, that nothing should be said that could annoy Madame d’Espard in + the event of your report being in my favor, would the Court take my + request into consideration?” + </p> + <p> + The judge looked at the Marquis, and the two men exchanged sentiments of + equal magnanimity. + </p> + <p> + “Noel,” said Popinot to his registrar, “go into the other room. If you can + be of use, I will call you in.—If, as I am inclined to think,” he + went on, speaking to the Marquis when the clerk had gone out, “I find that + there is some misunderstanding in this case, I can promise you, monsieur, + that on your application the Court will act with due courtesy. + </p> + <p> + “There is a leading fact put forward by Madame d’Espard, the most serious + of all, of which I must beg for an explanation,” said the judge after a + pause. “It refers to the dissipation of your fortune to the advantage of a + certain Madame Jeanrenaud, the widow of a bargemaster—or rather, to + that of her son, Colonel Jeanrenaud, for whom you are said to have + procured an appointment, to have exhausted your influence with the King, + and at last to have extended such protection as secures him a good + marriage. The petition suggests that such a friendship is more devoted + than any feelings, even those which morality must disapprove——” + </p> + <p> + A sudden flush crimsoned the Marquis’ face and forehead, tears even + started to his eyes, for his eyelashes were wet, then wholesome pride + crushed the emotions, which in a man are accounted a weakness. + </p> + <p> + “To tell you the truth, monsieur,” said the Marquis, in a broken voice, + “you place me in a strange dilemma. The motives of my conduct were to have + died with me. To reveal them I must disclose to you some secret wounds, + must place the honor of my family in your keeping, and must speak of + myself, a delicate matter, as you will fully understand. I hope, monsieur, + that it will all remain a secret between us. You will, no doubt, be able + to find in the formulas of the law one which will allow of judgment being + pronounced without any betrayal of my confidences.” + </p> + <p> + “So far as that goes, it is perfectly possible, Monsieur le Marquis.” + </p> + <p> + “Some time after my marriage,” said M. d’Espard, “my wife having run into + considerable expenses, I was obliged to have recourse to borrowing. You + know what was the position of noble families during the Revolution; I had + not been able to keep a steward or a man of business. Nowadays gentlemen + are for the most part obliged to manage their affairs themselves. Most of + my title-deeds had been brought to Paris, from Languedoc, Provence, or le + Comtat, by my father, who dreaded, and not without reason, the inquisition + which family title-deeds, and what was then styled the ‘parchments’ of the + privileged class, brought down on the owners. + </p> + <p> + “Our name is Negrepelisse; d’Espard is a title acquired in the time of + Henri IV. by a marriage which brought us the estates and titles of the + house of d’Espard, on condition of our bearing an escutcheon of pretence + on our coat-of-arms, those of the house of d’Espard, an old family of + Bearn, connected in the female line with that of Albret: quarterly, paly + of or and sable; and azure two griffins’ claws armed, gules in saltire, + with the famous motto Des partem leonis. At the time of this alliance we + lost Negrepelisse, a little town which was as famous during the religious + struggles as was my ancestor who then bore the name. Captain de + Negrepelisse was ruined by the burning of all his property, for the + Protestants did not spare a friend of Montluc’s. + </p> + <p> + “The Crown was unjust to M. de Negrepelisse; he received neither a + marshal’s baton, nor a post as governor, nor any indemnity; King Charles + IX., who was fond of him, died without being able to reward him; Henri IV. + arranged his marriage with Mademoiselle d’Espard, and secured him the + estates of that house, but all those of the Negrepelisses had already + passed into the hands of his creditors. + </p> + <p> + “My great-grandfather, the Marquis d’Espard, was, like me, placed early in + life at the head of his family by the death of his father, who, after + dissipating his wife’s fortune, left his son nothing but the entailed + estates of the d’Espards, burdened with a jointure. The young Marquis was + all the more straitened for money because he held a post at Court. Being + in great favor with Louis XIV., the King’s goodwill brought him a fortune. + But here, monsieur, a blot stained our escutcheon, an unconfessed and + horrible stain of blood and disgrace which I am making it my business to + wipe out. I discovered the secret among the deeds relating to the estate + of Negrepelisse and the packets of letters.” + </p> + <p> + At this solemn moment the Marquis spoke without hesitation or any of the + repetition habitual with him; but it is a matter of common observation + that persons who, in ordinary life, are afflicted with these two defects, + are freed from them as soon as any passionate emotion underlies their + speech. + </p> + <p> + “The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes was decreed,” he went on. “You are + no doubt aware, monsieur, that this was an opportunity for many favorites + to make their fortunes. Louis XIV. bestowed on the magnates about his + Court the confiscated lands of those Protestant families who did not take + the prescribed steps for the sale of their property. Some persons in high + favor went ‘Protestant-hunting,’ as the phrase was. I have ascertained + beyond a doubt that the fortune enjoyed to this day by two ducal families + is derived from lands seized from hapless merchants. + </p> + <p> + “I will not attempt to explain to you, a man of law, all the manoeuvres + employed to entrap the refugees who had large fortunes to carry away. It + is enough to say that the lands of Negrepelisse, comprising twenty-two + churches and rights over the town, and those of Gravenges which had + formerly belonged to us, were at that time in the hands of a Protestant + family. My grandfather recovered them by gift from Louis XIV. This gift + was effected by documents hall-marked by atrocious iniquity. The owner of + these two estates, thinking he would be able to return, had gone through + the form of a sale, and was going to Switzerland to join his family, whom + he had sent in advance. He wished, no doubt, to take advantage of every + delay granted by the law, so as to settle the concerns of his business. + </p> + <p> + “This man was arrested by order of the governor, the trustee confessed the + truth, the poor merchant was hanged, and my ancestor had the two estates. + I would gladly have been able to ignore the share he took in the plot; but + the governor was his uncle on the mother’s side, and I have unfortunately + read the letter in which he begged him to apply to Deodatus, the name + agreed upon by the Court to designate the King. In this letter there is a + tone of jocosity with reference to the victim, which filled me with + horror. In the end, the sums of money sent by the refugee family to ransom + the poor man were kept by the governor, who despatched the merchant all + the same.” + </p> + <p> + The Marquis paused, as though the memory of it were still too heavy for + him to bear. + </p> + <p> + “This unfortunate family were named Jeanrenaud,” he went on. “That name is + enough to account for my conduct. I could never think without keen pain of + the secret disgrace that weighed on my family. That fortune enabled my + grandfather to marry a demoiselle de Navarreins-Lansac, heiress to the + younger branch of that house, who were at that time much richer than the + elder branch of the Navarreins. My father thus became one of the largest + landowners in the kingdom. He was able to marry my mother, a Grandlieu of + the younger branch. Though ill-gotten, this property has been singularly + profitable. + </p> + <p> + “For my part, being determined to remedy the mischief, I wrote to + Switzerland, and knew no peace till I was on the traces of the Protestant + victim’s heirs. At last I discovered that the Jeanrenauds, reduced to + abject want, had left Fribourg and returned to live in France. Finally, I + found a M. Jeanrenaud, lieutenant in a cavalry regiment under Napoleon, + the sole heir of this unhappy family. In my eyes, monsieur, the rights of + the Jeanrenauds were clear. To establish a prescriptive right is it not + necessary that there should have been some possibility of proceeding + against those who are in the enjoyment of it? To whom could these refugees + have appealed? Their Court of Justice was on high, or rather, monsieur, it + was here,” and the Marquis struck his hand on his heart. “I did not choose + that my children should be able to think of me as I have thought of my + father and of my ancestors. I aim at leaving them an unblemished + inheritance and escutcheon. I did not choose that nobility should be a lie + in my person. And, after all, politically speaking, ought those emigres + who are now appealing against revolutionary confiscations, to keep the + property derived from antecedent confiscations by positive crimes? + </p> + <p> + “I found in M. Jeanrenaud and his mother the most perverse honesty; to + hear them you would suppose that they were robbing me. In spite of all I + could say, they will accept no more than the value of the lands at the + time when the King bestowed them on my family. The price was settled + between us at the sum of eleven hundred thousand francs, which I was to + pay at my convenience and without interest. To achieve this I had to + forego my income for a long time. And then, monsieur, began the + destruction of some illusions I had allowed myself as to Madame d’Espard’s + character. When I proposed to her that we should leave Paris and go into + the country, where we could live respected on half of her income, and so + more rapidly complete a restitution of which I spoke to her without going + into the more serious details, Madame d’Espard treated me as a madman. I + then understood my wife’s real character. She would have approved of my + grandfather’s conduct without a scruple, and have laughed at the + Huguenots. Terrified by her coldness, and her little affection for her + children, whom she abandoned to me without regret, I determined to leave + her the command of her fortune, after paying our common debts. It was no + business of hers, as she told me, to pay for my follies. As I then had not + enough to live on and pay for my sons’ education, I determined to educate + them myself, to make them gentlemen and men of feeling. By investing my + money in the funds I have been enabled to pay off my obligation sooner + than I had dared to hope, for I took advantage of the opportunities + afforded by the improvement in prices. If I had kept four thousand francs + a year for my boys and myself, I could only have paid off twenty thousand + crowns a year, and it would have taken almost eighteen years to achieve my + freedom. As it is, I have lately repaid the whole of the eleven hundred + thousand francs that were due. Thus I enjoy the happiness of having made + this restitution without doing my children the smallest wrong. + </p> + <p> + “These, monsieur, are the reasons for the payments made to Madame + Jeanrenaud and her son.” + </p> + <p> + “So Madame d’Espard knew the motives of your retirement?” said the judge, + controlling the emotion he felt at this narrative. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, monsieur.” + </p> + <p> + Popinot gave an expressive shrug; he rose and opened the door into the + next room. + </p> + <p> + “Noel, you can go,” said he to his clerk. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” he went on, “though what you have told me is enough to + enlighten me thoroughly, I should like to hear what you have to say to the + other facts put forward in the petition. For instance, you are here + carrying on a business such as is not habitually undertaken by a man of + rank.” + </p> + <p> + “We cannot discuss that matter here,” said the Marquis, signing to the + judge to quit the room. “Nouvion,” said he to the old man, “I am going + down to my rooms; the children will soon be in; dine with us.” + </p> + <p> + “Then, Monsieur le Marquis,” said Popinot on the stairs, “that is not your + apartment?” + </p> + <p> + “No, monsieur; I took those rooms for the office of this undertaking. You + see,” and he pointed to an advertisement sheet, “the History is being + brought out by one of the most respectable firms in Paris, and not by me.” + </p> + <p> + The Marquis showed the lawyer into the ground-floor rooms, saying, “This + is my apartment.” + </p> + <p> + Popinot was quite touched by the poetry, not aimed at but pervading this + dwelling. The weather was lovely, the windows were open, the air from the + garden brought in a wholesome earthy smell, the sunshine brightened and + gilded the woodwork, of a rather gloomy brown. At the sight Popinot made + up his mind that a madman would hardly be capable of inventing the tender + harmony of which he was at that moment conscious. + </p> + <p> + “I should like just such an apartment,” thought he. “You think of leaving + this part of town?” he inquired. + </p> + <p> + “I hope so,” replied the Marquis. “But I shall remain till my younger son + has finished his studies, and till the children’s character is thoroughly + formed, before introducing them to the world and to their mother’s circle. + Indeed, after giving them the solid information they possess, I intend to + complete it by taking them to travel to the capitals of Europe, that they + may see men and things, and become accustomed to speak the languages they + have learned. And, monsieur,” he went on, giving the judge a chair in the + drawing-room, “I could not discuss the book on China with you, in the + presence of an old friend of my family, the Comte de Nouvion, who, having + emigrated, has returned to France without any fortune whatever, and who is + my partner in this concern, less for my profit than his. Without telling + him what my motives were, I explained to him that I was as poor as he, but + that I had enough money to start a speculation in which he might be + usefully employed. My tutor was the Abbe Grozier, whom Charles X. on my + recommendation appointed Keeper of the Books at the Arsenal, which were + returned to that Prince when he was still Monsieur. The Abbe Grozier was + deeply learned with regard to China, its manners and customs; he made me + heir to this knowledge at an age when it is difficult not to become a + fanatic for the things we learn. At five-and-twenty I knew Chinese, and I + confess I have never been able to check myself in an exclusive admiration + for that nation, who conquered their conquerors, whose annals extend back + indisputably to a period more remote than mythological or Bible times, who + by their immutable institutions have preserved the integrity of their + empire, whose monuments are gigantic, whose administration is perfect, + among whom revolutions are impossible, who have regarded ideal beauty as a + barren element in art, who have carried luxury and industry to such a + pitch that we cannot outdo them in anything, while they are our equals in + things where we believe ourselves superior. + </p> + <p> + “Still, monsieur, though I often make a jest of comparing China with the + present condition of European states, I am not a Chinaman, I am a French + gentleman. If you entertain any doubts as to the financial side of this + undertaking, I can prove to you that at this moment we have two thousand + five hundred subscribers to this work, which is literary, iconographical, + statistical, and religious; its importance has been generally appreciated; + our subscribers belong to every nation in Europe, we have but twelve + hundred in France. Our book will cost about three hundred francs, and the + Comte de Nouvion will derive from it from six to seven thousand francs a + year, for his comfort was the real motive of the undertaking. For my part, + I aimed only at the possibility of affording my children some pleasures. + The hundred thousand francs I have made, quite in spite of myself, will + pay for their fencing lessons, horses, dress, and theatres, pay the + masters who teach them accomplishments, procure them canvases to spoil, + the books they may wish to buy, in short, all the little fancies which a + father finds so much pleasure in gratifying. If I had been compelled to + refuse these indulgences to my poor boys, who are so good and work so + hard, the sacrifice I made to the honor of my name would have been doubly + painful. + </p> + <p> + “In point of fact, the twelve years I have spent in retirement from the + world to educate my children have led to my being completely forgotten at + Court. I have given up the career of politics; I have lost my historical + fortune, and all the distinctions which I might have acquired and + bequeathed to my children; but our house will have lost nothing; my boys + will be men of mark. Though I have missed the senatorship, they will win + it nobly by devoting themselves to the affairs of the country, and doing + such service as is not soon forgotten. While purifying the past record of + my family, I have insured it a glorious future; and is not that to have + achieved a noble task, though in secret and without glory?—And now, + monsieur, have you any other explanations to ask me?” + </p> + <p> + At this instant the tramp of horses was heard in the courtyard. + </p> + <p> + “Here they are!” said the Marquis. In a moment the two lads, fashionably + but plainly dressed, came into the room, booted, spurred, and gloved, and + flourishing their riding-whips. Their beaming faces brought in the + freshness of the outer air; they were brilliant with health. They both + grasped their father’s hand, giving him a look, as friends do, a glance of + unspoken affection, and then they bowed coldly to the lawyer. Popinot felt + that it was quite unnecessary to question the Marquis as to his relations + towards his sons. + </p> + <p> + “Have you enjoyed yourselves?” asked the Marquis. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, father; I knocked down six dolls in twelve shots at the first + trial!” cried Camille. + </p> + <p> + “And where did you ride?” + </p> + <p> + “In the Bois; we saw my mother.” + </p> + <p> + “Did she stop?” + </p> + <p> + “We were riding so fast just then that I daresay she did not see us,” + replied the young Count. + </p> + <p> + “But, then, why did you not go to speak to her?” + </p> + <p> + “I fancy I have noticed, father, that she does not care that we should + speak to her in public,” said Clement in an undertone. “We are a little + too big.” + </p> + <p> + The judge’s hearing was keen enough to catch these words, which brought a + cloud to the Marquis’ brow. Popinot took pleasure in contemplating the + picture of the father and his boys. His eyes went back with a sense of + pathos to M. d’Espard’s face; his features, his expression, and his manner + all expressed honesty in its noblest aspect, intellectual and chivalrous + honesty, nobility in all its beauty. + </p> + <p> + “You—you see, monsieur,” said the Marquis, and his hesitation had + returned, “you see that Justice may look in—in here at any time—yes, + at any time—here. If there is anybody crazy, it can only be the + children—the children—who are a little crazy about their + father, and the father who is very crazy about his children—but that + sort of madness rings true.” + </p> + <p> + At this juncture Madame Jeanrenaud’s voice was heard in the ante-room, and + the good woman came bustling in, in spite of the man-servant’s + remonstrances. + </p> + <p> + “I take no roundabout ways, I can tell you!” she exclaimed. “Yes, Monsieur + le Marquis, I want to speak to you, this very minute,” she went on, with a + comprehensive bow to the company. “By George, and I am too late as it is, + since Monsieur the criminal Judge is before me.” + </p> + <p> + “Criminal!” cried the two boys. + </p> + <p> + “Good reason why I did not find you at your own house, since you are here. + Well, well! the Law is always to the fore when there is mischief brewing.—I + came, Monsieur le Marquis, to tell you that my son and I are of one mind + to give you everything back, since our honor is threatened. My son and I, + we had rather give you back everything than cause you the smallest + trouble. My word, they must be as stupid as pans without handles to call + you a lunatic——” + </p> + <p> + “A lunatic! My father?” exclaimed the boys, clinging to the Marquis. “What + is this?” + </p> + <p> + “Silence, madame,” said Popinot. + </p> + <p> + “Children, leave us,” said the Marquis. + </p> + <p> + The two boys went into the garden without a word, but very much alarmed. + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said the judge, “the moneys paid to you by Monsieur le Marquis + were legally due, though given to you in virtue of a very far-reaching + theory of honesty. If all the people possessed of confiscated goods, by + whatever cause, even if acquired by treachery, were compelled to make + restitution every hundred and fifty years, there would be few legitimate + owners in France. The possessions of Jacques Coeur enriched twenty noble + families; the confiscations pronounced by the English to the advantage of + their adherents at the time when they held a part of France made the + fortune of several princely houses. + </p> + <p> + “Our law allows M. d’Espard to dispose of his income without accounting + for it, or suffering him to be accused of its misapplication. A Commission + in Lunacy can only be granted when a man’s actions are devoid of reason; + but in this case, the remittances made to you have a reason based on the + most sacred and most honorable motives. Hence you may keep it all without + remorse, and leave the world to misinterpret a noble action. In Paris, the + highest virtue is the object of the foulest calumny. It is, unfortunately, + the present condition of society that makes the Marquis’ actions sublime. + For the honor of my country, I would that such deeds were regarded as a + matter of course; but, as things are, I am forced by comparison to look + upon M. d’Espard as a man to whom a crown should be awarded, rather than + that he should be threatened with a Commission in Lunacy. + </p> + <p> + “In the course of a long professional career, I have seen and heard + nothing that has touched me more deeply than that I have just seen and + heard. But it is not extraordinary that virtue should wear its noblest + aspect when it is practised by men of the highest class. + </p> + <p> + “Having heard me express myself in this way, I hope, Monsieur le Marquis, + that you feel certain of my silence, and that you will not for a moment be + uneasy as to the decision pronounced in the case—if it comes before + the Court.” + </p> + <p> + “There, now! Well said,” cried Madame Jeanrenaud. “That is something like + a judge! Look here, my dear sir, I would hug you if I were not so ugly; + you speak like a book.” + </p> + <p> + The Marquis held out his hand to Popinot, who gently pressed it with a + look full of sympathetic comprehension at this great man in private life, + and the Marquis responded with a pleasant smile. These two natures, both + so large and full—one commonplace but divinely kind, the other lofty + and sublime—had fallen into unison gently, without a jar, without a + flash of passion, as though two pure lights had been merged into one. The + father of a whole district felt himself worthy to grasp the hand of this + man who was doubly noble, and the Marquis felt in the depths of his soul + an instinct that told him that the judge’s hand was one of those from + which the treasures of inexhaustible beneficence perennially flow. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur le Marquis,” added Popinot, with a bow, “I am happy to be able + to tell you that, from the first words of this inquiry, I regarded my + clerk as quite unnecessary.” + </p> + <p> + He went close to M. d’Espard, led him into the window-bay, and said: “It + is time that you should return home, monsieur. I believe that Madame la + Marquise has acted in this matter under an influence which you ought at + once to counteract.” + </p> + <p> + Popinot withdrew. He looked back several times as he crossed the + courtyard, touched by the recollection of the scene. It was one of those + which take root in the memory to blossom again in certain hours when the + soul seeks consolation. + </p> + <p> + “Those rooms would just suit me,” said he to himself as he reached home. + “If M. d’Espard leaves them, I will take up his lease.” + </p> + <p> + The next day, at about ten in the morning, Popinot, who had written out + his report the previous evening, made his way to the Palais de Justice, + intending to have prompt and righteous justice done. As he went to the + robing-room to put on his gown and bands, the usher told him that the + President of his Court begged him to attend in his private room, where he + was waiting for him. Popinot forthwith obeyed. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, my dear Popinot,” said the President, “I have been waiting + for you.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, Monsieur le President, is anything wrong?” + </p> + <p> + “A mere silly trifle,” said the President. “The Keeper of the Seals, with + whom I had the honor of dining yesterday, led me apart into a corner. He + had heard that you had been to tea with Madame d’Espard, in whose case you + were employed to make inquiries. He gave me to understand that it would be + as well that you should not sit on this case——” + </p> + <p> + “But, Monsieur le President, I can prove that I left Madame d’Espard’s + house at the moment when tea was brought in. And my conscience——” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes; the whole Bench, the two Courts, all the profession know you. I + need not repeat what I said about you to his Eminence; but, you know, + ‘Caesar’s wife must not be suspected.’ So we shall not make this foolish + trifle a matter of discipline, but only of proprieties. Between ourselves, + it is not on your account, but on that of the Bench.” + </p> + <p> + “But, monsieur, if you only knew the kind of woman——” said the + judge, trying to pull his report out of his pocket. + </p> + <p> + “I am perfectly certain that you have proceeded in this matter with the + strictest independence of judgment. I myself, in the provinces, have often + taken more than a cup of tea with the people I had to try; but the fact + that the Keeper of the Seals should have mentioned it, and that you might + be talked about, is enough to make the Court avoid any discussion of the + matter. Any conflict with public opinion must always be dangerous for a + constitutional body, even when the right is on its side against the + public, because their weapons are not equal. Journalism may say or suppose + anything, and our dignity forbids us even to reply. In fact, I have spoken + of the matter to your President, and M. Camusot has been appointed in your + place on your retirement, which you will signify. It is a family matter, + so to speak. And I now beg you to signify your retirement from the case as + a personal favor. To make up, you will get the Cross of the Legion of + Honor, which has so long been due to you. I make that my business.” + </p> + <p> + When he saw M. Camusot, a judge recently called to Paris from a provincial + Court of the same class, as he went forward bowing to the Judge and the + President, Popinot could not repress an ironical smile. This pale, fair + young man, full of covert ambition, looked ready to hang and unhang, at + the pleasure of any earthy king, the innocent and the guilty alike, and to + follow the example of a Laubardemont rather than that of a Mole. + </p> + <p> + Popinot withdrew with a bow; he scorned to deny the lying accusation that + had been brought against him. + </p> + <p> + PARIS, February 1836. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ADDENDUM + </h2> + <h3> + The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + </h3> + <p> + Note: The Commission in Lunacy is also known as The Interdiction and is + referred to by that title in certain of the addendums. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Bianchon, Horace + Father Goriot + The Atheist’s Mass + Cesar Birotteau + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor’s Establishment + The Secrets of a Princess + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Study of Woman + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Magic Skin + A Second Home + A Prince of Bohemia + Letters of Two Brides + The Muse of the Department + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + The Country Parson + In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + La Grande Breteche + + Bordin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Seamy Side of History + Jealousies of a Country Town + + Camusot de Marville + Cousin Pons + Jealousies of a Country Town + Scenes from a Cuortesan’s Life + + Desroches (son) + A Bachelor’s Establishment + Colonel Chabert + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + + Espard, Charles-Maurice-Marie-Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis d’ + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + + Espard, Chevalier d’ + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Secrets of a Princess + + Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d’ + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + Letters of Two Brides + Another Study of Woman + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + Beatrix + + Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + Colonel Chabert + A Bachelor’s Establishment + A Start in Life + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + + Grozier, Abbe + Lost Illusions + + Jeanrenaud + Albert Savarus + + Mongenod, Frederic + The Seamy Side of History + + Negrepelisse, De + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + + Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de + Father Goriot + The Thirteen + Eugenie Grandet + Cesar Birotteau + Melmoth Reconciled + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + Modeste Mignon + The Firm of Nucingen + Another Study of Woman + A Daughter of Eve + The Member for Arcis + + Popinot, Jean-Jules + Cesar Birotteau + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Middle Classes + + Rabourdin, Madame + The Government Clerks +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s The Commission in Lunacy, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY *** + +***** This file should be named 1410-h.htm or 1410-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/1410/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 Commission in Lunacy + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Clara Bell + +Release Date: August, 1998 [Etext #1410] +Posting Date: February 24, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY + + +By Honore De Balzac + + +Translated By Clara Bell + + + + DEDICATION + + Dedicated to Monsieur le Contre-Amiral Bazoche, + Governor of the Isle of Bourbon, by the grateful writer. + DE BALZAC. + + + + +THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY + + +In 1828, at about one o'clock one morning, two persons came out of +a large house in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, near the +Elysee-Bourbon. One was the famous doctor, Horace Bianchon; the other +was one of the most elegant men in Paris, the Baron de Rastignac; they +were friends of long standing. Each had sent away his carriage, and +no cab was to be seen in the street; but the night was fine, and the +pavement dry. + +"We will walk as far as the boulevard," said Eugene de Rastignac to +Bianchon. "You can get a hackney cab at the club; there is always one to +be found there till daybreak. Come with me as far as my house." + +"With pleasure." + +"Well, and what have you to say about it?" + +"About that woman?" said the doctor coldly. + +"There I recognize my Bianchon!" exclaimed Rastignac. + +"Why, how?" + +"Well, my dear fellow, you speak of the Marquise d'Espard as if she were +a case for your hospital." + +"Do you want to know what I think, Eugene? If you throw over Madame de +Nucingen for this Marquise, you will swap a one-eyed horse for a blind +one." + +"Madame de Nucingen is six-and-thirty, Bianchon." + +"And this woman is three-and-thirty," said the doctor quickly. + +"Her worst enemies only say six-and-twenty." + +"My dear boy, when you really want to know a woman's age, look at her +temples and the tip of her nose. Whatever women may achieve with their +cosmetics, they can do nothing against those incorruptible witnesses to +their experiences. There each year of life has left its stigmata. When a +woman's temples are flaccid, seamed, withered in a particular way; when +at the tip of her nose you see those minute specks, which look like the +imperceptible black smuts which are shed in London by the chimneys +in which coal is burnt.... Your servant, sir! That woman is more than +thirty. She may be handsome, witty, loving--whatever you please, but +she is past thirty, she is arriving at maturity. I do not blame men who +attach themselves to that kind of woman; only, a man of your superior +distinction must not mistake a winter pippin for a little summer apple, +smiling on the bough, and waiting for you to crunch it. Love never +goes to study the registers of birth and marriage; no one loves a woman +because she is handsome or ugly, stupid or clever; we love because we +love." + +"Well, for my part, I love for quite other reasons. She is Marquise +d'Espard; she was a Blamont-Chauvry; she is the fashion; she has soul; +her foot is as pretty as the Duchesse de Berri's; she has perhaps a +hundred thousand francs a year--some day, perhaps, I may marry her! In +short, she will put me into a position which will enable me to pay my +debts." + +"I thought you were rich," interrupted Bianchon. + +"Bah! I have twenty thousand francs a year--just enough to keep up +my stables. I was thoroughly done, my dear fellow, in that Nucingen +business; I will tell you about that.--I have got my sisters married; +that is the clearest profit I can show since we last met; and I would +rather have them provided for than have five hundred thousand francs a +year. No, what would you have me do? I am ambitious. To what can +Madame de Nucingen lead? A year more and I shall be shelved, stuck in a +pigeon-hole like a married man. I have all the discomforts of marriage +and of single life, without the advantages of either; a false position +to which every man must come who remains tied too long to the same +apron-string." + +"So you think you will come upon a treasure here?" said Bianchon. "Your +Marquise, my dear fellow, does not hit my fancy at all." + +"Your liberal opinions blur your eyesight. If Madame d'Espard were a +Madame Rabourdin..." + +"Listen to me. Noble or simple, she would still have no soul; she would +still be a perfect type of selfishness. Take my word for it, medical men +are accustomed to judge of people and things; the sharpest of us read +the soul while we study the body. In spite of that pretty boudoir where +we have spent this evening, in spite of the magnificence of the house, +it is quite possible that Madame la Marquise is in debt." + +"What makes you think so?" + +"I do not assert it; I am supposing. She talked of her soul as Louis +XVIII. used to talk of his heart. I tell you this: That fragile, fair +woman, with her chestnut hair, who pities herself that she may be +pitied, enjoys an iron constitution, an appetite like a wolf's, and +the strength and cowardice of a tiger. Gauze, and silk, and muslin were +never more cleverly twisted round a lie! Ecco." + +"Bianchon, you frighten me! You have learned a good many things, then, +since we lived in the Maison Vauquer?" + +"Yes, since then, my boy, I have seen puppets, both dolls and manikins. +I know something of the ways of the fine ladies whose bodies we attend +to, saving that which is dearest to them, their child--if they love +it--or their pretty faces, which they always worship. A man spends +his nights by their pillow, wearing himself to death to spare them the +slightest loss of beauty in any part; he succeeds, he keeps their secret +like the dead; they send to ask for his bill, and think it horribly +exorbitant. Who saved them? Nature. Far from recommending him, they +speak ill of him, fearing lest he should become the physician of their +best friends. + +"My dear fellow, those women of whom you say, 'They are angels!' +I--I--have seen stripped of the little grimaces under which they hide +their soul, as well as of the frippery under which they disguise their +defects--without manners and without stays; they are not beautiful. + +"We saw a great deal of mud, a great deal of dirt, under the waters of +the world when we were aground for a time on the shoals of the Maison +Vauquer.--What we saw there was nothing. Since I have gone into high +society, I have seen monsters dressed in satin, Michonneaus in white +gloves, Poirets bedizened with orders, fine gentlemen doing more +usurious business than old Gobseck! To the shame of mankind, when I have +wanted to shake hands with Virtue, I have found her shivering in a loft, +persecuted by calumny, half-starving on a income or a salary of fifteen +hundred francs a year, and regarded as crazy, or eccentric, or imbecile. + +"In short, my dear boy, the Marquise is a woman of fashion, and I have +a particular horror of that kind of woman. Do you want to know why? A +woman who has a lofty soul, fine taste, gentle wit, a generously warm +heart, and who lives a simple life, has not a chance of being the +fashion. Ergo: A woman of fashion and a man in power are analogous; but +there is this difference: the qualities by which a man raises himself +above others ennoble him and are a glory to him; whereas the qualities +by which a woman gains power for a day are hideous vices; she belies her +nature to hide her character, and to live the militant life of the world +she must have iron strength under a frail appearance. + +"I, as a physician, know that a sound stomach excludes a good heart. +Your woman of fashion feels nothing; her rage for pleasure has its +source in a longing to heat up her cold nature, a craving for excitement +and enjoyment, like an old man who stands night after night by +the footlights at the opera. As she has more brain than heart, she +sacrifices genuine passion and true friends to her triumph, as a general +sends his most devoted subalterns to the front in order to win a battle. +The woman of fashion ceases to be a woman; she is neither mother, nor +wife, nor lover. She is, medically speaking, sex in the brain. And your +Marquise, too, has all the characteristics of her monstrosity, the beak +of a bird of prey, the clear, cold eye, the gentle voice--she is as +polished as the steel of a machine, she touches everything except the +heart." + +"There is some truth in what you say, Bianchon." + +"Some truth?" replied Bianchon. "It is all true. Do you suppose that +I was not struck to the heart by the insulting politeness by which +she made me measure the imaginary distance which her noble birth sets +between us? That I did not feel the deepest pity for her cat-like +civilities when I remembered what her object was? A year hence she will +not write one word to do me the slightest service, and this evening she +pelted me with smiles, believing that I can influence my uncle Popinot, +on whom the success of her case----" + +"Would you rather she should have played the fool with you, my dear +fellow?--I accept your diatribe against women of fashion; but you are +beside the mark. I should always prefer for a wife a Marquise d'Espard +to the most devout and devoted creature on earth. Marry an angel! you +would have to go and bury your happiness in the depths of the country! +The wife of a politician is a governing machine, a contrivance that +makes compliments and courtesies. She is the most important and most +faithful tool which an ambitious man can use; a friend, in short, who +may compromise herself without mischief, and whom he may belie without +harmful results. Fancy Mahomet in Paris in the nineteenth century! His +wife would be a Rohan, a Duchesse de Chevreuse of the Fronde, as keen +and as flattering as an Ambassadress, as wily as Figaro. Your loving +wives lead nowhere; a woman of the world leads to everything; she is the +diamond with which a man cuts every window when he has not the golden +key which unlocks every door. Leave humdrum virtues to the humdrum, +ambitious vices to the ambitious. + +"Besides, my dear fellow, do you imagine that the love of a Duchesse +de Langeais, or de Maufrigneuse, or of a Lady Dudley does not bestow +immense pleasure? If only you knew how much value the cold, severe style +of such a woman gives to the smallest evidence of their affection! What +a delight it is to see a periwinkle piercing through the snow! A smile +from below a fan contradicts the reserve of an assumed attitude, and is +worth all the unbridled tenderness of your middle-class women with +their mortgaged devotion; for, in love, devotion is nearly akin to +speculation. + +"And, then, a woman of fashion, a Blamont-Chauvry, has her virtues too! +Her virtues are fortune, power, effect, a certain contempt of all that +is beneath her----" + +"Thank you!" said Bianchon. + +"Old curmudgeon!" said Rastignac, laughing. "Come--do not be so common, +do like your friend Desplein; be a Baron, a Knight of Saint-Michael; +become a peer of France, and marry your daughters to dukes." + +"I! May the five hundred thousand devils----" + +"Come, come! Can you be superior only in medicine? Really, you distress +me..." + +"I hate that sort of people; I long for a revolution to deliver us from +them for ever." + +"And so, my dear Robespierre of the lancet, you will not go to-morrow to +your uncle Popinot?" + +"Yes, I will," said Bianchon; "for you I would go to hell to fetch +water..." + +"My good friend, you really touch me. I have sworn that a commission +shall sit on the Marquis. Why, here is even a long-saved tear to thank +you." + +"But," Bianchon went on, "I do not promise to succeed as you wish with +Jean-Jules Popinot. You do not know him. However, I will take him to see +your Marquise the day after to-morrow; she may get round him if she can. +I doubt it. If all the truffles, all the Duchesses, all the mistresses, +and all the charmers in Paris were there in the full bloom of their +beauty; if the King promised him the _Prairie_, and the Almighty gave +him the Order of Paradise with the revenues of Purgatory, not one of all +these powers would induce him to transfer a single straw from one saucer +of his scales into the other. He is a judge, as Death is Death." + +The two friends had reached the office of the Minister for Foreign +Affairs, at the corner of the Boulevard des Capucines. + +"Here you are at home," said Bianchon, laughing, as he pointed to the +ministerial residence. "And here is my carriage," he added, calling a +hackney cab. "And these--express our fortune." + +"You will be happy at the bottom of the sea, while I am still struggling +with the tempests on the surface, till I sink and go to ask you for a +corner in your grotto, old fellow!" + +"Till Saturday," replied Bianchon. + +"Agreed," said Rastignac. "And you promise me Popinot?" + +"I will do all my conscience will allow. Perhaps this appeal for a +commission covers some little dramorama, to use a word of our good bad +times." + +"Poor Bianchon! he will never be anything but a good fellow," said +Rastignac to himself as the cab drove off. + + + +"Rastignac has given me the most difficult negotiation in the world," +said Bianchon to himself, remembering, as he rose next morning, the +delicate commission intrusted to him. "However, I have never asked +the smallest service from my uncle in Court, and have paid more than a +thousand visits gratis for him. And, after all, we are not apt to mince +matters between ourselves. He will say Yes or No, and there an end." + +After this little soliloquy the famous physician bent his steps, at +seven in the morning, towards the Rue du Fouarre, where dwelt Monsieur +Jean-Jules Popinot, judge of the Lower Court of the Department of +the Seine. The Rue du Fouarre--an old word meaning straw--was in the +thirteenth century the most important street in Paris. There stood the +Schools of the University, where the voices of Abelard and of Gerson +were heard in the world of learning. It is now one of the dirtiest +streets of the Twelfth Arrondissement, the poorest quarter of Paris, +that in which two-thirds of the population lack firing in winter, which +leaves most brats at the gate of the Foundling Hospital, which sends +most beggars to the poorhouse, most rag-pickers to the street corners, +most decrepit old folks to bask against the walls on which the sun +shines, most delinquents to the police courts. + +Half-way down this street, which is always damp, and where the gutter +carries to the Seine the blackened waters from some dye-works, there is +an old house, restored no doubt under Francis I., and built of bricks +held together by a few courses of masonry. That it is substantial seems +proved by the shape of its front wall, not uncommonly seen in some +parts of Paris. It bellies, so to speak, in a manner caused by the +protuberance of its first floor, crushed under the weight of the second +and third, but upheld by the strong wall of the ground floor. At first +sight it would seem as though the piers between the windows, though +strengthened by the stone mullions, must give way, but the observer +presently perceives that, as in the tower at Bologna, the old bricks and +old time-eaten stones of this house persistently preserve their centre +of gravity. + +At every season of the year the solid piers of the ground floor have the +yellow tone and the imperceptible sweating surface that moisture gives +to stone. The passer-by feels chilled as he walks close to this wall, +where worn corner-stones ineffectually shelter him from the wheels of +vehicles. As is always the case in houses built before carriages were +in use, the vault of the doorway forms a very low archway not unlike +the barbican of a prison. To the right of this entrance there are three +windows, protected outside by iron gratings of so close a pattern, that +the curious cannot possibly see the use made of the dark, damp rooms +within, and the panes too are dirty and dusty; to the left are two +similar windows, one of which is sometimes open, exposing to view the +porter, his wife, and his children; swarming, working, cooking, eating, +and screaming, in a floored and wainscoted room where everything is +dropping to pieces, and into which you descend two steps--a depth which +seems to suggest the gradual elevation of the soil of Paris. + +If on a rainy day some foot-passenger takes refuge under the long vault, +with projecting lime-washed beams, which leads from the door to +the staircase, he will hardly fail to pause and look at the picture +presented by the interior of this house. To the left is a square +garden-plot, allowing of not more than four long steps in each +direction, a garden of black soil, with trellises bereft of vines, and +where, in default of vegetation under the shade of two trees, papers +collect, old rags, potsherds, bits of mortar fallen from the roof; a +barren ground, where time has shed on the walls, and on the trunks and +branches of the trees, a powdery deposit like cold soot. The two parts +of the house, set at a right angle, derive light from this garden-court +shut in by two adjoining houses built on wooden piers, decrepit and +ready to fall, where on each floor some grotesque evidence is to be seen +of the craft pursued by some lodger within. Here long poles are hung +with immense skeins of dyed worsted put out to dry; there, on ropes, +dance clean-washed shirts; higher up, on a shelf, volumes display their +freshly marbled edges; women sing, husbands whistle, children shout; the +carpenter saws his planks, a copper-turner makes the metal screech; +all kinds of industries combine to produce a noise which the number of +instruments renders distracting. + +The general system of decoration in this passage, which is neither +courtyard, garden, nor vaulted way, though a little of all, consists of +wooden pillars resting on square stone blocks, and forming arches. Two +archways open on to the little garden; two others, facing the front +gateway, lead to a wooden staircase, with an iron balustrade that was +once a miracle of smith's work, so whimsical are the shapes given to the +metal; the worn steps creak under every tread. The entrance to each flat +has an architrave dark with dirt, grease, and dust, and outer doors, +covered with Utrecht velvet set with brass nails, once gilt, in a +diamond pattern. These relics of splendor show that in the time of Louis +XIV. the house was the residence of some councillor to the Parlement, +some rich priests, or some treasurer of the ecclesiastical revenue. But +these vestiges of former luxury bring a smile to the lips by the artless +contrast of past and present. + +M. Jean-Jules Popinot lived on the first floor of this house, where the +gloom, natural to all first floors in Paris houses, was increased by the +narrowness of the street. This old tenement was known to all the twelfth +arrondissement, on which Providence had bestowed this lawyer, as it +gives a beneficent plant to cure or alleviate every malady. Here is a +sketch of a man whom the brilliant Marquise d'Espard hoped to fascinate. + +M. Popinot, as is seemly for a magistrate, was always dressed in +black--a style which contributed to make him ridiculous in the eyes of +those who were in the habit of judging everything from a superficial +examination. Men who are jealous of maintaining the dignity required +by this color ought to devote themselves to constant and minute care of +their person; but our dear M. Popinot was incapable of forcing himself +to the puritanical cleanliness which black demands. His trousers, always +threadbare, looked like camlet--the stuff of which attorneys' gowns +are made; and his habitual stoop set them, in time, in such innumerable +creases, that in places they were traced with lines, whitish, rusty, or +shiny, betraying either sordid avarice, or the most unheeding poverty. +His coarse worsted stockings were twisted anyhow in his ill-shaped +shoes. His linen had the tawny tinge acquired by long sojourn in a +wardrobe, showing that the late lamented Madame Popinot had had a mania +for much linen; in the Flemish fashion, perhaps, she had given herself +the trouble of a great wash no more than twice a year. The old man's +coat and waistcoat were in harmony with his trousers, shoes, stockings, +and linen. He always had the luck of his carelessness; for, the first +day he put on a new coat, he unfailingly matched it with the rest of his +costume by staining it with incredible promptitude. The good man waited +till his housekeeper told him that his hat was too shabby before buying +a new one. His necktie was always crumpled and starchless, and he never +set his dog-eared shirt collar straight after his judge's bands had +disordered it. He took no care of his gray hair, and shaved but twice +a week. He never wore gloves, and generally kept his hands stuffed into +his empty trousers' pockets; the soiled pocket-holes, almost always +torn, added a final touch to the slovenliness of his person. + +Any one who knows the Palais de Justice at Paris, where every variety +of black attire may be studied, can easily imagine the appearance of M. +Popinot. The habit of sitting for days at a time modifies the structure +of the body, just as the fatigue of hearing interminable pleadings tells +on the expression of a magistrate's face. Shut up as he is in courts +ridiculously small, devoid of architectural dignity, and where the air +is quickly vitiated, a Paris judge inevitably acquires a countenance +puckered and seamed by reflection, and depressed by weariness; his +complexion turns pallid, acquiring an earthy or greenish hue according +to his individual temperament. In short, within a given time the most +blooming young man is turned into an "inasmuch" machine--an instrument +which applies the Code to individual cases with the indifference of +clockwork. + +Hence, nature, having bestowed on M. Popinot a not too pleasing +exterior, his life as a lawyer had not improved it. His frame was +graceless and angular. His thick knees, huge feet, and broad hands +formed a contrast with a priest-like face having a vague resemblance +to a calf's head, meek to unmeaningness, and but little brightened by +divergent bloodless eyes, divided by a straight flat nose, surmounted +by a flat forehead, flanked by enormous ears, flabby and graceless. His +thin, weak hair showed the baldness through various irregular partings. + +One feature only commended this face to the physiognomist. This man +had a mouth to whose lips divine kindness lent its sweetness. They were +wholesome, full, red lips, finely wrinkled, sinuous, mobile, by which +nature had given expression to noble feelings; lips which spoke to the +heart and proclaimed the man's intelligence and lucidity, a gift of +second-sight, and a heavenly temper; and you would have judged him +wrongly from looking merely at his sloping forehead, his fireless eyes, +and his shambling gait. His life answered to his countenance; it was +full of secret labor, and hid the virtue of a saint. His superior +knowledge of law proved so strong a recommendation at a time when +Napoleon was reorganizing it in 1808 and 1811, that, by the advice of +Cambaceres, he was one of the first men named to sit on the Imperial +High Court of Justice at Paris. Popinot was no schemer. Whenever any +demand was made, any request preferred for an appointment, the Minister +would overlook Popinot, who never set foot in the house of the High +Chancellor or the Chief Justice. From the High Court he was sent down to +the Common Court, and pushed to the lowest rung of the ladder by active +struggling men. There he was appointed supernumerary judge. There was +a general outcry among the lawyers: "Popinot a supernumerary!" Such +injustice struck the legal world with dismay--the attorneys, the +registrars, everybody but Popinot himself, who made no complaint. The +first clamor over, everybody was satisfied that all was for the best +in the best of all possible worlds, which must certainly be the legal +world. Popinot remained supernumerary judge till the day when the most +famous Great Seal under the Restoration avenged the oversights heaped on +this modest and uncomplaining man by the Chief Justices of the Empire. +After being a supernumerary for twelve years, M. Popinot would no doubt +die a puisne judge of the Court of the Seine. + +To account for the obscure fortunes of one of the superior men of the +legal profession, it is necessary to enter here into some details which +will serve to reveal his life and character, and which will, at the same +time, display some of the wheels of the great machine known as Justice. +M. Popinot was classed by the three Presidents who successively +controlled the Court of the Seine under the category of possible judges, +the stuff of which judges are made. Thus classified, he did not achieve +the reputation for capacity which his previous labors had deserved. +Just as a painter is invariably included in a category as a landscape +painter, a portrait painter, a painter of history, of sea pieces, or of +genre, by a public consisting of artists, connoisseurs, and simpletons, +who, out of envy, or critical omnipotence, or prejudice, fence in his +intellect, assuming, one and all, that there are ganglions in every +brain--a narrow judgment which the world applies to writers, to +statesmen, to everybody who begins with some specialty before being +hailed as omniscient; so Popinot's fate was sealed, and he was hedged +round to do a particular kind of work. Magistrates, attorneys, pleaders, +all who pasture on the legal common, distinguish two elements in +every case--law and equity. Equity is the outcome of facts, law is the +application of principles to facts. A man may be right in equity but +wrong in law, without any blame to the judge. Between his conscience and +the facts there is a whole gulf of determining reasons unknown to the +judge, but which condemn or legitimatize the act. A judge is not God; +the duty is to adapt facts to principles, to judge cases of infinite +variety while measuring them by a fixed standard. + +France employs about six thousand judges; no generation has six thousand +great men at her command, much less can she find them in the legal +profession. Popinot, in the midst of the civilization of Paris, was just +a very clever cadi, who, by the character of his mind, and by dint of +rubbing the letter of the law into the essence of facts, had learned to +see the error of spontaneous and violent decisions. By the help of his +judicial second-sight he could pierce the double casing of lies in +which advocates hide the heart of a trial. He was a judge, as the great +Desplein was a surgeon; he probed men's consciences as the anatomist +probed their bodies. His life and habits had led him to an exact +appreciation of their most secret thoughts by a thorough study of facts. + +He sifted a case as Cuvier sifted the earth's crust. Like that great +thinker, he proceeded from deduction to deduction before drawing his +conclusions, and reconstructed the past career of a conscience as Cuvier +reconstructed an Anoplotherium. When considering a brief he would often +wake in the night, startled by a gleam of truth suddenly sparkling +in his brain. Struck by the deep injustice, which is the end of these +contests, in which everything is against the honest man, everything +to the advantage of the rogue, he often summed up in favor of equity +against law in such cases as bore on questions of what may be termed +divination. Hence he was regarded by his colleagues as a man not of +a practical mind; his arguments on two lines of deduction made their +deliberations lengthy. When Popinot observed their dislike to listening +to him he gave his opinion briefly; it was said that he was not a good +judge in this class of cases; but as his gift of discrimination was +remarkable, his opinion lucid, and his penetration profound, he was +considered to have a special aptitude for the laborious duties of an +examining judge. So an examining judge he remained during the greater +part of his legal career. + +Although his qualifications made him eminently fitted for its difficult +functions, and he had the reputation of being so learned in criminal +law that his duty was a pleasure to him, the kindness of his heart +constantly kept him in torture, and he was nipped as in a vise between +his conscience and his pity. The services of an examining judge are +better paid than those of a judge in civil actions, but they do not +therefore prove a temptation; they are too onerous. Popinot, a man of +modest and virtuous learning, without ambition, an indefatigable +worker, never complained of his fate; he sacrificed his tastes and +his compassionate soul to the public good, and allowed himself to be +transported to the noisome pools of criminal examinations, where he +showed himself alike severe and beneficent. His clerk sometimes would +give the accused some money to buy tobacco, or a warm winter garment, +as he led him back from the judge's office to the Souriciere, the +mouse-trap--the House of Detention where the accused are kept under the +orders of the Examining Judge. He knew how to be an inflexible judge +and a charitable man. And no one extracted a confession so easily as +he without having recourse to judicial trickery. He had, too, all the +acumen of an observer. This man, apparently so foolishly good-natured, +simple, and absent-minded, could guess all the cunning of a prison +wag, unmask the astutest street huzzy, and subdue a scoundrel. Unusual +circumstances had sharpened his perspicacity; but to relate these we +must intrude on his domestic history, for in him the judge was the +social side of the man; another man, greater and less known, existed +within. + +Twelve years before the beginning of this story, in 1816, during the +terrible scarcity which coincided disastrously with the stay in +France of the so-called Allies, Popinot was appointed President of the +Commission Extraordinary formed to distribute food to the poor of his +neighborhood, just when he had planned to move from the Rue du Fouarre, +which he as little liked to live in as his wife did. The great lawyer, +the clear-sighted criminal judge, whose superiority seemed to his +colleagues a form of aberration, had for five years been watching legal +results without seeing their causes. As he scrambled up into the lofts, +as he saw the poverty, as he studied the desperate necessities which +gradually bring the poor to criminal acts, as he estimated their long +struggles, compassion filled his soul. The judge then became the Saint +Vincent de Paul of these grown-up children, these suffering toilers. +The transformation was not immediately complete. Beneficence has its +temptations as vice has. Charity consumes a saint's purse, as roulette +consumes the possessions of a gambler, quite gradually. Popinot went +from misery to misery, from charity to charity; then, by the time he had +lifted all the rags which cover public pauperism, like a bandage under +which an inflamed wound lies festering, at the end of a year he had +become the Providence incarnate of that quarter of the town. He was +a member of the Benevolent Committee and of the Charity Organization. +Wherever any gratuitous services were needed he was ready, and did +everything without fuss, like the man with the short cloak, who spends +his life in carrying soup round the markets and other places where there +are starving folks. + +Popinot was fortunate in acting on a larger circle and in a higher +sphere; he had an eye on everything, he prevented crime, he gave work to +the unemployed, he found a refuge for the helpless, he distributed +aid with discernment wherever danger threatened, he made himself the +counselor of the widow, the protector of homeless children, the sleeping +partner of small traders. No one at the Courts, no one in Paris, knew of +this secret life of Popinot's. There are virtues so splendid that they +necessitate obscurity; men make haste to hide them under a bushel. As to +those whom the lawyer succored, they, hard at work all day and tired +at night, were little able to sing his praises; theirs was the +gracelessness of children, who can never pay because they owe too much. +There is such compulsory ingratitude; but what heart that has sown good +to reap gratitude can think itself great? + +By the end of the second year of his apostolic work, Popinot had turned +the storeroom at the bottom of his house into a parlor, lighted by the +three iron-barred windows. The walls and ceiling of this spacious room +were whitewashed, and the furniture consisted of wooden benches like +those seen in schools, a clumsy cupboard, a walnut-wood writing-table, +and an armchair. In the cupboard were his registers of donations, his +tickets for orders for bread, and his diary. He kept his ledger like a +tradesman, that he might not be ruined by kindness. All the sorrows of +the neighborhood were entered and numbered in a book, where each had its +little account, as merchants' customers have theirs. When there was any +question as to a man or a family needing help, the lawyer could always +command information from the police. + +Lavienne, a man made for his master, was his aide-de-camp. He redeemed +or renewed pawn-tickets, and visited the districts most threatened with +famine, while his master was in court. + +From four till seven in the morning in summer, from six till nine +in winter, this room was full of women, children, and paupers, while +Popinot gave audience. There was no need for a stove in winter; the +crowd was so dense that the air was warmed; only, Lavienne strewed straw +on the wet floor. By long use the benches were as polished as varnished +mahogany; at the height of a man's shoulders the wall had a coat of +dark, indescribable color, given to it by the rags and tattered clothes +of these poor creatures. The poor wretches loved Popinot so well that +when they assembled before his door was opened, before daybreak on a +winter's