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diff --git a/old/adieu10.txt b/old/adieu10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..abb9979 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/adieu10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2057 @@ +***The Project Gutenberg Etext of Adieu, by Honore de Balzac*** +#47 in our series by Balzac + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz +and Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com + + + + + +ADIEU + +by HONORE DE BALZAC + + + +Translated By +Katharine Prescott Wormeley + + + +DEDICATION + +To Prince Frederic Schwartzenburg. + + + + + +ADIEU + + + +CHAPTER I + +AN OLD MONASTERY + +"Come, deputy of the Centre, forward! Quick step! march! if we want to +be in time to dine with the others. Jump, marquis! there, that's +right! why, you can skip across a stubble-field like a deer!" + +These words were said by a huntsman peacefully seated at the edge of +the forest of Ile-Adam, who was finishing an Havana cigar while +waiting for his companion, who had lost his way in the tangled +underbrush of the wood. At his side four panting dogs were watching, +as he did, the personage he addressed. To understand how sarcastic +were these exhortations, repeated at intervals, we should state that +the approaching huntsman was a stout little man whose protuberant +stomach was the evidence of a truly ministerial "embonpoint." He was +struggling painfully across the furrows of a vast wheat-field recently +harvested, the stubble of which considerably impeded him; while to add +to his other miseries the sun's rays, striking obliquely on his face, +collected an abundance of drops of perspiration. Absorbed in the +effort to maintain his equilibrium, he leaned, now forward, now back, +in close imitation of the pitching of a carriage when violently +jolted. The weather looked threatening. Though several spaces of blue +sky still parted the thick black clouds toward the horizon, a flock of +fleecy vapors were advancing with great rapidity and drawing a light +gray curtain from east to west. As the wind was acting only on the +upper region of the air, the atmosphere below it pressed down the hot +vapors of the earth. Surrounded by masses of tall trees, the valley +through which the hunter struggled felt like a furnace. Parched and +silent, the forest seemed thirsty. The birds, even the insects, were +voiceless; the tree-tops scarcely waved. Those persons who may still +remember the summer of 1819 can imagine the woes of the poor deputy, +who was struggling along, drenched in sweat, to regain his mocking +friend. The latter, while smoking his cigar, had calculated from the +position of the sun that it must be about five in the afternoon. + +"Where the devil are we?" said the stout huntsman, mopping his +forehead and leaning against the trunk of a tree nearly opposite to +his companion, for he felt unequal to the effort of leaping the ditch +between them. + +"That's for me to ask you," said the other, laughing, as he lay among +the tall brown brake which crowned the bank. Then, throwing the end of +his cigar into the ditch, he cried out vehemently: "I swear by Saint +Hubert that never again will I trust myself in unknown territory with +a statesman, though he be, like you, my dear d'Albon, a college mate." + +"But, Philippe, have you forgotten your French? Or have you left your +wits in Siberia?" replied the stout man, casting a sorrowfully comic +look at a sign-post about a hundred feet away. + +"True, true," cried Philippe, seizing his gun and springing with a +bound into the field and thence to the post. "This way, d'Albon, this +way," he called back to his friend, pointing to a broad paved path and +reading aloud the sign: "'From Baillet to Ile-Adam.' We shall +certainly find the path to Cassan, which must branch from this one +between here and Ile-Adam." + +"You are right, colonel," said Monsieur d'Albon, replacing upon his +head the cap with which he had been fanning himself. + +"Forward then, my respectable privy councillor," replied Colonel +Philippe, whistling to the dogs, who seemed more willing to obey him +than the public functionary to whom they belonged. + +"Are you aware, marquis," said the jeering soldier, "that we still +have six miles to go? That village over there must be Baillet." + +"Good heavens!" cried the marquis, "go to Cassan if you must, but +you'll go alone. I prefer to stay here, in spite of the coming storm, +and wait for the horse you can send me from the chateau. You've played +me a trick, Sucy. We were to have had a nice little hunt not far from +Cassan, and beaten the coverts I know. Instead of that, you have kept +me running like a hare since four o'clock this morning, and all I've +had for breakfast is a cup of milk. Now, if you ever have a petition +before the Court, I'll make you lose it, however just your claim." + +The poor discouraged huntsman sat down on a stone that supported the +signpost, relieved himself of his gun and his gamebag, and heaved a +long sigh. + +"France! such are thy deputies!" exclaimed Colonel de Sucy, laughing. +"Ah! my poor d'Albon, if you had been like me six years in the wilds +of Siberia--" + +He said no more, but he raised his eyes to heaven as if that anguish +were between himself and God. + +"Come, march on!" he added. "If you sit still you are lost." + +"How can I, Philippe? It is an old magisterial habit to sit still. On +my honor! I'm tired out-- If I had only killed a hare!" + +The two men presented a rather rare contrast: the public functionary +was forty-two years of age and seemed no more than thirty, whereas the +soldier was thirty, and seemed forty at the least. Both wore the red +rosette of the officers of the Legion of honor. A few spare locks of +black hair mixed with white, like the wing of a magpie, escaped from +the colonel's cap, while handsome brown curls adorned the brow of the +statesman. One was tall, gallant, high-strung, and the lines of his +pallid face showed terrible passions or frightful griefs. The other +had a face that was brilliant with health, and jovially worth of an +epicurean. Both were deeply sun-burned, and their high gaiters of +tanned leather showed signs of the bogs and the thickets they had just +come through. + +"Come," said Monsieur de Sucy, "let us get on. A short hour's march, +and we shall reach Cassan in time for a good dinner." + +"It is easy to see you have never loved," replied the councillor, with +a look that was pitifully comic; "you are as relentless as article 304 +of the penal code." + +Philippe de Sucy quivered; his broad brow contracted; his face became +as sombre as the skies above them. Some memory of awful bitterness +distorted for a moment his features, but he said nothing. Like all +strong men, he drove down his emotions to the depths of his heart; +thinking perhaps, as simple characters are apt to think, that there +was something immodest in unveiling griefs when human language cannot +render their depths and may only rouse the mockery of those who do not +comprehend them. Monsieur d'Albon had one of those delicate natures +which divine sorrows, and are instantly sympathetic to the emotion +they have involuntarily aroused. He respected his friend's silence, +rose, forgot his fatigue, and followed him silently, grieved to have +touched a wound that was evidently not healed. + +"Some day, my friend," said Philippe, pressing his hand, and thanking +him for his mute repentance by a heart-rending look, "I will relate to +you my life. To-day I cannot." + +They continued their way in silence. When the colonel's pain seemed +soothed, the marquis resumed his fatigue; and with the instinct, or +rather the will, of a wearied man his eye took in the very depths of +the forest; he questioned the tree-tops and examined the branching +paths, hoping to discover some dwelling where he could ask +hospitality. Arriving at a cross-ways, he thought he noticed a slight +smoke rising among the trees; he stopped, looked more attentively, and +saw, in the midst of a vast copse, the dark-green branches of several +pine-trees. + +"A house! a house!" he cried, with the joy the sailor feels in crying +"Land!" + +Then he sprang quickly into the copse, and the colonel, who had fallen +into a deep reverie, followed him mechanically. + +"I'd rather get an omelet, some cottage bread, and a chair here," he +said, "than go to Cassan for sofas, truffles, and Bordeaux." + +These words were an exclamation of enthusiasm, elicited from the +councillor on catching sight of a wall, the white towers of which +glimmered in the distance through the brown masses of the tree trunks. + +"Ha! ha! this looks to me as if it had once been a priory," cried the +marquis, as they reached a very old and blackened gate, through which +they could see, in the midst of a large park, a building constructed +in the style of the monasteries of old. "How those rascals the monks +knew how to choose their sites!" + +This last exclamation was an expression of surprise and pleasure at +the poetical hermitage which met his eyes. The house stood on the +slope of the mountain, at the summit of which is the village of +Nerville. The great centennial oaks of the forest which encircled the +dwelling made the place an absolute solitude. The main building, +formerly occupied by the monks, faced south. The park seemed to have +about forty acres. Near the house lay a succession of green meadows, +charmingly crossed by several clear rivulets, with here and there a +piece of water naturally placed without the least apparent artifice. +Trees of elegant shape and varied foliage were distributed about. +Grottos, cleverly managed, and massive terraces with dilapidated steps +and rusty railings, gave a peculiar character to this lone retreat. +Art had harmonized her constructions with the picturesque effects of +nature. Human passions seemed to die at the feet of those great trees, +which guarded this asylum from the tumult of the world as they shaded +it from the fires of the sun. + +"How desolate!" thought Monsieur d'Albon, observing the sombre +expression which the ancient building gave to the landscape, gloomy as +though a curse were on it. It seemed a fatal spot deserted by man. Ivy +had stretched its tortuous muscles, covered by its rich green mantle, +everywhere. Brown or green, red or yellow mosses and lichen spread +their romantic tints on trees and seats and roofs and stones. The +crumbling window-casings were hollowed by rain, defaced by time; the +balconies were broken, the terraces demolished. Some of the outside +shutters hung from a single hinge. The rotten doors seemed quite +unable to resist an assailant. Covered with shining tufts of +mistletoe, the branches of the neglected fruit-trees gave no sign of +fruit. Grass grew in the paths. Such ruin and desolation cast a weird +poesy on the scene, filling the souls of the spectators with dreamy +thoughts. A poet would have stood there long, plunged in a melancholy +reverie, admiring this disorder so full of harmony, this destruction +which was not without its grace. Suddenly, the brown