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diff --git a/old/1411-0.txt b/old/1411-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ec67e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1411-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1938 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Domestic Peace, 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: Domestic Peace + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + +Release Date: August, 1998 [Etext #1411] +Last Updated: November 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOMESTIC PEACE *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +DOMESTIC PEACE + + +By Honore De Balzac + + + +Translated By Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + + + + Dedicated to my dear niece Valentine Surville. + + + + + +DOMESTIC PEACE + + +The incident recorded in this sketch took place towards the end of the +month of November, 1809, the moment when Napoleon’s fugitive empire +attained the apogee of its splendor. The trumpet-blasts of Wagram were +still sounding an echo in the heart of the Austrian monarchy. Peace was +being signed between France and the Coalition. Kings and princes came to +perform their orbits, like stars, round Napoleon, who gave himself the +pleasure of dragging all Europe in his train--a magnificent +experiment in the power he afterwards displayed at Dresden. Never, as +contemporaries tell us, did Paris see entertainments more superb than +those which preceded and followed the sovereign’s marriage with an +Austrian archduchess. Never, in the most splendid days of the Monarchy, +had so many crowned heads thronged the shores of the Seine, never +had the French aristocracy been so rich or so splendid. The diamonds +lavishly scattered over the women’s dresses, and the gold and silver +embroidery on the uniforms contrasted so strongly with the penury of the +Republic, that the wealth of the globe seemed to be rolling through the +drawing-rooms of Paris. Intoxication seemed to have turned the brains +of this Empire of a day. All the military, not excepting their chief, +reveled like parvenus in the treasure conquered for them by a million +men with worsted epaulettes, whose demands were satisfied by a few yards +of red ribbon. + +At this time most women affected that lightness of conduct and facility +of morals which distinguished the reign of Louis XV. Whether it were in +imitation of the tone of the fallen monarchy, or because certain members +of the Imperial family had set the example--as certain malcontents of +the Faubourg Saint-Germain chose to say--it is certain that men and +women alike flung themselves into a life of pleasure with an intrepidity +which seemed to forbode the end of the world. But there was at that +time another cause for such license. The infatuation of women for the +military became a frenzy, and was too consonant to the Emperor’s views +for him to try to check it. The frequent calls to arms, which gave every +treaty concluded between Napoleon and the rest of Europe the character +of an armistice, left every passion open to a termination as sudden as +the decisions of the Commander-in-chief of all these busbys, pelisses, +and aiguillettes, which so fascinated the fair sex. Hearts were as +nomadic as the regiments. Between the first and fifth bulletins from the +_Grand Armee_ a woman might be in succession mistress, wife, mother, and +widow. + +Was it the prospect of early widowhood, the hope of a jointure, or +that of bearing a name promised to history, which made the soldiers so +attractive? Were women drawn to them by the certainty that the secret +of their passions would be buried on the field of battle? or may we find +the reason of this gentle fanaticism in the noble charm that courage has +for a woman? Perhaps all these reasons, which the future historian +of the manners of the Empire will no doubt amuse himself by weighing, +counted for something in their facile readiness to abandon themselves +to love intrigues. Be that as it may, it must here be confessed that at +that time laurels hid many errors, women showed an ardent preference for +the brave adventurers, whom they regarded as the true fount of honor, +wealth, or pleasure; and in the eyes of young girls, an epaulette--the +hieroglyphic of a future--signified happiness and liberty. + +One feature, and a characteristic one, of this unique period in our +history was an unbridled mania for everything glittering. Never were +fireworks so much in vogue, never were diamonds so highly prized. The +men, as greedy as the women of these translucent pebbles, displayed them +no less lavishly. Possibly the necessity for carrying plunder in the +most portable form made gems the fashion in the army. A man was not +ridiculous then, as he would be now, if his shirt-frill or his fingers +blazed with large diamonds. Murat, an Oriental by nature, set the +example of preposterous luxury to modern soldiers. + +The Comte de Gondreville, formerly known as Citizen Malin, whose +elevation had made him famous, having become a Lucullus of the +Conservative Senate, which “conserved” nothing, had postponed an +entertainment in honor of the peace only that he might the better pay +his court to Napoleon by his efforts to eclipse those flatterers who had +been before-hand with him. The ambassadors from all the Powers +friendly with France, with an eye to favors to come, the most important +personages of the Empire, and even a few princes, were at this hour +assembled in the wealthy senator’s drawing-rooms. Dancing flagged; every +one was watching for the Emperor, whose presence the Count had promised +his guests. And Napoleon would have kept his word but for the scene +which had broken out that very evening between him and Josephine--the +scene which portended the impending divorce of the august pair. The +report of this incident, at the time kept very secret, but recorded by +history, did not reach the ears of the courtiers, and had no effect on +the gaiety of Comte de Gondreville’s party beyond keeping Napoleon away. + +The prettiest women in Paris, eager to be at the Count’s on the strength +of mere hearsay, at this moment were a besieging force of luxury, +coquettishness, elegance, and beauty. The financial world, proud of its +riches, challenged the splendor of the generals and high officials of +the Empire, so recently gorged with orders, titles, and honors. These +grand balls were always an opportunity seized upon by wealthy families +for introducing their heiresses to Napoleon’s Praetorian Guard, in the +foolish hope of exchanging their splendid fortunes for uncertain favors. +The women who believed themselves strong enough in their beauty alone +came to test their power. There, as elsewhere, amusement was but a +blind. Calm and smiling faces and placid brows covered sordid interests, +expressions of friendship were a lie, and more than one man was less +distrustful of his enemies than of his friends. + +These remarks are necessary to explain the incidents of the little +imbroglio which is the subject of this study, and the picture, softened +as it is, of the tone then dominant in Paris drawing-rooms. + +“Turn your eyes a little towards the pedestal supporting that +candelabrum--do you see a young lady with her hair drawn back _a la +Chinoise_!--There, in the corner to the left; she has bluebells in the +knot of chestnut curls which fall in clusters on her head. Do not you +see her? She is so pale you might fancy she was ill, delicate-looking, +and very small; there--now she is turning her head this way; her +almond-shaped blue eyes, so delightfully soft, look as if they were made +expressly for tears. Look, look! She is bending forward to see Madame +de Vaudremont below the crowd of heads in constant motion; the high +head-dresses prevent her having a clear view.” + +“I see her now, my dear fellow. You had only to say that she had the +whitest skin of all the women here; I should have known whom you meant. +I had noticed her before; she has the loveliest complexion I ever +admired. From hence I defy you to see against her throat the pearls +between the sapphires of her necklace. But she is a prude or a coquette, +for the tucker of her bodice scarcely lets one suspect the beauty of her +bust. What shoulders! what lily-whiteness!” + +“Who is she?” asked the first speaker. + +“Ah! that I do not know.” + +“Aristocrat!