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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:17:07 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:17:07 -0700 |
| commit | d499873c30622735b9f004bd617ecafd1d4ebe90 (patch) | |
| tree | 76a06d468980edd8837aa3ff4bdbcba1f537565f /1427-h | |
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diff --git a/1427-h/1427-h.htm b/1427-h/1427-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16180d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1427-h/1427-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1040 @@ +<?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> + A Drama on the Seashore, by Honore de Balzac + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1427 ***</div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + A DRAMA ON THE SEASHORE + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Honore De Balzac + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated By Katharine Prescott Wormeley + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + DEDICATION<br /><br /> To Madame la Princesse Caroline Galitzin de Genthod,<br /> + nee ComtesseWalewska. Homage and remembrances of<br /><br /> The Author.<br /> + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>A DRAMA ON THE SEASHORE</b> </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0002"> ADDENDUM </a><br /> + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + A DRAMA ON THE SEASHORE + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + Nearly all young men have a compass with which they delight in measuring + the future. When their will is equal to the breadth of the angle at which + they open it the world is theirs. But this phenomenon of the inner life + takes place only at a certain age. That age, which for all men lies + between twenty-two and twenty-eight, is the period of great thoughts, of + fresh conceptions, because it is the age of immense desires. After that + age, short as the seed-time, comes that of execution. There are, as it + were, two youths,—the youth of belief, the youth of action; these + are often commingled in men whom Nature has favored and who, like Caesar, + like Newton, like Bonaparte, are the greatest among great men. + </p> + <p> + I was measuring how long a time it might take a thought to develop. + Compass in hand, standing on a rock some hundred fathoms above the ocean, + the waves of which were breaking on the reef below, I surveyed my future, + filling it with books as an engineer or builder traces on vacant ground a + palace or a fort. + </p> + <p> + The sea was beautiful; I had just dressed after bathing; and I awaited + Pauline, who was also bathing, in a granite cove floored with fine sand, + the most coquettish bath-room that Nature ever devised for her + water-fairies. The spot was at the farther end of Croisic, a dainty little + peninsula in Brittany; it was far from the port, and so inaccessible that + the coast-guard seldom thought it necessary to pass that way. To float in + ether after floating on the wave!—ah! who would not have floated on + the future as I did! Why was I thinking? Whence comes evil?—who + knows! Ideas drop into our hearts or into our heads without consulting us. + No courtesan was ever more capricious nor more imperious than conception + is to artists; we must grasp it, like fortune, by the hair when it comes. + </p> + <p> + Astride upon my thought, like Astolphe on his hippogriff, I was galloping + through worlds, suiting them to my fancy. Presently, as I looked about me + to find some omen for the bold productions my wild imagination was urging + me to undertake, a pretty cry, the cry of a woman issuing refreshed and + joyous from a bath, rose above the murmur of the rippling fringes as their + flux and reflux marked a white line along the shore. Hearing that note as + it gushed from a soul, I fancied I saw among the rocks the foot of an + angel, who with outspread wings cried out to me, "Thou shalt succeed!" I + came down radiant, light-hearted; I bounded like a pebble rolling down a + rapid slope. When she saw me, she said,— + </p> + <p> + "What is it?" + </p> + <p> + I did not answer; my eyes were moist. The night before, Pauline had + understood my sorrows, as she now understood my joy, with the magical + sensitiveness of a harp that obeys the variations of the atmosphere. Human + life has glorious moments. Together we walked in silence along the beach. + The sky was cloudless, the sea without a ripple; others might have thought + them merely two blue surfaces, the one above the other, but we—we + who heard without the need of words, we who could evoke between these two + infinitudes the illusions that nourish youth,—we pressed each + other's hands at every change in the sheet of water or the sheets of air, + for we took those slight phenomena as the visible translation of our + double thought. Who has never tasted in wedded love that moment of + illimitable joy when the soul seems freed from the trammels of flesh, and + finds itself restored, as it were, to the world whence it came? Are there + not hours when feelings clasp each other and fly upward, like children + taking hands and running, they scarce know why? It was thus we went along. + </p> + <p> + At the moment when the village roofs began to show like a faint gray line + on the horizon, we met a fisherman, a poor man returning to Croisic. His + feet were bare; his linen trousers ragged round the bottom; his shirt of + common sailcloth, and his jacket tatters. This abject poverty pained us; + it was like a discord amid our harmonies. We