tiles shone, the +mosses glittered, fantastic shadows danced upon the meadows and +beneath the trees; fading colors revived; striking contrasts +developed, the foliage of the trees and shrubs defined itself more +clearly in the light. Then--the light went out. The landscape seemed +to have spoken, and now was silent, returning to its gloom, or rather +to the soft sad tones of an autumnal twilight. + +"It is the palace of the Sleeping Beauty," said the marquis, beginning +to view the house with the eyes of a land owner. "I wonder to whom it +belongs! He must be a stupid fellow not to live in such an exquisite +spot." + +At that instant a woman sprang from beneath a chestnut-tree standing +to the right of the gate, and, without making any noise, passed before +the marquis as rapidly as the shadow of a cloud. This vision made him +mute with surprise. + +"Why, Albon, what's the matter?" asked the colonel. + +"I am rubbing my eyes to know if I am asleep or awake," replied the +marquis, with his face close to the iron rails as he tried to get +another sight of the phantom. + +"She must be beneath that fig-tree," he said, pointing to the foliage +of a tree which rose above the wall to the left of the gate. + +"She! who?" + +"How can I tell?" replied Monsieur d'Albon. "A strange woman rose up +there, just before me," he said in a low voice; "she seemed to come +from the world of shades rather than from the land of the living. She +is so slender, so light, so filmy, she must be diaphanous. Her face +was as white as milk; her eyes, her clothes, her hair jet black. She +looked at me as she flitted by, and though I may say I'm no coward, +that cold immovable look froze the blood in my veins." + +"Is she pretty?" asked Philippe. + +"I don't know. I could see nothing but the eyes in that face." + +"Well, let the dinner at Cassan go to the devil!" cried the colonel. +"Suppose we stay here. I have a sudden childish desire to enter that +singular house. Do you see those window-frames painted red, and the +red lines on the doors and shutters? Doesn't the place look to you as +if it belonged to the devil?--perhaps he inherited it from the monks. +Come, let us pursue the black and white lady--forward, march!" cried +Philippe, with forced gaiety. + +At that instant the two huntsmen heard a cry that was something like +that of a mouse caught in a trap. They listened. The rustle of a few +shrubs sounded in the silence like the murmur of a breaking wave. In +vain they listened for other sounds; the earth was dumb, and kept the +secret of those light steps, if, indeed, the unknown woman moved at +all. + +"It is very singular!" said Philippe, as they skirted the park wall. + +The two friends presently reached a path in the forest which led to +the village of Chauvry. After following this path some way toward the +main road to Paris, they came to another iron gate which led to the +principal facade of the mysterious dwelling. On this side the +dilapidation and disorder of the premises had reached their height. +Immense cracks furrowed the walls of the house, which was built on +three sides of a square. Fragments of tiles and slates lying on the +ground, and the dilapidated condition of the roofs, were evidence of a +total want of care on the part of the owners. The fruit had fallen +from the trees and lay rotting on the ground; a cow was feeding on the +lawn and treading down the flowers in the borders, while a goat +browsed on the shoots of the vines and munched the unripe grapes. + +"Here all is harmony; the devastation seems organized," said the +colonel, pulling the chain of a bell; but the bell was without a +clapper. + +The huntsmen heard nothing but the curiously sharp noise of a rusty +spring. Though very dilapidated, a little door made in the wall beside +the iron gates resisted all their efforts to open it. + +"Well, well, this is getting to be exciting," said de Sucy to his +companion. + +"If I were not a magistrate," replied Monsieur d'Albon, "I should +think that woman was a witch." + +As he said the words, the cow came to the iron gate and pushed her +warm muzzle towards them, as if she felt the need of seeing human +beings. Then a woman, if that name could be applied to the indefinable +being who suddenly issued from a clump of bushes, pulled away the cow +by its rope. This woman wore on her head a red handkerchief, beneath +which trailed long locks of hair in color and shape like the flax on a +distaff. She wore no fichu. A coarse woollen petticoat in black and +gray stripes, too short by several inches, exposed her legs. She might +have belonged to some tribe of Red-Skins described by Cooper, for her +legs, neck, and arms were the color of brick. No ray of intelligence +enlivened her vacant face. A few whitish hairs served her for +eyebrows; the eyes themselves, of a dull blue, were cold and wan; and +her mouth was so formed as to show the teeth, which were crooked, but +as white as those of a dog. + +"Here, my good woman!" called Monsieur de Sucy. + +She came very slowly to the gate, looking with a silly expression at +the two huntsmen, the sight of whom brought a forced and painful smile +to her face. + +"Where are we? Whose house is this? Who are you? Do you belong here?" + +To these questions and several others which the two friends +alternately addressed to her, she answered only with guttural sounds +that seemed more like the growl of an animal than the voice of a human +being. + +"She must be deaf and dumb," said the marquis. + +"Bons-Hommes!" cried the peasant woman. + +"Ah! I see. This is, no doubt, the old monastery of the Bons-Hommes," +said the marquis. + +He renewed his questions. But, like a capricious child, the peasant +woman colored, played with her wooden shoe, twisted the rope of the +cow, which was now feeding peaceably, and looked at the two hunters, +examining every part of their clothing; then she yelped, growled, and +clucked, but did not speak. + +"What is your name?" said Philippe, looking at her fixedly, as if he +meant to mesmerize her. + +"Genevieve," she said, laughing with a silly air. + +"The cow is the most intelligent being we have seen so far," said the +marquis. "I shall fire my gun and see if that will being some one." + +Just as d'Albon raised his gun, the colonel stopped him with a +gesture, and pointed to the form of a woman, probably the one who had +so keenly piqued his curiosity. At this moment she seemed lost in the +deepest meditation, and was coming with slow steps along a distant +pathway, so that the two friends had ample time to examine her. + +She was dressed in a ragged gown of black satin. Her long hair fell in +masses of curls over her forehead, around her shoulders, and below her +waist, serving her for a shawl. Accustomed no doubt to this disorder, +she seldom pushed her hair from her forehead; and when she did so, it +was with a sudden toss of her head which only for a moment cleared her +forehead and eyes from the thick veil. Her gesture, like that of an +animal, had a remarkable mechanical precision, the quickness of which +seemed wonderful in a woman. The huntsmen were amazed to see her +suddenly leap up on the branch of an apple-tree, and sit there with +the ease of a bird. She gathered an apple and ate it; then she dropped +to the ground with the graceful ease we admire in a squirrel. Her +limbs possessed an elasticity which took from every movement the +slightest appearance of effort or constraint. She played upon the +turf, rolling herself about like a child; then, suddenly, she flung +her feet and hands forward, and lay at full length on the grass, with +the grace and natural ease of a young cat asleep in the sun. Thunder +sounded in the distance, and she turned suddenly, rising on her hands +and knees with the rapidity of a dog which hears a coming footstep. + +The effects of this singular attitude was to separate into two heavy +masses the volume of her black hair, which now fell on either side of +her head, and allowed the two spectators to admire the white shoulders +glistening like daisies in a field, and the throat, the perfection of +which allowed them to judge of the other beauties of her figure. + +Suddenly she uttered a distressful cry and rose to her feet. Her +movements succeeded each other with such airiness and grace that she +seemed not a creature of this world but a daughter of the atmosphere, +as sung in the poems of Ossian. She ran toward a piece of water, shook +one of her legs lightly to cast off her shoe, and began to dabble her +foot, white as alabaster, in the current, admiring, perhaps, the +undulations she thus produced upon the surface of the water. Then she +knelt down at the edge of the stream and amused herself, like a child, +in casting in her long tresses and pulling them abruptly out, to watch +the shower of drops that glittered down, looking, as the sunlight +struck athwart them, like a chaplet of pearls. + +"That woman is mad!" cried the marquis. + +A hoarse cry, uttered by Genevieve, seemed uttered as a warning to the +unknown woman, who turned suddenly, throwing back her hair from either +side of her face. At this instant the colonel and Monsieur d'Albon +could distinctly see her features; she, herself, perceiving the two +friends, sprang to the iron railing with the lightness and rapidity of +a deer. + +"Adieu!" she said, in a soft, harmonious voice, the melody of which +did not convey the slightest feeling or the slightest thought. + +Monsieur d'Albon admired the long lashes of her eyelids, the blackness +of her eyebrows, and the dazzling whiteness of a skin devoid of even +the faintest tinge of color. Tiny blue veins alone broke the +uniformity of its pure white tones. When the marquis turned to his +friend as if to share with him his amazement at the sight of this +singular creature, he found him stretched on the ground as if dead. +D'Albon fired his gun in the air to summon assistance, crying out +"Help! help!" and then endeavored to revive the colonel. At the sound +of the shot, the unknown woman, who had hitherto stood motionless, +fled away with the rapidity of an arrow, uttering cries of fear like a +wounded animal, and running hither and thither about the meadow with +every sign of the greatest terror. + +Monsieur d'Albon, hearing the rumbling of a carriage on the high-road +to Ile-Adam, waved his handkerchief and shouted to its occupants for +assistance. The carriage was immediately driven up to the old +monastery, and the marquis recognized his neighbors, Monsieur and +Madame de Granville, who at once gave up their carriage to the service +of the two gentlemen. Madame de Granville had with her, by chance, a +bottle of salts, which revived the colonel for a moment. When he +opened his eyes he turned them to the meadow, where the unknown woman +was still running and uttering her distressing cries. A smothered +exclamation escaped him, which seemed to express a sense of horror; +then he closed his eyes again, and made a gesture as if to implore his +friend to remove him from that sight. + +Monsieur and Madame de Granville placed their carriage entirely at the +disposal