--Do you want to keep them all to yourself, Montcornet?” + +“You of all men to banter me!” replied Montcornet, with a smile. “Do you +think you have a right to insult a poor general like me because, being +a happy rival of Soulanges, you cannot even turn on your heel without +alarming Madame de Vaudremont? Or is it because I came only a month ago +into the Promised Land? How insolent you can be, you men in office, +who sit glued to your chairs while we are dodging shot and shell! Come, +Monsieur le Maitre des Requetes, allow us to glean in the field of which +you can only have precarious possession from the moment when we evacuate +it. The deuce is in it! We have a right to live! My good friend, if you +knew the German women, you would, I believe, do me a good turn with the +Parisian you love best.” + +“Well, General, since you have vouchsafed to turn your attention to that +lady, whom I never saw till now, have the charity to tell me if you have +seen her dance.” + +“Why, my dear Martial, where have you dropped from? If you are ever sent +with an embassy, I have small hopes of your success. Do not you see a +triple rank of the most undaunted coquettes of Paris between her and the +swarm of dancing men that buzz under the chandelier? And was it not only +by the help of your eyeglass that you were able to discover her at all +in the corner by that pillar, where she seems buried in the gloom, in +spite of the candles blazing above her head? Between her and us there is +such a sparkle of diamonds and glances, so many floating plumes, such a +flutter of lace, of flowers and curls, that it would be a real miracle +if any dancer could detect her among those stars. Why, Martial, how is +it that you have not understood her to be the wife of some sous-prefet +from Lippe or Dyle, who has come to try to get her husband promoted?” + +“Oh, he will be!” exclaimed the Master of Appeals quickly. + +“I doubt it,” replied the Colonel of Cuirassiers, laughing. “She seems +as raw in intrigue as you are in diplomacy. I dare bet, Martial, that +you do not know how she got into that place.” + +The lawyer looked at the Colonel of Cuirassiers with an expression as +much of contempt as of curiosity. + +“Well,” proceeded Montcornet, “she arrived, I have no doubt, punctually +at nine, the first of the company perhaps, and probably she greatly +embarrassed the Comtesse de Gondreville, who cannot put two ideas +together. Repulsed by the mistress of the house, routed from chair to +chair by each newcomer, and driven into the darkness of this little +corner, she allowed herself to be walled in, the victim of the jealousy +of the other ladies, who would gladly have buried that dangerous beauty. +She had, of course, no friend to encourage her to maintain the place she +first held in the front rank; then each of those treacherous fair ones +would have enjoined on the men of her circle on no account to take out +our poor friend, under pain of the severest punishment. That, my dear +fellow, is the way in which those sweet faces, in appearance so tender +and so artless, would have formed a coalition against the stranger, and +that without a word beyond the question, ‘Tell me, dear, do you know +that little woman in blue?’--Look here, Martial, if you care to run the +gauntlet of more flattering glances and inviting questions than you will +ever again meet in the whole of your life, just try to get through the +triple rampart which defends that Queen of Dyle, or Lippe, or Charente. +You will see whether the dullest woman of them all will not be equal +to inventing some wile that would hinder the most determined man from +bringing the plaintive stranger to the light. Does it not strike you +that she looks like an elegy?” + +“Do you think so, Montcornet? Then she must be a married woman?” + +“Why not a widow?” + +“She would be less passive,” said the lawyer, laughing. + +“She is perhaps the widow of a man who is gambling,” replied the +handsome Colonel. + +“To be sure; since the peace there are so many widows of that class!” + said Martial. “But my dear Montcornet, we are a couple of simpletons. +That face is still too ingenuous, there is too much youth and +freshness on the brow and temples for her to be married. What splendid +flesh-tints! Nothing has sunk in the modeling of the nose. Lips, chin, +everything in her face is as fresh as a white rosebud, though the +expression is veiled, as it were, by the clouds of sadness. Who can it +be that makes that young creature weep?” + +“Women cry for so little,” said the Colonel. + +“I do not know,” replied Martial; “but she does not cry because she is +left there without a partner; her grief is not of to-day. It is evident +that she has beautified herself for this evening with intention. I would +wager that she is in love already.” + +“Bah! She is perhaps the daughter of some German princeling; no one +talks to her,” said Montcornet. + +“Dear! how unhappy a poor child may be!” Martial went on. “Can there be +anything more graceful and refined than our little stranger? Well, not +one of those furies who stand round her, and who believe that they can +feel, will say a word to her. If she would but speak, we should see if +she has fine teeth. + +“Bless me, you boil over like milk at the least increase of +temperature!” cried the Colonel, a little nettled at so soon finding a +rival in his friend. + +“What!” exclaimed the lawyer, without heeding the Colonel’s question. +“Can nobody here tell us the name of this exotic flower?” + +“Some lady companion!” said Montcornet. + +“What next? A companion! wearing sapphires fit for a queen, and a dress +of Malines lace? Tell that to the marines, General. You, too, would not +shine in diplomacy if, in the course of your conjectures, you jump in a +breath from a German princess to a lady companion.” + +Montcornet stopped a man by taking his arm--a fat little man, whose +iron-gray hair and clever eyes were to be seen at the lintel of every +doorway, and who mingled unceremoniously with the various groups which +welcomed him respectfully. + +“Gondreville, my friend,” said Montcornet, “who is that quite charming +little woman sitting out there under that huge candelabrum?” + +“The candelabrum? Ravrio’s work; Isabey made the design.” + +“Oh, I recognized your lavishness and taste; but the lady?” + +“Ah! I do not know. Some friend of my wife’s, no doubt.” + +“Or your mistress, you old rascal.” + +“No, on my honor. The Comtesse de Gondreville is the only person capable +of inviting people whom no one knows.” + +In spite of this very acrimonious comment, the fat little man’s lips did +not lose the smile which the Colonel’s suggestion had brought to them. +Montcornet returned to the lawyer, who had rejoined a neighboring group, +intent on asking, but in vain, for information as to the fair unknown. +He grasped Martial’s arm, and said in his ear: + +“My dear Martial, mind what you are about. Madame de Vaudremont has been +watching you for some minutes with ominous attentiveness; she is a woman +who can guess by the mere movement of your lips what you say to me; +our eyes have already told her too much; she has perceived and followed +their direction, and I suspect that at this moment she is thinking even +more than we are of the little blue lady.” + +“That is too old a trick in warfare, my dear Montcornet! However, what +do I care? Like the Emperor, when I have made a conquest, I keep it.” + +“Martial, your fatuity cries out for a lesson. What! you, a civilian, +and so lucky as to be the husband-designate of Madame de Vaudremont, a +widow of two-and-twenty, burdened with four thousand napoleons a year--a +woman who slips such a diamond as this on your finger,” he added, taking +the lawyer’s left hand, which the young man complacently allowed; “and, +to crown all, you affect the Lovelace, just as if you were a colonel and +obliged to keep up the reputation of the military in home quarters! Fie, +fie! Only think of all you may lose.” + +“At any rate, I shall not lose my liberty,” replied Martial, with a +forced laugh. + +He cast a passionate glance at Madame de Vaudremont, who responded only +by a smile of some uneasiness, for she had seen the Colonel examining +the lawyer’s ring. + +“Listen to me, Martial. If you flutter round my young stranger, I shall +set to work to win Madame de Vaudremont.” + +“You have my full permission, my dear Cuirassier, but you will not +gain this much,” and the young Maitre des Requetes put his polished +thumb-nail under an upper tooth with a little mocking click. + +“Remember that I am unmarried,” said the Colonel; “that my sword is my +whole fortune; and that such a challenge is setting Tantalus down to a +banquet which he will devour.” + +“Prrr.” + +This defiant roll of consonants was the only reply to the Colonel’s +declaration, as Martial looked him from head to foot before turning +away. + +The fashion of the time required men to wear at a ball white kerseymere +breeches and silk stockings. This pretty costume showed to great +advantage the perfection of Montcornet’s fine shape. He was +five-and-thirty, and attracted attention by his stalwart height, +insisted on for the Cuirassiers of the Imperial Guard whose handsome +uniform enhanced the dignity of his figure, still youthful in spite +of the stoutness occasioned by living on horseback. A black moustache +emphasized the frank expression of a thoroughly soldierly countenance, +with a broad, high forehead, an aquiline nose, and bright red lips. +Montcornet’s manner, stamped with a certain superiority due to the habit +of command, might please a woman sensible enough not to aim at making a +slave of her husband. The Colonel smiled as he looked at the lawyer, one +of his favorite college friends, whose small figure made it necessary +for Montcornet to look down a little as he answered his raillery with a +friendly glance. + +Baron Martial de la Roche-Hugon was a young Provencal patronized by +Napoleon; his fate might probably be some splendid embassy. He had +won the Emperor by his Italian suppleness and a genius for intrigue, a +drawing-room eloquence, and a knowledge of manners, which are so good a +substitute for the higher qualities of a sterling man. Through young +and eager, his face had already acquired the rigid brilliancy of tinned +iron, one of the indispensable characteristics of diplomatists, which +allows them to conceal their emotions and disguise their feelings, +unless, indeed, this impassibility indicates an absence of all emotion +and the death of every feeling. The heart of a diplomate may be regarded +as an insoluble problem, for the three most illustrious ambassadors of +the time have been distinguished by perdurable hatreds and most romantic +attachments. + +Martial, however, was one of those men who are capable of reckoning on +the future in the midst of their intensest enjoyment; he had already +learned to judge the world, and hid his ambition under the fatuity of a +lady-killer, cloaking his talent under the commonplace of mediocrity +as soon as he observed the rapid advancement of those men who gave the +master little umbrage. + +The two friends now had to part with a cordial grasp of hands. The +introductory tune, warning the ladies to form in squares for a fresh +quadrille, cleared the men