morning, the women warming themselves with their foot-brasiers, +the men swinging their arms for circulation, never a sound had disturbed +his sleep. Rag-pickers and other toilers of the night knew the house, +and often saw a light burning in the lawyer's private room at unholy +hours. Even thieves, as they passed by, said, "That is his house," and +respected it. The morning he gave to the poor, the mid-day hours to +criminals, the evening to law work. + +Thus the gift of observation that characterized Popinot was necessarily +bifrons; he could guess the virtues of a pauper--good feelings nipped, +fine actions in embryo, unrecognized self-sacrifice, just as he could +read at the bottom of a man's conscience the faintest outlines of a +crime, the slenderest threads of wrongdoing, and infer all the rest. + +Popinot's inherited fortune was a thousand crowns a year. His wife, +sister to M. Bianchon _Senior_, a doctor at Sancerre, had brought him +about twice as much. She, dying five years since, had left her fortune +to her husband. As the salary of a supernumerary judge is not large, +and Popinot had been a fully salaried judge only for four years, we may +guess his reasons for parsimony in all that concerned his person and +mode of life, when we consider how small his means were and how great +his beneficence. Besides, is not such indifference to dress as stamped +Popinot an absent-minded man, a distinguishing mark of scientific +attainment, of art passionately pursued, of a perpetually active mind? +To complete this portrait, it will be enough to add that Popinot was one +of the few judges of the Court of the Seine on whom the ribbon of the +Legion of Honor had not been conferred. + +Such was the man who had been instructed by the President of the +Second Chamber of the Court--to which Popinot had belonged since his +reinstatement among the judges in civil law--to examine the Marquis +d'Espard at the request of his wife, who sued for a Commission in +Lunacy. + +The Rue du Fouarre, where so many unhappy wretches swarmed in the early +morning, would be deserted by nine o'clock, and as gloomy and squalid as +ever. Bianchon put his horse to a trot in order to find his uncle in the +midst of his business. It was not without a smile that he thought of the +curious contrast the judge's appearance would make in Madame d'Espard's +room; but he promised himself that he would persuade him to dress in a +way that should not be too ridiculous. + +"If only my uncle happens to have a new coat!" said Bianchon to himself, +as he turned into the Rue du Fouarre, where a pale light shone from +the parlor windows. "I shall do well, I believe, to talk that over with +Lavienne." + +At the sound of wheels half a score of startled paupers came out from +under the gateway, and took off their hats on recognizing Bianchon; for +the doctor, who treated gratuitously the sick recommended to him by the +lawyer, was not less well known than he to the poor creatures assembled +there. + +Bianchon found his uncle in the middle of the parlor, where the benches +were occupied by patients presenting such grotesque singularities of +costume as would have made the least artistic passer-by turn round +to gaze at them. A draughtsman--a Rembrandt, if there were one in our +day--might have conceived of one of his finest compositions from seeing +these children of misery, in artless attitudes, and all silent. + +Here was the rugged countenance of an old man with a white beard and +an apostolic head--a Saint Peter ready to hand; his chest, partly +uncovered, showed salient muscles, the evidence of an iron constitution +which had served him as a fulcrum to resist a whole poem of sorrows. +There a young woman was suckling her youngest-born to keep it from +crying, while another of about five stood between her knees. Her white +bosom, gleaming amid rags, the baby with its transparent flesh-tints, +and the brother, whose attitude promised a street arab in the future, +touched the fancy with pathos by its almost graceful contrast with the +long row of faces crimson with cold, in the midst of which sat this +family group. Further away, an old woman, pale and rigid, had the +repulsive look of rebellious pauperism, eager to avenge all its past +woes in one day of violence. + +There, again, was the young workman, weakly and indolent, whose brightly +intelligent eye revealed fine faculties crushed by necessity struggled +with in vain, saying nothing of his sufferings, and nearly dead for lack +of an opportunity to squeeze between the bars of the vast stews where +the wretched swim round and round and devour each other. + +The majority were women; their husbands, gone to their work, left it +to them, no doubt, to plead the cause of the family with the ingenuity +which characterizes the woman of the people, who is almost always queen +in her hovel. You would have seen a torn bandana on every head, on every +form a skirt deep in mud, ragged kerchiefs, worn and dirty jackets, but +eyes that burnt like live coals. It was a horrible assemblage, raising +at first sight a feeling of disgust, but giving a certain sense of +terror the instant you perceived that the resignation of these souls, +all engaged in the struggle for every necessary of life, was purely +fortuitous, a speculation on benevolence. The two tallow candles which +lighted the parlor flickered in a sort of fog caused by the fetid +atmosphere of the ill-ventilated room. + +The magistrate himself was not the least picturesque figure in the midst +of this assembly. He had on his head a rusty cotton night-cap; as he had +no cravat, his neck was visible, red with cold and wrinkled, in contrast +with the threadbare collar of his old dressing-gown. His worn face had +the half-stupid look that comes of absorbed attention. His lips, like +those of all men who work, were puckered up like a bag with the strings +drawn tight. His knitted brows seemed to bear the burden of all the +sorrows confided to him: he felt, analyzed, and judged them all. As +watchful as a Jew money-lender, he never raised his eyes from his books +and registers but to look into the very heart of the persons he was +examining, with the flashing glance by which a miser expresses his +alarm. + +Lavienne, standing behind his master, ready to carry out his orders, +served no doubt as a sort of police, and welcomed newcomers by +encouraging them to get over their shyness. When the doctor appeared +there was a stir on the benches. Lavienne turned his head, and was +strangely surprised to see Bianchon. + +"Ah! It is you, old boy!" exclaimed Popinot, stretching himself. "What +brings you so early?" + +"I was afraid lest you should make an official visit about which I wish +to speak to you before I could see you." + +"Well," said the lawyer, addressing a stout little woman who was still +standing close to him, "if you do not tell me what it is you want, I +cannot guess it, child." + +"Make haste," said Lavienne. "Do not waste other people's time." + +"Monsieur," said the woman at last, turning red, and speaking so low as +only to be heard by Popinot and Lavienne, "I have a green-grocery truck, +and I have my last baby to nurse, and I owe for his keep. Well, I had +hidden my little bit of money----" + +"Yes; and your man took it?" said Popinot, guessing the sequel. + +"Yes, sir." + +"What is your name?" + +"La Pomponne." + +"And your husband's?" + +"Toupinet." + +"Rue du Petit-Banquier?" said Popinot, turning over his register. "He +is in prison," he added, reading a note at the margin of the section in +which this family was described. + +"For debt, my kind monsieur." + +Popinot shook his head. + +"But I have nothing to buy any stock for my truck; the landlord came +yesterday and made me pay up; otherwise I should have been turned out." + +Lavienne bent over his master, and whispered in his ear. + +"Well, how much do you want to buy fruit in the market?" + +"Why, my good monsieur, to carry on my business, I should want--Yes, I +should certainly want ten francs." + +Popinot signed to Lavienne, who took ten francs out of a large bag, and +handed them to the woman, while the lawyer made a note of the loan in +his ledger. As he saw the thrill of delight that made the poor hawker +tremble, Bianchon understood the apprehensions that must have agitated +her on her way to the lawyer's house. + +"You next," said Lavienne to the old man with the white beard. + +Bianchon drew the servant aside, and asked him how long this audience +would last. + +"Monsieur has had two hundred persons this morning, and there are eight +to be turned off," said Lavienne. "You will have time to pay your early +visit, sir." + +"Here, my boy," said the lawyer, turning round and taking Horace by the +arm; "here are two addresses near this--one in the Rue de Seine, and the +other in the Rue de l'Arbalete. Go there at once. Rue de Seine, a young +girl has just asphyxiated herself; and Rue de l'Arbalete, you will find +a man to remove to your hospital. I will wait breakfast for you." + +Bianchon returned an hour later. The Rue du Fouarre was deserted; day +was beginning to dawn there; his uncle had gone up to his rooms; the +last poor wretch whose misery the judge had relieved was departing, and +Lavienne's money bag was empty. + +"Well, how are they going on?" asked the old lawyer, as the doctor came +in. + +"The man is dead," replied Bianchon; "the girl will get over it." + +Since the eye and hand of a woman had been lacking, the flat in which +Popinot lived had assumed an aspect in harmony with its master's. The +indifference of a man who is absorbed in one dominant idea had set its +stamp of eccentricity on everything. Everywhere lay unconquerable +dust, every object was adapted to a wrong purpose with a pertinacity +suggestive of a bachelor's home. There were papers in the flower vases, +empty ink-bottles on the tables, plates that had been forgotten, matches +used as tapers for a minute when something had to be found, drawers or +boxes half-turned out and left unfinished; in short, all the confusion +and vacancies resulting from plans for order never carried out. The +lawyer's private room, especially disordered by this incessant rummage, +bore witness to his unresting pace, the hurry of a man overwhelmed with +business, hunted by contradictory necessities. The bookcase looked as +if it had been sacked; there were books scattered over everything, +some piled up open, one on another, others on the floor face downwards; +registers of proceedings laid on the floor in rows, lengthwise, in front +of the shelves; and that floor had not been polished for two years. + +The tables and shelves were covered with ex votos, the offerings of +the grateful poor. On a pair of blue glass jars which ornamented the +chimney-shelf there were two glass balls, of which the core was made up +of many-colored fragments, giving them the appearance of some singular +natural product. Against the wall hung frames of artificial flowers, and +decorations in which Popinot's initials were surrounded by hearts and +everlasting flowers. Here were boxes of elaborate and useless cabinet +work; there letter-weights carved in the style of work done by +convicts in penal servitude. These masterpieces of patience, enigmas of +gratitude, and withered bouquets gave the lawyer's room the appearance +of a toyshop. The good man used these works of art as hiding-places +which he filled with bills, worn-out pens, and scraps of paper. All +these pathetic witnesses to his divine charity were thick with dust, +dingy, and faded. + +Some birds, beautifully stuffed, but eaten by moth, perched in this +wilderness of trumpery, presided over by an Angora cat, Madame Popinot's +pet, restored to her no doubt with all the graces of life by some +impecunious naturalist, who thus repaid a gift of charity with a +perennial treasure. Some local artist whose heart had misguided his +brush had painted portraits of M. and Madame Popinot. Even in the +bedroom there were embroidered pin-cushions, landscapes in cross-stitch, +and crosses in folded paper, so elaborately cockled as to show the +senseless labor they had cost. + +The window-curtains were black with smoke, and the hangings absolutely +colorless. Between the fireplace and the large square table at which the +magistrate worked, the cook had set two cups of coffee on a small table, +and two armchairs, in mahogany and horsehair, awaited the uncle and +nephew. As daylight, darkened by the windows, could not penetrate to +this corner, the cook had left two dips burning, whose unsnuffed wicks +showed a sort of mushroom growth, giving the red light which promises +length of life to the candle from slowness of combustion--a discovery +due to some miser. + +"My dear uncle, you ought to wrap yourself more warmly when you go down +to that parlor." + +"I cannot bear to keep them waiting, poor souls!--Well, and what do you +want of me?" + +"I have come to ask you to dine to-morrow with the Marquise d'Espard." + +"A relation of ours?" asked Popinot, with such genuine absence of mind +that Bianchon laughed. + +"No, uncle; the Marquise d'Espard is a high and puissant lady, who has +laid before the Courts a petition desiring that a Commission in Lunacy +should sit on her husband, and you are appointed----" + +"And you want me to dine with her! Are you mad?" said the lawyer, taking +up the code of proceedings. "Here, only read this article, prohibiting +any magistrate's eating or drinking in the house of either of two +parties whom he is called upon to decide between. Let her come and see +me, your Marquise, if she has anything to say to me. I was, in fact, +to go to examine her husband to-morrow, after working the case up +to-night." + +He rose, took up a packet of papers that lay under a weight where he +could see it, and after reading the title, he said: + +"Here is the affidavit. Since you take an interest in this high and +puissant lady, let us see what she wants." + +Popinot wrapped his dressing-gown across his body, from which it was +constantly slipping and leaving his chest bare; he sopped his bread in +the half-cold coffee, and opened the petition, which he read, allowing +himself to throw in a parenthesis now and then, and some discussions, in +which his nephew took part:-- + +"'To Monsieur the President of the Civil Tribunal of the Lower Court of +the Department of the Seine, sitting at the Palais de Justice. + +"'Madame Jeanne Clementine Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, wife of +M. Charles Maurice Marie Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis +d'Espard'--a very good family--'landowner, the said Mme. d'Espard living +in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, No. 104, and the said M. d'Espard +in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, No. 22,'--to be sure, the +President told me he lived in this part of the town--'having for her +solicitor Maitre Desroches'--Desroches! a pettifogging jobber, a man +looked down upon by his brother lawyers, and who does his clients no +good--" + +"Poor fellow!" said Bianchon, "unluckily he has no money, and he rushes +round like the devil in holy water--That is all." + +"'Has the honor to submit to you, Monsieur the President, that for a +year past the moral and intellectual powers of her husband, M. d'Espard, +have undergone so serious a change, that at the present day they have +reached the state of dementia and idiocy provided for by Article 448 of +the Civil Code, and require the application of the remedies set forth +by that article, for the security of his fortune and his person, and to +guard the interest of his children whom he keeps to live with him. + +"'That, in point of fact, the mental condition of M. d'Espard, which +for some years has given grounds for alarm based on the system he has +pursued in the management of his affairs, has reached, during the last +twelvemonth, a deplorable depth of depression; that his infirm will was +the first thing to show the results of the malady; and that its effete +state leaves M. the Marquis d'Espard exposed to all the perils of his +incompetency, as is proved by the following facts: + +"'For a long time all the income accruing from M. d'Espard's estates are +paid, without any reasonable cause, or even temporary advantage, +into the hands of an old woman, whose repulsive ugliness is generally +remarked on, named Madame Jeanrenaud, living sometimes in Paris, Rue +de la Vrilliere, No. 8, sometimes at Villeparisis, near Claye, in the +Department of Seine et Marne, and for the benefit of her son, aged +thirty-six, an officer in the ex-Imperial Guards, whom the Marquis +d'Espard has placed by his influence in the King's Guards, as Major in +the First Regiment of Cuirassiers. These two persons, who in 1814 +were in extreme poverty, have since then purchased house-property of +considerable value; among other items, quite recently, a large house +in the Grand Rue Verte, where the said Jeanrenaud is laying out +considerable sums in order to settle there with the woman Jeanrenaud, +intending to marry: these sums amount already to more than a hundred +thousand francs. The marriage has been arranged by the intervention of +M. d'Espard with his banker, one Mongenod, whose niece he has asked +in marriage for the said Jeanrenaud, promising to use his influence +to procure him the title and dignity of baron. This has in fact been +secured by His Majesty's letters patent, dated December 29th of last +year, at the request of the Marquis d'Espard, as can be proved by His +Excellency the Keeper of the Seals, if the Court should think proper to +require his testimony. + +"'That no reason, not even such as morality and the law would concur in +disapproving, can justify the influence which the said Mme. Jeanrenaud +exerts over M. d'Espard, who, indeed, sees her very seldom; nor account +for his strange affection for the said Baron Jeanrenaud, Major with whom +he has but little intercourse. And yet their power is so considerable, +that whenever they need money, if only to gratify a mere whim, this +lady, or her son----' Heh, heh! _No reason even such as morality and the +law concur in disapproving!_ What does the clerk or the attorney mean to +insinuate?" said Popinot. + +Bianchon laughed. + +"'This lady, or her son, obtain whatever they ask of the Marquis +d'Espard without demur; and if he has not ready money, M. d'Espard draws +bills to be paid by the said Mongenod, who has offered to give evidence +to that effect for the petitioner. + +"'That, moreover, in further proof of these facts, lately, on the +occasion of the renewal of the leases on the Espard estate, the farmers +having paid a considerable premium for the renewal of their leases on +the old terms, M. Jeanrenaud at once secured the payment of it into his +own hands. + +"'That the Marquis d'Espard parts with these sums of money so little of +his own free-will, that when he was spoken to on the subject he seemed +to remember nothing of the matter; that whenever anybody of any weight +has questioned him as to his devotion to these two persons, his replies +have shown so complete an absence of ideas and of sense of his own +interests, that there obviously must be some occult cause at work to +which the petitioner begs to direct the eye of justice, inasmuch as it +is impossible but that this cause should be criminal, malignant, and +wrongful, or else of a nature to come under medical jurisdiction; +unless this influence is of the kind which constitutes an abuse of moral +power--such as can only be described by the word _possession_----'The +devil!" exclaimed Popinot. "What do you say to that, doctor. These are +strange statements." + +"They might certainly," said Bianchon, "be an effect of magnetic force." + +"Then do you believe in Mesmer's nonsense, and his tub, and seeing +through walls?" + +"Yes, uncle," said the doctor gravely. "As I heard you read that +petition I thought of that. I assure you that I have verified, in +another sphere of action, several analogous facts proving the unlimited +influence one man may acquire over another. In contradiction to the +opinion of my brethren, I am perfectly convinced of the power of the +will regarded as a motor force. All collusion and charlatanism apart, +I have seen the results of such a possession. Actions promised during +sleep by a magnetized patient to the magnetizer have been scrupulously +performed on waking. The will of one had become the will of the other." + +"Every kind of action?" + +"Yes." + +"Even a criminal act?" + +"Even a crime." + +"If it were not from you, I would not listen to such a thing." + +"I will make you witness it," said Bianchon. + +"Hm, hm," muttered the lawyer. "But supposing that this so-called +possession fell under this class of facts, it would be difficult to +prove it as legal evidence." + +"If this woman Jeanrenaud is so hideously old and ugly, I do not see +what other means of fascination she can have used," observed Bianchon. + +"But," observed the lawyer, "in 1814, the time at which this fascination +is supposed to have taken place, this woman was fourteen years younger; +if she had been connected with M. d'Espard ten years before that, these +calculations take us back four-and-twenty years, to a time when the lady +may have been young and pretty, and have won for herself and her son a +power over M. d'Espard which some men do not know how to evade. Though +the source of this power is reprehensible in the sight of justice, it +is justifiable in the eye of nature. Madame Jeanrenaud may have been +aggrieved by the marriage, contracted probably at about that time, +between the Marquis d'Espard and Mademoiselle de Blamont-Chauvry, and at +the bottom of all this there may be nothing more than the rivalry of +two women, since the Marquis had for a long time lived apart from Mme. +d'Espard." + +"But her repulsive ugliness, uncle?" + +"Power of fascination is in direct proportion to ugliness," said the +lawyer; "that is the old story. And then think of the smallpox, doctor. +But to proceed. + +"'That so long ago as in 1815, in order to supply the sums of money +required by these two persons, the Marquis d'Espard went with his two +children to live in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, in +rooms quite unworthy of his name and rank'--well, we may live as +we please--'that he keeps his two children there, the Comte Clement +d'Espard and Vicomte Camille d'Espard, in a style of living quite +unsuited to their future prospects, their name and fortune; that he +often wants money, to such a point, that not long since the landlord, +one Mariast, put in an execution on the furniture in the rooms; that +when this execution was carried out in his presence, the Marquis +d'Espard helped the bailiff, whom he treated like a man of rank, paying +him all the marks of attention and respect which he would have shown to +a person of superior birth and dignity to himself.'" + +The uncle and nephew glanced at each other and laughed. + +"'That, moreover, every act of his life, besides the facts with +reference to the widow Jeanrenaud and the Baron Jeanrenaud, her son, are +those of a madman; that for nearly ten years he has given his thoughts +exclusively to China, its customs, manners, and history; that he refers +everything to a Chinese origin; that when he is questioned on the +subject, he confuses the events of the day and the business of +yesterday with facts relating to China; that he censures the acts of +the Government and the conduct of the King, though he is personally much +attached to him, by comparing them with the politics of China; + +"'That this monomania has driven the Marquis d'Espard to conduct devoid +of all sense: against the customs of men of rank, and, in opposition to +his own professed ideas as to the duties of the nobility, he has joined +a commercial undertaking, for which he constantly draws bills which, as +they fall due, threaten both his honor and his fortune, since they +stamp him as a trader, and in default of payment may lead to his being +declared insolvent; that these debts, which are owing to stationers, +printers, lithographers, and print-colorists, who have supplied the +materials for his publication, called A Picturesque History of China, +now coming out in parts, are so heavy that these tradesmen have +requested the petitioner to apply for a Commission in Lunacy with regard +to the Marquis d'Espard in order to save their own credit.'" + +"The man is mad!" exclaimed Bianchon. + +"You think so, do you?" said his uncle. "If you listen to only one bell, +you hear only one sound." + +"But it seems to me----" said Bianchon. + +"But it seems to me," said Popinot, "that if any relation of mine wanted +to get hold of the management of my affairs, and if, instead of being a +humble lawyer, whose colleagues can, any day, verify what his condition +is, I were a duke of the realm, an attorney with a little cunning, like +Desroches, might bring just such a petition against me. + +"'That his children's education has been neglected for this monomania; +and that he has taught them, against all the rules of education, the +facts of Chinese history, which contradict the tenets of the Catholic +Church. He also has them taught the Chinese dialects.'" + +"Here Desroches strikes me as funny," said Bianchon. + +"The petition is drawn up by his head-clerk Godeschal, who, as you know, +is not strong in Chinese," said the lawyer. + +"'That he often leaves his children destitute of the most necessary +things; that the petitioner, notwithstanding her entreaties, can never +see them; that the said Marquis d'Espard brings them to her only once a +year; that, knowing the privations to which they are exposed, she makes +vain efforts to give them the things most necessary for their +existence, and which they require----' Oh! Madame la Marquise, this is +preposterous. By proving too much you prove nothing.--My dear boy," said +the old man, laying the document on his knee, "where is the mother who +ever lacked heart and wit and yearning to such a degree as to fall +below the inspirations suggested by her animal instinct? A mother is as +cunning to get at her children as a girl can be in the conduct of a love +intrigue. If your Marquise really wanted to give her children food and +clothes, the Devil himself would not have hindered her, heh? That is +rather too big a fable for an old lawyer to swallow!--To proceed. + +"'That at the age the said children have now attained it is necessary +that steps should be taken to preserve them from the evil effects of +such an education; that they should be provided for as beseems their +rank, and that they should cease to have before their eyes the sad +example of their father's conduct; + +"'That there are proofs in support of these allegations which the Court +can easily order to be produced. Many times has M. d'Espard spoken +of the judge of the Twelfth Arrondissement as a mandarin of the third +class; he often speaks of the professors of the College Henri IV. as +"men of letters"'--and that offends them! 'In speaking of the simplest +things, he says, "They were not done so in China;" in the course of +the most ordinary conversation he will sometimes allude to Madame +Jeanrenaud, or sometimes to events which happened in the time of Louis +XIV., and then sit plunged in the darkest melancholy; sometimes he +fancies he is in China. Several of his neighbors, among others one Edme +Becker, medical student, and Jean Baptiste Fremiot, a professor, living +under the same roof, are of opinion, after frequent intercourse with the +Marquis d'Espard, that his monomania with regard to everything Chinese +is the result of a scheme laid by the said Baron Jeanrenaud and the +widow his mother to bring about the deadening of all the Marquis +d'Espard's mental faculties, since the only service which Mme. +Jeanrenaud appears to render M. d'Espard is to procure him everything +that relates to the Chinese Empire; + +"'Finally, that the petitioner is prepared to show to the Court that the +moneys absorbed by the said Baron and Mme. Jeanrenaud between 1814 and +1828 amount to not less than one million francs. + +"'In confirmation of the facts herein set forth, the petitioner can +bring the evidence of persons who are in the habit of seeing the Marquis +d'Espard, whose names and professions are subjoined, many of whom +have urged her to demand a commission in lunacy to declare M. d'Espard +incapable of managing his own affairs, as being the only way to preserve +his fortune from the effects of his maladministration and his children +from his fatal influence. + +"'Taking all this into consideration, M. le President, and the +affidavits subjoined, the petitioner desires that it may please you, +inasmuch as the foregoing facts sufficiently prove the insanity and +incompetency of the Marquis d'Espard herein described with his titles +and residence, to order that, to the end that he may be declared +incompetent by law, this petition and the documents in evidence may be +laid before the King's public prosecutor; and that you will charge one +of the judges of this Court to make his report to you on any day you may +be pleased to name, and thereupon to pronounce judgment,' etc. + +"And here," said Popinot, "is the President's order instructing +me!--Well, what does the Marquise d'Espard want with me? I know +everything. But I shall go to-morrow with my registrar to see M. le +Marquis, for this does not seem at all clear to me." + +"Listen, my dear uncle, I have never asked the least little favor of you +that had to do with your legal functions; well, now I beg you to show +Madame d'Espard the kindness which her situation deserves. If she came +here, you would listen to her?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, then, go and listen to her in her own house. Madame d'Espard is +a sickly, nervous, delicate woman, who would faint in your rat-hole of a +place. Go in the evening, instead of accepting her dinner, since the law +forbids your eating or drinking at your client's expense." + +"And does not the law forbid you from taking any legacy from your dead?" +said Popinot, fancying that he saw a touch of irony on his nephew's +lips. + +"Come, uncle, if it were only to enable you to get at the truth of this +business, grant my request. You will come as the examining judge, since +matters do not seem to you very clear. Deuce take it! It is as necessary +to cross-question the Marquise as it is to examine the Marquis." + +"You are right," said the lawyer. "It is quite possible that it is she +who is mad. I will go." + +"I will call for you. Write down in your engagement book: 'To-morrow +evening at nine, Madame d'Espard.'--Good!" said Bianchon, seeing his +uncle make a note of the engagement. + + + +Next evening at nine Bianchon mounted his uncle's dusty staircase, and +found him at work on the statement of some complicated judgment. The +coat Lavienne had ordered of the tailor had not been sent, so Popinot +put on his old stained coat, and was the Popinot unadorned whose +appearance made those laugh who did not know the secrets of his +private life. Bianchon, however, obtained permission to pull his cravat +straight, and to button his coat, and he hid the stains by crossing the +breast of it with the right side over the left, and so displaying the +new front of the cloth. But in a minute the judge rucked the coat +up over his chest by the way in which he stuffed his hands into his +pockets, obeying an irresistible habit. Thus the coat, deeply wrinkled +both in front and behind, made a sort of hump in the middle of the back, +leaving a gap between the waistcoat and trousers through which his shirt +showed. Bianchon, to his sorrow, only discovered this crowning absurdity +at the moment when his uncle entered the Marquise's room. + +A brief sketch of the person and the career of the lady in whose +presence the doctor and the judge now found themselves is necessary for +an understanding of her interview with Popinot. + +Madame d'Espard had, for the last seven years, been very much the +fashion in Paris, where Fashion can raise and drop by turns various +personages who, now great and now small, that is to say, in view or +forgotten, are at last quite intolerable--as discarded ministers are, +and every kind of decayed sovereignty. These flatterers of the past, +odious with their stale pretensions, know everything, speak ill of +everything, and, like ruined profligates, are friends with all the +world. Since her husband had separated from her in 1815, Madame d'Espard +must have married in the beginning of 1812. Her children, therefore, +were aged respectively fifteen and thirteen. By what luck was the mother +of a family, about three-and-thirty years of age, still the fashion? + +Though Fashion is capricious, and no one can foresee who shall be her +favorites, though she often exalts a banker's wife, or some woman of +very doubtful elegance and beauty, it certainly seems supernatural when +Fashion puts on constitutional airs and gives promotion for age. But +in this case Fashion had done as the world did, and accepted Madame +d'Espard as still young. + +The Marquise, who was thirty-three by her register of birth, was +twenty-two in a drawing-room in the evening. But by what care, what +artifice! Elaborate curls shaded her temples. She condemned herself to +live in twilight, affecting illness so as to sit under the protecting +tones of light filtered through muslin. Like Diane de Poitiers, she used +cold water in her bath, and, like her again, the Marquise slept on a +horse-hair mattress, with morocco-covered pillows to preserve her hair; +she ate very little, only drank water, and observed monastic regularity +in the smallest actions of her life. + +This severe system has, it is said, been carried so far as to the use of +ice instead of water, and nothing but cold food, by a famous Polish lady +of our day who spends a life, now verging on a century old, after the +fashion of a town belle. Fated to live as long as Marion Delorme, whom +history has credited with surviving to be a hundred and thirty, the old +vice-queen of Poland, at the age of nearly a hundred, has the heart +and brain of youth, a charming face, an elegant shape; and in her +conversation, sparkling with brilliancy like faggots in the fire, she +can compare the men and books of our literature with the men and books +of the eighteenth century. Living in Warsaw, she orders her caps of +Herbault in Paris. She is a great lady with the amiability of a mere +girl; she swims, she runs like a schoolboy, and can sink on to a sofa +with the grace of a young coquette; she mocks at death, and laughs at +life. After having astonished the Emperor Alexander, she can still amaze +the Emperor Nicholas by the splendor of her entertainments. She can +still bring tears to the eyes of a youthful lover, for her age is +whatever she pleases, and she has the exquisite self-devotion of a +grisette. In short, she is herself a fairy tale, unless, indeed, she is +a fairy. + +Had Madame d'Espard known Madame Zayonseck? Did she mean to imitate +her career? Be that as it may, the Marquise proved the merits of the +treatment; her complexion was clear, her brow unwrinkled, her figure, +like that of Henri II.'s lady-love, preserved the litheness, the +freshness, the covered charms which bring a woman love and keep it +alive. The simple precautions of this course, suggested by art and +nature, and perhaps by experience, had met in her with a general system +which confirmed the results. The Marquise was absolutely indifferent +to everything that was not herself: men amused her, but no man had +ever caused her those deep agitations which stir both natures to their +depths, and wreck one on the other. She knew neither hatred nor love. +When she was offended, she avenged herself coldly, quietly, at her +leisure, waiting for the opportunity to gratify the ill-will she +cherished against anybody who dwelt in her unfavorable remembrance. She +made no fuss, she did not excite herself, she talked, because she knew +that by two words a woman may cause the death of three men. + +She had parted from M. d'Espard with the greatest satisfaction. Had he +not taken with him two children who at present were troublesome, and in +the future would stand in the way of her pretensions? Her most intimate +friends, as much as her least persistent admirers, seeing about her none +of Cornelia's jewels, who come and go, and unconsciously betray their +mother's age, took her for quite a young woman. The two boys, about +whom she seemed so anxious in her petition, were, like their father, as +unknown in the world as the northwest passage is unknown to navigators. +M. d'Espard was supposed to be an eccentric personage who had deserted +his wife without having the smallest cause for complaint against her. + +Mistress of herself at two-and-twenty, and mistress of her fortune of +twenty-six thousand francs a year, the Marquise hesitated long before +deciding on a course of action and ordering her life. Though she +benefited by the expenses her husband had incurred in his house, though +she had all the furniture, the carriages, the horses, in short, all the +details of a handsome establishment, she lived a retired life during the +years 1816, 17, and 18, a time when families were recovering from the +disasters resulting from political tempests. She belonged to one of the +most important and illustrious families of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, +and her parents advised her to live with them as much as possible after +the separation forced upon her by her husband's inexplicable caprice. + +In 1820 the Marquise roused herself from her lethargy; she went to +Court, appeared at parties, and entertained in her own house. From 1821 +to 1827 she lived in great style, and made herself remarked for her +taste and her dress; she had a day, an hour, for receiving visits, and +ere long she had seated herself on the throne, occupied before her by +Madame la Vicomtesse de Beauseant, the Duchesse de Langeais, and Madame +Firmiani--who on her marriage with M. de Camps had resigned the sceptre +in favor of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, from whom Madame d'Espard +snatched it. The world knew nothing beyond this of the private live +of the Marquise d'Espard. She seemed likely to shine for long on the +Parisian horizon, like the sun near its setting, but which will never +set. + +The Marquise was on terms of great intimacy with a duchess as famous for +her beauty as for her attachment to a prince just now in banishment, +but accustomed to play a leading part in every prospective government. +Madame d'Espard was also a friend of a foreign lady, with whom a famous +and very wily Russian diplomate was in the habit of discussing public +affairs. And then an antiquated countess, who was accustomed to shuffle +the cards for the great game of politics, had adopted her in a maternal +fashion. Thus, to any man of high ambitions, Madame d'Espard was +preparing a covert but very real influence to follow the public and +frivolous ascendency she now owed to fashion. Her drawing-room +was acquiring political individuality: "What do they say at Madame +d'Espard's?" "Are they against the measure in Madame d'Espard's +drawing-room?" were questions repeated by a sufficient number of +simpletons to give the flock of the faithful who surrounded her the +importance of a coterie. A few damaged politicians whose wounds she had +bound up, and whom she flattered, pronounced her as capable in diplomacy +as the wife of the Russian ambassador to London. The Marquise had indeed +several times suggested to deputies or to peers words and ideas that had +rung through Europe. She had often judged correctly of certain events on +which her circle of friends dared not express an opinion. The principal +persons about the Court came in the evening to play whist in her rooms. + +Then she also had the qualities of her defects; she was thought to +be--and she was--indiscreet. Her friendship seemed to be staunch; she +worked for her proteges with a persistency which showed that she cared +less for patronage than for increased influence. This conduct was based +on her dominant passion, Vanity. Conquests and pleasure, which so many +women love, to her seemed only means to an end; she aimed at living on +every point of the largest circle that life can describe. + +Among the men still young, and to whom the future belonged, who crowded +her drawing-room on great occasions, were to be seen MM. de Marsay and +de Ronquerolles, de Montriveau, de la Roche-Hugon, de Serizy, Ferraud, +Maxime de Trailles, de Listomere, the two Vandenesses, du Chatelet, +and others. She would frequently receive a man whose wife she would not +admit, and her power was great enough to induce certain ambitious men to +submit to these hard conditions, such as two famous royalist bankers, M. +de Nucingen and Ferdinand du Tillet. She had so thoroughly studied the +strength and the weakness of Paris life, that her conduct had never +given any man the smallest advantage over her. An enormous price might +have been set on a note or letter by which she might have compromised +herself, without one being produced. + +If an arid soul enabled her to play her part to the life, her person was +no less available for it. She had a youthful figure. Her voice was, at +will, soft and fresh, or clear and hard. She possessed in the highest +degree the secret of that aristocratic pose by which a woman wipes out +the past. The Marquise knew well the art of setting an immense space +between herself and the sort of man who fancies he may be familiar after +some chance advances. Her imposing gaze could deny everything. In her +conversation fine and beautiful sentiments and noble resolutions flowed +naturally, as it seemed, from a pure heart and soul; but in reality she +was all self, and quite capable of blasting a man who was clumsy in +his negotiations, at the very time when she was shamelessly making a +compromise for the benefit of her own interest. + +Rastignac, in trying to fasten on to this woman, had discerned her to +be the cleverest of tools, but he had not yet used it; far from handling +it, he was already finding himself crushed by it. This young Condottiere +of the brain, condemned, like Napoleon, to give battle constantly, while +knowing that a single defeat would prove the grave of his fortunes, had +met a dangerous adversary in his protectress. For the first time in his +turbulent life, he was playing a game with a partner worthy of him. He +saw a place as Minister in the conquest of Madame d'Espard, so he was +her tool till he could make her his--a perilous beginning. + +The Hotel d'Espard needed a large household, and the Marquise had +a great number of servants. The grand receptions were held in the +ground-floor rooms, but she lived on the first floor of the house. The +perfect order of a fine staircase splendidly decorated, and rooms fitted +in the dignified style which formerly prevailed at Versailles, spoke of +an immense fortune. When the judge saw the carriage gates thrown open +to admit his nephew's cab, he took in with a rapid glance the lodge, the +porter, the courtyard, the stables, the arrangement of the house, +the flowers that decorated the stairs, the perfect cleanliness of the +banisters, walls, and carpets, and counted the footmen in livery who, as +the bell rang, appeared on the landing. His eyes, which only yesterday +in his parlor had sounded the dignity of misery under the muddy clothing +of the poor, now studied with the same penetrating vision the furniture +and splendor of the rooms he passed through, to pierce the misery of +grandeur. + +"M. Popinot--M. Bianchon." + +The two names were pronounced at the door of the boudoir where the +Marquise was sitting, a pretty room recently refurnished, and looking +out on the garden behind the house. At the moment Madame d'Espard was +seated in one of the old rococo armchairs of which Madame had set the +fashion. Rastignac was at her left hand on a low chair, in which he +looked settled like an Italian lady's "cousin." A third person was +standing by the corner of the chimney-piece. As the shrewd doctor had +suspected, the Marquise was a woman of a parched and wiry constitution. +But for her regimen her complexion must have taken the ruddy tone +that is produced by constant heat; but she added to the effect of her +acquired pallor by the strong colors of the stuffs she hung her rooms +with, or in which she dressed. Reddish-brown, marone, bistre with a +golden light in it, suited her to perfection. Her boudoir, copied from +that of a famous lady then at the height of fashion in London, was in +tan-colored velvet; but she had added various details of ornament which +moderated the pompous splendor of this royal hue. Her hair was dressed +like a girl's in bands ending in curls, which emphasized the rather +long oval of her face; but an oval face is as majestic as a round one is +ignoble. The mirrors, cut with facets to lengthen or flatten the face at +will, amply proved the rule as applied to the physiognomy. + +On seeing Popinot, who stood in the doorway craning his neck like a +startled animal, with his left hand in his pocket, and the right hand +holding a hat with a greasy lining, the Marquise gave Rastignac a look +wherein lay a germ of mockery. The good man's rather foolish appearance +was so completely in harmony with his grotesque figure and scared looks, +that Rastignac, catching sight of Bianchon's dejected expression of +humiliation through his uncle, could not help laughing, and turned away. +The Marquise bowed a greeting, and made a great effort to rise from her +seat, falling back again, not without grace, with an air of apologizing +for her incivility by affected weakness. + +At this instant the person who was standing between the fireplace and +the door bowed slightly, and pushed forward two chairs, which he offered +by a gesture to the doctor and the judge; then, when they had seated +themselves, he leaned against the wall again, crossing his arms. + +A word as to this man. There is living now, in our day, a +painter--Decamps--who possesses in the very highest degree the art of +commanding your interest in everything he sets before your eyes, whether +it be a stone or a man. In this respect his pencil is more skilful than +his brush. He will sketch an empty room and leave a broom against the +wall. If he chooses, you shall shudder; you shall believe that this +broom has just been the instrument of crime, and is dripping with blood; +it shall be the broom which the widow Bancal used to clean out the room +where Fualdes was murdered. Yes, the painter will touzle that broom like +a man in a rage; he will make each hair of it stand on-end as though +it were on your own bristling scalp; he will make it the interpreter +between the secret poem of his imagination and the poem that shall have +its birth in yours. After terrifying you by the aspect of that broom, +to-morrow he will draw another, and lying by it a cat, asleep, but +mysterious in its sleep, shall tell you that this broom is that on which +the wife of a German cobbler rides off to the Sabbath on the Brocken. Or +it will be a quite harmless broom, on which he will hang the coat of a +clerk in the Treasury. Decamps had in his brush what Paganini had in his +bow--a magnetically communicative power. + +Well, I should have to transfer to my style that striking genius, that +marvelous knack of the pencil, to depict the upright, tall, lean man +dressed in black, with black hair, who stood there without speaking a +word. This gentleman had a face like a knife-blade, cold and harsh, with +a color like Seine water when it was muddy and strewn with fragments +of charcoal from a sunken barge. He looked at the floor, listening and +passing judgment. His attitude was terrifying. He stood there like +the dreadful broom to which Decamps has given the power of revealing a +crime. Now and then, in the course of conversation, the Marquise tried +to get some tacit advice; but however eager her questioning, he was as +grave and as rigid as the statue of the Commendatore. + +The worthy Popinot, sitting on the edge of his chair in front of the +fire, his hat between his knees, stared at the gilt chandeliers, the +clock, and the curiosities with which the chimney-shelf was covered, +the velvet and trimmings of the curtains, and all the costly and elegant +nothings that a woman of fashion collects about her. He was roused from +his homely meditations by Madame d'Espard, who addressed him in a piping +tone: + +"Monsieur, I owe you a million thanks----" + +"A million thanks," thought he to himself, "that is too many; it does +not mean one." + +"For the trouble you condescend----" + +"Condescend!" thought he; "she is laughing at me." + +"To take in coming to see an unhappy client, who is too ill to go +out----" + +Here the lawyer cut the Marquise short by giving her an inquisitorial +look, examining the sanitary condition of the unhappy client. + +"As sound as a bell," said he to himself. + +"Madame," said he, assuming a respectful mien, "you owe me nothing. +Although my visit to you is not in strict accordance with the practice +of the Court, we ought to spare no pains to discover the truth in cases +of this kind. Our judgment is then guided less by the letter of the law +than by the promptings of our conscience. Whether I seek the truth here +or in my own consulting-room, so long as I find it, all will be well." + +While Popinot was speaking, Rastignac was shaking hands with Bianchon; +the Marquise welcomed the doctor with a little bow full of gracious +significance. + +"Who is that?" asked Bianchon in a whisper of Rastignac, indicating the +dark man. + +"The Chevalier d'Espard, the Marquis' brother." + +"Your nephew told me," said the Marquise to Popinot, "how much you are +occupied, and I know too that you are so good as to wish to conceal your +kind actions, so as to release those whom you oblige from the burden of +gratitude. The work in Court is most fatiguing, it would seem. Why have +they not twice as many judges?" + +"Ah, madame, that would not be difficult; we should be none the worse if +they had. But when that happens, fowls will cut their teeth!" + +As he heard this speech, so entirely in character with the lawyer's +appearance, the Chevalier measured him from head to foot, out of one +eye, as much as to say, "We shall easily manage him." + +The Marquise looked at Rastignac, who bent over her. "That is the +sort of man," murmured the dandy in her ear, "who is trusted to pass +judgments on the life and interests of private individuals." + +Like most men who have grown old in a business, Popinot readily let +himself follow the habits he had acquired, more particularly habits of +mind. His conversation was all of "the shop." He was fond of questioning +those he talked to, forcing them to unexpected conclusions, making them +tell more than they wished to reveal. Pozzo di Borgo, it is said, used +to amuse himself by discovering other folks' secrets, and entangling +them in his diplomatic snares, and thus, by invincible habit, showed +how his mind was soaked in wiliness. As soon as Popinot had surveyed +the ground, so to speak, on which he stood, he saw that it would +be necessary to have recourse to the cleverest subtleties, the most +elaborately wrapped up and disguised, which were in use in the Courts, +to detect the truth. + +Bianchon sat cold and stern, as a man who has made up his mind to endure +torture without revealing his sufferings; but in his heart he wished +that his uncle could only trample on this woman as we trample on a +viper--a comparison suggested to him by the Marquise's long dress, by +the curve of her attitude, her long neck, small head, and undulating +movements. + +"Well, monsieur," said Madame d'Espard, "however great my dislike to be +or seem selfish, I have been suffering too long not to wish that you may +settle matters at once. Shall I soon get a favorable decision?" + +"Madame, I will do my best to bring matters to a conclusion," said +Popinot, with an air of frank good-nature. "Are you ignorant of the +reason which made the separation necessary which now subsists between +you and the Marquis d'Espard?" + +"Yes, monsieur," she replied, evidently prepared with a story to tell. +"At the beginning of 1816 M. d'Espard, whose temper had completely +changed within three months or so, proposed that we should go to live +on one of his estates near Briancon, without any regard for my health, +which that climate would have destroyed, or for my habits of life; I +refused to go. My refusal gave rise to such unjustifiable reproaches on +his part, that from that hour I had my suspicions as to the soundness of +his mind. On the following day he left me, leaving me his house and +the free use of my own income, and he went to live in the Rue de la +Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, taking with him my two children----" + +"One moment, madame," said the lawyer, interrupting her. "What was that +income?" + +"Twenty-six thousand francs a year," she replied parenthetically. "I +at once consulted old M. Bordin as to what I ought to do," she went +on; "but it seems that there are so many difficulties in the way of +depriving a father of the care of his children, that I was forced to +resign myself to remaining alone at the age of twenty-two--an age +at which many young women do very foolish things. You have read my +petition, no doubt, monsieur; you know the principal facts on which I +rely to procure a Commission in Lunacy with regard to M. d'Espard?" + +"Have you ever applied to him, madame, to obtain the care of your +children?" + +"Yes, monsieur; but in vain. It is very hard on a mother to be deprived +of the affection of her children, particularly when they can give her +such happiness as every woman clings to." + +"The elder must be sixteen," said Popinot. + +"Fifteen," said the Marquise eagerly. + +Here Bianchon and Rastignac looked at each other. Madame d'Espard bit +her lips. + +"What can the age of my children matter to you?" + +"Well, madame," said the lawyer, without seeming to attach any +importance to his words, "a lad of fifteen and his brother, of thirteen, +I suppose, have legs and their wits about them; they might come to see +you on the sly. If they do not, it is because they obey their father, +and to obey him in that matter they must love him very dearly." + +"I do not understand," said the Marquise. + +"You do not know, perhaps," replied Popinot, "that in your petition +your attorney represents your children as being very unhappy with their +father?" + +Madame d'Espard replied with charming innocence: + +"I do not know what my attorney may have put into my mouth." + +"Forgive my inferences," said Popinot, "but Justice weighs everything. +What I ask you, madame, is suggested by my wish thoroughly to understand +the matter. By your account M. d'Espard deserted you on the most +frivolous pretext. Instead of going to Briancon, where he wished to take +you, he remained in Paris. This point is not clear. Did he know this +Madame Jeanrenaud before his marriage?" + +"No, monsieur," replied the Marquise, with some asperity, visible only +to Rastignac and the Chevalier d'Espard. + +She was offended at being cross-examined by this lawyer when she had +intended to beguile his judgment; but as Popinot still looked stupid +from sheer absence of mind, she ended by attributing his interrogatory +to the Questioning Spirit of Voltaire's bailiff. + +"My parents," she went on, "married me at the age of sixteen to M. +d'Espard, whose name, fortune, and mode of life were such as my family +looked for in the man who was to be my husband. M. d'Espard was then +six-and-twenty; he was a gentleman in the English sense of the word; +his manners pleased me, he seemed to have plenty of ambition, and I like +ambitious people," she added, looking at Rastignac. "If M. d'Espard +had never met that Madame Jeanrenaud, his character, his learning, his +acquirements would have raised him--as his friends then believed--to +high office in the Government. King Charles X., at that time Monsieur, +had the greatest esteem for him, and a peer's seat, an appointment at +Court, some important post certainly would have been his. That woman +turned his head, and has ruined all the prospects of my family." + +"What were M. d'Espard's religious opinions at that time?" + +"He was, and is still, a very pious man." + +"You do not suppose that Madame Jeanrenaud may have influenced him by +mysticism?" + +"No, monsieur." + +"You have a very fine house, madame," said Popinot suddenly, taking his +hands out of his pockets, and rising to pick up his coat-tails and warm +himself. "This boudoir is very nice, those chairs are magnificent, the +whole apartment is sumptuous. You must indeed be most unhappy when, +seeing yourself here, you know that your children are ill lodged, ill +clothed, and ill fed. I can imagine nothing more terrible for a mother." + +"Yes, indeed. I should be so glad to give the poor little fellows some +amusement, while their father keeps them at work from morning till night +at that wretched history of China." + +"You give handsome balls; they would enjoy them, but they might acquire +a taste for dissipation. However, their father might send them to you +once or twice in the course of the winter." + +"He brings them here on my birthday and on New Year's Day. On those days +M. d'Espard does me the favor of dining here with them." + +"It is very singular behaviour," said the judge, with an air of +conviction. "Have you ever seen this Dame Jeanrenaud?" + +"My brother-in-law one day, out of interest in his brother----" + +"Ah! monsieur is M. d'Espard's brother?" said the lawyer, interrupting +her. + +The Chevalier bowed, but did not speak. + +"M. d'Espard, who has watched this affair, took me to the Oratoire, +where this woman goes to sermon, for she is a Protestant. I saw her; +she is not in the least attractive; she looks like a butcher's wife, +extremely fat, horribly marked with the smallpox; she has feet and hands +like a man's, she squints, in short, she is monstrous!" + +"It is inconceivable," said the judge, looking like the most imbecile +judge in the whole kingdom. "And this creature lives near here, Rue +Verte, in a fine house? There are no plain folk left, it would seem?" + +"In a mansion on which her son has spent absurd sums." + +"Madame," said Popinot, "I live in the Faubourg Saint-Marceau; I know +nothing of such expenses. What do you call absurd sums?" + +"Well," said the Marquise, "a stable with five horses and three +carriages, a phaeton, a brougham, and a cabriolet." + +"That costs a large sum, then?" asked Popinot in surprise. + +"Enormous sums!" said Rastignac, intervening. "Such an establishment +would cost, for the stables, the keeping the carriages in order, and +the liveries for the men, between fifteen and sixteen thousand francs a +year." + +"Should you think so, madame?" said the judge, looking much astonished. + +"Yes, at least," replied the Marquise. + +"And the furniture, too, must have cost a lot of money?" + +"More than a hundred thousand francs," replied Madame d'Espard, who +could not help smiling at the lawyer's vulgarity. + +"Judges, madame, are apt to be incredulous; it is what they are paid +for, and I am incredulous. The Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother must have +fleeced M. d'Espard most preposterously, if what you say is correct. +There is a stable establishment which, by your account, costs sixteen +thousand francs a year. Housekeeping, servants' wages, and the gross +expenses of the house itself must run to twice as much; that makes a +total of from fifty to sixty thousand francs a year. Do you suppose that +these people, formerly so extremely poor, can have so large a fortune? A +million yields scarcely forty thousand a year." + +"Monsieur, the mother and son invested the money given them by M. +d'Espard in the funds when they were at 60 to 80. I should think their +income must be more than sixty thousand francs. And then the son has +fine appointments." + +"If they spend sixty thousand francs a year," said the judge, "how much +do you spend?" + +"Well," said Madame d'Espard, "about the same." The Chevalier started a +little, the Marquise colored; Bianchon looked at Rastignac; but Popinot +preserved an expression of simplicity which quite deceived Madame +d'Espard. The chevalier took no part in the conversation; he saw that +all was lost. + +"These people, madame, might be indicted before the superior Court," +said Popinot. + +"That was my opinion," exclaimed the Marquise, enchanted. "If threatened +with the police, they would have come to terms." + +"Madame," said Popinot, "when M. d'Espard left you, did he not give +you a power of attorney enabling you to manage and control your own +affairs?" + +"I do not understand the object of all these questions," said the +Marquise with petulance. "It seems to me that if you would only consider +the state in which I am placed by my husband's insanity, you ought to be +troubling yourself about him, and not about me." + +"We are coming to that, madame," said the judge. "Before placing in +your hands, or in any others, the control of M. d'Espard's property, +supposing he were pronounced incapable, the Court must inquire as to how +you have managed your own. If M. d'Espard gave you the power, he would +have shown confidence in you, and the Court would recognize the fact. +Had you any power from him? You might have bought or sold house property +or invested money in business?" + +"No, monsieur, the Blamont-Chauvrys are not in the habit of trading," +said she, extremely nettled in her pride as an aristocrat, and +forgetting the business in hand. "My property is intact, and M. d'Espard +gave me no power to act." + +The Chevalier put his hand over his eyes not to betray the vexation +he felt at his sister-in-law's short-sightedness, for she was ruining +herself by her answers. Popinot had gone straight to the mark in spite +of his apparent doublings. + +"Madame," said the lawyer, indicating the Chevalier, "this gentleman, of +course, is your near connection? May we speak openly before these other +gentlemen?" + +"Speak on," said the Marquise, surprised at this caution. + +"Well, madame, granting that you spend only sixty thousand francs +a year, to any one who sees your stables, your house, your train of +servants, and a style of housekeeping which strikes me as far more +luxurious than that of the Jeanrenauds, that sum would seem well laid +out." + +The Marquise bowed an agreement. + +"But," continued the judge, "if you have no more than twenty-six +thousand francs a year, you may have a hundred thousand francs of debt. +The Court would therefore have a right to imagine that the motives which +prompt you to ask that your husband may be deprived of the control of +his property are complicated by self-interest and the need of paying +your debts--if--you--have--any. The requests addressed to me have +interested me in your position; consider fully and make your confession. +If my suppositions have hit the truth, there is yet time to avoid the +blame which the Court would have a perfect right to express in the +saving clauses of the verdict if you could not show your attitude to be +absolutely honorable and clear. + +"It is our duty to examine the motives of the applicant as well as +to listen to the plea of the witness under examination, to ascertain +whether the petitioner may not have been prompted by passion, by a +desire for money, which is unfortunately too common----" + +The Marquise was on Saint Laurence's gridiron. + +"And I must have explanations on this point. Madame, I have no wish to +call you to account; I only want to know how you have managed to live at +the rate of sixty thousand francs a year, and that for some years past. +There are plenty of women who achieve this in their housekeeping, but +you are not one of those. Tell me, you may have the most legitimate +resources, a royal pension, or some claim on the indemnities lately +granted; but even then you must have had your husband's authority to +receive them." + +The Marquise did not speak. + +"You must remember," Popinot went on, "that M. d'Espard may wish to +enter a protest, and his counsel will have a right to find out whether +you have any creditors. This boudoir is newly furnished, your rooms are +not now furnished with the things left to you by M. d'Espard in 1816. +If, as you did me the honor of informing me, furniture is costly for +the Jeanrenauds, it must be yet more so for you, who are a great +lady. Though I am a judge, I am but a man; I may be wrong--tell me so. +Remember the duties imposed on me by the law, and the rigorous inquiries +it demands, when the case before it is the suspension from all his +functions of the father of a family in the prime of life. So you will +pardon me, Madame la Marquise, for laying all these difficulties before +you; it will be easy for you to give me an explanation. + +"When a man is pronounced incapable of the control of his own affairs, a +trustee has to be appointed. Who will be the trustee?" + +"His brother," said the Marquise. + +The Chevalier bowed. There was a short silence, very uncomfortable for +the five persons who were present. The judge, in sport as it were, +had laid open the woman's sore place. Popinot's countenance of common, +clumsy good-nature, at which the Marquise, the Chevalier, and Rastignac +had been inclined to laugh, had gained importance in their eyes. As +they stole a look at him, they discerned the various expressions of +that eloquent mouth. The ridiculous mortal was a judge of acumen. His +studious notice of the boudoir was accounted for: he had started from +the gilt elephant supporting the chimney-clock, examining all this +luxury, and had ended by reading this woman's soul. + +"If the Marquis d'Espard is mad about China, I see that you are not less +fond of its products," said Popinot, looking at the porcelain on the +chimney-piece. "But perhaps it was from M. le Marquis that you had these +charming Oriental pieces," and he pointed to some precious trifles. + +This irony, in very good taste, made Bianchon smile, and petrified +Rastignac, while the Marquise bit her thin lips. + +"Instead of being the protector of a woman placed in a cruel dilemma--an +alternative between losing her fortune and her children, and being +regarded as her husband's enemy," she said, "you accuse me, monsieur! +You suspect my motives! You must own that your conduct is strange!" + +"Madame," said the judge eagerly, "the caution exercised by the Court in +such cases as these might have given you, in any other judge, a perhaps +less indulgent critic than I am.