looked at each other, + grieving mutually that we had not at that moment the power to dip into the + treasury of Aboul Casem. But we saw a splendid lobster and a crab fastened + to a string which the fisherman was dangling in his right hand, while with + the left he held his tackle and his net. + </p> + <p> + We accosted him with the intention of buying his haul,—an idea which + came to us both, and was expressed in a smile, to which I responded by a + slight pressure of the arm I held and drew toward my heart. It was one of + those nothings of which memory makes poems when we sit by the fire and + recall the hour when that nothing moved us, and the place where it did so,—a + mirage the effects of which have never been noted down, though it appears + on the objects that surround us in moments when life sits lightly and our + hearts are full. The loveliest scenery is that we make ourselves. What man + with any poesy in him does not remember some mere mass of rock, which + holds, it may be, a greater place in his memory than the celebrated + landscapes of other lands, sought at great cost. Beside that rock, + tumultuous thoughts! There a whole life evolved; there all fears + dispersed; there the rays of hope descended to the soul! At this moment, + the sun, sympathizing with these thoughts of love and of the future, had + cast an ardent glow upon the savage flanks of the rock; a few wild + mountain flowers were visible; the stillness and the silence magnified + that rugged pile,—really sombre, though tinted by the dreamer, and + beautiful beneath its scanty vegetation, the warm chamomile, the Venus' + tresses with their velvet leaves. Oh, lingering festival; oh, glorious + decorations; oh, happy exaltation of human forces! Once already the lake + of Brienne had spoken to me thus. The rock of Croisic may be perhaps the + last of these my joys. If so, what will become of Pauline? + </p> + <p> + "Have you had a good catch to-day, my man?" I said to the fisherman. + </p> + <p> + "Yes, monsieur," he replied, stopping and turning toward us the swarthy + face of those who spend whole days exposed to the reflection of the sun + upon the water. + </p> + <p> + That face was an emblem of long resignation, of the patience of a + fisherman and his quiet ways. The man had a voice without harshness, kind + lips, evidently no ambition, and something frail and puny about him. Any + other sort of countenance would, at that moment, have jarred upon us. + </p> + <p> + "Where shall you sell your fish?" + </p> + <p> + "In the town." + </p> + <p> + "How much will they pay you for that lobster?" + </p> + <p> + "Fifteen sous." + </p> + <p> + "And the crab?" + </p> + <p> + "Twenty sous." + </p> + <p> + "Why so much difference between a lobster and a crab?" + </p> + <p> + "Monsieur, the crab is much more delicate eating. Besides, it's as + malicious as a monkey, and it seldom lets you catch it." + </p> + <p> + "Will you let us buy the two for a hundred sous?" asked Pauline. + </p> + <p> + The man seemed petrified. + </p> + <p> + "You shall not have it!" I said to her, laughing. "I'll pay ten francs; we + should count the emotions in." + </p> + <p> + "Very well," she said, "then I'll pay ten francs, two sous." + </p> + <p> + "Ten francs, ten sous." + </p> + <p> + "Twelve francs." + </p> + <p> + "Fifteen francs." + </p> + <p> + "Fifteen francs, fifty centimes," she said. + </p> + <p> + "One hundred francs." + </p> + <p> + "One hundred and fifty francs." + </p> + <p> + I yielded. We were not rich enough at that moment to bid higher. Our poor + fisherman did not know whether to be angry at a hoax, or to go mad with + joy; we drew him from his quandary by giving him the name of our landlady + and telling him to take the lobster and the crab to her house. + </p> + <p> + "Do you earn enough to live on?" I asked the man, in order to discover the + cause of his evident penury. + </p> + <p> + "With great hardships, and always poorly," he replied. "Fishing on the + coast, when one hasn't a boat or deep-sea nets, nothing but pole and line, + is a very uncertain business. You see we have to wait for the fish, or the + shell-fish; whereas a real fisherman puts out to sea for them. It is so + hard to earn a living this way that I'm the only man in these parts who + fishes along-shore. I spend whole days without getting anything. To catch + a crab, it must go to sleep, as this one did, and a lobster must be silly + enough to stay among the rocks. Sometimes after a high tide the mussels + come in and I grab them." + </p> + <p> + "Well, taking one day with another, how much do you earn?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, eleven or twelve sous. I could do with that if I were alone; but I + have got my old father to keep, and he can't do anything, the good man, + because he's blind." + </p> + <p> + At these words, said simply, Pauline and I looked at each other without a + word; then I asked,— + </p> + <p> + "Haven't you a wife, or some good friend?" + </p> + <p> + He cast upon us one of the most lamentable glances that I ever saw as he + answered,— + </p> + <p> + "If I had a wife I must abandon my father; I could not feed him and a wife + and children too." + </p> + <p> + "Well, my poor lad, why don't you try to earn more at the salt marshes, or + by carrying the salt to the harbor?" + </p> + <p> + "Ah, monsieur, I couldn't do that work three months. I am not strong + enough, and if I died my father would have to beg. I am forced to take a + business which only needs a little knack and a great deal of patience." + </p> + <p> + "But how can two persons live on twelve sous a day?