away from the space they had filled while +talking in the middle of the large room. This hurried dialogue had taken +place during the usual interval between two dances, in front of the +fireplace of the great drawing-room of Gondreville’s mansion. The +questions and answers of this very ordinary ballroom gossip had been +almost whispered by each of the speakers into his neighbor’s ear. At the +same time, the chandeliers and the flambeaux on the chimney-shelf shed +such a flood of light on the two friends that their faces, strongly +illuminated, failed, in spite of their diplomatic discretion, to conceal +the faint expression of their feelings either from the keen-sighted +countess or the artless stranger. This espionage of people’s thoughts is +perhaps to idle persons one of the pleasures they find in society, while +numbers of disappointed numskulls are bored there without daring to own +it. + + + +Fully to appreciate the interest of this conversation, it is necessary +to relate an incident which would presently serve as an invisible bond, +drawing together the actors in this little drama, who were at present +scattered through the rooms. + +At about eleven o’clock, just as the dancers were returning to their +seats, the company had observed the entrance of the handsomest woman in +Paris, the queen of fashion, the only person wanting to the brilliant +assembly. She made it a rule never to appear till the moment when a +party had reached that pitch of excited movement which does not allow +the women to preserve much longer the freshness of their faces or of +their dress. This brief hour is, as it were, the springtime of a ball. +An hour after, when pleasure falls flat and fatigue is encroaching, +everything is spoilt. Madame de Vaudremont never committed the blunder +of remaining at a party to be seen with drooping flowers, hair out +of curl, tumbled frills, and a face like every other that sleep is +courting--not always without success. She took good care not to let her +beauty be seen drowsy, as her rivals did; she was so clever as to +keep up her reputation for smartness by always leaving a ballroom in +brilliant order, as she had entered it. Women whispered to each other +with a feeling of envy that she planned and wore as many different +dresses as the parties she went to in one evening. + +On the present occasion Madame de Vaudremont was not destined to be free +to leave when she would the ballroom she had entered in triumph. Pausing +for a moment on the threshold, she shot swift but observant glances on +the women present, hastily scrutinizing their dresses to assure herself +that her own eclipsed them all. + +The illustrious beauty presented herself to the admiration of the crowd +at the same moment with one of the bravest colonels of the Guards’ +Artillery and the Emperor’s favorite, the Comte de Soulanges. The +transient and fortuitous association of these two had about it a certain +air of mystery. On hearing the names announced of Monsieur de Soulanges +and the Comtesse de Vaudremont, a few women sitting by the wall rose, +and men, hurrying in from the side-rooms, pressed forward to the +principal doorway. One of the jesters who are always to be found in any +large assembly said, as the Countess and her escort came in, that “women +had quite as much curiosity about seeing a man who was faithful to his +passion as men had in studying a woman who was difficult to enthrall.” + +Though the Comte de Soulanges, a young man of about two-and-thirty, was +endowed with the nervous temperament which in a man gives rise to fine +qualities, his slender build and pale complexion were not at first sight +attractive; his black eyes betrayed great vivacity, but he was taciturn +in company, and there was nothing in his appearance to reveal the gift +for oratory which subsequently distinguished him, on the Right, in the +legislative assembly under the Restoration. + +The Comtesse de Vaudremont, a tall woman, rather fat, with a skin of +dazzling whiteness, a small head that she carried well, and the immense +advantage of inspiring love by the graciousness of her manner, was one +of those beings who keep all the promise of their beauty. + +The pair, who for a few minutes were the centre of general observation, +did not for long give curiosity an opportunity of exercising itself +about them. The Colonel and the Countess seemed perfectly to understand +that accident had placed them in an awkward position. Martial, as they +came forward, had hastened to join the group of men by the fireplace, +that he might watch Madame de Vaudremont with the jealous anxiety of +the first flame of passion, from behind the heads which formed a sort of +rampart; a secret voice seemed to warn him that the success on which he +prided himself might perhaps be precarious. But the coldly polite smile +with which the Countess thanked Monsieur de Soulanges, and her little +bow of dismissal as she sat down by Madame de Gondreville, relaxed the +muscles of his face which jealousy had made rigid. Seeing Soulanges, +however, still standing quite near the sofa on which Madame de +Vaudremont was seated, not apparently having understood the glance +by which the lady had conveyed to him that they were both playing a +ridiculous part, the volcanic Provencal again knit the black brows that +overshadowed his blue eyes, smoothed his chestnut curls to keep himself +in countenance, and without betraying the agitation which made his heart +beat, watched the faces of the Countess and of M. de Soulanges while +still chatting with his neighbors. He then took the hand of Colonel +Montcornet, who had just renewed their old acquaintance, but he listened +to him without hearing him; his mind was elsewhere. + +Soulanges was gazing calmly at the women, sitting four ranks deep all +round the immense ballroom, admiring this dado of diamonds, rubies, +masses of gold and shining hair, of which the lustre almost outshone the +blaze of waxlights, the cutglass of the chandeliers, and the gilding. +His rival’s stolid indifference put the lawyer out of countenance. Quite +incapable of controlling his secret transports of impatience, Martial +went towards Madame de Vaudremont with a bow. On seeing the Provencal, +Soulanges gave him a covert glance, and impertinently turned away his +head. Solemn silence now reigned in the room, where curiosity was at +the highest pitch. All these eager faces wore the strangest mixed +expressions; every one apprehended one of those outbreaks which men of +breeding carefully avoid. Suddenly the Count’s pale face turned as red +as the scarlet facings of his coat, and he fixed his gaze on the floor +that the cause of his agitation might not be guessed. On catching sight +of the unknown lady humbly seated by the pedestal of the candelabrum, +he moved away with a melancholy air, passing in front of the lawyer, and +took refuge in one of the cardrooms. Martial and all the company thought +that Soulanges had publicly surrendered the post, out of fear of the +ridicule which invariably attaches to a discarded lover. The lawyer +proudly raised his head and looked at the strange lady; then, as he took +his seat at his ease near Madame de Vaudremont, he listened to her so +inattentively that he did not catch these words spoken behind her fan: + +“Martial, you will oblige me this evening by not wearing that ring that +you snatched from me. I have my reasons, and will explain them to you +in a moment when we go away. You must give me your arm to go to the +Princess de Wagram’s.” + +“Why did you come in with the Colonel?” asked the Baron. + +“I met him in the hall,” she replied. “But leave me now; everybody is +looking at us.” + +Martial returned to the Colonel of Cuirassiers. Then it was that the +little blue lady had become the object of the curiosity which agitated +in such various ways the Colonel, Soulanges, Martial, and Madame de +Vaudremont. + +When the friends parted, after the challenge which closed their +conversation, the Baron flew to Madame de Vaudremont, and led her to +a place in the most brilliant quadrille. Favored by the sort of +intoxication which dancing always produces in a woman, and by the +turmoil of a ball, where men appear in all the trickery of dress, +which adds no less to their attractions than it does to those of women, +Martial thought he might yield with impunity to the charm that attracted +his gaze to the fair stranger. Though he succeeded in hiding his first +glances towards the lady in blue from the anxious activity of the +Countess’ eyes, he was ere long caught in the fact; and though he +managed to excuse himself once for his absence of mind, he could not +justify the unseemly silence with which he presently heard the most +insinuating question which a woman can put to a man: + +“Do you like me very much this evening?” + +And the more dreamy he became, the more the Countess pressed and teased +him. + +While Martial was dancing, the Colonel moved from group to group, +seeking information about the unknown lady. After exhausting the +good-humor even of the most indifferent, he had resolved to take +advantage of a moment when the Comtesse de Gondreville seemed to be at +liberty, to ask her the name of the mysterious lady, when he perceived a +little space left clear between the pedestal of the candelabrum and the +two sofas, which ended in that corner. The dance had left several of the +chairs vacant, which formed rows of fortifications held by mothers or +women of middle age; and the Colonel seized the opportunity to make his +way through this palisade hung with shawls and wraps. He began by making +himself agreeable to the dowagers, and so from one to another, and from +compliment to compliment, he at last reached the empty space next the +stranger. At the risk of catching on to the gryphons and chimaeras of +the huge candelabrum, he stood there, braving the glare and dropping of +the wax candles, to Martial’s extreme annoyance. + +The Colonel, far too tactful to speak suddenly to the little blue lady +on his right, began by saying to a plain woman who was seated on the +left: + +“This is a splendid ball, madame! What luxury! What life! On my word, +every woman here is pretty! You are not dancing--because you do not care +for it, no doubt.” + +This vapid conversation was solely intended to induce his right-hand +neighbor to speak; but she, silent and absent-minded, paid not the +least attention. The officer had in store a number of phrases which he +intended should lead up to: “And you, madame?”