--And do you suppose that M. d'Espard's +lawyer will show you any great consideration? Will he not be suspicious +of motives which may be perfectly pure and disinterested? Your life will +be at his mercy; he will inquire into it without qualifying his search +by the respectful deference I have for you." + +"I am much obliged to you, monsieur," said the Marquise satirically. +"Admitting for the moment that I owe thirty thousand or fifty thousand +francs, in the first place, it would be a mere trifle to the d'Espards +and the Blamont-Chauvrys. But if my husband is not in the possession +of his mental faculties, would that prevent his being pronounced +incapable?" + +"No, madame," said Popinot. + +"Although you have questioned me with a sort of cunning which I +should not have suspected in a judge, and under circumstances where +straightforwardness would have answered your purpose," she went on, "I +will tell you without subterfuge that my position in the world, and the +efforts I have to make to keep up my connection, are not in the least +to my taste. I began my life by a long period of solitude; but my +children's interest appealed to me; I felt that I must fill their +father's place. By receiving my friends, by keeping up all this +connection, by contracting these debts, I have secured their future +welfare; I have prepared for them a brilliant career where they will +find help and favor; and to have what has thus been acquired, many a man +of business, lawyer or banker, would gladly pay all it has cost me." + +"I appreciate your devoted conduct, madame," replied Popinot. "It does +you honor, and I blame you for nothing. A judge belongs to all: he must +know and weigh every fact." + +Madame d'Espard's tact and practice in estimating men made +her understand that M. Popinot was not to be influenced by any +consideration. She had counted on an ambitious lawyer, she had found +a man of conscience. She at once thought of finding other means for +securing the success of her side. + +The servants brought in tea. + +"Have you any further explanations to give me, madame?" said Popinot, +seeing these preparations. + +"Monsieur," she replied haughtily, "do your business your own way; +question M. d'Espard, and you will pity me, I am sure." She raised her +head, looking Popinot in the face with pride, mingled with impertinence; +the worthy man bowed himself out respectfully. + +"A nice man is your uncle," said Rastignac to Bianchon. "Is he really +so dense? Does not he know what the Marquise d'Espard is, what her +influence means, her unavowed power over people? The Keeper of the Seals +will be with her to-morrow----" + +"My dear fellow, how can I help it?" said Bianchon. "Did not I warn you? +He is not a man you can get over." + +"No," said Rastignac; "he is a man you must run over." + +The doctor was obliged to make his bow to the Marquise and her mute +Chevalier to catch up Popinot, who, not being the man to endure an +embarrassing position, was pacing through the rooms. + +"That woman owes a hundred thousand crowns," said the judge, as he +stepped into his nephew's cab. + +"And what do you think of the case?" + +"I," said the judge. "I never have an opinion till I have gone into +everything. To-morrow early I will send to Madame Jeanrenaud to call on +me in my private office at four o'clock, to make her explain the facts +which concern her, for she is compromised." + +"I should very much like to know what the end will be." + +"Why, bless me, do not you see that the Marquise is the tool of that +tall lean man who never uttered a word? There is a strain of Cain in +him, but of the Cain who goes to the Law Courts for his bludgeon, and +there, unluckily for him, we keep more than one Damocles' sword." + +"Oh, Rastignac! what brought you into that boat, I wonder?" exclaimed +Bianchon. + +"Ah, we are used to seeing these little family conspiracies," +said Popinot. "Not a year passes without a number of verdicts of +'insufficient evidence' against applications of this kind. In our state +of society such an attempt brings no dishonor, while we send a poor +devil to the galleys who breaks a pane of glass dividing him from a bowl +full of gold. Our Code is not faultless." + +"But these are the facts?" + +"My boy, do you not know all the judicial romances with which clients +impose on their attorneys? If the attorneys condemned themselves to +state nothing but the truth, they would not earn enough to keep their +office open." + + + +Next day, at four in the afternoon, a very stout dame, looking a good +deal like a cask dressed up in a gown and belt, mounted Judge Popinot's +stairs, perspiring and panting. She had, with great difficulty, got out +of a green landau, which suited her to a miracle; you could not think of +the woman without the landau, or the landau without the woman. + +"It is I, my dear sir," said she, appearing in the doorway of the +judge's room. "Madame Jeanrenaud, whom you summoned exactly as if I were +a thief, neither more nor less." + +The common words were spoken in a common voice, broken by the wheezing +of asthma, and ending in a cough. + +"When I go through a damp place, I can't tell you what I suffer, sir. I +shall never make old bones, saving your presence. However, here I am." + +The lawyer was quite amazed at the appearance of this supposed Marechale +d'Ancre. Madame Jeanrenaud's face was pitted with an infinite number of +little holes, was very red, with a pug nose and a low forehead, and was +as round as a ball; for everything about the good woman was round. She +had the bright eyes of a country woman, an honest gaze, a cheerful tone, +and chestnut hair held in place by a bonnet cap under a green bonnet +decked with a shabby bunch of auriculas. Her stupendous bust was a thing +to laugh at, for it made one fear some grotesque explosion every time +she coughed. Her enormous legs were of the shape which make the Paris +street boy describe such a woman as being built on piles. The widow wore +a green gown trimmed with chinchilla, which looked on her as a splash of +dirty oil would look on a bride's veil. In short, everything about her +harmonized with her last words: "Here I am." + +"Madame," said Popinot, "you are suspected of having used some seductive +arts to induce M. d'Espard to hand over to you very considerable sums of +money." + +"Of what! of what!" cried she. "Of seductive arts? But, my dear sir, you +are a man to be respected, and, moreover, as a lawyer you ought to have +some good sense. Look at me! Tell me if I am likely to seduce any one. +I cannot tie my own shoes, nor even stoop. For these twenty years past, +the Lord be praised, I have not dared to put on a pair of stays under +pain of sudden death. I was as thin as an asparagus stalk when I was +seventeen, and pretty too--I may say so now. So I married Jeanrenaud, a +good fellow, and headman on the salt-barges. I had my boy, who is a fine +young man; he is my pride, and it is not holding myself cheap to say +he is my best piece of work. My little Jeanrenaud was a soldier who did +Napoleon credit, and who served in the Imperial Guard. But, alas! at the +death of my old man, who was drowned, times changed for the worse. I had +the smallpox. I was kept two years in my room without stirring, and I +came out of it the size you see me, hideous for ever, and as wretched as +could be. These are my seductive arts." + +"But what, then, can the reasons be that have induced M. d'Espard to +give you sums----" + +"Hugious sums, monsieur, say the word; I do not mind. But as to his +reasons, I am not at liberty to explain them." + +"You are wrong. At this moment, his family, very naturally alarmed, are +about to bring an action----" + +"Heavens above us!" said the good woman, starting up. "Is it possible +that he should be worried on my account? That king of men, a man that +has not his match! Rather than he should have the smallest trouble, or +hair less on his head I could almost say, we would return every sou, +monsieur. Write that down on your papers. Heaven above us! I will go at +once and tell Jeanrenaud what is going on! A pretty thing indeed!" + +And the little old woman went out, rolled herself downstairs, and +disappeared. + +"That one tells no lies," said Popinot to himself. "Well, to-morrow I +shall know the whole story, for I shall go to see the Marquis d'Espard." + +People who have outlived the age when a man wastes his vitality at +random, know how great an influence may be exercised on more important +events by apparently trivial incidents, and will not be surprised at the +weight here given to the following minor fact. Next day Popinot had +an attack of coryza, a complaint which is not dangerous, and generally +known by the absurd and inadequate name of a cold in the head. + +The judge, who could not suppose that the delay could be serious, +feeling himself a little feverish, kept his room, and did not go to see +the Marquis d'Espard. This day lost was, to this affair, what on the Day +of Dupes the cup of soup had been, taken by Marie de Medici, which, by +delaying her meeting with Louis XIII., enabled Richelieu to arrive at +Saint-Germain before her, and recapture his royal slave. + +Before accompanying the lawyer and his registering clerk to the Marquis +d'Espard's house, it may be as well to glance at the home and the +private affairs of this father of sons whom his wife's petition +represented to be a madman. + +Here and there in the old parts of Paris a few buildings may still be +seen in which the archaeologist can discern an intention of decorating +the city, and that love of property, which leads the owner to give a +durable character to the structure. The house in which M. d'Espard was +then living, in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, was one of +these old mansions, built in stone, and not devoid of a certain richness +of style; but time had blackened the stone, and revolutions in the town +had damaged it both outside and inside. The dignitaries who formerly +dwelt in the neighborhood of the University having disappeared with +the great ecclesiastical foundations, this house had become the home +of industries and of inhabitants whom it was never destined to shelter. +During the last century a printing establishment had worn down the +polished floors, soiled the carved wood, blackened the walls, and +altered the principal internal arrangements. Formerly the residence of +a Cardinal, this fine house was now divided among plebeian tenants. The +character of the architecture showed that it had been built under the +reigns of Henry III., Henry IV., and Louis XIII., at the time when the +hotels Mignon and Serpente were erected in the same neighborhood, with +the palace of the Princess Palatine, and the Sorbonne. An old man +could remember having heard it called, in the last century, the hotel +Duperron, so it seemed probable that the illustrious Cardinal of that +name had built, or perhaps merely lived in it. + +There still exists, indeed, in the corner of the courtyard, a perron or +flight of several outer steps by which the house is entered; and the way +into the garden on the garden front is down a similar flight of steps. +In spite of dilapidations, the luxury lavished by the architect on the +balustrade and entrance porch crowning these two perrons suggests the +simple-minded purpose of commemorating the owner's name, a sort of +sculptured pun which our ancestors often allowed themselves. Finally, +in support of this evidence, archaeologists can still discern in the +medallions which show on the principal front some traces of the cords of +the Roman hat. + +M. le Marquis d'Espard lived on the ground floor, in order, no doubt, to +enjoy the garden, which might be called spacious for that neighborhood, +and which lay open for his children's health. The situation of the +house, in a street on a steep hill, as its name indicates, secured these +ground-floor rooms against ever being damp. M. d'Espard had taken them, +no doubt, for a very moderate price, rents being low at the time when +he settled in that quarter, in order to be among the schools and to +superintend his boys' education. Moreover, the state in which he found +the place, with everything to repair, had no doubt induced the owner to +be accommodating. Thus M. d'Espard had been able to go to some expense +to settle himself suitably without being accused of extravagance. The +loftiness of the rooms, the paneling, of which nothing survived but the +frames, the decoration of the ceilings, all displayed the dignity which +the prelacy stamped on whatever it attempted or created, and which +artists discern to this day in the smallest relic that remains, though +it be but a book, a dress, the panel of a bookcase, or an armchair. + +The Marquis had the rooms painted in the rich brown tones loved of +the Dutch and of the citizens of Old Paris, hues which lend such good +effects to the painter of genre. The panels were hung with plain paper +in harmony with the paint. The window curtains were of inexpensive +materials, but chosen so as to produce a generally happy result; the +furniture was not too crowded and judiciously placed. Any one on going +into this home could not resist a sense of sweet peacefulness, produced +by the perfect calm, the stillness which prevailed, by the unpretentious +unity of color, the keeping of the picture, in the words a painter might +use. A certain nobleness in the details, the exquisite cleanliness of +the furniture, and a perfect concord of men and things, all brought the +word "suavity" to the lips. + +Few persons were admitted to the rooms used by the Marquis and his two +sons, whose life might perhaps seem mysterious to their neighbors. In a +wing towards the street, on the third floor, there are three large rooms +which had been left in the state of dilapidation and grotesque bareness +to which they had been reduced by the printing works. These three rooms, +devoted to the evolution of the Picturesque History of China, were +contrived to serve as a writing-room, a depository, and a private room, +where M. d'Espard sat during part of the day; for after breakfast till +four in the afternoon the Marquis remained in this room on the third +floor to work at the publication he had undertaken. Visitors wanting to +see him commonly found him there, and often the two boys on their return +from school resorted thither. Thus the ground-floor rooms were a sort +of sanctuary where the father and sons spent their time from the hour +of dinner till the next day, and his domestic life was carefully closed +against the public eye. + +His only servants were a cook--an old woman who had long been attached +to his family--and a man-servant forty years old, who was with him +when he married Mademoiselle de Blamont. His children's nurse had also +remained with them, and the minute care to which the apartment bore +witness revealed the sense of order and the maternal affections expended +by this woman in her master's interest, in the management of his house, +and the charge of his children. These three good souls, grave, and +uncommunicative folk, seemed to have entered into the idea which ruled +the Marquis' domestic life. And the contrast between their habits and +those of most servants was a peculiarity which cast an air of mystery +over the house, and fomented the calumny to which M. d'Espard himself +lent occasion. Very laudable motives had made him determine never to +be on visiting terms with any of the other tenants in the house. In +undertaking to educate his boys he wished to keep them from all contact +with strangers. Perhaps, too, he wished to avoid the intrusion of +neighbors. + +In a man of his rank, at a time when the Quartier Latin was distracted +by Liberalism, such conduct was sure to rouse in opposition a host of +petty passions, of feelings whose folly is only to be measured by their +meanness, the outcome of porters' gossip and malevolent tattle from door +to door, all unknown to M. d'Espard and his retainers. His man-servant +was stigmatized as a Jesuit, his cook as a sly fox; the nurse was in +collusion with Madame Jeanrenaud to rob the madman. The madman was +the Marquis. By degrees the other tenants came to regard as proofs of +madness a number of things they had noticed in M. d'Espard, and passed +through the sieve of their judgment without discerning any reasonable +motive for them. + +Having no belief in the success of the History of China, they had +managed to convince the landlord of the house that M. d'Espard had no +money just at a time when, with the forgetfulness which often befalls +busy men, he had allowed the tax-collector to send him a summons for +non-payment of arrears. The landlord forthwith claimed his quarter's +rent from January 1st by sending in a receipt, which the porter's wife +had amused herself by detaining. On the 15th a summons to pay was served +on M. d'Espard, the portress had delivered it at her leisure, and +he supposed it to be some misunderstanding, not conceiving of any +incivility from a man in whose house he had been living for twelve +years. The Marquis was actually seized by a bailiff at the time when his +man-servant had gone to carry the money for the rent to the landlord. + +This arrest, assiduously reported to the persons with whom he was in +treaty for his undertaking, had alarmed some of them who were already +doubtful of M. d'Espard's solvency in consequence of the enormous sums +which Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother were said to be receiving from +him. And, indeed, these suspicions on the part of the tenants, the +creditors, and the landlord had some excuse in the Marquis' extreme +economy in housekeeping. He conducted it as a ruined man might. His +servants always paid in ready money for the most trifling necessaries +of life, and acted as not choosing to take credit; if now they had asked +for anything on credit, it would probably have been refused, calumnious +gossip had been so widely believed in the neighborhood. There are +tradesmen who like those of their customers who pay badly when they +see them often, while they hate others, and very good ones, who hold +themselves on too high a level to allow of any familiarity as CHUMS, a +vulgar but expressive word. Men are made so; in almost every class they +will allow to a gossip, or a vulgar soul that flatters them, facilities +and favors they refuse to the superiority they resent, in whatever +form it may show itself. The shopkeeper who rails at the Court has his +courtiers. + +In short, the manners of the Marquis and his children were certain to +arouse ill-feeling in their neighbors, and to work them up by degrees to +the pitch of malevolence when men do not hesitate at an act of meanness +if only it may damage the adversary they have themselves created. + +M. d'Espard was a gentleman, as his wife was a lady, by birth and +breeding; noble types, already so rare in France that the observer +can easily count the persons who perfectly realize them. These two +characters are based on primitive ideas, on beliefs that may be called +innate, on habits formed in infancy, and which have ceased to exist. To +believe in pure blood, in a privileged race, to stand in thought above +other men, must we not from birth have measured the distance which +divides patricians from the mob? To command, must we not have never +met our equal? And finally, must not education inculcate the ideas with +which Nature inspires those great men on whose brow she has placed a +crown before their mother has ever set a kiss there? These ideas, this +education, are no longer possible in France, where for forty years past +chance has arrogated the right of making noblemen by dipping them in the +blood of battles, by gilding them with glory, by crowning them with the +halo of genius; where the abolition of entail and of eldest sonship, +by frittering away estates, compels the nobleman to attend to his own +business instead of attending to affairs of state, and where personal +greatness can only be such greatness as is acquired by long and patient +toil: quite a new era. + +Regarded as a relic of that great institution know as feudalism, M. +d'Espard deserved respectful admiration. If he believed himself to be by +blood the superior of other men, he also believed in all the obligations +of nobility; he had the virtues and the strength it demands. He had +brought up his children in his own principles, and taught them from the +cradle the religion of their caste. A deep sense of their own dignity, +pride of name, the conviction that they were by birth great, gave rise +in them to a kingly pride, the courage of knights, and the protecting +kindness of a baronial lord; their manners, harmonizing with their +notions, would have become princes, and offended all the world of the +Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve--a world, above all others, of +equality, where every one believed that M. d'Espard was ruined, and +where all, from the lowest to the highest, refused the privileges of +nobility to a nobleman without money, because they were all ready to +allow an enriched bourgeois to usurp them. Thus the lack of communion +between this family and other persons was as much moral as it was +physical. + +In the father and the children alike, their personality harmonized with +the spirit within. M. d'Espard, at this time about fifty, might have +sat as a model to represent the aristocracy of birth in the nineteenth +century. He was slight and fair; there was in the outline and general +expression of his face a native distinction which spoke of lofty +sentiments, but it bore the impress of a deliberate coldness which +commanded respect a little too decidedly. His aquiline nose bent at the +tip from left to right, a slight crookedness which was not devoid of +grace; his blue eyes, his high forehead, prominent enough at the brows +to form a thick ridge that checked the light and shaded his eyes, all +indicated a spirit of rectitude, capable of perseverance and perfect +loyalty, while it gave a singular look to his countenance. This +penthouse forehead might, in fact, hint at a touch of madness, and his +thick-knitted eyebrows added to the apparent eccentricity. He had the +white well-kept hands of a gentleman; his foot was high and narrow. His +hesitating speech--not merely as to his pronunciation, which was that +of a stammerer, but also in the expression of his ideas, his thought +and language--produced on the mind of the hearer the impression of a +man who, in familiar phraseology, comes and goes, feels his way, tries +everything, breaks off his gestures, and finishes nothing. This defect +was purely superficial, and in contrast with the decisiveness of a +firmly-set mouth, and the strongly-marked character of his physiognomy. +His rather jerky gait matched his mode of speech. These peculiarities +helped to affirm his supposed insanity. In spite of his elegant +appearance, he was systematically parsimonious in his personal expenses, +and wore the same black frock-coat for three or four years, brushed with +extreme care by his old man-servant. + +As to the children, they both were handsome, and endowed with a grace +which did not exclude an expression of aristocratic disdain. They had +the bright coloring, the clear eye, the transparent flesh which reveal +habits of purity, regularity of life, and a due proportion of work and +play. They both had black hair and blue eyes, and a twist in their nose, +like their father; but their mother, perhaps, had transmitted to them +the dignity of speech, of look and mien, which are hereditary in the +Blamont-Chauvrys. Their voices, as clear as crystal, had an emotional +quality, the softness which proves so seductive; they had, in short, the +voice a woman would willingly listen to after feeling the flame of their +looks. But, above all, they had the modesty of pride, a chaste reserve, +a _touch-me-not_ which at a maturer age might have seemed intentional +coyness, so much did their demeanor inspire a wish to know them. The +elder, Comte Clement de Negrepelisse, was close upon his sixteenth year. +For the last two years he had ceased to wear the pretty English round +jacket which his brother, Vicomte Camille d'Espard, still wore. The +Count, who for the last six months went no more to the College Henri +IV., was dressed in the style of a young man enjoying the first +pleasures of fashion. His father had not wished to condemn him to a +year's useless study of philosophy; he was trying to give his knowledge +some consistency by the study of transcendental mathematics. At the +same time, the Marquis was having him taught Eastern languages, the +international law of Europe, heraldry, and history from the original +sources, charters, early documents, and collections of edicts. Camille +had lately begun to study rhetoric. + +The day when Popinot arranged to go to question M. d'Espard was a +Thursday, a holiday. At about nine in the morning, before their father +was awake, the brothers were playing in the garden. Clement was +finding it hard to refuse his brother, who was anxious to go to the +shooting-gallery for the first time, and who begged him to second his +request to the Marquis. The Viscount always rather took advantage of his +weakness, and was very fond of wrestling with his brother. So the couple +were quarreling and fighting in play like schoolboys. As they ran in +the garden, chasing each other, they made so much noise as to wake their +father, who came to the window without their perceiving him in the heat +of the fray. The Marquis amused himself with watching his two children +twisted together like snakes, their faces flushed by the exertion of +their strength; their complexion was rose and white, their eyes flashed +sparks, their limbs writhed like cords in the fire; they fell, sprang up +again, and caught each other like athletes in a circus, affording their +father one of those moments of happiness which would make amends for the +keenest anxieties of a busy life. Two other persons, one on the second +and one on the first floor, were also looking into the garden, and +saying that the old madman was amusing himself by making his children +fight. Immediately a number of heads appeared at the windows; the +Marquis, noticing them, called a word to his sons, who at once climbed +up to the window and jumped into his room, and Clement obtained the +permission asked by Camille. + +All through the house every one was talking of the Marquis' new form of +insanity. When Popinot arrived at about twelve o'clock, accompanied by +his clerk, the portress, when asked for M. d'Espard, conducted him to +the third floor, telling him "as how M. d'Espard, no longer ago than +that very morning, had set on his two children to fight, and laughed +like the monster he was on seeing the younger biting the elder till he +bled, and as how no doubt he longed to see them kill each other.--Don't +ask me the reason why," she added; "he doesn't show himself!" + +Just as the woman spoke these decisive words, she had brought the judge +to the landing on the third floor, face to face with a door covered with +notices announcing the successive numbers of the Picturesque History of +China. The muddy floor, the dirty banisters, the door where the printers +had left their marks, the dilapidated window, and the ceiling on which +the apprentices had amused themselves with drawing monstrosities with +the smoky flare of their tallow dips, the piles of paper and litter +heaped up in the corners, intentionally or from sheer neglect--in short, +every detail of the picture lying before his eyes, agreed so well +with the facts alleged by the Marquise that the judge, in spite of his +impartiality, could not help believing them. + +"There you are, gentlemen," said the porter's wife; "there is the +manifactor, where the Chinese swallow up enough to feed the whole +neighborhood." + +The clerk looked at the judge with a smile, and Popinot found it hard to +keep his countenance. They went together into the outer room, where +sat an old man, who, no doubt, performed the functions of office clerk, +shopman, and cashier. This old man was the Maitre Jacques of China. +Along the walls ran long shelves, on which the published numbers lay in +piles. A partition in wood, with a grating lined with green curtains, +cut off the end of the room, forming a private office. A till with a +slit to admit or disgorge crown pieces indicated the cash-desk. + +"M. d'Espard?" said Popinot, addressing the man, who wore a gray blouse. + +The shopman opened the door into the next room, where the lawyer and +his companion saw a venerable old man, white-headed and simply dressed, +wearing the Cross of Saint-Louis, seated at a desk. He ceased comparing +some sheets of colored prints to look up at the two visitors. This room +was an unpretentious office, full of books and proof-sheets. There was +a black wood table at which some one, at the moment absent, no doubt was +accustomed to work. + +"The Marquis d'Espard?" said Popinot. + +"No, monsieur," said the old man, rising; "what do you want with him?" +he added, coming forward, and showing by his demeanor the dignified +manners and habits due to a gentlemanly education. + +"We wish to speak with him on business exclusively personal to himself," +replied Popinot. + +"D'Espard, here are some gentlemen who want to see you," then said the +old man, going into the furthest room, where the Marquis was sitting by +the fire reading the newspaper. + +This innermost room had a shabby carpet, the windows were hung with gray +holland curtains; the furniture consisted of a few mahogany chairs, two +armchairs, a desk with a revolving front, an ordinary office table, and +on the chimney-shelf, a dingy clock and two old candlesticks. The old +man led the way for Popinot and his registrar, and pulled forward two +chairs, as though he were master of the place; M. d'Espard left it to +him. After the preliminary civilities, during which the judge watched +the supposed lunatic, the Marquis naturally asked what was the object of +this visit. On this Popinot glanced significantly at the old gentleman +and the Marquis. + +"I believe, Monsieur le Marquis," said he, "that the character of my +functions, and the inquiry that has brought me here, make it desirable +that we should be alone, though it is understood by law that in such +cases the inquiries have a sort of family publicity. I am judge on the +Inferior Court of Appeal for the Department of the Seine, and charged +by the President with the duty of examining you as to certain facts +set forth in a petition for a Commission in Lunacy on the part of the +Marquise d'Espard." + +The old man withdrew. When the lawyer and the Marquis were alone, the +clerk shut the door, and seated himself unceremoniously at the office +table, where he laid out his papers and prepared to take down his notes. +Popinot had still kept his eye on M. d'Espard; he was watching the +effect on him of this crude statement, so painful for a man in full +possession of his reason. The Marquis d'Espard, whose face was usually +pale, as are those of fair men, suddenly turned scarlet with anger; he +trembled for an instant, sat down, laid his paper on the chimney-piece, +and looked down. In a moment he had recovered his gentlemanly dignity, +and looked steadily at the judge, as if to read in his countenance the +indications of his character. + +"How is it, monsieur," he asked, "that I have had no notice of such a +petition?" + +"Monsieur le Marquis, persons on whom such a commission is held not +being supposed to have the use of their reason, any notice of the +petition is unnecessary. The duty of the Court chiefly consists in +verifying the allegations of the petitioner." + +"Nothing can be fairer," replied the Marquis. "Well, then, monsieur, be +so good as to tell me what I ought to do----" + +"You have only to answer my questions, omitting nothing. However +delicate the reasons may be which may have led you to act in such a +manner as to give Madame d'Espard a pretext for her petition, speak +without fear. It is unnecessary to assure you that lawyers know their +duties, and that in such cases the profoundest secrecy----" + +"Monsieur," said the Marquis, whose face expressed the sincerest pain, +"if my explanations should lead to any blame being attached to Madame +d'Espard's conduct, what will be the result?" + +"The Court may add its censure to its reasons for its decision." + +"Is such censure optional? If I were to stipulate with you, before +replying, that nothing should be said that could annoy Madame d'Espard +in the event of your report being in my favor, would the Court take my +request into consideration?" + +The judge looked at the Marquis, and the two men exchanged sentiments of +equal magnanimity. + +"Noel," said Popinot to his registrar, "go into the other room. If you +can be of use, I will call you in.--If, as I am inclined to think," he +went on, speaking to the Marquis when the clerk had gone out, "I find +that there is some misunderstanding in this case, I can promise you, +monsieur, that on your application the Court will act with due courtesy. + +"There is a leading fact put forward by Madame d'Espard, the most +serious of all, of which I must beg for an explanation," said the judge +after a pause. "It refers to the dissipation of your fortune to the +advantage of a certain Madame Jeanrenaud, the widow of a bargemaster--or +rather, to that of her son, Colonel Jeanrenaud, for whom you are said to +have procured an appointment, to have exhausted your influence with the +King, and at last to have extended such protection as secures him a good +marriage. The petition suggests that such a friendship is more devoted +than any feelings, even those which morality must disapprove----" + +A sudden flush crimsoned the Marquis' face and forehead, tears even +started to his eyes, for his eyelashes were wet, then wholesome pride +crushed the emotions, which in a man are accounted a weakness. + +"To tell you the truth, monsieur," said the Marquis, in a broken voice, +"you place me in a strange dilemma. The motives of my conduct were to +have died with me. To reveal them I must disclose to you some secret +wounds, must place the honor of my family in your keeping, and must +speak of myself, a delicate matter, as you will fully understand. I +hope, monsieur, that it will all remain a secret between us. You will, +no doubt, be able to find in the formulas of the law one which +will allow of judgment being pronounced without any betrayal of my +confidences." + +"So far as that goes, it is perfectly possible, Monsieur le Marquis." + +"Some time after my marriage," said M. d'Espard, "my wife having run +into considerable expenses, I was obliged to have recourse to borrowing. +You know what was the position of noble families during the Revolution; +I had not been able to keep a steward or a man of business. Nowadays +gentlemen are for the most part obliged to manage their affairs +themselves. Most of my title-deeds had been brought to Paris, from +Languedoc, Provence, or le Comtat, by my father, who dreaded, and not +without reason, the inquisition which family title-deeds, and what was +then styled the 'parchments' of the privileged class, brought down on +the owners. + +"Our name is Negrepelisse; d'Espard is a title acquired in the time of +Henri IV. by a marriage which brought us the estates and titles of the +house of d'Espard, on condition of our bearing an escutcheon of pretence +on our coat-of-arms, those of the house of d'Espard, an old family of +Bearn, connected in the female line with that of Albret: quarterly, paly +of or and sable; and azure two griffins' claws armed, gules in saltire, +with the famous motto Des partem leonis. At the time of this alliance +we lost Negrepelisse, a little town which was as famous during the +religious struggles as was my ancestor who then bore the name. Captain +de Negrepelisse was ruined by the burning of all his property, for the +Protestants did not spare a friend of Montluc's. + +"The Crown was unjust to M. de Negrepelisse; he received neither a +marshal's baton, nor a post as governor, nor any indemnity; King Charles +IX., who was fond of him, died without being able to reward him; Henri +IV. arranged his marriage with Mademoiselle d'Espard, and secured +him the estates of that house, but all those of the Negrepelisses had +already passed into the hands of his creditors. + +"My great-grandfather, the Marquis d'Espard, was, like me, placed early +in life at the head of his family by the death of his father, who, after +dissipating his wife's fortune, left his son nothing but the entailed +estates of the d'Espards, burdened with a jointure. The young Marquis +was all the more straitened for money because he held a post at Court. +Being in great favor with Louis XIV., the King's goodwill brought him +a fortune. But here, monsieur, a blot stained our escutcheon, an +unconfessed and horrible stain of blood and disgrace which I am making +it my business to wipe out. I discovered the secret among the deeds +relating to the estate of Negrepelisse and the packets of letters." + +At this solemn moment the Marquis spoke without hesitation or any of the +repetition habitual with him; but it is a matter of common observation +that persons who, in ordinary life, are afflicted with these two +defects, are freed from them as soon as any passionate emotion underlies +their speech. + +"The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes was decreed," he went on. "You +are no doubt aware, monsieur, that this was an opportunity for many +favorites to make their fortunes. Louis XIV. bestowed on the magnates +about his Court the confiscated lands of those Protestant families who +did not take the prescribed steps for the sale of their property. Some +persons in high favor went 'Protestant-hunting,' as the phrase was. I +have ascertained beyond a doubt that the fortune enjoyed to this day by +two ducal families is derived from lands seized from hapless merchants. + +"I will not attempt to explain to you, a man of law, all the manoeuvres +employed to entrap the refugees who had large fortunes to carry away. It +is enough to say that the lands of Negrepelisse, comprising twenty-two +churches and rights over the town, and those of Gravenges which had +formerly belonged to us, were at that time in the hands of a Protestant +family. My grandfather recovered them by gift from Louis XIV. This gift +was effected by documents hall-marked by atrocious iniquity. The owner +of these two estates, thinking he would be able to return, had gone +through the form of a sale, and was going to Switzerland to join his +family, whom he had sent in advance. He wished, no doubt, to take +advantage of every delay granted by the law, so as to settle the +concerns of his business. + +"This man was arrested by order of the governor, the trustee confessed +the truth, the poor merchant was hanged, and my ancestor had the two +estates. I would gladly have been able to ignore the share he took in +the plot; but the governor was his uncle on the mother's side, and I +have unfortunately read the letter in which he begged him to apply to +Deodatus, the name agreed upon by the Court to designate the King. In +this letter there is a tone of jocosity with reference to the victim, +which filled me with horror. In the end, the sums of money sent by the +refugee family to ransom the poor man were kept by the governor, who +despatched the merchant all the same." + +The Marquis paused, as though the memory of it were still too heavy for +him to bear. + +"This unfortunate family were named Jeanrenaud," he went on. "That name +is enough to account for my conduct. I could never think without keen +pain of the secret disgrace that weighed on my family. That fortune +enabled my grandfather to marry a demoiselle de Navarreins-Lansac, +heiress to the younger branch of that house, who were at that time much +richer than the elder branch of the Navarreins. My father thus became +one of the largest landowners in the kingdom. He was able to marry +my mother, a Grandlieu of the younger branch. Though ill-gotten, this +property has been singularly profitable. + +"For my part, being determined to remedy the mischief, I wrote +to Switzerland, and knew no peace till I was on the traces of the +Protestant victim's heirs. At last I discovered that the Jeanrenauds, +reduced to abject want, had left Fribourg and returned to live in +France. Finally, I found a M. Jeanrenaud, lieutenant in a cavalry +regiment under Napoleon, the sole heir of this unhappy family. In my +eyes, monsieur, the rights of the Jeanrenauds were clear. To establish a +prescriptive right is it not necessary that there should have been some +possibility of proceeding against those who are in the enjoyment of it? +To whom could these refugees have appealed? Their Court of Justice was +on high, or rather, monsieur, it was here," and the Marquis struck his +hand on his heart. "I did not choose that my children should be able to +think of me as I have thought of my father and of my ancestors. I aim at +leaving them an unblemished inheritance and escutcheon. I did not choose +that nobility should be a lie in my person. And, after all, +politically speaking, ought those emigres who are now appealing +against revolutionary confiscations, to keep the property derived from +antecedent confiscations by positive crimes? + +"I found in M. Jeanrenaud and his mother the most perverse honesty; to +hear them you would suppose that they were robbing me. In spite of all +I could say, they will accept no more than the value of the lands at +the time when the King bestowed them on my family. The price was settled +between us at the sum of eleven hundred thousand francs, which I was +to pay at my convenience and without interest. To achieve this I had +to forego my income for a long time. And then, monsieur, began the +destruction of some illusions I had allowed myself as to Madame +d'Espard's character. When I proposed to her that we should leave Paris +and go into the country, where we could live respected on half of her +income, and so more rapidly complete a restitution of which I spoke to +her without going into the more serious details, Madame d'Espard treated +me as a madman. I then understood my wife's real character. She would +have approved of my grandfather's conduct without a scruple, and have +laughed at the Huguenots. Terrified by her coldness, and her little +affection for her children, whom she abandoned to me without regret, +I determined to leave her the command of her fortune, after paying our +common debts. It was no business of hers, as she told me, to pay for +my follies. As I then had not enough to live on and pay for my sons' +education, I determined to educate them myself, to make them gentlemen +and men of feeling. By investing my money in the funds I have been +enabled to pay off my obligation sooner than I had dared to hope, for +I took advantage of the opportunities afforded by the improvement +in prices. If I had kept four thousand francs a year for my boys and +myself, I could only have paid off twenty thousand crowns a year, and it +would have taken almost eighteen years to achieve my freedom. As it is, +I have lately repaid the whole of the eleven hundred thousand +francs that were due. Thus I enjoy the happiness of having made this +restitution without doing my children the smallest wrong. + +"These, monsieur, are the reasons for the payments made to Madame +Jeanrenaud and her son." + +"So Madame d'Espard knew the motives of your retirement?" said the +judge, controlling the emotion he felt at this narrative. + +"Yes, monsieur." + +Popinot gave an expressive shrug; he rose and opened the door into the +next room. + +"Noel, you can go," said he to his clerk. + +"Monsieur," he went on, "though what you have told me is enough to +enlighten me thoroughly, I should like to hear what you have to say to +the other facts put forward in the petition. For instance, you are here +carrying on a business such as is not habitually undertaken by a man of +rank." + +"We cannot discuss that matter here," said the Marquis, signing to the +judge to quit the room. "Nouvion," said he to the old man, "I am going +down to my rooms; the children will soon be in; dine with us." + +"Then, Monsieur le Marquis," said Popinot on the stairs, "that is not +your apartment?" + +"No, monsieur; I took those rooms for the office of this undertaking. +You see," and he pointed to an advertisement sheet, "the History is +being brought out by one of the most respectable firms in Paris, and not +by me." + +The Marquis showed the lawyer into the ground-floor rooms, saying, "This +is my apartment." + +Popinot was quite touched by the poetry, not aimed at but pervading this +dwelling. The weather was lovely, the windows were open, the air from +the garden brought in a wholesome earthy smell, the sunshine brightened +and gilded the woodwork, of a rather gloomy brown. At the sight Popinot +made up his mind that a madman would hardly be capable of inventing the +tender harmony of which he was at that moment conscious. + +"I should like just such an apartment," thought he. "You think of +leaving this part of town?" he inquired. + +"I hope so," replied the Marquis. "But I shall remain till my younger +son has finished his studies, and till the children's character is +thoroughly formed, before introducing them to the world and to their +mother's circle. Indeed, after giving them the solid information +they possess, I intend to complete it by taking them to travel to +the capitals of Europe, that they may see men and things, and become +accustomed to speak the languages they have learned. And, monsieur," +he went on, giving the judge a chair in the drawing-room, "I could not +discuss the book on China with you, in the presence of an old friend of +my family, the Comte de Nouvion, who, having emigrated, has returned +to France without any fortune whatever, and who is my partner in this +concern, less for my profit than his. Without telling him what my +motives were, I explained to him that I was as poor as he, but that I +had enough money to start a speculation in which he might be usefully +employed. My tutor was the Abbe Grozier, whom Charles X. on my +recommendation appointed Keeper of the Books at the Arsenal, which were +returned to that Prince when he was still Monsieur. The Abbe Grozier was +deeply learned with regard to China, its manners and customs; he made +me heir to this knowledge at an age when it is difficult not to become a +fanatic for the things we learn. At five-and-twenty I knew Chinese, +and I confess I have never been able to check myself in an exclusive +admiration for that nation, who conquered their conquerors, whose annals +extend back indisputably to a period more remote than mythological or +Bible times, who by their immutable institutions have preserved +the integrity of their empire, whose monuments are gigantic, whose +administration is perfect, among whom revolutions are impossible, who +have regarded ideal beauty as a barren element in art, who have carried +luxury and industry to such a pitch that we cannot outdo them in +anything, while they are our equals in things where we believe ourselves +superior. + +"Still, monsieur, though I often make a jest of comparing China with the +present condition of European states, I am not a Chinaman, I am a French +gentleman. If you entertain any doubts as to the financial side of this +undertaking, I can prove to you that at this moment we have two +thousand five hundred subscribers to this work, which is literary, +iconographical, statistical, and religious; its importance has been +generally appreciated; our subscribers belong to every nation in Europe, +we have but twelve hundred in France. Our book will cost about three +hundred francs, and the Comte de Nouvion will derive from it from six to +seven thousand francs a year, for his comfort was the real motive of the +undertaking. For my part, I aimed only at the possibility of affording +my children some pleasures. The hundred thousand francs I have made, +quite in spite of myself, will pay for their fencing lessons, horses, +dress, and theatres, pay the masters who teach them accomplishments, +procure them canvases to spoil, the books they may wish to buy, in +short, all the little fancies which a father finds so much pleasure in +gratifying. If I had been compelled to refuse these indulgences to my +poor boys, who are so good and work so hard, the sacrifice I made to the +honor of my name would have been doubly painful. + +"In point of fact, the twelve years I have spent in retirement from the +world to educate my children have led to my being completely forgotten +at Court. I have given up the career of politics; I have lost my +historical fortune, and all the distinctions which I might have acquired +and bequeathed to my children; but our house will have lost nothing; +my boys will be men of mark. Though I have missed the senatorship, they +will win it nobly by devoting themselves to the affairs of the country, +and doing such service as is not soon forgotten. While purifying the +past record of my family, I have insured it a glorious future; and is +not that to have achieved a noble task, though in secret and without +glory?--And now, monsieur, have you any other explanations to ask me?" + +At this instant the tramp of horses was heard in the courtyard. + +"Here they are!" said the Marquis. In a moment the two lads, fashionably +but plainly dressed, came into the room, booted, spurred, and gloved, +and flourishing their riding-whips. Their beaming faces brought in the +freshness of the outer air; they were brilliant with health. They both +grasped their father's hand, giving him a look, as friends do, a glance +of unspoken affection, and then they bowed coldly to the lawyer. Popinot +felt that it was quite unnecessary to question the Marquis as to his +relations towards his sons. + +"Have you enjoyed yourselves?" asked the Marquis. + +"Yes, father; I knocked down six dolls in twelve shots at the first +trial!" cried Camille. + +"And where did you ride?" + +"In the Bois; we saw my mother." + +"Did she stop?" + +"We were riding so fast just then that I daresay she did not see us," +replied the young Count. + +"But, then, why did you not go to speak to her?" + +"I fancy I have noticed, father, that she does not care that we should +speak to her in public," said Clement in an undertone. "We are a little +too big." + +The judge's hearing was keen enough to catch these words, which brought +a cloud to the Marquis' brow. Popinot took pleasure in contemplating the +picture of the father and his boys. His eyes went back with a sense +of pathos to M. d'Espard's face; his features, his expression, and his +manner all expressed honesty in its noblest aspect, intellectual and +chivalrous honesty, nobility in all its beauty. + +"You--you see, monsieur," said the Marquis, and his hesitation had +returned, "you see that Justice may look in--in here at any time--yes, +at any time--here. If there is anybody crazy, it can only be the +children--the children--who are a little crazy about their father, +and the father who is very crazy about his children--but that sort of +madness rings true." + +At this juncture Madame Jeanrenaud's voice was heard in the ante-room, +and the good woman came bustling in, in spite of the man-servant's +remonstrances. + +"I take no roundabout ways, I can tell you!" she exclaimed. "Yes, +Monsieur le Marquis, I want to speak to you, this very minute," she went +on, with a comprehensive bow to the company. "By George, and I am too +late as it is, since Monsieur the criminal Judge is before me." + +"Criminal!" cried the two boys. + +"Good reason why I did not find you at your own house, since you are +here. Well, well! the Law is always to the fore when there is mischief +brewing.--I came, Monsieur le Marquis, to tell you that my son and I are +of one mind to give you everything back, since our honor is threatened. +My son and I, we had rather give you back everything than cause you +the smallest trouble. My word, they must be as stupid as pans without +handles to call you a lunatic----" + +"A lunatic! My father?" exclaimed the boys, clinging to the Marquis. +"What is this?" + +"Silence, madame," said Popinot. + +"Children, leave us," said the Marquis. + +The two boys went into the garden without a word, but very much alarmed. + +"Madame," said the judge, "the moneys paid to you by Monsieur le Marquis +were legally due, though given to you in virtue of a very far-reaching +theory of honesty. If all the people possessed of confiscated goods, by +whatever cause, even if acquired by treachery, were compelled to make +restitution every hundred and fifty years, there would be few legitimate +owners in France. The possessions of Jacques Coeur enriched twenty noble +families; the confiscations pronounced by the English to the advantage +of their adherents at the time when they held a part of France made the +fortune of several princely houses. + +"Our law allows M. d'Espard to dispose of his income without accounting +for it, or suffering him to be accused of its misapplication. A +Commission in Lunacy can only be granted when a man's actions are devoid +of reason; but in this case, the remittances made to you have a reason +based on the most sacred and most honorable motives. Hence you may keep +it all without remorse, and leave the world to misinterpret a noble +action. In Paris, the highest virtue is the object of the foulest +calumny. It is, unfortunately, the present condition of society that +makes the Marquis' actions sublime. For the honor of my country, I would +that such deeds were regarded as a matter of course; but, as things are, +I am forced by comparison to look upon M. d'Espard as a man to whom a +crown should be awarded, rather than that he should be threatened with a +Commission in Lunacy. + +"In the course of a long professional career, I have seen and heard +nothing that has touched me more deeply than that I have just seen and +heard. But it is not extraordinary that virtue should wear its noblest +aspect when it is practised by men of the highest class. + +"Having heard me express myself in this way, I hope, Monsieur le +Marquis, that you feel certain of my silence, and that you will not +for a moment be uneasy as to the decision pronounced in the case--if it +comes before the Court." + +"There, now! Well said," cried Madame Jeanrenaud. "That is something +like a judge! Look here, my dear sir, I would hug you if I were not so +ugly; you speak like a book." + +The Marquis held out his hand to Popinot, who gently pressed it with +a look full of sympathetic comprehension at this great man in private +life, and the Marquis responded with a pleasant smile. These two +natures, both so large and full--one commonplace but divinely kind, the +other lofty and sublime--had fallen into unison gently, without a jar, +without a flash of passion, as though two pure lights had been merged +into one. The father of a whole district felt himself worthy to grasp +the hand of this man who was doubly noble, and the Marquis felt in the +depths of his soul an instinct that told him that the judge's hand +was one of those from which the treasures of inexhaustible beneficence +perennially flow. + +"Monsieur le Marquis," added Popinot, with a bow, "I am happy to be able +to tell you that, from the first words of this inquiry, I regarded my +clerk as quite unnecessary." + +He went close to M. d'Espard, led him into the window-bay, and said: "It +is time that you should return home, monsieur. I believe that Madame la +Marquise has acted in this matter under an influence which you ought at +once to counteract." + +Popinot withdrew. He looked back several times as he crossed the +courtyard, touched by the recollection of the scene. It was one of those +which take root in the memory to blossom again in certain hours when the +soul seeks consolation. + +"Those rooms would just suit me," said he to himself as he reached home. +"If M. d'Espard leaves them, I will take up his lease." + + + +The next day, at about ten in the morning, Popinot, who had written out +his report the previous evening, made his way to the Palais de Justice, +intending to have prompt and righteous justice done. As he went to the +robing-room to put on his gown and bands, the usher told him that the +President of his Court begged him to attend in his private room, where +he was waiting for him. Popinot forthwith obeyed. + +"Good-morning, my dear Popinot," said the President, "I have been +waiting for you." + +"Why, Monsieur le President, is anything wrong?" + +"A mere silly trifle," said the President. "The Keeper of the Seals, +with whom I had the honor of dining yesterday, led me apart into a +corner. He had heard that you had been to tea with Madame d'Espard, in +whose case you were employed to make inquiries. He gave me to understand +that it would be as well that you should not sit on this case----" + +"But, Monsieur le President, I can prove that I left Madame d'Espard's +house at the moment when tea was brought in. And my conscience----" + +"Yes, yes; the whole Bench, the two Courts, all the profession know you. +I need not repeat what I said about you to his Eminence; but, you know, +'Caesar's wife must not be suspected.' So we shall not make this +foolish trifle a matter of discipline, but only of proprieties. Between +ourselves, it is not on your account, but on that of the Bench." + +"But, monsieur, if you only knew the kind of woman----" said the judge, +trying to pull his report out of his pocket. + +"I am perfectly certain that you have proceeded in this matter with the +strictest independence of judgment. I myself, in the provinces, have +often taken more than a cup of tea with the people I had to try; but the +fact that the Keeper of the Seals should have mentioned it, and that you +might be talked about, is enough to make the Court avoid any discussion +of the matter. Any conflict with public opinion must always be dangerous +for a constitutional body, even when the right is on its side against +the public, because their weapons are not equal. Journalism may say or +suppose anything, and our dignity forbids us even to reply. In fact, +I have spoken of the matter to your President, and M. Camusot has been +appointed in your place on your retirement, which you will signify. +It is a family matter, so to speak. And I now beg you to signify your +retirement from the case as a personal favor. To make up, you will get +the Cross of the Legion of Honor, which has so long been due to you. I +make that my business." + +When he saw M. Camusot, a judge recently called to Paris from a +provincial Court of the same class, as he went forward bowing to the +Judge and the President, Popinot could not repress an ironical smile. +This pale, fair young man, full of covert ambition, looked ready to hang +and unhang, at the pleasure of any earthy king, the innocent and the +guilty alike, and to follow the example of a Laubardemont rather than +that of a Mole. + +Popinot withdrew with a bow; he scorned to deny the lying accusation +that had been brought against him. + + +PARIS, February 1836. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + +Note: The Commission in Lunacy is also known as The Interdiction and is +referred to by that title in certain of the addendums. + + Bianchon, Horace + Father Goriot + The Atheist's Mass + Cesar Birotteau + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Secrets of a Princess + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Study of Woman + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Magic Skin + A Second Home + A Prince of Bohemia + Letters of Two Brides + The Muse of the Department + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + The Country Parson + In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + La Grande Breteche + + Bordin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Seamy Side of History + Jealousies of a Country Town + + Camusot de Marville + Cousin Pons + Jealousies of a Country Town + Scenes from a Cuortesan's Life + + Desroches (son) + A Bachelor's Establishment + Colonel Chabert + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + + Espard, Charles-Maurice-Marie-Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis d' + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + + Espard, Chevalier d' + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Secrets of a Princess + + Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d' + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Letters of Two Brides + Another Study of Woman + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + Beatrix + + Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + Colonel Chabert + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + + Grozier, Abbe + Lost Illusions + + Jeanrenaud + Albert Savarus + + Mongenod, Frederic + The Seamy Side of History + + Negrepelisse, De + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + + Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de + Father Goriot + The Thirteen + Eugenie Grandet + Cesar Birotteau + Melmoth Reconciled + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Modeste Mignon + The Firm of Nucingen + Another Study of Woman + A Daughter of Eve + The Member for Arcis + + Popinot, Jean-Jules + Cesar Birotteau + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Middle Classes + + Rabourdin, Madame + The Government Clerks + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Commission in Lunacy, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY *** + +***** This file should be named 1410.txt or 1410.