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, monsieur, we eat cakes made of buckwheat, and barnacles which I get + off the rocks." + </p> + <p> + "How old are you?" + </p> + <p> + "Thirty-seven." + </p> + <p> + "Did you ever leave Croisic?" + </p> + <p> + "I went once to Guerande to draw for the conscription; and I went to + Savenay to the messieurs who measure for the army. If I had been half an + inch taller they'd have made me a soldier. I should have died of my first + march, and my poor father would to-day be begging his bread." + </p> + <p> + I had thought out many dramas; Pauline was accustomed to great emotions + beside a man so suffering as myself; well, never had either of us listened + to words so moving as these. We walked on in silence, measuring, each of + us, the silent depths of that obscure life, admiring the nobility of a + devotion which was ignorant of itself. The strength of that feebleness + amazed us; the man's unconscious generosity belittled us. I saw that poor + being of instinct chained to that rock like a galley-slave to his ball; + watching through twenty years for shell-fish to earn a living, and + sustained in his patience by a single sentiment. How many hours wasted on + a lonely shore! How many hopes defeated by a change of weather! He was + hanging there to a granite rock, his arm extended like that of an Indian + fakir, while his father, sitting in their hovel, awaited, in silence and + darkness, a meal of the coarsest bread and shell-fish, if the sea + permitted. + </p> + <p> + "Do you ever drink wine?" I asked. + </p> + <p> + "Three or four times a year," he replied. + </p> + <p> + "Well, you shall drink it to-day,—you and your father; and we will + send you some white bread." + </p> + <p> + "You are very kind, monsieur." + </p> + <p> + "We will give you your dinner if you will show us the way along the shore + to Batz, where we wish to see the tower which overlooks the bay between + Batz and Croisic." + </p> + <p> + "With pleasure," he said. "Go straight before you, along the path you are + now on, and I will follow you when I have put away my tackle." + </p> + <p> + We nodded consent, and he ran off joyfully toward the town. This meeting + maintained us in our previous mental condition; but it lessened our gay + lightheartedness. + </p> + <p> + "Poor man!" said Pauline, with that accent which removes from the + compassion of a woman all that is mortifying in human pity, "ought we not + to feel ashamed of our happiness in presence of such misery?" + </p> + <p> + "Nothing is so cruelly painful as to have powerless desires," I answered. + "Those two poor creatures, the father and son, will never know how keen + our sympathy for them is, any more than the world will know how beautiful + are their lives; they are laying up their treasures in heaven." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, how poor this country is!" she said, pointing to a field enclosed by + a dry stone wall, which was covered with droppings of cow's dung applied + symmetrically. "I asked a peasant-woman who was busy sticking them on, why + it was done; she answered that she was making fuel. Could you have + imagined that when those patches of dung have dried, human beings would + collect them, store them, and use them for fuel? During the winter, they + are even sold as peat is sold. And what do you suppose the best dressmaker + in the place can earn?—five sous a day!" adding, after a pause, "and + her food." + </p> + <p> + "But see," I said, "how the winds from the sea bend or destroy everything. + There are no trees. Fragments of wreckage or old vessels that are broken + up are sold to those who can afford to buy; for costs of transportation + are too heavy to allow them to use the firewood with which Brittany + abounds. This region is fine for none but noble souls; persons without + sentiments could never live here; poets and barnacles alone should inhabit + it. All that ever brought a population to this rock were the salt-marshes + and the factory which prepares the salt. On one side the sea; on the + other, sand; above, illimitable space." + </p> + <p> + We had now passed the town, and had reached the species of desert which + separates Croisic from the village of Batz. Imagine, my dear uncle, a + barren track of miles covered with the glittering sand of the seashore. + Here and there a few rocks lifted their heads; you might have thought them + gigantic animals couchant on the dunes. Along the coast were reefs, around + which the water foamed and sparkled, giving them the appearance of great + white roses, floating on the liquid surface or resting on the shore. + Seeing this barren tract with the ocean on one side, and on the other the + arm of the sea which runs up between Croisic and the rocky shore of + Guerande, at the base of which lay the salt marshes, denuded of + vegetation, I looked at Pauline and asked her if she felt the courage to + face the burning sun and the strength to walk through sand. + </p> + <p> + "I have boots," she said. "Let us go," and she pointed to the tower of + Batz, which arrested the eye by its immense pile placed there like a + pyramid; but a slender, delicately outlined pyramid, a pyramid so + poetically ornate that the imagination figured in it the earliest ruin of + a great Asiatic city. + </p> + <p> + We advanced a few steps and sat down upon the portion of a large rock + which was still in the shade. But it was now eleven o'clock, and the + shadow, which ceased at our feet, was disappearing rapidly. + </p> + <p> + "How