--a question from which he +hoped great things. But he was strangely surprised to see tears in the +strange lady’s eyes, which seemed wholly absorbed in gazing on Madame de +Vaudremont. + +“You are married, no doubt, madame?” he asked her at length, in +hesitating tones. + +“Yes, monsieur,” replied the lady. + +“And your husband is here, of course?” + +“Yes, monsieur.” + +“And why, madame, do you remain in this spot? Is it to attract +attention?” + +The mournful lady smiled sadly. + +“Allow me the honor, madame, of being your partner in the next +quadrille, and I will take care not to bring you back here. I see a +vacant settee near the fire; come and take it. When so many people +are ready to ascend the throne, and Royalty is the mania of the day, I +cannot imagine that you will refuse the title of Queen of the Ball which +your beauty may claim.” + +“I do not intend to dance, monsieur.” + +The curt tone of the lady’s replies was so discouraging that the Colonel +found himself compelled to raise the siege. Martial, who guessed what +the officer’s last request had been, and the refusal he had met with, +began to smile, and stroked his chin, making the diamond sparkle which +he wore on his finger. + +“What are you laughing at?” said the Comtesse de Vaudremont. + +“At the failure of the poor Colonel, who has just put his foot in +it----” + +“I begged you to take your ring off,” said the Countess, interrupting +him. + +“I did not hear you.” + +“If you can hear nothing this evening, at any rate you see everything, +Monsieur le Baron,” said Madame de Vaudremont, with an air of vexation. + +“That young man is displaying a very fine diamond,” the stranger +remarked to the Colonel. + +“Splendid,” he replied. “The man is the Baron Martial de la Roche-Hugon, +one of my most intimate friends.” + +“I have to thank you for telling me his name,” she went on; “he seems an +agreeable man.” + +“Yes, but he is rather fickle.” + +“He seems to be on the best terms with the Comtesse de Vaudremont?” said +the lady, with an inquiring look at the Colonel. + +“On the very best.” + +The unknown turned pale. + +“Hallo!” thought the soldier, “she is in love with that lucky devil +Martial.” + +“I fancied that Madame de Vaudremont had long been devoted to M. de +Soulanges,” said the lady, recovering a little from the suppressed grief +which had clouded the fairness of her face. + +“For a week past the Countess has been faithless,” replied the Colonel. +“But you must have seen poor Soulanges when he came in; he is till +trying to disbelieve in his disaster.” + +“Yes, I saw him,” said the lady. Then she added, “Thank you very much, +monsieur,” in a tone which signified a dismissal. + +At this moment the quadrille was coming to an end. Montcornet had only +time to withdraw, saying to himself by way of consolation, “She is +married.” + +“Well, valiant Cuirassier,” exclaimed the Baron, drawing the Colonel +aside into a window-bay to breathe the fresh air from the garden, “how +are you getting on?” + +“She is a married woman, my dear fellow.” + +“What does that matter?” + +“Oh, deuce take it! I am a decent sort of man,” replied the Colonel. “I +have no idea of paying my addresses to a woman I cannot marry. Besides, +Martial, she expressly told me that she did not intend to dance.” + +“Colonel, I will bet a hundred napoleons to your gray horse that she +will dance with me this evening.” + +“Done!” said the Colonel, putting his hand in the coxcomb’s. “Meanwhile +I am going to look for Soulanges; he perhaps knows the lady, as she +seems interested in him.” + +“You have lost, my good fellow,” cried Martial, laughing. “My eyes +have met hers, and I know what they mean. My dear friend, you owe me no +grudge for dancing with her after she has refused you?” + +“No, no. Those who laugh last, laugh longest. But I am an honest gambler +and a generous enemy, Martial, and I warn you, she is fond of diamonds.” + +With these words the friends parted; General Montcornet made his way +to the cardroom, where he saw the Comte de Soulanges sitting at a +_bouillotte_ table. Though there was no friendship between the two +soldiers, beyond the superficial comradeship arising from the perils +of war and the duties of the service, the Colonel of Cuirassiers was +painfully struck by seeing the Colonel of Artillery, whom he knew to +be a prudent man, playing at a game which might bring him to ruin. The +heaps of gold and notes piled on the fateful cards showed the frenzy of +play. A circle of silent men stood round the players at the table. Now +and then a few words were spoken--_pass, play, I stop, a thousand Louis, +taken_--but, looking at the five motionless men, it seemed as though +they talked only with their eyes. As the Colonel, alarmed by Soulanges’ +pallor, went up to him, the Count was winning. Field-Marshal the Duc +d’Isemberg, Keller, and a famous banker rose from the table completely +cleaned out of considerable sums. Soulanges looked gloomier than ever as +he swept up a quantity of gold and notes; he did not even count it; his +lips curled with bitter scorn, he seemed to defy fortune rather than be +grateful for her favors. + +“Courage,” said the Colonel. “Courage, Soulanges!” Then, believing he +would do him a service by dragging him from play, he added: “Come with +me. I have some good news for you, but on one condition.” + +“What is that?” asked Soulanges. + +“That you will answer a question I will ask you.” + +The Comte de Soulanges rose abruptly, placing his winnings with reckless +indifference in his handkerchief, which he had been twisting with +convulsive nervousness, and his expression was so savage that none of +the players took exception to his walking off with their money. Indeed, +every face seemed to dilate with relief when his morose and crabbed +countenance was no longer to be seen under the circle of light which a +shaded lamp casts on a gaming-table. + +“Those fiends of soldiers are always as thick as thieves at a fair!” + said a diplomate who had been looking on, as he took Soulanges’ place. +One single pallid and fatigued face turned to the newcomer, and said +with a glance that flashed and died out like the sparkle of a diamond: +“When we say military men, we do not mean civil, Monsieur le Ministre.” + +“My dear fellow,” said Montcornet to Soulanges, leading him into a +corner, “the Emperor spoke warmly in your praise this morning, and your +promotion to be field-marshal is a certainty.” + +“The Master does not love the Artillery.” + +“No, but he adores the nobility, and you are an aristocrat. The Master +said,” added Montcornet, “that the men who had married in Paris during +the campaign were not therefore to be considered in disgrace. Well +then?” + +The Comte de Soulanges looked as if he understood nothing of this +speech. + +“And now I hope,” the Colonel went on, “that you will tell me if +you know a charming little woman who is sitting under a huge +candelabrum----” + +At these words the Count’s face lighted up; he violently seized the +Colonel’s hand: “My dear General,” said he, in a perceptibly altered +voice, “if any man but you had asked me such a question, I would have +cracked his skull with this mass of gold. Leave me, I entreat you. +I feel more like blowing out my brains this evening, I assure you, +than----I hate everything I see. And, in fact, I am going. This gaiety, +this music, these stupid faces, all laughing, are killing me!” + +“My poor friend!” replied Montcornet gently, and giving the Count’s hand +a friendly pressure, “you are too vehement. What would you say if I told +you that Martial is thinking so little of Madame de Vaudremont that he +is quite smitten with that little lady?” + +“If he says a word to her,” cried Soulanges, stammering with rage, “I +will thrash him as flat as his own portfolio, even if the coxcomb were +in the Emperor’s lap!” + +And he sank quite overcome on an easy-chair to which Montcornet had led +him. The colonel slowly went away, for he perceived that Soulanges +was in a state of fury far too violent for the pleasantries or the +attentions of superficial friendship to soothe him. + +When Montcornet returned to the ballroom, Madame de Vaudremont was the +first person on whom his eyes fell, and he observed on her face, usually +so calm, some symptoms of ill-disguised agitation. A chair was vacant +near hers, and the Colonel seated himself. + +“I dare wager something has vexed you?” said he. + +“A mere trifle, General. I want to be gone, for I have promised to go to +a ball at the Grand Duchess of Berg’s, and I must look in first at the +Princesse de Wagram’s. Monsieur de la Roche-Hugon, who knows this, is +amusing himself by flirting with the dowagers.” + +“That is not the whole secret of your disturbance, and I will bet a +hundred louis that you will remain here the whole evening.” + +“Impertinent man!” + +“Then I have hit the truth?” + +“Well, tell me, what am I thinking of?” said the Countess, tapping the +Colonel’s fingers with her fan. “I might even reward you if you guess +rightly.” + +“I will not accept the challenge; I have too much the advantage of you.” + +“You are presumptuous.” + +“You are afraid of seeing Martial at the feet----” + +“Of whom?” cried the Countess, affecting surprise. + +“Of that candelabrum,” replied the Colonel, glancing at the fair +stranger, and then looking at the Countess with embarrassing scrutiny. + +“You have guessed it,” replied the coquette, hiding her face behind her +fan, which she began to play with. “Old Madame de Lansac, who is, you +know, as malicious as an old monkey,” she went on, after a pause, “has +just told me that Monsieur de la Roche-Hugon is running into danger by +flirting with that stranger, who sits here this evening like a skeleton +at a feast. I would rather see a death’s head than that face, so cruelly +beautiful, and as pale as a ghost. She is my evil genius.