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/1410/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 Commission in Lunacy + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Release Date: July 2, 2004 [EBook #1410] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny, and John Bickers + + + + + THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY + + BY + + HONORE DE BALZAC + + + + Translated By + + Clara Bell + + + + DEDICATION + +Dedicated to Monsieur le Contre-Amiral Bazoche, +Governor of the Isle of Bourbon, by the grateful writer. +DE BALZAC. + + + +In 1828, at about one o'clock one morning, two persons came out of +a large house in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, near the +Elysee-Bourbon. One was the famous doctor, Horace Bianchon; the other +was one of the most elegant men in Paris, the Baron de Rastignac; +they were friends of long standing. Each had sent away his carriage, +and no cab was to be seen in the street; but the night was fine, and +the pavement dry. + +"We will walk as far as the boulevard," said Eugene de Rastignac to +Bianchon. "You can get a hackney cab at the club; there is always one +to be found there till daybreak. Come with me as far as my house." + +"With pleasure." + +"Well, and what have you to say about it?" + +"About that woman?" said the doctor coldly. + +"There I recognize my Bianchon!" exclaimed Rastignac. + +"Why, how?" + +"Well, my dear fellow, you speak of the Marquise d'Espard as if she +were a case for your hospital." + +"Do you want to know what I think, Eugene? If you throw over Madame de +Nucingen for this Marquise, you will swap a one-eyed horse for a blind +one." + +"Madame de Nucingen is six-and-thirty, Bianchon." + +"And this woman is three-and-thirty," said the doctor quickly. + +"Her worst enemies only say six-and-twenty." + +"My dear boy, when you really want to know a woman's age, look at her +temples and the tip of her nose. Whatever women may achieve with their +cosmetics, they can do nothing against those incorruptible witnesses +to their experiences. There each year of life has left its stigmata. +When a woman's temples are flaccid, seamed, withered in a particular +way; when at the tip of her nose you see those minute specks, which +look like the imperceptible black smuts which are shed in London by +the chimneys in which coal is burnt. . . . Your servant, sir! That +woman is more than thirty. She may be handsome, witty, loving +--whatever you please, but she is past thirty, she is arriving at +maturity. I do not blame men who attach themselves to that kind of +woman; only, a man of your superior distinction must not mistake a +winter pippin for a little summer apple, smiling on the bough, and +waiting for you to crunch it. Love never goes to study the registers +of birth and marriage; no one loves a woman because she is handsome or +ugly, stupid or clever; we love because we love." + +"Well, for my part, I love for quite other reasons. She is Marquise +d'Espard; she was a Blamont-Chauvry; she is the fashion; she has soul; +her foot is as pretty as the Duchesse de Berri's; she has perhaps a +hundred thousand francs a year--some day, perhaps, I may marry her! In +short, she will put me into a position which will enable me to pay my +debts." + +"I thought you were rich," interrupted Bianchon. + +"Bah! I have twenty thousand francs a year--just enough to keep up my +stables. I was thoroughly done, my dear fellow, in that Nucingen +business; I will tell you about that.--I have got my sisters married; +that is the clearest profit I can show since we last met; and I would +rather have them provided for than have five hundred thousand francs a +year. No, what would you have me do? I am ambitious. To what can +Madame de Nucingen lead? A year more and I shall be shelved, stuck in +a pigeon-hole like a married man. I have all the discomforts of +marriage and of single life, without the advantages of either; a false +position to which every man must come who remains tied too long to the +same apron-string." + +"So you think you will come upon a treasure here?" said Bianchon. +"Your Marquise, my dear fellow, does not hit my fancy at all." + +"Your liberal opinions blur your eyesight. If Madame d'Espard were a +Madame Rabourdin . . ." + +"Listen to me. Noble or simple, she would still have no soul; she +would still be a perfect type of selfishness. Take my word for it, +medical men are accustomed to judge of people and things; the sharpest +of us read the soul while we study the body. In spite of that pretty +boudoir where we have spent this evening, in spite of the magnificence +of the house, it is quite possible that Madame la Marquise is in +debt." + +"What makes you think so?" + +"I do not assert it; I am supposing. She talked of her soul as Louis +XVIII. used to talk of his heart. I tell you this: That fragile, fair +woman, with her chestnut hair, who pities herself that she may be +pitied, enjoys an iron constitution, an appetite like a wolf's, and +the strength and cowardice of a tiger. Gauze, and silk, and muslin +were never more cleverly twisted round a lie! Ecco." + +"Bianchon, you frighten me! You have learned a good many things, then, +since we lived in the Maison Vauquer?" + +"Yes, since then, my boy, I have seen puppets, both dolls and +manikins. I know something of the ways of the fine ladies whose bodies +we attend to, saving that which is dearest to them, their child--if +they love it--or their pretty faces, which they always worship. A man +spends his nights by their pillow, wearing himself to death to spare +them the slightest loss of beauty in any part; he succeeds, he keeps +their secret like the dead; they send to ask for his bill, and think +it horribly exorbitant. Who saved them? Nature. Far from recommending +him, they speak ill of him, fearing lest he should become the +physician of their best friends. + +"My dear fellow, those women of whom you say, 'They are angels!' I +--I--have seen stripped of the little grimaces under which they hide +their soul, as well as of the frippery under which they disguise their +defects--without manners and without stays; they are not beautiful. + +"We saw a great deal of mud, a great deal of dirt, under the waters of +the world when we were aground for a time on the shoals of the Maison +Vauquer.--What we saw there was nothing. Since I have gone into high +society, I have seen monsters dressed in satin, Michonneaus in white +gloves, Poirets bedizened with orders, fine gentlemen doing more +usurious business than old Gobseck! To the shame of mankind, when I +have wanted to shake hands with Virtue, I have found her shivering in +a loft, persecuted by calumny, half-starving on a income or a salary +of fifteen hundred francs a year, and regarded as crazy, or eccentric, +or imbecile. + +"In short, my dear boy, the Marquise is a woman of fashion, and I have +a particular horror of that kind of woman. Do you want to know why? A +woman who has a lofty soul, fine taste, gentle wit, a generously warm +heart, and who lives a simple life, has not a chance of being the +fashion. Ergo: A woman of fashion and a man in power are analogous; +but there is this difference: the qualities by which a man raises +himself above others ennoble him and are a glory to him; whereas the +qualities by which a woman gains power for a day are hideous vices; +she belies her nature to hide her character, and to live the militant +life of the world she must have iron strength under a frail +appearance. + +"I, as a physician, know that a sound stomach excludes a good heart. +Your woman of fashion feels nothing; her rage for pleasure has its +source in a longing to heat up her cold nature, a craving for +excitement and enjoyment, like an old man who stands night after night +by the footlights at the opera. As she has more brain than heart, she +sacrifices genuine passion and true friends to her triumph, as a +general sends his most devoted subalterns to the front in order to win +a battle. The woman of fashion ceases to be a woman; she is neither +mother, nor wife, nor lover. She is, medically speaking, sex in the +brain. And your Marquise, too, has all the characteristics of her +monstrosity, the beak of a bird of prey, the clear, cold eye, the +gentle voice--she is as polished as the steel of a machine, she +touches everything except the heart." + +"There is some truth in what you say, Bianchon." + +"Some truth?" replied Bianchon. "It is all true. Do you suppose that I +was not struck to the heart by the insulting politeness by which she +made me measure the imaginary distance which her noble birth sets +between us? That I did not feel the deepest pity for her cat-like +civilities when I remembered what her object was? A year hence she +will not write one word to do me the slightest service, and this +evening she pelted me with smiles, believing that I can influence my +uncle Popinot, on whom the success of her case----" + +"Would you rather she should have played the fool with you, my dear +fellow?--I accept your diatribe against women of fashion; but you are +beside the mark. I should always prefer for a wife a Marquise d'Espard +to the most devout and devoted creature on earth. Marry an angel! you +would have to go and bury your happiness in the depths of the country! +The wife of a politician is a governing machine, a contrivance that +makes compliments and courtesies. She is the most important and most +faithful tool which an ambitious man can use; a friend, in short, who +may compromise herself without mischief, and whom he may belie without +harmful results. Fancy Mahomet in Paris in the nineteenth century! His +wife would be a Rohan, a Duchesse de Chevreuse of the Fronde, as keen +and as flattering as an Ambassadress, as wily as Figaro. Your loving +wives lead nowhere; a woman of the world leads to everything; she is +the diamond with which a man cuts every window when he has not the +golden key which unlocks every door. Leave humdrum virtues to the +humdrum, ambitious vices to the ambitious. + +"Besides, my dear fellow, do you imagine that the love of a Duchesse +de Langeais, or de Maufrigneuse, or of a Lady Dudley does not bestow +immense pleasure? If only you knew how much value the cold, severe +style of such a woman gives to the smallest evidence of their +affection! What a delight it is to see a periwinkle piercing through +the snow! A smile from below a fan contradicts the reserve of an +assumed attitude, and is worth all the unbridled tenderness of your +middle-class women with their mortgaged devotion; for, in love, +devotion is nearly akin to speculation. + +"And, then, a woman of fashion, a Blamont-Chauvry, has her virtues +too! Her virtues are fortune, power, effect, a certain contempt of all +that is beneath her----" + +"Thank you!" said Bianchon. + +"Old curmudgeon!" said Rastignac, laughing. "Come--do not be so +common, do like your friend Desplein; be a Baron, a Knight of +Saint-Michael; become a peer of France, and marry your daughters +to dukes." + +"I! May the five hundred thousand devils----" + +"Come, come! Can you be superior only in medicine? Really, you +distress me . . ." + +"I hate that sort of people; I long for a revolution to deliver us +from them for ever." + +"And so, my dear Robespierre of the lancet, you will not go to-morrow +to your uncle Popinot?" + +"Yes, I will," said Bianchon; "for you I would go to hell to fetch +water . . ." + +"My good friend, you really touch me. I have sworn that a commission +shall sit on the Marquis. Why, here is even a long-saved tear to thank +you." + +"But," Bianchon went on, "I do not promise to succeed as you wish with +Jean-Jules Popinot. You do not know him. However, I will take him to +see your Marquise the day after to-morrow; she may get round him if +she can. I doubt it. If all the truffles, all the Duchesses, all the +mistresses, and all the charmers in Paris were there in the full bloom +of their beauty; if the King promised him the /Prairie/, and the +Almighty gave him the Order of Paradise with the revenues of +Purgatory, not one of all these powers would induce him to transfer a +single straw from one saucer of his scales into the other. He is a +judge, as Death is Death." + +The two friends had reached the office of the Minister for Foreign +Affairs, at the corner of the Boulevard des Capucines. + +"Here you are at home," said Bianchon, laughing, as he pointed to the +ministerial residence. "And here is my carriage," he added, calling a +hackney cab. "And these--express our fortune." + +"You will be happy at the bottom of the sea, while I am still +struggling with the tempests on the surface, till I sink and go to ask +you for a corner in your grotto, old fellow!" + +"Till Saturday," replied Bianchon. + +"Agreed," said Rastignac. "And you promise me Popinot?" + +"I will do all my conscience will allow. Perhaps this appeal for a +commission covers some little dramorama, to use a word of our good bad +times." + +"Poor Bianchon! he will never be anything but a good fellow," said +Rastignac to himself as the cab drove off. + + + +"Rastignac has given me the most difficult negotiation in the world," +said Bianchon to himself, remembering, as he rose next morning, the +delicate commission intrusted to him. "However, I have never asked the +smallest service from my uncle in Court, and have paid more than a +thousand visits gratis for him. And, after all, we are not apt to +mince matters between ourselves. He will say Yes or No, and there an +end." + +After this little soliloquy the famous physician bent his steps, at +seven in the morning, towards the Rue du Fouarre, where dwelt Monsieur +Jean-Jules Popinot, judge of the Lower Court of the Department of the +Seine. The Rue du Fouarre--an old word meaning straw--was in the +thirteenth century the most important street in Paris. There stood the +Schools of the University, where the voices of Abelard and of Gerson +were heard in the world of learning. It is now one of the dirtiest +streets of the Twelfth Arrondissement, the poorest quarter of Paris, +that in which two-thirds of the population lack firing in winter, +which leaves most brats at the gate of the Foundling Hospital, which +sends most beggars to the poorhouse, most rag-pickers to the street +corners, most decrepit old folks to bask against the walls on which +the sun shines, most delinquents to the police courts. + +Half-way down this street, which is always damp, and where the gutter +carries to the Seine the blackened waters from some dye-works, there +is an old house, restored no doubt under Francis I., and built of +bricks held together by a few courses of masonry. That it is +substantial seems proved by the shape of its front wall, not +uncommonly seen in some parts of Paris. It bellies, so to speak, in a +manner caused by the protuberance of its first floor, crushed under +the weight of the second and third, but upheld by the strong wall of +the ground floor. At first sight it would seem as though the piers +between the windows, though strengthened by the stone mullions, must +give way, but the observer presently perceives that, as in the tower +at Bologna, the old bricks and old time-eaten stones of this house +persistently preserve their centre of gravity. + +At every season of the year the solid piers of the ground floor have +the yellow tone and the imperceptible sweating surface that moisture +gives to stone. The passer-by feels chilled as he walks close to this +wall, where worn corner-stones ineffectually shelter him from the +wheels of vehicles. As is always the case in houses built before +carriages were in use, the vault of the doorway forms a very low +archway not unlike the barbican of a prison. To the right of this +entrance there are three windows, protected outside by iron gratings +of so close a pattern, that the curious cannot possibly see the use +made of the dark, damp rooms within, and the panes too are dirty and +dusty; to the left are two similar windows, one of which is sometimes +open, exposing to view the porter, his wife, and his children; +swarming, working, cooking, eating, and screaming, in a floored and +wainscoted room where everything is dropping to pieces, and into which +you descend two steps--a depth which seems to suggest the gradual +elevation of the soil of Paris. + +If on a rainy day some foot-passenger takes refuge under the long +vault, with projecting lime-washed beams, which leads from the door to +the staircase, he will hardly fail to pause and look at the picture +presented by the interior of this house. To the left is a square +garden-plot, allowing of not more than four long steps in each +direction, a garden of black soil, with trellises bereft of vines, and +where, in default of vegetation under the shade of two trees, papers +collect, old rags, potsherds, bits of mortar fallen from the roof; a +barren ground, where time has shed on the walls, and on the trunks and +branches of the trees, a powdery deposit like cold soot. The two parts +of the house, set at a right angle, derive light from this +garden-court shut in by two adjoining houses built on wooden piers, +decrepit and ready to fall, where on each floor some grotesque evidence +is to be seen of the craft pursued by some lodger within. Here long +poles are hung with immense skeins of dyed worsted put out to dry; +there, on ropes, dance clean-washed shirts; higher up, on a shelf, +volumes display their freshly marbled edges; women sing, husbands +whistle, children shout; the carpenter saws his planks, a copper-turner +makes the metal screech; all kinds of industries combine to produce a +noise which the number of instruments renders distracting. + +The general system of decoration in this passage, which is neither +courtyard, garden, nor vaulted way, though a little of all, consists +of wooden pillars resting on square stone blocks, and forming arches. +Two archways open on to the little garden; two others, facing the +front gateway, lead to a wooden staircase, with an iron balustrade +that was once a miracle of smith's work, so whimsical are the shapes +given to the metal; the worn steps creak under every tread. The +entrance to each flat has an architrave dark with dirt, grease, and +dust, and outer doors, covered with Utrecht velvet set with brass +nails, once gilt, in a diamond pattern. These relics of splendor show +that in the time of Louis XIV. the house was the residence of some +councillor to the Parlement, some rich priests, or some treasurer of +the ecclesiastical revenue. But these vestiges of former luxury bring +a smile to the lips by the artless contrast of past and present. + +M. Jean-Jules Popinot lived on the first floor of this house, where +the gloom, natural to all first floors in Paris houses, was increased +by the narrowness of the street. This old tenement was known to all +the twelfth arrondissement, on which Providence had bestowed this +lawyer, as it gives a beneficent plant to cure or alleviate every +malady. Here is a sketch of a man whom the brilliant Marquise d'Espard +hoped to fascinate. + +M. Popinot, as is seemly for a magistrate, was always dressed in black +--a style which contributed to make him ridiculous in the eyes of +those who were in the habit of judging everything from a superficial +examination. Men who are jealous of maintaining the dignity required +by this color ought to devote themselves to constant and minute care +of their person; but our dear M. Popinot was incapable of forcing +himself to the puritanical cleanliness which black demands. His +trousers, always threadbare, looked like camlet--the stuff of which +attorneys' gowns are made; and his habitual stoop set them, in time, +in such innumerable creases, that in places they were traced with +lines, whitish, rusty, or shiny, betraying either sordid avarice, or +the most unheeding poverty. His coarse worsted stockings were twisted +anyhow in his ill-shaped shoes. His linen had the tawny tinge acquired +by long sojourn in a wardrobe, showing that the late lamented Madame +Popinot had had a mania for much linen; in the Flemish fashion, +perhaps, she had given herself the trouble of a great wash no more +than twice a year. The old man's coat and waistcoat were in harmony +with his trousers, shoes, stockings, and linen. He always had the luck +of his carelessness; for, the first day he put on a new coat, he +unfailingly matched it with the rest of his costume by staining it +with incredible promptitude. The good man waited till his housekeeper +told him that his hat was too shabby before buying a new one. His +necktie was always crumpled and starchless, and he never set his +dog-eared shirt collar straight after his judge's bands had disordered +it. He took no care of his gray hair, and shaved but twice a week. He +never wore gloves, and generally kept his hands stuffed into his empty +trousers' pockets; the soiled pocket-holes, almost always torn, added +a final touch to the slovenliness of his person. + +Any one who knows the Palais de Justice at Paris, where every variety +of black attire may be studied, can easily imagine the appearance of +M. Popinot. The habit of sitting for days at a time modifies the +structure of the body, just as the fatigue of hearing interminable +pleadings tells on the expression of a magistrate's face. Shut up as +he is in courts ridiculously small, devoid of architectural dignity, +and where the air is quickly vitiated, a Paris judge inevitably +acquires a countenance puckered and seamed by reflection, and +depressed by weariness; his complexion turns pallid, acquiring an +earthy or greenish hue according to his individual temperament. In +short, within a given time the most blooming young man is turned into +an "inasmuch" machine--an instrument which applies the Code to +individual cases with the indifference of clockwork. + +Hence, nature, having bestowed on M. Popinot a not too pleasing +exterior, his life as a lawyer had not improved it. His frame was +graceless and angular. His thick knees, huge feet, and broad hands +formed a contrast with a priest-like face having a vague resemblance +to a calf's head, meek to unmeaningness, and but little brightened by +divergent bloodless eyes, divided by a straight flat nose, surmounted +by a flat forehead, flanked by enormous ears, flabby and graceless. +His thin, weak hair showed the baldness through various irregular +partings. + +One feature only commended this face to the physiognomist. This man +had a mouth to whose lips divine kindness lent its sweetness. They +were wholesome, full, red lips, finely wrinkled, sinuous, mobile, by +which nature had given expression to noble feelings; lips which spoke +to the heart and proclaimed the man's intelligence and lucidity, a +gift of second-sight, and a heavenly temper; and you would have judged +him wrongly from looking merely at his sloping forehead, his fireless +eyes, and his shambling gait. His life answered to his countenance; it +was full of secret labor, and hid the virtue of a saint. His superior +knowledge of law proved so strong a recommendation at a time when +Napoleon was reorganizing it in 1808 and 1811, that, by the advice of +Cambaceres, he was one of the first men named to sit on the Imperial +High Court of Justice at Paris. Popinot was no schemer. Whenever any +demand was made, any request preferred for an appointment, the +Minister would overlook Popinot, who never set foot in the house of +the High Chancellor or the Chief Justice. From the High Court he was +sent down to the Common Court, and pushed to the lowest rung of the +ladder by active struggling men. There he was appointed supernumerary +judge. There was a general outcry among the lawyers: "Popinot a +supernumerary!" Such injustice struck the legal world with dismay--the +attorneys, the registrars, everybody but Popinot himself, who made no +complaint. The first clamor over, everybody was satisfied that all was +for the best in the best of all possible worlds, which must certainly +be the legal world. Popinot remained supernumerary judge till the day +when the most famous Great Seal under the Restoration avenged the +oversights heaped on this modest and uncomplaining man by the Chief +Justices of the Empire. After being a supernumerary for twelve years, +M. Popinot would no doubt die a puisne judge of the Court of the +Seine. + +To account for the obscure fortunes of one of the superior men of the +legal profession, it is necessary to enter here into some details +which will serve to reveal his life and character, and which will, at +the same time, display some of the wheels of the great machine known +as Justice. M. Popinot was classed by the three Presidents who +successively controlled the Court of the Seine under the category of +possible judges, the stuff of which judges are made. Thus classified, +he did not achieve the reputation for capacity which his previous +labors had deserved. Just as a painter is invariably included in a +category as a landscape painter, a portrait painter, a painter of +history, of sea pieces, or of genre, by a public consisting of +artists, connoisseurs, and simpletons, who, out of envy, or critical +omnipotence, or prejudice, fence in his intellect, assuming, one and +all, that there are ganglions in every brain--a narrow judgment which +the world applies to writers, to statesmen, to everybody who begins +with some specialty before being hailed as omniscient; so Popinot's +fate was sealed, and he was hedged round to do a particular kind of +work. Magistrates, attorneys, pleaders, all who pasture on the legal +common, distinguish two elements in every case--law and equity. Equity +is the outcome of facts, law is the application of principles to +facts. A man may be right in equity but wrong in law, without any +blame to the judge. Between his conscience and the facts there is a +whole gulf of determining reasons unknown to the judge, but which +condemn or legitimatize the act. A judge is not God; the duty is to +adapt facts to principles, to judge cases of infinite variety while +measuring them by a fixed standard. + +France employs about six thousand judges; no generation has six +thousand great men at her command, much less can she find them in the +legal profession. Popinot, in the midst of the civilization of Paris, +was just a very clever cadi, who, by the character of his mind, and by +dint of rubbing the letter of the law into the essence of facts, had +learned to see the error of spontaneous and violent decisions. By the +help of his judicial second-sight he could pierce the double casing of +lies in which advocates hide the heart of a trial. He was a judge, as +the great Desplein was a surgeon; he probed men's consciences as the +anatomist probed their bodies. His life and habits had led him to an +exact appreciation of their most secret thoughts by a thorough study +of facts. + +He sifted a case as Cuvier sifted the earth's crust. Like that great +thinker, he proceeded from deduction to deduction before drawing his +conclusions, and reconstructed the past career of a conscience as +Cuvier reconstructed an Anoplotherium. When considering a brief he +would often wake in the night, startled by a gleam of truth suddenly +sparkling in his brain. Struck by the deep injustice, which is the end +of these contests, in which everything is against the honest man, +everything to the advantage of the rogue, he often summed up in favor +of equity against law in such cases as bore on questions of what may +be termed divination. Hence he was regarded by his colleagues as a man +not of a practical mind; his arguments on two lines of deduction made +their deliberations lengthy. When Popinot observed their dislike to +listening to him he gave his opinion briefly; it was said that he was +not a good judge in this class of cases; but as his gift of +discrimination was remarkable, his opinion lucid, and his penetration +profound, he was considered to have a special aptitude for the +laborious duties of an examining judge. So an examining judge he +remained during the greater part of his legal career. + +Although his qualifications made him eminently fitted for its +difficult functions, and he had the reputation of being so learned in +criminal law that his duty was a pleasure to him, the kindness of his +heart constantly kept him in torture, and he was nipped as in a vise +between his conscience and his pity. The services of an examining +judge are better paid than those of a judge in civil actions, but they +do not therefore prove a temptation; they are too onerous. Popinot, a +man of modest and virtuous learning, without ambition, an +indefatigable worker, never complained of his fate; he sacrificed his +tastes and his compassionate soul to the public good, and allowed +himself to be transported to the noisome pools of criminal +examinations, where he showed himself alike severe and beneficent. His +clerk sometimes would give the accused some money to buy tobacco, or a +warm winter garment, as he led him back from the judge's office to the +Souriciere, the mouse-trap--the House of Detention where the accused +are kept under the orders of the Examining Judge. He knew how to be an +inflexible judge and a charitable man. And no one extracted a +confession so easily as he without having recourse to judicial +trickery. He had, too, all the acumen of an observer. This man, +apparently so foolishly good-natured, simple, and absent-minded, could +guess all the cunning of a prison wag, unmask the astutest street +huzzy, and subdue a scoundrel. Unusual circumstances had sharpened his +perspicacity; but to relate these we must intrude on his domestic +history, for in him the judge was the social side of the man; another +man, greater and less known, existed within. + +Twelve years before the beginning of this story, in 1816, during the +terrible scarcity which coincided disastrously with the stay in France +of the so-called Allies, Popinot was appointed President of the +Commission Extraordinary formed to distribute food to the poor of his +neighborhood, just when he had planned to move from the Rue du +Fouarre, which he as little liked to live in as his wife did. The +great lawyer, the clear-sighted criminal judge, whose superiority +seemed to his colleagues a form of aberration, had for five years been +watching legal results without seeing their causes. As he scrambled up +into the lofts, as he saw the poverty, as he studied the desperate +necessities which gradually bring the poor to criminal acts, as he +estimated their long struggles, compassion filled his soul. The judge +then became the Saint Vincent de Paul of these grown-up children, +these suffering toilers. The transformation was not immediately +complete. Beneficence has its temptations as vice has. Charity +consumes a saint's purse, as roulette consumes the possessions of a +gambler, quite gradually. Popinot went from misery to misery, from +charity to charity; then, by the time he had lifted all the rags which +cover public pauperism, like a bandage under which an inflamed wound +lies festering, at the end of a year he had become the Providence +incarnate of that quarter of the town. He was a member of the +Benevolent Committee and of the Charity Organization. Wherever any +gratuitous services were needed he was ready, and did everything +without fuss, like the man with the short cloak, who spends his life +in carrying soup round the markets and other places where there are +starving folks. + +Popinot was fortunate in acting on a larger circle and in a higher +sphere; he had an eye on everything, he prevented crime, he gave work +to the unemployed, he found a refuge for the helpless, he distributed +aid with discernment wherever danger threatened, he made himself the +counselor of the widow, the protector of homeless children, the +sleeping partner of small traders. No one at the Courts, no one in +Paris, knew of this secret life of Popinot's. There are virtues so +splendid that they necessitate obscurity; men make haste to hide them +under a bushel. As to those whom the lawyer succored, they, hard at +work all day and tired at night, were little able to sing his praises; +theirs was the gracelessness of children, who can never pay because +they owe too much. There is such compulsory ingratitude; but what +heart that has sown good to reap gratitude can think itself great? + +By the end of the second year of his apostolic work, Popinot had +turned the storeroom at the bottom of his house into a parlor, lighted +by the three iron-barred windows. The walls and ceiling of this +spacious room were whitewashed, and the furniture consisted of wooden +benches like those seen in schools, a clumsy cupboard, a walnut-wood +writing-table, and an armchair. In the cupboard were his registers of +donations, his tickets for orders for bread, and his diary. He kept +his ledger like a tradesman, that he might not be ruined by kindness. +All the sorrows of the neighborhood were entered and numbered in a +book, where each had its little account, as merchants' customers have +theirs. When there was any question as to a man or a family needing +help, the lawyer could always command information from the police. + +Lavienne, a man made for his master, was his aide-de-camp. He redeemed +or renewed pawn-tickets, and visited the districts most threatened +with famine, while his master was in court. + +From four till seven in the morning in summer, from six till nine in +winter, this room was full of women, children, and paupers, while +Popinot gave audience. There was no need for a stove in winter; the +crowd was so dense that the air was warmed; only, Lavienne strewed +straw on the wet floor. By long use the benches were as polished as +varnished mahogany; at the height of a man's shoulders the wall had a +coat of dark, indescribable color, given to it by the rags and +tattered clothes of these poor creatures. The poor wretches loved +Popinot so well that when they assembled before his door was opened, +before daybreak on a winter's morning, the women warming themselves +with their foot-brasiers, the men swinging their arms for circulation, +never a sound had disturbed his sleep. Rag-pickers and other toilers +of the night knew the house, and often saw a light burning in the +lawyer's private room at unholy hours. Even thieves, as they passed +by, said, "That is his house," and respected it. The morning he gave +to the poor, the mid-day hours to criminals, the evening to law work. + +Thus the gift of observation that characterized Popinot was +necessarily bifrons; he could guess the virtues of a pauper--good +feelings nipped, fine actions in embryo, unrecognized self-sacrifice, +just as he could read at the bottom of a man's conscience the faintest +outlines of a crime, the slenderest threads of wrongdoing, and infer +all the rest. + +Popinot's inherited fortune was a thousand crowns a year. His wife, +sister to M. Bianchon /Senior/, a doctor at Sancerre, had brought him +about twice as much. She, dying five years since, had left her fortune +to her husband. As the salary of a supernumerary judge is not large, +and Popinot had been a fully salaried judge only for four years, we +may guess his reasons for parsimony in all that concerned his person +and mode of life, when we consider how small his means were and how +great his beneficence. Besides, is not such indifference to dress as +stamped Popinot an absent-minded man, a distinguishing mark of +scientific attainment, of art passionately pursued, of a perpetually +active mind? To complete this portrait, it will be enough to add that +Popinot was one of the few judges of the Court of the Seine on whom +the ribbon of the Legion of Honor had not been conferred. + +Such was the man who had been instructed by the President of the +Second Chamber of the Court--to which Popinot had belonged since his +reinstatement among the judges in civil law--to examine the Marquis +d'Espard at the request of his wife, who sued for a Commission in +Lunacy. + +The Rue du Fouarre, where so many unhappy wretches swarmed in the +early morning, would be deserted by nine o'clock, and as gloomy and +squalid as ever. Bianchon put his horse to a trot in order to find his +uncle in the midst of his business. It was not without a smile that he +thought of the curious contrast the judge's appearance would make in +Madame d'Espard's room; but he promised himself that he would persuade +him to dress in a way that should not be too ridiculous. + +"If only my uncle happens to have a new coat!" said Bianchon to +himself, as he turned into the Rue du Fouarre, where a pale light +shone from the parlor windows. "I shall do well, I believe, to talk +that over with Lavienne." + +At the sound of wheels half a score of startled paupers came out from +under the gateway, and took off their hats on recognizing Bianchon; +for the doctor, who treated gratuitously the sick recommended to him +by the lawyer, was not less well known than he to the poor creatures +assembled there. + +Bianchon found his uncle in the middle of the parlor, where the +benches were occupied by patients presenting such grotesque +singularities of costume as would have made the least artistic +passer-by turn round to gaze at them. A draughtsman--a Rembrandt, if +there were one in our day--might have conceived of one of his finest +compositions from seeing these children of misery, in artless +attitudes, and all silent. + +Here was the rugged countenance of an old man with a white beard and +an apostolic head--a Saint Peter ready to hand; his chest, partly +uncovered, showed salient muscles, the evidence of an iron +constitution which had served him as a fulcrum to resist a whole poem +of sorrows. There a young woman was suckling her youngest-born to keep +it from crying, while another of about five stood between her knees. +Her white bosom, gleaming amid rags, the baby with its transparent +flesh-tints, and the brother, whose attitude promised a street arab in +the future, touched the fancy with pathos by its almost graceful +contrast with the long row of faces crimson with cold, in the midst of +which sat this family group. Further away, an old woman, pale and +rigid, had the repulsive look of rebellious pauperism, eager to avenge +all its past woes in one day of violence. + +There, again, was the young workman, weakly and indolent, whose +brightly intelligent eye revealed fine faculties crushed by necessity +struggled with in vain, saying nothing of his sufferings, and nearly +dead for lack of an opportunity to squeeze between the bars of the +vast stews where the wretched swim round and round and devour each +other. + +The majority were women; their husbands, gone to their work, left it +to them, no doubt, to plead the cause of the family with the ingenuity +which characterizes the woman of the people, who is almost always +queen in her hovel. You would have seen a torn bandana on every head, +on every form a skirt deep in mud, ragged kerchiefs, worn and dirty +jackets, but eyes that burnt like live coals. It was a horrible +assemblage, raising at first sight a feeling of disgust, but giving a +certain sense of terror the instant you perceived that the resignation +of these souls, all engaged in the struggle for every necessary of +life, was purely fortuitous, a speculation on benevolence. The two +tallow candles which lighted the parlor flickered in a sort of fog +caused by the fetid atmosphere of the ill-ventilated room. + +The magistrate himself was not the least picturesque figure in the +midst of this assembly. He had on his head a rusty cotton night-cap; +as he had no cravat, his neck was visible, red with cold and wrinkled, +in contrast with the threadbare collar of his old dressing-gown. His +worn face had the half-stupid look that comes of absorbed attention. +His lips, like those of all men who work, were puckered up like a bag +with the strings drawn tight. His knitted brows seemed to bear the +burden of all the sorrows confided to him: he felt, analyzed, and +judged them all. As watchful as a Jew money-lender, he never raised +his eyes from his books and registers but to look into the very heart +of the persons he was examining, with the flashing glance by which a +miser expresses his alarm. + +Lavienne, standing behind his master, ready to carry out his orders, +served no doubt as a sort of police, and welcomed newcomers by +encouraging them to get over their shyness. When the doctor appeared +there was a stir on the benches. Lavienne turned his head, and was +strangely surprised to see Bianchon. + +"Ah! It is you, old boy!" exclaimed Popinot, stretching himself. "What +brings you so early?" + +"I was afraid lest you should make an official visit about which I +wish to speak to you before I could see you." + +"Well," said the lawyer, addressing a stout little woman who was still +standing close to him, "if you do not tell me what it is you want, I +cannot guess it, child." + +"Make haste," said Lavienne. "Do not waste other people's time." + +"Monsieur," said the woman at last, turning red, and speaking so low +as only to be heard by Popinot and Lavienne, "I have a green-grocery +truck, and I have my last baby to nurse, and I owe for his keep. Well, +I had hidden my little bit of money----" + +"Yes; and your man took it?" said Popinot, guessing the sequel. + +"Yes, sir." + +"What is your name?" + +"La Pomponne." + +"And your husband's?" + +"Toupinet." + +"Rue du Petit-Banquier?" said Popinot, turning over his register. "He +is in prison," he added, reading a note at the margin of the section +in which this family was described. + +"For debt, my kind monsieur." + +Popinot shook his head. + +"But I have nothing to buy any stock for my truck; the landlord came +yesterday and made me pay up; otherwise I should have been turned +out." + +Lavienne bent over his master, and whispered in his ear. + +"Well, how much do you want to buy fruit in the market?" + +"Why, my good monsieur, to carry on my business, I should want--Yes, I +should certainly want ten francs." + +Popinot signed to Lavienne, who took ten francs out of a large bag, +and handed them to the woman, while the lawyer made a note of the loan +in his ledger. As he saw the thrill of delight that made the poor +hawker tremble, Bianchon understood the apprehensions that must have +agitated her on her way to the lawyer's house. + +"You next," said Lavienne to the old man with the white beard. + +Bianchon drew the servant aside, and asked him how long this audience +would last. + +"Monsieur has had two hundred persons this morning, and there are +eight to be turned off," said Lavienne. "You will have time to pay +your early visit, sir." + +"Here, my boy," said the lawyer, turning round and taking Horace by +the arm; "here are two addresses near this--one in the Rue de Seine, +and the other in the Rue de l'Arbalete. Go there at once. Rue de +Seine, a young girl has just asphyxiated herself; and Rue de +l'Arbalete, you will find a man to remove to your hospital. I will +wait breakfast for you." + +Bianchon returned an hour later. The Rue du Fouarre was deserted; day +was beginning to dawn there; his uncle had gone up to his rooms; the +last poor wretch whose misery the judge had relieved was departing, +and Lavienne's money bag was empty. + +"Well, how are they going on?" asked the old lawyer, as the doctor +came in. + +"The man is dead," replied Bianchon; "the girl will get over it." + +Since the eye and hand of a woman had been lacking, the flat in which +Popinot lived had assumed an aspect in harmony with its master's. The +indifference of a man who is absorbed in one dominant idea had set its +stamp of eccentricity on everything. Everywhere lay unconquerable +dust, every object was adapted to a wrong purpose with a pertinacity +suggestive of a bachelor's home. There were papers in the flower +vases, empty ink-bottles on the tables, plates that had been +forgotten, matches used as tapers for a minute when something had to +be found, drawers or boxes half-turned out and left unfinished; in +short, all the confusion and vacancies resulting from plans for order +never carried out. The lawyer's private room, especially disordered by +this incessant rummage, bore witness to his unresting pace, the hurry +of a man overwhelmed with business, hunted by contradictory +necessities. The bookcase looked as if it had been sacked; there were +books scattered over everything, some piled up open, one on another, +others on the floor face downwards; registers of proceedings laid on +the floor in rows, lengthwise, in front of the shelves; and that floor +had not been polished for two years. + +The tables and shelves were covered with ex votos, the offerings of +the grateful poor. On a pair of blue glass jars which ornamented the +chimney-shelf there were two glass balls, of which the core was made +up of many-colored fragments, giving them the appearance of some +singular natural product. Against the wall hung frames of artificial +flowers, and decorations in which Popinot's initials were surrounded +by hearts and everlasting flowers. Here were boxes of elaborate and +useless cabinet work; there letter-weights carved in the style of work +done by convicts in penal servitude. These masterpieces of patience, +enigmas of gratitude, and withered bouquets gave the lawyer's room the +appearance of a toyshop. The good man used these works of art as +hiding-places which he filled with bills, worn-out pens, and scraps of +paper. All these pathetic witnesses to his divine charity were thick +with dust, dingy, and faded. + +Some birds, beautifully stuffed, but eaten by moth, perched in this +wilderness of trumpery, presided over by an Angora cat, Madame +Popinot's pet, restored to her no doubt with all the graces of life by +some impecunious naturalist, who thus repaid a gift of charity with a +perennial treasure. Some local artist whose heart had misguided his +brush had painted portraits of M. and Madame Popinot. Even in the +bedroom there were embroidered pin-cushions, landscapes in +cross-stitch, and crosses in folded paper, so elaborately cockled as to +show the senseless labor they had cost. + +The window-curtains were black with smoke, and the hangings absolutely +colorless. Between the fireplace and the large square table at which +the magistrate worked, the cook had set two cups of coffee on a small +table, and two armchairs, in mahogany and horsehair, awaited the uncle +and nephew. As daylight, darkened by the windows, could not penetrate +to this corner, the cook had left two dips burning, whose unsnuffed +wicks showed a sort of mushroom growth, giving the red light which +promises length of life to the candle from slowness of combustion--a +discovery due to some miser. + +"My dear uncle, you ought to wrap yourself more warmly when you go +down to that parlor." + +"I cannot bear to keep them waiting, poor souls!--Well, and what do +you want of me?" + +"I have come to ask you to dine to-morrow with the Marquise d'Espard." + +"A relation of ours?" asked Popinot, with such genuine absence of mind +that Bianchon laughed. + +"No, uncle; the Marquise d'Espard is a high and puissant lady, who has +laid before the Courts a petition desiring that a Commission in Lunacy +should sit on her husband, and you are appointed----" + +"And you want me to dine with her! Are you mad?" said the lawyer, +taking up the code of proceedings. "Here, only read this article, +prohibiting any magistrate's eating or drinking in the house of either +of two parties whom he is called upon to decide between. Let her come +and see me, your Marquise, if she has anything to say to me. I was, in +fact, to go to examine her husband to-morrow, after working the case +up to-night." + +He rose, took up a packet of papers that lay under a weight where he +could see it, and after reading the title, he said: + +"Here is the affidavit. Since you take an interest in this high and +puissant lady, let us see what she wants." + +Popinot wrapped his dressing-gown across his body, from which it was +constantly slipping and leaving his chest bare; he sopped his bread in +the half-cold coffee, and opened the petition, which he read, allowing +himself to throw in a parenthesis now and then, and some discussions, +in which his nephew took part:-- + +"'To Monsieur the President of the Civil Tribunal of the Lower Court +of the Department of the Seine, sitting at the Palais de Justice. + +"'Madame Jeanne Clementine Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, wife of M. +Charles Maurice Marie Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis +d'Espard'--a very good family--'landowner, the said Mme. d'Espard +living in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, No. 104, and the said M. +d'Espard in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, No. 22,'--to be +sure, the President told me he lived in this part of the town--'having +for her solicitor Maitre Desroches'--Desroches! a pettifogging jobber, +a man looked down upon by his brother lawyers, and who does his +clients no good--" + +"Poor fellow!" said Bianchon, "unluckily he has no money, and he +rushes round like the devil in holy water--That is all." + +"'Has the honor to submit to you, Monsieur the President, that for a +year past the moral and intellectual powers of her husband, M. +d'Espard, have undergone so serious a change, that at the present day +they have reached the state of dementia and idiocy provided for by +Article 448 of the Civil Code, and require the application of the +remedies set forth by that article, for the security of his fortune +and his person, and to guard the interest of his children whom he +keeps to live with him. + +"'That, in point of fact, the mental condition of M. d'Espard, which +for some years has given grounds for alarm based on the system he has +pursued in the management of his affairs, has reached, during the last +twelvemonth, a deplorable depth of depression; that his infirm will +was the first thing to show the results of the malady; and that its +effete state leaves M. the Marquis d'Espard exposed to all the perils +of his incompetency, as is proved by the following facts: + +"'For a long time all the income accruing from M. d'Espard's estates +are paid, without any reasonable cause, or even temporary advantage, +into the hands of an old woman, whose repulsive ugliness is generally +remarked on, named Madame Jeanrenaud, living sometimes in Paris, Rue +de la Vrilliere, No. 8, sometimes at Villeparisis, near Claye, in the +Department of Seine et Marne, and for the benefit of her son, aged +thirty-six, an officer in the ex-Imperial Guards, whom the Marquis +d'Espard has placed by his influence in the King's Guards, as Major in +the First Regiment of Cuirassiers. These two persons, who in 1814 were +in extreme poverty, have since then purchased house-property of +considerable value; among other items, quite recently, a large house +in the Grand Rue Verte, where the said Jeanrenaud is laying out +considerable sums in order to settle there with the woman Jeanrenaud, +intending to marry: these sums amount already to more than a hundred +thousand francs. The marriage has been arranged by the intervention of +M. d'Espard with his banker, one Mongenod, whose niece he has asked in +marriage for the said Jeanrenaud, promising to use his influence to +procure him the title and dignity of baron. This has in fact been +secured by His Majesty's letters patent, dated December 29th of last +year, at the request of the Marquis d'Espard, as can be proved by His +Excellency the Keeper of the Seals, if the Court should think proper +to require his testimony. + +"'That no reason, not even such as morality and the law would concur +in disapproving, can justify the influence which the said Mme. +Jeanrenaud exerts over M. d'Espard, who, indeed, sees her very seldom; +nor account for his strange affection for the said Baron Jeanrenaud, +Major with whom he has but little intercourse. And yet their power is +so considerable, that whenever they need money, if only to gratify a +mere whim, this lady, or her son----' Heh, heh! /No reason even such as +morality and the law concur in disapproving!/ What does the clerk or +the attorney mean to insinuate?" said Popinot. + +Bianchon laughed. + +"'This lady, or her son, obtain whatever they ask of the Marquis +d'Espard without demur; and if he has not ready money, M. d'Espard +draws bills to be paid by the said Mongenod, who has offered to give +evidence to that effect for the petitioner. + +"'That, moreover, in further proof of these facts, lately, on the +occasion of the renewal of the leases on the Espard estate, the +farmers having paid a considerable premium for the renewal of their +leases on the old terms, M. Jeanrenaud at once secured the payment of +it into his own hands. + +"'That the Marquis d'Espard parts with these sums of money so little +of his own free-will, that when he was spoken to on the subject he +seemed to remember nothing of the matter; that whenever anybody of any +weight has questioned him as to his devotion to these two persons, his +replies have shown so complete an absence of ideas and of sense of his +own interests, that there obviously must be some occult cause at work +to which the petitioner begs to direct the eye of justice, inasmuch as +it is impossible but that this cause should be criminal, malignant, +and wrongful, or else of a nature to come under medical jurisdiction; +unless this influence is of the kind which constitutes an abuse of +moral power--such as can only be described by the word /possession/ +----'The devil!" exclaimed Popinot. "What do you say to that, doctor. +These are strange statements." + +"They might certainly," said Bianchon, "be an effect of magnetic +force." + +"Then do you believe in Mesmer's nonsense, and his tub, and seeing +through walls?" + +"Yes, uncle," said the doctor gravely. "As I heard you read that +petition I thought of that. I assure you that I have verified, in +another sphere of action, several analogous facts proving the +unlimited influence one man may acquire over another. In contradiction +to the opinion of my brethren, I am perfectly convinced of the power +of the will regarded as a motor force. All collusion and charlatanism +apart, I have seen the results of such a possession. Actions promised +during sleep by a magnetized patient to the magnetizer have been +scrupulously performed on waking. The will of one had become the will +of the other." + +"Every kind of action?" + +"Yes." + +"Even a criminal act?" + +"Even a crime." + +"If it were not from you, I would not listen to such a thing." + +"I will make you witness it," said Bianchon. + +"Hm, hm," muttered the lawyer. "But supposing that this so-called +possession fell under this class of facts, it would be difficult to +prove it as legal evidence." + +"If this woman Jeanrenaud is so hideously old and ugly, I do not see +what other means of fascination she can have used," observed Bianchon. + +"But," observed the lawyer, "in 1814, the time at which this +fascination is supposed to have taken place, this woman was fourteen +years younger; if she had been connected with M. d'Espard ten years +before that, these calculations take us back four-and-twenty years, to +a time when the lady may have been young and pretty, and have won for +herself and her son a power over M. d'Espard which some men do not +know how to evade. Though the source of this power is reprehensible in +the sight of justice, it is justifiable in the eye of nature. Madame +Jeanrenaud may have been aggrieved by the marriage, contracted +probably at about that time, between the Marquis d'Espard and +Mademoiselle de Blamont-Chauvry, and at the bottom of all this there +may be nothing more than the rivalry of two women, since the Marquis +had for a long time lived apart from Mme. d'Espard." + +"But her repulsive ugliness, uncle?" + +"Power of fascination is in direct proportion to ugliness," said the +lawyer; "that is the old story. And then think of the smallpox, +doctor. But to proceed. + +"'That so long ago as in 1815, in order to supply the sums of money +required by these two persons, the Marquis d'Espard went with his two +children to live in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, in rooms +quite unworthy of his name and rank'--well, we may live as we please +--'that he keeps his two children there, the Comte Clement d'Espard +and Vicomte Camille d'Espard, in a style of living quite unsuited to +their future prospects, their name and fortune; that he often wants +money, to such a point, that not long since the landlord, one Mariast, +put in an execution on the furniture in the rooms; that when this +execution was carried out in his presence, the Marquis d'Espard helped +the bailiff, whom he treated like a man of rank, paying him all the +marks of attention and respect which he would have shown to a person +of superior birth and dignity to himself.'" + +The uncle and nephew glanced at each other and laughed. + +"'That, moreover, every act of his life, besides the facts with +reference to the widow Jeanrenaud and the Baron Jeanrenaud, her son, +are those of a madman; that for nearly ten years he has given his +thoughts exclusively to China, its customs, manners, and history; that +he refers everything to a Chinese origin; that when he is questioned +on the subject, he confuses the events of the day and the business of +yesterday with facts relating to China; that he censures the acts of +the Government and the conduct of the King, though he is personally +much attached to him, by comparing them with the politics of China; + +"'That this monomania has driven the Marquis d'Espard to conduct +devoid of all sense: against the customs of men of rank, and, in +opposition to his own professed ideas as to the duties of the +nobility, he has joined a commercial undertaking, for which he +constantly draws bills which, as they fall due, threaten both his +honor and his fortune, since they stamp him as a trader, and in +default of payment may lead to his being declared insolvent; that +these debts, which are owing to stationers, printers, lithographers, +and print-colorists, who have supplied the materials for his +publication, called A Picturesque History of China, now coming out in +parts, are so heavy that these tradesmen have requested the petitioner +to apply for a Commission in Lunacy with regard to the Marquis +d'Espard in order to save their own credit.'" + +"The man is mad!" exclaimed Bianchon. + +"You think so, do you?" said his uncle. "If you listen to only one +bell, you hear only one sound." + +"But it seems to me----" said Bianchon. + +"But it seems to me," said Popinot, "that if any relation of mine +wanted to get hold of the management of my affairs, and if, instead of +being a humble lawyer, whose colleagues can, any day, verify what his +condition is, I were a duke of the realm, an attorney with a little +cunning, like Desroches, might bring just such a petition against me. + +"'That his children's education has been neglected for this +monomania; and that he has taught them, against all the rules of +education, the facts of Chinese history, which contradict the tenets +of the Catholic Church. He also has them taught the Chinese +dialects.'" + +"Here Desroches strikes me as funny," said Bianchon. + +"The petition is drawn up by his head-clerk Godeschal, who, as you +know, is not strong in Chinese," said the lawyer. + +"'That he often leaves his children destitute of the most necessary +things; that the petitioner, notwithstanding her entreaties, can never +see them; that the said Marquis d'Espard brings them to her only once +a year; that, knowing the privations to which they are exposed, she +makes vain efforts to give them the things most necessary for their +existence, and which they require----' Oh! Madame la Marquise, this is +preposterous. By proving too much you prove nothing.--My dear boy," +said the old man, laying the document on his knee, "where is the +mother who ever lacked heart and wit and yearning to such a degree as +to fall below the inspirations suggested by her animal instinct? A +mother is as cunning to get at her children as a girl can be in the +conduct of a love intrigue. If your Marquise really wanted to give her +children food and clothes, the Devil himself would not have hindered +her, heh? That is rather too big a fable for an old lawyer to swallow! +--To proceed. + +"'That at the age the said children have now attained it is necessary +that steps should be taken to preserve them from the evil effects of +such an education; that they should be provided for as beseems their +rank, and that they should cease to have before their eyes the sad +example of their father's conduct; + +"'That there are proofs in support of these allegations which the +Court can easily order to be produced. Many times has M. d'Espard +spoken of the judge of the Twelfth Arrondissement as a mandarin of the +third class; he often speaks of the professors of the College Henri +IV. as "men of letters"'--and that offends them! 'In speaking of the +simplest things, he says, "They were not done so in China;" in the +course of the most ordinary conversation he will sometimes allude to +Madame Jeanrenaud, or sometimes to events which happened in the time +of Louis XIV., and then sit plunged in the darkest melancholy; +sometimes he fancies he is in China. Several of his neighbors, among +others one Edme Becker, medical student, and Jean Baptiste Fremiot, a +professor, living under the same roof, are of opinion, after frequent +intercourse with the Marquis d'Espard, that his monomania with regard +to everything Chinese is the result of a scheme laid by the said Baron +Jeanrenaud and the widow his mother to bring about the deadening of +all the Marquis d'Espard's mental faculties, since the only service +which Mme. Jeanrenaud appears to render M. d'Espard is to procure him +everything that relates to the Chinese Empire; + +"'Finally, that the petitioner is prepared to show to the Court that +the moneys absorbed by the said Baron and Mme. Jeanrenaud between 1814 +and 1828 amount to not less than one million francs. + +"'In confirmation of the facts herein set forth, the petitioner can +bring the evidence of persons who are in the habit of seeing the +Marquis d'Espard, whose names and professions are subjoined, many of +whom have urged her to demand a commission in lunacy to declare M. +d'Espard incapable of managing his own affairs, as being the only way +to preserve his fortune from the effects of his maladministration and +his children from his fatal influence. + +"'Taking all this into consideration, M. le President, and the +affidavits subjoined, the petitioner desires that it may please you, +inasmuch as the foregoing facts sufficiently prove the insanity and +incompetency of the Marquis d'Espard herein described with his titles +and residence, to order that, to the end that he may be declared +incompetent by law, this petition and the documents in evidence may be +laid before the King's public prosecutor; and that you will charge one +of the judges of this Court to make his report to you on any day you +may be pleased to name, and thereupon to pronounce judgment,' etc. + +"And here," said Popinot, "is the President's order instructing me! +--Well, what does the Marquise d'Espard want with me? I know +everything. But I shall go to-morrow with my registrar to see M. le +Marquis, for this does not seem at all clear to me." + +"Listen, my dear uncle, I have never asked the least little favor of +you that had to do with your legal functions; well, now I beg you to +show Madame d'Espard the kindness which her situation deserves. If she +came here, you would listen to her?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, then, go and listen to her in her own house. Madame d'Espard is +a sickly, nervous, delicate woman, who would faint in your rat-hole of +a place. Go in the evening, instead of accepting her dinner, since the +law forbids your eating or drinking at your client's expense." + +"And does not the law forbid you from taking any legacy from your +dead?" said Popinot, fancying that he saw a touch of irony on his +nephew's lips. + +"Come, uncle, if it were only to enable you to get at the truth of +this business, grant my request. You will come as the examining judge, +since matters do not seem to you very clear. Deuce take it! It is as +necessary to cross-question the Marquise as it is to examine the +Marquis." + +"You are right," said the lawyer. "It is quite possible that it is she +who is mad. I will go." + +"I will call for you. Write down in your engagement book: 'To-morrow +evening at nine, Madame d'Espard.'