beautiful this silence!" she said to me; "and how the depth of it is + deepened by the rhythmic quiver of the wave upon the shore." + </p> + <p> + "If you will give your understanding to the three immensities which + surround us, the water, the air, and the sands, and listen exclusively to + the repeating sounds of flux and reflux," I answered her, "you will not be + able to endure their speech; you will think it is uttering a thought which + will annihilate you. Last evening, at sunset, I had that sensation; and it + exhausted me." + </p> + <p> + "Oh! let us talk, let us talk," she said, after a long pause. "I + understand it. No orator was ever more terrible. I think," she continued, + presently, "that I perceive the causes of the harmonies which surround us. + This landscape, which has but three marked colors,—the brilliant + yellow of the sands, the blue of the sky, the even green of the sea,—is + grand without being savage; it is immense, yet not a desert; it is + monotonous, but it does not weary; it has only three elements, and yet it + is varied." + </p> + <p> + "Women alone know how to render such impressions," I said. "You would be + the despair of a poet, dear soul that I divine so well!" + </p> + <p> + "The extreme heat of mid-day casts into those three expressions of the + infinite an all-powerful color," said Pauline, smiling. "I can here + conceive the poesy and the passion of the East." + </p> + <p> + "And I can perceive its despair." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," she said, "this dune is a cloister,—a sublime cloister." + </p> + <p> + We now heard the hurried steps of our guide; he had put on his Sunday + clothes. We addressed a few ordinary words to him; he seemed to think that + our mood had changed, and with that reserve that comes of misery, he kept + silence. Though from time to time we pressed each other's hands that we + might feel the mutual flow of our ideas and impressions, we walked along + for half an hour in silence, either because we were oppressed by the heat + which rose in waves from the burning sands, or because the difficulty of + walking absorbed our attention. Like children, we held each other's hands; + in fact, we could hardly have made a dozen steps had we walked arm in arm. + The path which led to Batz was not so much as traced. A gust of wind was + enough to efface all tracks left by the hoofs of horses or the wheels of + carts; but the practised eye of our guide could recognize by scraps of mud + or the dung of cattle the road that crossed that desert, now descending + towards the sea, then rising landward according to either the fall of the + ground or the necessity of rounding some breastwork of rock. By mid-day, + we were only half way. + </p> + <p> + "We will stop to rest over there," I said, pointing to a promontory of + rocks sufficiently high to make it probable we should find a grotto. + </p> + <p> + The fisherman, who heard me and saw the direction in which I pointed, + shook his head, and said,— + </p> + <p> + "Some one is there. All those who come from the village of Batz to + Croisic, or from Croisic to Batz, go round that place; they never pass + it." + </p> + <p> + These words were said in a low voice, and seemed to indicate a mystery. + </p> + <p> + "Who is he,—a robber, a murderer?" + </p> + <p> + Our guide answered only by drawing a deep breath, which redoubled our + curiosity. + </p> + <p> + "But if we pass that way, would any harm happen to us?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no!" + </p> + <p> + "Will you go with us?" + </p> + <p> + "No, monsieur." + </p> + <p> + "We will go, if you assure us there is no danger." + </p> + <p> + "I do not say so," replied the fisherman, hastily. "I only say that he who + is there will say nothing to you, and do you no harm. He never so much as + moves from his place." + </p> + <p> + "Who is it?" + </p> + <p> + "A man." + </p> + <p> + Never were two syllables pronounced in so tragic a manner. At this moment + we were about fifty feet from the rocky eminence, which extended a long + reef into the sea. Our guide took a path which led him round the base of + the rock. We ourselves continued our way over it; but Pauline took my arm. + Our guide hastened his steps in order to meet us on the other side, where + the two paths came together again. + </p> + <p> + This circumstance excited our curiosity, which soon became so keen that + our hearts were beating as if with a sense of fear. In spite of the heat + of the day, and the fatigue caused by toiling through the sand, our souls + were still surrendered to the softness unspeakable of our exquisite + ecstasy. They were filled with that pure pleasure which cannot be + described unless we liken it to the joy of listening to enchanting music, + Mozart's "Audiamo mio ben," for instance. When two pure sentiments blend + together, what is that but two sweet voices singing? To be able to + appreciate properly the emotion that held us, it would be necessary to + share the state of half sensuous delight into which the events of the + morning had plunged us. Admire for a long time some pretty dove with + iridescent colors, perched on a swaying branch above a spring, and you + will give a cry of pain when you see a hawk swooping down upon her, + driving its steel claws into her breast, and bearing her away with + murderous rapidity. When we had advanced a step or two into an open space + which lay before what seemed to be a grotto, a sort of esplanade placed a + hundred feet above the ocean, and protected from its fury by buttresses of + rock, we suddenly