--Madame de +Lansac,” she added, after a flash and gesture of annoyance, “who only +goes to a ball to watch everything while pretending to sleep, has made +me miserably anxious. Martial shall pay dearly for playing me such a +trick. Urge him, meanwhile, since he is your friend, not to make me so +unhappy.” + +“I have just been with a man who promises to blow his brains out, and +nothing less, if he speaks to that little lady. And he is a man, madame, +to keep his word. But then I know Martial; such threats are to him +an encouragement. And, besides, we have wagered----” Here the Colonel +lowered his voice. + +“Can it be true?” said the Countess. + +“On my word of honor.” + +“Thank you, my dear Colonel,” replied Madame de Vaudremont, with a +glance full of invitation. + +“Will you do me the honor of dancing with me?” + +“Yes; but the next quadrille. During this one I want to find out what +will come of this little intrigue, and to ascertain who the little blue +lady may be; she looks intelligent.” + +The Colonel, understanding that Madame de Vaudremont wished to be alone, +retired, well content to have begun his attack so well. + + + +At most entertainments women are to be met who are there, like Madame de +Lansac, as old sailors gather on the seashore to watch younger mariners +struggling with the tempest. At this moment Madame de Lansac, who seemed +to be interested in the personages of this drama, could easily guess +the agitation which the Countess was going through. The lady might fan +herself gracefully, smile on the young men who bowed to her, and bring +into play all the arts by which a woman hides her emotion,--the Dowager, +one of the most clear-sighted and mischief-loving duchesses bequeathed +by the eighteenth century to the nineteenth, could read her heart and +mind through it all. + +The old lady seemed to detect the slightest movement that revealed the +impressions of the soul. The imperceptible frown that furrowed that +calm, pure forehead, the faintest quiver of the cheeks, the curve of the +eyebrows, the least curl of the lips, whose living coral could conceal +nothing from her,--all these were to the Duchess like the print of a +book. From the depths of her large arm-chair, completely filled by +the flow of her dress, the coquette of the past, while talking to a +diplomate who had sought her out to hear the anecdotes she told so +cleverly, was admiring herself in the younger coquette; she felt kindly +to her, seeing how bravely she disguised her annoyance and grief of +heart. Madame de Vaudremont, in fact, felt as much sorrow as she feigned +cheerfulness; she had believed that she had found in Martial a man of +talent on whose support she could count for adorning her life with all +the enchantment of power; and at this moment she perceived her mistake, +as injurious to her reputation as to her good opinion of herself. In +her, as in other women of that time, the suddenness of their passions +increased their vehemence. Souls which love much and love often, suffer +no less than those which burn themselves out in one affection. Her +liking for Martial was but of yesterday, it is true, but the least +experienced surgeon knows that the pain caused by the amputation of a +healthy limb is more acute than the removal of a diseased one. There was +a future before Madame de Vaudremont’s passion for Martial, while her +previous love had been hopeless, and poisoned by Soulanges’ remorse. + +The old Duchess, who was watching for an opportunity of speaking to the +Countess, hastened to dismiss her Ambassador; for in comparison with a +lover’s quarrel every interest pales, even with an old woman. To engage +battle, Madame de Lansac shot at the younger lady a sardonic glance +which made the Countess fear lest her fate was in the dowager’s hands. +There are looks between woman and woman which are like the torches +brought on at the climax of a tragedy. No one who had not known +that Duchess could appreciate the terror which the expression of her +countenance inspired in the Countess. + +Madame de Lansac was tall, and her features led people to say, “That +must have been a handsome woman!” She coated her cheeks so thickly with +rouge that the wrinkles were scarcely visible; but her eyes, far from +gaining a factitious brilliancy from this strong carmine, looked all +the more dim. She wore a vast quantity of diamonds, and dressed with +sufficient taste not to make herself ridiculous. Her sharp nose promised +epigram. A well-fitted set of teeth preserved a smile of such irony as +recalled that of Voltaire. At the same time, the exquisite politeness of +her manners so effectually softened the mischievous twist in her mind, +that it was impossible to accuse her of spitefulness. + +The old woman’s eyes lighted up, and a triumphant glance, seconded by a +smile, which said, “I promised you as much!” shot across the room, +and brought a blush of hope to the pale cheeks of the young creature +languishing under the great chandelier. The alliance between Madame +de Lansac and the stranger could not escape the practised eye of the +Comtesse de Vaudremont, who scented a mystery, and was determined to +penetrate it. + +At this instant the Baron de la Roche-Hugon, after questioning all the +dowagers without success as to the blue lady’s name, applied in +despair to the Comtesse de Gondreville, from whom he reached only this +unsatisfactory reply, “A lady whom the ‘ancient’ Duchesse de Lansac +introduced to me.” + +Turning by chance towards the armchair occupied by the old lady, the +lawyer intercepted the glance of intelligence she sent to the stranger; +and although he had for some time been on bad terms with her, he +determined to speak to her. The “ancient” Duchess, seeing the jaunty +Baron prowling round her chair, smiled with sardonic irony, and looked +at Madame de Vaudremont with an expression that made Montcornet laugh. + +“If the old witch affects to be friendly,” thought the Baron, “she is +certainly going to play me some spiteful trick.--Madame,” he said, “you +have, I am told, undertaken the charge of a very precious treasure.” + +“Do you take me for a dragon?” said the old lady. “But of whom are you +speaking?” she added, with a sweetness which revived Martial’s hopes. + +“Of that little lady, unknown to all, whom the jealousy of all these +coquettes has imprisoned in that corner. You, no doubt, know her +family?” + +“Yes,” said the Duchess. “But what concern have you with a provincial +heiress, married some time since, a woman of good birth, whom you none +of you know, you men; she goes nowhere.” + +“Why does not she dance, she is such a pretty creature?--May we conclude +a treaty of peace? If you will vouchsafe to tell me all I want to +know, I promise you that a petition for the restitution of the woods of +Navarreins by the Commissioners of Crown Lands shall be strongly urged +on the Emperor.” + +The younger branch of the house of Navarreins bears quarterly with the +arms of Navarreins those of Lansac, namely, azure, and argent party per +pale raguly, between six spear-heads in pale, and the old lady’s liaison +with Louis XV. had earned her husband the title of duke by royal patent. +Now, as the Navarreins had not yet resettled in France, it was sheer +trickery that the young lawyer thus proposed to the old lady by +suggesting to her that she should petition for an estate belonging to +the elder branch of the family. + +“Monsieur,” said the old woman with deceptive gravity, “bring the +Comtesse de Vaudremont across to me. I promise you that I will reveal +to her the mystery of the interesting unknown. You see, every man in +the room has reached as great a curiosity as your own. All eyes are +involuntarily turned towards the corner where my protegee has so +modestly placed herself; she is reaping all the homage the women wished +to deprive her of. Happy the man she chooses for her partner!” She +interrupted herself, fixing her eyes on Madame de Vaudremont with one of +those looks which plainly say, “We are talking of you.”