--Good!" said Bianchon, seeing his +uncle make a note of the engagement. + + + +Next evening at nine Bianchon mounted his uncle's dusty staircase, and +found him at work on the statement of some complicated judgment. The +coat Lavienne had ordered of the tailor had not been sent, so Popinot +put on his old stained coat, and was the Popinot unadorned whose +appearance made those laugh who did not know the secrets of his +private life. Bianchon, however, obtained permission to pull his +cravat straight, and to button his coat, and he hid the stains by +crossing the breast of it with the right side over the left, and so +displaying the new front of the cloth. But in a minute the judge +rucked the coat up over his chest by the way in which he stuffed his +hands into his pockets, obeying an irresistible habit. Thus the coat, +deeply wrinkled both in front and behind, made a sort of hump in the +middle of the back, leaving a gap between the waistcoat and trousers +through which his shirt showed. Bianchon, to his sorrow, only +discovered this crowning absurdity at the moment when his uncle +entered the Marquise's room. + +A brief sketch of the person and the career of the lady in whose +presence the doctor and the judge now found themselves is necessary +for an understanding of her interview with Popinot. + +Madame d'Espard had, for the last seven years, been very much the +fashion in Paris, where Fashion can raise and drop by turns various +personages who, now great and now small, that is to say, in view or +forgotten, are at last quite intolerable--as discarded ministers are, +and every kind of decayed sovereignty. These flatterers of the past, +odious with their stale pretensions, know everything, speak ill of +everything, and, like ruined profligates, are friends with all the +world. Since her husband had separated from her in 1815, Madame +d'Espard must have married in the beginning of 1812. Her children, +therefore, were aged respectively fifteen and thirteen. By what luck +was the mother of a family, about three-and-thirty years of age, still +the fashion? + +Though Fashion is capricious, and no one can foresee who shall be her +favorites, though she often exalts a banker's wife, or some woman of +very doubtful elegance and beauty, it certainly seems supernatural +when Fashion puts on constitutional airs and gives promotion for age. +But in this case Fashion had done as the world did, and accepted +Madame d'Espard as still young. + +The Marquise, who was thirty-three by her register of birth, was +twenty-two in a drawing-room in the evening. But by what care, what +artifice! Elaborate curls shaded her temples. She condemned herself to +live in twilight, affecting illness so as to sit under the protecting +tones of light filtered through muslin. Like Diane de Poitiers, she +used cold water in her bath, and, like her again, the Marquise slept +on a horse-hair mattress, with morocco-covered pillows to preserve her +hair; she ate very little, only drank water, and observed monastic +regularity in the smallest actions of her life. + +This severe system has, it is said, been carried so far as to the use +of ice instead of water, and nothing but cold food, by a famous Polish +lady of our day who spends a life, now verging on a century old, after +the fashion of a town belle. Fated to live as long as Marion Delorme, +whom history has credited with surviving to be a hundred and thirty, +the old vice-queen of Poland, at the age of nearly a hundred, has the +heart and brain of youth, a charming face, an elegant shape; and in +her conversation, sparkling with brilliancy like faggots in the fire, +she can compare the men and books of our literature with the men and +books of the eighteenth century. Living in Warsaw, she orders her caps +of Herbault in Paris. She is a great lady with the amiability of a +mere girl; she swims, she runs like a schoolboy, and can sink on to a +sofa with the grace of a young coquette; she mocks at death, and +laughs at life. After having astonished the Emperor Alexander, she can +still amaze the Emperor Nicholas by the splendor of her +entertainments. She can still bring tears to the eyes of a youthful +lover, for her age is whatever she pleases, and she has the exquisite +self-devotion of a grisette. In short, she is herself a fairy tale, +unless, indeed, she is a fairy. + +Had Madame d'Espard known Madame Zayonseck? Did she mean to imitate +her career? Be that as it may, the Marquise proved the merits of the +treatment; her complexion was clear, her brow unwrinkled, her figure, +like that of Henri II.'s lady-love, preserved the litheness, the +freshness, the covered charms which bring a woman love and keep it +alive. The simple precautions of this course, suggested by art and +nature, and perhaps by experience, had met in her with a general +system which confirmed the results. The Marquise was absolutely +indifferent to everything that was not herself: men amused her, but no +man had ever caused her those deep agitations which stir both natures +to their depths, and wreck one on the other. She knew neither hatred +nor love. When she was offended, she avenged herself coldly, quietly, +at her leisure, waiting for the opportunity to gratify the ill-will +she cherished against anybody who dwelt in her unfavorable +remembrance. She made no fuss, she did not excite herself, she talked, +because she knew that by two words a woman may cause the death of +three men. + +She had parted from M. d'Espard with the greatest satisfaction. Had he +not taken with him two children who at present were troublesome, and +in the future would stand in the way of her pretensions? Her most +intimate friends, as much as her least persistent admirers, seeing +about her none of Cornelia's jewels, who come and go, and +unconsciously betray their mother's age, took her for quite a young +woman. The two boys, about whom she seemed so anxious in her petition, +were, like their father, as unknown in the world as the northwest +passage is unknown to navigators. M. d'Espard was supposed to be an +eccentric personage who had deserted his wife without having the +smallest cause for complaint against her. + +Mistress of herself at two-and-twenty, and mistress of her fortune of +twenty-six thousand francs a year, the Marquise hesitated long before +deciding on a course of action and ordering her life. Though she +benefited by the expenses her husband had incurred in his house, +though she had all the furniture, the carriages, the horses, in short, +all the details of a handsome establishment, she lived a retired life +during the years 1816, 17, and 18, a time when families were +recovering from the disasters resulting from political tempests. She +belonged to one of the most important and illustrious families of the +Faubourg Saint-Germain, and her parents advised her to live with them +as much as possible after the separation forced upon her by her +husband's inexplicable caprice. + +In 1820 the Marquise roused herself from her lethargy; she went to +Court, appeared at parties, and entertained in her own house. From +1821 to 1827 she lived in great style, and made herself remarked for +her taste and her dress; she had a day, an hour, for receiving visits, +and ere long she had seated herself on the throne, occupied before her +by Madame la Vicomtesse de Beauseant, the Duchesse de Langeais, and +Madame Firmiani--who on her marriage with M. de Camps had resigned the +sceptre in favor of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, from whom Madame +d'Espard snatched it. The world knew nothing beyond this of the +private live of the Marquise d'Espard. She seemed likely to shine for +long on the Parisian horizon, like the sun near its setting, but which +will never set. + +The Marquise was on terms of great intimacy with a duchess as famous +for her beauty as for her attachment to a prince just now in +banishment, but accustomed to play a leading part in every prospective +government. Madame d'Espard was also a friend of a foreign lady, with +whom a famous and very wily Russian diplomate was in the habit of +discussing public affairs. And then an antiquated countess, who was +accustomed to shuffle the cards for the great game of politics, had +adopted her in a maternal fashion. Thus, to any man of high ambitions, +Madame d'Espard was preparing a covert but very real influence to +follow the public and frivolous ascendency she now owed to fashion. +Her drawing-room was acquiring political individuality: "What do they +say at Madame d'Espard's?" "Are they against the measure in Madame +d'Espard's drawing-room?" were questions repeated by a sufficient +number of simpletons to give the flock of the faithful who surrounded +her the importance of a coterie. A few damaged politicians whose +wounds she had bound up, and whom she flattered, pronounced her as +capable in diplomacy as the wife of the Russian ambassador to London. +The Marquise had indeed several times suggested to deputies or to +peers words and ideas that had rung through Europe. She had often +judged correctly of certain events on which her circle of friends +dared not express an opinion. The principal persons about the Court +came in the evening to play whist in her rooms. + +Then she also had the qualities of her defects; she was thought to be +--and she was--indiscreet. Her friendship seemed to be staunch; she +worked for her proteges with a persistency which showed that she cared +less for patronage than for increased influence. This conduct was +based on her dominant passion, Vanity. Conquests and pleasure, which +so many women love, to her seemed only means to an end; she aimed at +living on every point of the largest circle that life can describe. + +Among the men still young, and to whom the future belonged, who +crowded her drawing-room on great occasions, were to be seen MM. de +Marsay and de Ronquerolles, de Montriveau, de la Roche-Hugon, de +Serizy, Ferraud, Maxime de Trailles, de Listomere, the two +Vandenesses, du Chatelet, and others. She would frequently receive a +man whose wife she would not admit, and her power was great enough to +induce certain ambitious men to submit to these hard conditions, such +as two famous royalist bankers, M. de Nucingen and Ferdinand du +Tillet. She had so thoroughly studied the strength and the weakness of +Paris life, that her conduct had never given any man the smallest +advantage over her. An enormous price might have been set on a note or +letter by which she might have compromised herself, without one being +produced. + +If an arid soul enabled her to play her part to the life, her person +was no less available for it. She had a youthful figure. Her voice +was, at will, soft and fresh, or clear and hard. She possessed in the +highest degree the secret of that aristocratic pose by which a woman +wipes out the past. The Marquise knew well the art of setting an +immense space between herself and the sort of man who fancies he may +be familiar after some chance advances. Her imposing gaze could deny +everything. In her conversation fine and beautiful sentiments and +noble resolutions flowed naturally, as it seemed, from a pure heart +and soul; but in reality she was all self, and quite capable of +blasting a man who was clumsy in his negotiations, at the very time +when she was shamelessly making a compromise for the benefit of her +own interest. + +Rastignac, in trying to fasten on to this woman, had discerned her to +be the cleverest of tools, but he had not yet used it; far from +handling it, he was already finding himself crushed by it. This young +Condottiere of the brain, condemned, like Napoleon, to give battle +constantly, while knowing that a single defeat would prove the grave +of his fortunes, had met a dangerous adversary in his protectress. For +the first time in his turbulent life, he was playing a game with a +partner worthy of him. He saw a place as Minister in the conquest of +Madame d'Espard, so he was her tool till he could make her his--a +perilous beginning. + +The Hotel d'Espard needed a large household, and the Marquise had a +great number of servants. The grand receptions were held in the +ground-floor rooms, but she lived on the first floor of the house. The +perfect order of a fine staircase splendidly decorated, and rooms +fitted in the dignified style which formerly prevailed at Versailles, +spoke of an immense fortune. When the judge saw the carriage gates +thrown open to admit his nephew's cab, he took in with a rapid glance +the lodge, the porter, the courtyard, the stables, the arrangement of +the house, the flowers that decorated the stairs, the perfect +cleanliness of the banisters, walls, and carpets, and counted the +footmen in livery who, as the bell rang, appeared on the landing. His +eyes, which only yesterday in his parlor had sounded the dignity of +misery under the muddy clothing of the poor, now studied with the same +penetrating vision the furniture and splendor of the rooms he passed +through, to pierce the misery of grandeur. + +"M. Popinot--M. Bianchon." + +The two names were pronounced at the door of the boudoir where the +Marquise was sitting, a pretty room recently refurnished, and looking +out on the garden behind the house. At the moment Madame d'Espard was +seated in one of the old rococo armchairs of which Madame had set the +fashion. Rastignac was at her left hand on a low chair, in which he +looked settled like an Italian lady's "cousin." A third person was +standing by the corner of the chimney-piece. As the shrewd doctor had +suspected, the Marquise was a woman of a parched and wiry +constitution. But for her regimen her complexion must have taken the +ruddy tone that is produced by constant heat; but she added to the +effect of her acquired pallor by the strong colors of the stuffs she +hung her rooms with, or in which she dressed. Reddish-brown, marone, +bistre with a golden light in it, suited her to perfection. Her +boudoir, copied from that of a famous lady then at the height of +fashion in London, was in tan-colored velvet; but she had added +various details of ornament which moderated the pompous splendor of +this royal hue. Her hair was dressed like a girl's in bands ending in +curls, which emphasized the rather long oval of her face; but an oval +face is as majestic as a round one is ignoble. The mirrors, cut with +facets to lengthen or flatten the face at will, amply proved the rule +as applied to the physiognomy. + +On seeing Popinot, who stood in the doorway craning his neck like a +startled animal, with his left hand in his pocket, and the right hand +holding a hat with a greasy lining, the Marquise gave Rastignac a look +wherein lay a germ of mockery. The good man's rather foolish +appearance was so completely in harmony with his grotesque figure and +scared looks, that Rastignac, catching sight of Bianchon's dejected +expression of humiliation through his uncle, could not help laughing, +and turned away. The Marquise bowed a greeting, and made a great +effort to rise from her seat, falling back again, not without grace, +with an air of apologizing for her incivility by affected weakness. + +At this instant the person who was standing between the fireplace and +the door bowed slightly, and pushed forward two chairs, which he +offered by a gesture to the doctor and the judge; then, when they had +seated themselves, he leaned against the wall again, crossing his +arms. + +A word as to this man. There is living now, in our day, a painter +--Decamps--who possesses in the very highest degree the art of +commanding your interest in everything he sets before your eyes, +whether it be a stone or a man. In this respect his pencil is more +skilful than his brush. He will sketch an empty room and leave a broom +against the wall. If he chooses, you shall shudder; you shall believe +that this broom has just been the instrument of crime, and is dripping +with blood; it shall be the broom which the widow Bancal used to clean +out the room where Fualdes was murdered. Yes, the painter will touzle +that broom like a man in a rage; he will make each hair of it stand +on-end as though it were on your own bristling scalp; he will make it +the interpreter between the secret poem of his imagination and the +poem that shall have its birth in yours. After terrifying you by the +aspect of that broom, to-morrow he will draw another, and lying by it +a cat, asleep, but mysterious in its sleep, shall tell you that this +broom is that on which the wife of a German cobbler rides off to the +Sabbath on the Brocken. Or it will be a quite harmless broom, on which +he will hang the coat of a clerk in the Treasury. Decamps had in his +brush what Paganini had in his bow--a magnetically communicative +power. + +Well, I should have to transfer to my style that striking genius, that +marvelous knack of the pencil, to depict the upright, tall, lean man +dressed in black, with black hair, who stood there without speaking a +word. This gentleman had a face like a knife-blade, cold and harsh, +with a color like Seine water when it was muddy and strewn with +fragments of charcoal from a sunken barge. He looked at the floor, +listening and passing judgment. His attitude was terrifying. He stood +there like the dreadful broom to which Decamps has given the power of +revealing a crime. Now and then, in the course of conversation, the +Marquise tried to get some tacit advice; but however eager her +questioning, he was as grave and as rigid as the statue of the +Commendatore. + +The worthy Popinot, sitting on the edge of his chair in front of the +fire, his hat between his knees, stared at the gilt chandeliers, the +clock, and the curiosities with which the chimney-shelf was covered, +the velvet and trimmings of the curtains, and all the costly and +elegant nothings that a woman of fashion collects about her. He was +roused from his homely meditations by Madame d'Espard, who addressed +him in a piping tone: + +"Monsieur, I owe you a million thanks----" + +"A million thanks," thought he to himself, "that is too many; it does +not mean one." + +"For the trouble you condescend----" + +"Condescend!" thought he; "she is laughing at me." + +"To take in coming to see an unhappy client, who is too ill to go +out----" + +Here the lawyer cut the Marquise short by giving her an inquisitorial +look, examining the sanitary condition of the unhappy client. + +"As sound as a bell," said he to himself. + +"Madame," said he, assuming a respectful mien, "you owe me nothing. +Although my visit to you is not in strict accordance with the practice +of the Court, we ought to spare no pains to discover the truth in +cases of this kind. Our judgment is then guided less by the letter of +the law than by the promptings of our conscience. Whether I seek the +truth here or in my own consulting-room, so long as I find it, all +will be well." + +While Popinot was speaking, Rastignac was shaking hands with Bianchon; +the Marquise welcomed the doctor with a little bow full of gracious +significance. + +"Who is that?" asked Bianchon in a whisper of Rastignac, indicating +the dark man. + +"The Chevalier d'Espard, the Marquis' brother." + +"Your nephew told me," said the Marquise to Popinot, "how much you are +occupied, and I know too that you are so good as to wish to conceal +your kind actions, so as to release those whom you oblige from the +burden of gratitude. The work in Court is most fatiguing, it would +seem. Why have they not twice as many judges?" + +"Ah, madame, that would not be difficult; we should be none the worse +if they had. But when that happens, fowls will cut their teeth!" + +As he heard this speech, so entirely in character with the lawyer's +appearance, the Chevalier measured him from head to foot, out of one +eye, as much as to say, "We shall easily manage him." + +The Marquise looked at Rastignac, who bent over her. "That is the sort +of man," murmured the dandy in her ear, "who is trusted to pass +judgments on the life and interests of private individuals." + +Like most men who have grown old in a business, Popinot readily let +himself follow the habits he had acquired, more particularly habits of +mind. His conversation was all of "the shop." He was fond of +questioning those he talked to, forcing them to unexpected +conclusions, making them tell more than they wished to reveal. Pozzo +di Borgo, it is said, used to amuse himself by discovering other +folks' secrets, and entangling them in his diplomatic snares, and +thus, by invincible habit, showed how his mind was soaked in wiliness. +As soon as Popinot had surveyed the ground, so to speak, on which he +stood, he saw that it would be necessary to have recourse to the +cleverest subtleties, the most elaborately wrapped up and disguised, +which were in use in the Courts, to detect the truth. + +Bianchon sat cold and stern, as a man who has made up his mind to +endure torture without revealing his sufferings; but in his heart he +wished that his uncle could only trample on this woman as we trample +on a viper--a comparison suggested to him by the Marquise's long +dress, by the curve of her attitude, her long neck, small head, and +undulating movements. + +"Well, monsieur," said Madame d'Espard, "however great my dislike to +be or seem selfish, I have been suffering too long not to wish that +you may settle matters at once. Shall I soon get a favorable +decision?" + +"Madame, I will do my best to bring matters to a conclusion," said +Popinot, with an air of frank good-nature. "Are you ignorant of the +reason which made the separation necessary which now subsists between +you and the Marquis d'Espard?" + +"Yes, monsieur," she replied, evidently prepared with a story to tell. +"At the beginning of 1816 M. d'Espard, whose temper had completely +changed within three months or so, proposed that we should go to live +on one of his estates near Briancon, without any regard for my health, +which that climate would have destroyed, or for my habits of life; I +refused to go. My refusal gave rise to such unjustifiable reproaches +on his part, that from that hour I had my suspicions as to the +soundness of his mind. On the following day he left me, leaving me his +house and the free use of my own income, and he went to live in the +Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, taking with him my two +children----" + +"One moment, madame," said the lawyer, interrupting her. "What was +that income?" + +"Twenty-six thousand francs a year," she replied parenthetically. "I +at once consulted old M. Bordin as to what I ought to do," she went +on; "but it seems that there are so many difficulties in the way of +depriving a father of the care of his children, that I was forced to +resign myself to remaining alone at the age of twenty-two--an age at +which many young women do very foolish things. You have read my +petition, no doubt, monsieur; you know the principal facts on which I +rely to procure a Commission in Lunacy with regard to M. d'Espard?" + +"Have you ever applied to him, madame, to obtain the care of your +children?" + +"Yes, monsieur; but in vain. It is very hard on a mother to be +deprived of the affection of her children, particularly when they can +give her such happiness as every woman clings to." + +"The elder must be sixteen," said Popinot. + +"Fifteen," said the Marquise eagerly. + +Here Bianchon and Rastignac looked at each other. Madame d'Espard bit +her lips. + +"What can the age of my children matter to you?" + +"Well, madame," said the lawyer, without seeming to attach any +importance to his words, "a lad of fifteen and his brother, of +thirteen, I suppose, have legs and their wits about them; they might +come to see you on the sly. If they do not, it is because they obey +their father, and to obey him in that matter they must love him very +dearly." + +"I do not understand," said the Marquise. + +"You do not know, perhaps," replied Popinot, "that in your petition +your attorney represents your children as being very unhappy with +their father?" + +Madame d'Espard replied with charming innocence: + +"I do not know what my attorney may have put into my mouth." + +"Forgive my inferences," said Popinot, "but Justice weighs everything. +What I ask you, madame, is suggested by my wish thoroughly to +understand the matter. By your account M. d'Espard deserted you on the +most frivolous pretext. Instead of going to Briancon, where he wished +to take you, he remained in Paris. This point is not clear. Did he +know this Madame Jeanrenaud before his marriage?" + +"No, monsieur," replied the Marquise, with some asperity, visible only +to Rastignac and the Chevalier d'Espard. + +She was offended at being cross-examined by this layer when she had +intended to beguile his judgment; but as Popinot still looked stupid +from sheer absence of mind, she ended by attributing his interrogatory +to the Questioning Spirit of Voltaire's bailiff. + +"My parents," she went on, "married me at the age of sixteen to M. +d'Espard, whose name, fortune, and mode of life were such as my family +looked for in the man who was to be my husband. M. d'Espard was then +six-and-twenty; he was a gentleman in the English sense of the word; +his manners pleased me, he seemed to have plenty of ambition, and I +like ambitious people," she added, looking at Rastignac. "If M. +d'Espard had never met that Madame Jeanrenaud, his character, his +learning, his acquirements would have raised him--as his friends then +believed--to high office in the Government. King Charles X., at that +time Monsieur, had the greatest esteem for him, and a peer's seat, an +appointment at Court, some important post certainly would have been +his. That woman turned his head, and has ruined all the prospects of +my family." + +"What were M. d'Espard's religious opinions at that time?" + +"He was, and is still, a very pious man." + +"You do not suppose that Madame Jeanrenaud may have influenced him by +mysticism?" + +"No, monsieur." + +"You have a very fine house, madame," said Popinot suddenly, taking +his hands out of his pockets, and rising to pick up his coat-tails and +warm himself. "This boudoir is very nice, those chairs are +magnificent, the whole apartment is sumptuous. You must indeed be most +unhappy when, seeing yourself here, you know that your children are +ill lodged, ill clothed, and ill fed. I can imagine nothing more +terrible for a mother." + +"Yes, indeed. I should be so glad to give the poor little fellows some +amusement, while their father keeps them at work from morning till +night at that wretched history of China." + +"You give handsome balls; they would enjoy them, but they might +acquire a taste for dissipation. However, their father might send them +to you once or twice in the course of the winter." + +"He brings them here on my birthday and on New Year's Day. On those +days M. d'Espard does me the favor of dining here with them." + +"It is very singular behaviour," said the judge, with an air of +conviction. "Have you ever seen this Dame Jeanrenaud?" + +"My brother-in-law one day, out of interest in his brother----" + +"Ah! monsieur is M. d'Espard's brother?" said the lawyer, interrupting +her. + +The Chevalier bowed, but did not speak. + +"M. d'Espard, who has watched this affair, took me to the Oratoire, +where this woman goes to sermon, for she is a Protestant. I saw her; +she is not in the least attractive; she looks like a butcher's wife, +extremely fat, horribly marked with the smallpox; she has feet and +hands like a man's, she squints, in short, she is monstrous!" + +"It is inconceivable," said the judge, looking like the most imbecile +judge in the whole kingdom. "And this creature lives near here, Rue +Verte, in a fine house? There are no plain folk left, it would seem?" + +"In a mansion on which her son has spent absurd sums." + +"Madame," said Popinot, "I live in the Faubourg Saint-Marceau; I know +nothing of such expenses. What do you call absurd sums?" + +"Well," said the Marquise, "a stable with five horses and three +carriages, a phaeton, a brougham, and a cabriolet." + +"That costs a large sum, then?" asked Popinot in surprise. + +"Enormous sums!" said Rastignac, intervening. "Such an establishment +would cost, for the stables, the keeping the carriages in order, and +the liveries for the men, between fifteen and sixteen thousand francs +a year." + +"Should you think so, madame?" said the judge, looking much +astonished. + +"Yes, at least," replied the Marquise. + +"And the furniture, too, must have cost a lot of money?" + +"More than a hundred thousand francs," replied Madame d'Espard, who +could not help smiling at the lawyer's vulgarity. + +"Judges, madame, are apt to be incredulous; it is what they are paid +for, and I am incredulous. The Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother must +have fleeced M. d'Espard most preposterously, if what you say is +correct. There is a stable establishment which, by your account, costs +sixteen thousand francs a year. Housekeeping, servants' wages, and the +gross expenses of the house itself must run to twice as much; that +makes a total of from fifty to sixty thousand francs a year. Do you +suppose that these people, formerly so extremely poor, can have so +large a fortune? A million yields scarcely forty thousand a year." + +"Monsieur, the mother and son invested the money given them by M. +d'Espard in the funds when they were at 60 to 80. I should think their +income must be more than sixty thousand francs. And then the son has +fine appointments." + +"If they spend sixty thousand francs a year," said the judge, "how +much do you spend?" + +"Well," said Madame d'Espard, "about the same." The Chevalier started +a little, the Marquise colored; Bianchon looked at Rastignac; but +Popinot preserved an expression of simplicity which quite deceived +Madame d'Espard. The chevalier took no part in the conversation; he +saw that all was lost. + +"These people, madame, might be indicted before the superior Court," +said Popinot. + +"That was my opinion," exclaimed the Marquise, enchanted. "If +threatened with the police, they would have come to terms." + +"Madame," said Popinot, "when M. d'Espard left you, did he not give +you a power of attorney enabling you to manage and control your own +affairs?" + +"I do not understand the object of all these questions," said the +Marquise with petulance. "It seems to me that if you would only +consider the state in which I am placed by my husband's insanity, you +ought to be troubling yourself about him, and not about me." + +"We are coming to that, madame," said the judge. "Before placing in +your hands, or in any others, the control of M. d'Espard's property, +supposing he were pronounced incapable, the Court must inquire as to +how you have managed your own. If M. d'Espard gave you the power, he +would have shown confidence in you, and the Court would recognize the +fact. Had you any power from him? You might have bought or sold house +property or invested money in business?" + +"No, monsieur, the Blamont-Chauvrys are not in the habit of trading," +said she, extremely nettled in her pride as an aristocrat, and +forgetting the business in hand. "My property is intact, and M. +d'Espard gave me no power to act." + +The Chevalier put his hand over his eyes not to betray the vexation he +felt at his sister-in-law's short-sightedness, for she was ruining +herself by her answers. Popinot had gone straight to the mark in spite +of his apparent doublings. + +"Madame," said the lawyer, indicating the Chevalier, "this gentleman, +of course, is your near connection? May we speak openly before these +other gentlemen?" + +"Speak on," said the Marquise, surprised at this caution. + +"Well, madame, granting that you spend only sixty thousand francs a +year, to any one who sees your stables, your house, your train of +servants, and a style of housekeeping which strikes me as far more +luxurious than that of the Jeanrenauds, that sum would seem well laid +out." + +The Marquise bowed an agreement. + +"But," continued the judge, "if you have no more than twenty-six +thousand francs a year, you may have a hundred thousand francs of +debt. The Court would therefore have a right to imagine that the +motives which prompt you to ask that your husband may be deprived of +the control of his property are complicated by self-interest and the +need of paying your debts--if--you--have--any. The requests addressed +to me have interested me in your position; consider fully and make +your confession. If my suppositions have hit the truth, there is yet +time to avoid the blame which the Court would have a perfect right to +express in the saving clauses of the verdict if you could not show +your attitude to be absolutely honorable and clear. + +"It is our duty to examine the motives of the applicant as well as to +listen to the plea of the witness under examination, to ascertain +whether the petitioner may not have been prompted by passion, by a +desire for money, which is unfortunately too common----" + +The Marquise was on Saint Laurence's gridiron. + +"And I must have explanations on this point. Madame, I have no wish to +call you to account; I only want to know how you have managed to live +at the rate of sixty thousand francs a year, and that for some years +past. There are plenty of women who achieve this in their +housekeeping, but you are not one of those. Tell me, you may have the +most legitimate resources, a royal pension, or some claim on the +indemnities lately granted; but even then you must have had your +husband's authority to receive them." + +The Marquise did not speak. + +"You must remember," Popinot went on, "that M. d'Espard may wish to +enter a protest, and his counsel will have a right to find out whether +you have any creditors. This boudoir is newly furnished, your rooms +are not now furnished with the things left to you by M. d'Espard in +1816. If, as you did me the honor of informing me, furniture is costly +for the Jeanrenauds, it must be yet more so for you, who are a great +lady. Though I am a judge, I am but a man; I may be wrong--tell me so. +Remember the duties imposed on me by the law, and the rigorous +inquiries it demands, when the case before it is the suspension from +all his functions of the father of a family in the prime of life. So +you will pardon me, Madame la Marquise, for laying all these +difficulties before you; it will be easy for you to give me an +explanation. + +"When a man is pronounced incapable of the control of his own affairs, +a trustee has to be appointed. Who will be the trustee?" + +"His brother," said the Marquise. + +The Chevalier bowed. There was a short silence, very uncomfortable for +the five persons who were present. The judge, in sport as it were, had +laid open the woman's sore place. Popinot's countenance of common, +clumsy good-nature, at which the Marquise, the Chevalier, and +Rastignac had been inclined to laugh, had gained importance in their +eyes. As they stole a look at him, they discerned the various +expressions of that eloquent mouth. The ridiculous mortal was a judge +of acumen. His studious notice of the boudoir was accounted for: he +had started from the gilt elephant supporting the chimney-clock, +examining all this luxury, and had ended by reading this woman's soul. + +"If the Marquis d'Espard is mad about China, I see that you are not +less fond of its products," said Popinot, looking at the porcelain on +the chimney-piece. "But perhaps it was from M. le Marquis that you had +these charming Oriental pieces," and he pointed to some precious +trifles. + +This irony, in very good taste, made Bianchon smile, and petrified +Rastignac, while the Marquise bit her thin lips. + +"Instead of being the protector of a woman placed in a cruel dilemma +--an alternative between losing her fortune and her children, and being +regarded as her husband's enemy," she said, "you accuse me, monsieur! +You suspect my motives! You must own that your conduct is strange!" + +"Madame," said the judge eagerly, "the caution exercised by the Court +in such cases as these might have given you, in any other judge, a +perhaps less indulgent critic than I am.--And do you suppose that M. +d'Espard's lawyer will show you any great consideration? Will he not +be suspicious of motives which may be perfectly pure and +disinterested? Your life will be at his mercy; he will inquire into it +without qualifying his search by the respectful deference I have for +you." + +"I am much obliged to you, monsieur," said the Marquise satirically. +"Admitting for the moment that I owe thirty thousand or fifty thousand +francs, in the first place, it would be a mere trifle to the d'Espards +and the Blamont-Chauvrys. But if my husband is not in the possession +of his mental faculties, would that prevent his being pronounced +incapable?" + +"No, madame," said Popinot. + +"Although you have questioned me with a sort of cunning which I should +not have suspected in a judge, and under circumstances where +straightforwardness would have answered your purpose," she went on, "I +will tell you without subterfuge that my position in the world, and +the efforts I have to make to keep up my connection, are not in the +least to my taste. I began my life by a long period of solitude; but +my children's interest appealed to me; I felt that I must fill their +father's place. By receiving my friends, by keeping up all this +connection, by contracting these debts, I have secured their future +welfare; I have prepared for them a brilliant career where they will +find help and favor; and to have what has thus been acquired, many a +man of business, lawyer or banker, would gladly pay all it has cost +me." + +"I appreciate your devoted conduct, madame," replied Popinot. "It does +you honor, and I blame you for nothing. A judge belongs to all: he +must know and weigh every fact." + +Madame d'Espard's tact and practice in estimating men made her +understand that M. Popinot was not to be influenced by any +consideration. She had counted on an ambitious lawyer, she had found a +man of conscience. She at once thought of finding other means for +securing the success of her side. + +The servants brought in tea. + +"Have you any further explanations to give me, madame?" said Popinot, +seeing these preparations. + +"Monsieur," she replied haughtily, "do your business your own way; +question M. d'Espard, and you will pity me, I am sure." She raised her +head, looking Popinot in the face with pride, mingled with +impertinence; the worthy man bowed himself out respectfully. + +"A nice man is your uncle," said Rastignac to Bianchon. "Is he really +so dense? Does not he know what the Marquise d'Espard is, what her +influence means, her unavowed power over people? The Keeper of the +Seals will be with her to-morrow----" + +"My dear fellow, how can I help it?" said Bianchon. "Did not I warn +you? He is not a man you can get over." + +"No," said Rastignac; "he is a man you must run over." + +The doctor was obliged to make his bow to the Marquise and her mute +Chevalier to catch up Popinot, who, not being the man to endure an +embarrassing position, was pacing through the rooms. + +"That woman owes a hundred thousand crowns," said the judge, as he +stepped into his nephew's cab. + +"And what do you think of the case?" + +"I," said the judge. "I never have an opinion till I have gone into +everything. To-morrow early I will send to Madame Jeanrenaud to call +on me in my private office at four o'clock, to make her explain the +facts which concern her, for she is compromised." + +"I should very much like to know what the end will be." + +"Why, bless me, do not you see that the Marquise is the tool of that +tall lean man who never uttered a word? There is a strain of Cain in +him, but of the Cain who goes to the Law Courts for his bludgeon, and +there, unluckily for him, we keep more than one Damocles' sword." + +"Oh, Rastignac! what brought you into that boat, I wonder?" exclaimed +Bianchon. + +"Ah, we are used to seeing these little family conspiracies," said +Popinot. "Not a year passes without a number of verdicts of +'insufficient evidence' against applications of this kind. In our +state of society such an attempt brings no dishonor, while we send a +poor devil to the galleys who breaks a pane of glass dividing him from +a bowl full of gold. Our Code is not faultless." + +"But these are the facts?" + +"My boy, do you not know all the judicial romances with which clients +impose on their attorneys? If the attorneys condemned themselves to +state nothing but the truth, they would not earn enough to keep their +office open." + + + +Next day, at four in the afternoon, a very stout dame, looking a good +deal like a cask dressed up in a gown and belt, mounted Judge +Popinot's stairs, perspiring and panting. She had, with great +difficulty, got out of a green landau, which suited her to a miracle; +you could not think of the woman without the landau, or the landau +without the woman. + +"It is I, my dear sir," said she, appearing in the doorway of the +judge's room. "Madame Jeanrenaud, whom you summoned exactly as if I +were a thief, neither more nor less." + +The common words were spoken in a common voice, broken by the wheezing +of asthma, and ending in a cough. + +"When I go through a damp place, I can't tell you what I suffer, sir. +I shall never make old bones, saving your presence. However, here I +am." + +The lawyer was quite amazed at the appearance of this supposed +Marechale d'Ancre. Madame Jeanrenaud's face was pitted with an +infinite number of little holes, was very red, with a pug nose and a +low forehead, and was as round as a ball; for everything about the +good woman was round. She had the bright eyes of a country woman, an +honest gaze, a cheerful tone, and chestnut hair held in place by a +bonnet cap under a green bonnet decked with a shabby bunch of +auriculas. Her stupendous bust was a thing to laugh at, for it made +one fear some grotesque explosion every time she coughed. Her enormous +legs were of the shape which make the Paris street boy describe such a +woman as being built on piles. The widow wore a green gown trimmed +with chinchilla, which looked on her as a splash of dirty oil would +look on a bride's veil. In short, everything about her harmonized with +her last words: "Here I am." + +"Madame," said Popinot, "you are suspected of having used some +seductive arts to induce M. d'Espard to hand over to you very +considerable sums of money." + +"Of what! of what!" cried she. "Of seductive arts? But, my dear sir, +you are a man to be respected, and, moreover, as a lawyer you ought to +have some good sense. Look at me! Tell me if I am likely to seduce any +one. I cannot tie my own shoes, nor even stoop. For these twenty years +past, the Lord be praised, I have not dared to put on a pair of stays +under pain of sudden death. I was as thin as an asparagus stalk when I +was seventeen, and pretty too--I may say so now. So I married +Jeanrenaud, a good fellow, and headman on the salt-barges. I had my +boy, who is a fine young man; he is my pride, and it is not holding +myself cheap to say he is my best piece of work. My little Jeanrenaud +was a soldier who did Napoleon credit, and who served in the Imperial +Guard. But, alas! at the death of my old man, who was drowned, times +changed for the worse. I had the smallpox. I was kept two years in my +room without stirring, and I came out of it the size you see me, +hideous for ever, and as wretched as could be. These are my seductive +arts." + +"But what, then, can the reasons be that have induced M. d'Espard to +give you sums----" + +"Hugious sums, monsieur, say the word; I do not mind. But as to his +reasons, I am not at liberty to explain them." + +"You are wrong. At this moment, his family, very naturally alarmed, +are about to bring an action----" + +"Heavens above us!" said the good woman, starting up. "Is it possible +that he should be worried on my account? That king of men, a man that +has not his match! Rather than he should have the smallest trouble, or +hair less on his head I could almost say, we would return every sou, +monsieur. Write that down on your papers. Heaven above us! I will go +at once and tell Jeanrenaud what is going on! A pretty thing indeed!" + +And the little old woman went out, rolled herself downstairs, and +disappeared. + +"That one tells no lies," said Popinot to himself. "Well, to-morrow I +shall know the whole story, for I shall go to see the Marquis +d'Espard." + +People who have outlived the age when a man wastes his vitality at +random, know how great an influence may be exercised on more important +events by apparently trivial incidents, and will not be surprised at +the weight here given to the following minor fact. Next day Popinot +had an attack of coryza, a complaint which is not dangerous, and +generally known by the absurd and inadequate name of a cold in the +head. + +The judge, who could not suppose that the delay could be serious, +feeling himself a little feverish, kept his room, and did not go to +see the Marquis d'Espard. This day lost was, to this affair, what on +the Day of Dupes the cup of soup had been, taken by Marie de Medici, +which, by delaying her meeting with Louis XIII., enabled Richelieu to +arrive at Saint-Germain before her, and recapture his royal slave. + +Before accompanying the lawyer and his registering clerk to the +Marquis d'Espard's house, it may be as well to glance at the home and +the private affairs of this father of sons whom his wife's petition +represented to be a madman. + +Here and there in the old parts of Paris a few buildings may still be +seen in which the archaeologist can discern an intention of decorating +the city, and that love of property, which leads the owner to give a +durable character to the structure. The house in which M. d'Espard was +then living, in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, was one of +these old mansions, built in stone, and not devoid of a certain +richness of style; but time had blackened the stone, and revolutions +in the town had damaged it both outside and inside. The dignitaries +who formerly dwelt in the neighborhood of the University having +disappeared with the great ecclesiastical foundations, this house had +become the home of industries and of inhabitants whom it was never +destined to shelter. During the last century a printing establishment +had worn down the polished floors, soiled the carved wood, blackened +the walls, and altered the principal internal arrangements. Formerly +the residence of a Cardinal, this fine house was now divided among +plebeian tenants. The character of the architecture showed that it had +been built under the reigns of Henry III., Henry IV., and Louis XIII., +at the time when the hotels Mignon and Serpente were erected in the +same neighborhood, with the palace of the Princess Palatine, and the +Sorbonne. An old man could remember having heard it called, in the +last century, the hotel Duperron, so it seemed probable that the +illustrious Cardinal of that name had built, or perhaps merely lived +in it. + +There still exists, indeed, in the corner of the courtyard, a perron +or flight of several outer steps by which the house is entered; and +the way into the garden on the garden front is down a similar flight +of steps. In spite of dilapidations, the luxury lavished by the +architect on the balustrade and entrance porch crowning these two +perrons suggests the simple-minded purpose of commemorating the +owner's name, a sort of sculptured pun which our ancestors often +allowed themselves. Finally, in support of this evidence, +archaeologists can still discern in the medallions which show on the +principal front some traces of the cords of the Roman hat. + +M. le Marquis d'Espard lived on the ground floor, in order, no doubt, +to enjoy the garden, which might be called spacious for that +neighborhood, and which lay open for his children's health. The +situation of the house, in a street on a steep hill, as its name +indicates, secured these ground-floor rooms against ever being damp. +M. d'Espard had taken them, no doubt, for a very moderate price, rents +being low at the time when he settled in that quarter, in order to be +among the schools and to superintend his boys' education. Moreover, +the state in which he found the place, with everything to repair, had +no doubt induced the owner to be accommodating. Thus M. d'Espard had +been able to go to some expense to settle himself suitably without +being accused of extravagance. The loftiness of the rooms, the +paneling, of which nothing survived but the frames, the decoration of +the ceilings, all displayed the dignity which the prelacy stamped on +whatever it attempted or created, and which artists discern to this +day in the smallest relic that remains, though it be but a book, a +dress, the panel of a bookcase, or an armchair. + +The Marquis had the rooms painted in the rich brown tones loved of the +Dutch and of the citizens of Old Paris, hues which lend such good +effects to the painter of genre. The panels were hung with plain paper +in harmony with the paint. The window curtains were of inexpensive +materials, but chosen so as to produce a generally happy result; the +furniture was not too crowded and judiciously placed. Any one on going +into this home could not resist a sense of sweet peacefulness, +produced by the perfect calm, the stillness which prevailed, by the +unpretentious unity of color, the keeping of the picture, in the words +a painter might use. A certain nobleness in the details, the exquisite +cleanliness of the furniture, and a perfect concord of men and things, +all brought the word "suavity" to the lips. + +Few persons were admitted to the rooms used by the Marquis and his two +sons, whose life might perhaps seem mysterious to their neighbors. In +a wing towards the street, on the third floor, there are three large +rooms which had been left in the state of dilapidation and grotesque +bareness to which they had been reduced by the printing works. These +three rooms, devoted to the evolution of the Picturesque History of +China, were contrived to serve as a writing-room, a depository, and a +private room, where M. d'Espard sat during part of the day; for after +breakfast till four in the afternoon the Marquis remained in this room +on the third floor to work at the publication he had undertaken. +Visitors wanting to see him commonly found him there, and often the +two boys on their return from school resorted thither. Thus the +ground-floor rooms were a sort of sanctuary where the father and sons +spent their time from the hour of dinner till the next day, and his +domestic life was carefully closed against the public eye. + +His only servants were a cook--an old woman who had long been attached +to his family--and a man-servant forty years old, who was with him +when he married Mademoiselle de Blamont. His children's nurse had also +remained with them, and the minute care to which the apartment bore +witness revealed the sense of order and the maternal affections +expended by this woman in her master's interest, in the management of +his house, and the charge of his children. These three good souls, +grave, and uncommunicative folk, seemed to have entered into the idea +which ruled the Marquis' domestic life. And the contrast between their +habits and those of most servants was a peculiarity which cast an air +of mystery over the house, and fomented the calumny to which M. +d'Espard himself lent occasion. Very laudable motives had made him +determine never to be on visiting terms with any of the other tenants +in the house. In undertaking to educate his boys he wished to keep +them from all contact with strangers. Perhaps, too, he wished to avoid +the intrusion of neighbors. + +In a man of his rank, at a time when the Quartier Latin was distracted +by Liberalism, such conduct was sure to rouse in opposition a host of +petty passions, of feelings whose folly is only to be measured by +their meanness, the outcome of porters' gossip and malevolent tattle +from door to door, all unknown to M. d'Espard and his retainers. His +man-servant was stigmatized as a Jesuit, his cook as a sly fox; the +nurse was in collusion with Madame Jeanrenaud to rob the madman. The +madman was the Marquis. By degrees the other tenants came to regard as +proofs of madness a number of things they had noticed in M. d'Espard, +and passed through the sieve of their judgment without discerning any +reasonable motive for them. + +Having no belief in the success of the History of China, they had +managed to convince the landlord of the house that M. d'Espard had no +money just at a time when, with the forgetfulness which often befalls +busy men, he had allowed the tax-collector to send him a summons for +non-payment of arrears. The landlord forthwith claimed his quarter's +rent from January 1st by sending in a receipt, which the porter's wife +had amused herself by detaining. On the 15th a summons to pay was +served on M. d'Espard, the portress had delivered it at her leisure, +and he supposed it to be some misunderstanding, not conceiving of any +incivility from a man in whose house he had been living for twelve +years. The Marquis was actually seized by a bailiff at the time when +his man-servant had gone to carry the money for the rent to the +landlord. + +This arrest, assiduously reported to the persons with whom he was in +treaty for his undertaking, had alarmed some of them who were already +doubtful of M. d'Espard's solvency in consequence of the enormous sums +which Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother were said to be receiving from +him. And, indeed, these suspicions on the part of the tenants, the +creditors, and the landlord had some excuse in the Marquis' extreme +economy in housekeeping. He conducted it as a ruined man might. His +servants always paid in ready money for the most trifling necessaries +of life, and acted as not choosing to take credit; if now they had +asked for anything on credit, it would probably have been refused, +calumnious gossip had been so widely believed in the neighborhood. +There are tradesmen who like those of their customers who pay badly +when they see them often, while they hate others, and very good ones, +who hold themselves on too high a level to allow of any familiarity as +CHUMS, a vulgar but expressive word. Men are made so; in almost every +class they will allow to a gossip, or a vulgar soul that flatters +them, facilities and favors they refuse to the superiority they +resent, in whatever form it may show itself. The shopkeeper who rails +at the Court has his courtiers. + +In short, the manners of the Marquis and his children were certain to +arouse ill-feeling in their neighbors, and to work them up by degrees +to the pitch of malevolence when men do not hesitate at an act of +meanness if only it may damage the adversary they have themselves +created. + +M. d'Espard was a gentleman, as his wife was a lady, by birth and +breeding; noble types, already so rare in France that the observer can +easily count the persons who perfectly realize them. These two +characters are based on primitive ideas, on beliefs that may be called +innate, on habits formed in infancy, and which have ceased to exist. +To believe in pure blood, in a privileged race, to stand in thought +above other men, must we not from birth have measured the distance +which divides patricians from the mob? To command, must we not have +never met our equal? And finally, must not education inculcate the +ideas with which Nature inspires those great men on whose brow she has +placed a crown before their mother has ever set a kiss there? These +ideas, this education, are no longer possible in France, where for +forty years past chance has arrogated the right of making noblemen by +dipping them in the blood of battles, by gilding them with glory, by +crowning them with the halo of genius; where the abolition of entail +and of eldest sonship, by frittering away estates, compels the +nobleman to attend to his own business instead of attending to affairs +of state, and where personal greatness can only be such greatness as +is acquired by long and patient toil: quite a new era. + +Regarded as a relic of that great institution know as feudalism, M. +d'Espard deserved respectful admiration. If he believed himself to be +by blood the superior of other men, he also believed in all the +obligations of nobility; he had the virtues and the strength it +demands. He had brought up his children in his own principles, and +taught them from the cradle the religion of their caste. A deep sense +of their own dignity, pride of name, the conviction that they were by +birth great, gave rise in them to a kingly pride, the courage of +knights, and the protecting kindness of a baronial lord; their +manners, harmonizing with their notions, would have become princes, +and offended all the world of the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve +--a world, above all others, of equality, where every one believed +that M. d'Espard was ruined, and where all, from the lowest to the +highest, refused the privileges of nobility to a nobleman without +money, because they were all ready to allow an enriched bourgeois to +usurp them. Thus the lack of communion between this family and other +persons was as much moral as it was physical. + +In the father and the children alike, their personality harmonized +with the spirit within. M. d'Espard, at this time about fifty, might +have sat as a model to represent the aristocracy of birth in the +nineteenth century. He was slight and fair; there was in the outline +and general expression of his face a native distinction which spoke of +lofty sentiments, but it bore the impress of a deliberate coldness +which commanded respect a little too decidedly. His aquiline nose bent +at the tip from left to right, a slight crookedness which was not +devoid of grace; his blue eyes, his high forehead, prominent enough at +the brows to form a thick ridge that checked the light and shaded his +eyes, all indicated a spirit of rectitude, capable of perseverance and +perfect loyalty, while it gave a singular look to his countenance. +This penthouse forehead might, in fact, hint at a touch of madness, +and his thick-knitted eyebrows added to the apparent eccentricity. He +had the white well-kept hands of a gentleman; his foot was high and +narrow. His hesitating speech--not merely as to his pronunciation, +which was that of a stammerer, but also in the expression of his +ideas, his thought and language--produced on the mind of the hearer +the impression of a man who, in familiar phraseology, comes and goes, +feels his way, tries everything, breaks off his gestures, and finishes +nothing. This defect was purely superficial, and in contrast with the +decisiveness of a firmly-set mouth, and the strongly-marked character +of his physiognomy. His rather jerky gait matched his mode of speech. +These peculiarities helped to affirm his supposed insanity. In spite +of his elegant appearance, he was systematically parsimonious in his +personal expenses, and wore the same black frock-coat for three or +four years, brushed with extreme care by his old man-servant. + +As to the children, they both were handsome, and endowed with a grace +which did not exclude an expression of aristocratic disdain. They had +the bright coloring, the clear eye, the transparent flesh which reveal +habits of purity, regularity of life, and a due proportion of work and +play. They both had black hair and blue eyes, and a twist in their +nose, like their father; but their mother, perhaps, had transmitted to +them the dignity of speech, of look and mien, which are hereditary in +the Blamont-Chauvrys. Their voices, as clear as crystal, had an +emotional quality, the softness which proves so seductive; they had, +in short, the voice a woman would willingly listen to after feeling +the flame of their looks. But, above all, they had the modesty of +pride, a chaste reserve, a /touch-me-not/ which at a maturer age might +have seemed intentional coyness, so much did their demeanor inspire a +wish to know them. The elder, Comte Clement de Negrepelisse, was close +upon his sixteenth year. For the last two years he had ceased to wear +the pretty English round jacket which his brother, Vicomte Camille +d'Espard, still wore. The Count, who for the last six months went no +more to the College Henri IV., was dressed in the style of a young man +enjoying the first pleasures of fashion. His father had not wished to +condemn him to a year's useless study of philosophy; he was trying to +give his knowledge some consistency by the study of transcendental +mathematics. At the same time, the Marquis was having him taught +Eastern languages, the international law of Europe, heraldry, and +history from the original sources, charters, early documents, and +collections of edicts. Camille had lately begun to study rhetoric. + +The day when Popinot arranged to go to question M. d'Espard was a +Thursday, a holiday. At about nine in the morning, before their father +was awake, the brothers were playing in the garden. Clement was +finding it hard to refuse his brother, who was anxious to go to the +shooting-gallery for the first time, and who begged him to second his +request to the Marquis. The Viscount always rather took advantage of +his weakness, and was very fond of wrestling with his brother. So the +couple were quarreling and fighting in play like schoolboys. As they +ran in the garden, chasing each other, they made so much noise as to +wake their father, who came to the window without their perceiving him +in the heat of the fray. The Marquis amused himself with watching his +two children twisted together like snakes, their faces flushed by the +exertion of their strength; their complexion was rose and white, their +eyes flashed sparks, their limbs writhed like cords in the fire; they +fell, sprang up again, and caught each other like athletes in a +circus, affording their father one of those moments of happiness which +would make amends for the keenest anxieties of a busy life. Two other +persons, one on the second and one on the first floor, were also +looking into the garden, and saying that the old madman was amusing +himself by making his children fight. Immediately a number of heads +appeared at the windows; the Marquis, noticing them, called a word to +his sons, who at once climbed up to the window and jumped into his +room, and Clement obtained the permission asked by Camille. + +All through the house every one was talking of the Marquis' new form +of insanity. When Popinot arrived at about twelve o'clock, accompanied +by his clerk, the portress, when asked for M. d'Espard, conducted him +to the third floor, telling him "as how M. d'Espard, no longer ago +than that very morning, had set on his two children to fight, and +laughed like the monster he was on seeing the younger biting the elder +till he bled, and as how no doubt he longed to see them kill each +other.--Don't ask me the reason why," she added; "he doesn't show +himself!" + +Just as the woman spoke these decisive words, she had brought the +judge to the landing on the third floor, face to face with a door +covered with notices announcing the successive numbers of the +Picturesque History of China. The muddy floor, the dirty banisters, +the door where the printers had left their marks, the dilapidated +window, and the ceiling on which the apprentices had amused themselves +with drawing monstrosities with the smoky flare of their tallow dips, +the piles of paper and litter heaped up in the corners, intentionally +or from sheer neglect--in short, every detail of the picture lying +before his eyes, agreed so well with the facts alleged by the Marquise +that the judge, in spite of his impartiality, could not help believing +them. + +"There you are, gentlemen," said the porter's wife; "there is the +manifactor, where the Chinese swallow up enough to feed the whole +neighborhood." + +The clerk looked at the judge with a smile, and Popinot found it hard +to keep his countenance. They went together into the outer room, where +sat an old man, who, no doubt, performed the functions of office +clerk, shopman, and cashier. This old man was the Maitre Jacques of +China. Along the walls ran long shelves, on which the published +numbers lay in piles. A partition in wood, with a grating lined with +green curtains, cut off the end of the room, forming a private office. +A till with a slit to admit or disgorge crown pieces indicated the +cash-desk. + +"M. d'Espard?" said Popinot, addressing the man, who wore a gray +blouse. + +The shopman opened the door into the next room, where the lawyer and +his companion saw a venerable old man, white-headed and simply +dressed, wearing the Cross of Saint-Louis, seated at a desk. He ceased +comparing some sheets of colored prints to look up at the two +visitors. This room was an unpretentious office, full of books and +proof-sheets. There was a black wood table at which some one, at the +moment absent, no doubt was accustomed to work. + +"The Marquis d'Espard?" said Popinot. + +"No, monsieur," said the old man, rising; "what do you want with him?" +he added, coming forward, and showing by his demeanor the dignified +manners and habits due to a gentlemanly education. + +"We wish to speak with him on business exclusively personal to +himself," replied Popinot. + +"D'Espard, here are some gentlemen who want to see you," then said the +old man, going into the furthest room, where the Marquis was sitting +by the fire reading the newspaper. + +This innermost room had a shabby carpet, the windows were hung with +gray holland curtains; the furniture consisted of a few mahogany +chairs, two armchairs, a desk with a revolving front, an ordinary +office table, and on the chimney-shelf, a dingy clock and two old +candlesticks. The old man led the way for Popinot and his registrar, +and pulled forward two chairs, as though he were master of the place; +M. d'Espard left it to him. After the preliminary civilities, during +which the judge watched the supposed lunatic, the Marquis naturally +asked what was the object of this visit. On this Popinot glanced +significantly at the old gentleman and the Marquis. + +"I believe, Monsieur le Marquis," said he, "that the character of my +functions, and the inquiry that has brought me here, make it desirable +that we should be alone, though it is understood by law that in such +cases the inquiries have a sort of family publicity. I am judge on the +Inferior Court of Appeal for the Department of the Seine, and charged +by the President with the duty of examining you as to certain facts +set forth in a petition for a Commission in Lunacy on the part of the +Marquise d'Espard." + +The old man withdrew. When the lawyer and the Marquis were alone, the +clerk shut the door, and seated himself unceremoniously at the office +table, where he laid out his papers and prepared to take down his +notes. Popinot had still kept his eye on M. d'Espard; he was watching +the effect on him of this crude statement, so painful for a man in +full possession of his reason. The Marquis d'Espard, whose face was +usually pale, as are those of fair men, suddenly turned scarlet with +anger; he trembled for an instant, sat down, laid his paper on the +chimney-piece, and looked down. In a moment he had recovered his +gentlemanly dignity, and looked steadily at the judge, as if to read +in his countenance the indications of his character. + +"How is it, monsieur," he asked, "that I have had no notice of such a +petition?" + +"Monsieur le Marquis, persons on whom such a commission is held not +being supposed to have the use of their reason, any notice of the +petition is unnecessary. The duty of the Court chiefly consists in +verifying the allegations of the petitioner." + +"Nothing can be fairer," replied the Marquis. "Well, then, monsieur, +be so good as to tell me what I ought to do----" + +"You have only to answer my questions, omitting nothing. However +delicate the reasons may be which may have led you to act in such a +manner as to give Madame d'Espard a pretext for her petition, speak +without fear. It is unnecessary to assure you that lawyers know their +duties, and that in such cases the profoundest secrecy----" + +"Monsieur," said the Marquis, whose face expressed the sincerest pain, +"if my explanations should lead to any blame being attached to Madame +d'Espard's conduct, what will be the result?" + +"The Court may add its censure to its reasons for its decision." + +"Is such censure optional? If I were to stipulate with you, before +replying, that nothing should be said that could annoy Madame d'Espard +in the event of your report being in my favor, would the Court take my +request into consideration?" + +The judge looked at the Marquis, and the two men exchanged sentiments +of equal magnanimity. + +"Noel," said Popinot to his registrar, "go into the other room. If you +can be of use, I will call you in.--If, as I am inclined to think," he +went on, speaking to the Marquis when the clerk had gone out, "I find +that there is some misunderstanding in this case, I can promise you, +monsieur, that on your application the Court will act with due +courtesy. + +"There is a leading fact put forward by Madame d'Espard, the most +serious of all, of which I must beg for an explanation," said the +judge after a pause. "It refers to the dissipation of your fortune to +the advantage of a certain Madame Jeanrenaud, the widow of a +bargemaster--or rather, to that of her son, Colonel Jeanrenaud, for +whom you are said to have procured an appointment, to have exhausted +your influence with the King, and at last to have extended such +protection as secures him a good marriage. The petition suggests that +such a friendship is more devoted than any feelings, even those which +morality must disapprove----" + +A sudden flush crimsoned the Marquis' face and forehead, tears even +started to his eyes, for his eyelashes were wet, then wholesome pride +crushed the emotions, which in a man are accounted a weakness. + +"To tell you the truth, monsieur," said the Marquis, in a broken +voice, "you place me in a strange dilemma. The motives of my conduct +were to have died with me. To reveal them I must disclose to you some +secret wounds, must place the honor of my family in your keeping, and +must speak of myself, a delicate matter, as you will fully understand. +I hope, monsieur, that it will all remain a secret between us. You +will, no doubt, be able to find in the formulas of the law one which +will allow of judgment being pronounced without any betrayal of my +confidences." + +"So far as that goes, it is perfectly possible, Monsieur le Marquis." + +"Some time after my marriage," said M. d'Espard, "my wife having run +into considerable expenses, I was obliged to have recourse to +borrowing. You know what was the position of noble families during the +Revolution; I had not been able to keep a steward or a man of +business. Nowadays gentlemen are for the most part obliged to manage +their affairs themselves. Most of my title-deeds had been brought to +Paris, from Languedoc, Provence, or le Comtat, by my father, who +dreaded, and not without reason, the inquisition which family +title-deeds, and what was then styled the 'parchments' of the +privileged class, brought down on the owners. + +"Our name is Negrepelisse; d'Espard is a title acquired in the time of +Henri IV. by a marriage which brought us the estates and titles of the +house of d'Espard, on condition of our bearing an escutcheon of +pretence on our coat-of-arms, those of the house of d'Espard, an old +family of Bearn, connected in the female line with that of Albret: +quarterly, paly of or and sable; and azure two griffins' claws armed, +gules in saltire, with the famous motto Des partem leonis. At the time +of this alliance we lost Negrepelisse, a little town which was as +famous during the religious struggles as was my ancestor who then bore +the name. Captain de Negrepelisse was ruined by the burning of all his +property, for the Protestants did not spare a friend of Montluc's. + +"The Crown was unjust to M. de Negrepelisse; he received neither a +marshal's baton, nor a post as governor, nor any indemnity; King +Charles IX., who was fond of him, died without being able to reward +him; Henri IV. arranged his marriage with Mademoiselle d'Espard, and +secured him the estates of that house, but all those of the +Negrepelisses had already passed into the hands of his creditors. + +"My great-grandfather, the Marquis d'Espard, was, like me, placed +early in life at the head of his family by the death of his father, +who, after dissipating his wife's fortune, left his son nothing but +the entailed estates of the d'Espards, burdened with a jointure. The +young Marquis was all the more straitened for money because he held a +post at Court. Being in great favor with Louis XIV., the King's +goodwill brought him a fortune. But here, monsieur, a blot stained our +escutcheon, an unconfessed and horrible stain of blood and disgrace +which I am making it my business to wipe out. I discovered the secret +among the deeds relating to the estate of Negrepelisse and the packets +of letters." + +At this solemn moment the Marquis spoke without hesitation or any of +the repetition habitual with him; but it is a matter of common +observation that persons who, in ordinary life, are afflicted with +these two defects, are freed from them as soon as any passionate +emotion underlies their speech. + +"The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes was decreed," he went on. "You +are no doubt aware, monsieur, that this was an opportunity for many +favorites to make their fortunes. Louis XIV. bestowed on the magnates +about his Court the confiscated lands of those Protestant families who +did not take the prescribed steps for the sale of their property. Some +persons in high favor went 'Protestant-hunting,' as the phrase was. I +have ascertained beyond a doubt that the fortune enjoyed to this day +by two ducal families is derived from lands seized from hapless +merchants. + +"I will not attempt to explain to you, a man of law, all the +manoeuvres employed to entrap the refugees who had large fortunes to +carry away. It is enough to say that the lands of Negrepelisse, +comprising twenty-two churches and rights over the town, and those of +Gravenges which had formerly belonged to us, were at that time in the +hands of a Protestant family. My grandfather recovered them by gift +from Louis XIV. This gift was effected by documents hall-marked by +atrocious iniquity. The owner of these two estates, thinking he would +be able to return, had gone through the form of a sale, and was going +to Switzerland to join his family, whom he had sent in advance. He +wished, no doubt, to take advantage of every delay granted by the law, +so as to settle the concerns of his business. + +"This man was arrested by order of the governor, the trustee confessed +the truth, the poor merchant was hanged, and my ancestor had the two +estates. I would gladly have been able to ignore the share he took in +the plot; but the governor was his uncle on the mother's side, and I +have unfortunately read the letter in which he begged him to apply to +Deodatus, the name agreed upon by the Court to designate the King. In +this letter there is a tone of jocosity with reference to the victim, +which filled me with horror. In the end, the sums of money sent by the +refugee family to ransom the poor man were kept by the governor, who +despatched the merchant all the same." + +The Marquis paused, as though the memory of it were still too heavy +for him to bear. + +"This unfortunate family were named Jeanrenaud," he went on. "That +name is enough to account for my conduct. I could never think without +keen pain of the secret disgrace that weighed on my family. That +fortune enabled my grandfather to marry a demoiselle de +Navarreins-Lansac, heiress to the younger branch of that house, who +were at that time much richer than the elder branch of the Navarreins. +My father thus became one of the largest landowners in the kingdom. He +was able to marry my mother, a Grandlieu of the younger branch. Though +ill-gotten, this property has been singularly profitable. + +"For my part, being determined to remedy the mischief, I wrote to +Switzerland, and knew no peace till I was on the traces of the +Protestant victim's heirs. At last I discovered that the Jeanrenauds, +reduced to abject want, had left Fribourg and returned to live in +France. Finally, I found a M. Jeanrenaud, lieutenant in a cavalry +regiment under Napoleon, the sole heir of this unhappy family. In my +eyes, monsieur, the rights of the Jeanrenauds were clear. To establish +a prescriptive right is it not necessary that there should have been +some possibility of proceeding against those who are in the enjoyment +of it? To whom could these refugees have appealed? Their Court of +Justice was on high, or rather, monsieur, it was here," and the +Marquis struck his hand on his heart. "I did not choose that my +children should be able to think of me as I have thought of my father +and of my ancestors. I aim at leaving them an unblemished inheritance +and escutcheon. I did not choose that nobility should be a lie in my +person. And, after all, politically speaking, ought those emigres who +are now appealing against revolutionary confiscations, to keep the +property derived from antecedent confiscations by positive crimes? + +"I found in M. Jeanrenaud and his mother the most perverse honesty; to +hear them you would suppose that they were robbing me. In spite of all +I could say, they will accept no more than the value of the lands at +the time when the King bestowed them on my family. The price was +settled between us at the sum of eleven hundred thousand francs, which +I was to pay at my convenience and without interest. To achieve this I +had to forego my income for a long time. And then, monsieur, began the +destruction of some illusions I had allowed myself as to Madame +d'Espard's character. When I proposed to her that we should leave +Paris and go into the country, where we could live respected on half +of her income, and so more rapidly complete a restitution of which I +spoke to her without going into the more serious details, Madame +d'Espard treated me as a madman. I then understood my wife's real +character. She would have approved of my grandfather's conduct without +a scruple, and have laughed at the Huguenots. Terrified by her +coldness, and her little affection for her children, whom she +abandoned to me without regret, I determined to leave her the command +of her fortune, after paying our common debts. It was no business of +hers, as she told me, to pay for my follies. As I then had not enough +to live on and pay for my sons' education, I determined to educate +them myself, to make them gentlemen and men of feeling. By investing +my money in the funds I have been enabled to pay off my obligation +sooner than I had dared to hope, for I took advantage of the +opportunities afforded by the improvement in prices. If I had kept +four thousand francs a year for my boys and myself, I could only have +paid off twenty thousand crowns a year, and it would have taken almost +eighteen years to achieve my freedom. As it is, I have lately repaid +the whole of the eleven hundred thousand francs that were due. Thus I +enjoy the happiness of having made this restitution without doing my +children the smallest wrong. + +"These, monsieur, are the reasons for the payments made to Madame +Jeanrenaud and her son." + +"So Madame d'Espard knew the motives of your retirement?" said the +judge, controlling the emotion he felt at this narrative. + +"Yes, monsieur." + +Popinot gave an expressive shrug; he rose and opened the door into the +next room. + +"Noel, you can go," said he to his clerk. + +"Monsieur," he went on, "though what you have told me is enough to +enlighten me thoroughly, I should like to hear what you have to say to +the other facts put forward in the petition. For instance, you are +here carrying on a business such as is not habitually undertaken by a +man of rank." + +"We cannot discuss that matter here," said the Marquis, signing to the +judge to quit the room. "Nouvion," said he to the old man, "I am going +down to my rooms; the children will soon be in; dine with us." + +"Then, Monsieur le Marquis," said Popinot on the stairs, "that is not +your apartment?" + +"No, monsieur; I took those rooms for the office of this undertaking. +You see," and he pointed to an advertisement sheet, "the History is +being brought out by one of the most respectable firms in Paris, and +not by me." + +The Marquis showed the lawyer into the ground-floor rooms, saying, +"This is my apartment." + +Popinot was quite touched by the poetry, not aimed at but pervading +this dwelling. The weather was lovely, the windows were open, the air +from the garden brought in a wholesome earthy smell, the sunshine +brightened and gilded the woodwork, of a rather gloomy brown. At the +sight Popinot made up his mind that a madman would hardly be capable +of inventing the tender harmony of which he was at that moment +conscious. + +"I should like just such an apartment," thought he. "You think of +leaving this part of town?" he inquired. + +"I hope so," replied the Marquis. "But I shall remain till my younger +son has finished his studies, and till the children's character is +thoroughly formed, before introducing them to the world and to their +mother's circle. Indeed, after giving them the solid information they +possess, I intend to complete it by taking them to travel to the +capitals of Europe, that they may see men and things, and become +accustomed to speak the languages they have learned. And, monsieur," +he went on, giving the judge a chair in the drawing-room, "I could not +discuss the book on China with you, in the presence of an old friend +of my family, the Comte de Nouvion, who, having emigrated, has +returned to France without any fortune whatever, and who is my partner +in this concern, less for my profit than his. Without telling him what +my motives were, I explained to him that I was as poor as he, but that +I had enough money to start a speculation in which he might be +usefully employed. My tutor was the Abbe Grozier, whom Charles X. on +my recommendation appointed Keeper of the Books at the Arsenal, which +were returned to that Prince when he was still Monsieur. The Abbe +Grozier was deeply learned with regard to China, its manners and +customs; he made me heir to this knowledge at an age when it is +difficult not to become a fanatic for the things we learn. At +five-and-twenty I knew Chinese, and I confess I have never been able to +check myself in an exclusive admiration for that nation, who conquered +their conquerors, whose annals extend back indisputably to a period +more remote than mythological or Bible times, who by their immutable +institutions have preserved the integrity of their empire, whose +monuments are gigantic, whose administration is perfect, among whom +revolutions are impossible, who have regarded ideal beauty as a barren +element in art, who have carried luxury and industry to such a pitch +that we cannot outdo them in anything, while they are our equals in +things where we believe ourselves superior. + +"Still, monsieur, though I often make a jest of comparing China with +the present condition of European states, I am not a Chinaman, I am a +French gentleman. If you entertain any doubts as to the financial side +of this undertaking, I can prove to you that at this moment we have +two thousand five hundred subscribers to this work, which is literary, +iconographical, statistical, and religious; its importance has been +generally appreciated; our subscribers belong to every nation in +Europe, we have but twelve hundred in France. Our book will cost about +three hundred francs, and the Comte de Nouvion will derive from it +from six to seven thousand francs a year, for his comfort was the real +motive of the undertaking. For my part, I aimed only at the +possibility of affording my children some pleasures. The hundred +thousand francs I have made, quite in spite of myself, will pay for +their fencing lessons, horses, dress, and theatres, pay the masters +who teach them accomplishments, procure them canvases to spoil, the +books they may wish to buy, in short, all the little fancies which a +father finds so much pleasure in gratifying. If I had been compelled +to refuse these indulgences to my poor boys, who are so good and work +so hard, the sacrifice I made to the honor of my name would have been +doubly painful. + +"In point of fact, the twelve years I have spent in retirement from +the world to educate my children have led to my being completely +forgotten at Court. I have given up the career of politics; I have +lost my historical fortune, and all the distinctions which I might +have acquired and bequeathed to my children; but our house will have +lost nothing; my boys will be men of mark. Though I have missed the +senatorship, they will win it nobly by devoting themselves to the +affairs of the country, and doing such service as is not soon +forgotten. While purifying the past record of my family, I have +insured it a glorious future; and is not that to have achieved a noble +task, though in secret and without glory?--And now, monsieur, have you +any other explanations to ask me?" + +At this instant the tramp of horses was heard in the courtyard. + +"Here they are!" said the Marquis. In a moment the two lads, +fashionably but plainly dressed, came into the room, booted, spurred, +and gloved, and flourishing their riding-whips. Their beaming faces +brought in the freshness of the outer air; they were brilliant with +health. They both grasped their father's hand, giving him a look, as +friends do, a glance of unspoken affection, and then they bowed coldly +to the lawyer. Popinot felt that it was quite unnecessary to question +the Marquis as to his relations towards his sons. + +"Have you enjoyed yourselves?" asked the Marquis. + +"Yes, father; I knocked down six dolls in twelve shots at the first +trial!" cried Camille. + +"And where did you ride?" + +"In the Bois; we saw my mother." + +"Did she stop?" + +"We were riding so fast just then that I daresay she did not see us," +replied the young Count. + +"But, then, why did you not go to speak to her?" + +"I fancy I have noticed, father, that she does not care that we should +speak to her in public," said Clement in an undertone. "We are a +little too big." + +The judge's hearing was keen enough to catch these words, which +brought a cloud to the Marquis' brow. Popinot took pleasure in +contemplating the picture of the father and his boys. His eyes went +back with a sense of pathos to M. d'Espard's face; his features, his +expression, and his manner all expressed honesty in its noblest +aspect, intellectual and chivalrous honesty, nobility in all its +beauty. + +"You--you see, monsieur," said the Marquis, and his hesitation had +returned, "you see that Justice may look in--in here at any time--yes, +at any time--here. If there is anybody crazy, it can only be the +children--the children--who are a little crazy about their father, and +the father who is very crazy about his children--but that sort of +madness rings true." + +At this juncture Madame Jeanrenaud's voice was heard in the ante-room, +and the good woman came bustling in, in spite of the man-servant's +remonstrances. + +"I take no roundabout ways, I can tell you!" she exclaimed. "Yes, +Monsieur le Marquis, I want to speak to you, this very minute," she +went on, with a comprehensive bow to the company. "By George, and I am +too late as it is, since Monsieur the criminal Judge is before me." + +"Criminal!" cried the two boys. + +"Good reason why I did not find you at your own house, since you are +here. Well, well! the Law is always to the fore when there is mischief +brewing.--I came, Monsieur le Marquis, to tell you that my son and I +are of one mind to give you everything back, since our honor is +threatened. My son and I, we had rather give you back everything than +cause you the smallest trouble. My word, they must be as stupid as +pans without handles to call you a lunatic----" + +"A lunatic! My father?" exclaimed the boys, clinging to the Marquis. +"What is this?" + +"Silence, madame," said Popinot. + +"Children, leave us," said the Marquis. + +The two boys went into the garden without a word, but very much +alarmed. + +"Madame," said the judge, "the moneys paid to you by Monsieur le +Marquis were legally due, though given to you in virtue of a very +far-reaching theory of honesty. If all the people possessed of +confiscated goods, by whatever cause, even if acquired by treachery, +were compelled to make restitution every hundred and fifty years, +there would be few legitimate owners in France. The possessions of +Jacques Coeur enriched twenty noble families; the confiscations +pronounced by the English to the advantage of their adherents at the +time when they held a part of France made the fortune of several +princely houses. + +"Our law allows M. d'Espard to dispose of his income without +accounting for it, or suffering him to be accused of its +misapplication. A Commission in Lunacy can only be granted when a +man's actions are devoid of reason; but in this case, the remittances +made to you have a reason based on the most sacred and most honorable +motives. Hence you may keep it all without remorse, and leave the +world to misinterpret a noble action. In Paris, the highest virtue is +the object of the foulest calumny. It is, unfortunately, the present +condition of society that makes the Marquis' actions sublime. For the +honor of my country, I would that such deeds were regarded as a matter +of course; but, as things are, I am forced by comparison to look upon +M. d'Espard as a man to whom a crown should be awarded, rather than +that he should be threatened with a Commission in Lunacy. + +"In the course of a long professional career, I have seen and heard +nothing that has touched me more deeply than that I have just seen and +heard. But it is not extraordinary that virtue should wear its noblest +aspect when it is practised by men of the highest class. + +"Having heard me express myself in this way, I hope, Monsieur le +Marquis, that you feel certain of my silence, and that you will not +for a moment be uneasy as to the decision pronounced in the case--if +it comes before the Court." + +"There, now! Well said," cried Madame Jeanrenaud. "That is something +like a judge! Look here, my dear sir, I would hug you if I were not so +ugly; you speak like a book." + +The Marquis held out his hand to Popinot, who gently pressed it with a +look full of sympathetic comprehension at this great man in private +life, and the Marquis responded with a pleasant smile. These two +natures, both so large and full--one commonplace but divinely kind, +the other lofty and sublime--had fallen into unison gently, without a +jar, without a flash of passion, as though two pure lights had been +merged into one. The father of a whole district felt himself worthy to +grasp the hand of this man who was doubly noble, and the Marquis felt +in the depths of his soul an instinct that told him that the judge's +hand was one of those from which the treasures of inexhaustible +beneficence perennially flow. + +"Monsieur le Marquis," added Popinot, with a bow, "I am happy to be +able to tell you that, from the first words of this inquiry, I +regarded my clerk as quite unnecessary." + +He went close to M. d'Espard, led him into the window-bay, and said: +"It is time that you should return home, monsieur. I believe that +Madame la Marquise has acted in this matter under an influence which +you ought at once to counteract." + +Popinot withdrew. He looked back several times as he crossed the +courtyard, touched by the recollection of the scene. It was one of +those which take root in the memory to blossom again in certain hours +when the soul seeks consolation. + +"Those rooms would just suit me," said he to himself as he reached +home. "If M. d'Espard leaves them, I will take up his lease." + + + +The next day, at about ten in the morning, Popinot, who had written +out his report the previous evening, made his way to the Palais de +Justice, intending to have prompt and righteous justice done. As he +went to the robing-room to put on his gown and bands, the usher told +him that the President of his Court begged him to attend in his +private room, where he was waiting for him. Popinot forthwith obeyed. + +"Good-morning, my dear Popinot," said the President, "I have been +waiting for you." + +"Why, Monsieur le President, is anything wrong?" + +"A mere silly trifle," said the President. "The Keeper of the Seals, +with whom I had the honor of dining yesterday, led me apart into a +corner. He had heard that you had been to tea with Madame d'Espard, in +whose case you were employed to make inquiries. He gave me to +understand that it would be as well that you should not sit on this +case----" + +"But, Monsieur le President, I can prove that I left Madame d'Espard's +house at the moment when tea was brought in. And my conscience----" + +"Yes, yes; the whole Bench, the two Courts, all the profession know +you. I need not repeat what I said about you to his Eminence; but, you +know, 'Caesar's wife must not be suspected.' So we shall not make this +foolish trifle a matter of discipline, but only of proprieties. +Between ourselves, it is not on your account, but on that of the +Bench." + +"But, monsieur, if you only knew the kind of woman----" said the +judge, trying to pull his report out of his pocket. + +"I am perfectly certain that you have proceeded in this matter with +the strictest independence of judgment. I myself, in the provinces, +have often taken more than a cup of tea with the people I had to try; +but the fact that the Keeper of the Seals should have mentioned it, +and that you might be talked about, is enough to make the Court avoid +any discussion of the matter. Any conflict with public opinion must +always be dangerous for a constitutional body, even when the right is +on its side against the public, because their weapons are not equal. +Journalism may say or suppose anything, and our dignity forbids us +even to reply. In fact, I have spoken of the matter to your President, +and M. Camusot has been appointed in your place on your retirement, +which you will signify. It is a family matter, so to speak. And I now +beg you to signify your retirement from the case as a personal favor. +To make up, you will get the Cross of the Legion of Honor, which has +so long been due to you. I make that my business." + +When he saw M. Camusot, a judge recently called to Paris from a +provincial Court of the same class, as he went forward bowing to the +Judge and the President, Popinot could not repress an ironical smile. +This pale, fair young man, full of covert ambition, looked ready to +hang and unhang, at the pleasure of any earthy king, the innocent and +the guilty alike, and to follow the example of a Laubardemont rather +than that of a Mole. + +Popinot withdrew with a bow; he scorned to deny the lying accusation +that had been brought against him. + + + +PARIS, February 1836. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + +Note: The Commission in Lunacy is also known as The Interdiction and +is referred to by that title in certain of the addendums. + +Bianchon, Horace + Father Goriot + The Atheist's Mass + Cesar Birotteau + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Secrets of a Princess + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Study of Woman + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Magic Skin + A Second Home + A Prince of Bohemia + Letters of Two Brides + The Muse of the Department + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + The Country Parson +In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + La Grande Breteche + +Bordin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Seamy Side of History + Jealousies of a Country Town + +Camusot de Marville + Cousin Pons + Jealousies of a Country Town + Scenes from a Cuortesan's Life + +Desroches (son) + A Bachelor's Establishment + Colonel Chabert + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + +Espard, Charles-Maurice-Marie-Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis d' + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + +Espard, Chevalier d' + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Secrets of a Princess + +Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d' + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Letters of Two Brides + Another Study of Woman + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + Beatrix + +Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + Colonel Chabert + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + +Grozier, Abbe + Lost Illusions + +Jeanrenaud + Albert Savarus + +Mongenod, Frederic + The Seamy Side of History + +Negrepelisse, De + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + +Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de + Father Goriot + The Thirteen + Eugenie Grandet + Cesar Birotteau + Melmoth Reconciled + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Modeste Mignon + The Firm of Nucingen + Another Study of Woman + A Daughter of Eve + The Member for Arcis + +Popinot, Jean-Jules + Cesar Birotteau + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Middle Classes + +Rabourdin, Madame + The Government Clerks + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Commission in Lunacy, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY *** + +***** This file should be named 1410.txt or 1410.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.net/1/4/1/1410/ + +Produced by Dagny, and John Bickers + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com +and John Bickers, jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz + + + + + +THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY + +BY + +HONORE DE BALZAC + + + +Translated By +Clara Bell + + + +DEDICATION + +Dedicated to Monsieur le Contre-Amiral Bazoche, +Governor of the Isle of Bourbon, by the grateful writer. +DE BALZAC. + + + +In 1828, at about one o'clock one morning, two persons came out of a +large house in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, near the Elysee- +Bourbon. One was the famous doctor, Horace Bianchon; the other was one +of the most elegant men in Paris, the Baron de Rastignac; they were +friends of long standing. Each had sent away his carriage, and no cab +was to be seen in the street; but the night was fine, and the pavement +dry. + +"We will walk as far as the boulevard," said Eugene de Rastignac to +Bianchon. "You can get a hackney cab at the club; there is always one +to be found there till daybreak. Come with me as far as my house." + +"With pleasure." + +"Well, and what have you to say about it?" + +"About that woman?" said the doctor coldly. + +"There I recognize my Bianchon!" exclaimed Rastignac. + +"Why, how?" + +"Well, my dear fellow, you speak of the Marquise d'Espard as if she +were a case for your hospital." + +"Do you want to know what I think, Eugene? If you throw over Madame de +Nucingen for this Marquise, you will swap a one-eyed horse for a blind +one." + +"Madame de Nucingen is six-and-thirty, Bianchon." + +"And this woman is three-and-thirty," said the doctor quickly. + +"Her worst enemies only say six-and-twenty." + +"My dear boy, when you really want to know a woman's age, look at her +temples and the tip of her nose. Whatever women may achieve with their +cosmetics, they can do nothing against those incorruptible witnesses +to their experiences. There each year of life has left its stigmata. +When a woman's temples are flaccid, seamed, withered in a particular +way; when at the tip of her nose you see those minute specks, which +look like the imperceptible black smuts which are shed in London by +the chimneys in which coal is burnt. . . . Your servant, sir! That +woman is more than thirty. She may be handsome, witty, loving-- +whatever you please, but she is past thirty, she is arriving at +maturity. I do not blame men who attach themselves to that kind of +woman; only, a man of your superior distinction must not mistake a +winter pippin for a little summer apple, smiling on the bough, and +waiting for you to crunch it. Love never goes to study the registers +of birth and marriage; no one loves a woman because she is handsome or +ugly, stupid or clever; we love because we love." + +"Well, for my part, I love for quite other reasons. She is Marquise +d'Espard; she was a Blamont-Chauvry; she is the fashion; she has soul; +her foot is as pretty as the Duchesse de Berri's; she has perhaps a +hundred thousand francs a year--some day, perhaps, I may marry her! In +short, she will put me into a position which will enable me to pay my +debts." + +"I thought you were rich," interrupted Bianchon. + +"Bah! I have twenty thousand francs a year--just enough to keep up my +stables. I was thoroughly done, my dear fellow, in that Nucingen +business; I will tell you about that.--I have got my sisters married; +that is the clearest profit I can show since we last met; and I would +rather have them provided for than have five hundred thousand francs a +year. No, what would you have me do? I am ambitious. To what can +Madame de Nucingen lead? A year more and I shall be shelved, stuck in +a pigeon-hole like a married man. I have all the discomforts of +marriage and of single life, without the advantages of either; a false +position to which every man must come who remains tied too long to the +same apron-string." + +"So you think you will come upon a treasure here?" said Bianchon. +"Your Marquise, my dear fellow, does not hit my fancy at all." + +"Your liberal opinions blur your eyesight. If Madame d'Espard were a +Madame Rabourdin . . ." + +"Listen to me. Noble or simple, she would still have no soul; she +would still be a perfect type of selfishness. Take my word for it, +medical men are accustomed to judge of people and things; the sharpest +of us read the soul while we study the body. In spite of that pretty +boudoir where we have spent this evening, in spite of the magnificence +of the house, it is quite possible that Madame la Marquise is in +debt." + +"What makes you think so?" + +"I do not assert it; I am supposing. She talked of her soul as Louis +XVIII. used to talk of his heart. I tell you this: That fragile, fair +woman, with her chestnut hair, who pities herself that she may be +pitied, enjoys an iron constitution, an appetite like a wolf's, and +the strength and cowardice of a tiger. Gauze, and silk, and muslin +were never more cleverly twisted round a lie! Ecco." + +"Bianchon, you frighten me! You have learned a good many things, then, +since we lived in the Maison Vauquer?" + +"Yes, since then, my boy, I have seen puppets, both dolls and +manikins. I know something of the ways of the fine ladies whose bodies +we attend to, saving that which is dearest to them, their child--if +they love it--or their pretty faces, which they always worship. A man +spends his nights by their pillow, wearing himself to death to spare +them the slightest loss of beauty in any part; he succeeds, he keeps +their secret like the dead; they send to ask for his bill, and think +it horribly exorbitant. Who saved them? Nature. Far from recommending +him, they speak ill of him, fearing lest he should become the +physician of their best friends. + +"My dear fellow, those women of whom you say, 'They are angels!' I-- +I--have seen stripped of the little grimaces under which they hide +their soul, as well as of the frippery under which they disguise their +defects--without manners and without stays; they are not beautiful. + +"We saw a great deal of mud, a great deal of dirt, under the waters of +the world when we were aground for a time on the shoals of the Maison +Vauquer.--What we saw there was nothing. Since I have gone into high +society, I have seen monsters dressed in satin, Michonneaus in white +gloves, Poirets bedizened with orders, fine gentlemen doing more +usurious business than old Gobseck! To the shame of mankind, when I +have wanted to shake hands with Virtue, I have found her shivering in +a loft, persecuted by calumny, half-starving on a income or a salary +of fifteen hundred francs a year, and regarded as crazy, or eccentric, +or imbecile. + +"In short, my dear boy, the Marquise is a woman of fashion, and I have +a particular horror of that kind of woman. Do you want to know why? A +woman who has a lofty soul, fine taste, gentle wit, a generously warm +heart, and who lives a simple life, has not a chance of being the +fashion. Ergo: A woman of fashion and a man in power are analogous; +but there is this difference: the qualities by which a man raises +himself above others ennoble him and are a glory to him; whereas the +qualities by which a woman gains power for a day are hideous vices; +she belies her nature to hide her character, and to live the militant +life of the world she must have iron strength under a frail +appearance. + +"I, as a physician, know that a sound stomach excludes a good heart. +Your woman of fashion feels nothing; her rage for pleasure has its +source in a longing to heat up her cold nature, a craving for +excitement and enjoyment, like an old man who stands night after night +by the footlights at the opera. As she has more brain than heart, she +sacrifices genuine passion and true friends to her triumph, as a +general sends his most devoted subalterns to the front in order to win +a battle. The woman of fashion ceases to be a woman; she is neither +mother, nor wife, nor lover. She is, medically speaking, sex in the +brain. And your Marquise, too, has all the characteristics of her +monstrosity, the beak of a bird of prey, the clear, cold eye, the +gentle voice--she is as polished as the steel of a machine, she +touches everything except the heart." + +"There is some truth in what you say, Bianchon." + +"Some truth?" replied Bianchon. "It is all true. Do you suppose that I +was not struck to the heart by the insulting politeness by which she +made me measure the imaginary distance which her noble birth sets +between us? That I did not feel the deepest pity for her cat-like +civilities when I remembered what her object was? A year hence she +will not write one word to do me the slightest service, and this +evening she pelted me with smiles, believing that I can influence my +uncle Popinot, on whom the success of her case----" + +"Would you rather she should have played the fool with you, my dear +fellow?--I accept your diatribe against women of fashion; but you are +beside the mark. I should always prefer for a wife a Marquise d'Espard +to the most devout and devoted creature on earth. Marry an angel! you +would have to go and bury your happiness in the depths of the country! +The wife of a politician is a governing machine, a contrivance that +makes compliments and courtesies. She is the most important and most +faithful tool which an ambitious man can use; a friend, in short, who +may compromise herself without mischief, and whom he may belie without +harmful results. Fancy Mahomet in Paris in the nineteenth century! His +wife would be a Rohan, a Duchesse de Chevreuse of the Fronde, as keen +and as flattering as an Ambassadress, as wily as Figaro. Your loving +wives lead nowhere; a woman of the world leads to everything; she is +the diamond with which a man cuts every window when he has not the +golden key which unlocks every door. Leave humdrum virtues to the +humdrum, ambitious vices to the ambitious. + +"Besides, my dear fellow, do you imagine that the love of a Duchesse +de Langeais, or de Maufrigneuse, or of a Lady Dudley does not bestow +immense pleasure? If only you knew how much value the cold, severe +style of such a woman gives to the smallest evidence of their +affection! What a delight it is to see a periwinkle piercing through +the snow! A smile from below a fan contradicts the reserve of an +assumed attitude, and is worth all the unbridled tenderness of your +middle-class women with their mortgaged devotion; for, in love, +devotion is nearly akin to speculation. + +"And, then, a woman of fashion, a Blamont-Chauvry, has her virtues +too! Her virtues are fortune, power, effect, a certain contempt of all +that is beneath her----" + +"Thank you!" said Bianchon. + +"Old curmudgeon!" said Rastignac, laughing. "Come--do not be so +common, do like your friend Desplein; be a Baron, a Knight of Saint- +Michael; become a peer of France, and marry your daughters to dukes." + +"I! May the five hundred thousand devils----" + +"Come, come! Can you be superior only in medicine? Really, you +distress me . . ." + +"I hate that sort of people; I long for a revolution to deliver us +from them for ever." + +"And so, my dear Robespierre of the lancet, you will not go to-morrow +to your uncle Popinot?" + +"Yes, I will," said Bianchon; "for you I would go to hell to fetch +water . . ." + +"My good friend, you really touch me. I have sworn that a commission +shall sit on the Marquis. Why, here is even a long-saved tear to thank +you." + +"But," Bianchon went on, "I do not promise to succeed as you wish with +Jean-Jules Popinot. You do not know him. However, I will take him to +see your Marquise the day after to-morrow; she may get round him if +she can. I doubt it. If all the truffles, all the Duchesses, all the +mistresses, and all the charmers in Paris were there in the full bloom +of their beauty; if the King promised him the PRAIRIE, and the +Almighty gave him the Order of Paradise with the revenues of +Purgatory, not one of all these powers would induce him to transfer a +single straw from one saucer of his scales into the other. He is a +judge, as Death is Death." + +The two friends had reached the office of the Minister for Foreign +Affairs, at the corner of the Boulevard des Capucines. + +"Here you are at home," said Bianchon, laughing, as he pointed to the +ministerial residence. "And here is my carriage," he added, calling a +hackney cab. "And these--express our fortune." + +"You will be happy at the bottom of the sea, while I am still +struggling with the tempests on the surface, till I sink and go to ask +you for a corner in your grotto, old fellow!" + +"Till Saturday," replied Bianchon. + +"Agreed," said Rastignac. "And you promise me Popinot?" + +"I will do all my conscience will allow. Perhaps this appeal for a +commission covers some little dramorama, to use a word of our good bad +times." + +"Poor Bianchon! he will never be anything but a good fellow," said +Rastignac to himself as the cab drove off. + + + +"Rastignac has given me the most difficult negotiation in the world," +said Bianchon to himself, remembering, as he rose next morning, the +delicate commission intrusted to him. "However, I have never asked the +smallest service from my uncle in Court, and have paid more than a +thousand visits gratis for him. And, after all, we are not apt to +mince matters between ourselves. He will say Yes or No, and there an +end." + +After this little soliloquy the famous physician bent his steps, at +seven in the morning, towards the Rue du Fouarre, where dwelt Monsieur +Jean-Jules Popinot, judge of the Lower Court of the Department of the +Seine. The Rue du Fouarre--an old word meaning straw--was in the +thirteenth century the most important street in Paris. There stood the +Schools of the University, where the voices of Abelard and of Gerson +were heard in the world of learning. It is now one of the dirtiest +streets of the Twelfth Arrondissement, the poorest quarter of Paris, +that in which two-thirds of the population lack firing in winter, +which leaves most brats at the gate of the Foundling Hospital, which +sends most beggars to the poorhouse, most rag-pickers to the street +corners, most decrepit old folks to bask against the walls on which +the sun shines, most delinquents to the police courts. + +Half-way down this street, which is always damp, and where the gutter +carries to the Seine the blackened waters from some dye-works, there +is an old house, restored no doubt under Francis I., and built of +bricks held together by a few courses of masonry. That it is +substantial seems proved by the shape of its front wall, not +uncommonly seen in some parts of Paris. It bellies, so to speak, in a +manner caused by the protuberance of its first floor, crushed under +the weight of the second and third, but upheld by the strong wall of +the ground floor. At first sight it would seem as though the piers +between the windows, though strengthened by the stone mullions, must +give way, but the observer presently perceives that, as in the tower +at Bologna, the old bricks and old time-eaten stones of this house +persistently preserve their centre of gravity. + +At every season of the year the solid piers of the ground floor have +the yellow tone and the imperceptible sweating surface that moisture +gives to stone. The passer-by feels chilled as he walks close to this +wall, where worn corner-stones ineffectually shelter him from the +wheels of vehicles. As is always the case in houses built before +carriages were in use, the vault of the doorway forms a very low +archway not unlike the barbican of a prison. To the right of this +entrance there are three windows, protected outside by iron gratings +of so close a pattern, that the curious cannot possibly see the use +made of the dark, damp rooms within, and the panes too are dirty and +dusty; to the left are two similar windows, one of which is sometimes +open, exposing to view the porter, his wife, and his children; +swarming, working, cooking, eating, and screaming, in a floored and +wainscoted room where everything is dropping to pieces, and into which +you descend two steps--a depth which seems to suggest the gradual +elevation of the soil of Paris. + +If on a rainy day some foot-passenger takes refuge under the long +vault, with projecting lime-washed beams, which leads from the door to +the staircase, he will hardly fail to pause and look at the picture +presented by the interior of this house. To the left is a square +garden-plot, allowing of not more than four long steps in each +direction, a garden of black soil, with trellises bereft of vines, and +where, in default of vegetation under the shade of two trees, papers +collect, old rags, potsherds, bits of mortar fallen from the roof; a +barren ground, where time has shed on the walls, and on the trunks and +branches of the trees, a powdery deposit like cold soot. The two parts +of the house, set at a right angle, derive light from this garden- +court shut in by two adjoining houses built on wooden piers, decrepit +and ready to fall, where on each floor some grotesque evidence is to +be seen of the craft pursued by some lodger within. Here long poles +are hung with immense skeins of dyed worsted put out to dry; there, on +ropes, dance clean-washed shirts; higher up, on a shelf, volumes +display their freshly marbled edges; women sing, husbands whistle, +children shout; the carpenter saws his planks, a copper-turner makes +the metal screech; all kinds of industries combine to produce a noise +which the number of instruments renders distracting. + +The general system of decoration in this passage, which is neither +courtyard, garden, nor vaulted way, though a little of all, consists +of wooden pillars resting on square stone blocks, and forming arches. +Two archways open on to the little garden; two others, facing the +front gateway, lead to a wooden staircase, with an iron balustrade +that was once a miracle of smith's work, so whimsical are the shapes +given to the metal; the worn steps creak under every tread. The +entrance to each flat has an architrave dark with dirt, grease, and +dust, and outer doors, covered with Utrecht velvet set with brass +nails, once gilt, in a diamond pattern. These relics of splendor show +that in the time of Louis XIV. the house was the residence of some +councillor to the Parlement, some rich priests, or some treasurer of +the ecclesiastical revenue. But these vestiges of former luxury bring +a smile to the lips by the artless contrast of past and present. + +M. Jean-Jules Popinot lived on the first floor of this house, where +the gloom, natural to all first floors in Paris houses, was increased +by the narrowness of the street. This old tenement was known to all +the twelfth arrondissement, on which Providence had bestowed this +lawyer, as it gives a beneficent plant to cure or alleviate every +malady. Here is a sketch of a man whom the brilliant Marquise d'Espard +hoped to fascinate. + +M. Popinot, as is seemly for a magistrate, was always dressed in black +--a style which contributed to make him ridiculous in the eyes of +those who were in the habit of judging everything from a superficial +examination. Men who are jealous of maintaining the dignity required +by this color ought to devote themselves to constant and minute care +of their person; but our dear M. Popinot was incapable of forcing +himself to the puritanical cleanliness which black demands. His +trousers, always threadbare, looked like camlet--the stuff of which +attorneys' gowns are made; and his habitual stoop set them, in time, +in such innumerable creases, that in places they were traced with +lines, whitish, rusty, or shiny, betraying either sordid avarice, or +the most unheeding poverty. His coarse worsted stockings were twisted +anyhow in his ill-shaped shoes. His linen had the tawny tinge acquired +by long sojourn in a wardrobe, showing that the late lamented Madame +Popinot had had a mania for much linen; in the Flemish fashion, +perhaps, she had given herself the trouble of a great wash no more +than twice a year. The old man's coat and waistcoat were in harmony +with his trousers, shoes, stockings, and linen. He always had the luck +of his carelessness; for, the first day he put on a new coat, he +unfailingly matched it with the rest of his costume by staining it +with incredible promptitude. The good man waited till his housekeeper +told him that his hat was too shabby before buying a new one. His +necktie was always crumpled and starchless, and he never set his dog- +eared shirt collar straight after his judge's bands had disordered it. +He took no care of his gray hair, and shaved but twice a week. He +never wore gloves, and generally kept his hands stuffed into his empty +trousers' pockets; the soiled pocket-holes, almost always torn, added +a final touch to the slovenliness of his person. + +Any one who knows the Palais de Justice at Paris, where every variety +of black attire may be studied, can easily imagine the appearance of +M. Popinot. The habit of sitting for days at a time modifies the +structure of the body, just as the fatigue of hearing interminable +pleadings tells on the expression of a magistrate's face. Shut up as +he is in courts ridiculously small, devoid of architectural dignity, +and where the air is quickly vitiated, a Paris judge inevitably +acquires a countenance puckered and seamed by reflection, and +depressed by weariness; his complexion turns pallid, acquiring an +earthy or greenish hue according to his individual temperament. In +short, within a given time the most blooming young man is turned into +an "inasmuch" machine--an instrument which applies the Code to +individual cases with the indifference of clockwork. + +Hence, nature, having bestowed on M. Popinot a not too pleasing +exterior, his life as a lawyer had not improved it. His frame was +graceless and angular. His thick knees, huge feet, and broad hands +formed a contrast with a priest-like face having a vague resemblance +to a calf's head, meek to unmeaningness, and but little brightened by +divergent bloodless eyes, divided by a straight flat nose, surmounted +by a flat forehead, flanked by enormous ears, flabby and graceless. +His thin, weak hair showed the baldness through various irregular +partings. + +One feature only commended this face to the physiognomist. This man +had a mouth to whose lips divine kindness lent its sweetness. They +were wholesome, full, red lips, finely wrinkled, sinuous, mobile, by +which nature had given expression to noble feelings; lips which spoke +to the heart and proclaimed the man's intelligence and lucidity, a +gift of second-sight, and a heavenly temper; and you would have judged +him wrongly from looking merely at his sloping forehead, his fireless +eyes, and his shambling gait. His life answered to his countenance; it +was full of secret labor, and hid the virtue of a saint. His superior +knowledge of law proved so strong a recommendation at a time when +Napoleon was reorganizing it in 1808 and 1811, that, by the advice of +Cambaceres, he was one of the first men named to sit on the Imperial +High Court of Justice at Paris. Popinot was no schemer. Whenever any +demand was made, any request preferred for an appointment, the +Minister would overlook Popinot, who never set foot in the house of +the High Chancellor or the Chief Justice. From the High Court he was +sent down to the Common Court, and pushed to the lowest rung of the +ladder by active struggling men. There he was appointed supernumerary +judge. There was a general outcry among the lawyers: "Popinot a +supernumerary!" Such injustice struck the legal world with dismay--the +attorneys, the registrars, everybody but Popinot himself, who made no +complaint. The first clamor over, everybody was satisfied that all was +for the best in the best of all possible worlds, which must certainly +be the legal world. Popinot remained supernumerary judge till the day +when the most famous Great Seal under the Restoration avenged the +oversights heaped on this modest and uncomplaining man by the Chief +Justices of the Empire. After being a supernumerary for twelve years, +M. Popinot would no doubt die a puisne judge of the Court of the +Seine. + +To account for the obscure fortunes of one of the superior men of the +legal profession, it is necessary to enter here into some details +which will serve to reveal his life and character, and which will, at +the same time, display some of the wheels of the great machine known +as Justice. M. Popinot was classed by the three Presidents who +successively controlled the Court of the Seine under the category of +possible judges, the stuff of which judges are made. Thus classified, +he did not achieve the reputation for capacity which his previous +labors had deserved. Just as a painter is invariably included in a +category as a landscape painter, a portrait painter, a painter of +history, of sea pieces, or of genre, by a public consisting of +artists, connoisseurs, and simpletons, who, out of envy, or critical +omnipotence, or prejudice, fence in his intellect, assuming, one and +all, that there are ganglions in every brain--a narrow judgment which +the world applies to writers, to statesmen, to everybody who begins +with some specialty before being hailed as omniscient; so Popinot's +fate was sealed, and he was hedged round to do a particular kind of +work. Magistrates, attorneys, pleaders, all who pasture on the legal +common, distinguish two elements in every case--law and equity. Equity +is the outcome of facts, law is the application of principles to +facts. A man may be right in equity but wrong in law, without any +blame to the judge. Between his conscience and the facts there is a +whole gulf of determining reasons unknown to the judge, but which +condemn or legitimatize the act. A judge is not God; the duty is to +adapt facts to principles, to judge cases of infinite variety while +measuring them by a fixed standard. + +France employs about six thousand judges; no generation has six +thousand great men at her command, much less can she find them in the +legal profession. Popinot, in the midst of the civilization of Paris, +was just a very clever cadi, who, by the character of his mind, and by +dint of rubbing the letter of the law into the essence of facts, had +learned to see the error of spontaneous and violent decisions. By the +help of his judicial second-sight he could pierce the double casing of +lies in which advocates hide the heart of a trial. He was a judge, as +the great Desplein was a surgeon; he probed men's consciences as the +anatomist probed their bodies. His life and habits had led him to an +exact appreciation of their most secret thoughts by a thorough study +of facts. + +He sifted a case as Cuvier sifted the earth's crust. Like that great +thinker, he proceeded from deduction to deduction before drawing his +conclusions, and reconstructed the past career of a conscience as +Cuvier reconstructed an Anoplotherium. When considering a brief he +would often wake in the night, startled by a gleam of truth suddenly +sparkling in his brain. Struck by the deep injustice, which is the end +of these contests, in which everything is against the honest man, +everything to the advantage of the rogue, he often summed up in favor +of equity against law in such cases as bore on questions of what may +be termed divination. Hence he was regarded by his colleagues as a man +not of a practical mind; his arguments on two lines of deduction made +their deliberations lengthy. When Popinot observed their dislike to +listening to him he gave his opinion briefly; it was said that he was +not a good judge in this class of cases; but as his gift of +discrimination was remarkable, his opinion lucid, and his penetration +profound, he was considered to have a special aptitude for the +laborious duties of an examining judge. So an examining judge he +remained during the greater part of his legal career. + +Although his qualifications made him eminently fitted for its +difficult functions, and he had the reputation of being so learned in +criminal law that his duty was a pleasure to him, the kindness of his +heart constantly kept him in torture, and he was nipped as in a vise +between his conscience and his pity. The services of an examining +judge are better paid than those of a judge in civil actions, but they +do not therefore prove a temptation; they are too onerous. Popinot, a +man of modest and virtuous learning, without ambition, an +indefatigable worker, never complained of his fate; he sacrificed his +tastes and his compassionate soul to the public good, and allowed +himself to be transported to the noisome pools of criminal +examinations, where he showed himself alike severe and beneficent. His +clerk sometimes would give the accused some money to buy tobacco, or a +warm winter garment, as he led him back from the judge's office to the +Souriciere, the mouse-trap--the House of Detention where the accused +are kept under the orders of the Examining Judge. He knew how to be an +inflexible judge and a charitable man. And no one extracted a +confession so easily as he without having recourse to judicial +trickery. He had, too, all the acumen of an observer. This man, +apparently so foolishly good-natured, simple, and absent-minded, could +guess all the cunning of a prison wag, unmask the astutest street +huzzy, and subdue a scoundrel. Unusual circumstances had sharpened his +perspicacity; but to relate these we must intrude on his domestic +history, for in him the judge was the social side of the man; another +man, greater and less known, existed within. + +Twelve years before the beginning of this story, in 1816, during the +terrible scarcity which coincided disastrously with the stay in France +of the so-called Allies, Popinot was appointed President of the +Commission Extraordinary formed to distribute food to the poor of his +neighborhood, just when he had planned to move from the Rue du +Fouarre, which he as little liked to live in as his wife did. The +great lawyer, the clear-sighted criminal judge, whose superiority +seemed to his colleagues a form of aberration, had for five years been +watching legal results without seeing their causes. As he scrambled up +into the lofts, as he saw the poverty, as he studied the desperate +necessities which gradually bring the poor to criminal acts, as he +estimated their long struggles, compassion filled his soul. The judge +then became the Saint Vincent de Paul of these grown-up children, +these suffering toilers. The transformation was not immediately +complete. Beneficence has its temptations as vice has. Charity +consumes a saint's purse, as roulette consumes the possessions of a +gambler, quite gradually. Popinot went from misery to misery, from +charity to charity; then, by the time he had lifted all the rags which +cover public pauperism, like a bandage under which an inflamed wound +lies festering, at the end of a year he had become the Providence +incarnate of that quarter of the town. He was a member of the +Benevolent Committee and of the Charity Organization. Wherever any +gratuitous services were needed he was ready, and did everything +without fuss, like the man with the short cloak, who spends his life +in carrying soup round the markets and other places where there are +starving folks. + +Popinot was fortunate in acting on a larger circle and in a higher +sphere; he had an eye on everything, he prevented crime, he gave work +to the unemployed, he found a refuge for the helpless, he distributed +aid with discernment wherever danger threatened, he made himself the +counselor of the widow, the protector of homeless children, the +sleeping partner of small traders. No one at the Courts, no one in +Paris, knew of this secret life of Popinot's. There are virtues so +splendid that they necessitate obscurity; men make haste to hide them +under a bushel. As to those whom the lawyer succored, they, hard at +work all day and tired at night, were little able to sing his praises; +theirs was the gracelessness of children, who can never pay because +they owe too much. There is such compulsory ingratitude; but what +heart that has sown good to reap gratitude can think itself great? + +By the end of the second year of his apostolic work, Popinot had +turned the storeroom at the bottom of his house into a parlor, lighted +by the three iron-barred windows. The walls and ceiling of this +spacious room were whitewashed, and the furniture consisted of wooden +benches like those seen in schools, a clumsy cupboard, a walnut-wood +writing-table, and an armchair. In the cupboard were his registers of +donations, his tickets for orders for bread, and his diary. He kept +his ledger like a tradesman, that he might not be ruined by kindness. +All the sorrows of the neighborhood were entered and numbered in a +book, where each had its little account, as merchants' customers have +theirs. When there was any question as to a man or a family needing +help, the lawyer could always command information from the police. + +Lavienne, a man made for his master, was his aide-de-camp. He redeemed +or renewed pawn-tickets, and visited the districts most threatened +with famine, while his master was in court. + +From four till seven in the morning in summer, from six till nine in +winter, this room was full of women, children, and paupers, while +Popinot gave audience. There was no need for a stove in winter; the +crowd was so dense that the air was warmed; only, Lavienne strewed +straw on the wet floor. By long use the benches were as polished as +varnished mahogany; at the height of a man's shoulders the wall had a +coat of dark, indescribable color, given to it by the rags and +tattered clothes of these poor creatures. The poor wretches loved +Popinot so well that when they assembled before his door was opened, +before daybreak on a winter's morning, the women warming themselves +with their foot-brasiers, the men swinging their arms for circulation, +never a sound had disturbed his sleep. Rag-pickers and other toilers +of the night knew the house, and often saw a light burning in the +lawyer's private room at unholy hours. Even thieves, as they passed +by, said, "That is his house," and respected it. The morning he gave +to the poor, the mid-day hours to criminals, the evening to law work. + +Thus the gift of observation that characterized Popinot was +necessarily bifrons; he could guess the virtues of a pauper--good +feelings nipped, fine actions in embryo, unrecognized self-sacrifice, +just as he could read at the bottom of a man's conscience the faintest +outlines of a crime, the slenderest threads of wrongdoing, and infer +all the rest. + +Popinot's inherited fortune was a thousand crowns a year. His wife, +sister to M. Bianchon SENIOR, a doctor at Sancerre, had brought him +about twice as much. She, dying five years since, had left her fortune +to her husband. As the salary of a supernumerary judge is not large, +and Popinot had been a fully salaried judge only for four years, we +may guess his reasons for parsimony in all that concerned his person +and mode of life, when we consider how small his means were and how +great his beneficence. Besides, is not such indifference to dress as +stamped Popinot an absent-minded man, a distinguishing mark of +scientific attainment, of art passionately pursued, of a perpetually +active mind? To complete this portrait, it will be enough to add that +Popinot was one of the few judges of the Court of the Seine on whom +the ribbon of the Legion of Honor had not been conferred. + +Such was the man who had been instructed by the President of the +Second Chamber of the Court--to which Popinot had belonged since his +reinstatement among the judges in civil law--to examine the Marquis +d'Espard at the request of his wife, who sued for a Commission in +Lunacy. + +The Rue du Fouarre, where so many unhappy wretches swarmed in the +early morning, would be deserted by nine o'clock, and as gloomy and +squalid as ever. Bianchon put his horse to a trot in order to find his +uncle in the midst of his business. It was not without a smile that he +thought of the curious contrast the judge's appearance would make in +Madame d'Espard's room; but he promised himself that he would persuade +him to dress in a way that should not be too ridiculous. + +"If only my uncle happens to have a new coat!" said Bianchon to +himself, as he turned into the Rue du Fouarre, where a pale light +shone from the parlor windows. "I shall do well, I believe, to talk +that over with Lavienne." + +At the sound of wheels half a score of startled paupers came out from +under the gateway, and took off their hats on recognizing Bianchon; +for the doctor, who treated gratuitously the sick recommended to him +by the lawyer, was not less well known than he to the poor creatures +assembled there. + +Bianchon found his uncle in the middle of the parlor, where the +benches were occupied by patients presenting such grotesque +singularities of costume as would have made the least artistic passer- +by turn round to gaze at them. A draughtsman--a Rembrandt, if there +were one in our day--might have conceived of one of his finest +compositions from seeing these children of misery, in artless +attitudes, and all silent. + +Here was the rugged countenance of an old man with a white beard and +an apostolic head--a Saint Peter ready to hand; his chest, partly +uncovered, showed salient muscles, the evidence of an iron +constitution which had served him as a fulcrum to resist a whole poem +of sorrows. There a young woman was suckling her youngest-born to keep +it from crying, while another of about five stood between her knees. +Her white bosom, gleaming amid rags, the baby with its transparent +flesh-tints, and the brother, whose attitude promised a street arab in +the future, touched the fancy with pathos by its almost graceful +contrast with the long row of faces crimson with cold, in the midst of +which sat this family group. Further away, an old woman, pale and +rigid, had the repulsive look of rebellious pauperism, eager to avenge +all its past woes in one day of violence. + +There, again, was the young workman, weakly and indolent, whose +brightly intelligent eye revealed fine faculties crushed by necessity +struggled with in vain, saying nothing of his sufferings, and nearly +dead for lack of an opportunity to squeeze between the bars of the +vast stews where the wretched swim round and round and devour each +other. + +The majority were women; their husbands, gone to their work, left it +to them, no doubt, to plead the cause of the family with the ingenuity +which characterizes the woman of the people, who is almost always +queen in her hovel. You would have seen a torn bandana on every head, +on every form a skirt deep in mud, ragged kerchiefs, worn and dirty +jackets, but eyes that burnt like live coals. It was a horrible +assemblage, raising at first sight a feeling of disgust, but giving a +certain sense of terror the instant you perceived that the resignation +of these souls, all engaged in the struggle for every necessary of +life, was purely fortuitous, a speculation on benevolence. The two +tallow candles which lighted the parlor flickered in a sort of fog +caused by the fetid atmosphere of the ill-ventilated room. + +The magistrate himself was not the least picturesque figure in the +midst of this assembly. He had on his head a rusty cotton night-cap; +as he had no cravat, his neck was visible, red with cold and wrinkled, +in contrast with the threadbare collar of his old dressing-gown. His +worn face had the half-stupid look that comes of absorbed attention. +His lips, like those of all men who work, were puckered up like a bag +with the strings drawn tight. His knitted brows seemed to bear the +burden of all the sorrows confided to him: he felt, analyzed, and +judged them all. As watchful as a Jew money-lender, he never raised +his eyes from his books and registers but to look into the very heart +of the persons he was examining, with the flashing glance by which a +miser expresses his alarm. + +Lavienne, standing behind his master, ready to carry out his orders, +served no doubt as a sort of police, and welcomed newcomers by +encouraging them to get over their shyness. When the doctor appeared +there was a stir on the benches. Lavienne turned his head, and was +strangely surprised to see Bianchon. + +"Ah! It is you, old boy!" exclaimed Popinot, stretching himself. "What +brings you so early?" + +"I was afraid lest you should make an official visit about which I +wish to speak to you before I could see you." + +"Well," said the lawyer, addressing a stout little woman who was still +standing close to him, "if you do not tell me what it is you want, I +cannot guess it, child." + +"Make haste," said Lavienne. "Do not waste other people's time." + +"Monsieur," said the woman at last, turning red, and speaking so low +as only to be heard by Popinot and Lavienne, "I have a green-grocery +truck, and I have my last baby to nurse, and I owe for his keep. Well, +I had hidden my little bit of money----" + +"Yes; and your man took it?" said Popinot, guessing the sequel. + +"Yes, sir." + +"What is your name?" + +"La Pomponne." + +"And your husband's?" + +"Toupinet." + +"Rue du Petit-Banquier?" said Popinot, turning over his register. "He +is in prison," he added, reading a note at the margin of the section +in which this family was described. + +"For debt, my kind monsieur." + +Popinot shook his head. + +"But I have nothing to buy any stock for my truck; the landlord came +yesterday and made me pay up; otherwise I should have been turned +out." + +Lavienne bent over his master, and whispered in his ear. + +"Well, how much do you want to buy fruit in the market?" + +"Why, my good monsieur, to carry on my business, I should want--Yes, I +should certainly want ten francs." + +Popinot signed to Lavienne, who took ten francs out of a large bag, +and handed them to the woman, while the lawyer made a note of the loan +in his ledger. As he saw the thrill of delight that made the poor +hawker tremble, Bianchon understood the apprehensions that must have +agitated her on her way to the lawyer's house. + +"You next," said Lavienne to the old man with the white beard. + +Bianchon drew the servant aside, and asked him how long this audience +would last. + +"Monsieur has had two hundred persons this morning, and there are +eight to be turned off," said Lavienne. "You will have time to pay +your early visit, sir." + +"Here, my boy," said the lawyer, turning round and taking Horace by +the arm; "here are two addresses near this--one in the Rue de Seine, +and the other in the Rue de l'Arbalete. Go there at once. Rue de +Seine, a young girl has just asphyxiated herself; and Rue de +l'Arbalete, you will find a man to remove to your hospital. I will +wait breakfast for you." + +Bianchon returned an hour later. The Rue du Fouarre was deserted; day +was beginning to dawn there; his uncle had gone up to his rooms; the +last poor wretch whose misery the judge had relieved was departing, +and Lavienne's money bag was empty. + +"Well, how are they going on?" asked the old lawyer, as the doctor +came in. + +"The man is dead," replied Bianchon; "the girl will get over it." + +Since the eye and hand of a woman had been lacking, the flat in which +Popinot lived had assumed an aspect in harmony with its master's. The +indifference of a man who is absorbed in one dominant idea had set its +stamp of eccentricity on everything. Everywhere lay unconquerable +dust, every object was adapted to a wrong purpose with a pertinacity +suggestive of a bachelor's home. There were papers in the flower +vases, empty ink-bottles on the tables, plates that had been +forgotten, matches used as tapers for a minute when something had to +be found, drawers or boxes half-turned out and left unfinished; in +short, all the confusion and vacancies resulting from plans for order +never carried out. The lawyer's private room, especially disordered by +this incessant rummage, bore witness to his unresting pace, the hurry +of a man overwhelmed with business, hunted by contradictory +necessities. The bookcase looked as if it had been sacked; there were +books scattered over everything, some piled up open, one on another, +others on the floor face downwards; registers of proceedings laid on +the floor in rows, lengthwise, in front of the shelves; and that floor +had not been polished for two years. + +The tables and shelves were covered with ex votos, the offerings of +the grateful poor. On a pair of blue glass jars which ornamented the +chimney-shelf there were two glass balls, of which the core was made +up of many-colored fragments, giving them the appearance of some +singular natural product. Against the wall hung frames of artificial +flowers, and decorations in which Popinot's initials were surrounded +by hearts and everlasting flowers. Here were boxes of elaborate and +useless cabinet work; there letter-weights carved in the style of work +done by convicts in penal servitude. These masterpieces of patience, +enigmas of gratitude, and withered bouquets gave the lawyer's room the +appearance of a toyshop. The good man used these works of art as +hiding-places which he filled with bills, worn-out pens, and scraps of +paper. All these pathetic witnesses to his divine charity were thick +with dust, dingy, and faded. + +Some birds, beautifully stuffed, but eaten by moth, perched in this +wilderness of trumpery, presided over by an Angora cat, Madame +Popinot's pet, restored to her no doubt with all the graces of life by +some impecunious naturalist, who thus repaid a gift of charity with a +perennial treasure. Some local artist whose heart had misguided his +brush had painted portraits of M. and Madame Popinot. Even in the +bedroom there were embroidered pin-cushions, landscapes in cross- +stitch, and crosses in folded paper, so elaborately cockled as to show +the senseless labor they had cost. + +The window-curtains were black with smoke, and the hangings absolutely +colorless. Between the fireplace and the large square table at which +the magistrate worked, the cook had set two cups of coffee on a small +table, and two armchairs, in mahogany and horsehair, awaited the uncle +and nephew. As daylight, darkened by the windows, could not penetrate +to this corner, the cook had left two dips burning, whose unsnuffed +wicks showed a sort of mushroom growth, giving the red light which +promises length of life to the candle from slowness of combustion--a +discovery due to some miser. + +"My dear uncle, you ought to wrap yourself more warmly when you go +down to that parlor." + +"I cannot bear to keep them waiting, poor souls!--Well, and what do +you want of me?" + +"I have come to ask you to dine to-morrow with the Marquise d'Espard." + +"A relation of ours?" asked Popinot, with such genuine absence of mind +that Bianchon laughed. + +"No, uncle; the Marquise d'Espard is a high and puissant lady, who has +laid before the Courts a petition desiring that a Commission in Lunacy +should sit on her husband, and you are appointed----" + +"And you want me to dine with her! Are you mad?" said the lawyer, +taking up the code of proceedings. "Here, only read this article, +prohibiting any magistrate's eating or drinking in the house of either +of two parties whom he is called upon to decide between. Let her come +and see me, your Marquise, if she has anything to say to me. I was, in +fact, to go to examine her husband to-morrow, after working the case +up to-night." + +He rose, took up a packet of papers that lay under a weight where he +could see it, and after reading the title, he said: + +"Here is the affidavit. Since you take an interest in this high and +puissant lady, let us see what she wants." + +Popinot wrapped his dressing-gown across his body, from which it was +constantly slipping and leaving his chest bare; he sopped his bread in +the half-cold coffee, and opened the petition, which he read, allowing +himself to throw in a parenthesis now and then, and some discussions, +in which his nephew took part:-- + +" 'To Monsieur the President of the Civil Tribunal of the Lower Court +of the Department of the Seine, sitting at the Palais de Justice. + +" 'Madame Jeanne Clementine Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, wife of M. +Charles Maurice Marie Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis +d'Espard'--a very good family--'landowner, the said Mme. d'Espard +living in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, No. 104, and the said M. +d'Espard in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, No. 22,'--to be +sure, the President told me he lived in this part of the town--'having +for her solicitor Maitre Desroches'--Desroches! a pettifogging jobber, +a man looked down upon by his brother lawyers, and who does his +clients no good--" + +"Poor fellow!" said Bianchon, "unluckily he has no money, and he +rushes round like the devil in holy water--That is all." + +" 'Has the honor to submit to you, Monsieur the President, that for a +year past the moral and intellectual powers of her husband, M. +d'Espard, have undergone so serious a change, that at the present day +they have reached the state of dementia and idiocy provided for by +Article 448 of the Civil Code, and require the application of the +remedies set forth by that article, for the security of his fortune +and his person, and to guard the interest of his children whom he +keeps to live with him. + +" 'That, in point of fact, the mental condition of M. d'Espard, which +for some years has given grounds for alarm based on the system he has +pursued in the management of his affairs, has reached, during the last +twelvemonth, a deplorable depth of depression; that his infirm will +was the first thing to show the results of the malady; and that its +effete state leaves M. the Marquis d'Espard exposed to all the perils +of his incompetency, as is proved by the following facts: + +" 'For a long time all the income accruing from M. d'Espard's estates +are paid, without any reasonable cause, or even temporary advantage, +into the hands of an old woman, whose repulsive ugliness is generally +remarked on, named Madame Jeanrenaud, living sometimes in Paris, Rue +de la Vrilliere, No. 8, sometimes at Villeparisis, near Claye, in the +Department of Seine et Marne, and for the benefit of her son, aged +thirty-six, an officer in the ex-Imperial Guards, whom the Marquis +d'Espard has placed by his influence in the King's Guards, as Major in +the First Regiment of Cuirassiers. These two persons, who in 1814 were +in extreme poverty, have since then purchased house-property of +considerable value; among other items, quite recently, a large house +in the Grand Rue Verte, where the said Jeanrenaud is laying out +considerable sums in order to settle there with the woman Jeanrenaud, +intending to marry: these sums amount already to more than a hundred +thousand francs. The marriage has been arranged by the intervention of +M. d'Espard with his banker, one Mongenod, whose niece he has asked in +marriage for the said Jeanrenaud, promising to use his influence to +procure him the title and dignity of baron. This has in fact been +secured by His Majesty's letters patent, dated December 29th of last +year, at the request of the Marquis d'Espard, as can be proved by His +Excellency the Keeper of the Seals, if the Court should think proper +to require his testimony. + +" 'That no reason, not even such as morality and the law would concur +in disapproving, can justify the influence which the said Mme. +Jeanrenaud exerts over M. d'Espard, who, indeed, sees her very seldom; +nor account for his strange affection for the said Baron Jeanrenaud, +Major with whom he has but little intercourse. And yet their power is +so considerable, that whenever they need money, if only to gratify a +mere whim, this lady, or her son----' Heh, heh! NO REASON EVEN SUCH AS +MORALITY AND THE LAW CONCUR IN DISAPPROVING! What does the clerk or +the attorney mean to insinuate?" said Popinot. + +Bianchon laughed. + +" 'This lady, or her son, obtain whatever they ask of the Marquis +d'Espard without demur; and if he has not ready money, M. d'Espard +draws bills to be paid by the said Mongenod, who has offered to give +evidence to that effect for the petitioner. + +" 'That, moreover, in further proof of these facts, lately, on the +occasion of the renewal of the leases on the Espard estate, the +farmers having paid a considerable premium for the renewal of their +leases on the old terms, M. Jeanrenaud at once secured the payment of +it into his own hands. + +" 'That the Marquis d'Espard parts with these sums of money so little +of his own free-will, that when he was spoken to on the subject he +seemed to remember nothing of the matter; that whenever anybody of any +weight has questioned him as to his devotion to these two persons, his +replies have shown so complete an absence of ideas and of sense of his +own interests, that there obviously must be some occult cause at work +to which the petitioner begs to direct the eye of justice, inasmuch as +it is impossible but that this cause should be criminal, malignant, +and wrongful, or else of a nature to come under medical jurisdiction; +unless this influence is of the kind which constitutes an abuse of +moral power--such as can only be described by the word POSSESSION----' +The devil!" exclaimed Popinot. "What do you say to that, doctor. These +are strange statements." + +"They might certainly," said Bianchon, "be an effect of magnetic +force." + +"Then do you believe in Mesmer's nonsense, and his tub, and seeing +through walls?" + +"Yes, uncle," said the doctor gravely. "As I heard you read that +petition I thought of that. I assure you that I have verified, in +another sphere of action, several analogous facts proving the +unlimited influence one man may acquire over another. In contradiction +to the opinion of my brethren, I am perfectly convinced of the power +of the will regarded as a motor force. All collusion and charlatanism +apart, I have seen the results of such a possession. Actions promised +during sleep by a magnetized patient to the magnetizer have been +scrupulously performed on waking. The will of one had become the will +of the other." + +"Every kind of action?" + +"Yes." + +"Even a criminal act?" + +"Even a crime." + +"If it were not from you, I would not listen to such a thing." + +"I will make you witness it," said Bianchon. + +"Hm, hm," muttered the lawyer. "But supposing that this so-called +possession fell under this class of facts, it would be difficult to +prove it as legal evidence." + +"If this woman Jeanrenaud is so hideously old and ugly, I do not see +what other means of fascination she can have used," observed Bianchon. + +"But," observed the lawyer, "in 1814, the time at which this +fascination is supposed to have taken place, this woman was fourteen +years younger; if she had been connected with M. d'Espard ten years +before that, these calculations take us back four-and-twenty years, to +a time when the lady may have been young and pretty, and have won for +herself and her son a power over M. d'Espard which some men do not +know how to evade. Though the source of this power is reprehensible in +the sight of justice, it is justifiable in the eye of nature. Madame +Jeanrenaud may have been aggrieved by the marriage, contracted +probably at about that time, between the Marquis d'Espard and +Mademoiselle de Blamont-Chauvry, and at the bottom of all this there +may be nothing more than the rivalry of two women, since the Marquis +had for a long time lived apart from Mme. d'Espard." + +"But her repulsive ugliness, uncle?" + +"Power of fascination is in direct proportion to ugliness," said the +lawyer; "that is the old story. And then think of the smallpox, +doctor. But to proceed. + +" 'That so long ago as in 1815, in order to supply the sums of money +required by these two persons, the Marquis d'Espard went with his two +children to live in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, in rooms +quite unworthy of his name and rank'--well, we may live as we please-- +'that he keeps his two children there, the Comte Clement d'Espard and +Vicomte Camille d'Espard, in a style of living quite unsuited to their +future prospects, their name and fortune; that he often wants money, +to such a point, that not long since the landlord, one Mariast, put in +an execution on the furniture in the rooms; that when this execution +was carried out in his presence, the Marquis d'Espard helped the +bailiff, whom he treated like a man of rank, paying him all the marks +of attention and respect which he would have shown to a person of +superior birth and dignity to himself.' " + +The uncle and nephew glanced at each other and laughed. + +" 'That, moreover, every act of his life, besides the facts with +reference to the widow Jeanrenaud and the Baron Jeanrenaud, her son, +are those of a madman; that for nearly ten years he has given his +thoughts exclusively to China, its customs, manners, and history; that +he refers everything to a Chinese origin; that when he is questioned +on the subject, he confuses the events of the day and the business of +yesterday with facts relating to China; that he censures the acts of +the Government and the conduct of the King, though he is personally +much attached to him, by comparing them with the politics of China; + +" 'That this monomania has driven the Marquis d'Espard to conduct +devoid of all sense: against the customs of men of rank, and, in +opposition to his own professed ideas as to the duties of the +nobility, he has joined a commercial undertaking, for which he +constantly draws bills which, as they fall due, threaten both his +honor and his fortune, since they stamp him as a trader, and in +default of payment may lead to his being declared insolvent; that +these debts, which are owing to stationers, printers, lithographers, +and print-colorists, who have supplied the materials for his +publication, called A Picturesque History of China, now coming out in +parts, are so heavy that these tradesmen have requested the petitioner +to apply for a Commission in Lunacy with regard to the Marquis +d'Espard in order to save their own credit.' " + +"The man is mad!" exclaimed Bianchon. + +"You think so, do you?" said his uncle. "If you listen to only one +bell, you hear only one sound." + +"But it seems to me----" said Bianchon. + +"But it seems to me," said Popinot, "that if any relation of mine +wanted to get hold of the management of my affairs, and if, instead of +being a humble lawyer, whose colleagues can, any day, verify what his +condition is, I were a duke of the realm, an attorney with a little +cunning, like Desroches, might bring just such a petition against me. + +" 'That his children's education has been neglected for this +monomania; and that he has taught them, against all the rules of +education, the facts of Chinese history, which contradict the tenets +of the Catholic Church. He also has them taught the Chinese +dialects.' " + +"Here Desroches strikes me as funny," said Bianchon. + +"The petition is drawn up by his head-clerk Godeschal, who, as you +know, is not strong in Chinese," said the lawyer. + +" 'That he often leaves his children destitute of the most necessary +things; that the petitioner, notwithstanding her entreaties, can never +see them; that the said Marquis d'Espard brings them to her only once +a year; that, knowing the privations to which they are exposed, she +makes vain efforts to give them the things most necessary for their +existence, and which they require----' Oh! Madame la Marquise, this is +preposterous. By proving too much you prove nothing.--My dear boy," +said the old man, laying the document on his knee, "where is the +mother who ever lacked heart and wit and yearning to such a degree as +to fall below the inspirations suggested by her animal instinct? A +mother is as cunning to get at her children as a girl can be in the +conduct of a love intrigue. If your Marquise really wanted to give her +children food and clothes, the Devil himself would not have hindered +her, heh? That is rather too big a fable for an old lawyer to swallow! +--To proceed. + +" 'That at the age the said children have now attained it is necessary +that steps should be taken to preserve them from the evil effects of +such an education; that they should be provided for as beseems their +rank, and that they should cease to have before their eyes the sad +example of their father's conduct; + +" 'That there are proofs in support of these allegations which the +Court can easily order to be produced. Many times has M. d'Espard +spoken of the judge of the Twelfth Arrondissement as a mandarin of the +third class; he often speaks of the professors of the College Henri +IV. as "men of letters" '--and that offends them! 'In speaking of the +simplest things, he says, "They were not done so in China;" in the +course of the most ordinary conversation he will sometimes allude to +Madame Jeanrenaud, or sometimes to events which happened in the time +of Louis XIV., and then sit plunged in the darkest melancholy; +sometimes he fancies he is in China. Several of his neighbors, among +others one Edme Becker, medical student, and Jean Baptiste Fremiot, a +professor, living under the same roof, are of opinion, after frequent +intercourse with the Marquis d'Espard, that his monomania with regard +to everything Chinese is the result of a scheme laid by the said Baron +Jeanrenaud and the widow his mother to bring about the deadening of +all the Marquis d'Espard's mental faculties, since the only service +which Mme. Jeanrenaud appears to render M. d'Espard is to procure him +everything that relates to the Chinese Empire; + +" 'Finally, that the petitioner is prepared to show to the Court that +the moneys absorbed by the said Baron and Mme. Jeanrenaud between 1814 +and 1828 amount to not less than one million francs. + +" 'In confirmation of the facts herein set forth, the petitioner can +bring the evidence of persons who are in the habit of seeing the +Marquis d'Espard, whose names and professions are subjoined, many of +whom have urged her to demand a commission in lunacy to declare M. +d'Espard incapable of managing his own affairs, as being the only way +to preserve his fortune from the effects of his maladministration and +his children from his fatal influence. + +" 'Taking all this into consideration, M. le President, and the +affidavits subjoined, the petitioner desires that it may please you, +inasmuch as the foregoing facts sufficiently prove the insanity and +incompetency of the Marquis d'Espard herein described with his titles +and residence, to order that, to the end that he may be declared +incompetent by law, this petition and the documents in evidence may be +laid before the King's public prosecutor; and that you will charge one +of the judges of this Court to make his report to you on any day you +may be pleased to name, and thereupon to pronounce judgment,' etc. + +"And here," said Popinot, "is the President's order instructing me!-- +Well, what does the Marquise d'Espard want with me? I know everything. +But I shall go to-morrow with my registrar to see M. le Marquis, for +this does not seem at all clear to me." + +"Listen, my dear uncle, I have never asked the least little favor of +you that had to do with your legal functions; well, now I beg you to +show Madame d'Espard the kindness which her situation deserves. If she +came here, you would listen to her?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, then, go and listen to her in her own house. Madame d'Espard is +a sickly, nervous, delicate woman, who would faint in your rat-hole of +a place. Go in the evening, instead of accepting her dinner, since the +law forbids your eating or drinking at your client's expense." + +"And does not the law forbid you from taking any legacy from your +dead?" said Popinot, fancying that he saw a touch of irony on his +nephew's lips. + +"Come, uncle, if it were only to enable you to get at the truth of +this business, grant my request. You will come as the examining judge, +since matters do not seem to you very clear. Deuce take it! It is as +necessary to cross-question the Marquise as it is to examine the +Marquis." + +"You are right," said the lawyer. "It is quite possible that it is she +who is mad. I will go." + +"I will call for you. Write down in your engagement book: 'To-morrow +evening at nine, Madame d'Espard.'--Good!" said Bianchon, seeing his +uncle make a note of the engagement. + + + +Next evening at nine Bianchon mounted his uncle's dusty staircase, and +found him at work on the statement of some complicated judgment. The +coat Lavienne had ordered of the tailor had not been sent, so Popinot +put on his old stained coat, and was the Popinot unadorned whose +appearance made those laugh who did not know the secrets of his +private life. Bianchon, however, obtained permission to pull his +cravat straight, and to button his coat, and he hid the stains by +crossing the breast of it with the right side over the left, and so +displaying the new front of the cloth. But in a minute the judge +rucked the coat up over his chest by the way in which he stuffed his +hands into his pockets, obeying an irresistible habit. Thus the coat, +deeply wrinkled both in front and behind, made a sort of hump in the +middle of the back, leaving a gap between the waistcoat and trousers +through which his shirt showed. Bianchon, to his sorrow, only +discovered this crowning absurdity at the moment when his uncle +entered the Marquise's room. + +A brief sketch of the person and the career of the lady in whose +presence the doctor and the judge now found themselves is necessary +for an understanding of her interview with Popinot. + +Madame d'Espard had, for the last seven years, been very much the +fashion in Paris, where Fashion can raise and drop by turns various +personages who, now great and now small, that is to say, in view or +forgotten, are at last quite intolerable--as discarded ministers are, +and every kind of decayed sovereignty. These flatterers of the past, +odious with their stale pretensions, know everything, speak ill of +everything, and, like ruined profligates, are friends with all the +world. Since her husband had separated from her in 1815, Madame +d'Espard must have married in the beginning of 1812. Her children, +therefore, were aged respectively fifteen and thirteen. By what luck +was the mother of a family, about three-and-thirty years of age, still +the fashion? + +Though Fashion is capricious, and no one can foresee who shall be her +favorites, though she often exalts a banker's wife, or some woman of +very doubtful elegance and beauty, it certainly seems supernatural +when Fashion puts on constitutional airs and gives promotion for age. +But in this case Fashion had done as the world did, and accepted +Madame d'Espard as still young. + +The Marquise, who was thirty-three by her register of birth, was +twenty-two in a drawing-room in the evening. But by what care, what +artifice! Elaborate curls shaded her temples. She condemned herself to +live in twilight, affecting illness so as to sit under the protecting +tones of light filtered through muslin. Like Diane de Poitiers, she +used cold water in her bath, and, like her again, the Marquise slept +on a horse-hair mattress, with morocco-covered pillows to preserve her +hair; she ate very little, only drank water, and observed monastic +regularity in the smallest actions of her life. + +This severe system has, it is said, been carried so far as to the use +of ice instead of water, and nothing but cold food, by a famous Polish +lady of our day who spends a life, now verging on a century old, after +the fashion of a town belle. Fated to live as long as Marion Delorme, +whom history has credited with surviving to be a hundred and thirty, +the old vice-queen of Poland, at the age of nearly a hundred, has the +heart and brain of youth, a charming face, an elegant shape; and in +her conversation, sparkling with brilliancy like faggots in the fire, +she can compare the men and books of our literature with the men and +books of the eighteenth century. Living in Warsaw, she orders her caps +of Herbault in Paris. She is a great lady with the amiability of a +mere girl; she swims, she runs like a schoolboy, and can sink on to a +sofa with the grace of a young coquette; she mocks at death, and +laughs at life. After having astonished the Emperor Alexander, she can +still amaze the Emperor Nicholas by the splendor of her +entertainments. She can still bring tears to the eyes of a youthful +lover, for her age is whatever she pleases, and she has the exquisite +self-devotion of a grisette. In short, she is herself a fairy tale, +unless, indeed, she is a fairy. + +Had Madame d'Espard known Madame Zayonseck? Did she mean to imitate +her career? Be that as it may, the Marquise proved the merits of the +treatment; her complexion was clear, her brow unwrinkled, her figure, +like that of Henri II.'s lady-love, preserved the litheness, the +freshness, the covered charms which bring a woman love and keep it +alive. The simple precautions of this course, suggested by art and +nature, and perhaps by experience, had met in her with a general +system which confirmed the results. The Marquise was absolutely +indifferent to everything that was not herself: men amused her, but no +man had ever caused her those deep agitations which stir both natures +to their depths, and wreck one on the other. She knew neither hatred +nor love. When she was offended, she avenged herself coldly, quietly, +at her leisure, waiting for the opportunity to gratify the ill-will +she cherished against anybody who dwelt in her unfavorable +remembrance. She made no fuss, she did not excite herself, she talked, +because she knew that by two words a woman may cause the death of +three men. + +She had parted from M. d'Espard with the greatest satisfaction. Had he +not taken with him two children who at present were troublesome, and +in the future would stand in the way of her pretensions? Her most +intimate friends, as much as her least persistent admirers, seeing +about her none of Cornelia's jewels, who come and go, and +unconsciously betray their mother's age, took her for quite a young +woman. The two boys, about whom she seemed so anxious in her petition, +were, like their father, as unknown in the world as the northwest +passage is unknown to navigators. M. d'Espard was supposed to be an +eccentric personage who had deserted his wife without having the +smallest cause for complaint against her. + +Mistress of herself at two-and-twenty, and mistress of her fortune of +twenty-six thousand francs a year, the Marquise hesitated long before +deciding on a course of action and ordering her life. Though she +benefited by the expenses her husband had incurred in his house, +though she had all the furniture, the carriages, the horses, in short, +all the details of a handsome establishment, she lived a retired life +during the years 1816, 17, and 18, a time when families were +recovering from the disasters resulting from political tempests. She +belonged to one of the most important and illustrious families of the +Faubourg Saint-Germain, and her parents advised her to live with them +as much as possible after the separation forced upon her by her +husband's inexplicable caprice. + +In 1820 the Marquise roused herself from her lethargy; she went to +Court, appeared at parties, and entertained in her own house. From +1821 to 1827 she lived in great style, and made herself remarked for +her taste and her dress; she had a day, an hour, for receiving visits, +and ere long she had seated herself on the throne, occupied before her +by Madame la Vicomtesse de Beauseant, the Duchesse de Langeais, and +Madame Firmiani--who on her marriage with M. de Camps had resigned the +sceptre in favor of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, from whom Madame +d'Espard snatched it. The world knew nothing beyond this of the +private live of the Marquise d'Espard. She seemed likely to shine for +long on the Parisian horizon, like the sun near its setting, but which +will never set. + +The Marquise was on terms of great intimacy with a duchess as famous +for her beauty as for her attachment to a prince just now in +banishment, but accustomed to play a leading part in every prospective +government. Madame d'Espard was also a friend of a foreign lady, with +whom a famous and very wily Russian diplomate was in the habit of +discussing public affairs. And then an antiquated countess, who was +accustomed to shuffle the cards for the great game of politics, had +adopted her in a maternal fashion. Thus, to any man of high ambitions, +Madame d'Espard was preparing a covert but very real influence to +follow the public and frivolous ascendency she now owed to fashion. +Her drawing-room was acquiring political individuality: "What do they +say at Madame d'Espard's?" "Are they against the measure in Madame +d'Espard's drawing-room?" were questions repeated by a sufficient +number of simpletons to give the flock of the faithful who surrounded +her the importance of a coterie. A few damaged politicians whose +wounds she had bound up, and whom she flattered, pronounced her as +capable in diplomacy as the wife of the Russian ambassador to London. +The Marquise had indeed several times suggested to deputies or to +peers words and ideas that had rung through Europe. She had often +judged correctly of certain events on which her circle of friends +dared not express an opinion. The principal persons about the Court +came in the evening to play whist in her rooms. + +Then she also had the qualities of her defects; she was thought to be +--and she was--indiscreet. Her friendship seemed to be staunch; she +worked for her proteges with a persistency which showed that she cared +less for patronage than for increased influence. This conduct was +based on her dominant passion, Vanity. Conquests and pleasure, which +so many women love, to her seemed only means to an end; she aimed at +living on every point of the largest circle that life can describe. + +Among the men still young, and to whom the future belonged, who +crowded her drawing-room on great occasions, were to be seen MM. de +Marsay and de Ronquerolles, de Montriveau, de la Roche-Hugon, de +Serizy, Ferraud, Maxime de Trailles, de Listomere, the two +Vandenesses, du Chatelet, and others. She would frequently receive a +man whose wife she would not admit, and her power was great enough to +induce certain ambitious men to submit to these hard conditions, such +as two famous royalist bankers, M. de Nucingen and Ferdinand du +Tillet. She had so thoroughly studied the strength and the weakness of +Paris life, that her conduct had never given any man the smallest +advantage over her. An enormous price might have been set on a note or +letter by which she might have compromised herself, without one being +produced. + +If an arid soul enabled her to play her part to the life, her person +was no less available for it. She had a youthful figure. Her voice +was, at will, soft and fresh, or clear and hard. She possessed in the +highest degree the secret of that aristocratic pose by which a woman +wipes out the past. The Marquise knew well the art of setting an +immense space between herself and the sort of man who fancies he may +be familiar after some chance advances. Her imposing gaze could deny +everything. In her conversation fine and beautiful sentiments and +noble resolutions flowed naturally, as it seemed, from a pure heart +and soul; but in reality she was all self, and quite capable of +blasting a man who was clumsy in his negotiations, at the very time +when she was shamelessly making a compromise for the benefit of her +own interest. + +Rastignac, in trying to fasten on to this woman, had discerned her to +be the cleverest of tools, but he had not yet used it; far from +handling it, he was already finding himself crushed by it. This young +Condottiere of the brain, condemned, like Napoleon, to give battle +constantly, while knowing that a single defeat would prove the grave +of his fortunes, had met a dangerous adversary in his protectress. For +the first time in his turbulent life, he was playing a game with a +partner worthy of him. He saw a place as Minister in the conquest of +Madame d'Espard, so he was her tool till he could make her his--a +perilous beginning. + +The Hotel d'Espard needed a large household, and the Marquise had a +great number of servants. The grand receptions were held in the +ground-floor rooms, but she lived on the first floor of the house. The +perfect order of a fine staircase splendidly decorated, and rooms +fitted in the dignified style which formerly prevailed at Versailles, +spoke of an immense fortune. When the judge saw the carriage gates +thrown open to admit his nephew's cab, he took in with a rapid glance +the lodge, the porter, the courtyard, the stables, the arrangement of +the house, the flowers that decorated the stairs, the perfect +cleanliness of the banisters, walls, and carpets, and counted the +footmen in livery who, as the bell rang, appeared on the landing. His +eyes, which only yesterday in his parlor had sounded the dignity of +misery under the muddy clothing of the poor, now studied with the same +penetrating vision the furniture and splendor of the rooms he passed +through, to pierce the misery of grandeur. + +"M. Popinot--M. Bianchon." + +The two names were pronounced at the door of the boudoir where the +Marquise was sitting, a pretty room recently refurnished, and looking +out on the garden behind the house. At the moment Madame d'Espard was +seated in one of the old rococo armchairs of which Madame had set the +fashion. Rastignac was at her left hand on a low chair, in which he +looked settled like an Italian lady's "cousin." A third person was +standing by the corner of the chimney-piece. As the shrewd doctor had +suspected, the Marquise was a woman of a parched and wiry +constitution. But for her regimen her complexion must have taken the +ruddy tone that is produced by constant heat; but she added to the +effect of her acquired pallor by the strong colors of the stuffs she +hung her rooms with, or in which she dressed. Reddish-brown, marone, +bistre with a golden light in it, suited her to perfection. Her +boudoir, copied from that of a famous lady then at the height of +fashion in London, was in tan-colored velvet; but she had added +various details of ornament which moderated the pompous splendor of +this royal hue. Her hair was dressed like a girl's in bands ending in +curls, which emphasized the rather long oval of her face; but an oval +face is as majestic as a round one is ignoble. The mirrors, cut with +facets to lengthen or flatten the face at will, amply proved the rule +as applied to the physiognomy. + +On seeing Popinot, who stood in the doorway craning his neck like a +startled animal, with his left hand in his pocket, and the right hand +holding a hat with a greasy lining, the Marquise gave Rastignac a look +wherein lay a germ of mockery. The good man's rather foolish +appearance was so completely in harmony with his grotesque figure and +scared looks, that Rastignac, catching sight of Bianchon's dejected +expression of humiliation through his uncle, could not help laughing, +and turned away. The Marquise bowed a greeting, and made a great +effort to rise from her seat, falling back again, not without grace, +with an air of apologizing for her incivility by affected weakness. + +At this instant the person who was standing between the fireplace and +the door bowed slightly, and pushed forward two chairs, which he +offered by a gesture to the doctor and the judge; then, when they had +seated themselves, he leaned against the wall again, crossing his +arms. + +A word as to this man. There is living now, in our day, a painter-- +Decamps--who possesses in the very highest degree the art of +commanding your interest in everything he sets before your eyes, +whether it be a stone or a man. In this respect his pencil is more +skilful than his brush. He will sketch an empty room and leave a broom +against the wall. If he chooses, you shall shudder; you shall believe +that this broom has just been the instrument of crime, and is dripping +with blood; it shall be the broom which the widow Bancal used to clean +out the room where Fualdes was murdered. Yes, the painter will touzle +that broom like a man in a rage; he will make each hair of it stand +on-end as though it were on your own bristling scalp; he will make it +the interpreter between the secret poem of his imagination and the +poem that shall have its birth in yours. After terrifying you by the +aspect of that broom, to-morrow he will draw another, and lying by it +a cat, asleep, but mysterious in its sleep, shall tell you that this +broom is that on which the wife of a German cobbler rides off to the +Sabbath on the Brocken. Or it will be a quite harmless broom, on which +he will hang the coat of a clerk in the Treasury. Decamps had in his +brush what Paganini had in his bow--a magnetically communicative +power. + +Well, I should have to transfer to my style that striking genius, that +marvelous knack of the pencil, to depict the upright, tall, lean man +dressed in black, with black hair, who stood there without speaking a +word. This gentleman had a face like a knife-blade, cold and harsh, +with a color like Seine water when it was muddy and strewn with +fragments of charcoal from a sunken barge. He looked at the floor, +listening and passing judgment. His attitude was terrifying. He stood +there like the dreadful broom to which Decamps has given the power of +revealing a crime. Now and then, in the course of conversation, the +Marquise tried to get some tacit advice; but however eager her +questioning, he was as grave and as rigid as the statue of the +Commendatore. + +The worthy Popinot, sitting on the edge of his chair in front of the +fire, his hat between his knees, stared at the gilt chandeliers, the +clock, and the curiosities with which the chimney-shelf was covered, +the velvet and trimmings of the curtains, and all the costly and +elegant nothings that a woman of fashion collects about her. He was +roused from his homely meditations by Madame d'Espard, who addressed +him in a piping tone: + +"Monsieur, I owe you a million thanks----" + +"A million thanks," thought he to himself, "that is too many; it does +not mean one." + +"For the trouble you condescend----" + +"Condescend!" thought he; "she is laughing at me." + +"To take in coming to see an unhappy client, who is too ill to go +out----" + +Here the lawyer cut the Marquise short by giving her an inquisitorial +look, examining the sanitary condition of the unhappy client. + +"As sound as a bell," said he to himself. + +"Madame," said he, assuming a respectful mien, "you owe me nothing. +Although my visit to you is not in strict accordance with the practice +of the Court, we ought to spare no pains to discover the truth in +cases of this kind. Our judgment is then guided less by the letter of +the law than by the promptings of our conscience. Whether I seek the +truth here or in my own consulting-room, so long as I find it, all +will be well." + +While Popinot was speaking, Rastignac was shaking hands with Bianchon; +the Marquise welcomed the doctor with a little bow full of gracious +significance. + +"Who is that?" asked Bianchon in a whisper of Rastignac, indicating +the dark man. + +"The Chevalier d'Espard, the Marquis' brother." + +"Your nephew told me," said the Marquise to Popinot, "how much you are +occupied, and I know too that you are so good as to wish to conceal +your kind actions, so as to release those whom you oblige from the +burden of gratitude. The work in Court is most fatiguing, it would +seem. Why have they not twice as many judges?" + +"Ah, madame, that would not be difficult; we should be none the worse +if they had. But when that happens, fowls will cut their teeth!" + +As he heard this speech, so entirely in character with the lawyer's +appearance, the Chevalier measured him from head to foot, out of one +eye, as much as to say, "We shall easily manage him." + +The Marquise looked at Rastignac, who bent over her. "That is the sort +of man," murmured the dandy in her ear, "who is trusted to pass +judgments on the life and interests of private individuals." + +Like most men who have grown old in a business, Popinot readily let +himself follow the habits he had acquired, more particularly habits of +mind. His conversation was all of "the shop." He was fond of +questioning those he talked to, forcing them to unexpected +conclusions, making them tell more than they wished to reveal. Pozzo +di Borgo, it is said, used to amuse himself by discovering other +folks' secrets, and entangling them in his diplomatic snares, and +thus, by invincible habit, showed how his mind was soaked in wiliness. +As soon as Popinot had surveyed the ground, so to speak, on which he +stood, he saw that it would be necessary to have recourse to the +cleverest subtleties, the most elaborately wrapped up and disguised, +which were in use in the Courts, to detect the truth. + +Bianchon sat cold and stern, as a man who has made up his mind to +endure torture without revealing his sufferings; but in his heart he +wished that his uncle could only trample on this woman as we trample +on a viper--a comparison suggested to him by the Marquise's long +dress, by the curve of her attitude, her long neck, small head, and +undulating movements. + +"Well, monsieur," said Madame d'Espard, "however great my dislike to +be or seem selfish, I have been suffering too long not to wish that +you may settle matters at once. Shall I soon get a favorable +decision?" + +"Madame, I will do my best to bring matters to a conclusion," said +Popinot, with an air of frank good-nature. "Are you ignorant of the +reason which made the separation necessary which now subsists between +you and the Marquis d'Espard?" + +"Yes, monsieur," she replied, evidently prepared with a story to tell. +"At the beginning of 1816 M. d'Espard, whose temper had completely +changed within three months or so, proposed that we should go to live +on one of his estates near Briancon, without any regard for my health, +which that climate would have destroyed, or for my habits of life; I +refused to go. My refusal gave rise to such unjustifiable reproaches +on his part, that from that hour I had my suspicions as to the +soundness of his mind. On the following day he left me, leaving me his +house and the free use of my own income, and he went to live in the +Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, taking with him my two +children----" + +"One moment, madame," said the lawyer, interrupting her. "What was +that income?" + +"Twenty-six thousand francs a year," she replied parenthetically. "I +at once consulted old M. Bordin as to what I ought to do," she went +on; "but it seems that there are so many difficulties in the way of +depriving a father of the care of his children, that I was forced to +resign myself to remaining alone at the age of twenty-two--an age at +which many young women do very foolish things. You have read my +petition, no doubt, monsieur; you know the principal facts on which I +rely to procure a Commission in Lunacy with regard to M. d'Espard?" + +"Have you ever applied to him, madame, to obtain the care of your +children?" + +"Yes, monsieur; but in vain. It is very hard on a mother to be +deprived of the affection of her children, particularly when they can +give her such happiness as every woman clings to." + +"The elder must be sixteen," said Popinot. + +"Fifteen," said the Marquise eagerly. + +Here Bianchon and Rastignac looked at each other. Madame d'Espard bit +her lips. + +"What can the age of my children matter to you?" + +"Well, madame," said the lawyer, without seeming to attach any +importance to his words, "a lad of fifteen and his brother, of +thirteen, I suppose, have legs and their wits about them; they might +come to see you on the sly. If they do not, it is because they obey +their father, and to obey him in that matter they must love him very +dearly." + +"I do not understand," said the Marquise. + +"You do not know, perhaps," replied Popinot, "that in your petition +your attorney represents your children as being very unhappy with +their father?" + +Madame d'Espard replied with charming innocence: + +"I do not know what my attorney may have put into my mouth." + +"Forgive my inferences," said Popinot, "but Justice weighs everything. +What I ask you, madame, is suggested by my wish thoroughly to +understand the matter. By your account M. d'Espard deserted you on the +most frivolous pretext. Instead of going to Briancon, where he wished +to take you, he remained in Paris. This point is not clear. Did he +know this Madame Jeanrenaud before his marriage?" + +"No, monsieur," replied the Marquise, with some asperity, visible only +to Rastignac and the Chevalier d'Espard. + +She was offended at being cross-examined by this layer when she had +intended to beguile his judgment; but as Popinot still looked stupid +from sheer absence of mind, she ended by attributing his interrogatory +to the Questioning Spirit of Voltaire's bailiff. + +"My parents," she went on, "married me at the age of sixteen to M. +d'Espard, whose name, fortune, and mode of life were such as my family +looked for in the man who was to be my husband. M. d'Espard was then +six-and-twenty; he was a gentleman in the English sense of the word; +his manners pleased me, he seemed to have plenty of ambition, and I +like ambitious people," she added, looking at Rastignac. "If M. +d'Espard had never met that Madame Jeanrenaud, his character, his +learning, his acquirements would have raised him--as his friends then +believed--to high office in the Government. King Charles X., at that +time Monsieur, had the greatest esteem for him, and a peer's seat, an +appointment at Court, some important post certainly would have been +his. That woman turned his head, and has ruined all the prospects of +my family." + +"What were M. d'Espard's religious opinions at that time?" + +"He was, and is still, a very pious man." + +"You do not suppose that Madame Jeanrenaud may have influenced him by +mysticism?" + +"No, monsieur." + +"You have a very fine house, madame," said Popinot suddenly, taking +his hands out of his pockets, and rising to pick up his coat-tails and +warm himself. "This boudoir is very nice, those chairs are +magnificent, the whole apartment is sumptuous. You must indeed be most +unhappy when, seeing yourself here, you know that your children are +ill lodged, ill clothed, and ill fed. I can imagine nothing more +terrible for a mother." + +"Yes, indeed. I should be so glad to give the poor little fellows some +amusement, while their father keeps them at work from morning till +night at that wretched history of China." + +"You give handsome balls; they would enjoy them, but they might +acquire a taste for dissipation. However, their father might send them +to you once or twice in the course of the winter." + +"He brings them here on my birthday and on New Year's Day. On those +days M. d'Espard does me the favor of dining here with them." + +"It is very singular behaviour," said the judge, with an air of +conviction. "Have you ever seen this Dame Jeanrenaud?" + +"My brother-in-law one day, out of interest in his brother----" + +"Ah! monsieur is M. d'Espard's brother?" said the lawyer, interrupting +her. + +The Chevalier bowed, but did not speak. + +"M. d'Espard, who has watched this affair, took me to the Oratoire, +where this woman goes to sermon, for she is a Protestant. I saw her; +she is not in the least attractive; she looks like a butcher's wife, +extremely fat, horribly marked with the smallpox; she has feet and +hands like a man's, she squints, in short, she is monstrous!" + +"It is inconceivable," said the judge, looking like the most imbecile +judge in the whole kingdom. "And this creature lives near here, Rue +Verte, in a fine house? There are no plain folk left, it would seem?" + +"In a mansion on which her son has spent absurd sums." + +"Madame," said Popinot, "I live in the Faubourg Saint-Marceau; I know +nothing of such expenses. What do you call absurd sums?" + +"Well," said the Marquise, "a stable with five horses and three +carriages, a phaeton, a brougham, and a cabriolet." + +"That costs a large sum, then?" asked Popinot in surprise. + +"Enormous sums!" said Rastignac, intervening. "Such an establishment +would cost, for the stables, the keeping the carriages in order, and +the liveries for the men, between fifteen and sixteen thousand francs +a year." + +"Should you think so, madame?" said the judge, looking much +astonished. + +"Yes, at least," replied the Marquise. + +"And the furniture, too, must have cost a lot of money?" + +"More than a hundred thousand francs," replied Madame d'Espard, who +could not help smiling at the lawyer's vulgarity. + +"Judges, madame, are apt to be incredulous; it is what they are paid +for, and I am incredulous. The Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother must +have fleeced M. d'Espard most preposterously, if what you say is +correct. There is a stable establishment which, by your account, costs +sixteen thousand francs a year. Housekeeping, servants' wages, and the +gross expenses of the house itself must run to twice as much; that +makes a total of from fifty to sixty thousand francs a year. Do you +suppose that these people, formerly so extremely poor, can have so +large a fortune? A million yields scarcely forty thousand a year." + +"Monsieur, the mother and son invested the money given them by M. +d'Espard in the funds when they were at 60 to 80. I should think their +income must be more than sixty thousand francs. And then the son has +fine appointments." + +"If they spend sixty thousand francs a year," said the judge, "how +much do you spend?" + +"Well," said Madame d'Espard, "about the same." The Chevalier started +a little, the Marquise colored; Bianchon looked at Rastignac; but +Popinot preserved an expression of simplicity which quite deceived +Madame d'Espard. The chevalier took no part in the conversation; he +saw that all was lost. + +"These people, madame, might be indicted before the superior Court," +said Popinot. + +"That was my opinion," exclaimed the Marquise, enchanted. "If +threatened with the police, they would have come to terms." + +"Madame," said Popinot, "when M. d'Espard left you, did he not give +you a power of attorney enabling you to manage and control your own +affairs?" + +"I do not understand the object of all these questions," said the +Marquise with petulance. "It seems to me that if you would only +consider the state in which I am placed by my husband's insanity, you +ought to be troubling yourself about him, and not about me." + +"We are coming to that, madame," said the judge. "Before placing in +your hands, or in any others, the control of M. d'Espard's property, +supposing he were pronounced incapable, the Court must inquire as to +how you have managed your own. If M. d'Espard gave you the power, he +would have shown confidence in you, and the Court would recognize the +fact. Had you any power from him? You might have bought or sold house +property or invested money in business?" + +"No, monsieur, the Blamont-Chauvrys are not in the habit of trading," +said she, extremely nettled in her pride as an aristocrat, and +forgetting the business in hand. "My property is intact, and M. +d'Espard gave me no power to act." + +The Chevalier put his hand over his eyes not to betray the vexation he +felt at his sister-in-law's short-sightedness, for she was ruining +herself by her answers. Popinot had gone straight to the mark in spite +of his apparent doublings. + +"Madame," said the lawyer, indicating the Chevalier, "this gentleman, +of course, is your near connection? May we speak openly before these +other gentlemen?" + +"Speak on," said the Marquise, surprised at this caution. + +"Well, madame, granting that you spend only sixty thousand francs a +year, to any one who sees your stables, your house, your train of +servants, and a style of housekeeping which strikes me as far more +luxurious than that of the Jeanrenauds, that sum would seem well laid +out." + +The Marquise bowed an agreement. + +"But," continued the judge, "if you have no more than twenty-six +thousand francs a year, you may have a hundred thousand francs of +debt. The Court would therefore have a right to imagine that the +motives which prompt you to ask that your husband may be deprived of +the control of his property are complicated by self-interest and the +need of paying your debts--if--you--have--any. The requests addressed +to me have interested me in your position; consider fully and make +your confession. If my suppositions have hit the truth, there is yet +time to avoid the blame which the Court would have a perfect right to +express in the saving clauses of the verdict if you could not show +your attitude to be absolutely honorable and clear. + +"It is our duty to examine the motives of the applicant as well as to +listen to the plea of the witness under examination, to ascertain +whether the petitioner may not have been prompted by passion, by a +desire for money, which is unfortunately too common----" + +The Marquise was on Saint Laurence's gridiron. + +"And I must have explanations on this point. Madame, I have no wish to +call you to account; I only want to know how you have managed to live +at the rate of sixty thousand francs a year, and that for some years +past. There are plenty of women who achieve this in their +housekeeping, but you are not one of those. Tell me, you may have the +most legitimate resources, a royal pension, or some claim on the +indemnities lately granted; but even then you must have had your +husband's authority to receive them." + +The Marquise did not speak. + +"You must remember," Popinot went on, "that M. d'Espard may wish to +enter a protest, and his counsel will have a right to find out whether +you have any creditors. This boudoir is newly furnished, your rooms +are not now furnished with the things left to you by M. d'Espard in +1816. If, as you did me the honor of informing me, furniture is costly +for the Jeanrenauds, it must be yet more so for you, who are a great +lady. Though I am a judge, I am but a man; I may be wrong--tell me so. +Remember the duties imposed on me by the law, and the rigorous +inquiries it demands, when the case before it is the suspension from +all his functions of the father of a family in the prime of life. So +you will pardon me, Madame la Marquise, for laying all these +difficulties before you; it will be easy for you to give me an +explanation. + +"When a man is pronounced incapable of the control of his own affairs, +a trustee has to be appointed. Who will be the trustee?" + +"His brother," said the Marquise. + +The Chevalier bowed. There was a short silence, very uncomfortable for +the five persons who were present. The judge, in sport as it were, had +laid open the woman's sore place. Popinot's countenance of common, +clumsy good-nature, at which the Marquise, the Chevalier, and +Rastignac had been inclined to laugh, had gained importance in their +eyes. As they stole a look at him, they discerned the various +expressions of that eloquent mouth. The ridiculous mortal was a judge +of acumen. His studious notice of the boudoir was accounted for: he +had started from the gilt elephant supporting the chimney-clock, +examining all this luxury, and had ended by reading this woman's soul. + +"If the Marquis d'Espard is mad about China, I see that you are not +less fond of its products," said Popinot, looking at the porcelain on +the chimney-piece. "But perhaps it was from M. le Marquis that you had +these charming Oriental pieces," and he pointed to some precious +trifles. + +This irony, in very good taste, made Bianchon smile, and petrified +Rastignac, while the Marquise bit her thin lips. + +"Instead of being the protector of a woman placed in a cruel dilemma-- +an alternative between losing her fortune and her children, and being +regarded as her husband's enemy," she said, "you accuse me, monsieur! +You suspect my motives! You must own that your conduct is strange!" + +"Madame," said the judge eagerly, "the caution exercised by the Court +in such cases as these might have given you, in any other judge, a +perhaps less indulgent critic than I am.--And do you suppose that M. +d'Espard's lawyer will show you any great consideration? Will he not +be suspicious of motives which may be perfectly pure and +disinterested? Your life will be at his mercy; he will inquire into it +without qualifying his search by the respectful deference I have for +you." + +"I am much obliged to you, monsieur," said the Marquise satirically. +"Admitting for the moment that I owe thirty thousand or fifty thousand +francs, in the first place, it would be a mere trifle to the d'Espards +and the Blamont-Chauvrys. But if my husband is not in the possession +of his mental faculties, would that prevent his being pronounced +incapable?" + +"No, madame," said Popinot. + +"Although you have questioned me with a sort of cunning which I should +not have suspected in a judge, and under circumstances where +straightforwardness would have answered your purpose," she went on, "I +will tell you without subterfuge that my position in the world, and +the efforts I have to make to keep up my connection, are not in the +least to my taste. I began my life by a long period of solitude; but +my children's interest appealed to me; I felt that I must fill their +father's place. By receiving my friends, by keeping up all this +connection, by contracting these debts, I have secured their future +welfare; I have prepared for them a brilliant career where they will +find help and favor; and to have what has thus been acquired, many a +man of business, lawyer or banker, would gladly pay all it has cost +me." + +"I appreciate your devoted conduct, madame," replied Popinot. "It does +you honor, and I blame you for nothing. A judge belongs to all: he +must know and weigh every fact." + +Madame d'Espard's tact and practice in estimating men made her +understand that M. Popinot was not to be influenced by any +consideration. She had counted on an ambitious lawyer, she had found a +man of conscience. She at once thought of finding other means for +securing the success of her side. + +The servants brought in tea. + +"Have you any further explanations to give me, madame?" said Popinot, +seeing these preparations. + +"Monsieur," she replied haughtily, "do your business your own way; +question M. d'Espard, and you will pity me, I am sure." She raised her +head, looking Popinot in the face with pride, mingled with +impertinence; the worthy man bowed himself out respectfully. + +"A nice man is your uncle," said Rastignac to Bianchon. "Is he really +so dense? Does not he know what the Marquise d'Espard is, what her +influence means, her unavowed power over people? The Keeper of the +Seals will be with her to-morrow----" + +"My dear fellow, how can I help it?" said Bianchon. "Did not I warn +you? He is not a man you can get over." + +"No," said Rastignac; "he is a man you must run over." + +The doctor was obliged to make his bow to the Marquise and her mute +Chevalier to catch up Popinot, who, not being the man to endure an +embarrassing position, was pacing through the rooms. + +"That woman owes a hundred thousand crowns," said the judge, as he +stepped into his nephew's cab. + +"And what do you think of the case?" + +"I," said the judge. "I never have an opinion till I have gone into +everything. To-morrow early I will send to Madame Jeanrenaud to call +on me in my private office at four o'clock, to make her explain the +facts which concern her, for she is compromised." + +"I should very much like to know what the end will be." + +"Why, bless me, do not you see that the Marquise is the tool of that +tall lean man who never uttered a word? There is a strain of Cain in +him, but of the Cain who goes to the Law Courts for his bludgeon, and +there, unluckily for him, we keep more than one Damocles' sword." + +"Oh, Rastignac! what brought you into that boat, I wonder?" exclaimed +Bianchon. + +"Ah, we are used to seeing these little family conspiracies," said +Popinot. "Not a year passes without a number of verdicts of +'insufficient evidence' against applications of this kind. In our +state of society such an attempt brings no dishonor, while we send a +poor devil to the galleys who breaks a pane of glass dividing him from +a bowl full of gold. Our Code is not faultless." + +"But these are the facts?" + +"My boy, do you not know all the judicial romances with which clients +impose on their attorneys? If the attorneys condemned themselves to +state nothing but the truth, they would not earn enough to keep their +office open." + + + +Next day, at four in the afternoon, a very stout dame, looking a good +deal like a cask dressed up in a gown and belt, mounted Judge +Popinot's stairs, perspiring and panting. She had, with great +difficulty, got out of a green landau, which suited her to a miracle; +you could not think of the woman without the landau, or the landau +without the woman. + +"It is I, my dear sir," said she, appearing in the doorway of the +judge's room. "Madame Jeanrenaud, whom you summoned exactly as if I +were a thief, neither more nor less." + +The common words were spoken in a common voice, broken by the wheezing +of asthma, and ending in a cough. + +"When I go through a damp place, I can't tell you what I suffer, sir. +I shall never make old bones, saving your presence. However, here I +am." + +The lawyer was quite amazed at the appearance of this supposed +Marechale d'Ancre. Madame Jeanrenaud's face was pitted with an +infinite number of little holes, was very red, with a pug nose and a +low forehead, and was as round as a ball; for everything about the +good woman was round. She had the bright eyes of a country woman, an +honest gaze, a cheerful tone, and chestnut hair held in place by a +bonnet cap under a green bonnet decked with a shabby bunch of +auriculas. Her stupendous bust was a thing to laugh at, for it made +one fear some grotesque explosion every time she coughed. Her enormous +legs were of the shape which make the Paris street boy describe such a +woman as being built on piles. The widow wore a green gown trimmed +with chinchilla, which looked on her as a splash of dirty oil would +look on a bride's veil. In short, everything about her harmonized with +her last words: "Here I am." + +"Madame," said Popinot, "you are suspected of having used some +seductive arts to induce M. d'Espard to hand over to you very +considerable sums of money." + +"Of what! of what!" cried she. "Of seductive arts? But, my dear sir, +you are a man to be respected, and, moreover, as a lawyer you ought to +have some good sense. Look at me! Tell me if I am likely to seduce any +one. I cannot tie my own shoes, nor even stoop. For these twenty years +past, the Lord be praised, I have not dared to put on a pair of stays +under pain of sudden death. I was as thin as an asparagus stalk when I +was seventeen, and pretty too--I may say so now. So I married +Jeanrenaud, a good fellow, and headman on the salt-barges. I had my +boy, who is a fine young man; he is my pride, and it is not holding +myself cheap to say he is my best piece of work. My little Jeanrenaud +was a soldier who did Napoleon credit, and who served in the Imperial +Guard. But, alas! at the death of my old man, who was drowned, times +changed for the worse. I had the smallpox. I was kept two years in my +room without stirring, and I came out of it the size you see me, +hideous for ever, and as wretched as could be. These are my seductive +arts." + +"But what, then, can the reasons be that have induced M. d'Espard to +give you sums----" + +"Hugious sums, monsieur, say the word; I do not mind. But as to his +reasons, I am not at liberty to explain them." + +"You are wrong. At this moment, his family, very naturally alarmed, +are about to bring an action----" + +"Heavens above us!" said the good woman, starting up. "Is it possible +that he should be worried on my account? That king of men, a man that +has not his match! Rather than he should have the smallest trouble, or +hair less on his head I could almost say, we would return every sou, +monsieur. Write that down on your papers. Heaven above us! I will go +at once and tell Jeanrenaud what is going on! A pretty thing indeed!" + +And the little old woman went out, rolled herself downstairs, and +disappeared. + +"That one tells no lies," said Popinot to himself. "Well, to-morrow I +shall know the whole story, for I shall go to see the Marquis +d'Espard." + +People who have outlived the age when a man wastes his vitality at +random, know how great an influence may be exercised on more important +events by apparently trivial incidents, and will not be surprised at +the weight here given to the following minor fact. Next day Popinot +had an attack of coryza, a complaint which is not dangerous, and +generally known by the absurd and inadequate name of a cold in the +head. + +The judge, who could not suppose that the delay could be serious, +feeling himself a little feverish, kept his room, and did not go to +see the Marquis d'Espard. This day lost was, to this affair, what on +the Day of Dupes the cup of soup had been, taken by Marie de Medici, +which, by delaying her meeting with Louis XIII., enabled Richelieu to +arrive at Saint-Germain before her, and recapture his royal slave. + +Before accompanying the lawyer and his registering clerk to the +Marquis d'Espard's house, it may be as well to glance at the home and +the private affairs of this father of sons whom his wife's petition +represented to be a madman. + +Here and there in the old parts of Paris a few buildings may still be +seen in which the archaeologist can discern an intention of decorating +the city, and that love of property, which leads the owner to give a +durable character to the structure. The house in which M. d'Espard was +then living, in the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, was one of +these old mansions, built in stone, and not devoid of a certain +richness of style; but time had blackened the stone, and revolutions +in the town had damaged it both outside and inside. The dignitaries +who formerly dwelt in the neighborhood of the University having +disappeared with the great ecclesiastical foundations, this house had +become the home of industries and of inhabitants whom it was never +destined to shelter. During the last century a printing establishment +had worn down the polished floors, soiled the carved wood, blackened +the walls, and altered the principal internal arrangements. Formerly +the residence of a Cardinal, this fine house was now divided among +plebeian tenants. The character of the architecture showed that it had +been built under the reigns of Henry III., Henry IV., and Louis XIII., +at the time when the hotels Mignon and Serpente were erected in the +same neighborhood, with the palace of the Princess Palatine, and the +Sorbonne. An old man could remember having heard it called, in the +last century, the hotel Duperron, so it seemed probable that the +illustrious Cardinal of that name had built, or perhaps merely lived +in it. + +There still exists, indeed, in the corner of the courtyard, a perron +or flight of several outer steps by which the house is entered; and +the way into the garden on the garden front is down a similar flight +of steps. In spite of dilapidations, the luxury lavished by the +architect on the balustrade and entrance porch crowning these two +perrons suggests the simple-minded purpose of commemorating the +owner's name, a sort of sculptured pun which our ancestors often +allowed themselves. Finally, in support of this evidence, +archaeologists can still discern in the medallions which show on the +principal front some traces of the cords of the Roman hat. + +M. le Marquis d'Espard lived on the ground floor, in order, no doubt, +to enjoy the garden, which might be called spacious for that +neighborhood, and which lay open for his children's health. The +situation of the house, in a street on a steep hill, as its name +indicates, secured these ground-floor rooms against ever being damp. +M. d'Espard had taken them, no doubt, for a very moderate price, rents +being low at the time when he settled in that quarter, in order to be +among the schools and to superintend his boys' education. Moreover, +the state in which he found the place, with everything to repair, had +no doubt induced the owner to be accommodating. Thus M. d'Espard had +been able to go to some expense to settle himself suitably without +being accused of extravagance. The loftiness of the rooms, the +paneling, of which nothing survived but the frames, the decoration of +the ceilings, all displayed the dignity which the prelacy stamped on +whatever it attempted or created, and which artists discern to this +day in the smallest relic that remains, though it be but a book, a +dress, the panel of a bookcase, or an armchair. + +The Marquis had the rooms painted in the rich brown tones loved of the +Dutch and of the citizens of Old Paris, hues which lend such good +effects to the painter of genre. The panels were hung with plain paper +in harmony with the paint. The window curtains were of inexpensive +materials, but chosen so as to produce a generally happy result; the +furniture was not too crowded and judiciously placed. Any one on going +into this home could not resist a sense of sweet peacefulness, +produced by the perfect calm, the stillness which prevailed, by the +unpretentious unity of color, the keeping of the picture, in the words +a painter might use. A certain nobleness in the details, the exquisite +cleanliness of the furniture, and a perfect concord of men and things, +all brought the word "suavity" to the lips. + +Few persons were admitted to the rooms used by the Marquis and his two +sons, whose life might perhaps seem mysterious to their neighbors. In +a wing towards the street, on the third floor, there are three large +rooms which had been left in the state of dilapidation and grotesque +bareness to which they had been reduced by the printing works. These +three rooms, devoted to the evolution of the Picturesque History of +China, were contrived to serve as a writing-room, a depository, and a +private room, where M. d'Espard sat during part of the day; for after +breakfast till four in the afternoon the Marquis remained in this room +on the third floor to work at the publication he had undertaken. +Visitors wanting to see him commonly found him there, and often the +two boys on their return from school resorted thither. Thus the +ground-floor rooms were a sort of sanctuary where the father and sons +spent their time from the hour of dinner till the next day, and his +domestic life was carefully closed against the public eye. + +His only servants were a cook--an old woman who had long been attached +to his family--and a man-servant forty years old, who was with him +when he married Mademoiselle de Blamont. His children's nurse had also +remained with them, and the minute care to which the apartment bore +witness revealed the sense of order and the maternal affections +expended by this woman in her master's interest, in the management of +his house, and the charge of his children. These three good souls, +grave, and uncommunicative folk, seemed to have entered into the idea +which ruled the Marquis' domestic life. And the contrast between their +habits and those of most servants was a peculiarity which cast an air +of mystery over the house, and fomented the calumny to which M. +d'Espard himself lent occasion. Very laudable motives had made him +determine never to be on visiting terms with any of the other tenants +in the house. In undertaking to educate his boys he wished to keep +them from all contact with strangers. Perhaps, too, he wished to avoid +the intrusion of neighbors. + +In a man of his rank, at a time when the Quartier Latin was distracted +by Liberalism, such conduct was sure to rouse in opposition a host of +petty passions, of feelings whose folly is only to be measured by +their meanness, the outcome of porters' gossip and malevolent tattle +from door to door, all unknown to M. d'Espard and his retainers. His +man-servant was stigmatized as a Jesuit, his cook as a sly fox; the +nurse was in collusion with Madame Jeanrenaud to rob the madman. The +madman was the Marquis. By degrees the other tenants came to regard as +proofs of madness a number of things they had noticed in M. d'Espard, +and passed through the sieve of their judgment without discerning any +reasonable motive for them. + +Having no belief in the success of the History of China, they had +managed to convince the landlord of the house that M. d'Espard had no +money just at a time when, with the forgetfulness which often befalls +busy men, he had allowed the tax-collector to send him a summons for +non-payment of arrears. The landlord forthwith claimed his quarter's +rent from January 1st by sending in a receipt, which the porter's wife +had amused herself by detaining. On the 15th a summons to pay was +served on M. d'Espard, the portress had delivered it at her leisure, +and he supposed it to be some misunderstanding, not conceiving of any +incivility from a man in whose house he had been living for twelve +years. The Marquis was actually seized by a bailiff at the time when +his man-servant had gone to carry the money for the rent to the +landlord. + +This arrest, assiduously reported to the persons with whom he was in +treaty for his undertaking, had alarmed some of them who were already +doubtful of M. d'Espard's solvency in consequence of the enormous sums +which Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother were said to be receiving from +him. And, indeed, these suspicions on the part of the tenants, the +creditors, and the landlord had some excuse in the Marquis' extreme +economy in housekeeping. He conducted it as a ruined man might. His +servants always paid in ready money for the most trifling necessaries +of life, and acted as not choosing to take credit; if now they had +asked for anything on credit, it would probably have been refused, +calumnious gossip had been so widely believed in the neighborhood. +There are tradesmen who like those of their customers who pay badly +when they see them often, while they hate others, and very good ones, +who hold themselves on too high a level to allow of any familiarity as +CHUMS, a vulgar but expressive word. Men are made so; in almost every +class they will allow to a gossip, or a vulgar soul that flatters +them, facilities and favors they refuse to the superiority they +resent, in whatever form it may show itself. The shopkeeper who rails +at the Court has his courtiers. + +In short, the manners of the Marquis and his children were certain to +arouse ill-feeling in their neighbors, and to work them up by degrees +to the pitch of malevolence when men do not hesitate at an act of +meanness if only it may damage the adversary they have themselves +created. + +M. d'Espard was a gentleman, as his wife was a lady, by birth and +breeding; noble types, already so rare in France that the observer can +easily count the persons who perfectly realize them. These two +characters are based on primitive ideas, on beliefs that may be called +innate, on habits formed in infancy, and which have ceased to exist. +To believe in pure blood, in a privileged race, to stand in thought +above other men, must we not from birth have measured the distance +which divides patricians from the mob? To command, must we not have +never met our equal? And finally, must not education inculcate the +ideas with which Nature inspires those great men on whose brow she has +placed a crown before their mother has ever set a kiss there? These +ideas, this education, are no longer possible in France, where for +forty years past chance has arrogated the right of making noblemen by +dipping them in the blood of battles, by gilding them with glory, by +crowning them with the halo of genius; where the abolition of entail +and of eldest sonship, by frittering away estates, compels the +nobleman to attend to his own business instead of attending to affairs +of state, and where personal greatness can only be such greatness as +is acquired by long and patient toil: quite a new era. + +Regarded as a relic of that great institution know as feudalism, M. +d'Espard deserved respectful admiration. If he believed himself to be +by blood the superior of other men, he also believed in all the +obligations of nobility; he had the virtues and the strength it +demands. He had brought up his children in his own principles, and +taught them from the cradle the religion of their caste. A deep sense +of their own dignity, pride of name, the conviction that they were by +birth great, gave rise in them to a kingly pride, the courage of +knights, and the protecting kindness of a baronial lord; their +manners, harmonizing with their notions, would have become princes, +and offended all the world of the Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve +--a world, above all others, of equality, where every one believed +that M. d'Espard was ruined, and where all, from the lowest to the +highest, refused the privileges of nobility to a nobleman without +money, because they were all ready to allow an enriched bourgeois to +usurp them. Thus the lack of communion between this family and other +persons was as much moral as it was physical. + +In the father and the children alike, their personality harmonized +with the spirit within. M. d'Espard, at this time about fifty, might +have sat as a model to represent the aristocracy of birth in the +nineteenth century. He was slight and fair; there was in the outline +and general expression of his face a native distinction which spoke of +lofty sentiments, but it bore the impress of a deliberate coldness +which commanded respect a little too decidedly. His aquiline nose bent +at the tip from left to right, a slight crookedness which was not +devoid of grace; his blue eyes, his high forehead, prominent enough at +the brows to form a thick ridge that checked the light and shaded his +eyes, all indicated a spirit of rectitude, capable of perseverance and +perfect loyalty, while it gave a singular look to his countenance. +This penthouse forehead might, in fact, hint at a touch of madness, +and his thick-knitted eyebrows added to the apparent eccentricity. He +had the white well-kept hands of a gentleman; his foot was high and +narrow. His hesitating speech--not merely as to his pronunciation, +which was that of a stammerer, but also in the expression of his +ideas, his thought and language--produced on the mind of the hearer +the impression of a man who, in familiar phraseology, comes and goes, +feels his way, tries everything, breaks off his gestures, and finishes +nothing. This defect was purely superficial, and in contrast with the +decisiveness of a firmly-set mouth, and the strongly-marked character +of his physiognomy. His rather jerky gait matched his mode of speech. +These peculiarities helped to affirm his supposed insanity. In spite +of his elegant appearance, he was systematically parsimonious in his +personal expenses, and wore the same black frock-coat for three or +four years, brushed with extreme care by his old man-servant. + +As to the children, they both were handsome, and endowed with a grace +which did not exclude an expression of aristocratic disdain. They had +the bright coloring, the clear eye, the transparent flesh which reveal +habits of purity, regularity of life, and a due proportion of work and +play. They both had black hair and blue eyes, and a twist in their +nose, like their father; but their mother, perhaps, had transmitted to +them the dignity of speech, of look and mien, which are hereditary in +the Blamont-Chauvrys. Their voices, as clear as crystal, had an +emotional quality, the softness which proves so seductive; they had, +in short, the voice a woman would willingly listen to after feeling +the flame of their looks. But, above all, they had the modesty of +pride, a chaste reserve, a TOUCH-ME-NOT which at a maturer age might +have seemed intentional coyness, so much did their demeanor inspire a +wish to know them. The elder, Comte Clement de Negrepelisse, was close +upon his sixteenth year. For the last two years he had ceased to wear +the pretty English round jacket which his brother, Vicomte Camille +d'Espard, still wore. The Count, who for the last six months went no +more to the College Henri IV., was dressed in the style of a young man +enjoying the first pleasures of fashion. His father had not wished to +condemn him to a year's useless study of philosophy; he was trying to +give his knowledge some consistency by the study of transcendental +mathematics. At the same time, the Marquis was having him taught +Eastern languages, the international law of Europe, heraldry, and +history from the original sources, charters, early documents, and +collections of edicts. Camille had lately begun to study rhetoric. + +The day when Popinot arranged to go to question M. d'Espard was a +Thursday, a holiday. At about nine in the morning, before their father +was awake, the brothers were playing in the garden. Clement was +finding it hard to refuse his brother, who was anxious to go to the +shooting-gallery for the first time, and who begged him to second his +request to the Marquis. The Viscount always rather took advantage of +his weakness, and was very fond of wrestling with his brother. So the +couple were quarreling and fighting in play like schoolboys. As they +ran in the garden, chasing each other, they made so much noise as to +wake their father, who came to the window without their perceiving him +in the heat of the fray. The Marquis amused himself with watching his +two children twisted together like snakes, their faces flushed by the +exertion of their strength; their complexion was rose and white, their +eyes flashed sparks, their limbs writhed like cords in the fire; they +fell, sprang up again, and caught each other like athletes in a +circus, affording their father one of those moments of happiness which +would make amends for the keenest anxieties of a busy life. Two other +persons, one on the second and one on the first floor, were also +looking into the garden, and saying that the old madman was amusing +himself by making his children fight. Immediately a number of heads +appeared at the windows; the Marquis, noticing them, called a word to +his sons, who at once climbed up to the window and jumped into his +room, and Clement obtained the permission asked by Camille. + +All through the house every one was talking of the Marquis' new form +of insanity. When Popinot arrived at about twelve o'clock, accompanied +by his clerk, the portress, when asked for M. d'Espard, conducted him +to the third floor, telling him "as how M. d'Espard, no longer ago +than that very morning, had set on his two children to fight, and +laughed like the monster he was on seeing the younger biting the elder +till he bled, and as how no doubt he longed to see them kill each +other.--Don't ask me the reason why," she added; "he doesn't show +himself!" + +Just as the woman spoke these decisive words, she had brought the +judge to the landing on the third floor, face to face with a door +covered with notices announcing the successive numbers of the +Picturesque History of China. The muddy floor, the dirty banisters, +the door where the printers had left their marks, the dilapidated +window, and the ceiling on which the apprentices had amused themselves +with drawing monstrosities with the smoky flare of their tallow dips, +the piles of paper and litter heaped up in the corners, intentionally +or from sheer neglect--in short, every detail of the picture lying +before his eyes, agreed so well with the facts alleged by the Marquise +that the judge, in spite of his impartiality, could not help believing +them. + +"There you are, gentlemen," said the porter's wife; "there is the +manifactor, where the Chinese swallow up enough to feed the whole +neighborhood." + +The clerk looked at the judge with a smile, and Popinot found it hard +to keep his countenance. They went together into the outer room, where +sat an old man, who, no doubt, performed the functions of office +clerk, shopman, and cashier. This old man was the Maitre Jacques of +China. Along the walls ran long shelves, on which the published +numbers lay in piles. A partition in wood, with a grating lined with +green curtains, cut off the end of the room, forming a private office. +A till with a slit to admit or disgorge crown pieces indicated the +cash-desk. + +"M. d'Espard?" said Popinot, addressing the man, who wore a gray +blouse. + +The shopman opened the door into the next room, where the lawyer and +his companion saw a venerable old man, white-headed and simply +dressed, wearing the Cross of Saint-Louis, seated at a desk. He ceased +comparing some sheets of colored prints to look up at the two +visitors. This room was an unpretentious office, full of books and +proof-sheets. There was a black wood table at which some one, at the +moment absent, no doubt was accustomed to work. + +"The Marquis d'Espard?" said Popinot. + +"No, monsieur," said the old man, rising; "what do you want with him?" +he added, coming forward, and showing by his demeanor the dignified +manners and habits due to a gentlemanly education. + +"We wish to speak with him on business exclusively personal to +himself," replied Popinot. + +"D'Espard, here are some gentlemen who want to see you," then said the +old man, going into the furthest room, where the Marquis was sitting +by the fire reading the newspaper. + +This innermost room had a shabby carpet, the windows were hung with +gray holland curtains; the furniture consisted of a few mahogany +chairs, two armchairs, a desk with a revolving front, an ordinary +office table, and on the chimney-shelf, a dingy clock and two old +candlesticks. The old man led the way for Popinot and his registrar, +and pulled forward two chairs, as though he were master of the place; +M. d'Espard left it to him. After the preliminary civilities, during +which the judge watched the supposed lunatic, the Marquis naturally +asked what was the object of this visit. On this Popinot glanced +significantly at the old gentleman and the Marquis. + +"I believe, Monsieur le Marquis," said he, "that the character of my +functions, and the inquiry that has brought me here, make it desirable +that we should be alone, though it is understood by law that in such +cases the inquiries have a sort of family publicity. I am judge on the +Inferior Court of Appeal for the Department of the Seine, and charged +by the President with the duty of examining you as to certain facts +set forth in a petition for a Commission in Lunacy on the part of the +Marquise d'Espard." + +The old man withdrew. When the lawyer and the Marquis were alone, the +clerk shut the door, and seated himself unceremoniously at the office +table, where he laid out his papers and prepared to take down his +notes. Popinot had still kept his eye on M. d'Espard; he was watching +the effect on him of this crude statement, so painful for a man in +full possession of his reason. The Marquis d'Espard, whose face was +usually pale, as are those of fair men, suddenly turned scarlet with +anger; he trembled for an instant, sat down, laid his paper on the +chimney-piece, and looked down. In a moment he had recovered his +gentlemanly dignity, and looked steadily at the judge, as if to read +in his countenance the indications of his character. + +"How is it, monsieur," he asked, "that I have had no notice of such a +petition?" + +"Monsieur le Marquis, persons on whom such a commission is held not +being supposed to have the use of their reason, any notice of the +petition is unnecessary. The duty of the Court chiefly consists in +verifying the allegations of the petitioner." + +"Nothing can be fairer," replied the Marquis. "Well, then, monsieur, +be so good as to tell me what I ought to do----" + +"You have only to answer my questions, omitting nothing. However +delicate the reasons may be which may have led you to act in such a +manner as to give Madame d'Espard a pretext for her petition, speak +without fear. It is unnecessary to assure you that lawyers know their +duties, and that in such cases the profoundest secrecy----" + +"Monsieur," said the Marquis, whose face expressed the sincerest pain, +"if my explanations should lead to any blame being attached to Madame +d'Espard's conduct, what will be the result?" + +"The Court may add its censure to its reasons for its decision." + +"Is such censure optional? If I were to stipulate with you, before +replying, that nothing should be said that could annoy Madame d'Espard +in the event of your report being in my favor, would the Court take my +request into consideration?" + +The judge looked at the Marquis, and the two men exchanged sentiments +of equal magnanimity. + +"Noel," said Popinot to his registrar, "go into the other room. If you +can be of use, I will call you in.--If, as I am inclined to think," he +went on, speaking to the Marquis when the clerk had gone out, "I find +that there is some misunderstanding in this case, I can promise you, +monsieur, that on your application the Court will act with due +courtesy. + +"There is a leading fact put forward by Madame d'Espard, the most +serious of all, of which I must beg for an explanation," said the +judge after a pause. "It refers to the dissipation of your fortune to +the advantage of a certain Madame Jeanrenaud, the widow of a +bargemaster--or rather, to that of her son, Colonel Jeanrenaud, for +whom you are said to have procured an appointment, to have exhausted +your influence with the King, and at last to have extended such +protection as secures him a good marriage. The petition suggests that +such a friendship is more devoted than any feelings, even those which +morality must disapprove----" + +A sudden flush crimsoned the Marquis' face and forehead, tears even +started to his eyes, for his eyelashes were wet, then wholesome pride +crushed the emotions, which in a man are accounted a weakness. + +"To tell you the truth, monsieur," said the Marquis, in a broken +voice, "you place me in a strange dilemma. The motives of my conduct +were to have died with me. To reveal them I must disclose to you some +secret wounds, must place the honor of my family in your keeping, and +must speak of myself, a delicate matter, as you will fully understand. +I hope, monsieur, that it will all remain a secret between us. You +will, no doubt, be able to find in the formulas of the law one which +will allow of judgment being pronounced without any betrayal of my +confidences." + +"So far as that goes, it is perfectly possible, Monsieur le Marquis." + +"Some time after my marriage," said M. d'Espard, "my wife having run +into considerable expenses, I was obliged to have recourse to +borrowing. You know what was the position of noble families during the +Revolution; I had not been able to keep a steward or a man of +business. Nowadays gentlemen are for the most part obliged to manage +their affairs themselves. Most of my title-deeds had been brought to +Paris, from Languedoc, Provence, or le Comtat, by my father, who +dreaded, and not without reason, the inquisition which family title- +deeds, and what was then styled the 'parchments' of the privileged +class, brought down on the owners. + +"Our name is Negrepelisse; d'Espard is a title acquired in the time of +Henri IV. by a marriage which brought us the estates and titles of the +house of d'Espard, on condition of our bearing an escutcheon of +pretence on our coat-of-arms, those of the house of d'Espard, an old +family of Bearn, connected in the female line with that of Albret: +quarterly, paly of or and sable; and azure two griffins' claws armed, +gules in saltire, with the famous motto Des partem leonis. At the time +of this alliance we lost Negrepelisse, a little town which was as +famous during the religious struggles as was my ancestor who then bore +the name. Captain de Negrepelisse was ruined by the burning of all his +property, for the Protestants did not spare a friend of Montluc's. + +"The Crown was unjust to M. de Negrepelisse; he received neither a +marshal's baton, nor a post as governor, nor any indemnity; King +Charles IX., who was fond of him, died without being able to reward +him; Henri IV. arranged his marriage with Mademoiselle d'Espard, and +secured him the estates of that house, but all those of the +Negrepelisses had already passed into the hands of his creditors. + +"My great-grandfather, the Marquis d'Espard, was, like me, placed +early in life at the head of his family by the death of his father, +who, after dissipating his wife's fortune, left his son nothing but +the entailed estates of the d'Espards, burdened with a jointure. The +young Marquis was all the more straitened for money because he held a +post at Court. Being in great favor with Louis XIV., the King's +goodwill brought him a fortune. But here, monsieur, a blot stained our +escutcheon, an unconfessed and horrible stain of blood and disgrace +which I am making it my business to wipe out. I discovered the secret +among the deeds relating to the estate of Negrepelisse and the packets +of letters." + +At this solemn moment the Marquis spoke without hesitation or any of +the repetition habitual with him; but it is a matter of common +observation that persons who, in ordinary life, are afflicted with +these two defects, are freed from them as soon as any passionate +emotion underlies their speech. + +"The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes was decreed," he went on. "You +are no doubt aware, monsieur, that this was an opportunity for many +favorites to make their fortunes. Louis XIV. bestowed on the magnates +about his Court the confiscated lands of those Protestant families who +did not take the prescribed steps for the sale of their property. Some +persons in high favor went 'Protestant-hunting,' as the phrase was. I +have ascertained beyond a doubt that the fortune enjoyed to this day +by two ducal families is derived from lands seized from hapless +merchants. + +"I will not attempt to explain to you, a man of law, all the +manoeuvres employed to entrap the refugees who had large fortunes to +carry away. It is enough to say that the lands of Negrepelisse, +comprising twenty-two churches and rights over the town, and those of +Gravenges which had formerly belonged to us, were at that time in the +hands of a Protestant family. My grandfather recovered them by gift +from Louis XIV. This gift was effected by documents hall-marked by +atrocious iniquity. The owner of these two estates, thinking he would +be able to return, had gone through the form of a sale, and was going +to Switzerland to join his family, whom he had sent in advance. He +wished, no doubt, to take advantage of every delay granted by the law, +so as to settle the concerns of his business. + +"This man was arrested by order of the governor, the trustee confessed +the truth, the poor merchant was hanged, and my ancestor had the two +estates. I would gladly have been able to ignore the share he took in +the plot; but the governor was his uncle on the mother's side, and I +have unfortunately read the letter in which he begged him to apply to +Deodatus, the name agreed upon by the Court to designate the King. In +this letter there is a tone of jocosity with reference to the victim, +which filled me with horror. In the end, the sums of money sent by the +refugee family to ransom the poor man were kept by the governor, who +despatched the merchant all the same." + +The Marquis paused, as though the memory of it were still too heavy +for him to bear. + +"This unfortunate family were named Jeanrenaud," he went on. "That +name is enough to account for my conduct. I could never think without +keen pain of the secret disgrace that weighed on my family. That +fortune enabled my grandfather to marry a demoiselle de Navarreins- +Lansac, heiress to the younger branch of that house, who were at that +time much richer than the elder branch of the Navarreins. My father +thus became one of the largest landowners in the kingdom. He was able +to marry my mother, a Grandlieu of the younger branch. Though ill- +gotten, this property has been singularly profitable. + +"For my part, being determined to remedy the mischief, I wrote to +Switzerland, and knew no peace till I was on the traces of the +Protestant victim's heirs. At last I discovered that the Jeanrenauds, +reduced to abject want, had left Fribourg and returned to live in +France. Finally, I found a M. Jeanrenaud, lieutenant in a cavalry +regiment under Napoleon, the sole heir of this unhappy family. In my +eyes, monsieur, the rights of the Jeanrenauds were clear. To establish +a prescriptive right is it not necessary that there should have been +some possibility of proceeding against those who are in the enjoyment +of it? To whom could these refugees have appealed? Their Court of +Justice was on high, or rather, monsieur, it was here," and the +Marquis struck his hand on his heart. "I did not choose that my +children should be able to think of me as I have thought of my father +and of my ancestors. I aim at leaving them an unblemished inheritance +and escutcheon. I did not choose that nobility should be a lie in my +person. And, after all, politically speaking, ought those emigres who +are now appealing against revolutionary confiscations, to keep the +property derived from antecedent confiscations by positive crimes? + +"I found in M. Jeanrenaud and his mother the most perverse honesty; to +hear them you would suppose that they were robbing me. In spite of all +I could say, they will accept no more than the value of the lands at +the time when the King bestowed them on my family. The price was +settled between us at the sum of eleven hundred thousand francs, which +I was to pay at my convenience and without interest. To achieve this I +had to forego my income for a long time. And then, monsieur, began the +destruction of some illusions I had allowed myself as to Madame +d'Espard's character. When I proposed to her that we should leave +Paris and go into the country, where we could live respected on half +of her income, and so more rapidly complete a restitution of which I +spoke to her without going into the more serious details, Madame +d'Espard treated me as a madman. I then understood my wife's real +character. She would have approved of my grandfather's conduct without +a scruple, and have laughed at the Huguenots. Terrified by her +coldness, and her little affection for her children, whom she +abandoned to me without regret, I determined to leave her the command +of her fortune, after paying our common debts. It was no business of +hers, as she told me, to pay for my follies. As I then had not enough +to live on and pay for my sons' education, I determined to educate +them myself, to make them gentlemen and men of feeling. By investing +my money in the funds I have been enabled to pay off my obligation +sooner than I had dared to hope, for I took advantage of the +opportunities afforded by the improvement in prices. If I had kept +four thousand francs a year for my boys and myself, I could only have +paid off twenty thousand crowns a year, and it would have taken almost +eighteen years to achieve my freedom. As it is, I have lately repaid +the whole of the eleven hundred thousand francs that were due. Thus I +enjoy the happiness of having made this restitution without doing my +children the smallest wrong. + +"These, monsieur, are the reasons for the payments made to Madame +Jeanrenaud and her son." + +"So Madame d'Espard knew the motives of your retirement?" said the +judge, controlling the emotion he felt at this narrative. + +"Yes, monsieur." + +Popinot gave an expressive shrug; he rose and opened the door into the +next room. + +"Noel, you can go," said he to his clerk. + +"Monsieur," he went on, "though what you have told me is enough to +enlighten me thoroughly, I should like to hear what you have to say to +the other facts put forward in the petition. For instance, you are +here carrying on a business such as is not habitually undertaken by a +man of rank." + +"We cannot discuss that matter here," said the Marquis, signing to the +judge to quit the room. "Nouvion," said he to the old man, "I am going +down to my rooms; the children will soon be in; dine with us." + +"Then, Monsieur le Marquis," said Popinot on the stairs, "that is not +your apartment?" + +"No, monsieur; I took those rooms for the office of this undertaking. +You see," and he pointed to an advertisement sheet, "the History is +being brought out by one of the most respectable firms in Paris, and +not by me." + +The Marquis showed the lawyer into the ground-floor rooms, saying, +"This is my apartment." + +Popinot was quite touched by the poetry, not aimed at but pervading +this dwelling. The weather was lovely, the windows were open, the air +from the garden brought in a wholesome earthy smell, the sunshine +brightened and gilded the woodwork, of a rather gloomy brown. At the +sight Popinot made up his mind that a madman would hardly be capable +of inventing the tender harmony of which he was at that moment +conscious. + +"I should like just such an apartment," thought he. "You think of +leaving this part of town?" he inquired. + +"I hope so," replied the Marquis. "But I shall remain till my younger +son has finished his studies, and till the children's character is +thoroughly formed, before introducing them to the world and to their +mother's circle. Indeed, after giving them the solid information they +possess, I intend to complete it by taking them to travel to the +capitals of Europe, that they may see men and things, and become +accustomed to speak the languages they have learned. And, monsieur," +he went on, giving the judge a chair in the drawing-room, "I could not +discuss the book on China with you, in the presence of an old friend +of my family, the Comte de Nouvion, who, having emigrated, has +returned to France without any fortune whatever, and who is my partner +in this concern, less for my profit than his. Without telling him what +my motives were, I explained to him that I was as poor as he, but that +I had enough money to start a speculation in which he might be +usefully employed. My tutor was the Abbe Grozier, whom Charles X. on +my recommendation appointed Keeper of the Books at the Arsenal, which +were returned to that Prince when he was still Monsieur. The Abbe +Grozier was deeply learned with regard to China, its manners and +customs; he made me heir to this knowledge at an age when it is +difficult not to become a fanatic for the things we learn. At five- +and-twenty I knew Chinese, and I confess I have never been able to +check myself in an exclusive admiration for that nation, who conquered +their conquerors, whose annals extend back indisputably to a period +more remote than mythological or Bible times, who by their immutable +institutions have preserved the integrity of their empire, whose +monuments are gigantic, whose administration is perfect, among whom +revolutions are impossible, who have regarded ideal beauty as a barren +element in art, who have carried luxury and industry to such a pitch +that we cannot outdo them in anything, while they are our equals in +things where we believe ourselves superior. + +"Still, monsieur, though I often make a jest of comparing China with +the present condition of European states, I am not a Chinaman, I am a +French gentleman. If you entertain any doubts as to the financial side +of this undertaking, I can prove to you that at this moment we have +two thousand five hundred subscribers to this work, which is literary, +iconographical, statistical, and religious; its importance has been +generally appreciated; our subscribers belong to every nation in +Europe, we have but twelve hundred in France. Our book will cost about +three hundred francs, and the Comte de Nouvion will derive from it +from six to seven thousand francs a year, for his comfort was the real +motive of the undertaking. For my part, I aimed only at the +possibility of affording my children some pleasures. The hundred +thousand francs I have made, quite in spite of myself, will pay for +their fencing lessons, horses, dress, and theatres, pay the masters +who teach them accomplishments, procure them canvases to spoil, the +books they may wish to buy, in short, all the little fancies which a +father finds so much pleasure in gratifying. If I had been compelled +to refuse these indulgences to my poor boys, who are so good and work +so hard, the sacrifice I made to the honor of my name would have been +doubly painful. + +"In point of fact, the twelve years I have spent in retirement from +the world to educate my children have led to my being completely +forgotten at Court. I have given up the career of politics; I have +lost my historical fortune, and all the distinctions which I might +have acquired and bequeathed to my children; but our house will have +lost nothing; my boys will be men of mark. Though I have missed the +senatorship, they will win it nobly by devoting themselves to the +affairs of the country, and doing such service as is not soon +forgotten. While purifying the past record of my family, I have +insured it a glorious future; and is not that to have achieved a noble +task, though in secret and without glory?--And now, monsieur, have you +any other explanations to ask me?" + +At this instant the tramp of horses was heard in the courtyard. + +"Here they are!" said the Marquis. In a moment the two lads, +fashionably but plainly dressed, came into the room, booted, spurred, +and gloved, and flourishing their riding-whips. Their beaming faces +brought in the freshness of the outer air; they were brilliant with +health. They both grasped their father's hand, giving him a look, as +friends do, a glance of unspoken affection, and then they bowed coldly +to the lawyer. Popinot felt that it was quite unnecessary to question +the Marquis as to his relations towards his sons. + +"Have you enjoyed yourselves?" asked the Marquis. + +"Yes, father; I knocked down six dolls in twelve shots at the first +trial!" cried Camille. + +"And where did you ride?" + +"In the Bois; we saw my mother." + +"Did she stop?" + +"We were riding so fast just then that I daresay she did not see us," +replied the young Count. + +"But, then, why did you not go to speak to her?" + +"I fancy I have noticed, father, that she does not care that we should +speak to her in public," said Clement in an undertone. "We are a +little too big." + +The judge's hearing was keen enough to catch these words, which +brought a cloud to the Marquis' brow. Popinot took pleasure in +contemplating the picture of the father and his boys. His eyes went +back with a sense of pathos to M. d'Espard's face; his features, his +expression, and his manner all expressed honesty in its noblest +aspect, intellectual and chivalrous honesty, nobility in all its +beauty. + +"You--you see, monsieur," said the Marquis, and his hesitation had +returned, "you see that Justice may look in--in here at any time--yes, +at any time--here. If there is anybody crazy, it can only be the +children--the children--who are a little crazy about their father, and +the father who is very crazy about his children--but that sort of +madness rings true." + +At this juncture Madame Jeanrenaud's voice was heard in the ante-room, +and the good woman came bustling in, in spite of the man-servant's +remonstrances. + +"I take no roundabout ways, I can tell you!" she exclaimed. "Yes, +Monsieur le Marquis, I want to speak to you, this very minute," she +went on, with a comprehensive bow to the company. "By George, and I am +too late as it is, since Monsieur the criminal Judge is before me." + +"Criminal!" cried the two boys. + +"Good reason why I did not find you at your own house, since you are +here. Well, well! the Law is always to the fore when there is mischief +brewing.--I came, Monsieur le Marquis, to tell you that my son and I +are of one mind to give you everything back, since our honor is +threatened. My son and I, we had rather give you back everything than +cause you the smallest trouble. My word, they must be as stupid as +pans without handles to call you a lunatic----" + +"A lunatic! My father?" exclaimed the boys, clinging to the Marquis. +"What is this?" + +"Silence, madame," said Popinot. + +"Children, leave us," said the Marquis. + +The two boys went into the garden without a word, but very much +alarmed. + +"Madame," said the judge, "the moneys paid to you by Monsieur le +Marquis were legally due, though given to you in virtue of a very far- +reaching theory of honesty. If all the people possessed of confiscated +goods, by whatever cause, even if acquired by treachery, were +compelled to make restitution every hundred and fifty years, there +would be few legitimate owners in France. The possessions of Jacques +Coeur enriched twenty noble families; the confiscations pronounced by +the English to the advantage of their adherents at the time when they +held a part of France made the fortune of several princely houses. + +"Our law allows M. d'Espard to dispose of his income without +accounting for it, or suffering him to be accused of its +misapplication. A Commission in Lunacy can only be granted when a +man's actions are devoid of reason; but in this case, the remittances +made to you have a reason based on the most sacred and most honorable +motives. Hence you may keep it all without remorse, and leave the +world to misinterpret a noble action. In Paris, the highest virtue is +the object of the foulest calumny. It is, unfortunately, the present +condition of society that makes the Marquis' actions sublime. For the +honor of my country, I would that such deeds were regarded as a matter +of course; but, as things are, I am forced by comparison to look upon +M. d'Espard as a man to whom a crown should be awarded, rather than +that he should be threatened with a Commission in Lunacy. + +"In the course of a long professional career, I have seen and heard +nothing that has touched me more deeply than that I have just seen and +heard. But it is not extraordinary that virtue should wear its noblest +aspect when it is practised by men of the highest class. + +"Having heard me express myself in this way, I hope, Monsieur le +Marquis, that you feel certain of my silence, and that you will not +for a moment be uneasy as to the decision pronounced in the case--if +it comes before the Court." + +"There, now! Well said," cried Madame Jeanrenaud. "That is something +like a judge! Look here, my dear sir, I would hug you if I were not so +ugly; you speak like a book." + +The Marquis held out his hand to Popinot, who gently pressed it with a +look full of sympathetic comprehension at this great man in private +life, and the Marquis responded with a pleasant smile. These two +natures, both so large and full--one commonplace but divinely kind, +the other lofty and sublime--had fallen into unison gently, without a +jar, without a flash of passion, as though two pure lights had been +merged into one. The father of a whole district felt himself worthy to +grasp the hand of this man who was doubly noble, and the Marquis felt +in the depths of his soul an instinct that told him that the judge's +hand was one of those from which the treasures of inexhaustible +beneficence perennially flow. + +"Monsieur le Marquis," added Popinot, with a bow, "I am happy to be +able to tell you that, from the first words of this inquiry, I +regarded my clerk as quite unnecessary." + +He went close to M. d'Espard, led him into the window-bay, and said: +"It is time that you should return home, monsieur. I believe that +Madame la Marquise has acted in this matter under an influence which +you ought at once to counteract." + +Popinot withdrew. He looked back several times as he crossed the +courtyard, touched by the recollection of the scene. It was one of +those which take root in the memory to blossom again in certain hours +when the soul seeks consolation. + +"Those rooms would just suit me," said he to himself as he reached +home. "If M. d'Espard leaves them, I will take up his lease." + + + +The next day, at about ten in the morning, Popinot, who had written +out his report the previous evening, made his way to the Palais de +Justice, intending to have prompt and righteous justice done. As he +went to the robing-room to put on his gown and bands, the usher told +him that the President of his Court begged him to attend in his +private room, where he was waiting for him. Popinot forthwith obeyed. + +"Good-morning, my dear Popinot," said the President, "I have been +waiting for you." + +"Why, Monsieur le President, is anything wrong?" + +"A mere silly trifle," said the President. "The Keeper of the Seals, +with whom I had the honor of dining yesterday, led me apart into a +corner. He had heard that you had been to tea with Madame d'Espard, in +whose case you were employed to make inquiries. He gave me to +understand that it would be as well that you should not sit on this +case----" + +"But, Monsieur le President, I can prove that I left Madame d'Espard's +house at the moment when tea was brought in. And my conscience----" + +"Yes, yes; the whole Bench, the two Courts, all the profession know +you. I need not repeat what I said about you to his Eminence; but, you +know, 'Caesar's wife must not be suspected.' So we shall not make this +foolish trifle a matter of discipline, but only of proprieties. +Between ourselves, it is not on your account, but on that of the +Bench." + +"But, monsieur, if you only knew the kind of woman----" said the +judge, trying to pull his report out of his pocket. + +"I am perfectly certain that you have proceeded in this matter with +the strictest independence of judgment. I myself, in the provinces, +have often taken more than a cup of tea with the people I had to try; +but the fact that the Keeper of the Seals should have mentioned it, +and that you might be talked about, is enough to make the Court avoid +any discussion of the matter. Any conflict with public opinion must +always be dangerous for a constitutional body, even when the right is +on its side against the public, because their weapons are not equal. +Journalism may say or suppose anything, and our dignity forbids us +even to reply. In fact, I have spoken of the matter to your President, +and M. Camusot has been appointed in your place on your retirement, +which you will signify. It is a family matter, so to speak. And I now +beg you to signify your retirement from the case as a personal favor. +To make up, you will get the Cross of the Legion of Honor, which has +so long been due to you. I make that my business." + +When he saw M. Camusot, a judge recently called to Paris from a +provincial Court of the same class, as he went forward bowing to the +Judge and the President, Popinot could not repress an ironical smile. +This pale, fair young man, full of covert ambition, looked ready to +hang and unhang, at the pleasure of any earthy king, the innocent and +the guilty alike, and to follow the example of a Laubardemont rather +than that of a Mole. + +Popinot withdrew with a bow; he scorned to deny the lying accusation +that had been brought against him. + + + +PARIS, February 1836. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + +Note: The Commission in Lunacy is also known as The Interdiction and +is referred to by that title in certain of the addendums. + +Bianchon, Horace + Father Goriot + The Atheist's Mass + Cesar Birotteau + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Secrets of a Princess + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Study of Woman + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Magic Skin + A Second Home + A Prince of Bohemia + Letters of Two Brides + The Muse of the Department + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + The Country Parson +In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + La Grande Breteche + +Bordin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Seamy Side of History + Jealousies of a Country Town + +Camusot de Marville + Cousin Pons + Jealousies of a Country Town + Scenes from a Cuortesan's Life + +Desroches (son) + A Bachelor's Establishment + Colonel Chabert + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + +Espard, Charles-Maurice-Marie-Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis d' + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + +Espard, Chevalier d' + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Secrets of a Princess + +Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d' + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Letters of Two Brides + Another Study of Woman + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + Beatrix + +Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + Colonel Chabert + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + +Grozier, Abbe + Lost Illusions + +Jeanrenaud + Albert Savarus + +Mongenod, Frederic + The Seamy Side of History + +Negrepelisse, De + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + +Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de + Father Goriot + The Thirteen + Eugenie Grandet + Cesar Birotteau + Melmoth Reconciled + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Modeste Mignon + The Firm of Nucingen + Another Study of Woman + A Daughter of Eve + The Member for Arcis + +Popinot, Jean-Jules + Cesar Birotteau + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Middle Classes + +Rabourdin, Madame + The Government Clerks + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Commission in Lunacy + diff --git a/old/old/lunac10.zip b/old/old/lunac10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..94e2f63 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/lunac10.zip |