of the marquis, assuring him courteously that they would like +to continue their way on foot. + +"Who is that lady?" asked the marquis, signing toward the unknown +woman. + +"I believe she comes from Moulins," replied Monsieur de Granville. +"She is the Comtesse de Vandieres, and they say she is mad; but as she +has only been here two months I will not vouch for the truth of these +hearsays." + +Monsieur d'Albon thanked his friends, and placing the colonel in the +carriage, started with him for Cassan. + +"It is she!" cried Philippe, recovering his senses. + +"Who is she?" asked d'Albon. + +"Stephanie. Ah, dead and living, living and mad! I fancied I was +dying." + +The prudent marquis, appreciating the gravity of the crisis through +which his friend was passing, was careful not to question or excite +him; he was only anxious to reach the chateau, for the change which +had taken place in the colonel's features, in fact in his whole +person, made him fear for his friend's reason. As soon, therefore, as +the carriage had reached the main street of Ile-Adam, he dispatched +the footman to the village doctor, so that the colonel was no sooner +fairly in his bed at the chateau than the physician was beside him. + +"If monsieur had not been many hours without food the shock would have +killed him," said the doctor. + +After naming the first precautions, the doctor left the room, to +prepare, himself, a calming potion. The next day, Monsieur de Sucy was +better, but the doctor still watched him carefully. + +"I will admit to you, monsieur le marquis," he said, "that I have +feared some affection of the brain. Monsieur de Sucy has received a +violent shock; his passions are strong; but, in him, the first blow +decides all. To-morrow he may be entirely out of danger." + +The doctor was not mistaken; and the following day he allowed the +marquis to see his friend. + +"My dear d'Albon," said Philippe, pressing his hand, "I am going to +ask a kindness of you. Go to the Bons-Hommes, and find out all you can +of the lady we saw there; and return to me as quickly as you can; I +shall count the minutes." + +Monsieur d'Albon mounted his horse at once, and galloped to the old +abbey. When he arrived there, he saw before the iron gate a tall, +spare man with a very kindly face, who answered in the affirmative +when asked if he lived there. Monsieur d'Albon then informed him of +the reasons for his visit. + +"What! monsieur," said the other, "was it you who fired that fatal +shot? You very nearly killed my poor patient." + +"But, monsieur, I fired in the air." + +"You would have done the countess less harm had you fired at her." + +"Then we must not reproach each other, monsieur, for the sight of the +countess has almost killed my friend, Monsieur de Sucy." + +"Heavens! can you mean Baron Philippe de Sucy?" cried the doctor, +clasping his hands. "Did he go to Russia; was he at the passage of the +Beresina?" + +"Yes," replied d'Albon, "he was captured by the Cossacks and kept for +five years in Siberia; he recovered his liberty a few months ago." + +"Come in, monsieur," said the master of the house, leading the marquis +into a room on the lower floor where everything bore the marks of +capricious destruction. The silken curtains beside the windows were +torn, while those of muslin remained intact. + +"You see," said the tall old man, as they entered, "the ravages +committed by that dear creature, to whom I devote myself. She is my +niece; in spite of the impotence of my art, I hope some day to restore +her reason by attempting a method which can only be employed, +unfortunately, by very rich people." + +Then, like all persons living in solitude who are afflicted with an +ever present and ever renewed grief, he related to the marquis at +length the following narrative, which is here condensed, and relieved +of the many digressions made by both the narrator and the listener. + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PASSAGE OF THE BERESINA + +Marechal Victor, when he started, about nine at night, from the +heights of Studzianka, which he had defended, as the rear-guard of the +retreating army, during the whole day of November 28th, 1812, left a +thousand men behind him, with orders to protect to the last possible +moment whichever of the two bridges across the Beresina might still +exist. This rear-guard had devoted itself to the task of saving a +frightful multitude of stragglers overcome by the cold, who +obstinately refused to leave the bivouacs of the army. The heroism of +this generous troop proved useless. The stragglers who flocked in +masses to the banks of the Beresina found there, unhappily, an immense +number of carriages, caissons, and articles of all kinds which the +army had been forced to abandon when effecting its passage of the +river on the 27th and 28th of November. Heirs to such unlooked-for +riches, the unfortunate men, stupid with cold, took up their abode in +the deserted bivouacs, broke up the material which they found there to +build themselves cabins, made fuel of everything that came to hand, +cut up the frozen carcasses of the horses for food, tore the cloth and +the curtains from the carriages for coverlets, and went to sleep, +instead of continuing their way and crossing quietly during the night +that cruel Beresina, which an incredible fatality had already made so +destructive to the army. + +The apathy of these poor soldiers can only be conceived by those who +remember to have crossed vast deserts of snow without other +perspective than a snow horizon, without other drink than snow, +without other bed than snow, without other food than snow or a few +frozen beet-roots, a few handfuls of flour, or a little horseflesh. +Dying of hunger, thirst, fatigue, and want of sleep, these +unfortunates reached a shore where they saw before them wood, +provisions, innumerable camp equipages, and carriages,--in short a +whole town at their service. The village of Studzianka had been wholly +taken to pieces and conveyed from the heights on which it stood to the +plain. However forlorn and dangerous that refuge might be, its +miseries and its perils only courted men who had lately seen nothing +before them but the awful deserts of Russia. It was, in fact, a vast +asylum which had an existence of twenty-four hours only. + +Utter lassitude, and the sense of unexpected comfort, made that mass +of men inaccessible to every thought but that of rest. Though the +artillery of the left wing of the Russians kept up a steady fire on +this mass,--visible like a stain now black, now flaming, in the midst +of the trackless snow,--this shot and shell seemed to the torpid +creatures only one inconvenience the more. It was like a thunderstorm, +despised by all because the lightning strikes so few; the balls struck +only here and there, the dying, the sick, the dead sometimes! +Stragglers arrived in groups continually; but once here those +perambulating corpses separated; each begged for himself a place near +a fire; repulsed repeatedly, they met again, to obtain by force the +hospitality already refused to them. Deaf to the voice of some of +their officers, who warned them of probable destruction on the morrow, +they spent the amount of courage necessary to cross the river in +building that asylum of a night, in making one meal that they +themselves doomed to be their last. The death that awaited them they +considered no evil, provided they could have that one night's sleep. +They thought nothing evil but hunger, thirst, and cold. When there was +no more wood or food or fire, horrible struggles took place between +fresh-comers and the rich who possessed a shelter. The weakest +succumbed. + +At last there came a moment when a number, pursued by the Russians, +found only snow on which to bivouac, and these lay down to rise no +more. Insensibly this mass of almost annihilated beings became so +compact, so deaf, so torpid, so happy perhaps, that Marechal Victor, +who had been their heroic defender by holding twenty thousand Russians +under Wittgenstein at bay, was forced to open a passage by main force +through this forest of men in order to cross the Beresina with five +thousand gallant fellows whom he was taking to the emperor. The +unfortunate malingerers allowed themselves to be crushed rather than +stir; they perished in silence, smiling at their extinguished fires, +without a thought of France. + +It was not until ten o'clock that night that Marechal Victor reached +the bank of the river. Before crossing the bridge which led to Zembin, +he confided the fate of his own rear-guard now left in Studzianka to +Eble, the savior of all those who survived the calamities of the +Beresina. It was towards midnight when this great general, followed by +one brave officer, left the cabin he occupied near the bridge, and +studied the spectacle of that improvised camp placed between the bank +of the river and Studzianka. The Russian cannon had ceased to thunder. +Innumerable fires, which, amid that trackless waste of snow, burned +pale and scarcely sent out any gleams, illumined here and there by +sudden flashes forms and faces that were barely human. Thirty thousand +poor wretches, belonging to all nations, from whom Napoleon had +recruited his Russian army, were trifling away their lives with +brutish indifference. + +"Let us save them!" said General Eble to the officer who accompanied +him. "To-morrow morning the Russians will be masters of Studzianka. We +must burn the bridge the moment they appear. Therefore, my friend, +take your courage in your hand! Go to the heights. Tell General +Fournier he has barely time to evacuate his position, force a way +through this crowd, and cross the bridge. When you have seen him in +motion follow him. Find men you can trust, and the moment Fournier had +crossed the bridge, burn, without pity, huts, equipages, caissons, +carriages,--EVERYTHING! Drive that mass of men to the bridge. Compel +all that has two legs to get to the other side of the river. The +burning of everything--EVERYTHING--is now our last resource. If +Berthier had let me destroy those damned camp equipages, this river +would swallow only my poor pontoniers, those fifty heroes who will +save the army, but who themselves will be forgotten." + +The general laid his hand on his forehead and was silent. He felt that +Poland would be his grave, and that no voice would rise to do justice +to those noble men who stood in the water, the icy water of Beresina, +to destroy the buttresses of the bridges. One alone of those heroes +still lives--or, to speak more correctly, suffers--in a village, +totally ignored. + +The aide-de-camp started. Hardly had this generous officer gone a +hundred yards towards Studzianka than General Eble wakened a number of +his weary pontoniers, and began the work,--the charitable work of +burning the bivouacs set up about the bridge, and forcing the +sleepers, thus dislodged, to cross the river. + +Meanwhile the young aide-de-camp reached, not without difficulty, the +only wooden house still left standing in Studzianka. + +"This barrack seems pretty full, comrade," he