--Then she added, +“I imagine you would rather learn the stranger’s name from the lips of +your handsome Countess than from mine.” + +There was such marked defiance in the Duchess’ attitude that Madame de +Vaudremont rose, came up to her, and took the chair Martial placed for +her; then without noticing him she said, “I can guess, madame, that you +are talking of me; but I admit my want of perspicacity; I do not know +whether it is for good or evil.” + +Madame de Lansac pressed the young woman’s pretty hand in her own dry +and wrinkled fingers, and answered in a low, compassionate tone, “Poor +child!” + +The women looked at each other. Madame de Vaudremont understood that +Martial was in the way, and dismissed him, saying with an imperious +expression, “Leave us.” + +The Baron, ill-pleased at seeing the Countess under the spell of the +dangerous sibyl who had drawn her to her side gave one of those looks +which a man can give--potent over a blinded heart, but simply ridiculous +in the eyes of a woman who is beginning to criticise the man who has +attracted her. + +“Do you think you can play the Emperor?” said Madame de Vaudremont, +turning three-quarters of her face to fix an ironical sidelong gaze on +the lawyer. + +Martial was too much a man of the world, and had too much wit and +acumen, to risk breaking with a woman who was in favor at Court, and +whom the Emperor wished to see married. He counted, too, on the jealousy +he intended to provoke in her as the surest means of discovering the +secret of her coolness, and withdrew all the more willingly, because at +this moment a new quadrille was putting everybody in motion. + +With an air of making room for the dancing, the Baron leaned back +against the marble slab of a console, folded his arms, and stood +absorbed in watching the two ladies talking. From time to time he +followed the glances which both frequently directed to the stranger. +Then, comparing the Countess with the new beauty, made so attractive +by a touch of mystery, the Baron fell a prey to the detestable +self-interest common to adventurous lady-killers; he hesitated between a +fortune within his grasp and the indulgence of his caprice. The blaze +of light gave such strong relief to his anxious and sullen face, against +the hangings of white silk moreen brushed by his black hair, that he +might have been compared to an evil genius. Even from a distance more +than one observer no doubt said to himself, “There is another poor +wretch who seems to be enjoying himself!” + +The Colonel, meanwhile, with one shoulder leaning lightly against the +side-post of the doorway between the ballroom and the cardroom, could +laugh undetected under his ample moustache; it amused him to look on at +the turmoil of the dance; he could see a hundred pretty heads turning +about in obedience to the figures; he could read in some faces, as +in those of the Countess and his friend Martial, the secrets of their +agitation; and then, looking round, he wondered what connection there +could be between the gloomy looks of the Comte de Soulanges, still +seated on the sofa, and the plaintive expression of the fair unknown, +on whose features the joys of hope and the anguish of involuntary dread +were alternately legible. Montcornet stood like the king of the feast. +In this moving picture he saw a complete presentment of the world, and +he laughed at it as he found himself the object of inviting smiles from +a hundred beautiful and elegant women. A Colonel of the Imperial Guard, +a position equal to that of a Brigadier-General, was undoubtedly one of +the best matches in the army. + +It was now nearly midnight. The conversation, the gambling, the dancing, +the flirtations, interests, petty rivalries, and scheming had +all reached the pitch of ardor which makes a young man exclaim +involuntarily, “A fine ball!” + +“My sweet little angel,” said Madame de Lansac to the Countess, “you are +now at an age when in my day I made many mistakes. Seeing you are just +now enduring a thousand deaths, it occurred to me that I might give you +some charitable advice. To go wrong at two-and-twenty means spoiling +your future; is it not tearing the gown you must wear? My dear, it is +not much later that we learn to go about in it without crumpling it. Go +on, sweetheart, making clever enemies, and friends who have no sense +of conduct, and you will see what a pleasant life you will some day be +leading!” + +“Oh, madame, it is very hard for a woman to be happy, do not you think?” + the Countess eagerly exclaimed. + +“My child, at your age you must learn to choose between pleasure and +happiness. You want to marry Martial, who is not fool enough to make a +good husband, nor passionate enough to remain a lover. He is in debt, +my dear; he is the man to run through your fortune; still, that would be +nothing if he could make you happy.--Do not you see how aged he is? The +man must have been ill; he is making the most of what is left him. In +three years he will be a wreck. Then he will be ambitious; perhaps he +may succeed. I do not think so.--What is he? A man of intrigue, who +may have the business faculty to perfection, and be able to gossip +agreeably; but he is too presumptuous to have any sterling merit; he +will not go far. Besides--only look at him. Is it not written on his +brow that, at this very moment, what he sees in you is not a young and +pretty woman, but the two million francs you possess? He does not love +you, my dear; he is reckoning you up as if you were an investment. If +you are bent on marrying, find an older man who has an assured position +and is half-way on his career. A widow’s marriage ought not to be a +trivial love affair. Is a mouse to be caught a second time in the same +trap? A new alliance ought now to be a good speculation on your part, +and in marrying again you ought at least to have a hope of being some +day addressed as Madame la Marechale!” + +As she spoke, both women naturally fixed their eyes on Colonel +Montcornet’s handsome face. + +“If you would rather play the delicate part of a flirt and not marry +again,” the Duchess went on, with blunt good-nature; “well! my +poor child, you, better than any woman, will know how to raise the +storm-clouds and disperse them again. But, I beseech you, never make it +your pleasure to disturb the peace of families, to destroy unions, and +ruin the happiness of happy wives. I, my dear, have played that perilous +game. Dear heaven! for a triumph of vanity some poor virtuous soul is +murdered--for there really are virtuous women, child,--and we may make +ourselves mortally hated. I learned, a little too late, that, as the +Duc d’Albe once said, one salmon is worth a thousand frogs! A genuine +affection certainly brings a thousand times more happiness than the +transient passions we may inspire.--Well, I came here on purpose to +preach to you; yes, you are the cause of my appearance in this house, +which stinks of the lower class. Have I not just seen actors here? +Formerly, my dear, we received them in our boudoir; but in the +drawing-room--never!--Why do you look at me with so much amazement? +Listen to me. If you want to play with men, do not try to wring the +hearts of any but those whose life is not yet settled, who have no +duties to fulfil; the others do not forgive us for the errors that +have made them happy. Profit by this maxim, founded on my long +experience.--That luckless Soulanges, for instance, whose head you have +turned, whom you have intoxicated for these fifteen months past, God +knows how! Do you know at what you have struck?--At his whole life. He +has been married these two years; he is worshiped by a charming wife, +whom he loves, but neglects; she lives in tears and embittered silence. +Soulanges has had hours of remorse more terrible than his pleasure has +been sweet. And you, you artful little thing, have deserted him.--Well, +come and see your work.” + +The old lady took Madame de Vaudremont’s hand, and they rose. + +“There,” said Madame de Lansac, and her eyes showed her the stranger, +sitting pale and tremulous under the glare of the candles, “that is my +grandniece, the Comtesse de Soulanges; to-day she yielded at last to my +persuasion, and consented to leave the sorrowful room, where the sight +of her child gives her but little consolation. You see her? You think +her charming? Then imagine, dear Beauty, what she must have been when +happiness and love shed their glory on that face now blighted.” + +The Countess looked away in silence, and seemed lost in sad reflections. + +The Duchess led her to the door into the card-room; then, after looking +round the room as if in search of some one--“And there is Soulanges!” + she said in deep tones. + +The Countess shuddered as she saw, in the least brilliantly lighted +corner, the pale, set face of Soulanges stretched in an easy-chair. The +indifference of his attitude and the rigidity of his brow betrayed his +suffering. The players passed him to and fro, without paying any more +attention to him than if he had been dead. The picture of the wife in +tears, and the dejected, morose husband, separated in the midst of +this festivity like the two halves of a tree blasted by lightning, had +perhaps a prophetic significance for the Countess. She dreaded lest she +here saw an image of the revenges the future might have in store for +her. Her heart was not yet so dried up that the feeling and generosity +were entirely excluded, and she pressed the Duchess’ hand, while +thanking her by one of those smiles which have a certain childlike +grace. + +“My dear child,” the old lady said in her ear, “remember henceforth that +we are just as capable of repelling a man’s attentions as of attracting +them.” + +“She is yours if you are not a simpleton.” These words were whispered +into Colonel Montcornet’s ear by Madame de Lansac, while the handsome +Countess was still absorbed in compassion at the sight of Soulanges, for +she still loved him truly enough to wish to restore him to happiness, +and was promising herself in her own mind that she would exert the +irresistible power her charms still had over him to make him return to +his wife. + +“Oh! I will talk to him!” said she to Madame de Lansac. + +“Do nothing of the kind, my dear!” cried the old lady, as she went +back to her armchair. “Choose a good husband, and shut your door to my +nephew. Believe me, my child, a wife cannot accept her husband’s heart +as the gift of another woman; she is a hundred times happier in the +belief that she has reconquered it. By bringing my niece here I +believe I have given her an excellent chance of regaining her husband’s +affection. All the assistance I need of you is to play the Colonel.” She +pointed to the Baron’s friend, and the Countess smiled. + +“Well, madame, do you at last know the name of the unknown?” asked +Martial, with an air of pique, to the Countess when he saw her alone. + +“Yes,” said Madame de Vaudremont, looking him in the face. + +Her features expressed as much roguery as fun. The smile which gave life +to her lips and cheeks, the liquid brightness of her eyes, were like +the will-o’-the-wisp which leads travelers astray. Martial, who believed +that she still loved him, assumed the coquetting graces in which a man +is so ready to lull himself in the presence of the woman he loves. He +said with a fatuous air: + +“And will you be annoyed with me if I seem to attach great importance to +your telling me that name?” + +“Will you be annoyed with me,” answered Madame de Vaudremont, “if a +remnant of affection prevents my telling you; and if I forbid you to +make the smallest advances to that young lady? It would be at the risk +of your life perhaps.” + +“To lose your good graces, madame, would be worse than to lose my life.” + +“Martial,” said the Countess severely, “she is Madame de Soulanges. Her +husband would blow your brains out--if, indeed, you have any----” + +“Ha! ha!” laughed the coxcomb. “What! the Colonel can leave the man +in peace who has robbed him of your love, and then would fight for his +wife! What a subversion of principles!