experienced an electrical shudder, something resembling + the shock of a sudden noise awaking us in the dead of night. + </p> + <p> + We saw, sitting on a vast granite boulder, a man who looked at us. His + glance, like that of the flash of a cannon, came from two bloodshot eyes, + and his stoical immobility could be compared only to the immutable granite + masses that surrounded him. His eyes moved slowly, his body remaining + rigid as though he were petrified. Then, having cast upon us that look + which struck us like a blow, he turned his eyes once more to the limitless + ocean, and gazed upon it, in spite of its dazzling light, as eagles gaze + at the sun, without lowering his eyelids. Try to remember, dear uncle, one + of those old oaks, whose knotty trunks, from which the branches have been + lopped, rise with weird power in some lonely place, and you will have an + image of this man. Here was a ruined Herculean frame, the face of an + Olympian Jove, destroyed by age, by hard sea toil, by grief, by common + food, and blackened as it were by lightning. Looking at his hard and hairy + hands, I saw that the sinews stood out like cords of iron. Everything + about him denoted strength of constitution. I noticed in a corner of the + grotto a quantity of moss, and on a sort of ledge carved by nature on the + granite, a loaf of bread, which covered the mouth of an earthenware jug. + Never had my imagination, when it carried me to the deserts where early + Christian anchorites spent their lives, depicted to my mind a form more + grandly religious nor more horribly repentant than that of this man. You, + who have a life-long experience of the confessional, dear uncle, you may + never, perhaps, have seen so awful a remorse,—remorse sunk in the + waves of prayer, the ceaseless supplication of a mute despair. This + fisherman, this mariner, this hard, coarse Breton, was sublime through + some hidden emotion. Had those eyes wept? That hand, moulded for an + unwrought statue, had it struck? That ragged brow, where savage honor was + imprinted, and on which strength had left vestiges of the gentleness which + is an attribute of all true strength, that forehead furrowed with + wrinkles, was it in harmony with the heart within? Why was this man in the + granite? Why was the granite in the man? Which was the man, which was the + granite? A world of fancies came into our minds. As our guide had + prophesied, we passed in silence, rapidly; when he met us he saw our + emotion of mingled terror and astonishment, but he made no boast of the + truth of his prediction; he merely said,— + </p> + <p> + "You have seen him." + </p> + <p> + "Who is that man?" + </p> + <p> + "They call him the Man of the Vow." + </p> + <p> + You can imagine the movement with which our two heads turned at once to + our guide. He was a simple-hearted fellow; he understood at once our mute + inquiry, and here follows what he told us; I shall try to give it as best + I can in his own language, retaining his popular parlance. + </p> + <p> + "Madame, folks from Croisic and those from Batz think this man is guilty + of something, and is doing a penance ordered by a famous rector to whom he + confessed his sin somewhere beyond Nantes. Others think that Cambremer, + that's his name, casts an evil fate on those who come within his air, and + so they always look which way the wind is before they pass this rock. If + it's nor'-westerly they wouldn't go by, no, not if their errand was to get + a bit of the true cross; they'd go back, frightened. Others—they are + the rich folks of Croisic—they say that Cambremer has made a vow, + and that's why people call him the Man of the Vow. He is there night and + day, he never leaves the place. All these sayings have some truth in them. + See there," he continued, turning round to show us a thing we had not + remarked, "look at that wooden cross he has set up there, to the left, to + show that he has put himself under the protection of God and the holy + Virgin and the saints. But the fear that people have of him keeps him as + safe as if he were guarded by a troop of soldiers. He has never said one + word since he locked himself up in the open air in this way; he lives on + bread and water, which is brought to him every morning by his brother's + daughter, a little lass about twelve years old to whom he has left his + property, a pretty creature, gentle as a lamb, a nice little girl, so + pleasant. She has such blue eyes, long as <i>that</i>," he added, marking + a line on his thumb, "and hair like the cherubim. When you ask her: 'Tell + me, Perotte' (That's how we say Pierette in these parts," he remarked, + interrupting himself; "she is vowed to Saint Pierre; Cambremer is named + Pierre, and he was her godfather)—'Tell me, Perotte, what does your + uncle say to you?'—'He says nothing to me, nothing.'—'Well, + then, what does he do to you?' 'He kisses me on the forehead, Sundays.'—'Are + you afraid of him?'