said to a man whom he +saw by the doorway. + +"If you can get in you'll be a clever trooper," replied the officer, +without turning his head or ceasing to slice off with his sabre the +bark of the logs of which the house was built. + +"Is that you, Philippe?" said the aide-de-camp, recognizing a friend +by the tones of his voice. + +"Yes. Ha, ha! is it you, old fellow?" replied Monsieur de Sucy, +looking at the aide-de-camp, who, like himself, was only twenty-three +years of age. "I thought you were the other side of that cursed river. +What are you here for? Have you brought cakes and wine for our +dessert? You'll be welcome," and he went on slicing off the bark, +which he gave as a sort of provender to his horse. + +"I am looking for your commander to tell him, from General Eble, to +make for Zembin. You'll have barely enough time to get through that +crowd of men below. I am going presently to set fire to their camp and +force them to march." + +"You warm me up--almost! That news makes me perspire. I have two +friends I MUST save. Ah! without those two to cling to me, I should be +dead already. It is for them that I feed my horse and don't eat +myself. Have you any food,--a mere crust? It is thirty hours since +anything has gone into my stomach, and yet I have fought like a madman +--just to keep a little warmth and courage in me." + +"Poor Philippe, I have nothing--nothing! But where's your general,--in +this house?" + +"No, don't go there; the place is full of wounded. Go up the street; +you'll find on your left a sort of pig-pen; the general is there. +Good-bye, old fellow. If we ever dance a trenis on a Paris floor--" + +He did not end his sentence; the north wind blew at that moment with +such ferocity that the aide-de-camp hurried on to escape being frozen, +and the lips of Major de Sucy stiffened. Silence reigned, broken only +by the moans which came from the house, and the dull sound made by the +major's horse as it chewed in a fury of hunger the icy bark of the +trees with which the house was built. Monsieur de Sucy replaced his +sabre in its scabbard, took the bridle of the precious horse he had +hitherto been able to preserve, and led it, in spite of the animal's +resistance, from the wretched fodder it appeared to think excellent. + +"We'll start, Bichette, we'll start! There's none but you, my beauty, +who can save Stephanie. Ha! by and bye you and I may be able to rest-- +and die," he added. + +Philippe, wrapped in a fur pelisse, to which he owed his preservation +and his energy, began to run, striking his feet hard upon the frozen +snow to keep them warm. Scarcely had he gone a few hundred yards from +the village than he saw a blaze in the direction of the place where, +since morning, he had left his carriage in charge of his former +orderly, an old soldier. Horrible anxiety laid hold of him. Like all +others who were controlled during this fatal retreat by some powerful +sentiment, he found a strength to save his friends which he could not +have put forth to save himself. + +Presently he reached a slight declivity at the foot of which, in a +spot sheltered from the enemy's balls, he had stationed the carriage, +containing a young woman, the companion of his childhood, the being +most dear to him on earth. At a few steps distant from the vehicle he +now found a company of some thirty stragglers collected around an +immense fire, which they were feeding with planks, caisson covers, +wheels, and broken carriages. These soldiers were, no doubt, the last +comers of that crowd who, from the base of the hill of Studzianka to +the fatal river, formed an ocean of heads intermingled with fires and +huts,--a living sea, swayed by motions that were almost imperceptible, +and giving forth a murmuring sound that rose at times to frightful +outbursts. Driven by famine and despair, these poor wretches must have +rifled the carriage before de Sucy reached it. The old general and his +young wife, whom he had left lying in piles of clothes and wrapped in +mantles and pelisses, were now on the snow, crouching before the fire. +One door of the carriage was already torn off. + +No sooner did the men about the fire hear the tread of the major's +horse than a hoarse cry, the cry of famine, arose,-- + +"A horse! a horse!" + +Those voices formed but one voice. + +"Back! back! look out for yourself!" cried two or three soldiers, +aiming at the mare. Philippe threw himself before his animal, crying +out,-- + +"You villains! I'll throw you into your own fire. There are plenty of +dead horses up there. Go and fetch them." + +"Isn't he a joker, that officer! One, two--get out of the way," cried +a colossal grenadier. "No, you won't, hey! Well, as you please, then." + +A woman's cry rose higher than the report of the musket. Philippe +fortunately was not touched, but Bichette, mortally wounded, was +struggling in the throes of death. Three men darted forward and +dispatched her with their bayonets. + +"Cannibals!" cried Philippe, "let me at any rate take the horse-cloth +and my pistols." + +"Pistols, yes," replied the grenadier. "But as for that horse-cloth, +no! here's a poor fellow afoot, with nothing in his stomach for two +days, and shivering in his rags. It is our general." + +Philippe kept silence as he looked at the man, whose boots were worn +out, his trousers torn in a dozen places, while nothing but a ragged +fatigue-cap covered with ice was on his head. He hastened, however, to +take his pistols. Five men dragged the mare to the fire, and cut her +up with the dexterity of a Parisian butcher. The pieces were instantly +seized and flung upon the embers. + +The major went up to the young woman, who had uttered a cry on +recognizing him. He found her motionless, seated on a cushion beside +the fire. She looked at him silently, without smiling. Philippe then +saw the soldier to whom he had confided the carriage; the man was +wounded. Overcome by numbers, he had been forced to yield to the +malingerers who attacked him; and, like the dog who defended to the +last possible moment his master's dinner, he had taken his share of +the booty, and was now sitting beside the fire, wrapped in a white +sheet by way of cloak, and turning carefully on the embers a slice of +the mare. Philippe saw upon his face the joy these preparations gave +him. The Comte de Vandieres, who, for the last few days, had fallen +into a state of second childhood, was seated on a cushion beside his +wife, looking fixedly at the fire, which was beginning to thaw his +torpid limbs. He had shown no emotion of any kind, either at +Philippe's danger, or at the fight which ended in the pillage of the +carriage and their expulsion from it. + +At first de Sucy took the hand of the young countess, as if to show +her his affection, and the grief he felt at seeing her reduced to such +utter misery; then he grew silent; seated beside her on a heap of snow +which was turning into a rivulet as it melted, he yielded himself up +to the happiness of being warm, forgetting their peril, forgetting all +things. His face assumed, in spite of himself, an expression of almost +stupid joy, and he waited with impatience until the fragment of the +mare given to his orderly was cooked. The smell of the roasting flesh +increased his hunger, and his hunger silenced his heart, his courage, +and his love. He looked, without anger, at the results of the pillage +of his carriage. All the men seated around the fire had shared his +blankets, cushions, pelisses, robes, also the clothing of the Comte +and Comtesse de Vandieres and his own. Philippe looked about him to +see if there was anything left in or near the vehicle that was worth +saving. By the light of the flames he saw gold and diamonds and plate +scattered everywhere, no one having thought it worth his while to take +any. + +Each of the individuals collected by chance around this fire +maintained a silence that was almost horrible, and did nothing but +what he judged necessary for his own welfare. Their misery was even +grotesque. Faces, discolored by cold, were covered with a layer of +mud, on which tears had made a furrow from the eyes to the beard, +showing the thickness of that miry mask. The filth of their long +beards made these men still more repulsive. Some were wrapped in the +countess's shawls, others wore the trappings of horses and muddy +saddlecloths, or masses of rags from which the hoar-frost hung; some +had a boot on one leg and a shoe on the other; in fact, there were +none whose costume did not present some laughable singularity. But in +presence of such amusing sights the men themselves were grave and +gloomy. The silence was broken only by the snapping of the wood, the +crackling of the flames, the distant murmur of the camps, and the +blows of the sabre given to what remained of Bichette in search of her +tenderest morsels. A few miserable creatures, perhaps more weary than +the rest, were sleeping; when one of their number rolled into the fire +no one attempted to help him out. These stern logicians argued that if +he were not dead his burns would warn him to find a safer place. If +the poor wretch waked in the flames and perished, no one cared. Two or +three soldiers looked at each other to justify their own indifference +by that of others. Twice this scene had taken place before the eyes of +the countess, who said nothing. When the various pieces of Bichette, +placed here and there upon the embers, were sufficiently broiled, each +man satisfied his hunger with the gluttony that disgusts us when we +see it in animals. + +"This is the first time I ever saw thirty infantrymen on one horse," +cried the grenadier who had shot the mare. + +It was the only jest made that night which proved the national +character. + +Soon the great number of these poor soldiers wrapped themselves in +what they could find and lay down on planks, or whatever would keep +them from contact with the snow, and slept, heedless of the morrow. +When the major was warm, and his hunger appeased, an invincible desire +to sleep weighed down his eyelids. During the short moment of his +struggle against that desire he looked at the young woman, who had +turned her face to the fire and was now asleep, leaving her closed +eyes and a portion of her forehead exposed to sight. She was wrapped +in a furred pelisse and a heavy dragoon's cloak; her head rested on a +pillow stained with blood; an astrakhan hood, kept in place by a +handkerchief knotted round her neck, preserved her face from the cold +as much as possible. Her feet were wrapped in the cloak. Thus rolled +into a bundle, as it were, she looked like nothing at all. Was she the +last of the "vivandieres"? Was she a charming woman, the glory of a +lover, the queen of Parisian salons? Alas! even the eye of her most +devoted friend could trace no sign of anything feminine in that mass +of rags and tatters. Love had succumbed to cold in the heart of a +woman! + +Through the thick veils of irresistible sleep, the major soon saw the +husband and wife as mere points or formless objects. The flames of the +fire, those outstretched figures, the