--I beg of you to allow me to +dance with the little lady. You will then be able to judge how +little love that heart of ice could feel for you; for, if the Colonel +disapproves of my dancing with his wife after allowing me to----” + +“But she loves her husband.” + +“A still further obstacle that I shall have the pleasure of conquering.” + +“But she is married.” + +“A whimsical objection!” + +“Ah!” said the Countess, with a bitter smile, “you punish us alike for +our faults and our repentance!” + +“Do not be angry!” exclaimed Martial eagerly. “Oh, forgive me, I beseech +you. There, I will think no more of Madame de Soulanges.” + +“You deserve that I should send you to her.” + +“I am off then,” said the Baron, laughing, “and I shall return more +devoted to you than ever. You will see that the prettiest woman in the +world cannot capture the heart that is yours.” + +“That is to say, that you want to win Colonel Montcornet’s horse?” + +“Ah! Traitor!” said he, threatening his friend with his finger. The +Colonel smiled and joined them; the Baron gave him the seat near the +Countess, saying to her with a sardonic accent: + +“Here, madame, is a man who boasted that he could win your good graces +in one evening.” + +He went away, thinking himself clever to have piqued the Countess’ pride +and done Montcornet an ill turn; but, in spite of his habitual keenness, +he had not appreciated the irony underlying Madame de Vaudremont’s +speech, and did not perceive that she had come as far to meet his friend +as his friend towards her, though both were unconscious of it. + +At that moment when the lawyer went fluttering up to the candelabrum by +which Madame de Soulanges sat, pale, timid, and apparently alive only +in her eyes, her husband came to the door of the ballroom, his eyes +flashing with anger. The old Duchess, watchful of everything, flew +to her nephew, begged him to give her his arm and find her carriage, +affecting to be mortally bored, and hoping thus to prevent a vexatious +outbreak. Before going she fired a singular glance of intelligence at +her niece, indicating the enterprising knight who was about to address +her, and this signal seemed to say, “There he is, avenge yourself!” + +Madame de Vaudremont caught these looks of the aunt and niece; a sudden +light dawned on her mind; she was frightened lest she was the dupe of +this old woman, so cunning and so practised in intrigue. + +“That perfidious Duchess,” said she to herself, “has perhaps been +amusing herself by preaching morality to me while playing me some +spiteful trick of her own.” + +At this thought Madame de Vaudremont’s pride was perhaps more roused +than her curiosity to disentangle the thread of this intrigue. In the +absorption of mind to which she was a prey she was no longer mistress +of herself. The Colonel, interpreting to his own advantage the +embarrassment evident in the Countess’ manner and speech, became more +ardent and pressing. The old blase diplomates, amusing themselves by +watching the play of faces, had never found so many intrigues at once +to watch or guess at. The passions agitating the two couples were to be +seen with variations at every step in the crowded rooms, and reflected +with different shades in other countenances. The spectacle of so many +vivid passions, of all these lovers’ quarrels, these pleasing revenges, +these cruel favors, these flaming glances, of all this ardent life +diffused around them, only made them feel their impotence more keenly. + +At last the Baron had found a seat by Madame de Soulanges. His eyes +stole a long look at her neck, as fresh as dew and as fragrant as field +flowers. He admired close at hand the beauty which had amazed him from +afar. He could see a small, well-shod foot, and measure with his eye +a slender and graceful shape. At that time women wore their sash tied +close under the bosom, in imitation of Greek statues, a pitiless fashion +for those whose bust was faulty. As he cast furtive glances at the +Countess’ figure, Martial was enchanted with its perfection. + +“You have not danced once this evening, madame,” said he in soft and +flattering tones. “Not, I should suppose, for lack of a partner?” + +“I never go to parties; I am quite unknown,” replied Madame de Soulanges +coldly, not having understood the look by which her aunt had just +conveyed to her that she was to attract the Baron. + +Martial, to give himself countenance, twisted the diamond he wore on his +left hand; the rainbow fires of the gem seemed to flash a sudden light +on the young Countess’ mind; she blushed and looked at the Baron with an +undefinable expression. + +“Do you like dancing?” asked the Provencal, to reopen the conversation. + +“Yes, very much, monsieur.” + +At this strange reply their eyes met. The young man, surprised by the +earnest accent, which aroused a vague hope in his heart, had suddenly +questioned the lady’s eyes. + +“Then, madame, am I not overbold in offering myself to be your partner +for the next quadrille?” + +Artless confusion colored the Countess’ white cheeks. + +“But, monsieur, I have already refused one partner--a military man----” + +“Was it that tall cavalry colonel whom you see over there?” + +“Precisely so.” + +“Oh! he is a friend of mine; feel no alarm. Will you grant me the favor +I dare hope for?” + +“Yes, monsieur.” + +Her tone betrayed an emotion so new and so deep that the lawyer’s +world-worn soul was touched. He was overcome by shyness like a +schoolboy’s, lost his confidence, and his southern brain caught fire; +he tried to talk, but his phrases struck him as graceless in comparison +with Madame de Soulanges’ bright and subtle replies. It was lucky for +him that the quadrille was forming. Standing by his beautiful partner, +he felt more at ease. To many men dancing is a phase of being; they +think that they can more powerfully influence the heart of woman by +displaying the graces of their bodies than by their intellect. Martial +wished, no doubt, at this moment to put forth all his most effective +seductions, to judge by the pretentiousness of his movements and +gestures. + +He led his conquest to the quadrille in which the most brilliant +women in the room made it a point of chimerical importance to dance in +preference to any other. While the orchestra played the introductory +bars to the first figure, the Baron felt it an incredible gratification +to his pride to perceive, as he reviewed the ladies forming the lines of +that formidable square, that Madame de Soulanges’ dress might challenge +that even of Madame de Vaudremont, who, by a chance not perhaps +unsought, was standing with Montcornet _vis-a-vis_ to himself and the +lady in blue. All eyes were for a moment turned on Madame de Soulanges; +a flattering murmur showed that she was the subject of every man’s +conversation with his partner. Looks of admiration and envy centered +on her, with so much eagerness that the young creature, abashed by a +triumph she seemed to disclaim, modestly looked down, blushed, and was +all the more charming. When she raised her white eyelids it was to look +at her ravished partner as though she wished to transfer the glory of +this admiration to him, and to say that she cared more for his than for +all the rest. She threw her innocence into her vanity; or rather she +seemed to give herself up to the guileless admiration which is the +beginning of love, with the good faith found only in youthful hearts. As +she danced, the lookers-on might easily believe that she displayed +her grace for Martial alone; and though she was modest, and new to the +trickery of the ballroom, she knew as well as the most accomplished +coquette how to raise her eyes to his at the right moment and drop their +lids with assumed modesty. + +When the movement of a new figure, invented by a dancer named Trenis, +and named after him, brought Martial face to face with the Colonel--“I +have won your horse,” said he, laughing. + +“Yes, but you have lost eighty thousand francs a year!” retorted +Montcornet, glancing at Madame de Vaudremont. + +“What do I care?” replied Martial. “Madame de Soulanges is worth +millions!” + +At the end of the quadrille more than one whisper was poured into +more than one ear. The less pretty women made moral speeches to their +partners, commenting on the budding liaison between Martial and the +Comtesse de Soulanges. The handsomest wondered at her easy surrender. +The men could not understand such luck as the Baron’s, not regarding him +as particularly fascinating. A few indulgent women said it was not +fair to judge the Countess too hastily; young wives would be in a very +hapless plight if an expressive look or a few graceful dancing steps +were enough to compromise a woman. + +Martial alone knew the extent of his happiness. During the last figure, +when the ladies had to form the _moulinet_, his fingers clasped those of +the Countess, and he fancied that, through the thin perfumed kid of her +gloves, the young wife’s grasp responded to his amorous appeal. + +“Madame,” said he, as the quadrille ended, “do not go back to the odious +corner where you have been burying your face and your dress until now. +Is admiration the only benefit you can obtain from the jewels that +adorn your white neck and beautifully dressed hair? Come and take a turn +through the rooms to enjoy the scene and yourself.” + +Madame de Soulanges yielded to her seducer, who thought she would be +his all the more surely if he could only show her off. Side by side they +walked two or three times amid the groups who crowded the rooms. The +Comtesse de Soulanges, evidently uneasy, paused for an instant at each +door before entering, only doing so after stretching her neck to look at +all the men there. This alarm, which crowned the Baron’s satisfaction, +did not seem to be removed till he said to her, “Make yourself easy; +_he_ is not here.” + +They thus made their way to an immense picture gallery in a wing of the +mansion, where their eyes could feast in anticipation on the splendid +display of a collation prepared for three hundred persons. As supper was +about to begin, Martial led the Countess to an oval boudoir looking on +to the garden, where the rarest flowers and a few shrubs made a scented +bower under bright blue hangings. The murmurs of the festivity here +died away. The Countess, at first startled, refused firmly to follow the +young man; but, glancing in a mirror, she no doubt assured herself that +they could be seen, for she seated herself on an ottoman with a fairly +good grace. + +“This room is charming,” said she, admiring the sky-blue hangings looped +with pearls. + +“All here is love and delight!” said the Baron, with deep emotion. + +In the mysterious light which prevailed he looked at the Countess, +and detected on her gently agitated face an expression of uneasiness, +modesty, and eagerness which enchanted him. The young lady smiled, and +this smile seemed to put an end to the struggle of feeling surging in +her heart; in the most insinuating way she took her adorer’s left hand, +and drew from his finger the ring on which she had fixed her eyes. + +“What a fine diamond!” she exclaimed in the artless tone of a young girl +betraying the incitement of a first temptation. + +Martial, troubled by the Countess’ involuntary but intoxicating touch, +like a caress, as she drew off the ring, looked at her with eyes as +glittering as the gem. + +“Wear it,” he said, “in memory of this hour, and for the love of----” + +She was looking at him with such rapture that he did not end the +sentence; he kissed her hand. + +“You give it me?” she said, looking much astonished. + +“I wish I had the whole world to offer you!” + +“You are not joking?” she went on, in a voice husky with too great +satisfaction. + +“Will you accept only my diamond?” + +“You will never take it back?” she insisted. + +“Never.” + +She put the ring on her finger. Martial, confident of coming happiness, +was about to put his hand round her waist, but she suddenly rose, and +said in a clear voice, without any agitation: + +“I accept the diamond, monsieur, with the less scruple because it +belongs to me.” + +The Baron was speechless. + +“Monsieur de Soulanges took it lately from my dressing-table, and told +me he had lost it.” + +“You are mistaken, madame,” said Martial, nettled. “It was given me by +Madame de Vaudremont.” + +“Precisely so,” she said with a smile. “My husband borrowed this ring of +me, he gave it to her, she made it a present to you; my ring has made a +little journey, that is all. This ring will perhaps tell me all I do not +know, and teach me the secret of always pleasing.--Monsieur,” she went +on, “if it had not been my own, you may be sure I should not have risked +paying so dear for it; for a young woman, it is said, is in danger with +you. But, you see,” and she touched a spring within the ring, “here is +M. de Soulanges’ hair.” + +She fled into the crowded rooms so swiftly, that it seemed useless to +try to follow her; besides, Martial, utterly confounded, was in no mood +to carry the adventure further. The Countess’ laugh found an echo in the +boudoir, where the young coxcomb now perceived, between two shrubs, the +Colonel and Madame de Vaudremont, both laughing heartily. + +“Will you have my horse, to ride after your prize?” said the Colonel. + +The Baron took the banter poured upon him by Madame de Vaudremont and +Montcornet with a good grace, which secured their silence as to the +events of the evening, when his friend exchanged his charger for a rich +and pretty young wife. + + + +As the Comtesse de Soulanges drove across Paris from the Chausee d’Antin +to the Faubourg Saint-Germain, where she lived, her soul was prey to +many alarms. Before leaving the Hotel Gondreville she went through all +the rooms, but found neither her aunt nor her husband, who had gone away +without her. Frightful suspicions then tortured her ingenuous mind. A +silent witness of her husbands’ torments since the day when Madame de +Vaudremont had chained him to her car, she had confidently hoped that +repentance would ere long restore her husband to her. It was with +unspeakable repugnance that she had consented to the scheme plotted by +her aunt, Madame de Lansac, and at this moment she feared she had made a +mistake. + +The evening’s experience had saddened her innocent soul. Alarmed at +first by the Count’s look of suffering and dejection, she had become +more so on seeing her rival’s beauty, and the corruption of society +had gripped her heart. As she crossed the Pont Royal she threw away the +desecrated hair at the back of the diamond, given to her once as a token +of the purest affection. She wept as she remembered the bitter grief to +which she had so long been a victim, and shuddered more than once as she +reflected that the duty of a woman, who wishes for peace in her home, +compels her to bury sufferings so keen as hers at the bottom of her +heart, and without a complaint. + +“Alas!” thought she, “what can women do when they do not love? What is +the fount of their indulgence? I cannot believe that, as my aunt tells +me, reason is all-sufficient to maintain them in such devotion.” + +She was still sighing when her man-servant let down the handsome +carriage-step down which she flew into the hall of her house. She rushed +precipitately upstairs, and when she reached her room was startled by +seeing her husband sitting by the fire. + +“How long is it, my dear, since you have gone to balls without telling +me beforehand?” he asked in a broken voice. “You must know that a woman +is always out of place without her husband. You compromised yourself +strangely by remaining in the dark corner where you had ensconced +yourself.” + +“Oh, my dear, good Leon,” said she in a coaxing tone, “I could not +resist the happiness of seeing you without your seeing me. My aunt took +me to this ball, and I was very happy there!” + +This speech disarmed the Count’s looks of their assumed severity, for +he had been blaming himself while dreading his wife’s return, no doubt +fully informed at the ball of an infidelity he had hoped to hide from +her; and, as is the way of lovers conscious of their guilt, he tried, by +being the first to find fault, to escape her just anger. Happy in seeing +her husband smile, and in finding him at this hour in a room whither +of late he had come more rarely, the Countess looked at him so tenderly +that she blushed and cast down her eyes. Her clemency enraptured +Soulanges all the more, because this scene followed on the misery he had +endured at the ball. He seized his wife’s hand and kissed it gratefully. +Is not gratitude often a part of love? + +“Hortense, what is that on your finger that has hurt my lip so much?” + asked he, laughing. + +“It is my diamond which you said you had lost, and which I have found.” + + + +General Montcornet did not marry Madame de Vaudremont, in spite of the +mutual understanding in which they had lived for a few minutes, for she +was one of the victims of the terrible fire which sealed the fame of +the ball given by the Austrian ambassador on the occasion of Napoleon’s +marriage with the daughter of the Emperor Joseph II. + + +JULY, 1829. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + + Bonaparte, Napoleon + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Colonel Chabert + The Seamy Side of History + A Woman of Thirty + + Gondreville, Malin, Comte de + The Gondreville Mystery + A Start in Life + The Member for Arcis + + Keller, Francois + Cesar Birotteau + Eugenie Grandet + The Government Clerks + The Member for Arcis + + Keller, Madame Francois + The Member for Arcis + The Thirteen + + La Roche-Hugon, Martial de + The Peasantry + A Daughter of Eve + The Member for Arcis + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + + Montcornet, Marechal, Comte de + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Peasantry + A Man of Business + Cousin Betty + + Murat, Joachim, Prince + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Colonel Chabert + The Country Doctor + + Soulanges, Comte Leon de + The Peasantry + + Soulanges, Comtesse Hortense de + The Thirteen + The Peasantry + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Domestic Peace, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOMESTIC PEACE *** + +***** This file should be named 1411.txt or 1411.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/1411/ + +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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