—'Ah, no, no; isn't he my godfather? he wouldn't + have anybody but me bring him his food.' Perotte declares that he smiles + when she comes; but you might as well say the sun shines in a fog; he's as + gloomy as a cloudy day." + </p> + <p> + "But," I said to him, "you excite our curiosity without satisfying it. Do + you know what brought him there? Was it grief, or repentance; is it a + mania; is it crime, is it—" + </p> + <p> + "Eh, monsieur, there's no one but my father and I who know the real truth. + My late mother was servant in the family of a lawyer to whom Cambremer + told all by order of the priest, who wouldn't give him absolution until he + had done so—at least, that's what the folks of the port say. My poor + mother overheard Cambremer without trying to; the lawyer's kitchen was + close to the office, and that's how she heard. She's dead, and so is the + lawyer. My mother made us promise, my father and I, not to talk about the + matter to the folks of the neighborhood; but I can tell you my hair stood + on end the night she told us the tale." + </p> + <p> + "Well, my man, tell it to us now, and we won't speak of it." + </p> + <p> + The fisherman looked at us; then he continued: + </p> + <p> + "Pierre Cambremer, whom you have seen there, is the eldest of the + Cambremers, who from father to son have always been sailors; their name + says it—the sea bends under them. Pierre was a deep-sea fisherman. + He had boats, and fished for sardine, also for the big fishes, and sold + them to dealers. He'd have charted a large vessel and trawled for cod if + he hadn't loved his wife so much; she was a fine woman, a Brouin of + Guerande, with a good heart. She loved Cambremer so much that she couldn't + bear to have her man leave her for longer than to fish sardine. They lived + over there, look!" said the fisherman, going up a hillock to show us an + island in the little Mediterranean between the dunes where we were walking + and the marshes of Guerande. "You can see the house from here. It belonged + to him. Jacquette Brouin and Cambremer had only one son, a lad they loved—how + shall I say?—well, they loved him like an only child, they were mad + about him. How many times we have seen them at fairs buying all sorts of + things to please him; it was out of all reason the way they indulged him, + and so folks told them. The little Cambremer, seeing that he was never + thwarted, grew as vicious as a red ass. When they told pere Cambremer, + 'Your son has nearly killed little such a one,' he would laugh and say: + 'Bah! he'll be a bold sailor; he'll command the king's fleets.'—Another + time, 'Pierre Cambremer, did you know your lad very nearly put out the eye + of the little Pougard girl?'—'Ha! he'll like the girls,' said + Pierre. Nothing troubled him. At ten years old the little cur fought + everybody, and amused himself with cutting the hens' necks off and ripping + up the pigs; in fact, you might say he wallowed in blood. 'He'll be a + famous soldier,' said Cambremer, 'he's got the taste of blood.' Now, you + see," said the fisherman, "I can look back and remember all that—and + Cambremer, too," he added, after a pause. "By the time Jacques Cambremer + was fifteen or sixteen years of age he had come to be—what shall I + say?—a shark. He amused himself at Guerande, and was after the girls + at Savenay. Then he wanted money. He robbed his mother, who didn't dare + say a word to his father. Cambremer was an honest man who'd have tramped + fifty miles to return two sous that any one had overpaid him on a bill. At + last, one day the mother was robbed of everything. During one of his + father's fishing-trips Jacques carried off all she had, furniture, pots + and pans, sheets, linen, everything; he sold it to go to Nantes and carry + on his capers there. The poor mother wept day and night. This time it + couldn't be hidden from the father, and she feared him—not for + herself, you may be sure of that. When Pierre Cambremer came back and saw + furniture in his house which the neighbors had lent to his wife, he said,— + </p> + <p> + "'What is all this?' + </p> + <p> + "The poor woman, more dead than alive, replied: + </p> + <p> + "'We have been robbed.' + </p> + <p> + "'Where is Jacques?' + </p> + <p> + "'Jacques is off amusing himself.' + </p> + <p> + "No one knew where the scoundrel was. + </p> + <p> + "'He amuses himself too much,' said Pierre. + </p> + <p> + "Six months later the poor father heard that his son was about to be + arrested in Nantes. He walked there on foot, which is faster than by sea, + put his hands on his son, and compelled him to return home. Once here, he + did not ask him, 'What have you done?' but he said:— + </p> + <p> + "'If you do not conduct yourself properly at home with your mother and me, + and go fishing, and behave like an honest man, you and I will have a + reckoning.' + </p> + <p> + "The crazy fellow, counting on his parent's folly, made a face; on which + Pierre struck him a blow which sent Jacques to his bed for six weeks. The + poor mother nearly died of grief. One night, as she was fast asleep beside + her husband, a noise awoke her; she rose up quickly, and was stabbed in + the arm with a knife. She cried out loud, and when Pierre Cambremer struck + a light and saw his wife wounded, he thought it was the doing of robbers,—as + if we ever had any in these parts, where you might carry ten thousand + francs in gold from Croisic to Saint-Nazaire without ever being asked what + you had in your arms. Pierre looked for his son, but he could not find + him. In the morning, if that monster didn't have the face to come home, + saying he had stayed at Batz all night! I should tell you that the mother + had not known where to hide her money. Cambremer put his with Monsieur + Dupotel at Croisic. Their son's follies had by this time cost them so much + that they were half-ruined, and that was hard for folks who once had + twelve thousand francs, and who owned their island. No one ever knew what + Cambremer paid at Nantes to get his son away from there. Bad luck seemed + to follow the family. Troubles fell upon Cambremer's brother, he needed + help. Pierre said, to console him, that Jacques and Perotte (the brother's + daughter) could be married. Then, to help Joseph Cambremer to earn his + bread, Pierre took him with him a-fishing; for the poor man was now + obliged to live by his daily labor. His wife was dead of the fever, and + money was owing for Perotte's nursing. The wife of Pierre Cambremer owed + about one hundred francs to divers persons for the little girl,—linen, + clothes, and what not,—and it so chanced that she had sewed a bit of + Spanish gold into her mattress for a nest-egg toward paying off that + money. It was wrapped in paper, and on the paper was written by her: 'For + Perotte.' Jacquette Brouin had had a fine education; she could write like + a clerk, and had taught her son to write too. I can't tell you how it was + that the villain scented the gold, stole it, and went off to Croisic to + enjoy himself. Pierre Cambremer, as if it was ordained, came back that day + in his boat; as he landed he saw a bit of paper floating in the water, and + he picked it up, looked at it, and carried it to his wife, who fell down + as if dead, seeing her own writing. Cambremer said nothing, but he went to + Croisic, and heard that his son was in a billiard room; so then he went to + the mistress of the cafe, and said to her:— + </p> + <p> + "'I told Jacques not to use a piece of gold with which he will pay you; + give it back to me, and I'll give you white money in place of it.' + </p> + <p> + "The good woman did as she was told. Cambremer took the money and just + said 'Good,' and then he went home. So far, all the town knows that; but + now comes what I alone know, though others have always had some suspicion + of it. As I say, Cambremer came home; he told his wife to clean up their + chamber, which is on the lower floor; he made a fire, lit two candles, + placed two chairs on one side of the hearth, and a stool on the other. + Then he told his wife to bring him his wedding-clothes, and ordered her to + put on hers. He dressed himself. When dressed, he fetched his brother, and + told him to watch before the door, and warn him of any noise on either of + the beaches,—that of Croisic, or that of Guerande. Then he loaded a + gun, and placed it at a corner of the fireplace. Jacques came home late; + he had drunk and gambled till ten o'clock, and had to get back by way of + the Carnouf point. His uncle heard his hail, and he went over and fetched + him, but said nothing. When Jacques entered the house, his father said to + him,— + </p> + <p> + "'Sit there,' pointing to the stool. 'You are,' he said, 'before your + father and mother, whom you have offended, and who will now judge you.' + </p> + <p> + "At this Jacques began to howl, for his father's face was all distorted. + His mother was rigid as an oar. + </p> + <p> + "'If you shout, if you stir, if you do not sit still on that stool,' said + Pierre, aiming the gun at him, 'I will shoot you like a dog.' + </p> + <p> + "Jacques was mute as a fish. The mother said nothing. + </p> + <p> + "'Here,' said Pierre, 'is a piece of paper which wrapped a Spanish gold + piece. That piece of gold was in your mother's bed; she alone knew where + it was. I found that paper in the water when I landed here to-day. You + gave a piece of Spanish gold this night to Mere Fleurant, and your + mother's piece is no longer in her bed. Explain all this.' + </p> + <p> + "Jacques said he had not taken his mother's money, and that the gold piece + was one he had brought from Nantes. + </p> + <p> + "'I am glad of it,' said Pierre; 'now prove it.' + </p> + <p> + "'I had it all along.' + </p> + <p> + "'You did not take the gold piece belonging to your mother?' + </p> + <p> + "'No.' + </p> + <p> + "'Will you swear it on your eternal life?' + </p> + <p> + "He was about to swear; his mother raised her eyes to him, and said:— + </p> + <p> + "'Jacques, my child, take care; do not swear if it is not true; you can + repent, you can amend; there is still time.' + </p> + <p> + "And she wept. + </p> + <p> + "'You are a this and a that,' he said; 'you have always wanted to ruin + me.' + </p> + <p> + "Cambremer turned white and said,— + </p> + <p> + "'Such language to your mother increases your crime. Come, to the point! + Will you swear?' + </p> + <p> + "'Yes.' + </p> + <p> + "'Then,' Pierre said, 'was there upon your gold piece the little cross + which the sardine merchant who paid it to me scratched on ours?' + </p> + <p> + "Jacques broke down and wept. + </p> + <p> + "'Enough,' said Pierre. 'I shall not speak to you of the crimes you have + committed before this. I do not choose that a Cambremer should die on a + scaffold. Say your prayers and make haste. A priest is coming to confess + you.' + </p> + <p> + "The mother had left the room; she could not hear her son condemned. After + she had gone, Joseph Cambremer, the uncle, brought in the rector of + Piriac, to whom Jacques would say nothing. He was shrewd; he knew his + father would not kill him until he had made his confession. + </p> + <p> + "'Thank you, and excuse us,' said Cambremer to the priest, when he saw + Jacques' obstinacy. 