relentless cold, waiting, not +three feet distant from that fugitive heat, became all a dream. One +importunate thought terrified Philippe: + +"If I sleep, we shall all die; I will not sleep," he said to himself. + +And yet he slept. + +A terrible clamor and an explosion awoke him an hour later. The sense +of his duty, the peril of his friend, fell suddenly on his heart. He +uttered a cry that was like a roar. He and his orderly were alone +afoot. A sea of fire lay before them in the darkness of the night, +licking up the cabins and the bivouacs; cries of despair, howls, and +imprecations reached their ears; they saw against the flames thousands +of human beings with agonized or furious faces. In the midst of that +hell, a column of soldiers was forcing its way to the bridge, between +two hedges of dead bodies. + +"It is the retreat of the rear-guard!" cried the major. "All hope is +gone!" + +"I have saved your carriage, Philippe," said a friendly voice. + +Turning round, de Sucy recognized the young aide-de-camp in the +flaring of the flames. + +"Ah! all is lost!" replied the major, "they have eaten my horse; and +how can I make this stupid general and his wife walk?" + +"Take a brand from the fire and threaten them." + +"Threaten the countess!" + +"Good-bye," said the aide-de-camp, "I have scarcely time to get across +that fatal river--and I MUST; I have a mother in France. What a night! +These poor wretches prefer to lie here in the snow; half will allow +themselves to perish in those flames rather than rise and move on. It +is four o'clock, Philippe! In two hours the Russians will begin to +move. I assure you you will again see the Beresina choked with +corpses. Philippe! think of yourself! You have no horses, you cannot +carry the countess in your arms. Come--come with me!" he said +urgently, pulling de Sucy by the arm. + +"My friend! abandon Stephanie!" + +De Sucy seized the countess, made her stand upright, shook her with +the roughness of a despairing man, and compelled her to wake up. She +looked at him with fixed, dead eyes. + +"You must walk, Stephanie, or we shall all die here." + +For all answer the countess tried to drop again upon the snow and +sleep. The aide-de-camp seized a brand from the fire and waved it in +her face. + +"We will save her in spite of herself!" cried Philippe, lifting the +countess and placing her in the carriage. + +He returned to implore the help of his friend. Together they lifted +the old general, without knowing whether he were dead or alive, and +put him beside his wife. The major then rolled over the men who were +sleeping on his blankets, which he tossed into the carriage, together +with some roasted fragments of his mare. + +"What do you mean to do?" asked the aide-de-camp. + +"Drag them." + +"You are crazy." + +"True," said Philippe, crossing his arms in despair. + +Suddenly, he was seized by a last despairing thought. + +"To you," he said, grasping the sound arm of his orderly, "I confide +her for one hour. Remember that you must die sooner than let any one +approach her." + +The major then snatched up the countess's diamonds, held them in one +hand, drew his sabre with the other, and began to strike with the flat +of its blade such of the sleepers as he thought the most intrepid. He +succeeded in awaking the colossal grenadier, and two other men whose +rank it was impossible to tell. + +"We are done for!" he said. + +"I know it," said the grenadier, "but I don't care." + +"Well, death for death, wouldn't you rather sell your life for a +pretty woman, and take your chances of seeing France?" + +"I'd rather sleep," said a man, rolling over on the snow, "and if you +trouble me again, I'll stick my bayonet into your stomach." + +"What is the business, my colonel?" said the grenadier. "That man is +drunk; he's a Parisian; he likes his ease." + +"That is yours, my brave grenadier," cried the major, offering him a +string of diamonds, "if you will follow me and fight like a madman. +The Russians are ten minutes' march from here; they have horses; we +are going up to their first battery for a pair." + +"But the sentinels?" + +"One of us three--" he interrupted himself, and turned to the aide-de- +camp. "You will come, Hippolyte, won't you?" + +Hippolyte nodded. + +"One of us," continued the major, "will take care of the sentinel. +Besides, perhaps they are asleep too, those cursed Russians." + +"Forward! major, you're a brave one! But you'll give me a lift on your +carriage?" said the grenadier. + +"Yes, if you don't leave your skin up there-- If I fall, Hippolyte, +and you, grenadier, promise me to do your utmost to save the +countess." + +"Agreed!" cried the grenadier. + +They started for the Russian lines, toward one of the batteries which +had so decimated the hapless wretches lying on the banks of the river. +A few moments later, the gallop of two horses echoed over the snow, +and the wakened artillery men poured out a volley which ranged above +the heads of the sleeping men. The pace of the horses was so fleet +that their steps resounded like the blows of a blacksmith on his +anvil. The generous aide-de-camp was killed. The athletic grenadier +was safe and sound. Philippe in defending Hippolyte had received a +bayonet in his shoulder; but he clung to his horse's mane, and clasped +him so tightly with his knees that the animal was held as in a vice. + +"God be praised!" cried the major, finding his orderly untouched, and +the carriage in its place. + +"If you are just, my officer, you will get me the cross for this," +said the man. "We've played a fine game of guns and sabres here, I can +tell you." + +"We have done nothing yet-- Harness the horses. Take these ropes." + +"They are not long enough." + +"Grenadier, turn over those sleepers, and take their shawls and linen, +to eke out." + +"Tiens! that's one dead," said the grenadier, stripping the first man +he came to. "Bless me! what a joke, they are all dead!" + +"All?" + +"Yes, all; seems as if horse-meat must be indigestible if eaten with +snow." + +The words made Philippe tremble. The cold was increasing. + +"My God! to lose the woman I have saved a dozen times!" + +The major shook the countess. + +"Stephanie! Stephanie!" + +The young woman opened her eyes. + +"Madame! we are saved." + +"Saved!" she repeated, sinking down again. + +The horses were harnessed as best they could. The major, holding his +sabre in his well hand, with his pistols in his belt, gathered up the +reins with the other hand and mounted one horse while the grenadier +mounted the other. The orderly, whose feet were frozen, was thrown +inside the carriage, across the general and the countess. Excited by +pricks from a sabre, the horses drew the carriage rapidly, with a sort +of fury, to the plain, where innumerable obstacles awaited it. It was +impossible to force a way without danger of crushing the sleeping men, +women, and even children, who refused to move when the grenadier awoke +them. In vain did Monsieur de Sucy endeavor to find the swathe cut by +the rear-guard through the mass of human beings; it was already +obliterated, like the wake of a vessel through the sea. They could +only creep along, being often stopped by soldiers who threatened to +kill their horses. + +"Do you want to reach the bridge?" said the grenadier. + +"At the cost of my life--at the cost of the whole world!" + +"Then forward, march! you can't make omelets without breaking eggs." + +And the grenadier of the guard urged the horses over men and bivouacs +with bloody wheels and a double line of corpses on either side of +them. We must do him the justice to say that he never spared his +breath in shouting in stentorian tones,-- + +"Look out there, carrion!" + +"Poor wretches!" cried the major. + +"Pooh! that or the cold, that or the cannon," said the grenadier, +prodding the horses, and urging them on. + +A catastrophe, which might well have happened to them much sooner, put +a stop to their advance. The carriage was overturned. + +"I expected it," cried the imperturbable grenadier. "Ho! ho! your man +is dead." + +"Poor Laurent!" said the major. + +"Laurent? Was he in the 5th chasseurs?" + +"Yes." + +"Then he was my cousin. Oh, well, this dog's life isn't happy enough +to waste any joy in grieving for him." + +The carriage could not be raised; the horses were taken out with +serious and, as it proved, irreparable loss of time. The shock of the +overturn was so violent that the young countess, roused from her +lethargy, threw off her coverings and rose. + +"Philippe, where are we?" she cried in a gentle voice, looking about +her. + +"Only five hundred feet from the bridge. We are now going to cross the +Beresina, Stephanie, and once across I will not torment you any more; +you shall sleep; we shall be in safety, and can reach Wilna easily.-- +God grant that she may never know what her life has cost!" he thought. + +"Philippe! you are wounded!" + +"That is nothing." + +Too late! the fatal hour had come. The Russian cannon sounded the +reveille. Masters of Studzianka, they could sweep the plain, and by +daylight the major could see two of their columns moving and forming +on the heights. A cry of alarm arose from the multitude, who started +to their feet in an instant. Every man now understood his danger +instinctively, and the whole mass rushed to gain the bridge with the +motion of a wave. + +The Russians came down with the rapidity of a conflagration. Men, +women, children, horses,--all rushed tumultuously to the bridge. +Fortunately the major, who was carrying the countess, was still some +distance from it. General Eble had just set fire to the supports on +the other bank. In spite of the warnings shouted to those who were +rushing upon the bridge, not a soul went back. Not only did the bridge +go down crowded with human beings, but the impetuosity of that flood +of men toward the fatal bank was so furious that a mass of humanity +poured itself violently into the river like an avalanche. Not a cry +was heard; the only sound was like the dropping of monstrous stones +into the water. Then the Beresina was a mass of floating corpses. + +The retrograde movement of those who now fell back into the plain to +escape the death before them was so violent, and their concussion +against those who were advancing from the rear so terrible, that +numbers were smothered or trampled to death. The Comte and Comtesse de +Vandieres owed their lives to their carriage, behind which Philippe +forced them, using it as a breastwork. As for the major and the +grenadier, they found their safety in their strength. They killed to +escape being killed. + +This hurricane of human beings, the flux and reflux of living bodies, +had the effect of leaving for a few short moments the whole bank of +the Beresina deserted. The multitude were surging to the plain. If a +few men rushed to the river, it was less in the hope of reaching the +other bank, which to them was France, than to rush from the horrors of +Siberia. Despair proved an aegis to some bold hearts. One officer +sprang from ice-cake to ice-cake, and reached the opposite shore. A +soldier clambered miraculously over mounds of dead bodies and heaps of +ice. The multitude finally comprehended that the Russians would not +put to death a body of twenty thousand men, without arms, torpid, +stupid, unable to defend themselves; and each man awaited his fate +with horrible resignation. Then the major and the grenadier, the +general and his wife, remained almost alone on the river bank, a few +steps from the spot where the bridge had been. They stood there, with +dry eyes, silent, surrounded by heaps of dead. A few sound soldiers, a +few officers to whom the emergency had restored their natural energy, +were near them. This group consisted of some fifty men in all. The +major noticed at a distance of some two hundred yards the remains of +another bridge intended for carriages and destroyed the day before. + +"Let us make a raft!" he cried. + +He had hardly uttered the words before the whole group rushed to the +ruins, and began to pick up iron bolts, and screws, and pieces of wood +and ropes, whatever materials they could find that were suitable for +the construction of a raft. A score of soldiers and officers, who were +armed, formed a guard, commanded by the major, to protect the workers +against the desperate attacks which might be expected from the crowd, +if their scheme was discovered. The instinct of freedom, strong in all +prisoners, inspiring them to miraculous acts, can only be compared +with that which now drove to action these unfortunate Frenchmen. + +"The Russians! the Russians are coming!" cried the defenders to the +workers; and the work went on, the raft increased in length and +breadth and depth. Generals, soldiers, colonel, all put their +shoulders to the wheel; it was a true image of the building of Noah's +ark. The young countess, seated beside her husband, watched the +progress of the work with regret that she could not help it; and yet +she did assist in making knots to secure the cordage. + +At last the raft was finished. Forty men launched it on the river, a +dozen others holding the cords which moored it to the shore. But no +sooner had the builders seen their handiwork afloat, than they sprang +from the bank with odious selfishness. The major, fearing the fury of +this first rush, held back the countess and the general, but too late +he saw the whole raft covered, men pressing together like crowds at a +theatre. + +"Savages!" he cried, "it was I who gave you the idea of that raft. I +have saved you, and you deny me a place." + +A confused murmur answered him. The men at the edge of the raft, armed +with long sticks, pressed with violence against the shore to send off +the frail construction with sufficient impetus to force its way +through corpses and ice-floes to the other shore. + +"Thunder of heaven! I'll sweep you into the water if you don't take +the major and his two companions," cried the stalwart grenadier, who +swung his sabre, stopped the departure, and forced the men to stand +closer in spite of furious outcries. + +"I shall fall,"--"I am falling,"--"Push off! push off!--Forward!" +resounded on all sides. + +The major looked with haggard eyes at Stephanie, who lifted hers to +heaven with a feeling of sublime resignation. + +"To die with thee!" she said. + +There was something even comical in the position of the men in +possession of the raft. Though they were uttering awful groans and +imprecations, they dared not resist the grenadier, for in truth they +were so closely packed together, that a push to one man might send +half of them overboard. This danger was so pressing that a cavalry +captain endeavored to get rid of the grenadier; but the latter, seeing +the hostile movement of the officer, seized him round the waist and +flung him into the water, crying out,-- + +"Ha! ha! my duck, do you want to drink? Well, then, drink!-- Here are +two places," he cried. "Come, major, toss me the little woman and +follow yourself. Leave that old fossil, who'll be dead by to-morrow." + +"Make haste!" cried the voice of all, as one man. + +"Come, major, they are grumbling, and they have a right to do so." + +The Comte de Vandieres threw off his wrappings and showed himself in +his general's uniform. + +"Let us save the count," said Philippe. + +Stephanie pressed his hand, and throwing herself on his breast, she +clasped him tightly. + +"Adieu!" she said. + +They had understood each other. + +The Comte de Vandieres recovered sufficient strength and presence of +mind to spring upon the raft, whither Stephanie followed him, after +turning a last look to Philippe. + +"Major! will you take my place? I don't care a fig for life," cried +the grenadier. "I've neither wife nor child nor mother." + +"I confide them to your care," said the major, pointing to the count +and his wife. + +"Then be easy; I'll care for them, as though they were my very eyes." + +The raft was now sent off with so much violence toward the opposite +side of the river, that as it touched ground, the shock was felt by +all. The count, who was at the edge of it, lost his balance and fell +into the river; as he fell, a cake of sharp ice caught him, and cut +off his head, flinging it to a great distance. + +"See there! major!" cried the grenadier. + +"Adieu!" said a woman's voice. + +Philippe de Sucy fell to the ground, overcome with horror and fatigue. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CURE + +"My poor niece became insane," continued the physician, after a few +moment's silence. "Ah! monsieur," he said, seizing the marquis's hand, +"life has been awful indeed for that poor little woman, so young, so +delicate! After being, by dreadful fatality, separated from the +grenadier, whose name was Fleuriot, she was dragged about for two +years at the heels of the army, the plaything of a crowd of wretches. +She was often, they tell me, barefooted, and scarcely clothed; for +months together, she had no care, no food but what she could pick up; +sometimes kept in hospitals, sometimes driven away like an animal, God +alone knows the horrors that poor unfortunate creature has survived. +She was locked up in a madhouse, in a little town in Germany, at the +time her relatives, thinking her dead, divided her property. In 1816, +the grenadier Fleuriot was at an inn in Strasburg, where she went +after making her escape from the madhouse. Several peasants told the +grenadier that she had lived for a whole month in the forest, where +they had tracked her in vain, trying to catch her, but she had always +escaped them. I was then staying a few miles from Strasburg. Hearing +much talk of a wild woman caught in the woods, I felt a desire to +ascertain the truth of the ridiculous stories which were current about +her. What were my feelings on beholding my own niece! Fleuriot told me +all he knew of her dreadful history. I took the poor man with my niece +back to my home in Auvergne, where, unfortunately, I lost him some +months later. He had some slight control over Madame de Vandieres; he +alone could induce her to wear clothing. 'Adieu,' that word, which is +her only language, she seldom uttered at that time. Fleuriot had +endeavored to awaken in her a few ideas, a few memories of the past; +but he failed; all that he gained was to make her say that melancholy +word a little oftener. Still, the grenadier knew how to amuse her and +play with her; my hope was in him, but--" + +He was silent for a moment. + +"Here," he continued, "she has found another creature, with whom she +seems to have some strange understanding. It is a poor idiotic +peasant-girl, who, in spite of her ugliness and stupidity, loved a +man, a mason. The mason was willing to marry her, as she had some +property. Poor Genevieve was happy for a year; she dressed in her best +to dance with her lover on Sunday; she comprehended love; in her heart +and soul there was room for that one sentiment. But the mason, Dallot, +reflected. He found a girl with all her senses, and more land than +Genevieve, and he deserted the poor creature. Since then she has lost +the little intellect that love developed in her; she can do nothing +but watch the cows, or help at harvesting. My niece and this poor girl +are friends, apparently by some invisible chain of their common +destiny, by the sentiment in each which has caused their madness. +See!" added Stephanie's uncle, leading the marquis to a window. + +The latter then saw the countess seated on the ground between +Genevieve's legs. The peasant-girl, armed with a huge horn comb, was +giving her whole attention to the work of disentangling the long black +hair of the poor countess, who was uttering little stifled cries, +expressive of some instinctive sense of pleasure. Monsieur d'Albon +shuddered as he saw the utter abandonment of the body, the careless +animal ease which revealed in the hapless woman a total absence of +soul. + +"Philippe, Philippe!" he muttered, "the past horrors are nothing!--Is +there no hope?" he asked. + +The old physician raised his eyes to heaven. + +"Adieu, monsieur," said the marquis, pressing his hand. "My friend is +expecting me. He will soon come to you." + +"Then it was really she!" cried de Sucy at d'Albon's first words. "Ah! +I still doubted it," he added, a few tears falling from his eyes, +which were habitually stern. + +"Yes, it is the Comtesse de Vandieres," replied the marquis. + +The colonel rose abruptly from his bed and began to dress. + +"Philippe!" cried his friend, "are you mad?" + +"I am no longer ill," replied the colonel, simply. "This news has +quieted my suffering. What pain can I feel when I think of Stephanie? +I am going to the Bons-Hommes, to see her, speak to her, cure her. She +is free. Well, happiness will smile upon us--or Providence is not in +this world. Think you that that poor woman could hear my voice and not +recover reason?" + +"She has already seen you and not recognized you," said his friend, +gently, for he felt the danger of Philippe's excited hopes, and tried +to cast a salutary doubt upon them. + +The colonel quivered; then he smiled, and made a motion of +incredulity. No one dared to oppose his wish, and within a very short +time he reached the old priory. + +"Where is she?" he cried, on arriving. + +"Hush!" said her uncle, "she is sleeping. See, here she is." + +Philippe then saw the poor insane creature lying on a bench in the +sun. Her head was protected from the heat by a forest of hair which +fell in tangled locks over her face. Her arms hung gracefully to the +ground; her body lay easily posed like that of a doe; her feet were +folded under her without effort; her bosom rose and fell at regular +intervals; her skin, her complexion, had that porcelain whiteness, +which we admire so much in the clear transparent faces of children. +Standing motionless beside her, Genevieve held in her hand a branch +which Stephanie had doubtless climbed a tall poplar to obtain, and the +poor idiot was gently waving it above her sleeping companion, to chase +away the flies and cool the atmosphere. + +The peasant-woman gazed at Monsieur Fanjat and the colonel; then, like +an animal which recognizes its master, she turned her head slowly to +the countess, and continued to watch her, without giving any sign of +surprise or intelligence. The air was stifling; the stone bench +glittered in the sunlight; the meadow exhaled to heaven those impish +vapors which dance and dart above the herbage like silvery dust; but +Genevieve seemed not to feel this all-consuming heat. + +The colonel pressed the hand of the doctor violently in his own. Tears +rolled from his eyes along his manly cheeks, and fell to the earth at +the feet of his Stephanie. + +"Monsieur," said the uncle, "for two years past, my heart is broken +day by day. Soon you will be like me. You may not always weep, but you +will always feel your sorrow." + +The two men understood each other; and again, pressing each other's +hands, they remained motionless, contemplating the exquisite calmness +which sleep had cast upon that graceful creature. From time to time +she gave a sigh, and that sigh, which had all the semblance of +sensibilities, made the unhappy colonel tremble with hope. + +"Alas!" said Monsieur Fanjat, "do not deceive yourself, monsieur; +there is no meaning in her sigh." + +Those who have ever watched for hours with delight the sleep of one +who is tenderly beloved, whose eyes will smile to them at waking, can +understand the sweet yet terrible emotion that shook the colonel's +soul. To him, this sleep was an illusion; the waking might be death, +death in its most awful form. Suddenly, a little goat jumped in three +bounds to the bench, and smelt at Stephanie, who waked at the sound. +She sprang to her feet, but so lightly that the movement did not +frighten the freakish animal; then she caught sight of Philippe, and +darted away, followed by her four-footed friend, to a hedge of elders; +there she uttered the same little cry like a frightened bird, which +the two men had heard near the other gate. Then she climbed an acacia, +and nestling into its tufted top, she watched the stranger with the +inquisitive attention of the forest birds. + +"Adieu, adieu, adieu," she said, without the soul communicating one +single intelligent inflexion to the word. + +It was uttered impassively, as the bird sings his note. + +"She does not recognize me!" cried the colonel, in despair. +"Stephanie! it is Philippe, thy Philippe, PHILIPPE!" + +And the poor soldier went to the acacia; but when he was a few steps +from it, the countess looked at him, as if defying him, although a +slight expression of fear seemed to flicker in her eye; then, with a +single bound she sprang from the acacia to a laburnum, and thence to a +Norway fir, where she darted from branch to branch with extraordinary +agility. + +"Do not pursue her," said Monsieur Fanjat to the colonel, "or you will +arouse an aversion which might become insurmountable. I will help you +to tame her and make her come to you. Let us sit on this bench. If you +pay no attention to her, she will come of her own accord to examine +you." + +"SHE! not to know me! to flee me!" repeated the colonel, seating +himself on a bench with his back to a tree that shaded it, and letting +his head fall upon his breast. + +The doctor said nothing. Presently, the countess came gently down the +fir-tree, letting herself swing easily on the branches, as the wind +swayed them. At each branch she stopped to examine the stranger; but +seeing him motionless, she at last sprang to the ground and came +slowly towards him across the grass. When she reached a tree about ten +feet distant, against which she leaned, Monsieur Fanjat said to the +colonel in a low voice,-- + +"Take out, adroitly, from my right hand pocket some lumps of sugar you +will feel there. Show them to her, and she will come to us. I will +renounce in your favor my sole means of giving her pleasure. With +sugar, which she passionately loves, you will accustom her to approach +you, and to know you again." + +"When she was a woman," said Philippe, sadly, "she had no taste for +sweet things." + +When the colonel showed her the lump of sugar, holding it between the +thumb and forefinger of his right hand, she again uttered her little +wild cry, and sprang toward him; then she stopped, struggling against +the instinctive fear he caused her; she looked at the sugar and turned +away her head alternately, precisely like a dog whose master forbids +him to touch his food until he has said a letter of the alphabet which +he slowly repeats. At last the animal desire triumphed over fear. +Stephanie darted to Philippe, cautiously putting out her little brown +hand to seize the prize, touched the fingers of her poor lover as she +snatched the sugar, and fled away among the trees. This dreadful scene +overcame the colonel; he burst into tears and rushed into the house. + +"Has love less courage than friendship?" Monsieur Fanjat said to him. +"I have some hope, Monsieur le baron. My poor niece was in a far worse +state than that in which you now find her." + +"How was that possible?" cried Philippe. + +"She went naked," replied the doctor. + +The colonel made a gesture of horror and turned pale. The doctor saw +in that sudden pallor alarming symptoms; he felt the colonel's pulse, +found him in a violent fever, and half persuaded, half compelled him +to go to bed. Then he gave him a dose of opium to ensure a calm sleep. + +Eight days elapsed, during which Colonel de Sucy struggled against +mortal agony; tears no longer came to his eyes. His soul, often +lacerated, could not harden itself to the sight of Stephanie's +insanity; but he covenanted, so to speak, with his cruel situation, +and found some assuaging of his sorrow. He had the courage to slowly +tame the countess by bringing her sweetmeats; he took such pains in +choosing them, and he learned so well how to keep the little conquests +he sought to make upon her instincts--that last shred of her intellect +--that he ended by making her much TAMER than she had ever been. + +Every morning he went into the park, and if, after searching for her +long, he could not discover on what tree she was swaying, nor the +covert in which she crouched to play with a bird, nor the roof on +which she might have clambered, he would whistle the well-known air of +"Partant pour la Syrie," to which some tender memory of their love +attached. Instantly, Stephanie would run to him with the lightness of +a fawn. She was now so accustomed to see him, that he frightened her +no longer. Soon she was willing to sit upon his knee, and clasp him +closely with her thin and agile arm. In that attitude--so dear to +lovers!--Philippe would feed her with sugarplums. Then, having eaten +those that he gave her, she would often search his pockets with +gestures that had all the mechanical velocity of a monkey's motions. +When she was very sure there was nothing more, she looked at Philippe +with clear eyes, without ideas, with recognition. Then she would play +with him, trying at times to take off his boots to see his feet, +tearing his gloves, putting on his hat; she would even let him pass +his hands through her hair, and take her in his arms; she accepted, +but without pleasure, his ardent kisses. She would look at him +silently, without emotion, when his tears flowed; but she always +understood his "Partant pour la Syrie," when he whistled it, though he +never succeeded in teaching her to say her own name Stephanie. + +Philippe was sustained in his agonizing enterprise by hope, which +never abandoned him. When, on fine autumn mornings, he found the +countess sitting peacefully on a bench, beneath a poplar now +yellowing, the poor lover would sit at her feet, looking into her eyes +as long as she would let him, hoping ever that the light that was in +them would become intelligent. Sometimes the thought deluded him that +he saw those hard immovable rays softening, vibrating, living, and he +cried out,-- + +"Stephanie! Stephanie! thou hearest me, thou seest me!" + +But she listened to that cry as to a noise, the soughing of the wind +in the tree-tops, or the lowing of the cow on the back of which she +climbed. Then the colonel would wring his hands in despair,--despair +that was new each day. + +One evening, under a calm sky, amid the silence and peace of that +rural haven, the doctor saw, from a distance, that the colonel was +loading his pistols. The old man felt then that the young man had +ceased to hope; he felt the blood rushing to his heart, and if he +conquered the vertigo that threatened him, it was because he would +rather see his niece living and mad than dead. He hastened up. + +"What are you doing?" he said. + +"That is for me," replied the colonel, pointing to a pistol already +loaded, which was lying on the bench; "and this is for her," he added, +as he forced the wad into the weapon he held. + +The countess was lying on the ground beside him, playing with the +balls. + +"Then you do not know," said the doctor, coldly, concealing his +terror, "that in her sleep last night she called you: Philippe!" + +"She called me!" cried the baron, dropping his pistol, which Stephanie +picked up. He took it from her hastily, caught up the one that was on +the bench, and rushed away. + +"Poor darling!" said the doctor, happy in the success of his lie. He +pressed the poor creature to his breast, and continued speaking to +himself: "He would have killed thee, selfish man! because he suffers. +He does not love thee for thyself, my child! But we forgive, do we +not? He is mad, out of his senses, but thou art only senseless. No, +God alone should call thee to Him. We think thee unhappy, we pity thee +because thou canst not share our sorrows, fools that we are!--But," he +said, sitting down and taking her on his knee, "nothing troubles thee; +thy life is like that of a bird, of a fawn--" + +As he spoke she darted upon a young blackbird which was hopping near +them, caught it with a little note of satisfaction, strangled it, +looked at it, dead in her hand, and flung it down at the foot of a +tree without a thought. + +The next day, as soon as it was light, the colonel came down into the +gardens, and looked about for Stephanie,--he believed in the coming +happiness. Not finding her he whistled. When his darling came to him, +he took her on his arm; they walked together thus for the first time, +and he led her within a group of trees, the autumn foliage of which +was dropping to the breeze. The colonel sat down. Of her own accord +Stephanie placed herself on his knee. Philippe trembled with joy. + +"Love," he said, kissing her hands passionately, "I am Philippe." + +She looked at him with curiosity. + +"Come," he said, pressing her to him, "dost thou feel my heart? It has +beaten for thee alone. I love thee ever. Philippe is not dead; he is +not dead, thou art on him, in his arms. Thou art MY Stephanie; I am +thy Philippe." + +"Adieu," she said, "adieu." + +The colonel quivered, for he fancied he saw his own excitement +communicated to his mistress. His heart-rending cry, drawn from him by +despair, that last effort of an eternal love, of a delirious passion, +was successful, the mind of his darling was awaking. + +"Ah! Stephanie! Stephanie! we shall yet be happy." + +She gave a cry of satisfaction, and her eyes brightened with a flash +of vague intelligence. + +"She knows me!--Stephanie!" + +His heart swelled; his eyelids were wet with tears. Then, suddenly, +the countess showed him a bit of sugar she had found in his pocket +while he was speaking to her. He had mistaken for human thought the +amount of reason required for a monkey's trick. Philippe dropped to +the ground unconscious. Monsieur Fanjat found the countess sitting on +the colonel's body. She was biting her sugar, and testifying her +pleasure by pretty gestures and affectations with which, had she her +reason, she might have imitated her parrot or her cat. + +"Ah! my friend," said Philippe, when he came to his senses, "I die +every day, every moment! I love too well! I could still bear all, if, +in her madness, she had kept her woman's nature. But to see her always +a savage, devoid even of modesty, to see her--" + +"You want opera madness, do you? something picturesque and pleasing," +said the doctor, bitterly. "Your love and your devotion yield before a +prejudice. Monsieur, I have deprived myself for your sake of the sad +happiness of watching over my niece; I have left to you the pleasure +of playing with her; I have kept for myself the heaviest cares. While +you have slept, I have watched, I have-- Go, monsieur, go! abandon +her! leave this sad refuge. I know how to live with that dear darling +creature; I comprehend her madness, I watch her gestures, I know her +secrets. Some day you will thank me for thus sending you away." + +The colonel left the old monastery, never to return but once. The +doctor was horrified when he saw the effect he had produced upon his +guest, whom he now began to love when he saw him thus. Surely, if +either of the two lovers were worthy of pity, it was Philippe; did he +not bear alone the burden of their dreadful sorrow? + +After the colonel's departure the doctor kept himself informed about +him; he learned that the miserable man was living on an estate near +Saint-Germain. In truth, the baron, on the faith of a dream, had +formed a project which he believed would yet restore the mind of his +darling. Unknown to the doctor, he spent the rest of the autumn in +preparing for his enterprise. A little river flowed through his park +and inundated during the winter the marshes on either side of it, +giving it some resemblance to the Beresina. The village of Satout, on +the heights above, closed in, like Studzianka, the scene of horror. +The colonel collected workmen to deepen the banks, and by the help of +his memory, he copied in his park the shore where General Eble +destroyed the bridge. He planted piles, and made buttresses and burned +them, leaving their charred and blackened ruins, standing in the water +from shore to shore. Then he gathered fragments of all kinds, like +those of which the raft was built. He ordered dilapidated uniforms and +clothing of every grade, and hired hundreds of peasants to wear them; +he erected huts and cabins for the purpose of burning them. In short, +he forgot nothing that might recall that most awful of all scenes, and +he succeeded. + +Toward the last of December, when the snow had covered with its thick, +white mantle all his imitative preparations, he recognized the +Beresina. This false Russia was so terribly truthful, that several of +his army comrades recognized the scene of their past misery at once. +Monsieur de Sucy took care to keep secret the motive for this tragic +imitation, which was talked of in several Parisian circles as a proof +of insanity. + +Early in January, 1820, the colonel drove in a carriage, the very +counterpart of the one in which he had driven the Comte and Comtesse +de Vandieres from Moscow to Studzianka. The horses, too, were like +those he had gone, at the peril of his life, to fetch from the Russian +outposts. He himself wore the soiled fantastic clothing, the same +weapons, as on the 29th of November, 1812. He had let his beard grow, +also his hair, which was tangled and matted, and his face was +neglected, so that nothing might be wanting to represent the awful +truth. + +"I can guess your purpose," cried Monsieur Fanjat, when he saw the +colonel getting out of the carriage. "If you want to succeed, do not +let my niece see you in that equipage. To-night I will give her opium. +During her sleep, we will dress her as she was at Studzianka, and +place her in the carriage. I will follow you in another vehicle." + +About two in the morning, the sleeping countess was placed in the +carriage and wrapped in heavy coverings. A few peasants with torches +lighted up this strange abduction. Suddenly, a piercing cry broke the +silence of the night. Philippe and the doctor turned, and saw +Genevieve coming half-naked from the ground-floor room in which she +slept. + +"Adieu, adieu! all is over, adieu!" she cried, weeping hot tears. + +"Genevieve, what troubles you?" asked the doctor. + +Genevieve shook her head with a motion of despair, raised her arm to +heaven, looked at the carriage, uttering a long-drawn moan with every +sign of the utmost terror; then she returned to her room silently. + +"That is a good omen!" cried the colonel. "She feels she is to lose +her companion. Perhaps she SEES that Stephanie will recover her +reason." + +"God grant it!" said Monsieur Fanjat, who himself was affected by the +incident. + +Ever since he had made a close study of insanity, the good man had met +with many examples of the prophetic faculty and the gift of second +sight, proofs of which are frequently given by alienated minds, and +which may also be found, so travellers say, among certain tribes of +savages. + +As the colonel had calculated, Stephanie crossed the fictitious plain +of the Beresina at nine o'clock in the morning, when she was awakened +by a cannon shot not a hundred yards from the spot where the +experiment was to be tried. This was a signal. Hundreds of peasants +made a frightful clamor like that on the shore of the river that +memorable night, when twenty thousand stragglers were doomed to death +or slavery by their own folly. + +At the cry, at the shot, the countess sprang from the carriage, and +ran, with delirious emotion, over the snow to the banks of the river; +she saw the burned bivouacs and the charred remains of the bridge, and +the fatal raft, which the men were launching into the icy waters of +the Beresina. The major, Philippe, was there, striking back the crowd +with his sabre. Madame de Vandieres gave a cry, which went to all +hearts, and threw herself before the colonel, whose heart beat wildly. +She seemed to gather herself together, and, at first, looked vaguely +at the singular scene. For an instant, as rapid as the lightning's +flash, her eyes had that lucidity, devoid of mind, which we admire in +the eye of birds; then passing her hand across her brow with the keen +expression of one who meditates, she contemplated the living memory of +a past scene spread before her, and, turning quickly to Philippe, she +SAW HIM. An awful silence reigned in the crowd. The colonel gasped, +but dared not speak; the doctor wept. Stephanie's sweet face colored +faintly; then, from tint to tint, it returned to the brightness of +youth, till it glowed with a beautiful crimson. Life and happiness, +lighted by intelligence, came nearer and nearer like a conflagration. +Convulsive trembling rose from her feet to her heart. Then these +phenomena seemed to blend in one as Stephanie's eyes cast forth a +celestial ray, the flame of a living soul. She lived, she thought! She +shuddered, with fear perhaps, for God himself unloosed that silent +tongue, and cast anew His fires into that long-extinguished soul. +Human will came with its full electric torrent, and vivified the body +from which it had been driven. + +"Stephanie!" cried the colonel. + +"Oh! it is Philippe," said the poor countess. + +She threw herself into the trembling arms that the colonel held out to +her, and the clasp of the lovers frightened the spectators. Stephanie +burst into tears. Suddenly her tears stopped, she stiffened as though +the lightning had touched her, and said in a feeble voice,-- + +"Adieu, Philippe; I love thee, adieu!" + +"Oh! she is dead," cried the colonel, opening his arms. + +The old doctor received the inanimate body of his niece, kissed it as +though he were a young man, and carrying it aside, sat down with it +still in his arms on a pile of wood. He looked at the countess and +placed his feeble trembling hand upon her heart. That heart no longer +beat. + +"It is true," he said, looking up at the colonel, who stood +motionless, and then at Stephanie, on whom death was placing that +resplendent beauty, that fugitive halo, which is, perhaps, a pledge of +the glorious future--"Yes, she is dead." + +"Ah! that smile," cried Philippe, "do you see that smile? Can it be +true?" + +"She is turning cold," replied Monsieur Fanjat. + +Monsieur de Sucy made a few steps to tear himself away from the sight; +but he stopped, whistled the air that Stephanie had known, and when +she did not come to him, went on with staggering steps like a drunken +man, still whistling, but never turning back. + +General Philippe de Sucy was thought in the social world to be a very +agreeable man, and above all a very gay one. A few days ago, a lady +complimented him on his good humor, and the charming equability of his +nature. + +"Ah! madame," he said, "I pay dear for my liveliness in my lonely +evenings." + +"Are you ever alone?" she said. + +"No," he replied smiling. + +If a judicious observer of human nature could have seen at that moment +the expression on the Comte de Sucy's face, he would perhaps have +shuddered. + +"Why don't you marry?" said the lady, who had several daughters at +school. "You are rich, titled, and of ancient lineage; you have +talents, and a great future before you; all things smile upon you." + +"Yes," he said, "but a smile kills me." + +The next day the lady heard with great astonishment that Monsieur de +Sucy had blown his brains out during the night. The upper ranks of +society talked in various ways over this extraordinary event, and each +person looked for the cause of it. According to the proclivities of +each reasoner, play, love, ambition, hidden disorders, and vices, +explained the catastrophe, the last scene of a drama begun in 1812. +Two men alone, a marquis and former deputy, and an aged physician, +knew that Philippe de Sucy was one of those strong men to whom God has +given the unhappy power of issuing daily in triumph from awful combats +which they fight with an unseen monster. If, for a moment, God +withdraws from such men His all-powerful hand, they succumb. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personage appears in other stories of the Human Comedy. + +Note: Adieu is also entitled Farewell. + +Granville, Vicomte de + The Gondreville Mystery + A Second Home + Farewell (Adieu) + Cesar Birotteau + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + A Daughter of Eve + Cousin Pons + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Adieu by Honore de Balzac + |