'I wished to give a lesson to my son, and will ask you + to say nothing about it. As for you,' he said to Jacques, 'if you do not + amend, the next offence you commit will be your last; I shall end it + without confession.' + </p> + <p> + "And he sent him to bed. The lad thought he could still get round his + father. He slept. His father watched. When he saw that his son was soundly + asleep, he covered his mouth with tow, blindfolded him tightly, bound him + hand and foot—'He raged, he wept blood,' my mother heard Cambremer + say to the lawyer. The mother threw herself at the father's feet. + </p> + <p> + "'He is judged and condemned,' replied Pierre; 'you must now help me carry + him to the boat.' + </p> + <p> + "She refused; and Cambremer carried him alone; he laid him in the bottom + of the boat, tied a stone to his neck, took the oars and rowed out of the + cove to the open sea, till he came to the rock where he now is. When the + poor mother, who had come up here with her brother-in-law, cried out, + 'Mercy, mercy!' it was like throwing a stone at a wolf. There was a moon, + and she saw the father casting her son into the water; her son, the child + of her womb, and as there was no wind, she heard <i>blouf</i>! and then + nothing—neither sound nor bubble. Ah! the sea is a fine keeper of + what it gets. Rowing inshore to stop his wife's cries, Cambremer found her + half-dead. The two brothers couldn't carry her the whole distance home, so + they had to put her into the boat which had just served to kill her son, + and they rowed back round the tower by the channel of Croisic. Well, well! + the belle Brouin, as they called her, didn't last a week. She died begging + her husband to burn that accursed boat. Oh, he did it! As for him, he + became I don't know what; he staggered about like a man who can't carry + his wine. Then he went away and was gone ten days, and after he returned + he put himself where you saw him, and since he has been there he has never + said one word." + </p> + <p> + The fisherman related this history rapidly and more simply than I can + write it. The lower classes make few comments as they relate a thing; they + tell the fact that strikes them, and present it as they felt it. This tale + was made as sharply incisive as the blow of an axe. + </p> + <p> + "I shall not go to Batz," said Pauline, when we came to the upper shore of + the lake. + </p> + <p> + We returned to Croisic by the salt marshes, through the labyrinth of which + we were guided by our fisherman, now as silent as ourselves. The + inclination of our souls was changed. We were both plunged into gloomy + reflections, saddened by the recital of a drama which explained the sudden + presentiment which had seized us on seeing Cambremer. Each of us had + enough knowledge of life to divine all that our guide had not told of that + triple existence. The anguish of those three beings rose up before us as + if we had seen it in a drama, culminating in that of the father expiating + his crime. We dared not look at the rock where sat the fatal man who held + the whole countryside in awe. A few clouds dimmed the skies; mists were + creeping up from the horizon. We walked through a landscape more bitterly + gloomy than any our eyes had ever rested on, a nature that seemed sickly, + suffering, covered with salty crust, the eczema, it might be called, of + earth. Here, the soil was mapped out in squares of unequal size and shape, + all encased with enormous ridges or embankments of gray earth and filled + with water, to the surface of which the salt scum rises. These gullies, + made by the hand of man, are again divided by causeways, along which the + laborers pass, armed with long rakes, with which they drag this scum to + the bank, heaping it on platforms placed at equal distances when the salt + is fit to handle. + </p> + <p> + For two hours we skirted the edge of this melancholy checkerboard, where + salt has stifled all forms of vegetation, and where no one ever comes but + a few "paludiers," the local name given to the laborers of the salt + marshes. These men, or rather this clan of Bretons, wear a special + costume: a white jacket, something like that of brewers. They marry among + themselves. There is no instance of a girl of the tribe having ever + married any man who was not a paludier. + </p> + <p> + The horrible aspects of these marshes, these sloughs, the mud of which was + systematically raked, the dull gray earth that the Breton flora held in + horror, were in keeping with the gloom that filled our souls. When we + reached a spot where we crossed an arm of the sea, which no doubt serves + to feed the stagnant salt-pools, we noticed with relief the puny + vegetation which sprouted through the sand of the beach. As we crossed, we + saw the island on which the Cambremers had lived; but we turned away our + heads. + </p> + <p> + Arriving at the hotel, we noticed a billiard-table, and finding that it + was the only billiard-table in Croisic, we made our preparations to leave + during the night. The next day we went to Guerande. Pauline was still sad, + and I myself felt a return of that fever of the brain which will destroy + me. I was so cruelly tortured by the visions that came to me of those + three lives, that Pauline said at last,— + </p> + <p> + "Louis, write it all down; that will change the nature of the fever within + you." + </p> + <p> + So I have written you this narrative, dear uncle; but the shock of such an + event has made me lose the calmness I was beginning to gain from + sea-bathing and our stay in this place. + </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: A Drama on the Seashore is also known as A Seaside Tragedy and is + referred to by that title in other addendums. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Cambremer, Pierre + Beatrix + + Lambert, Louis + Louis Lambert + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + + Lefebvre + Louis Lambert + + Villenoix, Pauline Salomon de + Louis Lambert + The Vicar of Tours +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1427 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |