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diff --git a/old/15900.txt b/old/15900.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a85f650 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/15900.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15263 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of His Masterpiece, by Emile Zola + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: His Masterpiece + +Author: Emile Zola + +Editor: Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + +Translator: Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + +Release Date: May 25, 2005 [EBook #15900] +Posting Date: May 30, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIS MASTERPIECE *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny; and David Widger + + + + + + + + +HIS MASTERPIECE + +By Emile Zola + + +Edited, With a Preface, By Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + + + + +PREFACE + +'HIS MASTERPIECE,' which in the original French bears the title of +_L'Oeuvre_, is a strikingly accurate story of artistic life in Paris +during the latter years of the Second Empire. Amusing at times, +extremely pathetic and even painful at others, it not only contributes +a necessary element to the Rougon-Macquart series of novels--a series +illustrative of all phases of life in France within certain dates--but +it also represents a particular period of M. Zola's own career and work. +Some years, indeed, before the latter had made himself known at all +widely as a novelist, he had acquired among Parisian painters and +sculptors considerable notoriety as a revolutionary art critic, a +fervent champion of that 'Open-air' school which came into being during +the Second Empire, and which found its first real master in Edouard +Manet, whose then derided works are regarded, in these later days, as +masterpieces. Manet died before his genius was fully recognised; still +he lived long enough to reap some measure of recognition and to see his +influence triumph in more than one respect among his brother artists. +Indeed, few if any painters left a stronger mark on the art of the +second half of the nineteenth century than he did, even though the +school, which he suggested rather than established, lapsed largely into +mere impressionism--a term, by the way, which he himself coined already +in 1858; for it is an error to attribute it--as is often done--to his +friend and junior, Claude Monet. + +It was at the time of the Salon of 1866 that M. Zola, who criticised +that exhibition in the _Evenement_ newspaper,* first came to the front +as an art critic, slashing out, to right and left, with all the vigour +of a born combatant, and championing M. Manet--whom he did not as yet +know personally--with a fervour born of the strongest convictions. He +had come to the conclusion that the derided painter was being treated +with injustice, and that opinion sufficed to throw him into the fray; +even as, in more recent years, the belief that Captain Dreyfus was +innocent impelled him in like manner to plead that unfortunate officer's +cause. When M. Zola first championed Manet and his disciples he was only +twenty-six years old, yet he did not hesitate to pit himself against men +who were regarded as the most eminent painters and critics of France; +and although (even as in the Dreyfus case) the only immediate result of +his campaign was to bring him hatred and contumely, time, which always +has its revenges, has long since shown how right he was in forecasting +the ultimate victory of Manet and his principal methods. + + * Some of the articles will be found in the volume of his + miscellaneous writings entitled _Mes Haines_. + +In those days M. Zola's most intimate friend--a companion of his boyhood +and youth--was Paul Cezanne, a painter who developed talent as an +impressionist; and the lives of Cezanne and Manet, as well as that of +a certain rather dissolute engraver, who sat for the latter's famous +picture _Le Bon Bock_, suggested to M. Zola the novel which he has +called _L'Oeuvre_. Claude Lantier, the chief character in the book, is, +of course, neither Cezanne nor Manet, but from the careers of those two +painters, M. Zola has borrowed many little touches and incidents.* The +poverty which falls to Claude's lot is taken from the life of Cezanne, +for Manet--the only son of a judge--was almost wealthy. Moreover, Manet +married very happily, and in no wise led the pitiful existence which in +the novel is ascribed to Claude Lantier and his helpmate, Christine. The +original of the latter was a poor woman who for many years shared the +life of the engraver to whom I have alluded; and, in that connection, it +as well to mention that what may be called the Bennecourt episode of the +novel is virtually photographed from life. + + * So far as Manet is concerned, the curious reader may consult M. + Antonin Proust's interesting 'Souvenirs,' published in the _Revue + Blanche_, early in 1897. + +Whilst, however, Claude Lantier, the hero of _L'Oeuvre_, is unlike +Manet in so many respects, there is a close analogy between the artistic +theories and practices of the real painter and the imaginary one. +Several of Claude's pictures are Manet's, slightly modified. For +instance, the former's painting, 'In the Open Air,' is almost a replica +of the latter's _Dejeuner sur l'Herbe_ ('A Lunch on the Grass'), shown +at the Salon of the Rejected in 1863. Again, many of the sayings put +into Claude's mouth in the novel are really sayings of Manet's. And +Claude's fate, at the end of the book, is virtually that of a moody +young fellow who long assisted Manet in his studio, preparing his +palette, cleaning his brushes, and so forth. This lad, whom Manet +painted in _L'Enfant aux Cerises_ ('The Boy with the Cherries'), had +artistic aspirations of his own and, being unable to justify them, ended +by hanging himself. + +I had just a slight acquaintance with Manet, whose studio I first +visited early in my youth, and though the exigencies of life led me long +ago to cast aside all artistic ambition of my own, I have been for +more than thirty years on friendly terms with members of the French art +world. Thus it would be comparatively easy for me to identify a +large number of the characters and the incidents figuring in 'His +Masterpiece'; but I doubt if such identification would have any +particular interest for English readers. I will just mention that +Mahoudeau, the sculptor, is, in a measure, Solari, another friend of +M. Zola's boyhood and youth; that Fagerolles, in his main features, +is Gervex; and that Bongrand is a commingling of Courbet, Cabanel and +Gustave Flaubert. For instance, his so-called 'Village Wedding' is +suggested by Courbet's 'Funeral at Ornans'; his friendship for Claude is +Cabanel's friendship for Manet; whilst some of his mannerisms, such as +his dislike for the praise accorded to certain of his works, are simply +those of Flaubert, who (like Balzac in the case of _Eugenie Grandet_) +almost invariably lost his temper if one ventured to extol _Madame +Bovary_ in his presence. Courbet, by the way, so far as disposition +goes, crops up again in M. Zola's pages in the person of Champbouvard, a +sculptor, who, artistically, is a presentment of Clesinger. + +I now come to a personage of a very different character, Pierre Sandoz, +clerk, journalist, and novelist; and Sandoz, it may be frankly admitted, +is simply M. Zola himself. Personal appearance, life, habits, opinions, +all are those of the novelist at a certain period of his career; and +for this reason, no doubt, many readers of 'His Masterpiece' will find +Sandoz the most interesting personage in the book. It is needless, I +think, to enter into particulars on the subject. The reader may take +it from me that everything attributed in the following pages to Pierre +Sandoz was done, experienced, felt or said by Emile Zola. In this +respect, then 'His Masterpiece' is virtually M. Zola's 'David +Copperfield'--the book into which he has put most of his real life. I +may also mention, perhaps, that the long walks on the quays of Paris +which in the narrative are attributed to Claude Lantier are really M. +Zola's walks; for, in his youth, when he vainly sought employment +after failing in his examinations, he was wont, at times of great +discouragement, to roam the Paris quays, studying their busy life +and their picturesque vistas, whenever he was not poring over the +second-hand books set out for sale upon their parapets. From a purely +literary standpoint, the pictures of the quays and the Seine to be found +in _L'Oeuvre_ are perhaps the best bits of the book, though it is all +of interest, because it is essentially a _livre vecu_, a work really +'lived' by its author. And if in the majority of its characters, those +readers possessing some real knowledge of French art life find one man's +qualities blended with another's defects, the appearance of a third, and +the habits of a fourth, the whole none the less makes a picture of great +fidelity to life and truth. This is the Parisian art world as it really +was, with nothing improbable or overstrained in the narrative, save its +very first chapter, in which romanticism is certainly allowed full play. + +It is quite possible that some readers may not judge Claude Lantier, the +'hero,' very favourably; he is like the dog in the fable who forsakes +the substance for the shadow; but it should be borne in mind that he is +only in part responsible for his actions, for the fatal germ of insanity +has been transmitted to him from his great-grandmother. He is, indeed, +the son of Gervaise, the heroine of _L'Assommoir_ ('The Dram Shop'), by +her lover Lantier. And Gervaise, it may be remembered, was the daughter +of Antoine Macquart (of 'The Fortune of the Rougons' and 'Dr. Pascal'), +the latter being the illegitimate son of Adelaide Fouque, from whom +sprang the insanity of the Rougon-Macquarts. At the same time, whatever +view may be taken of Claude's artistic theories, whatever interest his +ultimate fate may inspire, it cannot be denied that his opinions +on painting are very ably expressed, and that his 'case,' from a +pathological point of view, is diagnosticated by M. Zola with all the +skill of a physician. Moreover, there can be but one opinion concerning +the helpmate of his life, the poor devoted Christine; and no one +possessed of feeling will be able to read the history of little Jacques +unmoved. + +Stories of artistic life are not as a rule particularly popular with +English readers, but this is not surprising when one remembers that +those who take a genuine interest in art, in this country, are still a +small minority. Quite apart from artistic matters, however, there is, I +think, an abundance of human interest in the pages of 'His Masterpiece,' +and thus I venture to hope that the present version, which I have +prepared as carefully as my powers permit, will meet with the favour of +those who have supported me, for a good many years now, in my endeavours +to make the majority of M. Zola's works accessible in this country. + + E. A. V. + + MERTON, SURREY. + + + + HIS MASTERPIECE + + + + +I + +CLAUDE was passing in front of the Hotel de Ville, and the clock was +striking two o'clock in the morning when the storm burst forth. He had +been roaming forgetfully about the Central Markets, during that burning +July night, like a loitering artist enamoured of nocturnal Paris. +Suddenly the raindrops came down, so large and thick, that he took to +his heels and rushed, wildly bewildered, along the Quai de la Greve. But +on reaching the Pont Louis Philippe he pulled up, ragefully breathless; +he considered this fear of the rain to be idiotic; and so amid the +pitch-like darkness, under the lashing shower which drowned the +gas-jets, he crossed the bridge slowly, with his hands dangling by his +side. + +He had only a few more steps to go. As he was turning on to the Quai +Bourbon, on the Isle of St. Louis, a sharp flash of lightning illumined +the straight, monotonous line of old houses bordering the narrow road +in front of the Seine. It blazed upon the panes of the high, shutterless +windows, showing up the melancholy frontages of the old-fashioned +dwellings in all their details; here a stone balcony, there the railing +of a terrace, and there a garland sculptured on a frieze. The painter +had his studio close by, under the eaves of the old Hotel du Martoy, +nearly at the corner of the Rue de la Femme-sans-Tete.* So he went +on while the quay, after flashing forth for a moment, relapsed into +darkness, and a terrible thunder-clap shook the drowsy quarter. + + * The street of the Headless woman.--ED. + +When Claude, blinded by the rain, got to his door--a low, rounded door, +studded with iron--he fumbled for the bell knob, and he was exceedingly +surprised--indeed, he started--on finding a living, breathing body +huddled against the woodwork. Then, by the light of a second flash, he +perceived a tall young girl, dressed in black, and drenched already, who +was shivering with fear. When a second thunder-clap had shaken both of +them, Claude exclaimed: + +'How you frighten one! Who are you, and what do you want?' + +He could no longer see her; he only heard her sob, and stammer: + +'Oh, monsieur, don't hurt me. It's the fault of the driver, whom I hired +at the station, and who left me at this door, after ill-treating me. +Yes, a train ran off the rails, near Nevers. We were four hours late, +and a person who was to wait for me had gone. Oh, dear me; I have never +been in Paris before, and I don't know where I am....' + +Another blinding flash cut her short, and with dilated eyes she stared, +terror-stricken, at that part of the strange capital, that violet-tinted +apparition of a fantastic city. The rain had ceased falling. On the +opposite bank of the Seine was the Quai des Ormes, with its small grey +houses variegated below by the woodwork of their shops and with their +irregular roofs boldly outlined above, while the horizon suddenly became +clear on the left as far as the blue slate eaves of the Hotel de Ville, +and on the right as far as the leaden-hued dome of St. Paul. What +startled her most of all, however, was the hollow of the stream, the +deep gap in which the Seine flowed, black and turgid, from the heavy +piles of the Pont Marie, to the light arches of the new Pont Louis +Philippe. Strange masses peopled the river, a sleeping flotilla of small +boats and yawls, a floating washhouse, and a dredger moored to the quay. +Then, farther down, against the other bank, were lighters, laden with +coals, and barges full of mill stone, dominated as it were by the +gigantic arm of a steam crane. But, suddenly, everything disappeared +again. + +Claude had an instinctive distrust of women--that story of an accident, +of a belated train and a brutal cabman, seemed to him a ridiculous +invention. At the second thunder-clap the girl had shrunk farther still +into her corner, absolutely terrified. + +'But you cannot stop here all night,' he said. + +She sobbed still more and stammered, 'I beseech you, monsieur, take me +to Passy. That's where I was going.' + +He shrugged his shoulders. Did she take him for a fool? Mechanically, +however, he turned towards the Quai des Celestins, where there was a +cabstand. Not the faintest glimmer of a lamp to be seen. + +'To Passy, my dear? Why not to Versailles? Where do you think one can +pick up a cab at this time of night, and in such weather?' + +Her only answer was a shriek; for a fresh flash of lightning had almost +blinded her, and this time the tragic city had seemed to her to be +spattered with blood. An immense chasm had been revealed, the two +arms of the river stretching far away amidst the lurid flames of a +conflagration. The smallest details had appeared: the little closed +shutters of the Quai des Ormes, and the two openings of the Rue de la +Masure, and the Rue du Paon-Blanc, which made breaks in the line of +frontages; then near the Pont Marie one could have counted the leaves +on the lofty plane trees, which there form a bouquet of magnificent +verdure; while on the other side, beneath the Pont Louis Philippe, at +the Mail, the barges, ranged in a quadruple line, had flared with the +piles of yellow apples with which they were heavily laden. And there +was also the ripple of the water, the high chimney of the floating +washhouse, the tightened chain of the dredger, the heaps of sand on the +banks, indeed, an extraordinary agglomeration of things, quite a little +world filling the great gap which seemed to stretch from one horizon to +the other. But the sky became dark again, and the river flowed on, all +obscurity, amid the crashing of the thunder. + +'Thank heaven it's over. Oh, heaven! what's to become of me?' + +Just then the rain began to fall again, so stiffly and impelled by so +strong a wind that it swept along the quay with the violence of water +escaping through an open lock. + +'Come, let me get in,' said Claude; 'I can stand this no longer.' + +Both were getting drenched. By the flickering light of the gas lamp at +the corner of the Rue de la Femme-sans-Tete the young man could see the +water dripping from the girl's dress, which was clinging to her skin, in +the deluge that swept against the door. He was seized with compassion. +Had he not once picked up a cur on such a stormy night as this? Yet he +felt angry with himself for softening. He never had anything to do with +women; he treated them all as if ignorant of their existence, with a +painful timidity which he disguised under a mask of bravado. And that +girl must really think him a downright fool, to bamboozle him with that +story of adventure--only fit for a farce. Nevertheless, he ended by +saying, 'That's enough. You had better come in out of the wet. You can +sleep in my rooms.' + +But at this the girl became even more frightened, and threw up her arms. + +'In your rooms? Oh! good heavens. No, no; it's impossible. I beseech +you, monsieur, take me to Passy. Let me beg of you.' + +But Claude became angry. Why did she make all this fuss, when he was +willing to give her shelter? He had already rung the bell twice. At last +the door opened and he pushed the girl before him. + +'No, no, monsieur; I tell you, no--' + +But another flash dazzled her, and when the thunder growled she bounded +inside, scarce knowing what she was about. The heavy door had closed +upon them, she was standing under a large archway in complete darkness. + +'It's I, Madame Joseph,' cried Claude to the doorkeeper. Then he added, +in a whisper, 'Give me your hand, we have to cross the courtyard.' + +The girl did as she was told; she no longer resisted; she was +overwhelmed, worn out. Once more they encountered the diluvian rain, as +they ran side by side as hard as they could across the yard. It was a +baronial courtyard, huge, and surrounded with stone arcades, indistinct +amidst the gloom. However, they came to a narrow passage without a +door, and he let go her hand. She could hear him trying to strike some +matches, and swearing. They were all damp. It was necessary for them to +grope their way upstairs. + +'Take hold of the banisters, and be careful,' said Claude; 'the steps +are very high.' + +The staircase, a very narrow one, a former servants' staircase, was +divided into three lofty flights, which she climbed, stumbling, with +unskilful, weary limbs. Then he warned her that they had to turn down a +long passage. She kept behind him, touching the walls on both sides with +her outstretched hands, as she advanced along that endless passage which +bent and came back to the front of the building on the quay. Then there +were still other stairs right under the roof--creaking, shaky wooden +stairs, which had no banister, and suggested the unplaned rungs of +a miller's ladder. The landing at the top was so small that the girl +knocked against the young man, as he fumbled in his pocket for his key. +At last, however, he opened the door. + +'Don't come in, but wait, else you'll hurt yourself again.' + +She did not stir. She was panting for breath, her heart was beating +fast, there was a buzzing in her ears, and she felt indeed exhausted +by that ascent in the dense gloom. It seemed to her as if she had been +climbing for hours, in such a maze, amidst such a turning and twisting +of stairs that she would never be able to find her way down again. +Inside the studio there was a shuffling of heavy feet, a rustling of +hands groping in the dark, a clatter of things being tumbled about, +accompanied by stifled objurgations. At last the doorway was lighted up. + +'Come in, it's all right now.' + +She went in and looked around her, without distinguishing anything. The +solitary candle burned dim in that garret, more than fifteen feet high, +and filled with a confused jumble of things whose big shadows showed +fantastically on the walls, which were painted in grey distemper. No, +she did not distinguish anything. She mechanically raised her eyes +to the large studio-window, against which the rain was beating with a +deafening roll like that of a drum, but at that moment another flash +of lightning illumined the sky, followed almost immediately by a +thunder-clap that seemed to split the roof. Dumb-stricken, pale as +death, she dropped upon a chair. + +'The devil!' muttered Claude, who also was rather pale. 'That clap +wasn't far off. We were just in time. It's better here than in the +streets, isn't it?' + +Then he went towards the door, closed it with a bang and turned the key, +while she watched him with a dazed look. + +'There, now, we are at home.' + +But it was all over. There were only a few more thunder-claps in the +distance, and the rain soon ceased altogether. Claude, who was now +growing embarrassed, had examined the girl, askance. She seemed by no +means bad looking, and assuredly she was young: twenty at the most. This +scrutiny had the effect of making him more suspicious of her still, +in spite of an unconscious feeling, a vague idea, that she was not +altogether deceiving him. In any case, no matter how clever she might +be, she was mistaken if she imagined she had caught him. To prove this +he wilfully exaggerated his gruffness and curtness of manner. + +Her very anguish at his words and demeanour made her rise, and in her +turn she examined him, though without daring to look him straight in the +face. And the aspect of that bony young man, with his angular joints and +wild bearded face, increased her fears. With his black felt hat and +his old brown coat, discoloured by long usage, he looked like a kind of +brigand. + +Directly he told her to make herself at home and go to bed, for he +placed his bed at her disposal, she shrinkingly replied: 'Thank you; +I'll do very well as I am; I'll not undress.' + +'But your clothes are dripping,' he retorted. 'Come now, don't make an +idiot of yourself.' + +And thereupon he began to knock about the chairs, and flung aside an old +screen, behind which she noticed a washstand and a tiny iron bedstead, +from which he began to remove the coverlet. + +'No, no, monsieur, it isn't worth while; I assure you that I shall stay +here.' + +At this, however, Claude became angry, gesticulating and shaking his +fists. + +'How much more of this comedy are we to have?' said he. 'As I give you +my bed, what have you to complain of? You need not pay any attention to +me. I shall sleep on that couch.' + +He strode towards her with a threatening look, and thereupon, beside +herself with fear, thinking that he was going to strike her, she +tremblingly unfastened her hat. The water was dripping from her skirts. +He kept on growling. Nevertheless, a sudden scruple seemed to come to +him, for he ended by saying, condescendingly: + +'Perhaps you don't like to sleep in my sheets. I'll change them.' + +He at once began dragging them from the bed and flinging them on to the +couch at the other end of the studio. And afterwards he took a clean +pair from the wardrobe and began to make the bed with all the deftness +of a bachelor accustomed to that kind of thing. He carefully tucked in +the clothes on the side near the wall, shook the pillows, and turned +back a corner of the coverlet. + +'There, that'll do; won't it?' said he. + +And as she did not answer, but remained motionless, he pushed her behind +the screen. 'Good heavens! what a lot of fuss,' he thought. And after +spreading his own sheets on the couch, and hanging his clothes on an +easel, he quickly went to bed himself. When he was on the point of +blowing out the candle, however, he reflected that if he did so she +would have to undress in the dark, and so he waited. At first he had +not heard her stir; she had no doubt remained standing against the +iron bedstead. But at last he detected a slight rustling, a slow, +faint movement, as if amidst her preparations she also were listening, +frightened perchance by the candle which was still alight. At last, +after several minutes, the spring mattress creaked, and then all became +still. + +'Are you comfortable, mademoiselle?' now asked Claude, in a much more +gentle voice. + +'Yes, monsieur, very comfortable,' she replied, in a scarcely audible +voice, which still quivered with emotion. + +'Very well, then. Good-night.' + +'Good-night.' + +He blew out the candle, and the silence became more intense. In spite of +his fatigue, his eyes soon opened again, and gazed upward at the large +window of the studio. The sky had become very clear again, the stars +were twinkling in the sultry July night, and, despite the storm, the +heat remained oppressive. Claude was thinking about the girl--agitated +for a moment by contrary feelings, though at last contempt gained +the mastery. He indeed believed himself to be very strong-minded; he +imagined a romance concocted to destroy his tranquillity, and he gibed +contentedly at having frustrated it. His experience of women was very +slight, nevertheless he endeavoured to draw certain conclusions from +the story she had told him, struck as he was at present by certain petty +details, and feeling perplexed. But why, after all, should he worry his +brain? What did it matter whether she had told him the truth or a lie? +In the morning she would go off; there would be an end to it all, and +they would never see each other again. Thus Claude lay cogitating, and +it was only towards daybreak, when the stars began to pale, that he +fell asleep. As for the girl behind the screen, in spite of the crushing +fatigue of her journey, she continued tossing about uneasily, oppressed +by the heaviness of the atmosphere beneath the hot zinc-work of the +roof; and doubtless, too, she was rendered nervous by the strangeness of +her surroundings. + +In the morning, when Claude awoke, his eyes kept blinking. It was very +late, and the sunshine streamed through the large window. One of his +theories was, that young landscape painters should take studios despised +by the academical figure painters--studios which the sun flooded with +living beams. Nevertheless he felt dazzled, and fell back again on his +couch. Why the devil had he been sleeping there? His eyes, still heavy +with sleep, wandered mechanically round the studio, when, all at once, +beside the screen he noticed a heap of petticoats. Then he at +once remembered the girl. He began to listen, and heard a sound of +long-drawn, regular breathing, like that of a child comfortably asleep. +Ah! so she was still slumbering, and so calmly, that it would be a pity +to disturb her. He felt dazed and somewhat annoyed at the adventure, +however, for it would spoil his morning's work. He got angry at his own +good nature; it would be better to shake her, so that she might go +at once. Nevertheless he put on his trousers and slippers softly, and +walked about on tiptoes. + +The cuckoo clock struck nine, and Claude made a gesture of annoyance. +Nothing had stirred; the regular breathing continued. The best thing to +do, he thought, would be to set to work on his large picture; he would +see to his breakfast later on, when he was able to move about. But, +after all, he could not make up his mind. He who lived amid chronic +disorder felt worried by that heap of petticoats lying on the floor. +Some water had dripped from them, but they were damp still. And so, +while grumbling in a low tone, he ended by picking them up one by one +and spreading them over the chairs in the sunlight. Had one ever seen +the like, clothes thrown about anyhow? They would never get dry, and +she would never go off! He turned all that feminine apparel over very +awkwardly, got entangled with the black dress-body, and went on all +fours to pick up the stockings that had fallen behind an old canvas. +They were Balbriggan stockings of a dark grey, long and fine, and he +examined them, before hanging them up to dry. The water oozing from the +edge of the dress had soaked them, so he wrung and stretched them with +his warm hands, in order that he might be able to send her away the +quicker. + +Since he had been on his legs, Claude had felt sorely tempted to push +aside the screen and to take a look at his guest. This self-condemned +curiosity only increased his bad temper. At last, with his habitual +shrug of the shoulders, he was taking up his brushes, when he heard some +words stammered amidst a rustling of bed-clothes. Then, however, soft +breathing was heard again, and this time he yielded to the temptation, +dropping his brushes, and peeping from behind the screen. The sight that +met his eyes rooted him to the spot, so fascinated that he muttered, +'Good gracious! good gracious!' + +The girl, amidst the hot-house heat that came from the window, had +thrown back her coverlet, and, overcome with the fatigue of a restless +night, lay steeped in a flood of sunshine, unconscious of everything. +In her feverish slumbers a shoulder button had become unfastened, and +a sleeve slipping down allowed her bosom to be seen, with skin which +looked almost gilded and soft like satin. Her right arm rested beneath +her neck, her head was thrown back, and her black unwound tresses +enwrapped her like a dusky cloak. + +'Good gracious! But she's a beauty!' muttered Claude once more. + +There, in every point, was the figure he had vainly sought for his +picture, and it was almost in the right pose. She was rather spare, +perhaps, but then so lithe and fresh. + +With a light step, Claude ran to take his box of crayons, and a large +sheet of paper. Then, squatting on a low chair, he placed a portfolio on +his knees and began to sketch with an air of perfect happiness. All else +vanished amidst artistic surprise and enthusiasm. No thought of sex came +to him. It was all a mere question of chaste outlines, splendid flesh +tints, well-set muscles. Face to face with nature, an uneasy mistrust of +his powers made him feel small; so, squaring his elbows, he became very +attentive and respectful. This lasted for about a quarter of an hour, +during which he paused every now and then, blinking at the figure before +him. As he was afraid, however, that she might change her position, he +speedily set to work again, holding his breath, lest he should awaken +her. + +And yet, while steadily applying himself to his work, vague fancies +again assailed his mind. Who could she be? Assuredly no mere hussy. But +why had she told him such an unbelievable tale? Thereupon he began to +imagine other stories. Perhaps she had but lately arrived in Paris with +a lover, who had abandoned her; perhaps she was some young woman of the +middle classes led into bad company by a female friend, and not daring +to go home to her relatives; or else there was some still more intricate +drama beneath it all; something horrible, inexplicable, the truth +of which he would never fathom. All these hypotheses increased his +perplexity. Meanwhile, he went on sketching her face, studying it with +care. The whole of the upper part, the clear forehead, as smooth as +a polished mirror, the small nose, with its delicately chiselled and +nervous nostrils, denoted great kindliness and gentleness. One divined +the sweet smile of the eyes beneath the closed lids; a smile that would +light up the whole of the features. Unfortunately, the lower part of the +face marred that expression of sweetness; the jaw was prominent, and the +lips, rather too full, showed almost blood-like over the strong white +teeth. There was here, like a flash of passion, something that spoke +of awakening womanhood, still unconscious of itself amidst those other +traits of childlike softness. + +But suddenly a shiver rippled over the girl's satiny skin. Perhaps +she had felt the weight of that gaze thus mentally dissecting her. She +opened her eyes very wide and uttered a cry. + +'Ah! great heavens!' + +Sudden terror paralysed her at the sight of that strange room, and that +young man crouching in his shirt-sleeves in front of her and devouring +her with his eyes. Flushing hotly, she impulsively pulled up the +counterpane. + +'Well, what's the matter?' cried Claude, angrily, his crayon suspended +in mid-air; 'what wasp has stung you now?' + +He, whose knowledge of womankind was largely limited to professional +models, was at a loss to understand the girl's action. + +She neither spoke nor stirred, but remained with the counterpane tightly +wrapped round her throat, her body almost doubled up, and scarcely +showing an outline beneath her coverings. + +'I won't eat you, will I?' urged Claude. 'Come, just lie as you were, +there's a good girl.' + +Again she blushed to her very ears. At last she stammered, 'Oh, no, +monsieur, no--pray!' + +But he began to lose his temper altogether. One of the angry fits to +which he was subject was coming upon him. He thought her obstinacy +stupid. And as in response to his urgent requests she only began to sob, +he quite lost his head in despair before his sketch, thinking that he +would never be able to finish it, and would thus lose a capital study +for his picture. + +'Well, you won't, eh? But it's idiotic. What do you take me for? Have +I annoyed you at all? You know I haven't. Besides, listen, it is very +unkind of you to refuse me this service, because, after all, I sheltered +you--I gave up my bed to you.' + +She only continued to cry, with her head buried in the pillow. + +'I assure you that I am very much in want of this sketch, else I +wouldn't worry you.' + +He grew surprised at the girl's abundant tears, and ashamed at +having been so rough with her, so he held his tongue at last, feeling +embarrassed, and wishing too that she might have time to recover a bit. +Then he began again, in a very gentle tone: + +'Well, as it annoys you, let's say no more about it. But if you only +knew. I've got a figure in my picture yonder which doesn't make head-way +at all, and you were just in the very note. As for me, when it's a +question of painting, I'd kill father and mother, you know. Well, you'll +excuse me, won't you? And if you'd like me to be very nice, you'd just +give me a few minutes more. No, no; keep quiet as you are; I only want +the head--nothing but the head. If I could finish that, it would be all +right. Really now, be kind; put your arm as it was before, and I shall +be very grateful to you--grateful all my life long.' + +It was he who was entreating now, pitifully waving his crayon amid +the emotion of his artistic craving. Besides, he had not stirred, but +remained crouching on his low chair, at a distance from the bed. At last +she risked the ordeal, and uncovered her tranquillised face. What else +could she do? She was at his mercy, and he looked so wretchedly unhappy. + +Nevertheless, she still hesitated, she felt some last scruples. But +eventually, without saying a word, she slowly brought her bare arm from +beneath the coverings, and again slipped it under her head, taking care, +however, to keep the counterpane tightly round her throat. + +'Ah! how kind you are! I'll make haste, you will be free in a minute.' + +He bent over his drawing, and only looked at her now and then with the +glance of a painter who simply regards the woman before him as a model. +At first she became pink again; the consciousness that she was showing +her bare arm--which she would have shown in a ball-room without thinking +at all about it--filled her with confusion. Nevertheless, the young +man seemed so reasonable that she became reassured. The blush left her +cheeks, and her lips parted in a vague confiding smile. And from between +her half-opened eyelids she began to study him. How he had frightened +her the previous night with his thick brown beard, his large head, and +his impulsive gestures. And yet he was not ugly; she even detected great +tenderness in the depths of his brown eyes, while his nose altogether +surprised her. It was a finely-cut woman's nose, almost lost amidst the +bristling hair on his lips. He shook slightly with a nervous anxiety +which made his crayon seem a living thing in his slender hand, and +which touched her though she knew not why. She felt sure he was not +bad-natured, his rough, surly ways arose from bashfulness. She did not +decipher all this very clearly, but she divined it, and began to put +herself at her ease, as if she were with a friend. + +Nevertheless, the studio continued to frighten her a little. She +cast sidelong glances around it, astonished at so much disorder and +carelessness. Before the stove the cinders of the previous winter still +lay in a heap. Besides the bed, the small washstand, and the couch, +there was no other furniture than an old dilapidated oaken wardrobe and +a large deal table, littered with brushes, colours, dirty plates, and +a spirit lamp, atop of which was a saucepan, with shreds of vermicelli +sticking to its sides. Some rush-bottomed chairs, their seats the worse +for wear, were scattered about beside spavined easels. Near the couch +the candlestick used on the previous night stood on the floor, which +looked as if it had not been swept for fully a month. There was only the +cuckoo clock, a huge one, with a dial illuminated with crimson flowers, +that looked clean and bright, ticking sonorously all the while. But what +especially frightened her were some sketches in oils that hung frameless +from the walls, a serried array of sketches reaching to the floor, where +they mingled with heaps of canvases thrown about anyhow. She had never +seen such terrible painting, so coarse, so glaring, showing a violence +of colour, that jarred upon her nerves like a carter's oath heard on the +doorstep of an inn. She cast her eyes down for a moment, and then became +attracted by a picture, the back of which was turned to her. It was +the large canvas at which the painter was working, and which he pushed +against the wall every night, the better to judge it on the morrow +in the surprise of the first glance. What could it be, that one, she +wondered, since he dared not even show it? And, meantime, through the +vast room, a sheet of burning sunlight, falling straight from the window +panes, unchecked by any blind, spread with the flow of molten gold over +all the broken-down furniture, whose devil-may-care shabbiness it threw +into bold relief. + +Claude began to feel the silence oppressive; he wanted to say something, +no matter what, first, in order to be polite, and more especially to +divert her attention from her pose. But cudgel his brain as he would, he +could only think of asking: 'Pray, what is your name?' + +She opened her eyes, which she had closed, as if she were feeling +sleepy. + +'Christine,' she said. + +At which he seemed surprised. Neither had he told her his name. Since +the night before they had been together, side by side, without knowing +one another. + +'My name is Claude.' + +And, having looked at her just at that moment, he saw her burst into +a pretty laugh. It was the sudden, merry peal of a big girl, still +scarcely more than a hoyden. She considered this tardy exchange of names +rather droll. Then something else amused her. + +'How funny--Claude, Christine--they begin with the same letter.' + +They both became silent once more. He was blinking at his work, growing +absorbed in it, and at a loss how to continue the conversation. He +fancied that she was beginning to feel tired and uncomfortable, and in +his fear lest she should stir, he remarked at random, merely to occupy +her thoughts, 'It feels rather warm.' + +This time she checked her laughter, her natural gaiety that revived and +burst forth in spite of herself ever since she had felt easier in mind. +Truth to tell, the heat was indeed so oppressive that it seemed to her +as if she were in a bath, with skin moist and pale with the milky pallor +of a camellia. + +'Yes, it feels rather warm,' she said, seriously, though mirth was +dancing in her eyes. + +Thereupon Claude continued, with a good-natured air: + +'It's the sun falling straight in; but, after all, a flood of sunshine +on one's skin does one good. We could have done with some of it last +night at the door, couldn't we?' + +At this both burst out laughing, and he, delighted at having hit upon +a subject of conversation, questioned her about her adventure, without, +however, feeling inquisitive, for he cared little about discovering the +real truth, and was only intent upon prolonging the sitting. + +Christine simply, and in a few words, related what had befallen her. +Early on the previous morning she had left Clermont for Paris, where +she was to take up a situation as reader and companion to the widow of a +general, Madame Vanzade, a rich old lady, who lived at Passy. The train +was timed to reach Paris at ten minutes past nine in the evening, and +a maid was to meet her at the station. They had even settled by letter +upon a means of recognition. She was to wear a black hat with a grey +feather in it. But, a little above Nevers, her train had come upon a +goods train which had run off the rails, its litter of smashed trucks +still obstructing the line. There was quite a series of mishaps +and delays. First an interminable wait in the carriages, which the +passengers had to quit at last, luggage and all, in order to trudge to +the next station, three kilometres distant, where the authorities had +decided to make up another train. By this time they had lost two hours, +and then another two were lost in the general confusion which the +accident had caused from one end of the line to the other, in such wise +that they reached the Paris terminus four hours behind time, that is, at +one o'clock in the morning. + +'Bad luck, indeed,' interrupted Claude, who was still sceptical, +though half disarmed, in his surprise at the neat way in which the girl +arranged the details of her story. + +'And, of course, there was no one at the station to meet you?' he added. + +Christine had, indeed, missed Madame Vanzade's maid, who, no doubt, had +grown tired of waiting. She told Claude of her utter helplessness at the +Lyons terminus--that large, strange, dark station, deserted at that late +hour of night. She had not dared to take a cab at first, but had kept +on walking up and down, carrying her small bag, and still hoping that +somebody would come for her. When at last she made up her mind there +only remained one driver, very dirty and smelling of drink, who prowled +round her, offering his cab in a knowing, impudent way. + +'Yes, I know, a dawdler,' said Claude, getting as interested as if he +were listening to a fairy tale. 'So you got into his cab?' + +Looking up at the ceiling, Christine continued, without shifting her +position: 'He made me; he called me his little dear, and frightened me. +When he found out that I was going to Passy, he became very angry, and +whipped his horse so hard that I was obliged to hold on by the doors. +After that I felt more easy, because the cab trundled along all +right through the lighted streets, and I saw people about. At last I +recognised the Seine, for though I was never in Paris before, I had +often looked at a map. Naturally I thought he would keep along the quay, +so I became very frightened again on noticing that we crossed a bridge. +Just then it began to rain, and the cab, which had got into a very +dark turning, suddenly stopped. The driver got down from his seat, and +declared it was raining too hard for him to remain on the box--' + +Claude burst out laughing. He no longer doubted. She could not have +invented that driver. And as she suddenly stopped, somewhat confused, he +said, 'All right, the cabman was having a joke.' + +'I jumped out at once by the other door,' resumed Christine. 'Then he +began to swear at me, saying that we had arrived at Passy, and that he +would tear my hat from my head if I did not pay him. It was raining in +torrents, and the quay was absolutely deserted. I was losing my head, +and when I had pulled out a five-franc piece, he whipped up his horse +and drove off, taking my little bag, which luckily only contained two +pocket-handkerchiefs, a bit of cake, and the key of my trunk, which I +had been obliged to leave behind in the train.' + +'But you ought to have taken his number,' exclaimed the artist +indignantly. In fact he now remembered having been brushed against by +a passing cab, which had rattled by furiously while he was crossing the +Pont Louis Philippe, amid the downpour of the storm. And he reflected +how improbable truth often was. The story he had conjured up as being +the most simple and logical was utterly stupid beside the natural chain +of life's many combinations. + +'You may imagine how I felt under the doorway,' concluded Christine. +'I knew well enough that I was not at Passy, and that I should have to +spend the night there, in this terrible Paris. And there was the thunder +and the lightning--those horrible blue and red flashes, which showed me +things that made me tremble.' + +She closed her eyelids once more, she shivered, and the colour left her +cheeks as, in her fancy, she again beheld the tragic city--that line +of quays stretching away in a furnace-like blaze, the deep moat of the +river, with its leaden waters obstructed by huge black masses, lighters +looking like lifeless whales, and bristling with motionless cranes which +stretched forth gallows-like arms. Was that a welcome to Paris? + +Again did silence fall. Claude had resumed his drawing. But she became +restless, her arm was getting stiff. + +'Just put your elbow a little lower, please,' said Claude. Then, with an +air of concern, as if to excuse his curtness: 'Your parents will be very +uneasy, if they have heard of the accident.' + +'I have no parents.' + +'What! neither father nor mother? You are all alone in the world?' + +'Yes; all alone.' + +She was eighteen years old, and had been born in Strasburg, quite by +chance, though, between two changes of garrison, for her father was a +soldier, Captain Hallegrain. Just as she entered upon her twelfth year, +the captain, a Gascon, hailing from Montauban, had died at Clermont, +where he had settled when paralysis of the legs had obliged him to +retire from active service. For nearly five years afterwards, her +mother, a Parisian by birth, had remained in that dull provincial town, +managing as well as she could with her scanty pension, but eking it +out by fan-painting, in order that she might bring up her daughter as a +lady. She had, however, now been dead for fifteen months, and had left +her child penniless and unprotected, without a friend, save the Superior +of the Sisters of the Visitation, who had kept her with them. Christine +had come straight to Paris from the convent, the Superior having +succeeded in procuring her a situation as reader and companion to her +old friend, Madame Vanzade, who was almost blind. + +At these additional particulars, Claude sat absolutely speechless. That +convent, that well-bred orphan, that adventure, all taking so romantic +a turn, made him relapse into embarrassment again, into all his former +awkwardness of gesture and speech. He had left off drawing, and sat +looking, with downcast eyes, at his sketch. + +'Is Clermont pretty?' he asked, at last. + +'Not very; it's a gloomy town. Besides, I don't know; I scarcely ever +went out.' + +She was resting on her elbow, and continued, as if talking to herself in +a very low voice, still tremulous from the thought of her bereavement. + +'Mamma, who wasn't strong, killed herself with work. She spoilt me; +nothing was too good for me. I had all sorts of masters, but I did not +get on very well; first, because I fell ill, then because I paid no +attention. I was always laughing and skipping about like a featherbrain. +I didn't care for music, piano playing gave me a cramp in my arms. The +only thing I cared about at all was painting.' + +He raised his head and interrupted her. 'You can paint?' + +'Oh, no; I know nothing, nothing at all. Mamma, who was very talented, +made me do a little water-colour, and I sometimes helped her with the +backgrounds of her fans. She painted some lovely ones.' + +In spite of herself, she then glanced at the startling sketches with +which the walls seemed ablaze, and her limpid eyes assumed an uneasy +expression at the sight of that rough, brutal style of painting. From +where she lay she obtained a topsy-turvy view of the study of herself +which the painter had begun, and her consternation at the violent tones +she noticed, the rough crayon strokes, with which the shadows were +dashed off, prevented her from asking to look at it more closely. +Besides, she was growing very uncomfortable in that bed, where she lay +broiling; she fidgetted with the idea of going off and putting an end to +all these things which, ever since the night before, had seemed to her +so much of a dream. + +Claude, no doubt, became aware of her discomfort. A sudden feeling of +shame brought with it one of compunction. + +He put his unfinished sketch aside, and hastily exclaimed: 'Much obliged +for your kindness, mademoiselle. Forgive me, I have really abused it. +Yes, indeed, pray get up; it's time for you to look for your friends.' + +And without appearing to understand why she did not follow his advice, +but hid more and more of her bare arm in proportion as he drew nearer, +he still insisted upon advising her to rise. All at once, as the real +state of things struck him, he swung his arms about like a madman, set +the screen in position, and went to the far end of the studio, where he +began noisily setting his crockery in order, so that she might jump out +and dress herself, without fear of being overheard. + +Amidst the din he had thus raised, he failed to hear her hesitating +voice, 'Monsieur, monsieur--' + +At last he caught her words. + +'Monsieur, would you be so kind--I can't find my stockings.' + +Claude hurried forward. What had he been thinking of? What was she to do +behind that screen, without her stockings and petticoats, which he had +spread out in the sunlight? The stockings were dry, he assured himself +of that by gently rubbing them together, and he handed them to her over +the partition; again noticing her arm, bare, plump and rosy like that of +a child. Then he tossed the skirts on to the foot of the bed and pushed +her boots forward, leaving nothing but her bonnet suspended from the +easel. She had thanked him and that was all; he scarcely distinguished +the rustling of her clothes and the discreet splashing of water. Still +he continued to concern himself about her. + +'You will find the soap in a saucer on the table. Open the drawer and +take a clean towel. Do you want more water? I'll give you the pitcher.' + +Suddenly the idea that he was blundering again exasperated him. + +'There, there, I am only worrying you. I will leave you to your own +devices. Do as if you were at home.' + +And he continued to potter about among the crockery. He was debating +with himself whether he should ask her to stay to breakfast. He ought +not to let her go like that. On the other hand, if she did stay, he +would never get done; it would mean a loss of his whole morning. Without +deciding anything, as soon as he had lighted his spirit lamp, he washed +his saucepan and began to make some chocolate. He thought it more +_distingue_, feeling rather ashamed of his vermicelli, which he mixed +with bread and soused with oil as people do in the South of France. +However, he was still breaking the chocolate into bits, when he uttered +a cry of surprise, 'What, already?' + +It was Christine, who had pushed back the screen, and who appeared +looking neat and correct in her black dress, duly laced and buttoned +up, equipped, as it were, in a twinkle. Her rosy face did not even show +traces of the water, her thick hair was twisted in a knot at the back +of her head, not a single lock out of place. And Claude remained +open-mouthed before that miracle of quickness, that proof of feminine +skill in dressing well and promptly. + +'The deuce, if you go about everything in that way!' said he. + +He found her taller and handsomer than he had fancied. But what struck +him most was her look of quiet decision. She was evidently no longer +afraid of him. It seemed as though she had re-donned her armour and +become an amazon again. She smiled and looked him straight in the face. +Whereupon he said what he was still reluctant to say: + +'You'll breakfast with me, won't you?' + +But she refused the offer. 'No, thank you. I am going to the station, +where my trunk must have arrived by now, and then I shall drive to +Passy.' + +It was in vain that he told her that she must be hungry, that it was +unreasonable for her to go out without eating something. + +'Well, if you won't, I'll go down and fetch you a cab,' he ended by +exclaiming. + +'Pray don't take such trouble.' + +'But you can't go such a distance on foot. Let me at least take you to +the cabstand, as you don't know Paris.' + +'No, really I do not need you. If you wish to oblige me, let me go away +by myself.' + +She had evidently made up her mind. She no doubt shrank from the idea +of being seen with a man, even by strangers. She meant to remain silent +about that strange night, she meant to tell some falsehood, and keep +the recollection of her adventure entirely to herself. He made a +furious gesture, which was tantamount to sending her to the devil. Good +riddance; it suited him better not to have to go down. But, all the +same, he felt hurt at heart, and considered that she was ungrateful. + +'As you please, then. I sha'n't resort to force,' he said. + +At these words, Christine's vague smile became more accentuated. She did +not reply, but took her bonnet and looked round in search of a glass. +Failing to find one, she tied the strings as best she could. With her +arms uplifted, she leisurely arranged and smoothed the ribbons, her face +turned towards the golden rays of the sun. Somewhat surprised, Claude +looked in vain for the traits of childish softness that he had just +portrayed; the upper part of her face, her clear forehead, her gentle +eyes had become less conspicuous; and now the lower part stood out, with +its somewhat sensual jaw, ruddy mouth, and superb teeth. And still she +smiled with that enigmatical, girlish smile, which was, perhaps, an +ironical one. + +'At any rate,' he said, in a vexed tone, 'I do not think you have +anything to reproach me with.' + +At which she could not help laughing, with a slight, nervous laugh. + +'No, no, monsieur, not in the least.' + +He continued staring at her, fighting the battle of inexperience and +bashfulness over again, and fearing that he had been ridiculous. Now +that she no longer trembled before him, had she become contemptuously +surprised at having trembled at all? What! he had not made the slightest +attempt at courtship, not even pressed a kiss on her finger-tips. The +young fellow's bearish indifference, of which she had assuredly been +conscious, must have hurt her budding womanly feelings. + +'You were saying,' she resumed, becoming sedate once more, 'that the +cabstand is at the end of the bridge on the opposite quay?' + +'Yes; at the spot where there is a clump of trees.' + +She had finished tying her bonnet strings, and stood ready gloved, +with her hands hanging by her side, and yet she did not go, but stared +straight in front of her. As her eyes met the big canvas turned to +the wall she felt a wish to see it, but did not dare to ask. Nothing +detained her; still she seemed to be looking around as if she had +forgotten something there, something which she could not name. At last +she stepped towards the door. + +Claude was already opening it, and a small loaf placed erect against the +post tumbled into the studio. + +'You see,' he said, 'you ought to have stopped to breakfast with me. My +doorkeeper brings the bread up every morning.' + +She again refused with a shake of the head. When she was on the landing +she turned round, and for a moment remained quite still. Her gay smile +had come back; she was the first to hold out her hand. + +'Thank you, thank you very much.' + +He had taken her small gloved hand within his large one, all +pastel-stained as it was. Both hands remained like that for a few +moments, closely and cordially pressed. The young girl was still smiling +at him, and he had a question on the tip of his tongue: 'When shall I +see you again?' But he felt ashamed to ask it, and after waiting a while +she withdrew her hand. + +'Good-bye, monsieur.' + +'Good-bye, mademoiselle.' + +Christine, without another glance, was already descending the steep +ladder-like stairway whose steps creaked, when Claude turned abruptly +into his studio, closing the door with a bang, and shouting to himself: +'Ah, those confounded women!' + +He was furious--furious with himself, furious with everyone. Kicking +about the furniture, he continued to ease his feelings in a loud voice. +Was not he right in never allowing them to cross his threshold? They +only turned a fellow's head. What proof had he after all that yonder +chit with the innocent look, who had just gone, had not fooled him most +abominably? And he had been silly enough to believe in her cock-and-bull +stories! All his suspicions revived. No one would ever make him swallow +that fairy tale of the general's widow, the railway accident, and +especially the cabman. Did such things ever happen in real life? +Besides, that mouth of hers told a strange tale, and her looks had +been very singular just as she was going. Ah! if he could only have +understood why she had told him all those lies; but no, they were +profitless, inexplicable. It was art for art's sake. How she must be +laughing at him by this time. + +He roughly folded up the screen and sent it flying into a corner. She +had no doubt left all in disorder. And when he found that everything was +in its proper place--basin, towel, and soap--he flew into a rage because +she had not made the bed. With a great deal of fuss he began to make it +himself, lifting the mattress in his arms, banging the pillow about with +his fists, and feeling oppressed by the pure scent of youth that rose +from everything. Then he had a good wash to cool himself, and in the +damp towel he found the same virgin fragrance, which seemed to spread +through the studio. Swearing the while, he drank his chocolate from +the saucepan, so excited, so eager to set to work, as to swallow large +mouthfuls of bread without taking breath. + +'Why, it's enough to kill one here,' he suddenly exclaimed. 'It must be +this confounded heat that's making me ill.' + +After all, the sun had shifted, and it was far less hot. But he opened +a small window on a level with the roof, and inhaled, with an air of +profound relief, the whiff of warm air that entered. Then he took up his +sketch of Christine's head and for a long while he lingered looking at +it. + + + + +II + +IT had struck twelve, and Claude was working at his picture when +there was a loud, familiar knock at the door. With an instinctive yet +involuntary impulse, the artist slipped the sketch of Christine's head, +by the aid of which he was remodelling the principal figure of his +picture, into a portfolio. After which he decided to open the door. + +'You, Pierre!' he exclaimed, 'already!' + +Pierre Sandoz, a friend of his boyhood, was about twenty-two, very dark, +with a round and determined head, a square nose, and gentle eyes, set in +energetic features, girt round with a sprouting beard. + +'I breakfasted earlier than usual,' he answered, 'in order to give you a +long sitting. The devil! you are getting on with it.' + +He had stationed himself in front of the picture, and he added almost +immediately: 'Hallo! you have altered the character of your woman's +features!' + +Then came a long pause; they both kept staring at the canvas. It +measured about sixteen feet by ten, and was entirely painted over, +though little of the work had gone beyond the roughing-out. This +roughing-out, hastily dashed off, was superb in its violence and ardent +vitality of colour. A flood of sunlight streamed into a forest clearing, +with thick walls of verdure; to the left, stretched a dark glade with a +small luminous speck in the far distance. On the grass, amidst all the +summer vegetation, lay a nude woman with one arm supporting her head, +and though her eyes were closed she smiled amidst the golden shower that +fell around her. In the background, two other women, one fair, and the +other dark, wrestled playfully, setting light flesh tints amidst all the +green leaves. And, as the painter had wanted something dark by way of +contrast in the foreground, he had contented himself with seating there +a gentleman, dressed in a black velveteen jacket. This gentleman had +his back turned and the only part of his flesh that one saw was his left +hand, with which he was supporting himself on the grass. + +'The woman promises well,' said Sandoz, at last; 'but, dash it, there +will be a lot of work in all this.' + +Claude, with his eyes blazing in front of his picture, made a gesture +of confidence. 'I've lots of time from now till the Salon. One can get +through a deal of work in six months. And perhaps this time I'll be able +to prove that I am not a brute.' + +Thereupon he set up a whistle, inwardly pleased at the sketch he had +made of Christine's head, and buoyed up by one of those flashes of hope +whence he so often dropped into torturing anguish, like an artist whom +passion for nature consumed. + +'Come, no more idling,' he shouted. 'As you're here, let us set to.' + +Sandoz, out of pure friendship, and to save Claude the cost of a model, +had offered to pose for the gentleman in the foreground. In four or five +Sundays, the only day of the week on which he was free, the figure would +be finished. He was already donning the velveteen jacket, when a sudden +reflection made him stop. + +'But, I say, you haven't really lunched, since you were working when I +came in. Just go down and have a cutlet while I wait here.' + +The idea of losing time revolted Claude. 'I tell you I have breakfasted. +Look at the saucepan. Besides, you can see there's a crust of bread +left. I'll eat it. Come, to work, to work, lazy-bones.' + +And he snatched up his palette and caught his brushes, saying, as he did +so, 'Dubuche is coming to fetch us this evening, isn't he?' + +'Yes, about five o'clock.' + +'Well, that's all right then. We'll go down to dinner directly he comes. +Are you ready? The hand more to the left, and your head a little more +forward.' + +Having arranged some cushions, Sandoz settled himself on the couch +in the required attitude. His back was turned, but all the same the +conversation continued for another moment, for he had that very morning +received a letter from Plassans, the little Provencal town where he and +the artist had known each other when they were wearing out their first +pairs of trousers on the eighth form of the local college. However, they +left off talking. The one was working with his mind far away from the +world, while the other grew stiff and cramped with the sleepy weariness +of protracted immobility. + +It was only when Claude was nine years old that a lucky chance had +enabled him to leave Paris and return to the little place in Provence, +where he had been born. His mother, a hardworking laundress,* whom his +ne'er-do-well father had scandalously deserted, had afterwards married +an honest artisan who was madly in love with her. But in spite of +their endeavours, they failed to make both ends meet. Hence they gladly +accepted the offer of an elderly and well-to-do townsman to send the +lad to school and keep him with him. It was the generous freak of an +eccentric amateur of painting, who had been struck by the little figures +that the urchin had often daubed. And thus for seven years Claude had +remained in the South, at first boarding at the college, and afterwards +living with his protector. The latter, however, was found dead in his +bed one morning. He left the lad a thousand francs a year, with the +faculty of disposing of the principal when he reached the age of +twenty-five. Claude, already seized with a passion for painting, +immediately left school without even attempting to secure a bachelor's +degree, and rushed to Paris whither his friend Sandoz had preceded him. + + * Gervaise of 'The Dram Shop'(L'Assommoir).--ED. + +At the College of Plassans, while still in the lowest form, Claude +Lantier, Pierre Sandoz, and another lad named Louis Dubuche, had been +three inseparables. Sprung from three different classes of society, by +no means similar in character, but simply born in the same year at a few +months' interval, they had become friends at once and for aye, impelled +thereto by certain secret affinities, the still vague promptings of +a common ambition, the dawning consciousness of possessing greater +intelligence than the set of dunces who maltreated them. Sandoz's +father, a Spaniard, who had taken refuge in France in consequence of +some political disturbances in which he had been mixed up, had started, +near Plassans, a paper mill with new machinery of his own invention. +When he had died, heart-broken by the petty local jealousy that had +sought to hamper him in every way, his widow had found herself in so +involved a position, and burdened with so many tangled law suits, that +the whole of her remaining means were swallowed up. She was a native of +Burgundy. Yielding to her hatred of the Provencals, and laying at their +door even the slow paralysis from which she was suffering, she removed +to Paris with her son, who then supported her out of a meagre clerk's +salary, he himself haunted by the vision of literary glory. As for +Dubuche, he was the son of a baker of Plassans. Pushed by his mother, a +covetous and ambitious woman, he had joined his friends in Paris later +on. He was attending the courses at the School of Arts as a pupil +architect, living as best he might upon the last five-franc pieces +that his parents staked on his chances, with the obstinacy of usurers +discounting the future at the rate of a hundred per cent. + +'Dash it!' at last exclaimed Sandoz, breaking the intense silence that +hung upon the room. 'This position isn't at all easy; my wrist feels +broken. Can I move for a moment?' + +Claude let him stretch himself without answering. He was now working at +the velveteen jacket, laying on the colour with thick strokes, However, +stepping backward and blinking, he suddenly burst into loud laughter at +some reminiscence. + +'I say, do you recollect, when we were in the sixth form, how, one day, +Pouillaud lighted the candles in that idiot Lalubie's cupboard? And how +frightened Lalubie was when, before going to his desk, he opened the +cupboard to take his books, and found it transformed into a mortuary +chapel? Five hundred lines to every one in the form.' + +Sandoz, unable to withstand the contagion of the other's gaiety, flung +himself back on the couch. As he resumed his pose, he remarked, 'Ah, +that brute of a Pouillaud. You know that in his letter this morning he +tells me of Lalubie's forthcoming marriage. The old hack is marrying +a pretty girl. But you know her, she's the daughter of Gallissard, the +haberdasher--the little fair-haired girl whom we used to serenade!' + +Once on the subject of their recollections there was no stopping them, +though Claude went on painting with growing feverishness, while Pierre, +still turned towards the wall, spoke over his shoulders, shaking every +now and then with excitement. + +First of all came recollections of the college, the old, dank convent, +that extended as far as the town ramparts; the two courtyards with their +huge plane trees; the slimy sedge-covered pond, where they had learned +to swim, and the class-rooms with dripping plaster walls on the ground +floor; then the refectory, with its atmosphere constantly poisoned by +the fumes of dish-water; the dormitory of the little ones, famous for +its horrors, the linen room, and the infirmary, full of gentle sisters, +nuns in black gowns who looked so sweet beneath their white coifs. What +a to-do there had been when Sister Angela, she whose Madonna-like face +had turned the heads of all the big fellows, disappeared one morning +with Hermeline, a stalwart first-form lad, who, from sheer love, +purposely cut his hands with his penknife so as to get an opportunity of +seeing and speaking to her while she dressed his self-inflicted injuries +with gold-beater's skin. + +Then they passed the whole college staff in review; a pitiful, +grotesque, and terrible procession it was, with such heads as are seen +on meerschaum pipes, and profiles instinct with hatred and suffering. +There was the head master, who ruined himself in giving parties, in +order to marry his daughters--two tall, elegant girls, the butt of +constant and abominable insults, written and sketched on every wall; +there was the comptroller Pifard, whose wonderful nose betrayed his +presence behind every door, when he went eavesdropping; and there were +all the teachers, each befouled with some insulting nickname: the severe +'Rhadamantus,' who had never been seen to smile; 'Filth,' who by the +constant rubbing of his head had left his mark on the wall behind +every professional seat he occupied; 'Thou-hast-deceived-me-Adele,' +the professor of physics, at whom ten generations of schoolboys had +tauntingly flung the name of his unfaithful wife. There were others +still: Spontini, the ferocious usher, with his Corsican knife, rusty +with the blood of three cousins; little Chantecaille, who was so +good-natured that he allowed the pupils to smoke when out walking; and +also a scullion and a scullery maid, two ugly creatures who had been +nicknamed Paraboulomenos and Paralleluca, and who were accused of +kissing one another over the vegetable parings. + +Then came comical reminiscences; the sudden recollection of practical +jokes, at which they shook with laughter after all those years. Oh! +the morning when they had burned the shoes of Mimi-la-Mort, _alias_ the +Skeleton Day Boarder, a lank lad, who smuggled snuff into the school for +the whole of the form. And then that winter evening when they had bagged +some matches lying near the lamp in the chapel, in order to smoke dry +chestnut leaves in reed pipes. Sandoz, who had been the ringleader on +that occasion, now frankly avowed his terror; the cold perspiration +that had come upon him when he had scrambled out of the choir, wrapt +in darkness. And again there was the day when Claude had hit upon the +sublime idea of roasting some cockchafers in his desk to see whether +they were good to eat, as people said they were. So terrible had been +the stench, so dense the smoke that poured from the desk, that the usher +had rushed to the water pitcher, under the impression that the place was +on fire. And then their marauding expeditions; the pillaging of onion +beds while they were out walking; the stones thrown at windows, +the correct thing being to make the breakage resemble a well-known +geographical map. Also the Greek exercises, written beforehand in large +characters on the blackboard, so that every dunce might easily read +them though the master remained unaware of it; the wooden seats of the +courtyard sawn off and carried round the basin like so many corpses, the +boys marching in procession and singing funeral dirges. Yes! that had +been a capital prank. Dubuche, who played the priest, had tumbled into +the basin while trying to scoop some water into his cap, which was to +serve as a holy water pot. But the most comical and amusing of all the +pranks had perhaps been that devised by Pouillaud, who one night had +fastened all the unmentionable crockery of the dormitory to one long +string passed under the beds. At dawn--it was the very morning when the +long vacation began--he had pulled the string and skedaddled down the +three flights of stairs with this frightful tail of crockery bounding +and smashing to pieces behind him. + +At the recollection of this last incident, Claude remained grinning from +ear to ear, his brush suspended in mid-air. 'That brute of a Pouillaud!' +he laughed. 'And so he has written to you. What is he doing now?' + +'Why, nothing at all, old man,' answered Sandoz, seating himself +more comfortably on the cushions. 'His letter is idiotic. He is just +finishing his law studies, and he will inherit his father's practice as +a solicitor. You ought to see the style he has already assumed--all the +idiotic austerity of a philistine, who has turned over a new leaf.' + +They were silent once more until Sandoz added, 'You see, old boy, we +have been protected against that sort of thing.' + +Then they relapsed again into reminiscences, but such as made their +hearts thump; the remembrance of the many happy days they had spent far +away from the college, in the open air and the full sunlight. When +still very young, and only in the sixth form, the three inseparables +had become passionately fond of taking long walks. The shortest holidays +were eagerly seized upon to tramp for miles and miles; and, getting +bolder as they grew up, they finished by scouring the whole of the +country-side, by making journeys that sometimes lasted for days. They +slept where they could, in the cleft of a rock, on some threshing-floor, +still burning hot, where the straw of the beaten corn made them a soft +couch, or in some deserted hut, the ground of which they covered with +wild thyme and lavender. Those were flights far from the everyday world, +when they became absorbed in healthy mother Nature herself, adoring +trees and streams and mountains; revelling in the supreme joy of being +alone and free. + +Dubuche, who was a boarder, had only joined them on half-holidays and +during the long vacation. Besides, his legs were heavy, and he had the +quiet nature of a studious lad. But Claude and Sandoz never wearied; +they awakened each other every Sunday morning by throwing stones at +their respective shutters. In summer, above all, they were haunted by +the thought of the Viorne, the torrent, whose tiny stream waters the +low-lying pastures of Plassans. When scarcely twelve they already knew +how to swim, and it became a passion with them to potter about in the +holes where the water accumulated; to spend whole days there, stark +naked, drying themselves on the burning sand, and then replunging into +the river, living there as it were, on their backs, on their stomachs, +searching among the reeds on the banks, immersed up to their ears, and +watching the hiding-places of the eels for hours at a stretch. That +constant contact of water beneath a burning sun prolonged their +childhood, as it were, and lent them the joyous laughter of truant +urchins, though they were almost young men, when of an evening they +returned to the town amidst the still oppressive heat of a summer +sunset. Later on they became very fond of shooting, but shooting such +as is carried on in a region devoid of game, where they had to trudge +a score of miles to pick off half a dozen pettychaps, or fig-peckers; +wonderful expeditions, whence they returned with their bags empty, or +with a mere bat, which they had managed to bring down while discharging +their guns at the outskirts of the town. Their eyes moistened at the +recollection of those happy days; they once more beheld the white +endless roads, covered with layers of dust, as if there had been a fall +of snow. They paced them again and again in their imagination, happy to +hear the fancied creaking of their heavy shoes. Then they cut across the +fields, over the reddish-brown ferruginous soil, careering madly on +and on; and there was a sky of molten lead above them, not a shadow +anywhere, nothing but dwarf olive trees and almond trees with scanty +foliage. And then the delicious drowsiness of fatigue on their return, +their triumphant bravado at having covered yet more ground than on the +precious journey, the delight of being no longer conscious of effort, +of advancing solely by dint of strength acquired, spurring themselves on +with some terrible martial strain which helped to make everything like a +dream. + +Already at that time Claude, in addition to his powder-flask and +cartridge-belt, took with him an album, in which he sketched little bits +of country, while Sandoz, on his side, always had some favourite poet +in his pocket. They lived in a perfect frenzy of romanticism, winged +strophes alternated with coarse garrison stories, odes were flung upon +the burning, flashing, luminous atmosphere that enwrapt them. And when +perchance they came upon a small rivulet, bordered by half a dozen +willows, casting grey shadows on the soil all ablaze with colour, they +at once went into the seventh heaven. They there by themselves performed +the dramas they knew by heart, inflating their voices when repeating +the speeches of the heroes, and reducing them to the merest whisper when +they replied as queens and love-sick maidens. On such days the sparrows +were left in peace. In that remote province, amidst the sleepy stupidity +of that small town, they had thus lived on from the age of fourteen, +full of enthusiasm, devoured by a passion for literature and art. The +magnificent scenarios devised by Victor Hugo, the gigantic phantasies +which fought therein amidst a ceaseless cross-fire of antithesis, had +at first transported them into the fulness of epic glory; gesticulating, +watching the sun decline behind some ruins, seeing life pass by amidst +all the superb but false glitter of a fifth act. Then Musset had come to +unman them with his passion and his tears; they heard their own hearts +throb in response to his, a new world opened to them--a world more +human--that conquered them by its cries for pity, and of eternal misery, +which henceforth they were to hear rising from all things. Besides, +they were not difficult to please; they showed the voracity of youth, +a furious appetite for all kinds of literature, good and bad alike. So +eager were they to admire something, that often the most execrable works +threw them into a state of exaltation similar to that which the purest +masterpieces produce. + +And as Sandoz now remarked, it was their great love of bodily exercise, +their very revels of literature that had protected them against the +numbing influence of their ordinary surroundings. They never entered a +cafe, they had a horror of the streets, even pretending to moult in +them like caged eagles, whereas their schoolfellows were already rubbing +their elbows over the small marble tables and playing at cards for +drinks. Provincial life, which dragged other lads, when still young, +within its cogged mechanism, that habit of going to one's club, of +spelling out the local paper from its heading to the last advertisement, +the everlasting game of dominoes no sooner finished than renewed, the +same walk at the self-same hour and ever along the same roads--all that +brutifies the mind, like a grindstone crushing the brain, filled them +with indignation, called forth their protestations. They preferred to +scale the neighbouring hills in search of some unknown solitary spot, +where they declaimed verses even amidst drenching showers, without +dreaming of shelter in their very hatred of town-life. They had even +planned an encampment on the banks of the Viorne, where they were to +live like savages, happy with constant bathing, and the company of five +or six books, which would amply suffice for their wants. Even womankind +was to be strictly banished from that camp. Being very timid and awkward +in the presence of the gentler sex, they pretended to the asceticism +of superior intellects. For two years Claude had been in love with a +'prentice hat-trimmer, whom every evening he had followed at a distance, +but to whom he had never dared to address a word. Sandoz nursed dreams +of ladies met while travelling, beautiful girls who would suddenly +spring up in some unknown wood, charm him for a whole day, and melt into +air at dusk. The only love adventure which they had ever met with still +evoked their laughter, so silly did it seem to them now. It consisted +of a series of serenades which they had given to two young ladies during +the time when they, the serenaders, had formed part of the college band. +They passed their nights beneath a window playing the clarinet and the +cornet-a-piston, and thus raising a discordant din which frightened all +the folk of the neighbourhood, until one memorable evening the indignant +parents had emptied all the water pitchers of the family over them. + +Ah! those were happy days, and how loving was the laughter with +which they recalled them. On the walls of the studio hung a series of +sketches, which Claude, it so happened, had made during a recent trip +southward. Thus it seemed as if they were surrounded by the familiar +vistas of bright blue sky overhanging a tawny country-side. Here +stretched a plain dotted with little greyish olive trees as far as a +rosy network of distant hills. There, between sunburnt russet slopes, +the exhausted Viorne was almost running dry beneath the span of an +old dust-bepowdered bridge, without a bit of green, nothing save a few +bushes, dying for want of moisture. Farther on, the mountain gorge of +the Infernets showed its yawning chasm amidst tumbled rocks, struck down +by lightning, a huge chaos, a wild desert, rolling stony billows as far +as the eye could reach. Then came all sorts of well remembered nooks: +the valley of Repentance, narrow and shady, a refreshing oasis amid +calcined fields; the wood of Les Trois Bons-Dieux, with hard, green, +varnished pines shedding pitchy tears beneath the burning sun; the sheep +walk of Bouffan, showing white, like a mosque, amidst a far-stretching +blood-red plain. And there were yet bits of blinding, sinuous roads; +ravines, where the heat seemed even to wring bubbling perspiration from +the pebbles; stretches of arid, thirsty sand, drinking up rivers drop +by drop; mole hills, goat paths, and hill crests, half lost in the azure +sky. + +'Hallo!' exclaimed Sandoz, turning towards one sketch, 'what's that?' + +Claude, indignant, waved his palette. 'What! don't you remember? We +were very nigh breaking our necks there. Surely you recollect the day we +clambered from the very bottom of Jaumegarde with Dubuche? The rock was +as smooth as your hand, and we had to cling to it with our nails, so +that at one moment we could neither get up nor go down again. When we +were once atop and about to cook our cutlets, we, you and I, nearly came +to blows.' + +Sandoz now remembered. 'Yes, yes; each had to roast his own cutlet on +rosemary sticks, and, as mine took fire, you exasperated me by chaffing +my cutlet, which was being reduced to cinders.' + +They both shook with laughter, until the painter resumed his work, +gravely concluding, 'That's all over, old man. There is to be no more +idling at present.' + +He spoke the truth. Since the three inseparables had realised +their dream of meeting together in Paris, which they were bent upon +conquering, their life had been terribly hard. They had tried to renew +the long walks of old. On certain Sunday mornings they had started on +foot from the Fontainebleau gate, had scoured the copses of Verrieres, +gone as far as the Bievre, crossed the woods of Meudon and Bellevue, +and returned home by way of Grenelle. But they taxed Paris with spoiling +their legs; they scarcely ever left the pavement now, entirely taken up +as they were with their struggle for fortune and fame. + +From Monday morning till Saturday night Sandoz sat fuming and fretting +at the municipal building of the fifth Arrondissement in a dark corner +of the registry office for births, rooted to his stool by the thought of +his mother, whom his salary of a hundred and fifty francs a month +helped in some fashion to keep. Dubuche, anxious to pay his parents the +interest of the money placed on his head, was ever on the look-out for +some petty jobs among architects, outside his studies at the School of +Arts. As for Claude, thanks to his thousand francs a year, he had his +full liberty; but the latter days of each month were terrible enough, +especially if he had to share the fag-end of his allowance. Luckily he +was beginning to sell a little; disposing of tiny canvases, at the +rate of ten and twelve francs a-piece, to Papa Malgras, a wary picture +dealer. After all, he preferred starvation to turning his art into +mere commerce by manufacturing portraits of tradesmen and their wives; +concocting conventional religious pictures or daubing blinds for +restaurants or sign-boards for accoucheuses. When first he had +returned to Paris, he had rented a very large studio in the Impasse des +Bourdonnais; but he had moved to the Quai de Bourbon from motives of +economy. He lived there like a savage, with an absolute contempt for +everything that was not painting. He had fallen out with his relatives, +who disgusted him; he had even ceased visiting his aunt, who kept a +pork-butcher's shop near the Central Markets, because she looked too +flourishing and plump.* Respecting the downfall of his mother, who was +being eaten out of doors and driven into the streets, he nursed a secret +grief. + + * This aunt is Lisa of 'The Fat and the Thin' (Le Ventre de Paris) + in a few chapters of which Claude figures.--ED. + +Suddenly he shouted to Sandoz, 'Will you be kind enough not to tumble to +pieces?' But Sandoz declared that he was getting stiff, and jumped +from the couch to stretch his legs a bit. They took ten minutes' +rest, talking meanwhile about many things. Claude felt condescendingly +good-tempered. When his work went smoothly he brightened up and became +talkative; he, who painted with his teeth set, and raged inwardly +directly he felt that nature was escaping him. Hence his friend had +scarcely resumed his attitude before he went on chattering, without, +however, missing a stroke of his brush. + +'It's going on all right, old boy, isn't it? You look all there in it. +Oh, the brutes, I'll just see whether they'll refuse me this time. I am +more severe for myself than they are for themselves, I'm sure of it; and +whenever I pass one of my own pictures, it's more serious than if it had +passed before all the hanging committees on earth. You know my picture +of the markets, with the two urchins tumbling about on a heap of +vegetables? Well, I've scratched it all out, it didn't come right. I +found that I had got hold of a beastly machine,* a deal too heavy for my +strength. But, never you fear, I'll take the subject up again some day, +when I know better, and I'll take up others, machines which will knock +them all cock-a-hoop with surprise.' + + * In familiar conversation, French artists, playwrights, and + novelists invariably call their productions by the slang + term 'machines.'--ED. + +He made a magnificent gesture, as if to sweep a whole crowd away; +emptied a tube of cobalt on his palette; and then began to jeer, asking +what his first master would say to a picture like this? His first master +indeed, Papa Belloque, a retired infantry captain, with one arm, who for +a quarter of a century had taught drawing to the youth of Plassans +in one of the galleries of the Museum! Then, in Paris, hadn't the +celebrated Berthou, the painter of 'Nero in the Circus'--Berthou, whose +lessons he had attended for six long months--told him a score of times +that he would never be able to do anything? How he now regretted those +six months wasted in idiotic efforts, absurd 'studies,' under the iron +rule of a man whose ideas differed so much from his own. He at last +began to hold forth against working at the Louvre. He would, he said, +sooner chop his hand off than return there to spoil his perception of +nature by undertaking one of those copies which for ever dim the vision +of the world in which one lives. + +Was there aught else in art than the rendering of what one felt within +oneself? Was not the whole of art reduced to placing a woman in front +of one--and then portraying her according to the feelings that she +inspired? Was not a bunch of carrots--yes, a bunch of carrots--studied +from nature, and painted unaffectedly, in a personal style, worth all +the ever-lasting smudges of the School of Arts, all that tobacco-juice +painting, cooked up according to certain given recipes? The day would +come when one carrot, originally rendered, would lead to a revolution. +It was because of this that he now contented himself with going to the +Boutin studio, a free studio, kept by a former model, in the Rue de la +Huchette. When he had paid his twenty francs he was put in front of as +many men and women as he cared for, and set about his work with a will, +never thinking of eating or drinking, but struggling unrestingly with +nature, mad almost with the excitement of work, by the side of a pack +of dandies who accused him of ignorant laziness, and arrogantly prated +about their 'studies,' because they copied noses and mouths, under the +eye of a master. + +'Listen to this, old man: when one of those whipper-snappers can build +up a torso like that one over yonder, he may come up and tell me, and +we'll have a talk together.' + +With the end of his brush he pointed to a study of the nude, suspended +from the wall near the door. It was really magnificent, full of masterly +breadth of colouring. By its side were some other admirable bits, a +girl's feet exquisite in their delicate truthfulness, and a woman's +trunk with quivering satin-like skin. In his rare moments of content +he felt proud of those few studies, the only ones which satisfied him, +which, as it were, foretold a great painter, admirably gifted, but +hampered by sudden and inexplicable fits of impotency. + +Dealing sabre-like strokes at the velveteen jacket, he continued lashing +himself into excitement with his uncompromising theories which respected +nobody: + +'They are all so many daubers of penny prints, who have stolen their +reputations; a set of idiots or knaves on their knees before public +imbecility! Not one among them dares to give the philistines a slap in +the face. And, while we are about it, you know that old Ingres turns me +sick with his glairy painting. Nevertheless, he's a brick, and a plucky +fellow, and I take off my hat to him, for he did not care a curse for +anybody, and he used to draw like the very devil. He ended by making the +idiots, who nowadays believe they understand him, swallow that drawing +of his. After him there are only two worth speaking of, Delacroix and +Courbet. The others are only numskulls. Oh, that old romantic lion, the +carriage of him! He was a decorator who knew how to make the colours +blaze. And what a grasp he had! He would have covered every wall in +Paris if they had let him; his palette boiled, and boiled over. I know +very well that it was only so much phantasmagoria. Never mind, I like it +for all that, as it was needed to set the School on fire. Then came the +other, a stout workman--that one, the truest painter of the century, +and altogether classical besides, a fact which not one of the dullards +understood. They yelled, of course; they shouted about profanation +and realism, when, after all, the realism was only in the subject. The +perception remained that of the old masters, and the execution +resumed and continued the best bits of work one can find in our public +galleries. Both Delacroix and Courbet came at the proper time. Each made +a stride forward. And now--ah, now!' + +He ceased speaking and drew back a few steps to judge of the effect of +his picture, becoming absorbed in contemplation for a moment, and then +resuming: + +'Yes, nowadays we want something different--what, I don't exactly know. +If I did, and could do it, I should be clever indeed. No one else would +be in the race with me. All I do know and feel is that Delacroix's +grand romantic scenes are foundering and splitting, that Courbet's black +painting already reeks of the mustiness of a studio which the sun never +penetrates. You understand me, don't you? We, perhaps, want the sun, the +open air, a clear, youthful style of painting, men and things such as +they appear in the real light. In short, I myself am unable to say what +our painting should be; the painting that our eyes of to-day should +execute and behold.' + +His voice again fell; he stammered and found himself unable to explain +the formulas of the future that were rising within him. Deep silence +came while he continued working at the velveteen jacket, quivering all +the time. + +Sandoz had been listening to him without stirring from his position. His +back was still turned, and he said slowly, as if speaking to the wall in +a kind of dream: + +'No; one does not know, and still we ought to know. But each time a +professor has wanted to impress a truth upon me, I have mistrustfully +revolted, thinking: "He is either deceiving himself or deceiving me." +Their ideas exasperate me. It seems to me that truth is larger, more +general. How beautiful would it be if one could devote the whole of +one's existence to one single work, into which one would endeavour to +put everything, the beasts of the field as well as mankind; in short, +a kind of immense ark. And not in the order indicated by manuals of +philosophy, or according to the idiotic hierarchy on which we pride +ourselves, but according to the full current of life; a world in which +we should be nothing more than an accident, in which the passing cur, +even the stones of the roads, would complete and explain us. In sum, the +grand whole, without low or high, or clean or unclean, such as it indeed +is in reality. It is certainly to science that poets and novelists ought +to address themselves, for it is the only possible source of inspiration +to-day. But what are we to borrow from it? How are we to march in its +company? The moment I begin to think about that sort of thing I feel +that I am floundering. Ah, if I only knew, what a series of books I +would hurl at the heads of the crowd!' + +He also became silent. The previous winter he had published his first +book: a series of little sketches, brought from Plassans, among which +only a few rougher notes indicated that the author was a mutineer, a +passionate lover of truth and power. And lately he had been feeling his +way, questioning himself while all sorts of confused ideas throbbed in +his brain. At first, smitten with the thought of undertaking something +herculean, he had planned a genesis of the universe, in three phases or +parts; the creation narrated according to science; mankind supervening +at the appointed hour and playing its part in the chain of beings and +events; then the future--beings constantly following one another, and +finishing the creation of the world by the endless labour of life. But +he had calmed down in presence of the venturesome hypotheses of this +third phase; and he was now looking out for a more restricted, more +human framework, in which, however, his vast ambition might find room. + +'Ah, to be able to see and paint everything,' exclaimed Claude, after a +long interval. 'To have miles upon miles of walls to cover, to decorate +the railway stations, the markets, the municipal offices, everything +that will be built, when architects are no longer idiots. Only strong +heads and strong muscles will be wanted, for there will be no lack of +subjects. Life such as it runs about the streets, the life of the +rich and the poor, in the market places, on the race-courses, on the +boulevards, in the populous alleys; and every trade being plied, and +every passion portrayed in full daylight, and the peasants, too, and the +beasts of the fields and the landscapes--ah! you'll see it all, unless I +am a downright brute. My very hands are itching to do it. Yes! the whole +of modern life! Frescoes as high as the Pantheon! A series of canvases +big enough to burst the Louvre!' + +Whenever they were thrown together the painter and the author generally +reached this state of excitement. They spurred each other mutually, they +went mad with dreams of glory; and there was such a burst of youth, such +a passion for work about their plans, that they themselves often smiled +afterwards at those great, proud dreams which seemed to endow them with +suppleness, strength, and spirit. + +Claude, who had stepped back as far as the wall, remained leaning +against it, and gazing at his work. Seeing which, Sandoz, overcome by +fatigue, left the couch and joined him. Then both looked at the picture +without saying a word. The gentleman in the velveteen jacket was +entirely roughed in. His hand, more advanced than the rest, furnished +a pretty fresh patch of flesh colour amid the grass, and the dark coat +stood out so vigorously that the little silhouettes in the background, +the two little women wrestling in the sunlight, seemed to have retreated +further into the luminous quivering of the glade. The principal figure, +the recumbent woman, as yet scarcely more than outlined, floated about +like some aerial creature seen in dreams, some eagerly desired Eve +springing from the earth, with her features vaguely smiling and her +eyelids closed. + +'Well, now, what are you going to call it?' asked Sandoz. + +'_The Open Air_,' replied Claude, somewhat curtly. + +The title sounded rather technical to the writer, who, in spite of +himself, was sometimes tempted to introduce literature into pictorial +art. + +'_The Open Air_! that doesn't suggest anything.' + +'There is no occasion for it to suggest anything. Some women and a man +are reposing in a forest in the sunlight. Does not that suffice? Don't +fret, there's enough in it to make a masterpiece.' + +He threw back his head and muttered between his teeth: 'Dash it all! +it's very black still. I can't get Delacroix out of my eye, do what I +will. And then the hand, that's Courbet's manner. Everyone of us dabs +his brush into the romantic sauce now and then. We had too much of it +in our youth, we floundered in it up to our very chins. We need a jolly +good wash to get clear of it.' + +Sandoz shrugged his shoulders with a gesture of despair. He also +bewailed the fact that he had been born at what he called the confluence +of Hugo and Balzac. Nevertheless, Claude remained satisfied, full of the +happy excitement of a successful sitting. If his friend could give him +two or three more Sundays the man in the jacket would be all there. He +had enough of him for the present. Both began to joke, for, as a rule, +Claude almost killed his models, only letting them go when they were +fainting, half dead with fatigue. He himself now very nigh dropped, his +legs bending under him, and his stomach empty. And as the cuckoo +clock struck five, he snatched at his crust of bread and devoured it. +Thoroughly worn out, he broke it with trembling fingers, and scarcely +chewed it, again standing before his picture, pursued by his passion to +such a degree as to be unconscious even that he was eating. + +'Five o'clock,' said Sandoz, as he stretched himself, with his arms +upraised. 'Let's go and have dinner. Ah! here comes Dubuche, just in +time.' + +There was a knock at the door, and Dubuche came in. He was a stout young +fellow, dark, with regular but heavy features, close-cropped hair, and +moustaches already full-blown. He shook hands with both his friends, +and stopped before the picture, looking nonplussed. In reality that +harum-scarum style of painting upset him, such was the even balance of +his nature, such his reverence as a steady student for the established +formulas of art; and it was only his feeling of friendship which, as +a rule, prevented him from criticising. But this time his whole being +revolted visibly. + +'Well, what's the matter? Doesn't it suit you?' asked Sandoz, who was +watching him. + +'Yes, oh yes, it's very well painted--but--' + +'Well, spit it out. What is it that ruffles you?' + +'Not much, only the gentleman is fully dressed, and the women are not. +People have never seen anything like that before.' + +This sufficed to make both the others wild. Why, were there not a +hundred pictures in the Louvre composed in precisely the same way? +Hadn't all Paris and all the painters and tourists of the world seen +them? And besides, if people had never seen anything like it, they would +see it now. After all, they didn't care a fig for the public! + +Not in the least disconcerted by these violent replies, Dubuche +repeated quietly: 'The public won't understand--the public will think it +indecorous--and so it is!' + +'You wretched bourgeois philistine!' exclaimed Claude, exasperated. +'They are making a famous idiot of you at the School of Arts. You +weren't such a fool formerly.' + +These were the current amenities of his two friends since Dubuche had +attended the School of Arts. He thereupon beat a retreat, rather afraid +of the turn the dispute was taking, and saved himself by belabouring the +painters of the School. Certainly his friends were right in one respect, +the School painters were real idiots. But as for the architects, that +was a different matter. Where was he to get his tuition, if not there? +Besides his tuition would not prevent him from having ideas of his own, +later on. Wherewith he assumed a very revolutionary air. + +'All right,' said Sandoz, 'the moment you apologise, let's go and dine.' + +But Claude had mechanically taken up a brush and set to work again. +Beside the gentleman in the velveteen jacket the figure of the recumbent +woman seemed to be fading away. Feverish and impatient, he traced a bold +outline round her so as to bring her forward. + +'Are you coming?' + +'In a minute; hang it, what's the hurry? Just let me set this right, and +I'll be with you.' + +Sandoz shook his head and then remarked very quietly, lest he should +still further annoy him: 'You do wrong to worry yourself like that, old +man. Yes, you are knocked up, and have had nothing to eat, and you'll +only spoil your work, as you did the other day.' + +But the painter waved him off with a peevish gesture. It was the old +story--he did not know when to leave off; he intoxicated himself with +work in his craving for an immediate result, in order to prove to +himself that he held his masterpiece at last. Doubts had just driven him +to despair in the midst of his delight at having terminated a successful +sitting. Had he done right, after all, in making the velveteen jacket +so prominent, and would he not afterwards fail to secure the brilliancy +which he wished the female figure to show? Rather than remain in +suspense he would have dropped down dead on the spot. Feverishly drawing +the sketch of Christine's head from the portfolio where he had hidden +it, he compared it with the painting on the canvas, assisting himself, +as it were, by means of this document derived from life. + +'Hallo!' exclaimed Dubuche, 'where did you get that from? Who is it?' + +Claude, startled by the questions, did not answer; then, without +reflecting, he who usually told them everything, brusquely lied, +prompted by a delicate impulse to keep silent respecting the adventure +of the night. + +'Tell us who it is?' repeated the architect. + +'Nobody at all--a model.' + +'A model! a very young one, isn't she? She looks very nice. I wish you +would give me her address. Not for myself, but for a sculptor I know +who's on the look-out for a Psyche. Have you got the address there?' + +Thereupon Dubuche turned to a corner of the greyish wall on which the +addresses of several models were written in chalk, haphazard. The +women particularly left their cards in that way, in awkward, childish +handwriting. Zoe Piedefer, 7 Rue Campagne-Premiere, a big brunette, who +was getting rather too stout, had scrawled her sign manual right across +the names of little Flore Beauchamp, 32 Rue de Laval, and Judith Vaquez, +69 Rue du Rocher, a Jewess, both of whom were too thin. + +'I say, have you got the address?' resumed Dubuche. + +Then Claude flew into a passion. 'Don't pester me! I don't know and +don't care. You're a nuisance, worrying like that just when a fellow +wants to work.' + +Sandoz had not said a word. Surprised at first, he had soon smiled. He +was gifted with more penetration than Dubuche, so he gave him a knowing +nod, and they then began to chaff. They begged Claude's pardon; the +moment he wanted to keep the young person for his personal use, they +would not ask him to lend her. Ha! ha! the scamp went hunting about for +pretty models. And where had he picked up that one? + +More and more embarrassed by these remarks, Claude went on fidgetting. +'What a couple of idiots you are!' he exclaimed, 'If you only knew what +fools you are making of yourselves. That'll do. You really make me sorry +for both of you.' + +His voice sounded so stern that they both became silent immediately, +while he, after once more scratching out the woman's head, drew it anew +and began to paint it in, following his sketch of Christine, but with a +feverish, unsteady touch which went at random. + +'Just give me another ten minutes, will you?' he repeated. 'I will rough +in the shoulders to be ready for to-morrow, and then we'll go down.' + +Sandoz and Dubuche, knowing that it was of no use to prevent him from +killing himself in this fashion, resigned themselves to the inevitable. +The latter lighted his pipe, and flung himself on the couch. He was the +only one of the three who smoked; the others had never taken kindly to +tobacco, always feeling qualmish after a cigar. And when Dubuche was +stretched on his back, his eyes turned towards the clouds of smoke he +raised, he began to talk about himself in an interminable monotonous +fashion. Ah! that confounded Paris, how one had to work one's fingers +to the bone in order to get on. He recalled the fifteen months +of apprenticeship he had spent with his master, the celebrated +Dequersonniere, a former grand-prize man, now architect of the Civil +Branch of Public Works, an officer of the Legion of Honour and a member +of the Institute, whose chief architectural performance, the church of +St. Mathieu, was a cross between a pastry-cook's mould and a clock in +the so-called First Empire style. A good sort of fellow, after all, was +this Dequersonniere whom Dubuche chaffed, while inwardly sharing +his reverence for the old classical formulas. However, but for his +fellow-pupils, the young man would not have learnt much at the studio in +the Rue du Four, for the master only paid a running visit to the place +some three times a week. A set of ferocious brutes, were those comrades +of his, who had made his life jolly hard in the beginning, but who, at +least, had taught him how to prepare a surface, outline, and wash in +a plan. And how often had he had to content himself with a cup of +chocolate and a roll for dejeuner in order to pay the necessary +five-and-twenty francs to the superintendent! And the sheets of paper he +had laboriously smudged, and the hours he had spent in poring over +books before he had dared to present himself at the School! And he had +narrowly escaped being plucked in spite of all his assiduous endeavours. +He lacked imagination, and the drawings he submitted, a caryatide and +a summer dining-room, both extremely mediocre performances, had classed +him at the bottom of the list. Fortunately, he had made up for this +in his oral examination with his logarithms, geometry, and history of +architecture, for he was very strong in the scientific parts. Now that +he was attending the School as a second-class student, he had to toil +and moil in order to secure a first-class diploma. It was a dog's life, +there was no end to it, said he. + +He stretched his legs apart, high upon the cushions, and smoked +vigorously and regularly. + +'What with their courses of perspective, of descriptive geometry, of +stereotomy, of building, and of the history of art--ah! upon my word, +they do make one blacken paper with notes. And every month there is a +competitive examination in architecture, sometimes a simple sketch, +at others a complete design. There's no time for pleasure if a fellow +wishes to pass his examinations and secure the necessary honourable +mentions, especially if, besides all that, he has to find time to earn +his bread. As for myself, it's almost killing me.' + +One of the cushions having slipped upon the floor, he fished it up with +his feet. 'All the same, I'm lucky. There are so many of us scouring +the town every day without getting the smallest job. The day before +yesterday I discovered an architect who works for a large contractor. +You can have no idea of such an ignoramus of an architect--a downright +numskull, incapable even of tracing a plan. He gives me twenty-five sous +an hour, and I set his houses straight for him. It came just in time, +too, for my mother sent me word that she was quite cleared out. Poor +mother, what a lot of money I have to refund her!' + +As Dubuche was evidently talking to himself, chewing the cud of +his everyday thoughts--his constant thoughts of making a rapid +fortune--Sandoz did not even trouble to listen to him. He had opened the +little window, and seated himself on a level with the roof, for he felt +oppressed by the heat in the studio. But all at once he interrupted the +architect. + +'I say, are you coming to dinner on Thursday? All the other fellows will +be there--Fagerolles, Mahoudeau, Jory, Gagniere.' + +Every Thursday, quite a band met at Sandoz's: friends from Plassans and +others met in Paris--revolutionaries to a man, and all animated by the +same passionate love of art. + +'Next Thursday? No, I think not,' answered Dubuche. + +'I am obliged to go to a dance at a family's I know.' + +'Where you expect to get hold of a dowry, I suppose?' + +'Well, it wouldn't be such a bad spec.' + +He shook the ashes from his pipe on to his left palm, and then, +suddenly raising his voice--'I almost forgot. I have had a letter from +Pouillaud.' + +'You, too!--well, I think he's pretty well done for, Pouillaud. Another +good fellow gone wrong.' + +'Why gone wrong? He'll succeed his father; he'll spend his money quietly +down there. He writes rationally enough. I always said he'd show us a +thing or two, in spite of all his practical jokes. Ah! that beast of a +Pouillaud.' + +Sandoz, furious, was about to reply, when a despairing oath from +Claude stopped him. The latter had not opened his lips since he had +so obstinately resumed his work. To all appearance he had not even +listened. + +'Curse it--I have failed again. Decidedly, I'm a brute, I shall never do +anything.' And in a fit of mad rage he wanted to rush at his picture and +dash his fist through it. His friends had to hold him back. Why, it was +simply childish to get into such a passion. Would matters be improved +when, to his mortal regret, he had destroyed his work? Still shaking, +he relapsed into silence, and stared at the canvas with an ardent fixed +gaze that blazed with all the horrible agony born of his powerlessness. +He could no longer produce anything clear or life-like; the woman's +breast was growing pasty with heavy colouring; that flesh which, in his +fancy, ought to have glowed, was simply becoming grimy; he could not +even succeed in getting a correct focus. What on earth was the matter +with his brain that he heard it bursting asunder, as it were, amidst his +vain efforts? Was he losing his sight that he was no longer able to see +correctly? Were his hands no longer his own that they refused to obey +him? And thus he went on winding himself up, irritated by the strange +hereditary lesion which sometimes so greatly assisted his creative +powers, but at others reduced him to a state of sterile despair, such as +to make him forget the first elements of drawing. Ah, to feel giddy with +vertiginous nausea, and yet to remain there full of a furious passion +to create, when the power to do so fled with everything else, when +everything seemed to founder around him--the pride of work, the +dreamt-of glory, the whole of his existence! + +'Look here, old boy,' said Sandoz at last, 'we don't want to worry you, +but it's half-past six, and we are starving. Be reasonable, and come +down with us.' + +Claude was cleaning a corner of his palette. Then he emptied some more +tubes on it, and, in a voice like thunder, replied with one single word, +'No.' + +For the next ten minutes nobody spoke; the painter, beside himself, +wrestled with his picture, whilst his friends remained anxious at this +attack, which they did not know how to allay. Then, as there came a +knock at the door, the architect went to open it. + +'Hallo, it's Papa Malgras.' + +Malgras, the picture-dealer, was a thick-set individual, with +close-cropped, brush-like, white hair, and a red splotchy face. He +was wrapped in a very dirty old green coat, that made him look like an +untidy cabman. In a husky voice, he exclaimed: 'I happened to pass along +the quay, on the other side of the way, and I saw that gentleman at the +window. So I came up.' + +Claude's continued silence made him pause. The painter had turned to his +picture again with an impatient gesture. Not that this silence in any +way embarrassed the new comer, who, standing erect on his sturdy legs +and feeling quite at home, carefully examined the new picture with his +bloodshot eyes. Without any ceremony, he passed judgment upon it in one +phrase--half ironic, half affectionate: 'Well, well, there's a machine.' + +Then, seeing that nobody said anything, he began to stroll round the +studio, looking at the paintings on the walls. + +Papa Malgras, beneath his thick layer of grease and grime, was really +a very cute customer, with taste and scent for good painting. He never +wasted his time or lost his way among mere daubers; he went straight, as +if from instinct, to individualists, whose talent was contested still, +but whose future fame his flaming, drunkard's nose sniffed from afar. +Added to this he was a ferocious hand at bargaining, and displayed +all the cunning of a savage in his efforts to secure, for a song, the +pictures that he coveted. True, he himself was satisfied with very +honest profits, twenty per cent., thirty at the most. He based his +calculations on quickly turning over his small capital, never purchasing +in the morning without knowing where to dispose of his purchase at +night. As a superb liar, moreover, he had no equal. + +Pausing near the door, before the studies from the nude, painted at the +Boutin studio, he contemplated them in silence for a few moments, his +eyes glistening the while with the enjoyment of a connoisseur, which his +heavy eyelids tried to hide. Assuredly, he thought, there was a great +deal of talent and sentiment of life about that big crazy fellow Claude, +who wasted his time in painting huge stretches of canvas which no one +would buy. The girl's pretty legs, the admirably painted woman's trunk, +filled the dealer with delight. But there was no sale for that kind of +stuff, and he had already made his choice--a tiny sketch, a nook of the +country round Plassans, at once delicate and violent--which he pretended +not to notice. At last he drew near, and said, in an off-hand way: + +'What's this? Ah! yes, I know, one of the things you brought back with +you from the South. It's too crude. I still have the two I bought of +you.' + +And he went on in mellow, long-winded phrases. 'You'll perhaps not +believe me, Monsieur Lantier, but that sort of thing doesn't sell at +all--not at all. I've a set of rooms full of them. I'm always afraid of +smashing something when I turn round. I can't go on like that, honour +bright; I shall have to go into liquidation, and I shall end my days in +the hospital. You know me, eh? my heart is bigger than my pocket, and +there's nothing I like better than to oblige young men of talent like +yourself. Oh, for the matter of that, you've got talent, and I keep on +telling them so--nay, shouting it to them--but what's the good? They +won't nibble, they won't nibble!' + +He was trying the emotional dodge; then, with the spirit of a man about +to do something rash: 'Well, it sha'n't be said that I came in to waste +your time. What do you want for that rough sketch?' + +Claude, still irritated, was painting nervously. He dryly answered, +without even turning his head: 'Twenty francs.' + +'Nonsense; twenty francs! you must be mad. You sold me the others +ten francs a-piece--and to-day I won't give a copper more than eight +francs.' + +As a rule the painter closed with him at once, ashamed and humbled at +this miserable chaffering, glad also to get a little money now and +then. But this time he was obstinate, and took to insulting the +picture-dealer, who, giving tit for tat, all at once dropped the formal +'you' to assume the glib 'thou,' denied his talent, overwhelmed him with +invective, and taxed him with ingratitude. Meanwhile, however, he had +taken from his pocket three successive five-franc pieces, which, as +if playing at chuck-farthing, he flung from a distance upon the table, +where they rattled among the crockery. + +'One, two, three--not one more, dost hear? for there is already one too +many, and I'll take care to get it back; I'll deduct it from something +else of thine, as I live. Fifteen francs for that! Thou art wrong, my +lad, and thou'lt be sorry for this dirty trick.' + +Quite exhausted, Claude let him take down the little canvas, which +disappeared as if by magic in his capacious green coat. Had it dropped +into a special pocket, or was it reposing on Papa Malgras' ample chest? +Not the slightest protuberance indicated its whereabouts. + +Having accomplished his stroke of business, Papa Malgras abruptly calmed +down and went towards the door. But he suddenly changed his mind and +came back. 'Just listen, Lantier,' he said, in the honeyest of tones; 'I +want a lobster painted. You really owe me that much after fleecing me. +I'll bring you the lobster, you'll paint me a bit of still life from +it, and keep it for your pains. You can eat it with your friends. It's +settled, isn't it?' + +At this proposal Sandoz and Dubuche, who had hitherto listened +inquisitively, burst into such loud laughter that the picture-dealer +himself became gay. Those confounded painters, they did themselves no +good, they simply starved. What would have become of the lazy beggars if +he, Papa Malgras, hadn't brought a leg of mutton now and then, or a nice +fresh plaice, or a lobster, with its garnish of parsley? + +'You'll paint me my lobster, eh, Lantier? Much obliged.' And he +stationed himself anew before the large canvas, with his wonted smile +of mingled derision and admiration. And at last he went off, repeating, +'Well, well, there's a machine.' + +Claude wanted to take up his palette and brushes once more. But his legs +refused their service; his arms fell to his side, stiff, as if pinioned +there by some occult force. In the intense melancholy silence that had +followed the din of the dispute he staggered, distracted, bereft of +sight before his shapeless work. + +'I'm done for, I'm done for,' he gasped. 'That brute has finished me +off!' + +The clock had just struck seven; he had been at work for eight mortal +hours without tasting anything but a crust of bread, without taking a +moment's rest, ever on his legs, shaken by feverish excitement. And now +the sun was setting, shadows began to darken the studio, which in the +gloaming assumed a most melancholy aspect. When the light went down like +this on the crisis of a bad day's work, it seemed to Claude as if the +sun would never rise again, but had for ever carried life and all the +jubilant gaiety of colour away. + +'Come,' implored Sandoz, with all the gentleness of brotherly +compassion. 'Come, there's a good fellow.' + +Even Dubuche added, 'You'll see more clearly into it to-morrow. Come and +dine.' + +For a moment Claude refused to surrender. He stood rooted to the spot, +deaf to their friendly voices, and fiercely obstinate. + +What did he want to do then, since his tired fingers were no longer able +to grasp the brush? He did not know, but, however powerless he might be, +he was gnawed by a mad craving to go on working still and to create +in spite of everything. Even if he did nothing, he would at least stay +there, he would not vacate the spot. All at once, however, he made up +his mind, shaken the while as by a big sob. He clutched firmly hold +of his broadest palette-knife, and, with one deep, slow sweep, he +obliterated the woman's head and bosom. It was veritable murder, a +pounding away of human flesh; the whole disappeared in a murky, muddy +mash. By the side of the gentleman in the dark jacket, amidst the +bright verdure, where the two little wrestlers so lightly tinted were +disporting themselves, there remained naught of the nude, headless, +breastless woman but a mutilated trunk, a vague cadaverous stump, an +indistinct, lifeless patch of visionary flesh. + +Sandoz and Dubuche were already descending the stairs with a great +clatter, and Claude followed them, fleeing his work, in agony at having +to leave it thus scarred with a gaping gash. + + + + +III + +THE beginning of the week proved disastrous to Claude. He had relapsed +into one of those periods of self-doubt that made him hate painting, +with the hatred of a lover betrayed, who overwhelms the faithless one +with insults although tortured by an uncontrollable desire to worship +her yet again. So on the Thursday, after three frightful days of +fruitless and solitary battling, he left home as early as eight in +the morning, banging his door violently, and feeling so disgusted with +himself that he swore he would never take up a brush again. When he was +unhinged by one of these attacks there was but one remedy, he had to +forget himself, and, to do so, it was needful that he should look up +some comrades with whom to quarrel, and, above all, walk about and +trudge across Paris, until the heat and odour of battle rising from her +paving-stones put heart into him again. + +That day, like every other Thursday, he was to dine at Sandoz's, in +company with their friends. But what was he to do until the evening? The +idea of remaining by himself, of eating his heart out, disgusted him. +He would have gone straight to his friend, only he knew that the latter +must be at his office. Then the thought of Dubuche occurred to him, but +he hesitated, for their old friendship had lately been cooling down. +He felt that the fraternity of the earlier times of effort no longer +existed between them. He guessed that Dubuche lacked intelligence, had +become covertly hostile, and was occupied with ambitions different from +his own. However, he, Claude, must go somewhere. So he made up his mind, +and repaired to the Rue Jacob, where the architect rented a small room +on the sixth floor of a big frigid-looking house. + +Claude was already on the landing of the second floor, when the +doorkeeper, calling him back, snappishly told him that M. Dubuche was +not at home, and had, in fact, stayed out all night. The young man +slowly descended the stairs and found himself in the street, stupefied, +as it were, by so prodigious an event as an escapade on the part of +Dubuche. It was a piece of inconceivable bad luck. For a moment he +strolled along aimlessly; but, as he paused at the corner of the Rue +de Seine, not knowing which way to go, he suddenly recollected what his +friend had told him about a certain night spent at the Dequersonniere +studio--a night of terrible hard work, the eve of the day on which the +pupils' designs had to be deposited at the School of Arts. At once he +walked towards the Rue du Four, where the studio was situated. Hitherto +he had carefully abstained from calling there for Dubuche, from fear of +the yells with which outsiders were greeted. But now he made straight +for the place without flinching, his timidity disappearing so thoroughly +before the anguish of loneliness that he felt ready to undergo any +amount of insult could he but secure a companion in misfortune. + +The studio was situated in the narrowest part of the Rue du Four, at +the far end of a decrepit, tumble-down building. Claude had to cross two +evil-smelling courtyards to reach a third, across which ran a sort of +big closed shed, a huge out-house of board and plaster work, which had +once served as a packing-case maker's workshop. From outside, through +the four large windows, whose panes were daubed with a coating of white +lead, nothing could be seen but the bare whitewashed ceiling. + +Having pushed the door open, Claude remained motionless on the +threshold. The place stretched out before him, with its four long tables +ranged lengthwise to the windows--broad double tables they were, which +had swarms of students on either side, and were littered with moist +sponges, paint saucers, iron candlesticks, water bowls, and wooden +boxes, in which each pupil kept his white linen blouse, his compasses, +and colours. In one corner, the stove, neglected since the previous +winter, stood rusting by the side of a pile of coke that had not been +swept away; while at the other end a large iron cistern with a tap was +suspended between two towels. And amidst the bare untidiness of this +shed, the eye was especially attracted by the walls which, above, +displayed a litter of plaster casts ranged in haphazard fashion on +shelves, and disappeared lower down behind forests of T-squares and +bevels, and piles of drawing boards, tied together with webbing straps. +Bit by bit, such parts of the partitions as had remained unoccupied +had become covered with inscriptions and drawings, a constantly rising +flotsam and jetsam of scrawls traced there as on the margin of an +ever-open book. There were caricatures of the students themselves, +coarse witticisms fit to make a gendarme turn pale, epigrammatic +sentences, addition sums, addresses, and so forth; while, above all +else, written in big letters, and occupying the most prominent place, +appeared this inscription: 'On the 7th of June, Gorfu declared that he +didn't care a hang for Rome.--Signed, Godemard.'* + + * The allusion is to the French Art School at Rome, and the + competitions into which students enter to obtain admission + to it, or to secure the prizes offered for the best exhibits + which, during their term of residence, they send to Paris.--ED. + +Claude was greeted with a growl like that of wild beasts disturbed in +their lair. What kept him motionless was the strange aspect of this +place on the morning of the 'truck night,' as the embryo architects +termed the crucial night of labour. Since the previous evening, the +whole studio, some sixty pupils, had been shut up there; those who had +no designs to exhibit--'the niggers,' as they were called remaining to +help the others, the competitors who, being behind time, had to knock +off the work of a week in a dozen hours. Already, at midnight, they had +stuffed themselves with brawn, saveloys, and similar viands, washed down +with cheap wine. Towards one o'clock they had secured the company of +some 'ladies'; and, without the work abating, the feast had turned into +a Roman orgy, blended with a smoking competition. On the damp, stained +floor there remained a great litter of greasy paper and broken bottles; +while the atmosphere reeked of burnt tallow, musk, highly seasoned +sausages, and cheap bluish wine. + +And now many voices savagely yelled: 'Turn him out. Oh, that mug! What +does he want, that guy? Turn him out, turn him out.' + +For a moment Claude, quite dazed, staggered beneath the violence of the +onslaught. But the epithets became viler, for the acme of elegance, +even for the more refined among these young fellows, was to rival +one's friends in beastly language. He was, nevertheless, recovering +and beginning to answer, when Dubuche recognised him. The latter turned +crimson, for he detested that kind of adventure. He felt ashamed of +his friend, and rushed towards him, amidst the jeers, which were now +levelled at himself: + +'What, is it you?' he gasped. 'I told you never to come in. Just wait +for me a minute in the yard.' + +At that moment, Claude, who was stepping back, narrowly escaped being +knocked down by a little hand-truck which two big full-bearded fellows +brought up at a gallop. It was from this truck that the night of heavy +toil derived its name: and for the last week the students who had got +behindhand with their work, through taking up petty paid jobs outside, +had been repeating the cry, 'Oh! I'm in the truck and no mistake.' The +moment the vehicle appeared, a clamour arose. It was a quarter to nine +o'clock, there was barely time to reach the School of Arts. However, +a helter-skelter rush emptied the studio; each brought out his chases, +amidst a general jostling; those who obstinately wished to give their +designs a last finishing touch were knocked about and carried away with +their comrades. In less than five minutes every frame was piled upon +the truck, and the two bearded fellows, the most recent additions to the +studio, harnessed themselves to it like cattle and drew it along with +all their strength, the others vociferating, and pushing from behind. It +was like the rush of a sluice; the three courtyards were crossed amidst +a torrential crash, and the street was invaded, flooded by the howling +throng. + +Claude, nevertheless, had set up running by the side of Dubuche, who +came at the fag-end, very vexed at not having had another quarter of an +hour to finish a tinted drawing more carefully. + +'What are you going to do afterwards?' asked Claude. + +'Oh! I've errands which will take up my whole day.' + +The painter was grieved to see that even this friend escaped him. 'All +right, then,' said he; 'in that case I leave you. Shall we see you at +Sandoz's to-night?' + +'Yes, I think so; unless I'm kept to dinner elsewhere.' + +Both were getting out of breath. The band of embryo architects, without +slackening their pace, had purposely taken the longest way round for the +pleasure of prolonging their uproar. After rushing down the Rue du Four, +they dashed across the Place Gozlin and swept into the Rue de l'Echaude. +Heading the procession was the truck, drawn and pushed along more and +more vigorously, and constantly rebounding over the rough paving-stones, +amid the jolting of the frames with which it was laden. Its escort +galloped along madly, compelling the passers-by to draw back close to +the houses in order to save themselves from being knocked down; while +the shop-keepers, standing open-mouthed on their doorsteps, believed +in a revolution. The whole neighbourhood seemed topsy-turvy. In the +Rue Jacob, such was the rush, so frightful were the yells, that several +house shutters were hastily closed. As the Rue Bonaparte was, at last, +being reached, one tall, fair fellow thought it a good joke to catch +hold of a little servant girl who stood bewildered on the pavement, and +drag her along with them, like a wisp of straw caught in a torrent. + +'Well,' said Claude, 'good-bye, then; I'll see you to-night.' + +'Yes, to-night.' + +The painter, out of breath, had stopped at the corner of the Rue des +Beaux Arts. The court gates of the Art School stood wide open in front +of him, and the procession plunged into the yard. + +After drawing breath, Claude retraced his steps to the Rue de Seine. His +bad luck was increasing; it seemed ordained that he should not be able +to beguile a chum from work that morning. So he went up the street, and +slowly walked on as far as the Place du Pantheon, without any definite +aim. Then it occurred to him that he might just look into the Municipal +Offices, if only to shake hands with Sandoz. That would, at any rate, +mean ten minutes well spent. But he positively gasped when he was told +by an attendant that M. Sandoz had asked for a day off to attend a +funeral. However, he knew the trick of old. His friend always found the +same pretext whenever he wanted to do a good day's work at home. He had +already made up his mind to join him there, when a feeling of artistic +brotherliness, the scruple of an honest worker, made him pause; yes, it +would be a crime to go and disturb that good fellow, and infect him with +the discouragement born of a difficult task, at the very moment when he +was, no doubt, manfully accomplishing his own work. + +So Claude had to resign himself to his fate. He dragged his black +melancholy along the quays until mid-day, his head so heavy, so full +of thoughts of his lack of power, that he only espied the well-loved +horizons of the Seine through a mist. Then he found himself once more +in the Rue de la Femme-sans-Tete, where he breakfasted at Gomard's wine +shop, whose sign 'The Dog of Montargis,' inspired him with interest. +Some stonemasons, in their working blouses, bespattered with mortar, +were there at table, and, like them, and with them, he ate his eight +sous' 'ordinary'--some beef broth in a bowl, in which he soaked some +bread, followed by a slice of boiled soup-beef, garnished with haricot +beans, and served up on a plate damp with dish-water. However, it +was still too good, he thought, for a brute unable to earn his bread. +Whenever his work miscarried, he undervalued himself, ranked himself +lower than a common labourer, whose sinewy arms could at least perform +their appointed task. For an hour he lingered in the tavern brutifying +himself by listening to the conversation at the tables around him. Once +outside he slowly resumed his walk in haphazard fashion. + +When he got to the Place de l'Hotel de Ville, however, a fresh idea made +him quicken his pace. Why had he not thought of Fagerolles? Fagerolles +was a nice fellow, gay, and by no means a fool, although he studied at +the School of Arts. One could talk with him, even when he defended +bad painting. If he had lunched at his father's, in the Rue +Vieille-du-Temple, he must certainly still be there. + +On entering the narrow street, Claude felt a sensation of refreshing +coolness come over him. In the sun it had grown very warm, and moisture +rose from the pavement, which, however bright the sky, remained damp and +greasy beneath the constant tramping of the pedestrians. Every minute, +when a push obliged Claude to leave the footwalk, he found himself in +danger of being knocked down by trucks or vans. Still the street amused +him, with its straggling houses out of line, their flat frontages +chequered with signboards up to the very eaves, and pierced with small +windows, whence came the hum of every kind of handiwork that can be +carried on at home. In one of the narrowest parts of the street a small +newspaper shop made him stop. It was betwixt a hairdresser's and a +tripeseller's, and had an outdoor display of idiotic prints, romantic +balderdash mixed with filthy caricatures fit for a barrack-room. In +front of these 'pictures,' a lank hobbledehoy stood lost in reverie, +while two young girls nudged each other and jeered. He felt inclined to +slap their faces, but he hurried across the road, for Fagerolles' house +happened to be opposite. It was a dark old tenement, standing forward +from the others, and was bespattered like them with the mud from the +gutters. As an omnibus came up, Claude barely had time to jump upon the +foot pavement, there reduced to the proportions of a simple ledge; the +wheels brushed against his chest, and he was drenched to his knees. + +M. Fagerolles, senior, a manufacturer of artistic zinc-work, had his +workshops on the ground floor of the building, and having converted two +large front rooms on the first floor into a warehouse, he personally +occupied a small, dark, cellar-like apartment overlooking the courtyard. +It was there that his son Henri had grown up, like a true specimen of +the flora of the Paris streets, at the edge of that narrow pavement +constantly struck by the omnibus wheels, always soddened by the gutter +water, and opposite the print and newspaper shop, flanked by the +barber's and tripeseller's. At first his father had made an ornamental +draughtsman of him for personal use. But when the lad had developed +higher ambition, taking to painting proper, and talking about the School +of Arts, there had been quarrels, blows, a series of separations and +reconciliations. Even now, although Henri had already achieved some +successes, the manufacturer of artistic zinc-work, while letting him +have his will, treated him harshly, like a lad who was spoiling his +career. + +After shaking off the water, Claude went up the deep archway entrance, +to a courtyard, where the light was quite greenish, and where there was +a dank, musty smell, like that at the bottom of a tank. There was an +overhanging roofing of glass and iron at the foot of the staircase, +which was a wide one, with a wrought-iron railing, eaten with rust. As +the painter passed the warehouse on the first floor, he glanced through +a glass door and noticed M. Fagerolles examining some patterns. Wishing +to be polite, he entered, in spite of the artistic disgust he felt for +all that zinc, coloured to imitate bronze, and having all the repulsive +mendacious prettiness of spurious art. + +'Good morning, monsieur. Is Henri still at home?' + +The manufacturer, a stout, sallow-looking man, drew himself straight +amidst all his nosegay vases and cruets and statuettes. He had in +his hand a new model of a thermometer, formed of a juggling girl who +crouched and balanced the glass tube on her nose. + +'Henri did not come in to lunch,' he answered drily. + +This cool reception upset Claude. 'Ah! he did not come back; I beg +pardon for having disturbed you, then. Good-day, monsieur.' + +'Good-day.' + +Once more outside, Claude began to swear to himself. His ill-luck was +complete, Fagerolles escaped him also. He even felt vexed with himself +for having gone there, and having taken an interest in that picturesque +old street; he was infuriated by the romantic gangrene that ever +sprouted afresh within him, do what he might. It was his malady, +perhaps, the false principle which he sometimes felt like a bar across +his skull. And when he had reached the quays again, he thought of going +home to see whether his picture was really so very bad. But the mere +idea made him tremble all over. His studio seemed a chamber of horrors, +where he could no more continue to live, as if, indeed, he had left the +corpse of some beloved being there. No, no; to climb the three flights +of stairs, to open the door, to shut himself up face to face with +'that,' would have needed strength beyond his courage. So he crossed +the Seine and went along the Rue St. Jacques. He felt too wretched and +lonely; and, come what might, he would go to the Rue d'Enfer to turn +Sandoz from his work. + +Sandoz's little fourth-floor flat consisted of a dining-room, a bedroom, +and a strip of kitchen. It was tenanted by himself alone; his mother, +disabled by paralysis, occupied on the other side of the landing a +single room, where she lived in morose and voluntary solitude. The +street was a deserted one; the windows of the rooms overlooked the +gardens of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, above which rose the rounded crest +of a lofty tree, and the square tower of St. Jacques-du-Haut-Pas. + +Claude found Sandoz in his room, bending over his table, busy with a +page of 'copy.' + +'I am disturbing you?' said Claude. + +'Not at all. I have been working ever since morning, and I've had enough +of it. I've been killing myself for the last hour over a sentence that +reads anyhow, and which has worried me all through my lunch.' + +The painter made a gesture of despair, and the other, seeing him so +gloomy, at once understood matters. + +'You don't get on either, eh? Well, let's go out. A sharp walk will take +a little of the rust off us. Shall we go?' + +As he was passing the kitchen, however, an old woman stopped him. It was +his charwoman, who, as a rule, came only for two hours in the morning +and two hours in the evening. On Thursdays, however, she remained the +whole afternoon in order to look after the dinner. + +'Then it's decided, monsieur?' she asked. 'It's to be a piece of skate +and a leg of mutton, with potatoes.' + +'Yes, if you like.' + +'For how many am I to lay the cloth?' + +'Oh! as for that, one never knows. Lay for five, at any rate; we'll see +afterwards. Dinner at seven, eh? we'll try to be home by then.' + +When they were on the landing, Sandoz, leaving Claude to wait for +him, stole into his mother's room. When he came out again, in the same +discreet affectionate manner, they both went downstairs in silence. +Outside, having sniffed to right and left, as if to see which way the +wind blew, they ended by going up the street, reached the Place de +l'Observatoire, and turned down the Boulevard du Montparnasse. This was +their ordinary promenade; they reached the spot instinctively, being +fond of the wide expanse of the outer boulevards, where they could roam +and lounge at ease. They continued silent, for their heads were heavy +still, but the comfort of being together gradually made them more +serene. Still it was only when they were opposite the Western Railway +Station that Sandoz spoke. + +'I say, suppose we go to Mahoudeau's, to see how he's getting on with +his big machine. I know that he has given "his gods and saints" the slip +to-day.' + +'All right,' answered Claude. 'Let's go to Mahoudeau's.' + +They at once turned into the Rue du Cherche-Midi. There, at a few steps +from the boulevard, Mahoudeau, a sculptor, had rented the shop of a +fruiterer who had failed in business, and he had installed his studio +therein, contenting himself with covering the windows with a layer of +whitening. At this point, the street, wide and deserted, has a quiet, +provincial aspect, with a somewhat ecclesiastical touch. Large gateways +stand wide open showing a succession of deep roomy yards; from a +cowkeeper's establishment comes a tepid, pungent smell of litter; and +the dead wall of a convent stretches away for a goodly length. It was +between this convent and a herbalist's that the shop transformed into +a studio was situated. It still bore on its sign-board the inscription, +'Fruit and Vegetables,' in large yellow letters. + +Claude and Sandoz narrowly missed being blinded by some little girls who +were skipping in the street. On the foot pavement sat several families +whose barricades of chairs compelled the friends to step down on to +the roadway. However, they were drawing nigh, when the sight of the +herbalist's shop delayed them for a moment. Between its windows, decked +with enemas, bandages, and similar things, beneath the dried herbs +hanging above the doorway, whence came a constant aromatic smell, a +thin, dark woman stood taking stock of them, while, behind her, in +the gloom of the shop, one saw the vague silhouette of a little +sickly-looking man, who was coughing and expectorating. The friends +nudged each other, their eyes lighted up with bantering mirth; and then +they turned the handle of Mahoudeau's door. + +The shop, though tolerably roomy, was almost filled by a mass of clay: +a colossal Bacchante, falling back upon a rock. The wooden stays bent +beneath the weight of that almost shapeless pile, of which nothing but +some huge limbs could as yet be distinguished. Some water had been spilt +on the floor, several muddy buckets straggled here and there, while +a heap of moistened plaster was lying in a corner. On the shelves, +formerly occupied by fruit and vegetables, were scattered some casts +from the antique, covered with a tracery of cinder-like dust which had +gradually collected there. A wash-house kind of dampness, a stale +smell of moist clay, rose from the floor. And the wretchedness of this +sculptor's studio and the dirt attendant upon the profession were made +still more conspicuous by the wan light that filtered through the shop +windows besmeared with whitening. + +'What! is it you?' shouted Mahoudeau, who sat before his female figure, +smoking a pipe. + +He was small and thin, with a bony face, already wrinkled at +twenty-seven. His black mane-like hair lay entangled over his very low +forehead, and his sallow mask, ugly almost to ferociousness, was lighted +up by a pair of childish eyes, bright and empty, which smiled with +winning simplicity. The son of a stonemason of Plassans, he had achieved +great success at the local art competitions, and had afterwards come to +Paris as the town laureate, with an allowance of eight hundred francs +per annum, for a period of four years. In the capital, however, he had +found himself at sea, defenceless, failing in his competitions at the +School of Arts, and spending his allowance to no purpose; so that, at +the end of his term, he had been obliged for a livelihood to enter the +employment of a dealer in church statues, at whose establishment, +for ten hours a day, he scraped away at St. Josephs, St. Rochs, Mary +Magdalens, and, in fact, all the saints of the calendar. For the last +six months, however, he had experienced a revival of ambition, on +finding himself once more among his comrades of Provence, the eldest of +whom he was--fellows whom he had known at Geraud's boarding-school for +little boys, and who had since grown into savage revolutionaries. At +present, through his constant intercourse with impassioned artists, who +troubled his brain with all sorts of wild theories, his ambition aimed +at the gigantic. + +'The devil!' said Claude, 'there's a lump.' + +The sculptor, delighted, gave a long pull at his pipe, and blew a cloud +of smoke. + +'Eh, isn't it? I am going to give them some flesh, and living flesh, +too; not the bladders of lard that they turn out.' + +'It's a woman bathing, isn't it?' asked Sandoz. + +'No; I shall put some vine leaves around her head. A Bacchante, you +understand.' + +At this Claude flew into a violent passion. + +'A Bacchante? Do you want to make fools of people? Does such a thing as +a Bacchante exist? A vintaging girl, eh? And quite modern, dash it all. +I know she's nude, so let her be a peasant woman who has undressed. +And that must be properly conveyed, mind; people must realise that she +lives.' + +Mahoudeau, taken aback, listened, trembling. He was afraid of Claude, +and bowed to his ideal of strength and truth. So he even improved upon +the painter's idea. + +'Yes, yes, that's what I meant to say--a vintaging girl. And you'll see +whether there isn't a real touch of woman about her.' + +At that moment Sandoz, who had been making the tour of the huge block of +clay, exclaimed: 'Why, here's that sneak of a Chaine.' + +Behind the pile, indeed, sat Chaine, a burly fellow who was quietly +painting away, copying the fireless rusty stove on a small canvas. It +could be told that he was a peasant by his heavy, deliberate manner and +his bull-neck, tanned and hardened like leather. His only noticeable +feature was his forehead, displaying all the bumps of obstinacy; for his +nose was so small as to be lost between his red cheeks, while a stiff +beard hid his powerful jaws. He came from Saint Firmin, a village about +six miles from Plassans, where he had been a cow-boy, until he drew for +the conscription; and his misfortunes dated from the enthusiasm that a +gentleman of the neighbourhood had shown for the walking-stick handles +which he carved out of roots with his knife. From that moment, having +become a rustic genius, an embryo great man for this local connoisseur, +who happened to be a member of the museum committee, he had been helped +by him, adulated and driven crazy with hopes; but he had successively +failed in everything--his studies and competitions--thus missing the +town's purse. Nevertheless, he had started for Paris, after worrying his +father, a wretched peasant, into premature payment of his heritage, a +thousand francs, on which he reckoned to live for a twelvemonth while +awaiting the promised victory. The thousand francs had lasted eighteen +months. Then, as he had only twenty francs left, he had taken up his +quarters with his friend, Mahoudeau. They both slept in the same bed, in +the dark back shop; they both in turn cut slices from the same loaves +of bread--of which they bought sufficient for a fortnight at a time, so +that it might get very hard, and that they might thus be able to eat but +little of it. + +'I say, Chaine,' continued Sandoz, 'your stove is really very exact.' + +Chaine, without answering, gave a chuckle of triumph which lighted up +his face like a sunbeam. By a crowning stroke of imbecility, and to +make his misfortunes perfect, his protector's advice had thrown him into +painting, in spite of the real taste that he showed for wood carving. +And he painted like a whitewasher, mixing his colours as a hodman mixes +his mortar, and managing to make the clearest and brightest of them +quite muddy. His triumph consisted, however, in combining exactness +with awkwardness; he displayed all the naive minuteness of the primitive +painters; in fact, his mind, barely raised from the clods, delighted in +petty details. The stove, with its perspective all awry, was tame and +precise, and in colour as dingy as mire. + +Claude approached and felt full of compassion at the sight of that +painting, and though he was as a rule so harsh towards bad painters, his +compassion prompted him to say a word of praise. + +'Ah! one can't say that you are a trickster; you paint, at any rate, as +you feel. Very good, indeed.' + +However, the door of the shop had opened, and a good-looking, fair +fellow, with a big pink nose, and large, blue, short-sighted eyes, +entered shouting: + +'I say, why does that herbalist woman next door always stand on her +doorstep? What an ugly mug she's got!' + +They all laughed, except Mahoudeau, who seemed very much embarrassed. + +'Jory, the King of Blunderers,' declared Sandoz, shaking hands with the +new comer. + +'Why? What? Is Mahoudeau interested in her? I didn't know,' resumed +Jory, when he had at length grasped the situation. 'Well, well, what +does it matter? When everything's said, they are all irresistible.' + +'As for you,' the sculptor rejoined, 'I can see you have tumbled on your +lady-love's finger-nails again. She has dug a bit out of your cheek!' + +They all burst out laughing anew, while Jory, in his turn, reddened. In +fact, his face was scratched: there were even two deep gashes across it. +The son of a magistrate of Plassans, whom he had driven half-crazy by +his dissolute conduct, he had crowned everything by running away with +a music-hall singer under the pretext of going to Paris to follow the +literary profession. During the six months that they had been camping +together in a shady hotel of the Quartier Latin, the girl had almost +flayed him alive each time she caught him paying attention to anybody +else of her sex. And, as this often happened, he always had some fresh +scar to show--a bloody nose, a torn ear, or a damaged eye, swollen and +blackened. + +At last they all began to talk, with the exception of Chaine, who went +on painting with the determined expression of an ox at the plough. Jory +had at once gone into ecstasies over the roughly indicated figure of +the vintaging girl. He worshipped a massive style of beauty. His first +writings in his native town had been some Parnassian sonnets celebrating +the copious charms of a handsome pork-butcheress. In Paris--where he +had fallen in with the whole band of Plassans--he had taken to art +criticism, and, for a livelihood, he wrote articles for twenty francs +apiece in a small, slashing paper called 'The Drummer.' Indeed, one +of these articles, a study on a picture by Claude exhibited at Papa +Malgras's, had just caused a tremendous scandal; for Jory had therein +run down all the painters whom the public appreciated to extol his +friend, whom he set up as the leader of a new school, the school of the +'open air.' Very practical at heart, he did not care in reality a rap +about anything that did not conduce to his own pleasures; he simply +repeated the theories he heard enunciated by his friends. 'I say, +Mahoudeau,' he now exclaimed, 'you shall have an article; I'll launch +that woman of yours. What limbs, my boys! She's magnificent!' + +Then suddenly changing the conversation: 'By the way,' he said, 'my +miserly father has apologised. He is afraid I shall drag his name +through the mud, so he sends me a hundred francs a month now. I am +paying my debts.' + +'Debts! you are too careful to have any,' muttered Sandoz, with a smile. + +In fact, Jory displayed a hereditary tightness of fist which much amused +his friends. He managed to lead a profligate life without money and +without incurring debts; and with the skill he thus displayed was +allied constant duplicity, a habit of incessantly lying, which he had +contracted in the devout sphere of his family, where his anxiety to +hide his vices had made him lie about everything at all hours, and even +without occasion. But he now gave a superb reply, the cry of a sage of +deep experience. + +'Oh, you fellows, you don't know the worth of money!' + +This time he was hooted. What a philistine! And the invectives +continued, when some light taps on one of the window-panes suddenly made +the din cease. + +'She is really becoming a nuisance,' said Mahoudeau, with a gesture of +annoyance. + +'Eh? Who is it? The herbalist woman?' asked Jory. 'Let her come in; it +will be great fun.' + +The door indeed had already been opened, and Mahoudeau's neighbour, +Madame Jabouille, or Mathilde, as she was familiarly called, appeared +on the threshold. She was about thirty, with a flat face horribly +emaciated, and passionate eyes, the lids of which had a bluish tinge as +if they were bruised. It was said that some members of the clergy had +brought about her marriage with little Jabouille, at a time when the +latter's business was still flourishing, thanks to the custom of all +the pious folk of the neighbourhood. The truth was, that one sometimes +espied black cassocks stealthily crossing that mysterious shop, where +all the aromatic herbs set a perfume of incense. A kind of cloistral +quietude pervaded the place; the devotees who came in spoke in low +voices, as if in a confessional, slipped their purchases into their bags +furtively, and went off with downcast eyes. Unfortunately, some very +horrid rumours had got abroad--slander invented by the wine-shop +keeper opposite, said pious folks. At any rate, since the widower had +re-married, the business had been going to the dogs. The glass jars +seemed to have lost all their brightness, and the dried herbs, suspended +from the ceiling, were tumbling to dust. Jabouille himself was coughing +his life out, reduced to a very skeleton. And although Mathilde +professed to be religious, the pious customers gradually deserted +her, being of opinion that she made herself too conspicuous with young +fellows of the neighbourhood now that Jabouille was almost eaten out of +house and home. + +For a moment Mathilde remained motionless, blinking her eyes. A pungent +smell had spread through the shop, a smell of simples, which she brought +with her in her clothes and greasy, tumbled hair; the sickly sweetness +of mallow, the sharp odour of elderseed, the bitter effluvia of rhubarb, +but, above all, the hot whiff of peppermint, which seemed like her very +breath. + +She made a gesture of feigned surprise. 'Oh, dear me! you have +company--I did not know; I'll drop in again.' + +'Yes, do,' said Mahoudeau, looking very vexed. 'Besides, I am going out; +you can give me a sitting on Sunday.' + +At this Claude, stupefied, fairly stared at the emaciated Mathilde, and +then at the huge vintaging woman. + +'What?' he cried, 'is it madame who poses for that figure? The dickens, +you exaggerate!' + +Then the laughter began again, while the sculptor stammered his +explanations. 'Oh! she only poses for the head and the hands, and merely +just to give me a few indications.' + +Mathilde, however, laughed with the others, with a sharp, brazen-faced +laughter, showing the while the gaping holes in her mouth, where several +teeth were wanting. + +'Yes,' resumed Mahoudeau. 'I have to go out on some business now. Isn't +it so, you fellows, we are expected over yonder?' + +He had winked at his friends, feeling eager for a good lounge. They all +answered that they were expected, and helped him to cover the figure of +the vintaging girl with some strips of old linen which were soaking in a +pail of water. + +However, Mathilde, looking submissive but sad, did not stir. She merely +shifted from one place to another, when they pushed against her, while +Chaine, who was no longer painting, glanced at her over his picture. So +far, he had not opened his lips. But as Mahoudeau at last went off with +his three friends, he made up his mind to ask, in his husky voice: + +'Shall you come home to-night?' + +'Very late. Have your dinner and go to bed. Good-bye.' + +Then Chaine remained alone with Mathilde in the damp shop, amidst the +heaps of clay and the puddles of water, while the chalky light from the +whitened windows glared crudely over all the wretched untidiness. + +Meantime the four others, Claude and Mahoudeau, Jory and Sandoz, +strolled along, seeming to take up the whole width of the Boulevard des +Invalides. It was the usual thing, the band was gradually increased by +the accession of comrades picked up on the way, and then came the wild +march of a horde upon the war-path. With the bold assurance of their +twenty summers, these young fellows took possession of the foot +pavement. The moment they were together trumpets seemed to sound in +advance of them; they seized upon Paris and quietly dropped it into +their pockets. There was no longer the slightest doubt about their +victory; they freely displayed their threadbare coats and old shoes, +like destined conquerors of to-morrow who disdained bagatelles, and +had only to take the trouble to become the masters of all the luxury +surrounding them. And all this was attended by huge contempt for +everything that was not art--contempt for fortune, contempt for the +world at large, and, above all, contempt for politics. What was the good +of all such rubbish? Only a lot of incapables meddled with it. A warped +view of things, magnificent in its very injustice, exalted them; an +intentional ignorance of the necessities of social life, the crazy dream +of having none but artists upon earth. They seemed very stupid at times, +but, all the same, their passion made them strong and brave. + +Claude became excited. Faith in himself revived amidst the glow of +common hopes. His worry of the morning had only left a vague numbness +behind, and he now once more began to discuss his picture with Sandoz +and Mahoudeau, swearing, it is true, that he would destroy it the next +day. Jory, who was very short-sighted, stared at all the elderly ladies +he met, and aired his theories on artistic work. A man ought to give his +full measure at once in the first spurt of inspiration; as for himself, +he never corrected anything. And, still discussing, the four friends +went on down the boulevard, which, with its comparative solitude, and +its endless rows of fine trees, seemed to have been expressly designed +as an arena for their disputations. When they reached the Esplanade, +the wrangling became so violent that they stopped in the middle of that +large open space. Beside himself, Claude called Jory a numskull; was it +not better to destroy one's work than to launch a mediocre performance +upon the world? Truckling to trade was really disgusting. Mahoudeau +and Sandoz, on their side, shouted both together at the same time. Some +passers-by, feeling uneasy, turned round to look, and at last gathered +round these furious young fellows, who seemed bent on swallowing each +other. But they went off vexed, thinking that some practical joke had +been played upon them, when they suddenly saw the quartette, all good +friends again, go into raptures over a wet-nurse, dressed in light +colours, with long cherry-tinted ribbons streaming from her cap. There, +now! That was something like--what a tint, what a bright note it set +amid the surroundings! Delighted, blinking their eyes, they followed the +nurse under the trees, and then suddenly seemed roused and astonished +to find they had already come so far. The Esplanade, open on all +sides, save on the south, where rose the distant pile of the Hotel des +Invalides, delighted them--it was so vast, so quiet; they there had +plenty of room for their gestures; and they recovered breath there, +although they were always declaring that Paris was far too small for +them, and lacked sufficient air to inflate their ambitious lungs. + +'Are you going anywhere particular?' asked Sandoz of Mahoudeau and Jory. + +'No,' answered the latter, 'we are going with you. Where are _you_ +going?' + +Claude, gazing carelessly about him, muttered: 'I don't know. That way, +if you like.' + +They turned on to the Quai d'Orsay, and went as far as the Pont de la +Concorde. In front of the Corps Legislatif the painter remarked, with an +air of disgust: 'What a hideous pile!' + +'Jules Favre made a fine speech the other day. How he did rile Rouher,' +said Jory. + +However, the others left him no time to proceed, the disputes began +afresh. 'Who was Jules Favre? Who was Rouher? Did they exist? A parcel +of idiots whom no one would remember ten years after their death.' The +young men had now begun to cross the bridge, and they shrugged their +shoulders with compassion. Then, on reaching the Place de la Concorde, +they stopped short and relapsed into silence. + +'Well,' opined Claude at last, 'this isn't bad, by any means.' + +It was four o'clock, and the day was waning amidst a glorious powdery +shimmer. To the right and left, towards the Madeleine and towards the +Corps Legislatif, lines of buildings stretched away, showing against +the sky, while in the Tuileries Gardens rose gradients of lofty rounded +chestnut trees. And between the verdant borders of the pleasure walks, +the avenue of the Champs Elysees sloped upward as far as the eye could +reach, topped by the colossal Arc de Triomphe, agape in front of the +infinite. A double current, a twofold stream rolled along--horses +showing like living eddies, vehicles like retreating waves, which the +reflections of a panel or the sudden sparkle of the glass of a carriage +lamp seemed to tip with white foam. Lower down, the square--with its +vast footways, its roads as broad as lakes--was filled with a constant +ebb and flow, crossed in every direction by whirling wheels, and peopled +with black specks of men, while the two fountains plashed and streamed, +exhaling delicious coolness amid all the ardent life. + +Claude, quivering with excitement, kept saying: 'Ah! Paris! It's ours. +We have only to take it.' + +They all grew excited, their eyes opened wide with desire. Was it not +glory herself that swept from the summit of that avenue over the whole +capital? Paris was there, and they longed to make her theirs. + +'Well, we'll take her one day,' said Sandoz, with his obstinate air. + +'To be sure we shall,' said Mahoudeau and Jory in the simplest manner. + +They had resumed walking; they still roamed about, found themselves +behind the Madeleine, and went up the Rue Tronchet. At last, as they +reached the Place du Havre, Sandoz exclaimed, 'So we are going to +Baudequin's, eh?' + +The others looked as if they had dropped from the sky; in fact, it did +seem as if they were going to Baudequin's. + +'What day of the week is it?' asked Claude. 'Thursday, eh? Then +Fagerolles and Gagniere are sure to be there. Let's go to Baudequin's.' + +And thereupon they went up the Rue d'Amsterdam. They had just crossed +Paris, one of their favourite rambles, but they took other routes at +times--from one end of the quays to the other; or from the Porte St. +Jacques to the Moulineaux, or else to Pere-la-Chaise, followed by a +roundabout return along the outer boulevards. They roamed the streets, +the open spaces, the crossways; they rambled on for whole days, as long +as their legs would carry them, as if intent on conquering one +district after another by hurling their revolutionary theories at the +house-fronts; and the pavement seemed to be their property--all the +pavement touched by their feet, all that old battleground whence arose +intoxicating fumes which made them forget their lassitude. + +The Cafe Baudequin was situated on the Boulevard des Batignolles, at +the corner of the Rue Darcet. Without the least why or wherefore, it had +been selected by the band as their meeting-place, though Gagniere alone +lived in the neighbourhood. They met there regularly on Sunday nights; +and on Thursday afternoons, at about five o'clock, those who were then +at liberty had made it a habit to look in for a moment. That day, as the +weather was fine and bright, the little tables outside under the awning +were occupied by rows of customers, obstructing the footway. But the +band hated all elbowing and public exhibition, so they jostled the other +people in order to go inside, where all was deserted and cool. + +'Hallo, there's Fagerolles by himself,' exclaimed Claude. + +He had gone straight to their usual table at the end of the cafe, on +the left, where he shook hands with a pale, thin, young man, whose pert +girlish face was lighted up by a pair of winning, satirical grey eyes, +which at times flashed like steel. They all sat down and ordered beer, +after which the painter resumed: + +'Do you know that I went to look for you at your father's; and a nice +reception he gave me.' + +Fagerolles, who affected a low devil-may-care style, slapped his thighs. +'Oh, the old fellow plagues me! I hooked it this morning, after a row. +He wants me to draw some things for his beastly zinc stuff. As if I +hadn't enough zinc stuff at the Art School.' + +This slap at the professors delighted the young man's friends. He amused +them and made himself their idol by dint of alternate flattery and +blame. His smile went from one to the other, while, by the aid of a few +drops of beer spilt on the table, his long nimble fingers began tracing +complicated sketches. His art evidently came very easily to him; it +seemed as if he could do anything with a turn of the hand. + +'And Gagniere?' asked Mahoudeau; 'haven't you seen him?' + +'No; I have been here for the last hour.' + +Just then Jory, who had remained silent, nudged Sandoz, and directed his +attention to a girl seated with a gentleman at a table at the back of +the room. There were only two other customers present, two sergeants, +who were playing cards. The girl was almost a child, one of those young +Parisian hussies who are as lank as ever at eighteen. She suggested a +frizzy poodle--with the shower of fair little locks that fell over +her dainty little nose, and her large smiling mouth, set between rosy +cheeks. She was turning over the leaves of an illustrated paper, while +the gentleman accompanying her gravely sipped a glass of Madeira; +but every other minute she darted gay glances from over the newspaper +towards the band of artists. + +'Pretty, isn't she?' whispered Jory. 'Who is she staring at? Why, she's +looking at me.' + +But Fagerolles suddenly broke in: 'I say, no nonsense. Don't imagine +that I have been here for the last hour merely waiting for you.' + +The others laughed; and lowering his voice he told them about the girl, +who was named Irma Becot. She was the daughter of a grocer in the Rue +Montorgueil, and had been to school in the neighbourhood till she +was sixteen, writing her exercises between two bags of lentils, and +finishing off her education on her father's doorstep, lolling about on +the pavement, amidst the jostling of the throng, and learning all about +life from the everlasting tittle-tattle of the cooks, who retailed all +the scandal of the neighbourhood while waiting for five sous' worth of +Gruyere cheese to be served them. Her mother having died, her father +himself had begun to lead rather a gay life, in such wise that the +whole of the grocery stores--tea, coffee, dried vegetables, and jars and +drawers of sweetstuff--were gradually devoured. Irma was still going to +school, when, one day, the place was sold up. Her father died of a fit +of apoplexy, and Irma sought refuge with a poor aunt, who gave her more +kicks than halfpence, with the result that she ended by running away, +and taking her flight through all the dancing-places of Montmartre and +Batignolles. + +Claude listened to the story with his usual air of contempt for women. +Suddenly, however, as the gentleman rose and went out after whispering +in her ear, Irma Becot, after watching him disappear, bounded from +her seat with the impulsiveness of a school girl, in order to join +Fagerolles, beside whom she made herself quite at home, giving him a +smacking kiss, and drinking out of his glass. And she smiled at the +others in a very engaging manner, for she was partial to artists, +and regretted that they were generally so miserably poor. As Jory was +smoking, she took his cigarette out of his mouth and set it in her own, +but without pausing in her chatter, which suggested that of a saucy +magpie. + +'You are all painters, aren't you? How amusing! But why do those three +look as if they were sulking. Just laugh a bit, or I shall make you, +you'll see!' + +As a matter of fact, Sandoz, Claude, and Mahoudeau, quite taken aback, +were watching her most gravely. She herself remained listening, and, +on hearing her companion come back, she hastily gave Fagerolles an +appointment for the morrow. Then, after replacing the cigarette between +Jory's lips, she strode off with her arms raised, and making a very +comical grimace; in such wise that when the gentleman reappeared, +looking sedate and somewhat pale, he found her in her former seat, still +looking at the same engraving in the newspaper. The whole scene had been +acted so quickly, and with such jaunty drollery, that the two sergeants +who sat nearby, good-natured fellows both of them, almost died of +laughter as they shuffled their cards afresh. + +In fact, Irma had taken them all by storm. Sandoz declared that her +name of Becot was very well suited for a novel; Claude asked whether she +would consent to pose for a sketch; while Mahoudeau already pictured her +as a Paris gamin, a statuette that would be sure to sell. She soon went +off, however, and behind the gentleman's back she wafted kisses to the +whole party, a shower of kisses which quite upset the impressionable +Jory. + +It was five o'clock, and the band ordered some more beer. Some of the +usual customers had taken possession of the adjacent tables, and these +philistines cast sidelong glances at the artists' corner, glances in +which contempt was curiously mingled with a kind of uneasy deference. +The artists were indeed well known; a legend was becoming current +respecting them. They themselves were now talking on common-place +subjects: about the heat, the difficulty of finding room in the omnibus +to the Odeon, and the discovery of a wine-shop where real meat was +obtainable. One of them wanted to start a discussion about a number of +idiotic pictures that had lately been hung in the Luxembourg Museum; but +there was only one opinion on the subject, that the pictures were not +worth their frames. Thereupon they left off conversing; they smoked, +merely exchanging a word or a significant smile now and then. + +'Well,' asked Claude at last, 'are we going to wait for Gagniere?' + +At this there was a protest. Gagniere was a bore. Besides, he would turn +up as soon as he smelt the soup. + +'Let's be off, then,' said Sandoz. 'There's a leg of mutton this +evening, so let's try to be punctual.' + +Each paid his score, and they all went out. Their departure threw the +cafe into a state of emotion. Some young fellows, painters, no doubt, +whispered together as they pointed at Claude, much in the same manner +as if he were the redoubtable chieftain of a horde of savages. Jory's +famous article was producing its effect; the very public was becoming +his accomplice, and of itself was soon to found that school of the open +air, which the band had so far only joked about. As they gaily said, the +Cafe Baudequin was not aware of the honour they had done it on the day +when they selected it to be the cradle of a revolution. + +Fagerolles having reinforced the group, they now numbered five, and +slowly they took their way across Paris, with their tranquil look of +victory. The more numerous they were, the more did they stretch across +the pavement, and carry away on their heels the burning life of the +streets. When they had gone down the Rue de Clichy, they went straight +along the Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin, turned towards the Rue de +Richelieu, crossed the Seine by the Pont des Arts, so as to fling their +gibes at the Institute, and finally reached the Luxembourg by way of +the Rue de Seine, where a poster, printed in three colours, the +garish announcement of a travelling circus, made them all shout with +admiration. Evening was coming on; the stream of wayfarers flowed more +slowly; the tired city was awaiting the shadows of night, ready to yield +to the first comer who might be strong enough to take her. + +On reaching the Rue d'Enfer, when Sandoz had ushered his four friends +into his own apartments, he once more vanished into his mother's room. +He remained there for a few moments, and then came out without saying +a word, but with the tender, gentle smile habitual to him on such +occasions. And immediately afterwards a terrible hubbub, of laughter, +argument, and mere shouting, arose in his little flat. Sandoz himself +set the example, all the while assisting the charwoman, who burst into +bitter language because it was half-past seven, and her leg of mutton +was drying up. The five companions, seated at table, were already +swallowing their soup, a very good onion soup, when a new comer suddenly +appeared. + +'Hallo! here's Gagniere,' was the vociferous chorus. + +Gagniere, short, slight, and vague looking, with a doll-like startled +face, set off by a fair curly beard, stood for a moment on the threshold +blinking his green eyes. He belonged to Melun, where his well-to-do +parents, who were both dead, had left him two houses; and he had learnt +painting, unassisted, in the forest of Fontainebleau. His landscapes +were at least conscientiously painted, excellent in intention; but his +real passion was music, a madness for music, a cerebral bonfire which +set him on a level with the wildest of the band. + +'Am I in the way?' he gently asked. + +'Not at all; come in!' shouted Sandoz. + +The charwoman was already laying an extra knife and fork. + +'Suppose she lays a place for Dubuche, while she is about it,' said +Claude. 'He told me he would perhaps come.' + +But they were all down upon Dubuche, who frequented women in society. +Jory said that he had seen him in a carriage with an old lady and her +daughter, whose parasols he was holding on his knees. + +'Where have you come from to be so late?' asked Fagerolles of Gagniere. + +The latter, who was about to swallow his first spoonful of soup, set it +in his plate again. + +'I was in the Rue de Lancry--you know, where they have chamber music. +Oh! my boy, some of Schumann's machines! You haven't an idea of them! +They clutch hold of you at the back of your head just as if somebody +were breathing down your back. Yes, yes, it's something much more +immaterial than a kiss, just a whiff of breath. 'Pon my honour, a fellow +feels as if he were going to die.' + +His eyes were moistening and he turned pale, as if experiencing some +over-acute enjoyment. + +'Eat your soup,' said Mahoudeau; 'you'll tell us all about it +afterwards.' + +The skate was served, and they had the vinegar bottle put on the table +to improve the flavour of the black butter, which seemed rather insipid. +They ate with a will, and the hunks of bread swiftly disappeared. There +was nothing refined about the repast, and the wine was mere common +stuff, which they watered considerably from a feeling of delicacy, in +order to lessen their host's expenses. They had just saluted the leg of +mutton with a hurrah, and the host had begun to carve it, when the door +opened anew. But this time there were furious protests. + +'No, no, not another soul! Turn him out, turn him out.' + +Dubuche, out of breath with having run, bewildered at finding himself +amidst such howling, thrust his fat, pallid face forward, whilst +stammering explanations. + +'Really, now, I assure you it was the fault of the omnibuses. I had to +wait for five of them in the Champs Elysees.' + +'No, no, he's lying!--Let him go, he sha'n't have any of that mutton. +Turn him out, turn him out!' + +All the same, he ended by coming in, and it was then noticed that he +was stylishly attired, all in black, trousers and frock-coat alike, and +cravated and booted in the stiff ceremonious fashion of some respectable +member of the middle classes going out to dinner. + +'Hallo! he has missed his invitation,' chaffed Fagerolles. 'Don't you +see that his fine ladies didn't ask him to stay to dinner, and so now +he's come to gobble up our leg of mutton, as he doesn't know where else +to go?' + +At this Dubuche turned red, and stammered: 'Oh! what an idea! How +ill-natured you are! And, besides, just attend to your own business.' + +Sandoz and Claude, seated next to each other, smiled, and the former, +beckoning to Dubuche, said to him: 'Lay your own place, bring a plate +and a glass, and sit between us--like that, they'll leave you alone.' + +However, the chaff continued all the time that the mutton was being +eaten. When the charwoman had brought Dubuche a plate of soup and a +piece of skate, he himself fell in with the jokes good-naturedly. He +pretended to be famished, greedily mopped out his plate, and related a +story about a mother having refused him her daughter because he was an +architect. The end of the dinner thus became very boisterous; they all +rattled on together. The only dessert, a piece of Brie cheese, met with +enormous success. Not a scrap of it was left, and the bread almost ran +short. The wine did run short, so they each swallowed a clear draught +of water, smacking their lips the while amidst great laughter. And, with +faces beaming, and well-filled paunches, they passed into the bedroom +with the supreme content of folks who have fared very sumptuously +indeed. + +Those were Sandoz's jolly evenings. Even at the times when he was +hard up he had always had some boiled beef and broth to share with his +comrades. He felt delighted at having a number of them around him, all +friends, inspired by the same ideas. Though he was of their own age, he +beamed with fatherly feelings and satisfied good-nature when he saw them +in his rooms, around him, hand in hand, and intoxicated with hope. As he +had but two rooms, the bedroom did duty as a drawing-room, and became as +much theirs as his. For lack of sufficient chairs, two or three had to +seat themselves on the bed. And on those warm summer evenings the window +remained wide open to let in the air. From it two black silhouettes were +to be seen rising above the houses, against the clear sky--the tower of +St. Jacques du Haut-Pas and the tree of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum. When +money was plentiful there was beer. Every one brought his own tobacco, +the room soon became full of smoke, and without seeing each other they +ended by conversing far into the night, amidst the deep mournful silence +of that deserted district. + +On that particular evening, at about nine o'clock, the charwoman came +in. + +'Monsieur, I have done. Can I go?' + +'Yes, go to bed. You have left the kettle on the fire, haven't you? I'll +make the tea myself.' + +Sandoz had risen. He went off at the heels of the charwoman, and only +returned a quarter of an hour afterwards. He had no doubt been to kiss +his mother, whom he tucked up every night before she dozed off. + +Meanwhile the voices had risen to a high pitch again. Fagerolles was +telling a story. + +'Yes, old fellow; at the School they even correct Nature herself. +The other day Mazel comes up to me and says: "Those two arms don't +correspond"; whereupon I reply: "Look for yourself, monsieur--the +model's are like that." It was little Flore Beauchamp, you know. "Well," +Mazel furiously replies, "if she has them like that, it's very wrong of +her."' + +They almost all shrieked, especially Claude, to whom Fagerolles told +the story by way of paying court. For some time previously the younger +artist had yielded to the elder's influence; and although he continued +to paint with purely tricky skill, he no longer talked of anything +but substantial, thickly-painted work, of bits of nature thrown on to +canvas, palpitating with life, such as they really were. This did not +prevent him, though, from elsewhere chaffing the adepts of the open-air +school, whom he accused of impasting with a kitchen ladle. + +Dubuche, who had not laughed, his sense of rectitude being offended, +made so bold as to reply: + +'Why do you stop at the School if you think you are being brutified +there? It's simple enough, one goes away--Oh, I know you are all against +me, because I defend the School. But, you see, my idea is that, when a +fellow wants to carry on a trade, it is not a bad thing for him to begin +by learning it.' + +Ferocious shouts arose at this, and Claude had need of all his authority +to secure a hearing. + +'He is right. One must learn one's trade. But it won't do to learn it +under the ferule of professors who want to cram their own views forcibly +into your nut. That Mazel is a perfect idiot!' + +He flung himself backward on the bed, on which he had been sitting, and +with his eyes raised to the ceiling, he went on, in an excited tone: + +'Ah! life! life! to feel it and portray it in its reality, to love it +for itself, to behold in it the only real, lasting, and changing beauty, +without any idiotic idea of ennobling it by mutilation. To understand +that all so-called ugliness is nothing but the mark of individual +character, to create real men and endow them with life--yes, that's the +only way to become a god!' + +His faith was coming back to him, the march across Paris had spurred him +on once more; he was again seized by his passion for living flesh. They +listened to him in silence. He made a wild gesture, then calmed down. + +'No doubt every one has his own ideas; but the annoyance is that at +the Institute they are even more intolerant than we are. The hanging +committee of the Salon is in their hands. I am sure that that idiot +Mazel will refuse my picture.' + +Thereupon they all broke out into imprecations, for this question of +the hanging committee was the everlasting subject of their wrath. They +demanded reforms; every one had a solution of the problem ready--from +universal suffrage, applied to the election of a hanging committee, +liberal in the widest sense of the word, down to unrestricted liberty, a +Salon open to all exhibitors.* + + * The reader will bear in mind that all these complaints made by + Claude and his friends apply to the old Salons, as organized + under Government control, at the time of the Second Empire.--ED. + +While the others went on discussing the subject, Gagniere drew Mahoudeau +to the open window, where, in a low voice, his eyes the while staring +into space, he murmured: + +'Oh, it's nothing at all, only four bars; a simple impression jotted +down there and then. But what a deal there is in it! To me it's first +of all a landscape, dwindling away in the distance; a bit of melancholy +road, with the shadow of a tree that one cannot see; and then a woman +passes along, scarcely a silhouette; on she goes and you never meet her +again, no, never more again.' + +Just at that moment, however, Fagerolles exclaimed, 'I say, Gagniere, +what are you going to send to the Salon this year?' + +Gagniere did not hear, but continued talking, enraptured, as it were. + +'In Schumann one finds everything--the infinite. And Wagner, too, whom +they hissed again last Sunday!' + +But a fresh call from Fagerolles made him start. + +'Eh! what? What am I going to send to the Salon? A small landscape, +perhaps; a little bit of the Seine. It is so difficult to decide; first +of all I must feel pleased with it myself.' + +He had suddenly become timid and anxious again. His artistic scruples, +his conscientiousness, kept him working for months on a canvas the size +of one's hand. Following the track of the French landscape painters, +those masters who were the first to conquer nature, he worried about +correctness of tone, pondering and pondering over the precise value of +tints, till theoretical scruples ended by making his touch heavy. And he +often did not dare to chance a bright dash of colour, but painted in +a greyish gloomy key which was astonishing, when one remembered his +revolutionary passions. + +'For my part,' said Mahoudeau, 'I feel delighted at the prospect of +making them squint with my woman.' + +Claude shrugged his shoulders. 'Oh! you'll get in, the sculptors have +broader minds than the painters. And, besides, you know very well what +you are about; you have something at your fingers' ends that pleases. +There will be plenty of pretty bits about your vintaging girl.' + +The compliment made Mahoudeau feel serious. He posed above all for +vigour of execution; he was unconscious of his real vein of talent, and +despised gracefulness, though it ever invincibly sprung from his big, +coarse fingers--the fingers of an untaught working-man--like a flower +that obstinately sprouts from the hard soil where the wind has flung its +seed. + +Fagerolles, who was very cunning, had decided to send nothing, for fear +of displeasing his masters; and he chaffed the Salon, calling it 'a foul +bazaar, where all the bad painting made even the good turn musty.' In +his inmost heart he was dreaming of one day securing the Rome prize, +though he ridiculed it, as he did everything else. + +However, Jory stationed himself in the middle of the room, holding up +his glass of beer. Sipping every now and then, he declared: 'Well, your +hanging committee quite disgusts me! I say, shall I demolish it? I'll +begin bombarding it in our very next number. You'll give me some notes, +eh? and we'll knock it to pieces. That will be fine fun.' + +Claude was at last fully wound up, and general enthusiasm prevailed. +Yes, yes, they must start a campaign. They would all be in it, and, +pressing shoulder to shoulder, march to the battle together. At that +moment there was not one of them who reserved his share of fame, for +nothing divided them as yet; neither the profound dissemblance of their +various natures, of which they themselves were ignorant, nor their +rivalries, which would some day bring them into collision. Was not +the success of one the success of all the others? Their youth was +fermenting, they were brimming over with mutual devotion; they indulged +anew in their everlasting dream of gathering into a phalanx to conquer +the world, each contributing his individual effort; this one helping +that one forward, and the whole band reaching fame at once in one row. +Claude, as the acknowledged chief, was already sounding the victory, +distributing laurels with such lyrical abundance that he overlooked +himself. Fagerolles himself, gibing Parisian though he might be, +believed in the necessity of forming an army; while even Jory, although +he had a coarser appetite, with a deal of the provincial still about +him, displayed much useful comradeship, catching various artistic +phrases as they fell from his companions' lips, and already preparing in +his mind the articles which would herald the advent of the band and +make them known. And Mahoudeau purposely exaggerated his intentional +roughness, and clasped his hands like an ogre kneading human flesh; +while Gagniere, in ecstasy, as if freed from the everlasting greyishness +of his art, sought to refine sensation to the utmost limits of +intelligence; and Dubuche, with his matter-of-fact convictions, threw in +but a word here and there; words, however, which were like club-blows +in the very midst of the fray. Then Sandoz, happy and smiling at seeing +them so united, 'all in one shirt,' as he put it, opened another bottle +of beer. He would have emptied every one in the house. + +'Eh?' he cried, 'we're agreed, let's stick to it. It's really pleasant +to come to an understanding among fellows who have something in their +nuts, so may the thunderbolts of heaven sweep all idiots away!' + +At that same moment a ring at the bell stupefied him. Amidst the sudden +silence of the others, he inquired--'Who, to the deuce, can that be--at +eleven o'clock?' + +He ran to open the door, and they heard him utter a cry of delight. +He was already coming back again, throwing the door wide open as he +said--'Ah! it's very kind indeed to think of us and surprise us like +this! Bongrand, gentlemen.' + +The great painter, whom the master of the house announced in this +respectfully familiar way, entered, holding out both hands. They all +eagerly rose, full of emotion, delighted with that manly, cordial +handshake so willingly bestowed. Bongrand was then forty-five years +old, stout, and with a very expressive face and long grey hair. He had +recently become a member of the Institute, and wore the rosette of +an officer of the Legion of Honour in the top button-hole of his +unpretentious alpaca jacket. He was fond of young people; he liked +nothing so much as to drop in from time to time and smoke a pipe among +these beginners, whose enthusiasm warmed his heart. + +'I am going to make the tea,' exclaimed Sandoz. + +When he came back from the kitchen, carrying the teapot and cups, he +found Bongrand installed astride a chair, smoking his short cutty, +amidst the din which had again arisen. Bongrand himself was holding +forth in a stentorian voice. The grandson of a farmer of the Beauce +region, the son of a man risen to the middle classes, with peasant blood +in his veins, indebted for his culture to a mother of very artistic +tastes, he was rich, had no need to sell his pictures, and retained many +tastes and opinions of Bohemian life. + +'The hanging committee? Well, I'd sooner hang myself than belong to +it!' said he, with sweeping gestures. 'Am I an executioner to kick poor +devils, who often have to earn their bread, out of doors?' + +'Still, you might render us great service by defending our pictures +before the committee,' observed Claude. + +'Oh, dear, no! I should only make matters worse for you--I don't count; +I'm nobody.' + +There was a chorus of protestations; Fagerolles objected, in a shrill +voice: + +'Well, if the painter of "The Village Wedding" does not count--' + +But Bongrand was getting angry; he had risen, his cheeks afire. + +'Eh? Don't pester me with "The Wedding"; I warn you I am getting sick of +that picture. It is becoming a perfect nightmare to me ever since it has +been hung in the Luxembourg Museum.' + +This 'Village Wedding'--a party of wedding guests roaming through a +corn-field, peasants studied from life, with an epic look of the heroes +of Homer about them--had so far remained his masterpiece. The picture +had brought about an evolution in art, for it had inaugurated a new +formula. Coming after Delacroix, and parallel with Courbet, it was +a piece of romanticism tempered by logic, with more correctness of +observation, more perfection in the handling. And though it did not +squarely tackle nature amidst the crudity of the open air, the new +school claimed connection with it. + +'There can be nothing more beautiful,' said Claude, 'than the two first +groups, the fiddler, and then the bride with the old peasant.' + +'And the strapping peasant girl, too,' added Mahoudeau; the one who +is turning round and beckoning! I had a great mind to take her for the +model of a statue.' + +'And that gust of wind among the corn,' added Gagniere, 'and the pretty +bit of the boy and girl skylarking in the distance.' + +Bongrand sat listening with an embarrassed air, and a smile of inward +suffering; and when Fagerolles asked him what he was doing just then, he +answered, with a shrug of his shoulders: + +'Well, nothing; some little things. But I sha'n't exhibit this time. +I should like to find a telling subject. Ah, you fellows are happy at +still being at the bottom of the hill. A man has good legs then, he +feels so plucky when it's a question of getting up. But when once he is +a-top, the deuce take it! the worries begin. A real torture, fisticuffs, +efforts which must be constantly renewed, lest one should slip down too +quickly. Really now, one would prefer being below, for the pleasure of +still having everything to do--Ah, you may laugh, but you'll see it all +for yourselves some day!' + +They were indeed laughing, thinking it a paradox, or a little piece of +affectation, which they excused. To be hailed, like Bongrand, with the +name of master--was that not the height of bliss? He, with his arms +resting on the back of his chair, listened to them in silence, leisurely +puffing his pipe, and renouncing the idea of trying to make them +understand him. + +Meanwhile, Dubuche, who had rather domesticated tastes, helped Sandoz +to hand the tea round, and the din continued. Fagerolles related a story +about Daddy Malgras and a female cousin by marriage, whom the dealer +offered as a model on conditions that he was given a presentment of her +in oils. Then they began to talk of models. Mahoudeau waxed furious, +because the really well-built female models were disappearing. It was +impossible to find one with a decent figure now. Then suddenly the +tumult increased again; Gagniere was being congratulated about a +connoisseur whose acquaintance he had made in the Palais Royal one +afternoon, while the band played, an eccentric gentleman living on a +small income, who never indulged in any other extravagance than that of +buying pictures. The other artists laughed and asked for the gentleman's +address. Then they fell foul of the picture dealers, dirty black-guards, +who preyed on artists and starved them. It was really a pity that +connoisseurs mistrusted painters to such a degree as to insist upon +a middleman under the impression that they would thus make a better +bargain. This question of bread and butter excited them yet more, though +Claude showed magnificent contempt for it all. The artist was robbed, +no doubt, but what did that matter, if he had painted a masterpiece, +and had some water to drink? Jory, having again expressed some low ideas +about lucre, aroused general indignation. Out with the journalist! +He was asked stringent questions. Would he sell his pen? Would he not +sooner chop off his wrist than write anything against his convictions? +But they scarcely waited for his answer, for the excitement was on the +increase; it became the superb madness of early manhood, contempt for +the whole world, an absorbing passion for good work, freed from all +human weaknesses, soaring in the sky like a very sun. Ah! how strenuous +was their desire to lose themselves, consume themselves, in that brazier +of their own kindling! + +Bongrand, who had not stirred the while, made a vague gesture of +suffering at the sight of that boundless confidence, that boisterous +joy at the prospect of attack. He forgot the hundred paintings which +had brought him his glory, he was thinking of the work which he had left +roughed out on his easel now. Taking his cutty from between his lips, he +murmured, his eyes glistening with kindliness, 'Oh, youth, youth!' + +Until two in the morning, Sandoz, who seemed ubiquitous, kept on pouring +fresh supplies of hot water into the teapot. From the neighbourhood, +now asleep, one now only heard the miawing of an amorous tabby. They all +talked at random, intoxicated by their own words, hoarse with shouting, +their eyes scorched, and when at last they made up their minds to go, +Sandoz took the lamp to show them a light over the banisters, saying +very softly: + +'Don't make a noise, my mother is asleep.' + +The hushed tread of their boots on the stairs died away at last, and +deep silence fell upon the house. + +It struck four. Claude, who had accompanied Bongrand, still went on +talking to him in the deserted streets. He did not want to go to bed; he +was waiting for daylight, with impatient fury, so that he might set +to work at his picture again. This time he felt certain of painting a +masterpiece, exalted as he was by that happy day of good-fellowship, +his mind pregnant with a world of things. He had discovered at last what +painting meant, and he pictured himself re-entering his studio as one +returns into the presence of a woman one adores, his heart throbbing +violently, regretting even this one day's absence, which seemed to him +endless desertion. And he would go straight to his canvas, and realise +his dream in one sitting. However, at every dozen steps or so, amidst +the flickering light of the gaslamps, Bongrand caught him by a button +of his coat, to repeat to him that, after all, painting was an accursed +trade. Sharp as he, Bongrand, was supposed to be, he did not understand +it yet. At each new work he undertook, he felt as if he were making a +debut; it was enough to make one smash one's head against the wall. The +sky was now brightening, some market gardeners' carts began rolling down +towards the central markets; and the pair continued chattering, each +talking for himself, in a loud voice, beneath the paling stars. + + + + +IV + +SIX weeks later, Claude was painting one morning amidst a flood of +sunshine that streamed through the large window of his studio. Constant +rain had made the middle of August very dull, but his courage for +work returned with the blue sky. His great picture did not make much +progress, albeit he worked at it throughout long, silent mornings, like +the obstinate, pugnacious fellow he was. + +All at once there came a knock at his door. He thought that Madame +Joseph, the doorkeeper, was bringing up his lunch, and as the key was +always in the door, he simply called: 'Come in!' + +The door had opened; there was a slight rustle, and then all became +still. He went on painting without even turning his head. But the +quivering silence, and the consciousness of some vague gentle breathing +near him, at last made him fidgety. He looked up, and felt amazed; a +woman stood there clad in a light gown, her features half-hidden by a +white veil, and he did not know her, and she was carrying a bunch of +roses, which completed his bewilderment. + +All at once he recognised her. + +'You, mademoiselle? Well, I certainly didn't expect you!' + +It was Christine. He had been unable to restrain that somewhat unamiable +exclamation, which was a cry from the heart itself. At first he had +certainly thought of her; then, as the days went by for nearly a couple +of months without sign of life from her, she had become for him merely a +fleeting, regretted vision, a charming silhouette which had melted away +in space, and would never be seen again. + +'Yes, monsieur, it's I. I wished to come. I thought it was wrong not to +come and thank you--' + +She blushed and stammered, at a loss for words. She was out of breath, +no doubt through climbing the stairs, for her heart was beating fast. +What! was this long-debated visit out of place after all? It had ended +by seeming quite natural to her. The worst was that, in passing along +the quay, she had bought that bunch of roses with the delicate intention +of thereby showing her gratitude to the young fellow, and the flowers +now dreadfully embarrassed her. How was she to give them to him? What +would he think of her? The impropriety of the whole proceeding had only +struck her as she opened the door. + +But Claude, more embarrassed still, resorted to exaggerated politeness. +He had thrown aside his palette and was turning the studio upside down +in order to clear a chair. + +'Pray be seated, mademoiselle. This is really a surprise. You are too +kind.' + +Once seated, Christine recovered her equanimity. He looked so droll with +his wild sweeping gestures, and she felt so conscious of his shyness +that she began to smile, and bravely held out the bunch of roses. + +'Look here; I wished to show you that I am not ungrateful.' + +At first he said nothing, but stood staring at her, thunderstruck. When +he saw, though, that she was not making fun of him, he shook both her +hands, with almost sufficient energy to dislocate them. Then he at once +put the flowers in his water-jug, repeating: + +'Ah! now you are a good fellow, you really are. This is the first time I +pay that compliment to a woman, honour bright.' + +He came back to her, and, looking straight into her eyes, he asked: + +'Then you have not altogether forgotten me?' + +'You see that I have not,' she replied, laughing. + +'Why, then, did you wait two months before coming to see me?' + +Again she blushed. The falsehood she was about to tell revived her +embarrassment for a moment. + +'But you know that I am not my own mistress,' she said. 'Oh, Madame +Vanzade is very kind to me, only she is a great invalid, and never +leaves the house. But she grew anxious as to my health and compelled me +to go out to breathe a little fresh air.' + +She did not allude to the shame which she had felt during the first +few days after her adventure on the Quai de Bourbon. Finding herself in +safety, beneath the old lady's roof, the recollection of the night she +had spent in Claude's room had filled her with remorse; but she fancied +at last that she had succeeded in dismissing the matter from her mind. +It was no longer anything but a bad dream, which grew more indistinct +each day. Then, how it was she could not tell, but amidst the profound +quietude of her existence, the image of that young man who had +befriended her had returned to her once more, becoming more and more +precise, till at last it occupied her daily thoughts. Why should she +forget him? She had nothing to reproach him with; on the contrary, she +felt she was his debtor. The thought of seeing him again, dismissed +at first, struggled against later on, at last became an all-absorbing +craving. Each evening the temptation to go and see him came strong upon +her in the solitude of her own room. She experienced an uncomfortable +irritating feeling, a vague desire which she could not define, and only +calmed down somewhat on ascribing this troubled state of mind to a wish +to evince her gratitude. She was so utterly alone, she felt so stifled +in that sleepy abode, the exuberance of youth seethed so strongly within +her, her heart craved so desperately for friendship! + +'So I took advantage of my first day out,' she continued. 'And besides, +the weather was so nice this morning after all the dull rain.' + +Claude, feeling very happy and standing before her, also confessed +himself, but _he_ had nothing to hide. + +'For my part,' said he, 'I dared not think of you any more. You are like +one of the fairies of the story-books, who spring from the floor and +disappear into the walls at the very moment one least expects it; aren't +you now? I said to myself, "It's all over: it was perhaps only in my +fancy that I saw her come to this studio." Yet here you are. Well, I am +pleased at it, very pleased indeed.' + +Smiling, but embarrassed, Christine averted her head, pretending to +look around her. But her smile soon died away. The ferocious-looking +paintings which she again beheld, the glaring sketches of the South, the +terrible anatomical accuracy of the studies from the nude, all chilled +her as on the first occasion. She became really afraid again, and she +said gravely, in an altered voice: + +'I am disturbing you; I am going.' + +'Oh! not at all, not at all,' exclaimed Claude, preventing her from +rising. 'It does me good to have a talk with you, for I was working +myself to death. Oh! that confounded picture; it's killing me as it is.' + +Thereupon Christine, lifting her eyes, looked at the large picture, the +canvas that had been turned to the wall on the previous occasion, and +which she had vainly wished to see. + +The background--the dark glade pierced by a flood of sunlight--was still +only broadly brushed in. But the two little wrestlers--the fair one and +the dark--almost finished by now, showed clearly in the light. In the +foreground, the gentleman in the velveteen jacket, three times begun +afresh, had now been left in distress. The painter was more particularly +working at the principal figure, the woman lying on the grass. He had +not touched the head again. He was battling with the body, changing his +model every week, so despondent at being unable to satisfy himself +that for a couple of days he had been trying to improve the figure from +imagination, without recourse to nature, although he boasted that he +never invented. + +Christine at once recognised herself. Yes, that nude girl sprawling on +the grass, one arm behind her head, smiling with lowered eyelids, was +herself, for she had her features. The idea absolutely revolted her, and +she was wounded too by the wildness of the painting, so brutal indeed +that she considered herself abominably insulted. She did not understand +that kind of art; she thought it execrable, and felt a hatred against +it, the instinctive hatred of an enemy. She rose at last, and curtly +repeated, 'I must be going.' + +Claude watched her attentively, both grieved and surprised by her sudden +change of manner. + +'Going already?' + +'Yes, they are waiting for me. Good-bye.' + +And she had already reached the door before he could take her hand, and +venture to ask her: + +'When shall I see you again?' + +She allowed her hand to remain in his. For a moment she seemed to +hesitate. + +'I don't know. I am so busy.' + +Then she withdrew her hand and went off, hastily, saying: 'One of these +days, when I can. Good-bye.' + +Claude remained stock-still on the threshold. He wondered what had come +over her again to cause her sudden coolness, her covert irritation. +He closed the door, and walked about, with dangling arms, and without +understanding, seeking vainly for the phrase, the gesture that could +have offended her. And he in his turn became angry, and launched an oath +into space, with a terrific shrug of the shoulders, as if to rid himself +of this silly worry. Did a man ever understand women? However, the sight +of the roses, overlapping the water-jug, pacified him; they smelt so +sweet. Their scent pervaded the whole studio, and silently he resumed +his work amidst the perfume. + +Two more months passed by. During the earlier days Claude, at the +slightest stir of a morning, when Madame Joseph brought him up his +breakfast or his letters, quickly turned his head, and could not control +a gesture of disappointment. He no longer went out until after four, and +the doorkeeper having told him one evening, on his return home, that a +young person had called to see him at about five, he had only grown calm +on ascertaining that the visitor was merely a model, Zoe Piedefer. Then, +as the days went by, he was seized with a furious fit of work, becoming +unapproachable to every one, indulging in such violent theories that +even his friends did not venture to contradict him. He swept the world +from his path with one gesture; there was no longer to be anything +but painting left. One might murder one's parents, comrades, and women +especially, and it would all be a good riddance. After this terrible +fever he fell into abominable despondency, spending a week of impotence +and doubt, a whole week of torture, during which he fancied himself +struck silly. But he was getting over it, he had resumed his usual life, +his resigned solitary struggle with his great picture, when one foggy +morning, towards the end of October, he started and hastily set his +palette aside. There had been no knock, but he had just recognised the +footfall coming up the stairs. He opened the door and she walked in. She +had come at last. + +Christine that day wore a large cloak of grey material which enveloped +her from head to foot. Her little velvet hat was dark, and the fog +outside had pearled her black lace veil. But he thought her looking very +cheerful, with the first slight shiver of winter upon her. She at once +began to make excuses for having so long delayed her return. She smiled +at him in her pretty candid manner, confessed that she had hesitated, +and that she had almost made up her mind to come no more. Yes, she had +her own opinions about things, which she felt sure he understood. As it +happened, he did not understand at all--he had no wish to understand, +seeing that she was there. It was quite sufficient that she was not +vexed with him, that she would consent to look in now and then like a +chum. There were no explanations; they kept their respective torments +and the struggles of recent times to themselves. For nearly an hour they +chatted together right pleasantly, with nothing hidden nor antagonistic +remaining between them; it was as if an understanding had been arrived +at, unknown to themselves, and while they were far apart. She did not +even appear to notice the sketches and studies on the walls. For a +moment she looked fixedly at the large picture, at the figure of the +woman lying on the grass under the blazing golden sun. No, it was not +like herself, that girl had neither her face nor her body. How silly +to have fancied that such a horrid mess of colour was herself! And her +friendship for the young fellow was heightened by a touch of pity; he +could not even convey a likeness. When she went off, it was she who on +the threshold cordially held out her hand. + +'You know, I shall come back again--' + +'Yes, in two months' time.' + +'No, next week. You'll see, next Thursday.' + +On the Thursday she punctually returned, and after that she did not miss +a week. At first she had no particular day for calling, simply taking +advantage of her opportunities; but subsequently she selected Monday, +the day allowed her by Madame Vanzade in order that she might have a +walk in the fresh, open air of the Bois de Boulogne. She had to be back +home by eleven, and she walked the whole way very quickly, coming in all +aglow from the run, for it was a long stretch from Passy to the Quai de +Bourbon. During four winter months, from October to February, she came +in this fashion, now in drenching rain, now among the mists from the +Seine, now in the pale sunlight that threw a little warmth over the +quays. Indeed, after the first month, she at times arrived unexpectedly, +taking advantage of some errand in town to look in, and then she could +only stay for a couple of minutes; they had barely had time enough to +say 'How do you do?' when she was already scampering down the stairs +again, exclaiming 'Good-bye.' + +And now Claude learned to know Christine. With his everlasting mistrust +of woman a suspicion had remained to him, the suspicion of some love +adventure in the provinces; but the girl's soft eyes and bright laughter +had carried all before them; he felt that she was as innocent as a big +child. As soon as she arrived, quite unembarrassed, feeling fully at +her ease, as with a friend, she began to indulge in a ceaseless flow +of chatter. She had told him a score of times about her childhood at +Clermont, and she constantly reverted to it. On the evening that her +father, Captain Hallegrain, had suddenly died, she and her mother had +been to church. She perfectly remembered their return home and the +horrible night that had followed; the captain, very stout and muscular, +lying stretched on a mattress, with his lower jaw protruding to such a +degree that in her girlish memory she could not picture him otherwise. +She also had that same jaw, and when her mother had not known how to +master her, she had often cried: 'Ah, my girl, you'll eat your heart's +blood out like your father.' Poor mother! how she, Christine, had +worried her with her love of horseplay, with her mad turbulent fits. As +far back as she could remember, she pictured her mother ever seated at +the same window, quietly painting fans, a slim little woman with very +soft eyes, the only thing she had inherited of her. When people wanted +to please her mother they told her, 'she has got your eyes.' And then +she smiled, happy in the thought of having contributed at least that +touch of sweetness to her daughter's features. After the death of her +husband, she had worked so late as to endanger her eyesight. But how +else could she have lived? Her widow's pension--five hundred francs +per annum--barely sufficed for the needs of her child. For five years +Christine had seen her mother grow thinner and paler, wasting away a +little bit each day until she became a mere shadow. And now she felt +remorseful at not having been more obedient, at having driven her +mother to despair by lack of application. She had begun each week with +magnificent intentions, promising that she would soon help her to earn +money; but her arms and legs got the fidgets, in spite of her efforts; +the moment she became quiet she fell ill. Then one morning her mother +had been unable to get up, and had died; her voice too weak to make +itself heard, her eyes full of big tears. Ever did Christine behold her +thus dead, with her weeping eyes wide open and fixed on her. + +At other times, Christine, when questioned by Claude about Clermont, +forgot those sorrows to recall more cheerful memories. She laughed +gaily at the idea of their encampment, as she called it, in the Rue +de l'Eclache; she born in Strasburg, her father a Gascon, her mother a +Parisian, and all three thrown into that nook of Auvergne, which they +detested. The Rue de l'Eclache, sloping down to the Botanical Gardens, +was narrow and dank, gloomy, like a vault. Not a shop, never a +passer-by--nothing but melancholy frontages, with shutters always +closed. At the back, however, their windows, overlooking some +courtyards, were turned to the full sunlight. The dining-room opened +even on to a spacious balcony, a kind of wooden gallery, whose arcades +were hung with a giant wistaria which almost smothered them with +foliage. And the girl had grown up there, at first near her invalid +father, then cloistered, as it were, with her mother, whom the least +exertion exhausted. She had remained so complete a stranger to the town +and its neighbourhood, that Claude and herself burst into laughter when +she met his inquiries with the constant answer, 'I don't know.' The +mountains? Yes, there were mountains on one side, they could be seen +at the end of the streets; while on the other side of the town, after +passing along other streets, there were flat fields stretching far away; +but she never went there, the distance was too great. The only height +she remembered was the Puy de Dome, rounded off at the summit like a +hump. In the town itself she could have found her way to the cathedral +blindfold; one had to turn round by the Place de Jaude and take the Rue +des Gras; but more than that she could not tell him; the rest of the +town was an entanglement, a maze of sloping lanes and boulevards; a town +of black lava ever dipping downward, where the rain of the thunderstorms +swept by torrentially amidst formidable flashes of lightning. Oh! those +storms; she still shuddered to think of them. Just opposite her room, +above the roofs, the lightning conductor of the museum was always on +fire. In the sitting-room she had her own window--a deep recess as big +as a room itself--where her work-table and personal nick-nacks stood. +It was there that her mother had taught her to read; it was there that, +later on, she had fallen asleep while listening to her masters, so +greatly did the fatigue of learning daze her. And now she made fun of +her own ignorance; she was a well-educated young lady, and no mistake, +unable even to repeat the names of the Kings of France, with the dates +of their accessions; a famous musician too, who had never got further +than that elementary pianoforte exercise, 'The little boats'; a prodigy +in water-colour painting, who scamped her trees because foliage was too +difficult to imitate. Then she skipped, without any transition, to the +fifteen months she had spent at the Convent of the Visitation after +her mother's death--a large convent, outside the town, with magnificent +gardens. There was no end to her stories about the good sisters, their +jealousies, their foolish doings, their simplicity, that made one start. +She was to have taken the veil, but she felt stifled the moment she +entered a church. It had seemed to be all over with her, when the +Superior, by whom she was treated with great affection, diverted her +from the cloister by procuring her that situation at Madame Vanzade's. +She had not yet got over the surprise. How had Mother des Saints Anges +been able to read her mind so clearly? For, in fact, since she had +been living in Paris she had dropped into complete indifference about +religion. + +When all the reminiscences of Clermont were exhausted, Claude wanted +to hear about her life at Madame Vanzade's, and each week she gave him +fresh particulars. The life led in the little house at Passy, silent +and shut off from the outer world, was a very regular one, with no more +noise about it than the faint tic-tac of an old-fashioned timepiece. +Two antiquated domestics, a cook and a manservant, who had been with +the family for forty years, alone glided in their slippers about the +deserted rooms, like a couple of ghosts. Now and then, at very +long intervals, there came a visitor: some octogenarian general, so +desiccated, so slight of build that he scarcely pressed on the carpet. +The house was also the home of shadows; the sun filtered with the mere +gleam of a night light through the Venetian blinds. Since madame had +become paralysed in the knees and stone blind, so that she no longer +left her room, she had had no other recreation than that of listening +to the reading of religious books. Ah! those endless readings, how +they weighed upon the girl at times! If she had only known a trade, how +gladly she would have cut out dresses, concocted bonnets, or goffered +the petals of artificial flowers. And to think that she was capable of +nothing, when she had been taught everything, and that there was only +enough stuff in her to make a salaried drudge, a semi-domestic! She +suffered horribly, too, in that stiff, lonely dwelling which smelt of +the tomb. She was seized once more with the vertigo of her childhood, as +when she had striven to compel herself to work, in order to please +her mother; her blood rebelled; she would have liked to shout and jump +about, in her desire for life. But madame treated her so gently, sending +her away from her room, and ordering her to take long walks, that she +felt full of remoras when, on her return to the Quai de Bourbon, she was +obliged to tell a falsehood; to talk of the Bois de Boulogne or invent +some ceremony at church where she now never set foot. Madame seemed to +take to her more and more every day; there were constant presents, now a +silk dress, now a tiny gold watch, even some underlinen. She herself was +very fond of Madame Vanzade; she had wept one day when the latter had +called her daughter; she had sworn never to leave her, such was her +heart-felt pity at seeing her so old and helpless. + +'Well,' said Claude one morning, 'you'll be rewarded; she'll leave you +her money.' + +Christine looked astonished. 'Do you think so? It is said that she is +worth three millions of francs. No, no, I have never dreamt of such a +thing, and I won't. What would become of me?' + +Claude had averted his head, and hastily replied, 'Well, you'd become +rich, that's all. But no doubt she'll first of all marry you off--' + +On hearing this, Christine could hold out no longer, but burst into +laughter. 'To one of her old friends, eh? perhaps the general who has a +silver chin. What a good joke!' + +So far they had gone no further than chumming like old friends. He was +almost as new to life as she, having had nothing but chance adventures, +and living in an ideal world of his own, fanciful amid romantic amours. +To see each other in secret like this, from pure friendship, without +anything more tender passing between them than a cordial shake of the +hand at her arrival, and another one when she left, seemed to them quite +natural. Still for her part she scented that he was shy, and at +times she looked at him fixedly, with the wondering perturbation of +unconscious passion. But as yet nothing ardent or agitating spoilt the +pleasure they felt in being together. Their hands remained cool; they +spoke cheerfully on all subjects; they sometimes argued like friends, +who feel sure they will not fall out. Only, this friendship grew so keen +that they could no longer live without seeing one another. + +The moment Christine came, Claude took the key from outside the door. +She herself insisted upon this, lest somebody might disturb them. After +a few visits she had taken absolute possession of the studio. She seemed +to be at home there. She was tormented by a desire to make the place +a little more tidy, for such disorder worried her and made her +uncomfortable. But it was not an easy matter. The painter had strictly +forbidden Madame Joseph to sweep up things, lest the dust should get on +the fresh paint. So, on the first occasions when his companion attempted +to clean up a bit, he watched her with anxious entreating eyes. What was +the good of changing the place of things? Didn't it suffice to have them +at hand? However, she exhibited such gay determination, she seemed so +happy at playing the housewife, that he let her have her own way at +last. And now, the moment she had arrived and taken off her gloves, she +pinned up her dress to avoid soiling it, and set the big studio in order +in the twinkling of an eye. There was no longer a pile of cinders before +the stove; the screen hid the bedstead and the washstand; the couch +was brushed, the wardrobe polished; the deal table was cleared of the +crockery, and had not a stain of paint; and above the chairs, which +were symmetrically arranged, and the spanned easels propped against the +walls, the big cuckoo clock, with full-blown pink flowers on its dial, +seemed to tick more sonorously. Altogether it was magnificent; one would +not have recognised the place. He, stupefied, watched her trotting +to and fro, twisting about and singing as she went. Was this then the +lazybones who had such dreadful headaches at the least bit of work? But +she laughed; at headwork, yes; but exertion with her hands and feet did +her good, seemed to straighten her like a young sapling. She confessed, +even as she would have confessed some depraved taste, her liking for +lowly household cares; a liking which had greatly worried her mother, +whose educational ideal consisted of accomplishments, and who would +have made her a governess with soft hands, touching nothing vulgar. How +Christine had been chided indeed whenever she was caught, as a little +girl, sweeping, dusting, and playing delightedly at being cook! Even +nowadays, if she had been able to indulge in a bout with the dust at +Madame Vanzade's, she would have felt less bored. But what would they +have said to that? She would no longer have been considered a lady. And +so she came to satisfy her longings at the Quai de Bourbon, panting with +the exercise, all aglow, her eyes glistening with a woman's delight at +biting into forbidden fruit. + +Claude by this time grew conscious of having a woman's care around him. +In order to make her sit down and chat quietly, he would ask her now and +then to sew a torn cuff or coat-tail. She herself had offered to look +over his linen; but it was no longer with the ardour of a housewife, +eager to be up and doing. First of all, she hardly knew how to work; she +held her needle like a girl brought up in contempt of sewing. Besides, +the enforced quiescence and the attention that had to be given to +such work, the small stitches which had to be looked to one by one, +exasperated her. Thus the studio was bright with cleanliness like a +drawing-room, but Claude himself remained in rags, and they both joked +about it, thinking it great fun. + +How happy were those months that they spent together, those four months +of frost and rain whiled away in the studio, where the red-hot stove +roared like an organ-pipe! The winter seemed to isolate them from the +world still more. When the snow covered the adjacent roofs, when the +sparrows fluttered against the window, they smiled at feeling warm and +cosy, at being lost, as it were, amidst the great silent city. But +they did not always confine themselves to that one little nook, for she +allowed him at last to see her home. For a long while she had insisted +upon going away by herself, feeling ashamed of being seen in the streets +on a man's arm. Then, one day when the rain fell all of a sudden, she +was obliged to let him come downstairs with an umbrella. The rain having +ceased almost immediately, she sent him back when they reached the other +side of the Pont Louis-Philippe. They only remained a few moments beside +the parapet, looking at the Mail, and happy at being together in the +open air. Down below, large barges, moored against the quay, and full +of apples, were ranged four rows deep, so close together that the planks +thrown across them made a continuous path for the women and children +running to and fro. They were amused by the sight of all that fruit, +those enormous piles littering the banks, the round baskets which were +carried hither and thither, while a strong odour, suggestive of cider in +fermentation, mingled with the moist gusts from the river. + +A week later, when the sun again showed itself, and Claude extolled the +solitude of the quays round the Isle Saint Louis, Christine consented to +take a walk. They strolled up the Quai de Bourbon and the Quai d'Anjou, +pausing at every few steps and growing interested in the various scenes +of river life; the dredger whose buckets grated against their chains, +the floating wash-house, which resounded with the hubbub of a quarrel, +and the steam cranes busy unloading the lighters. She did not cease to +wonder at one thought which came to her. Was it possible that yonder +Quai des Ormes, so full of life across the stream, that this Quai Henri +IV., with its broad embankment and lower shore, where bands of children +and dogs rolled over in the sand, that this panorama of an active, +densely-populated capital was the same accursed scene that had appeared +to her for a moment in a gory flash on the night of her arrival? They +went round the point of the island, strolling more leisurely still to +enjoy the solitude and tranquillity which the old historic mansions seem +to have implanted there. They watched the water seething between the +wooden piles of the Estacade, and returned by way of the Quai de Bethune +and the Quai d'Orleans, instinctively drawn closer to each other by +the widening of the stream, keeping elbow to elbow at sight of the vast +flow, with their eyes fixed on the distant Halle aux Vins and the +Jardin des Plantes. In the pale sky, the cupolas of the public buildings +assumed a bluish hue. When they reached the Pont St. Louis, Claude had +to point out Notre-Dame by name, for Christine did not recognise +the edifice from the rear, where it looked like a colossal creature +crouching down between its flying buttresses, which suggested sprawling +paws, while above its long leviathan spine its towers rose like a double +head. Their real find that day, however, was at the western point of +the island, that point like the prow of a ship always riding at anchor, +afloat between two swift currents, in sight of Paris, but ever unable +to get into port. They went down some very steep steps there, and +discovered a solitary bank planted with lofty trees. It was a charming +refuge--a hermitage in the midst of a crowd. Paris was rumbling around +them, on the quays, on the bridges, while they at the water's edge +tasted the delight of being alone, ignored by the whole world. From that +day forth that bank became a little rustic coign of theirs, a favourite +open-air resort, where they took advantage of the sunny hours, when +the great heat of the studio, where the red-hot stove kept roaring, +oppressed them too much, filling their hands with a fever of which they +were afraid. + +Nevertheless, Christine had so far objected to be accompanied farther +than the Mail. At the Quai des Ormes she always bade Claude go back, +as if Paris, with her crowds and possible encounters, began at the long +stretch of quays which she had to traverse on her way home. But Passy +was so far off, and she felt so dull at having to go such a distance +alone, that gradually she gave way. She began by allowing Claude to see +her as far as the Hotel de Ville; then as far as the Pont-Neuf; at last +as far as the Tuileries. She forgot the danger; they walked arm in arm +like a young married couple; and that constantly repeated promenade, +that leisurely journey over the self-same ground by the river side, +acquired an infinite charm, full of a happiness such as could scarcely +be surpassed in after-times. They truly belonged to each other, though +they had not erred. It seemed as if the very soul of the great city, +rising from the river, wrapped them around with all the love that had +throbbed behind the grey stone walls through the long lapse of ages. + +Since the nipping colds of December, Christine only came in the +afternoon, and it was about four o'clock, when the sun was sinking, that +Claude escorted her back on his arm. On days when the sky was clear, +they could see the long line of quays stretching away into space +directly they had crossed the Pont Louis-Philippe. From one end to the +other the slanting sun powdered the houses on the right bank with golden +dust, while, on the left, the islets, the buildings, stood out in a +black line against the blazing glory of the sunset. Between the sombre +and the brilliant margin, the spangled river sparkled, cut in twain +every now and then by the long bars of its bridges; the five arches of +the Pont Notre-Dame showing under the single span of the Pont d'Arcole; +then the Pont-au-Change and the Pont-Neuf, beyond each of whose shadows +appeared a luminous patch, a sheet of bluish satiny water, growing +paler here and there with a mirror-like reflection. And while the dusky +outlines on the left terminated in the silhouettes of the pointed towers +of the Palais de Justice, sharply and darkly defined against the sky, +a gentle curve undulated on the right, stretching away so far that the +Pavillon de Flore, who stood forth like a citadel at the curve's extreme +end, seemed a fairy castle, bluey, dreamlike and vague, amidst the +rosy mist on the horizon. But Claude and Christine, with the sunlight +streaming on them, athwart the leafless plane trees, turned away from +the dazzlement, preferring to gaze at certain spots, one above all--a +block of old houses just above the Mail. Below, there was a series of +one-storied tenements, little huckster and fishing-tackle shops, with +flat terrace roofs, ornamented with laurel and Virginia creeper. And in +the rear rose loftier, but decrepit, dwellings, with linen hung out to +dry at their windows, a collection of fantastic structures, a confused +mass of woodwork and masonry, overtoppling walls, and hanging gardens, +in which coloured glass balls shone out like stars. They walked on, +leaving behind them the big barracks and the Hotel de Ville, and feeling +much more interest in the Cite which appeared across the river, pent +between lofty smooth embankments rising from the water. Above the +darkened houses rose the towers of Notre-Dame, as resplendent as if they +had been newly gilt. Then the second-hand bookstalls began to invade +the quays. Down below a lighter full of charcoal struggled against the +strong current beneath an arch of the Pont Notre-Dame. And then, on +the days when the flower market was held, they stopped, despite the +inclement weather, to inhale the scent of the first violets and the +early gillyflowers. On their left a long stretch of bank now became +visible; beyond the pepper-caster turrets of the Palais de Justice, the +small, murky tenements of the Quai de l'Horloge showed as far as the +clump of trees midway across the Pont-Neuf; then, as they went farther +on, other quays emerged from the mist, in the far distance: the Quai +Voltaire, the Quai Malaquais, the dome of the Institute of France, the +square pile of the Mint, a long grey line of frontages of which they +could not even distinguish the windows, a promontory of roofs, which, +with their stacks of chimney-pots, looked like some rugged cliff, +dipping down into a phosphorescent sea. In front, however, the Pavillon +de Flore lost its dreamy aspect, and became solidified in the final sun +blaze. Then right and left, on either bank of the river, came the long +vistas of the Boulevard de Sebastopol and the Boulevard du Palais; +the handsome new buildings of the Quai de la Megisserie, with the new +Prefecture of Police across the water; and the old Pont-Neuf, with +its statue of Henri IV. looking like a splash of ink. The Louvre, the +Tuileries followed, and beyond Grenelle there was a far-stretching +panorama of the slopes of Sevres, the country steeped in a stream of +sun rays. Claude never went farther. Christine always made him stop just +before they reached the Pont Royal, near the fine trees beside Vigier's +swimming baths; and when they turned round to shake hands once more in +the golden sunset now flushing into crimson, they looked back and, on +the horizon, espied the Isle Saint Louis, whence they had come, the +indistinct distance of the city upon which night was already descending +from the slate-hued eastern sky. + +Ah! what splendid sunsets they beheld during those weekly strolls. +The sun accompanied them, as it were, amid the throbbing gaiety of the +quays, the river life, the dancing ripples of the currents; amid the +attractions of the shops, as warm as conservatories, the flowers sold by +the seed merchants, and the noisy cages of the bird fanciers; amid all +the din of sound and wealth of colour which ever make a city's waterside +its youthful part. As they proceeded, the ardent blaze of the western +sky turned to purple on their left, above the dark line of houses, and +the orb of day seemed to wait for them, falling gradually lower, slowly +rolling towards the distant roofs when once they had passed the Pont +Notre-Dame in front of the widening stream. In no ancient forest, on no +mountain road, beyond no grassy plain will there ever be such triumphal +sunsets as behind the cupola of the Institute. It is there one sees +Paris retiring to rest in all her glory. At each of their walks the +aspect of the conflagration changed; fresh furnaces added their glow to +the crown of flames. One evening, when a shower had surprised them, the +sun, showing behind the downpour, lit up the whole rain cloud, and upon +their heads there fell a spray of glowing water, irisated with pink +and azure. On the days when the sky was clear, however, the sun, like a +fiery ball, descended majestically in an unruffled sapphire lake; for a +moment the black cupola of the Institute seemed to cut away part of it +and make it look like the waning moon; then the globe assumed a violet +tinge and at last became submerged in the lake, which had turned +blood-red. Already, in February, the planet described a wider curve, and +fell straight into the Seine, which seemed to seethe on the horizon as +at the contact of red-hot iron. However, the grander scenes, the vast +fairy pictures of space only blazed on cloudy evenings. Then, according +to the whim of the wind, there were seas of sulphur splashing against +coral reefs; there were palaces and towers, marvels of architecture, +piled upon one another, burning and crumbling, and throwing torrents of +lava from their many gaps; or else the orb which had disappeared, hidden +by a veil of clouds, suddenly transpierced that veil with such a press +of light that shafts of sparks shot forth from one horizon to the other, +showing as plainly as a volley of golden arrows. And then the twilight +fell, and they said good-bye to each other, while their eyes were still +full of the final dazzlement. They felt that triumphal Paris was the +accomplice of the joy which they could not exhaust, the joy of ever +resuming together that walk beside the old stone parapets. + +One day, however, there happened what Claude had always secretly feared. +Christine no longer seemed to believe in the possibility of meeting +anybody who knew her. In fact, was there such a person? She would always +pass along like this, remaining altogether unknown. He, however, thought +of his own friends, and at times felt a kind of tremor when he fancied +he recognised in the distance the back of some acquaintance. He was +troubled by a feeling of delicacy; the idea that somebody might stare at +the girl, approach them, and perhaps begin to joke, gave him intolerable +worry. And that very evening, as she was close beside him on his arm, +and they were approaching the Pont des Arts, he fell upon Sandoz and +Dubuche, who were coming down the steps of the bridge. It was impossible +to avoid them, they were almost face to face; besides, his friends must +have seen him, for they smiled. Claude, very pale, kept advancing, and +he thought it all up on seeing Dubuche take a step towards him; but +Sandoz was already holding the architect back, and leading him away. +They passed on with an indifferent air and disappeared into the +courtyard of the Louvre without as much as turning round. They had both +just recognised the original of the crayon sketch, which the painter hid +away with all the jealousy of a lover. Christine, who was chattering, +had noticed nothing. Claude, with his heart throbbing, answered her in +monosyllables, moved to tears, brimming over with gratitude to his old +chums for their discreet behaviour. + +A few days later, however, he had another shock. He did not expect +Christine, and had therefore made an appointment with Sandoz. Then, +as she had run up to spend an hour--it was one of those surprises that +delighted them--they had just withdrawn the key, as usual, when +there came a familiar knock with the fist on the door. Claude at once +recognised the rap, and felt so upset at the mishap that he overturned a +chair. After that it was impossible to pretend to be out. But Christine +turned so pale, and implored him with such a wild gesture, that he +remained rooted to the spot, holding his breath. The knocks continued, +and a voice called, 'Claude, Claude!' He still remained quite still, +debating with himself, however, with ashen lips and downcast eyes. Deep +silence reigned, and then footsteps were heard, making the stairs creak +as they went down. Claude's breast heaved with intense sadness; he felt +it bursting with remorse at the sound of each retreating step, as if he +had denied the friendship of his whole youth. + +However, one afternoon there came another knock, and Claude had only +just time to whisper despairingly, 'The key has been left in the door.' + +In fact, Christine had forgotten to take it out. She became quite scared +and darted behind the screen, with her handkerchief over her mouth to +stifle the sound of her breathing. + +The knocks became louder, there was a burst of laughter, and the painter +had to reply, 'Come in.' + +He felt more uncomfortable still when he saw Jory, who gallantly ushered +in Irma Becot, whose acquaintance he had made through Fagerolles, and +who was flinging her youth about the Paris studios. + +'She insisted upon seeing your studio, so I brought her,' explained the +journalist. + +The girl, however, without waiting, was already walking about and making +remarks, with perfect freedom of manner. 'Oh! how funny it is here. And +what funny painting. Come, there's a good fellow, show me everything. I +want to see everything.' + +Claude, apprehensively anxious, was afraid that she might push the +screen aside. He pictured Christine behind it, and felt distracted +already at what she might hear. + +'You know what she has come to ask of you?' resumed Jory cheerfully. +'What, don't you remember? You promised that she might pose for +something. And she'll do so if you like.' + +'Of course I will,' said Irma. + +'The fact is,' replied Claude, in an embarrassed tone, 'my picture here +will take up all my time till the Salon. I have a figure in it that +gives me a deal of trouble. It's impossible to perfect it with those +confounded models.' + +Irma had stationed herself in front of the picture, and looked at it +with a knowing air. 'Oh! I see,' she said, 'that woman in the grass, eh? +Do you think I could be of any use to you?' + +Jory flared up in a moment, warmly approving the idea, but Claude with +the greatest energy replied, 'No, no madame wouldn't suit. She is not at +all what I want for this picture; not at all.' + +Then he went on stammering excuses. He would be only too pleased later +on, but just now he was afraid that another model would quite complete +his confusion over that picture; and Irma responded by shrugging her +shoulders, and looking at him with an air of smiling contempt. + +Jory, however, now began to chat about their friends. Why had not +Claude come to Sandoz's on the previous Thursday? One never saw him now. +Dubuche asserted all sorts of things about him. There had been a row +between Fagerolles and Mahoudeau on the subject whether evening dress +was a thing to be reproduced in sculpture. Then on the previous Sunday +Gagniere had returned home from a Wagner concert with a black eye. He, +Jory, had nearly had a duel at the Cafe Baudequin on account of one of +his last articles in 'The Drummer.' The fact was he was giving it hot to +the twopenny-halfpenny painters, the men with the usurped reputations! +The campaign against the hanging committee of the Salon was making a +deuce of a row; not a shred would be left of those guardians of the +ideal, who wanted to prevent nature from entering their show. + +Claude listened to him with impatient irritation. He had taken up his +palette and was shuffling about in front of his picture. The other one +understood at last. + +'You want to work, I see; all right, we'll leave you.' + +Irma, however, still stared at the painter, with her vague smile, +astonished at the stupidity of this simpleton, who did not seem to +appreciate her, and seized despite herself with a whim to please him. +His studio was ugly, and he himself wasn't handsome; but why should he +put on such bugbear airs? She chaffed him for a moment, and on going off +again offered to sit for him, emphasising her offer by warmly pressing +his hand. + +'Whenever you like,' were her parting words. + +They had gone at last, and Claude was obliged to pull the screen aside, +for Christine, looking very white, remained seated behind it, as if she +lacked the strength to rise. She did not say a word about the girl, but +simply declared that she had felt very frightened; and--trembling lest +there should come another knock--she wanted to go at once, carrying away +with her, as her startled looks testified, the disturbing thought of +many things which she did not mention. + +In fact, for a long time that sphere of brutal art, that studio full of +glaring pictures, had caused her a feeling of discomfort. Wounded in all +her feelings, full of repugnance, she could not get used to it all. She +had grown up full of affectionate admiration for a very different style +of art--her mother's fine water-colours, those fans of dreamy delicacy, +in which lilac-tinted couples floated about in bluish gardens--and she +quite failed to understand Claude's work. Even now she often amused +herself by painting tiny girlish landscapes, two or three subjects +repeated over and over again--a lake with a ruin, a water-mill beating +a stream, a chalet and some pine trees, white with snow. And she felt +surprised that an intelligent young fellow should paint in such an +unreasonable manner, so ugly and so untruthful besides. For she not +only thought Claude's realism monstrously ugly, but considered it beyond +every permissible truth. In fact, she thought at times that he must be +mad. + +One day Claude absolutely insisted upon seeing a small sketch-book which +she had brought away from Clermont, and which she had spoken about. +After objecting for a long while, she brought it with her, flattered at +heart and feeling very curious to know what he would say. He turned over +the leaves, smiling all the while, and as he did not speak, she was the +first to ask: + +'You think it very bad, don't you?' + +'Not at all,' he replied. 'It's innocent.' + +The reply hurt her, despite Claude's indulgent tone, which aimed at +making it amiable. + +'Well, you see I had so few lessons from mamma. I like painting to be +well done, and pleasing.' + +Thereupon he burst into frank laughter. + +'Confess now that my painting makes you feel ill! I have noticed it. You +purse your lips and open your eyes wide with fright. Certainly it is +not the style of painting for ladies, least of all for young girls. But +you'll get used to it; it's only a question of educating your eyes and +you'll end by seeing that what I am doing is very honest and healthy.' + +Indeed, Christine slowly became used to it. But, at first, artistic +conviction had nothing to do with the change, especially as Claude, +with his contempt for female opinion, did not take the trouble to +indoctrinate her. On the contrary, in her company he avoided conversing +about art, as if he wished to retain for himself that passion of his +life, apart from the new passion which was gradually taking possession +of him. Still, Christine glided into the habit of the thing, and became +familiarised with it; she began to feel interested in those abominable +pictures, on noticing the important place they held in the artist's +existence. This was the first stage on the road to conversion; she +felt greatly moved by his rageful eagerness to be up and doing, the +whole-heartedness with which he devoted himself to his work. Was it not +very touching? Was there not something very creditable in it? Then, on +noticing his joy or suffering, according to the success or the failure +of the day's work, she began to associate herself with his efforts. She +felt saddened when she found him sad, she grew cheerful when he received +her cheerfully; and from that moment her worry was--had he done a lot +of work? was he satisfied with what he had done since they had last seen +each other? At the end of the second month she had been gained over; +she stationed herself before his pictures to judge whether they were +progressing or not. She no longer felt afraid of them. She still did not +approve particularly of that style of painting, but she began to repeat +the artistic expressions which she had heard him use; declared this +bit to be 'vigorous in tone,' 'well built up,' or 'just in the light +it should be.' He seemed to her so good-natured, and she was so fond of +him, that after finding excuses for him for daubing those horrors, she +ended by discovering qualities in them in order that she might like them +a little also. + +Nevertheless, there was one picture, the large one, the one intended for +the Salon, to which for a long while she was quite unable to reconcile +herself. She already looked without dislike at the studies made at the +Boutin studio and the sketches of Plassans, but she was still irritated +by the sight of the woman lying in the grass. It was like a personal +grudge, the shame of having momentarily thought that she could detect +in it a likeness of herself, and silent embarrassment, too, for that big +figure continued to wound her feelings, although she now found less and +less of a resemblance in it. At first she had protested by averting her +eyes. Now she remained for several minutes looking at it fixedly, +in mute contemplation. How was it that the likeness to herself had +disappeared? The more vigorously that Claude struggled on, never +satisfied, touching up the same bit a hundred times over, the more did +that likeness to herself gradually fade away. And, without being able +to account for it, without daring to admit as much to herself, she, whom +the painting had so greatly offended when she had first seen it, now +felt a growing sorrow at noticing that nothing of herself remained. + +Indeed it seemed to her as if their friendship suffered from this +obliteration; she felt herself further away from him as trait after +trait vanished. Didn't he care for her that he thus allowed her to be +effaced from his work? And who was the new woman, whose was the unknown +indistinct face that appeared from beneath hers? + +Claude, in despair at having spoilt the figure's head, did not know +exactly how to ask her for a few hours' sitting. She would merely have +had to sit down, and he would only have taken some hints. But he had +previously seen her so pained that he felt afraid of irritating her +again. Moreover, after resolving in his own mind to ask her this favour +in a gay, off-hand way, he had been at a loss for words, feeling all at +once ashamed at the notion. + +One afternoon he quite upset her by one of those bursts of anger which +he found it impossible to control, even in her presence. Everything had +gone wrong that week; he talked of scraping his canvas again, and he +paced up and down, beside himself, and kicking the furniture about. Then +all of a sudden he caught her by the shoulders, and made her sit down on +the couch. + +'I beg of you, do me this favour, or it'll kill me, I swear it will.' + +She did not understand him. + +'What--what is it you want?' + +Then as soon as she saw him take up his brushes, she added, without +heeding what she said, 'Ah, yes! Why did not you ask me before?' + +And of her own accord she threw herself back on a cushion and slipped +her arm under her neck. But surprise and confusion at having yielded so +quickly made her grave, for she did not know that she was prepared for +this kind of thing; indeed, she could have sworn that she would never +serve him as a model again. Her compliance already filled her with +remorse, as if she were lending herself to something wrong by letting +him impart her own countenance to that big creature, lying refulgent +under the sun. + +However, in two sittings, Claude worked in the head all right. He +exulted with delight, and exclaimed that it was the best bit of painting +he had ever done; and he was right, never had he thrown such a play of +real light over such a life-like face. Happy at seeing him so pleased, +Christine also became gay, going as far as to express approval of her +head, which, though not extremely like her, had a wonderful expression. +They stood for a long while before the picture, blinking at it, and +drawing back as far as the wall. + +'And now,' he said at last, 'I'll finish her off with a model. Ah! so +I've got her at last.' + +In a burst of childish glee, he took the girl round the waist, and they +performed 'a triumphant war dance,' as he called it. She laughed very +heartily, fond of romping as she was, and no longer feeling aught of her +scruples and discomfort. + +But the very next week Claude became gloomy again. He had chosen Zoe +Piedefer as a model, but she did not satisfy him. Christine's delicate +head, as he expressed it, did not set well on the other's shoulders. He, +nevertheless, persisted, scratched out, began anew, and worked so +hard that he lived in a constant state of fever. Towards the middle of +January, seized with despair, he abandoned his picture and turned it +against the wall, swearing that he would not finish it. But a fortnight +later, he began to work at it again with another model, and then found +himself obliged to change the whole tone of it. Thus matters got still +worse; so he sent for Zoe again; became altogether at sea, and quite ill +with uncertainty and anguish. And the pity of it was, that the central +figure alone worried him, for he was well satisfied with the rest of +the painting, the trees of the background, the two little women and the +gentleman in the velvet coat, all finished and vigorous. February was +drawing to a close; he had only a few days left to send his picture to +the Salon; it was quite a disaster. + +One evening, in Christine's presence, he began swearing, and all at once +a cry of fury escaped him: 'After all, by the thunder of heaven, is it +possible to stick one woman's head on another's shoulders? I ought to +chop my hand off.' + +From the depths of his heart a single idea now rose to his brain: to +obtain her consent to pose for the whole figure. It had slowly sprouted, +first as a simple wish, quickly discarded as absurd; then had come a +silent, constantly-renewed debate with himself; and at last, under the +spur of necessity, keen and definite desire. The recollection of the +morning after the storm, when she had accepted his hospitality, haunted +and tortured him. It was she whom he needed; she alone could enable +him to realise his dream, and he beheld her again in all her youthful +freshness, beaming and indispensable. If he could not get her to pose, +he might as well give up his picture, for no one else would ever satisfy +him. At times, while he remained seated for hours, distracted in front +of the unfinished canvas, so utterly powerless that he no longer knew +where to give a stroke of the brush, he formed heroic resolutions. The +moment she came in he would throw himself at her feet; he would tell her +of his distress in such touching words that she would perhaps consent. +But as soon as he beheld her, he lost all courage, he averted his eyes, +lest she might decipher his thoughts in his instinctive glances. Such +a request would be madness. One could not expect such a service from a +friend; he would never have the audacity to ask. + +Nevertheless, one evening as he was getting ready to accompany her, and +as she was putting on her bonnet, with her arms uplifted, they remained +for a moment looking into each other's eyes, he quivering, and she +suddenly becoming so grave, so pale, that he felt himself detected. All +along the quays they scarcely spoke; the matter remained unmentioned +between them while the sun set in the coppery sky. Twice afterwards he +again read in her looks that she was aware of his all-absorbing thought. +In fact, since he had dreamt about it, she had began to do the same, +in spite of herself, her attention roused by his involuntary allusions. +They scarcely affected her at first, though she was obliged at last to +notice them; still the question seemed to her to be beyond the range +of possibility, to be one of those unavowable ideas which people do not +even speak of. The fear that he would dare to ask her did not even occur +to her; she knew him well by now; she could have silenced him with a +gesture, before he had stammered the first words, and in spite of his +sudden bursts of anger. It was simple madness. Never, never! + +Days went by, and between them that fixed idea grew in intensity. The +moment they were together they could not help thinking of it. Not a word +was spoken on the subject, but their very silence was eloquent; they no +longer made a movement, no longer exchanged a smile without stumbling +upon that thought, which they found impossible to put into words, though +it filled their minds. Soon nothing but that remained in their fraternal +intercourse. And the perturbation of heart and senses which they had +so far avoided in the course of their familiar intimacy, came at last, +under the influence of the all-besetting thought. And then the anguish +which they left unmentioned, but which they could not hide from one +another, racked and stifled them, left them heaving distressfully with +painful sighs. + +Towards the middle of March, Christine, at one of her visits, found +Claude seated before his picture, overcome with sorrow. He had not +even heard her enter. He remained motionless, with vacant, haggard eyes +staring at his unfinished work. In another three days the delay for +sending in exhibits for the Salon would expire. + +'Well,' she inquired gently, after standing for a long time behind him, +grief-stricken at seeing him in such despair. + +He started and turned round. + +'Well, it's all up. I sha'n't exhibit anything this year. Ah! I who +relied so much upon this Salon!' + +Both relapsed into despondency--a despondency and agitation full of +confused thoughts. Then she resumed, thinking aloud as it were: + +'There would still be time.' + +'Time? Oh! no indeed. A miracle would be needed. Where am I to find a +model so late in the day? Do you know, since this morning I have been +worrying, and for a moment I thought I had hit upon an idea: Yes, it +would be to go and fetch that girl, that Irma who came while you were +here. I know well enough that she is short and not at all such as I +thought of, and so I should perhaps have to change everything once more; +but all the same it might be possible to make her do. Decidedly, I'll +try her--' + +He stopped short. The glowing eyes with which he gazed at her clearly +said: 'Ah! there's you! ah! it would be the hoped-for miracle, and +triumph would be certain, if you were to make this supreme sacrifice +for me. I beseech you, I ask you devoutly, as a friend, the dearest, the +most beauteous, the most pure.' + +She, erect, looking very pale, seemed to hear each of those words, +though all remained unspoken, and his ardently beseeching eyes overcame +her. She herself did not speak. She simply did as she was desired, +acting almost like one in a dream. Beneath it all there lurked the +thought that he must not ask elsewhere, for she was now conscious of +her earlier jealous disquietude and wished to share his affections with +none. Yet it was in silence and all chastity that she stretched herself +on the couch, and took up the pose, with one arm under her head, her +eyes closed. + +And Claude? Startled, full of gratitude, he had at last found again the +sudden vision that he had so often evoked. But he himself did not speak; +he began to paint in the deep solemn silence that had fallen upon them +both. For two long hours he stood to his work with such manly energy +that he finished right off a superb roughing out of the whole figure. +Never before had he felt such enthusiasm in his art. It seemed to him +as if he were in the presence of some saint; and at times he wondered +at the transfiguration of Christine's face, whose somewhat massive jaws +seemed to have receded beneath the gentle placidity which her brow and +cheeks displayed. During those two hours she did not stir, she did not +speak, but from time to time she opened her clear eyes, fixing them on +some vague, distant point, and remaining thus for a moment, then closing +them again, and relapsing into the lifelessness of fine marble, with the +mysterious fixed smile required by the pose. + +It was by a gesture that Claude apprized her he had finished. He turned +away, and when they stood face to face again, she ready to depart, they +gazed at one another, overcome by emotion which still prevented them +from speaking. Was it sadness, then, unconscious, unnameable sadness? +For their eyes filled with tears, as if they had just spoilt their lives +and dived to the depths of human misery. Then, moved and grieved, unable +to find a word, even of thanks, he kissed her religiously upon the brow. + + + + +V + +ON the 15th May, a Friday, Claude, who had returned at three o'clock in +the morning from Sandoz's, was still asleep at nine, when Madame Joseph +brought him up a large bouquet of white lilac which a commissionaire had +just left downstairs. He understood at once. Christine had wished to be +beforehand in celebrating the success of his painting. For this was a +great day for him, the opening day of the 'Salon of the Rejected,' which +was first instituted that year,* and at which his picture--refused by +the hanging committee of the official Salon--was to be exhibited. + + * This was in 1863.--ED. + +That delicate attention on Christine's part, that fresh and fragrant +lilac, affected him greatly, as if presaging a happy day. Still in his +nightshirt, with his feet bare, he placed the flowers in his water-jug +on the table. Then, with his eyes still swollen with sleep, almost +bewildered, he dressed, scolding himself the while for having slept so +long. On the previous night he had promised Dubuche and Sandoz to call +for them at the latter's place at eight o'clock, in order that they +might all three go together to the Palais de l'Industrie, where they +would find the rest of the band. And he was already an hour behind time. + +Then, as luck would have it, he could not lay his hands upon anything in +his studio, which had been turned topsy-turvy since the despatch of the +big picture. For more than five minutes he hunted on his knees for his +shoes, among a quantity of old chases. Some particles of gold leaf flew +about, for, not knowing where to get the money for a proper frame, he +had employed a joiner of the neighbourhood to fit four strips of board +together, and had gilded them himself, with the assistance of his friend +Christine, who, by the way, had proved a very unskilful gilder. At last, +dressed and shod, and having his soft felt hat bespangled with yellow +sparks of the gold, he was about to go, when a superstitious thought +brought him back to the nosegay, which had remained alone on the centre +of the table. If he did not kiss the lilac he was sure to suffer an +affront. So he kissed it and felt perfumed by its strong springtide +aroma. + +Under the archway, he gave his key as usual to the doorkeeper. 'Madame +Joseph,' he said, 'I shall not be home all day.' + +In less than twenty minutes he was in the Rue d'Enfer, at Sandoz's. But +the latter, whom he feared would have already gone, was equally late in +consequence of a sudden indisposition which had come upon his mother. It +was nothing serious. She had merely passed a bad night, but it had for a +while quite upset him with anxiety. Now, easy in mind again, Sandoz told +Claude that Dubuche had written saying that they were not to wait for +him, and giving an appointment at the Palais. They therefore started +off, and as it was nearly eleven, they decided to lunch in a deserted +little _cremerie_ in the Rue St. Honore, which they did very leisurely, +seized with laziness amidst all their ardent desire to see and know; +and enjoying, as it were, a kind of sweet, tender sadness from lingering +awhile and recalling memories of their youth. + +One o'clock was striking when they crossed the Champs Elysees. It was +a lovely day, with a limpid sky, to which the breeze, still somewhat +chilly, seemed to impart a brighter azure. Beneath the sun, of the +hue of ripe corn, the rows of chestnut trees showed new foliage of a +delicate and seemingly freshly varnished green; and the fountains with +their leaping sheafs of water, the well-kept lawns, the deep vistas of +the pathways, and the broad open spaces, all lent an air of luxurious +grandeur to the panorama. A few carriages, very few at that early +hour, were ascending the avenue, while a stream of bewildered, bustling +people, suggesting a swarm of ants, plunged into the huge archway of the +Palais de l'Industrie. + +When they were inside, Claude shivered slightly while crossing the +gigantic vestibule, which was as cold as a cellar, with a damp pavement +which resounded beneath one's feet, like the flagstones of a church. +He glanced right and left at the two monumental stairways, and asked +contemptuously: 'I say, are we going through their dirty Salon?' + +'Oh! no, dash it!' answered Sandoz. 'Let's cut through the garden. The +western staircase over there leads to "the Rejected."' + +Then they passed disdainfully between the two little tables of the +catalogue vendors. Between the huge red velvet curtains and beyond a +shady porch appeared the garden, roofed in with glass. At that time of +day it was almost deserted; there were only some people at the buffet +under the clock, a throng of people lunching. The crowd was in the +galleries on the first floor, and the white statues alone edged the +yellow-sanded pathways which with stretches of crude colour intersected +the green lawns. There was a whole nation of motionless marble there +steeped in the diffuse light falling from the glazed roof on high. +Looking southwards, some holland screens barred half of the nave, which +showed ambery in the sunlight and was speckled at both ends by the +dazzling blue and crimson of stained-glass windows. Just a few visitors, +tired already, occupied the brand-new chairs and seats, shiny with fresh +paint; while the flights of sparrows, who dwelt above, among the iron +girders, swooped down, quite at home, raking up the sand and twittering +as they pursued each other. + +Claude and Sandoz made a show of walking very quickly without giving +a glance around them. A stiff classical bronze statue, a Minerva by a +member of the Institute, had exasperated them at the very door. But as +they hastened past a seemingly endless line of busts, they recognised +Bongrand, who, all alone, was going slowly round a colossal, +overflowing, recumbent figure, which had been placed in the middle of +the path. With his hands behind his back, quite absorbed, he bent his +wrinkled face every now and then over the plaster. + +'Hallo, it's you?' he said, as they held out their hands to him. 'I was +just looking at our friend Mahoudeau's figure, which they have at least +had the intelligence to admit, and to put in a good position.' Then, +breaking off: 'Have you been upstairs?' he asked. + +'No, we have just come in,' said Claude. + +Thereupon Bongrand began to talk warmly about the Salon of the Rejected. +He, who belonged to the Institute, but who lived apart from his +colleagues, made very merry over the affair; the everlasting discontent +of painters; the campaign conducted by petty newspapers like 'The +Drummer'; the protestations, the constant complaints that had at last +disturbed the Emperor, and the artistic _coup d'etat_ carried out by +that silent dreamer, for this Salon of the Rejected was entirely his +work. Then the great painter alluded to all the hubbub caused by the +flinging of such a paving-stone into that frog's pond, the official art +world. + +'No,' he continued, 'you can have no idea of the rage and indignation +among the members of the hanging committee. And remember I'm distrusted, +they generally keep quiet when I'm there. But they are all furious with +the realists. It was to them that they systematically closed the doors +of the temple; it is on account of them that the Emperor has allowed the +public to revise their verdict; and finally it is they, the realists, +who triumph. Ah! I hear some nice things said; I wouldn't give a high +price for your skins, youngsters.' + +He laughed his big, joyous laugh, stretching out his arms the while as +if to embrace all the youthfulness that he divined rising around him. + +'Your disciples are growing,' said Claude, simply. + +But Bongrand, becoming embarrassed, silenced him with a wave of +his hand. He himself had not sent anything for exhibition, and the +prodigious mass of work amidst which he found himself--those pictures, +those statues, all those proofs of creative effort--filled him with +regret. It was not jealousy, for there lived not a more upright and +better soul; but as a result of self-examination, a gnawing fear of +impotence, an unavowed dread haunted him. + +'And at "the Rejected,"' asked Sandoz; 'how goes it there?' + +'Superb; you'll see.' + +Then turning towards Claude, and keeping both the young man's hands in +his own, 'You, my good fellow, you are a trump. Listen! they say I am +clever: well, I'd give ten years of my life to have painted that big +hussy of yours.' + +Praise like that, coming from such lips, moved the young painter to +tears. Victory had come at last, then? He failed to find a word of +thanks, and abruptly changed the conversation, wishing to hide his +emotion. + +'That good fellow Mahoudeau!' he said, 'why his figure's capital! He has +a deuced fine temperament, hasn't he?' + +Sandoz and Claude had begun to walk round the plaster figure. Bongrand +replied with a smile. + +'Yes, yes; there's too much fulness and massiveness in parts. But just +look at the articulations, they are delicate and really pretty. Come, +good-bye, I must leave you. I'm going to sit down a while. My legs are +bending under me.' + +Claude had raised his head to listen. A tremendous uproar, an incessant +crashing that had not struck him at first, careered through the air; it +was like the din of a tempest beating against a cliff, the rumbling of +an untiring assault, dashing forward from endless space. + +'Hallow, what's that?' he muttered. + +'That,' said Bongrand, as he walked away, 'that's the crowd upstairs in +the galleries.' + +And the two young fellows, having crossed the garden, then went up to +the Salon of the Rejected. + +It had been installed in first-rate style. The officially received +pictures were not lodged more sumptuously: lofty hangings of old +tapestry at the doors; 'the line' set off with green baize; seats of +crimson velvet; white linen screens under the large skylights of the +roof. And all along the suite of galleries the first impression was the +same--there were the same gilt frames, the same bright colours on the +canvases. But there was a special kind of cheerfulness, a sparkle of +youth which one did not altogether realise at first. The crowd, already +compact, increased every minute, for the official Salon was being +deserted. People came stung by curiosity, impelled by a desire to judge +the judges, and, above all, full of the conviction that they were going +to see some very diverting things. It was very hot; a fine dust arose +from the flooring; and certainly, towards four o'clock people would +stifle there. + +'Hang it!' said Sandoz, trying to elbow his way, 'it will be no easy job +to move about and find your picture.' + +A burst of fraternal feverishness made him eager to get to it. That day +he only lived for the work and glory of his old chum. + +'Don't worry!' exclaimed Claude; 'we shall get to it all right. My +picture won't fly off.' + +And he affected to be in no hurry, in spite of the almost irresistible +desire that he felt to run. He raised his head and looked around him; +and soon, amidst the loud voices of the crowd that had bewildered him, +he distinguished some restrained laughter, which was almost drowned +by the tramp of feet and the hubbub of conversation. Before certain +pictures the public stood joking. This made him feel uneasy, for despite +all his revolutionary brutality he was as sensitive and as credulous +as a woman, and always looked forward to martyrdom, though he was ever +grieved and stupefied at being repulsed and railed at. + +'They seem gay here,' he muttered. + +'Well, there's good reason,' remarked Sandoz. 'Just look at those +extravagant jades!' + +At the same moment, while still lingering in the first gallery, +Fagerolles ran up against them without seeing them. He started, being +no doubt annoyed by the meeting. However, he recovered his composure +immediately, and behaved very amiably. + +'Hallo! I was just thinking of you. I have been here for the last hour.' + +'Where have they put Claude's picture?' asked Sandoz. Fagerolles, who +had just remained for twenty minutes in front of that picture studying +it and studying the impression which it produced on the public, answered +without wincing, 'I don't know; I haven't been able to find it. We'll +look for it together if you like.' + +And he joined them. Terrible wag as he was, he no longer affected +low-bred manners to the same degree as formerly; he already began to +dress well, and although with his mocking nature he was still disposed +to snap at everybody as of old, he pursed his lips into the serious +expression of a fellow who wants to make his way in the world. With an +air of conviction he added: 'I must say that I now regret not having +sent anything this year! I should be here with all the rest of you, and +have my share of success. And there are really some astonishing things, +my boys! those horses, for instance.' + +He pointed to a huge canvas in front of them, before which the crowd was +gathering and laughing. It was, so people said, the work of an erstwhile +veterinary surgeon, and showed a number of life-size horses in a meadow, +fantastic horses, blue, violet, and pink, whose astonishing anatomy +transpierced their sides. + +'I say, don't you humbug us,' exclaimed Claude, suspiciously. + +But Fagerolles pretended to be enthusiastic. 'What do you mean? The +picture's full of talent. The fellow who painted it understands horses +devilish well. No doubt he paints like a brute. But what's the odds if +he's original, and contributes a document?' + +As he spoke Fagerolles' delicate girlish face remained perfectly grave, +and it was impossible to tell whether he was joking. There was but the +slightest yellow twinkle of spitefulness in the depths of his grey eyes. +And he finished with a sarcastic allusion, the drift of which was as yet +patent to him alone. 'Ah, well! if you let yourself be influenced by the +fools who laugh, you'll have enough to do by and by.' + +The three friends had gone on again, only advancing, however, with +infinite difficulty amid that sea of surging shoulders. On entering the +second gallery they gave a glance round the walls, but the picture they +sought was not there. In lieu thereof they perceived Irma Becot on +the arm of Gagniere, both of them pressed against a hand-rail, he busy +examining a small canvas, while she, delighted at being hustled about, +raised her pink little mug and laughed at the crowd. + +'Hallo!' said Sandoz, surprised, 'here she is with Gagniere now!' + +'Oh, just a fancy of hers!' exclaimed Fagerolles quietly. 'She has a +very swell place now. Yes, it was given her by that young idiot of a +marquis, whom the papers are always talking about. She's a girl who'll +make her way; I've always said so! But she seems to retain a weakness +for painters, and every now and then drops into the Cafe Baudequin to +look up old friends!' + +Irma had now seen them, and was making gestures from afar. They could +but go to her. When Gagniere, with his light hair and little beardless +face, turned round, looking more grotesque than over, he did not show +the least surprise at finding them there. + +'It's wonderful,' he muttered. + +'What's wonderful?' asked Fagerolles. + +'This little masterpiece--and withal honest and naif, and full of +conviction.' + +He pointed to a tiny canvas before which he had stood absorbed, an +absolutely childish picture, such as an urchin of four might have +painted; a little cottage at the edge of a little road, with a little +tree beside it, the whole out of drawing, and girt round with black +lines. Not even a corkscrew imitation of smoke issuing from the roof was +forgotten. + +Claude made a nervous gesture, while Fagerolles repeated phlegmatically: + +'Very delicate, very delicate. But your picture, Gagniere, where is it?' + +'My picture, it is there.' + +In fact, the picture he had sent happened to be very near the little +masterpiece. It was a landscape of a pearly grey, a bit of the Seine +banks, painted carefully, pretty in tone, though somewhat heavy, and +perfectly ponderated without a sign of any revolutionary splash. + +'To think that they were idiotic enough to refuse that!' said Claude, +who had approached with an air of interest. But why, I ask you, why?' + +'Because it's realistic,' said Fagerolles, in so sharp a voice that one +could not tell whether he was gibing at the jury or at the picture. + +Meanwhile, Irma, of whom no one took any notice, was looking fixedly at +Claude with the unconscious smile which the savage loutishness of that +big fellow always brought to her lips. To think that he had not even +cared to see her again. She found him so much altered since the last +time she had seen him, so funny, and not at all prepossessing, with his +hair standing on end, and his face wan and sallow, as if he had had a +severe fever. Pained that he did not seem to notice her, she wanted to +attract his attention, and touched his arm with a familiar gesture. + +'I say, isn't that one of your friends over there, looking for you?' + +It was Dubuche, whom she knew from having seen him on one occasion at +the Cafe Baudequin. He was, with difficulty, elbowing his way through +the crowd, and staring vaguely at the sea of heads around him. But +all at once, when Claude was trying to attract his notice by dint of +gesticulations, the other turned his back to bow very low to a party of +three--the father short and fat, with a sanguine face; the mother very +thin, of the colour of wax, and devoured by anemia; and the daughter +so physically backward at eighteen, that she retained all the lank +scragginess of childhood. + +'All right!' muttered the painter. 'There he's caught now. What ugly +acquaintances the brute has! Where can he have fished up such horrors?' + +Gagniere quietly replied that he knew the strangers by sight. M. +Margaillan was a great masonry contractor, already a millionaire five or +six times over, and was making his fortune out of the great public +works of Paris, running up whole boulevards on his own account. No doubt +Dubuche had become acquainted with him through one of the architects he +worked for. + +However, Sandoz, compassionating the scragginess of the girl, whom he +kept watching, judged her in one sentence. + +'Ah! the poor little flayed kitten. One feels sorry for her.' + +'Let them alone!' exclaimed Claude, ferociously. 'They have all the +crimes of the middle classes stamped on their faces; they reek of +scrofula and idiocy. It serves them right. But hallo! our runaway friend +is making off with them. What grovellers architects are! Good riddance. +He'll have to look for us when he wants us!' + +Dubuche, who had not seen his friends, had just offered his arm to the +mother, and was going off, explaining the pictures with gestures typical +of exaggerated politeness. + +'Well, let's proceed then,' said Fagerolles; and, addressing Gagniere, +he asked, 'Do you know where they have put Claude's picture?' + +'I? no, I was looking for it--I am going with you.' + +He accompanied them, forgetting Irma Becot against the 'line.' It was +she who had wanted to visit the Salon on his arm, and he was so little +used to promenading a woman about, that he had constantly lost her on +the way, and was each time stupefied to find her again beside him, no +longer knowing how or why they were thus together. She ran after them, +and took his arm once more in order to follow Claude, who was already +passing into another gallery with Fagerolles and Sandoz. + +Then the five roamed about in Indian file, with their noses in the +air, now separated by a sudden crush, now reunited by another, and +ever carried along by the stream. An abomination of Chaine's, a 'Christ +pardoning the Woman taken in Adultery,' made them pause; it was a group +of dry figures that looked as if cut out of wood, very bony of build, +and seemingly painted with mud. But close by they admired a very fine +study of a woman, seen from behind, with her head turned sideways. The +whole show was a mixture of the best and the worst, all styles were +mingled together, the drivellers of the historical school elbowed the +young lunatics of realism, the pure simpletons were lumped together with +those who bragged about their originality. A dead Jezabel, that seemed +to have rotted in the cellars of the School of Arts, was exhibited near +a lady in white, the very curious conception of a future great artist*; +then a huge shepherd looking at the sea, a weak production, faced a +little painting of some Spaniards playing at rackets, a dash of light +of splendid intensity. Nothing execrable was wanting, neither military +scenes full of little leaden soldiers, nor wan antiquity, nor the middle +ages, smeared, as it were, with bitumen. But from amidst the incoherent +ensemble, and especially from the landscapes, all of which were painted +in a sincere, correct key, and also from the portraits, most of which +were very interesting in respect to workmanship, there came a good fresh +scent of youth, bravery and passion. If there were fewer bad pictures in +the official Salon, the average there was assuredly more commonplace and +mediocre. Here one found the smell of battle, of cheerful battle, given +jauntily at daybreak, when the bugle sounds, and when one marches to +meet the enemy with the certainty of beating him before sunset. + + * Edouard Manet.--ED. + +Claude, whose spirits had revived amidst that martial odour, grew +animated and pugnacious as he listened to the laughter of the public. He +looked as defiant, indeed, as if he had heard bullets whizzing past him. +Sufficiently discreet at the entrance of the galleries, the laughter +became more boisterous, more unrestrained, as they advanced. In the +third room the women ceased concealing their smiles behind their +handkerchiefs, while the men openly held their sides the better to ease +themselves. It was the contagious hilarity of people who had come to +amuse themselves, and who were growing gradually excited, bursting out +at a mere trifle, diverted as much by the good things as by the bad. +Folks laughed less before Chaine's Christ than before the back view of +the nude woman, who seemed to them very comical indeed. The 'Lady in +White' also stupefied people and drew them together; folks nudged each +other and went into hysterics almost; there was always a grinning group +in front of it. Each canvas thus had its particular kind of success; +people hailed each other from a distance to point out something funny, +and witticisms flew from mouth to mouth; to such a degree indeed that, +as Claude entered the fourth gallery, lashed into fury by the tempest of +laughter that was raging there as well, he all but slapped the face of +an old lady whose chuckles exasperated him. + +'What idiots!' he said, turning towards his friends. 'One feels inclined +to throw a lot of masterpieces at their heads.' + +Sandoz had become fiery also, and Fagerolles continued praising the +most dreadful daubs, which only tended to increase the laughter, while +Gagniere, at sea amid the hubbub, dragged on the delighted Irma, whose +skirts somehow wound round the legs of all the men. + +But of a sudden Jory stood before them. His fair handsome face +absolutely beamed. He cut his way through the crowd, gesticulated, and +exulted, as if over a personal victory. And the moment he perceived +Claude, he shouted: + +'Here you are at last! I have been looking for you this hour. A success, +old fellow, oh! a success--' + +'What success?' + +'Why, the success of your picture. Come, I must show it you. You'll see, +it's stunning.' + +Claude grew pale. A great joy choked him, while he pretended to receive +the news with composure. Bongrand's words came back to him. He began to +believe that he possessed genius. + +'Hallo, how are you?' continued Jory, shaking hands with the others. + +And, without more ado, he, Fagerolles and Gagniere surrounded Irma, who +smiled on them in a good-natured way. + +'Perhaps you'll tell us where the picture is,' said Sandoz, impatiently. +'Take us to it.' + +Jory assumed the lead, followed by the band. They had to fight their way +into the last gallery. But Claude, who brought up the rear, still heard +the laughter that rose on the air, a swelling clamour, the roll of a +tide near its full. And as he finally entered the room, he beheld a +vast, swarming, closely packed crowd pressing eagerly in front of his +picture. All the laughter arose, spread, and ended there. And it was his +picture that was being laughed at. + +'Eh!' repeated Jory, triumphantly, 'there's a success for you.' + +Gagniere, intimidated, as ashamed as if he himself had been slapped, +muttered: 'Too much of a success--I should prefer something different.' + +'What a fool you are,' replied Jory, in a burst of exalted conviction. +'That's what I call success. Does it matter a curse if they laugh? We +have made our mark; to-morrow every paper will talk about us.' + +'The idiots,' was all that Sandoz could gasp, choking with grief. + +Fagerolles, disinterested and dignified like a family friend following +a funeral procession, said nothing. Irma alone remained gay, thinking +it all very funny. And, with a caressing gesture, she leant against the +shoulder of the derided painter, and whispered softly in his ear: 'Don't +fret, my boy. It's all humbug, be merry all the same.' + +But Claude did not stir. An icy chill had come over him. For a +moment his heart had almost ceased to beat, so cruel had been the +disappointment And with his eyes enlarged, attracted and fixed by +a resistless force, he looked at his picture. He was surprised, and +scarcely recognised it; it certainly was not such as it had seemed to be +in his studio. It had grown yellow beneath the livid light of the linen +screens; it seemed, moreover, to have become smaller; coarser and more +laboured also; and whether it was the effect of the light in which it +now hung, or the contrast of the works beside it, at all events he now +at the first glance saw all its defects, after having remained blind +to them, as it were, for months. With a few strokes of the brush he, in +thought, altered the whole of it, deepened the distances, set a badly +drawn limb right, and modified a tone. Decidedly, the gentleman in the +velveteen jacket was worth nothing at all, he was altogether pasty and +badly seated; the only really good bit of work about him was his hand. +In the background the two little wrestlers--the fair and the dark +one--had remained too sketchy, and lacked substance; they were amusing +only to an artist's eye. But he was pleased with the trees, with the +sunny glade; and the nude woman--the woman lying on the grass appeared +to him superior to his own powers, as if some one else had painted her, +and as if he had never yet beheld her in such resplendency of life. + +He turned to Sandoz, and said simply: + +'They do right to laugh; it's incomplete. Never mind, the woman is all +right! Bongrand was not hoaxing me.' + +His friend wished to take him away, but he became obstinate, and drew +nearer instead. Now that he had judged his work, he listened and looked +at the crowd. The explosion continued--culminated in an ascending scale +of mad laughter. No sooner had visitors crossed the threshold than he +saw their jaws part, their eyes grow small, their entire faces expand; +and he heard the tempestuous puffing of the fat men, the rusty grating +jeers of the lean ones, amidst all the shrill, flute-like laughter of +the women. Opposite him, against the hand-rails, some young fellows went +into contortions, as if somebody had been tickling them. One lady had +flung herself on a seat, stifling and trying to regain breath with her +handkerchief over her mouth. Rumours of this picture, which was so very, +very funny, must have been spreading, for there was a rush from the four +corners of the Salon, bands of people arrived, jostling each other, and +all eagerness to share the fun. 'Where is it?' 'Over there.' 'Oh, what a +joke!' And the witticisms fell thicker than elsewhere. It was especially +the subject that caused merriment; people failed to understand it, +thought it insane, comical enough to make one ill with laughter. 'You +see the lady feels too hot, while the gentleman has put on his velveteen +jacket for fear of catching cold.' 'Not at all; she is already blue; the +gentleman has pulled her out of a pond, and he is resting at a distance, +holding his nose.' 'I tell you it's a young ladies' school out for a +ramble. Look at the two playing at leap-frog.' 'Hallo! washing day; +the flesh is blue; the trees are blue; he's dipped his picture in the +blueing tub!' + +Those who did not laugh flew into a rage: that bluish tinge, that novel +rendering of light seemed an insult to them. Some old gentlemen shook +their sticks. Was art to be outraged like this? One grave individual +went away very wroth, saying to his wife that he did not like practical +jokes. But another, a punctilious little man, having looked in the +catalogue for the title of the work, in order to tell his daughter, read +out the words, '_In the Open Air_,' whereupon there came a formidable +renewal of the clamour, hisses and shouts, and what not else besides. +The title sped about; it was repeated, commented on. '_In the Open Air_! +ah, yes, the open air, the nude woman in the air, everything in the air, +tra la la laire.' The affair was becoming a scandal. The crowd still +increased. People's faces grew red with congestion in the growing heat. +Each had the stupidly gaping mouth of the ignoramus who judges painting, +and between them they indulged in all the asinine ideas, all the +preposterous reflections, all the stupid spiteful jeers that the sight +of an original work can possibly elicit from bourgeois imbecility. + +At that moment, as a last blow, Claude beheld Dubuche reappear, dragging +the Margaillans along. As soon as he came in front of the picture, the +architect, ill at ease, overtaken by cowardly shame, wished to quicken +his pace and lead his party further on, pretending that he saw neither +the canvas nor his friends. But the contractor had already drawn himself +up on his short, squat legs, and was staring at the picture, and asking +aloud in his thick hoarse voice: + +'I say, who's the blockhead that painted this?' + +That good-natured bluster, that cry of a millionaire parvenu resuming +the average opinion of the assembly, increased the general merriment; +and he, flattered by his success, and tickled by the strange style of +the painting, started laughing in his turn, so sonorously that he could +be heard above all the others. This was the hallelujah, a final outburst +of the great organ of opinion. + +'Take my daughter away,' whispered pale-faced Madame Margaillan in +Dubuche's ear. + +He sprang forward and freed Regine, who had lowered her eyelids, from +the crowd; displaying in doing so as much muscular energy as if it had +been a question of saving the poor creature from imminent death. Then +having taken leave of the Margaillans at the door, with a deal of +handshaking and bows, he came towards his friends, and said straightway +to Sandoz, Fagerolles, and Gagniere: + +'What would you have? It isn't my fault--I warned him that the public +would not understand him. It's improper; yes, you may say what you like, +it's improper.' + +'They hissed Delacroix,' broke in Sandoz, white with rage, and clenching +his fists. 'They hissed Courbet. Oh, the race of enemies! Oh, the born +idiots!' + +Gagniere, who now shared this artistic vindictiveness, grew angry at the +recollection of his Sunday battles at the Pasdeloup Concerts in favour +of real music. + +'And they hiss Wagner too; they are the same crew. I recognise them. You +see that fat fellow over there--' + +Jory had to hold him back. The journalist for his part would rather have +urged on the crowd. He kept on repeating that it was famous, that there +was a hundred thousand francs' worth of advertisements in it. And Irma, +left to her own devices once more, went up to two of her friends, young +Bourse men who were among the most persistent scoffers, but whom she +began to indoctrinate, forcing them, as it were, into admiration, by +rapping them on the knuckles. + +Fagerolles, however, had not opened his lips. He kept on examining the +picture, and glancing at the crowd. With his Parisian instinct and +the elastic conscience of a skilful fellow, he at once fathomed the +misunderstanding. He was already vaguely conscious of what was wanted +for that style of painting to make the conquest of everybody--a little +trickery perhaps, some attenuations, a different choice of subject, a +milder method of execution. In the main, the influence that Claude had +always had over him persisted in making itself felt; he remained imbued +with it; it had set its stamp upon him for ever. Only he considered +Claude to be an arch-idiot to have exhibited such a thing as that. +Wasn't it stupid to believe in the intelligence of the public? What +was the meaning of that nude woman beside that gentleman who was fully +dressed? And what did those two little wrestlers in the background mean? +Yet the picture showed many of the qualities of a master. There wasn't +another bit of painting like it in the Salon! And he felt a great +contempt for that artist, so admirably endowed, who through lack of tact +made all Paris roar as if he had been the worst of daubers. + +This contempt became so strong that he was unable to hide it. In a +moment of irresistible frankness he exclaimed: + +'Look here, my dear fellow, it's your own fault, you are too stupid.' + +Claude, turning his eyes from the crowd, looked at him in silence. He +had not winced, he had only turned pale amidst the laughter, and if his +lips quivered it was merely with a slight nervous twitching; nobody knew +him, it was his work alone that was being buffeted. Then for a moment he +glanced again at his picture, and slowly inspected the other canvases in +the gallery. And amidst the collapse of his illusions, the bitter agony +of his pride, a breath of courage, a whiff of health and youth came to +him from all that gaily-brave painting which rushed with such headlong +passion to beat down classical conventionality. He was consoled and +inspirited by it all; he felt no remorse nor contrition, but, on the +contrary, was impelled to fight the popular taste still more. No doubt +there was some clumsiness and some puerility of effort in his work, but +on the other hand what a pretty general tone, what a play of light he +had thrown into it, a silvery grey light, fine and diffuse, brightened +by all the dancing sunbeams of the open air. It was as if a window +had been suddenly opened amidst all the old bituminous cookery of art, +amidst all the stewing sauces of tradition, and the sun came in and the +walls smiled under that invasion of springtide. The light note of his +picture, the bluish tinge that people had been railing at, flashed out +among the other paintings also. Was this not the expected dawn, a +new aurora rising on art? He perceived a critic who stopped without +laughing, some celebrated painters who looked surprised and grave, while +Papa Malgras, very dirty, went from picture to picture with the pout of +a wary connoisseur, and finally stopped short in front of his canvas, +motionless, absorbed. Then Claude turned round to Fagerolles, and +surprised him by this tardy reply: + +'A fellow can only be an idiot according to his own lights, my dear +chap, and it looks as if I am going to remain one. So much the better +for you if you are clever!' + +Fagerolles at once patted him on the shoulder, like a chum who had only +been in fun, and Claude allowed Sandoz to take his arm. They led him off +at last. The whole band left the Salon of the Rejected, deciding that +they would pass on their way through the gallery of architecture; for +a design for a museum by Dubuche had been accepted, and for some few +minutes he had been fidgeting and begging them with so humble a look, +that it seemed difficult indeed to deny him this satisfaction. + +'Ah!' said Jory, jocularly, on entering the gallery, 'what an ice-well! +One can breathe here.' + +They all took off their hats and wiped their foreheads, with a feeling +of relief, as if they had reached some big shady trees after a long +march in full sunlight. The gallery was empty. From the roof, shaded by +a white linen screen, there fell a soft, even, rather sad light, which +was reflected like quiescent water by the well-waxed, mirror-like floor. +On the four walls, of a faded red, hung the plans and designs in large +and small chases, edged with pale blue borders. Alone--absolutely +alone--amidst this desert stood a very hirsute gentleman, who was lost +in the contemplation of the plan of a charity home. Three ladies who +appeared became frightened and fled across the gallery with hasty steps. + +Dubuche was already showing and explaining his work to his comrades. It +was only a drawing of a modest little museum gallery, which he had sent +in with ambitious haste, contrary to custom and against the wishes +of his master, who, nevertheless, had used his influence to have it +accepted, thinking himself pledged to do so. + +'Is your museum intended for the accommodation of the paintings of the +"open air" school?' asked Fagerolles, very gravely. + +Gagniere pretended to admire the plan, nodding his head, but thinking +of something else; while Claude and Sandoz examined it with sincere +interest. + +'Not bad, old boy,' said the former. 'The ornamentation is still +bastardly traditional; but never mind; it will do.' + +Jory, becoming impatient at last, cut him short. + +'Come along, let's go, eh? I'm catching my death of cold here.' + +The band resumed its march. The worst was that to make a short cut they +had to go right through the official Salon, and they resigned themselves +to doing so, notwithstanding the oath they had taken not to set foot in +it, as a matter of protest. Cutting their way through the crowd, keeping +rigidly erect, they followed the suite of galleries, casting indignant +glances to right and left. There was none of the gay scandal of their +Salon, full of fresh tones and an exaggeration of sunlight, here. One +after the other came gilt frames full of shadows; black pretentious +things, nude figures showing yellowish in a cellar-like light, the +frippery of so-called classical art, historical, genre and landscape +painting, all showing the same conventional black grease. The works +reeked of uniform mediocrity, they were characterised by a muddy +dinginess of tone, despite their primness--the primness of impoverished, +degenerate blood. And the friends quickened their steps: they ran to +escape from that reign of bitumen, condemning everything in one lump +with their superb sectarian injustice, repeating that there was nothing +in the place worth looking at--nothing, nothing at all! + +At last they emerged from the galleries, and were going down into the +garden when they met Mahoudeau and Chaine. The former threw himself into +Claude's arms. + +'Ah, my dear fellow, your picture; what artistic temperament it shows!' + +The painter at once began to praise the 'Vintaging Girl.' + +'And you, I say, you have thrown a nice big lump at their heads!' + +But the sight of Chaine, to whom no one spoke about the 'Woman taken +in Adultery,' and who went silently wandering around, awakened Claude's +compassion. He thought there was something very sad about that execrable +painting, and the wasted life of that peasant who was a victim of +middle-class admiration. He always gave him the delight of a little +praise; so now he shook his hand cordially, exclaiming: + +'Your machine's very good too. Ah, my fine fellow, draughtsmanship has +no terrors for you!' + +'No, indeed,' declared Chaine, who had grown purple with vanity under +his black bushy beard. + +He and Mahoudeau joined the band, and the latter asked the others +whether they had seen Chambouvard's 'Sower.' It was marvellous; the +only piece of statuary worth looking at in the Salon. Thereupon they all +followed him into the garden, which the crowd was now invading. + +'There,' said Mahoudeau, stopping in the middle of the central path: +'Chambouvard is standing just in front of his "Sower."' + +In fact, a portly man stood there, solidly planted on his fat legs, and +admiring his handiwork. With his head sunk between his shoulders, he had +the heavy, handsome features of a Hindu idol. He was said to be the son +of a veterinary surgeon of the neighbourhood of Amiens. At forty-five +he had already produced twenty masterpieces: statues all simplicity +and life, flesh modern and palpitating, kneaded by a workman of +genius, without any pretension to refinement; and all this was chance +production, for he furnished work as a field bears harvest, good one +day, bad the next, in absolute ignorance of what he created. He carried +the lack of critical acumen to such a degree that he made no distinction +between the most glorious offspring of his hands and the detestably +grotesque figures which now and then he chanced to put together. Never +troubled by nervous feverishness, never doubting, always solid and +convinced, he had the pride of a god. + +'Wonderful, the "Sower"!' whispered Claude. 'What a figure! and what an +attitude!' + +Fagerolles, who had not looked at the statue, was highly amused by the +great man, and the string of young, open-mouthed disciples whom as usual +he dragged at his tail. + +'Just look at them, one would think they are taking the sacrament, 'pon +my word--and he himself, eh? What a fine brutish face he has!' + +Isolated, and quite at his ease, amidst the general curiosity, +Chambouvard stood there wondering, with the stupefied air of a man who +is surprised at having produced such a masterpiece. He seemed to behold +it for the first time, and was unable to get over his astonishment. Then +an expression of delight gradually stole over his broad face, he nodded +his head, and burst into soft, irresistible laughter, repeating a dozen +times, 'It's comical, it's really comical!' + +His train of followers went into raptures, while he himself could find +nothing more forcible to express how much he worshipped himself. All at +once there was a slight stir. Bongrand, who had been walking about +with his hands behind his back, glancing vaguely around him, had just +stumbled on Chambouvard, and the public, drawing back, whispered, and +watched the two celebrated artists shaking hands; the one short and of +a sanguine temperament, the other tall and restless. Some expressions of +good-fellowship were overheard. 'Always fresh marvels.' 'Of course! And +you, nothing this year?' 'No, nothing; I am resting, seeking--' +'Come, you joker! There's no need to seek, the thing comes by itself.' +'Good-bye.' 'Good-bye.' And Chambouvard, followed by his court, was +already moving slowly away among the crowd, with the glances of a king, +who enjoys life, while Bongrand, who had recognised Claude and his +friends, approached them with outstretched feverish hands, and called +attention to the sculptor with a nervous jerk of the chin, saying, +'There's a fellow I envy! Ah! to be confident of always producing +masterpieces!' + +He complimented Mahoudeau on his 'Vintaging Girl'; showed himself +paternal to all of them, with that broad-minded good-nature of his, the +free and easy manner of an old Bohemian of the romantic school, who had +settled down and was decorated. Then, turning to Claude: + +'Well, what did I tell you? Did you see upstairs? You have become the +chief of a school.' + +'Ah! yes,' replied Claude. 'They are giving it me nicely. You are the +master of us all.' + +But Bongrand made his usual gesture of vague suffering and went off, +saying, 'Hold your tongue! I am not even my own master.' + +For a few moments longer the band wandered through the garden. They +had gone back to look at the 'Vintaging Girl,' when Jory noticed that +Gagniere no longer had Irma Becot on his arm. Gagniere was stupefied; +where the deuce could he have lost her? But when Fagerolles had told him +that she had gone off in the crowd with two gentlemen, he recovered his +composure, and followed the others, lighter of heart now that he was +relieved of that girl who had bewildered him. + +People now only moved about with difficulty. All the seats were taken by +storm; groups blocked up the paths, where the promenaders paused every +now and then, flowing back around the successful bits of bronze and +marble. From the crowded buffet there arose a loud buzzing, a clatter +of saucers and spoons which mingled with the throb of life pervading +the vast nave. The sparrows had flown up to the forest of iron girders +again, and one could hear their sharp little chirps, the twittering with +which they serenaded the setting sun, under the warm panes of the glass +roof. The atmosphere, moreover, had become heavy, there was a damp +greenhouse-like warmth; the air, stationary as it was, had an odour as +of humus, freshly turned over. And rising above the garden throng, +the din of the first-floor galleries, the tramping of feet on their +iron-girdered flooring still rolled on with the clamour of a tempest +beating against a cliff. + +Claude, who had a keen perception of that rumbling storm, ended by +hearing nothing else; it had been let loose and was howling in his +ears. It was the merriment of the crowd whose jeers and laughter swept +hurricane-like past his picture. With a weary gesture he exclaimed: + +'Come, what are we messing about here for? I sha'n't take anything at +the refreshment bar, it reeks of the Institute. Let's go and have a +glass of beer outside, eh?' + +They all went out, with sinking legs and tired faces, expressive of +contempt. Once outside, on finding themselves again face to face with +healthy mother Nature in her springtide season, they breathed noisily +with an air of delight. It had barely struck four o'clock, the slanting +sun swept along the Champs Elysees and everything flared: the serried +rows of carriages, like the fresh foliage of the trees, and the +sheaf-like fountains which spouted up and whirled away in golden dust. +With a sauntering step they went hesitatingly down the central avenue, +and finally stranded in a little cafe, the Pavillon de la Concorde, on +the left, just before reaching the Place. The place was so small that +they sat down outside it at the edge of the footway, despite the chill +which fell from a vault of leaves, already fully grown and gloomy. +But beyond the four rows of chestnut-trees, beyond the belt of verdant +shade, they could see the sunlit roadway of the main avenue where Paris +passed before them as in a nimbus, the carriages with their wheels +radiating like stars, the big yellow omnibuses, looking even more +profusely gilded than triumphal chariots, the horsemen whose steeds +seemed to raise clouds of sparks, and the foot passengers whom the light +enveloped in splendour. + +And during nearly three hours, with his beer untasted before him, Claude +went on talking and arguing amid a growing fever, broken down as he was +in body, and with his mind full of all the painting he had just seen. It +was the usual winding up of their visit to the Salon, though this year +they were more impassioned on account of the liberal measure of the +Emperor. + +'Well, and what of it, if the public does laugh?' cried Claude. 'We must +educate the public, that's all. In reality it's a victory. Take away two +hundred grotesque canvases, and our Salon beats theirs. We have courage +and audacity--we are the future. Yes, yes, you'll see it later on; we +shall kill their Salon. We shall enter it as conquerors, by dint of +producing masterpieces. Laugh, laugh, you big stupid Paris--laugh until +you fall on your knees before us!' + +And stopping short, he pointed prophetically to the triumphal avenue, +where the luxury and happiness of the city went rolling by in the +sunlight. His arms stretched out till they embraced even the Place de +la Concorde, which could be seen slantwise from where they sat under the +trees--the Place de la Concorde, with the plashing water of one of its +fountains, a strip of balustrade, and two of its statues--Rouen, with +the gigantic bosom, and Lille, thrusting forward her huge bare foot. + +'"In the open air"--it amuses them, eh?' he resumed. 'All right, since +they are bent on it, the "open air" then, the school of the "open air!" +Eh! it was a thing strictly between us, it didn't exist yesterday beyond +the circle of a few painters. But now they throw the word upon the +winds, and they found the school. Oh! I'm agreeable. Let it be the +school of the "open air!"' + +Jory slapped his thighs. + +'Didn't I tell you? I felt sure of making them bite with those articles +of mine, the idiots that they are. Ah! how we'll plague them now.' + +Mahoudeau also was singing victory, constantly dragging in his +'Vintaging Girl,' the daring points of which he explained to the silent +Chaine, the only one who listened to him; while Gagniere, with the +sternness of a timid man waxing wroth over questions of pure theory, +spoke of guillotining the Institute; and Sandoz, with the glowing +sympathy of a hard worker, and Dubuche, giving way to the contagion +of revolutionary friendship, became exasperated, and struck the table, +swallowing up Paris with each draught of beer. Fagerolles, very calm, +retained his usual smile. He had accompanied them for the sake of +amusement, for the singular pleasure which he found in urging his +comrades into farcical affairs that were bound to turn out badly. At +the very moment when he was lashing their spirit of revolt, he himself +formed the firm resolution to work in future for the Prix de Rome. That +day had decided him; he thought it idiotic to compromise his prospects +any further. + +The sun was declining on the horizon, there was now only a returning +stream of carriages, coming back from the Bois in the pale golden +shimmer of the sunset. And the exodus from the Salon must have been +nearly over; a long string of pedestrians passed by, gentlemen who +looked like critics, each with a catalogue under his arm. + +But all at once Gagniere became enthusiastic: 'Ah! Courajod, there was +one who had his share in inventing landscape painting! Have you seen his +"Pond of Gagny" at the Luxembourg?' + +'A marvel!' exclaimed Claude. 'It was painted thirty years ago, and +nothing more substantial has been turned out since. Why is it left at +the Luxembourg? It ought to be in the Louvre.' + +'But Courajod isn't dead,' said Fagerolles. + +'What! Courajod isn't dead! No one ever sees him or speaks of him now.' + +There was general stupefaction when Fagerolles assured them that the +great landscape painter, now seventy years of age, lived somewhere in +the neighbourhood of Montmartre, in a little house among his fowls, +ducks, and dogs. So one might outlive one's own glory! To think that +there were such melancholy instances of old artists disappearing before +their death! Silence fell upon them all; they began to shiver when they +perceived Bongrand pass by on a friend's arm, with a congestive face +and a nervous air as he waved his hand to them; while almost immediately +behind him, surrounded by his disciples, came Chambouvard, laughing very +loudly, and tapping his heels on the pavement with the air of absolute +mastery that comes from confidence in immortality. + +'What! are you going?' said Mahoudeau to Chaine, who was rising from his +chair. + +The other mumbled some indistinct words in his beard, and went off after +distributing handshakes among the party. + +'I know,' said Jory to Mahoudeau. 'I believe he has a weakness for your +neighbour, the herbalist woman. I saw his eyes flash all at once; it +comes upon him like toothache. Look how he's running over there.' + +The sculptor shrugged his shoulders amidst the general laughter. + +But Claude did not hear. He was now discussing architecture with +Dubuche. No doubt, that plan of a museum gallery which he exhibited +wasn't bad; only there was nothing new in it. It was all so much patient +marquetry of the school formulas. Ought not all the arts to advance +in one line of battle? Ought not the evolution that was transforming +literature, painting, even music itself, to renovate architecture as +well? If ever the architecture of a period was to have a style of its +own, it was assuredly the architecture of the period they would soon be +entering, a new period when they would find the ground freshly swept, +ready for the rebuilding of everything. Down with the Greek temples! +there was no reason why they should continue to exist under our sky, +amid our society! down with the Gothic cathedrals, since faith in legend +was dead! down with the delicate colonnades, the lace-like work of +the Renaissance--that revival of the antique grafted on +mediaevalism--precious art-jewellery, no doubt, but in which democracy +could not dwell. And he demanded, he called with violent gestures for an +architectural formula suited to democracy; such work in stone as would +express its tenets; edifices where it would really be at home; something +vast and strong, great and simple at the same time; the something that +was already being indicated in the new railway stations and markets, +whose ironwork displayed such solid elegance, but purified and raised +to a standard of beauty, proclaiming the grandeur of the intellectual +conquests of the age. + +'Ah! yes, ah! yes,' repeated Dubuche, catching Claude's enthusiasm; +'that's what I want to accomplish, you'll see some day. Give me time to +succeed, and when I'm my own master--ah! when I'm my own master.' + +Night was coming on apace, and Claude was growing more and more animated +and passionate, displaying a fluency, an eloquence which his comrades +had not known him to possess. They all grew excited in listening to him, +and ended by becoming noisily gay over the extraordinary witticisms +he launched forth. He himself, having returned to the subject of his +picture, again discussed it with a deal of gaiety, caricaturing the +crowd he had seen looking at it, and imitating the imbecile laughter. +Along the avenue, now of an ashy hue, one only saw the shadows of +infrequent vehicles dart by. The side-walk was quite black; an icy chill +fell from the trees. Nothing broke the stillness but the sound of song +coming from a clump of verdure behind the cafe; there was some rehearsal +at the Concert de l'Horloge, for one heard the sentimental voice of a +girl trying a love-song. + +'Ah! how they amused me, the idiots!' exclaimed Claude, in a last burst. +'Do you know, I wouldn't take a hundred thousand francs for my day's +pleasure!' + +Then he relapsed into silence, thoroughly exhausted. Nobody had any +saliva left; silence reigned; they all shivered in the icy gust that +swept by. And they separated in a sort of bewilderment, shaking hands +in a tired fashion. Dubuche was going to dine out; Fagerolles had an +appointment; in vain did Jory, Mahoudeau, and Gagniere try to drag +Claude to Foucart's, a twenty-five sous' restaurant; Sandoz was already +taking him away on his arm, feeling anxious at seeing him so excited. + +'Come along, I promised my mother to be back for dinner. You'll take a +bit with us. It will be nice; we'll finish the day together.' + +They both went down the quay, past the Tuileries, walking side by side +in fraternal fashion. But at the Pont des Saints-Peres the painter +stopped short. + +'What, are you going to leave me?' exclaimed Sandoz. + +'Why, I thought you were going to dine with me?' + +'No, thanks; I've too bad a headache--I'm going home to bed.' + +And he obstinately clung to this excuse. + +'All right, old man,' said Sandoz at last, with a smile. 'One doesn't +see much of you nowadays. You live in mystery. Go on, old boy, I don't +want to be in your way.' + +Claude restrained a gesture of impatience; and, letting his friend cross +the bridge, he went his way along the quays by himself. He walked on +with his arms hanging beside him, with his face turned towards the +ground, seeing nothing, but taking long strides like a somnambulist who +is guided by instinct. On the Quai de Bourbon, in front of his door, he +looked up, full of surprise on seeing a cab waiting at the edge of the +foot pavement, and barring his way. And it was with the same automatical +step that he entered the doorkeeper's room to take his key. + +'I have given it to that lady,' called Madame Joseph from the back of +the room. 'She is upstairs.' + +'What lady?' he asked in bewilderment. + +'That young person. Come, you know very well, the one who always comes.' + +He had not the remotest idea whom she meant. Still, in his utter +confusion of mind, he decided to go upstairs. The key was in the door, +which he slowly opened and closed again. + +For a moment Claude stood stock still. Darkness had invaded the studio; +a violet dimness, a melancholy gloom fell from the large window, +enveloping everything. He could no longer plainly distinguish either +the floor, or the furniture, or the sketches; everything that was lying +about seemed to be melting in the stagnant waters of a pool. But on +the edge of the couch there loomed a dark figure, stiff with waiting, +anxious and despairing amid the last gasp of daylight. It was Christine; +he recognised her. + +She held out her hands, and murmured in a low, halting voice: + +'I have been here for three hours; yes, for three hours, all alone, and +listening. I took a cab on leaving there, and I only wanted to stay a +minute, and get back as soon as possible. But I should have stayed all +night; I could not go away without shaking hands with you.' + +She continued, and told him of her mad desire to see the picture; her +prank of going to the Salon, and how she had tumbled into it amidst the +storm of laughter, amidst the jeers of all those people. It was she whom +they had hissed like that; it was on herself that they had spat. And +seized with wild terror, distracted with grief and shame, she had fled, +as if she could feel that laughter lashing her like a whip, until the +blood flowed. But she now forgot about herself in her concern for +him, upset by the thought of the grief he must feel, for her womanly +sensibility magnified the bitterness of the repulse, and she was eager +to console. + +'Oh, friend, don't grieve! I wished to see and tell you that they are +jealous of it all, that I found the picture very nice, and that I feel +very proud and happy at having helped you--at being, if ever so little, +a part of it.' + +Still, motionless, he listened to her as she stammered those tender +words in an ardent voice, and suddenly he sank down at her feet, +letting his head fall upon her knees, and bursting into tears. All his +excitement of the afternoon, all the bravery he had shown amidst the +jeering, all his gaiety and violence now collapsed, in a fit of sobs +which well nigh choked him. From the gallery where the laughter had +buffeted him, he heard it pursuing him through the Champs Elysees, then +along the banks of the Seine, and now in his very studio. His strength +was utterly spent; he felt weaker than a child; and rolling his head +from one side to another he repeated in a stifled voice: + +'My God! how I do suffer!' + +Then she, with both hands, raised his face to her lips in a transport of +passion. She kissed him, and with her warm breath she blew to his very +heart the words: 'Be quiet, be quiet, I love you!' + +They adored each other; it was inevitable. Near them, on the centre of +the table, the lilac she had sent him that morning embalmed the night +air, and, alone shiny with lingering light, the scattered particles of +gold leaf, wafted from the frame of the big picture, twinkled like a +swarming of stars. + + + + +VI + +THE very next morning, at seven o'clock, Christine was at the studio, +her face still flushed by the falsehood which she had told Madame +Vanzade about a young friend from Clermont whom she was to meet at the +station, and with whom she should spend the day. + +Claude, overjoyed by the idea of spending a whole day with her, wanted +to take her into the country, far away under the glorious sunlight, so +as to have her entirely to himself. She was delighted; they scampered +off like lunatics, and reached the St. Lazare Station just in time to +catch the Havre train. He knew, beyond Mantes, a little village called +Bennecourt, where there was an artists' inn which he had at times +invaded with some comrades; and careless as to the two hours' rail, he +took her to lunch there, just as he would have taken her to Asnieres. +She made very merry over this journey, to which there seemed no end. +So much the better if it were to take them to the end of the world! It +seemed to them as if evening would never come. + +At ten o'clock they alighted at Bonnieres; and there they took the +ferry--an old ferry-boat that creaked and grated against its chain--for +Bennecourt is situated on the opposite bank of the Seine. It was a +splendid May morning, the rippling waters were spangled with gold in +the sunlight, the young foliage showed delicately green against the +cloudless azure. And, beyond the islets situated at this point of the +river, how delightful it was to find the country inn, with its little +grocery business attached, its large common room smelling of soapsuds, +and its spacious yard full of manure, on which the ducks disported +themselves. + +'Hallo, Faucheur! we have come to lunch. An omelette, some sausages, and +some cheese, eh?' + +'Are you going to stay the night, Monsieur Claude?' + +'No, no; another time. And some white wine; eh? you know that pinky +wine, that grates a bit in the throat.' + +Christine had already followed mother Faucheur to the barn-yard, and +when the latter came back with her eggs, she asked Claude with her +artful peasant's laugh: + +'And so now you're married?' + +'Well,' replied the painter without hesitation, 'it looks like it since +I'm with my wife.' + +The lunch was exquisite: the omelette overdone, the sausages too greasy, +and the bread so hard that he had to cut it into fingers for Christine +lest she should hurt her wrist. They emptied two bottles of wine, and +began a third, becoming so gay and noisy that they ended by feeling +bewildered in the long room, where they partook of the meal all alone. +She, with her cheeks aflame, declared that she was tipsy; it had never +happened to her before, and she thought it very funny. Oh! so funny, and +she burst into uncontrollable laughter. + +'Let us get a breath of air,' she said at last. + +'Yes, let's take a stroll. We must start back at four o'clock; so we +have three hours before us.' + +They went up the village of Bennecourt, whose yellow houses straggle +along the river bank for about a couple of thousand yards. All the +villagers were in the fields; they only met three cows, led by a little +girl. He, with an outstretched arm, told her all about the locality; +seemed to know whither he was going, and when they had reached the last +house--an old building, standing on the bank of the Seine, just opposite +the slopes of Jeufosse--turned round it, and entered a wood of oak +trees. It was like the end of the world, roofed in with foliage, through +which the sun alone penetrated in narrow tongues of flame. And there +they could stroll and talk and kiss in freedom. + +When at last it became necessary for them to retrace their steps, +they found a peasant standing at the open doorway of the house by the +wood-side. Claude recognised the man and called to him: + +'Hallo, Porrette! Does that shanty belong to you?' + +At this the old fellow, with tears in his eyes, related that it did, +and that his tenants had gone away without paying him, leaving their +furniture behind. And he invited them inside. + +'There's no harm in looking; you may know somebody who would like to +take the place. There are many Parisians who'd be glad of it. Three +hundred francs a year, with the furniture; it's for nothing, eh?' + +They inquisitively followed him inside. It was a rambling old place that +seemed to have been cut out of a barn. Downstairs they found an immense +kitchen and a dining-room, in which one might have given a dance; +upstairs were two rooms also, so vast that one seemed lost in them. +As for the furniture, it consisted of a walnut bedstead in one of the +rooms, and of a table and some household utensils in the kitchen. But +in front of the house the neglected garden was planted with magnificent +apricot trees, and overgrown with large rose-bushes in full bloom; while +at the back there was a potato field reaching as far as the oak wood, +and surrounded by a quick-set hedge. + +'I'd leave the potatoes as they are,' said old Porrette. + +Claude and Christine looked at each other with one of those sudden +cravings for solitude and forgetfulness common to lovers. Ah! how sweet +it would be to love one another there in the depths of that nook, so +far away from everybody else! But they smiled. Was such a thing to be +thought of? They had barely time to catch the train that was to take +them back to Paris. And the old peasant, who was Madame Faucheur's +father, accompanied them along the river bank, and as they were stepping +into the ferry-boat, shouted to them, after quite an inward struggle: + +'You know, I'll make it two hundred and fifty francs--send me some +people.' + +On reaching Paris, Claude accompanied Christine to Madame Vanzade's +door. They had grown very sad. They exchanged a long handshake, silent +and despairing, not daring to kiss each other there. + +A life of torment then began. In the course of a fortnight she was only +able to call on three occasions; and she arrived panting, having but a +few minutes at her disposal, for it so happened that the old lady had +just then become very exacting. Claude questioned her, feeling uneasy +at seeing her look so pale and out of sorts, with her eyes bright with +fever. Never had that pious house, that vault, without air or light, +where she died of boredom, caused her so much suffering. Her fits of +giddiness had come upon her again; the want of exercise made the blood +throb in her temples. She owned to him that she had fainted one evening +in her room, as if she had been suddenly strangled by a leaden hand. +Still she did not say a word against her employer; on the contrary, she +softened on speaking of her: the poor creature, so old and so infirm, +and so kind-hearted, who called her daughter! She felt as if she were +committing a wicked act each time that she forsook her to hurry to her +lover's. + +Two more weeks went by, and the falsehoods with which Christine had to +buy, as it were, each hour of liberty became intolerable to her. She +loved, she would have liked to proclaim it aloud, and her feelings +revolted at having to hide her love like a crime, at having to lie +basely, like a servant afraid of being sent away. + +At last, one evening in the studio, at the moment when she was leaving, +she threw herself with a distracted gesture into Claude's arms, sobbing +with suffering and passion. 'Ah! I cannot, I cannot--keep me with you; +prevent me from going back.' + +He had caught hold of her, and was almost smothering her with kisses. + +'You really love me, then! Oh, my darling! But I am so very poor, and +you would lose everything. Can I allow you to forego everything like +this?' + +She sobbed more violently still; her halting words were choked by her +tears. + +'The money, eh? which she might leave me? Do you think I calculate? I +have never thought of it, I swear it to you! Ah! let her keep everything +and let me be free! I have no ties, no relatives; can't I be allowed to +do as I like?' + +Then, in a last sob of agony: 'Ah, you are right; it's wrong to desert +the poor woman. Ah! I despise myself. I wish I had the strength. But I +love you too much, I suffer too much; surely you won't let me die?' + +'Oh!' he cried in a passionate transport. 'Let others die, there are but +we two on earth.' + +It was all so much madness. Christine left Madame Vanzade in the most +brutal fashion. She took her trunk away the very next morning. She and +Claude had at once remembered the deserted old house at Bennecourt, the +giant rose-bushes, the immense rooms. Ah! to go away, to go away without +the loss of an hour, to live at the world's end in all the bliss of +their passion! She clapped her hands for very joy. He, still smarting +from his defeat, at the Salon, and anxious to recover from it, longed +for complete rest in the country; yonder he would find the real 'open +air,' he would work away with grass up to his neck and bring back +masterpieces. In a couple of days everything was ready, the studio +relinquished, the few household chattels conveyed to the railway +station. Besides, they met with a slice of luck, for Papa Malgras gave +some five hundred francs for a score of sketches, selected from among +the waifs and strays of the removal. Thus they would be able to live +like princes. Claude still had his income of a thousand francs a year; +Christine, too, had saved some money, besides having her outfit and +dresses. And away they went; it was perfect flight, friends avoided and +not even warned by letter, Paris despised and forsaken amid laughter +expressive of relief. + +June was drawing to a close, and the rain fell in torrents during the +week they spent in arranging their new home. They discovered that old +Porrette had taken away half the kitchen utensils before signing the +agreement. But that matter did not affect them. They took a delight +in dabbling about amidst the showers; they made journeys three leagues +long, as far as Vernon, to buy plates and saucepans, which they brought +back with them in triumph. At last they got shipshape, occupying one of +the upstairs rooms, abandoning the other to the mice, and transforming +the dining-room into a studio; and, above all, as happy as children +at taking their meals in the kitchen off a deal table, near the hearth +where the soup sang in the pot. To wait upon them they engaged a girl +from the village, who came every morning and went home at night. She +was called Melie, she was a niece of the Faucheurs, and her stupidity +delighted them. In fact, one could not have found a greater idiot in the +whole region. + +The sun having shown itself again, some delightful days followed, the +months slipping away amid monotonous felicity. They never knew the date, +they were for ever mixing up the days of the week. Every day, after the +second breakfast, came endless strolls, long walks across the tableland +planted with apple trees, over the grassy country roads, along the banks +of the Seine through the meadows as far as La Roche-Guyon; and there +were still more distant explorations, perfect journeys on the opposite +side of the river, amid the cornfields of Bonnieres and Jeufosse. A +person who was obliged to leave the neighbourhood sold them an old boat +for thirty francs, so that they also had the river at their disposal, +and, like savages, became seized with a passion for it, living on its +waters for days together, rowing about, discovering new countries, and +lingering for hours under the willows on the banks, or in little creeks, +dark with shade. Betwixt the eyots scattered along the stream there was +a shifting and mysterious city, a network of passages along which, with +the lower branches of the trees caressingly brushing against them, they +softly glided, alone, as it were, in the world, with the ringdoves and +the kingfishers. He at times had to spring out upon the sand, with bare +legs, to push off the skiff. She bravely plied the oars, bent on forcing +her way against the strongest currents, and exulting in her strength. +And in the evening they ate cabbage soup in the kitchen, laughing at +Melie's stupidity, as they had laughed at it the day before; to begin +the morrow just in the same fashion. + +Every evening, however, Christine said to Claude: + +'Now, my dear, you must promise me one thing--that you'll set to work +to-morrow.' + +'Yes, to-morrow; I give you my word.' + +'And you know if you don't, I shall really get angry this time. Is it I +who prevent you?' + +'You! what an idea. Since I came here to work--dash it all! you'll see +to-morrow.' + +On the morrow they started off again in the skiff; she looked at him +with an embarrassed smile when she saw that he took neither canvas nor +colours. Then she kissed him, laughing, proud of her power, moved by +the constant sacrifice he made to her. And then came fresh affectionate +remonstrances: 'To-morrow, ah! to-morrow she would tie him to his +easel!' + +However, Claude did make some attempts at work. He began a study of +the slopes of Jeufosse, with the Seine in the foreground; but Christine +followed him to the islet where he had installed himself, and sat down +on the grass close to him with parted lips, her eyes watching the +blue sky. And she looked so pretty there amidst the verdure, in that +solitude, where nothing broke the silence but the rippling of the water, +that every minute he relinquished his palette to nestle by her side. On +another occasion, he was altogether charmed by an old farmhouse, shaded +by some antiquated apple trees which had grown to the size of oaks. He +came thither two days in succession, but on the third Christine took him +to the market at Bonnieres to buy some hens. The next day was also lost; +the canvas had dried; then he grew impatient in trying to work at it +again, and finally abandoned it altogether. Throughout the warm weather +he thus made but a pretence to work--barely roughing out little bits of +painting, which he laid aside on the first pretext, without an effort at +perseverance. His passion for toil, that fever of former days that had +made him rise at daybreak to battle with his rebellious art, seemed to +have gone; a reaction of indifference and laziness had set in, and he +vegetated delightfully, like one who is recovering from some severe +illness. + +But Christine lived indeed. All the latent passion of her nature burst +into being. She was indeed an amorosa, a child of nature and of love. + +Thus their days passed by and solitude did not prove irksome to them. +No desire for diversion, of paying or receiving visits, as yet made them +look beyond themselves. Such hours as she did not spend near him, she +employed in household cares, turning the house upside down with great +cleanings, which Melie executed under her supervision, and falling into +fits of reckless activity, which led her to engage in personal combats +with the few saucepans in the kitchen. The garden especially occupied +her; provided with pruning shears, careless of the thorns which +lacerated her hands, she reaped harvests of roses from the giant +rose-bushes; and she gave herself a thorough back-ache in gathering +the apricots, which she sold for two hundred francs to some of the +Englishmen who scoured the district every year. She was very proud of +her bargain, and seriously talked of living upon the garden produce. +Claude cared less for gardening; he had placed his couch in the large +dining-room, transformed into a studio; and he stretched himself upon +it, and through the open window watched her sow and plant. There was +profound peace, the certainty that nobody would come, that no ring at +the bell would disturb them at any moment of the day. Claude carried +this fear of coming into contact with people so far as to avoid passing +Faucheur's inn, for he dreaded lest he might run against some party +of chums from Paris. Not a soul came, however, throughout the livelong +summer. And every night as they went upstairs, he repeated that, after +all, it was deuced lucky. + +There was, however, a secret sore in the depths of his happiness. +After their flight from Paris, Sandoz had learnt their address, and had +written to ask whether he might go to see Claude, but the latter had +not answered the letter, and so coolness had followed, and the old +friendship seemed dead. Christine was grieved at this, for she realised +well enough that he had broken off all intercourse with his comrades for +her sake. She constantly reverted to the subject; she did not want to +estrange him from his friends, and indeed she insisted that he should +invite them. But, though he promised to set matters right, he did +nothing of the kind. It was all over; what was the use of raking up the +past? + +However, money having become scarce towards the latter days of July, he +was obliged to go to Paris to sell Papa Malgras half a dozen of his old +studies, and Christine, on accompanying him to the station, made him +solemnly promise that he would go to see Sandoz. In the evening she was +there again, at the Bonnieres Station, waiting for him. + +'Well, did you see him? did you embrace each other?' + +He began walking by her side in silent embarrassment. Then he answered +in a husky voice: + +'No; I hadn't time.' + +Thereupon, sorely distressed, with two big tears welling to her eyes, +she replied: + +'You grieve me very much indeed.' + +Then, as they were walking under the trees, he kissed her, crying also, +and begging her not to make him sadder still. 'Could people alter life? +Did it not suffice that they were happy together?' + +During the earlier months they only once met some strangers. This +occurred a little above Bennecourt, in the direction of La Roche-Guyon. +They were strolling along a deserted, wooded lane, one of those +delightful dingle paths of the region, when, at a turning, they came +upon three middle-class people out for a walk--father, mother, and +daughter. It precisely happened that, believing themselves to be quite +alone, Claude and Christine had passed their arms round each other's +waists; she, bending towards him, was offering her lips; while he +laughingly protruded his; and their surprise was so sudden that they did +not change their attitude, but, still clasped together, advanced at the +same slow pace. The amazed family remained transfixed against one of +the side banks, the father stout and apoplectic, the mother as thin as +a knife-blade, and the daughter, a mere shadow, looking like a sick bird +moulting--all three of them ugly, moreover, and but scantily provided +with the vitiated blood of their race. They looked disgraceful amidst +the throbbing life of nature, beneath the glorious sun. And all at once +the sorry girl, who with stupefied eyes thus watched love passing by, +was pushed off by her father, dragged along by her mother, both beside +themselves, exasperated by the sight of that embrace, and asking whether +there was no longer any country police, while, still without hurrying, +the lovers went off triumphantly in their glory. + +Claude, however, was wondering and searching his memory. Where had he +previously seen those heads, so typical of bourgeois degeneracy, those +flattened, crabbed faces reeking of millions earned at the expense of +the poor? It was assuredly in some important circumstance of his life. +And all at once he remembered; they were the Margaillans, the man was +that building contractor whom Dubuche had promenaded through the Salon +of the Rejected, and who had laughed in front of his picture with the +roaring laugh of a fool. A couple of hundred steps further on, as he and +Christine emerged from the lane and found themselves in front of a large +estate, where a big white building stood, girt with fine trees, they +learnt from an old peasant woman that La Richaudiere, as it was called, +had belonged to the Margaillans for three years past. They had paid +fifteen hundred thousand francs for it, and had just spent more than a +million in improvements. + +'That part of the country won't see much of us in future,' said Claude, +as they returned to Bennecourt. 'Those monsters spoil the landscape.' + +Towards the end of the summer, an important event changed the current +of their lives. Christine was _enceinte_. At first, both she and Claude +felt amazed and worried. Now for the first time they seemed to dread +some terrible complications in their life. Later on, however, they +gradually grew accustomed to the thought of what lay before them and +made all necessary preparations. But the winter proved a terribly +inclement one, and Christine was compelled to remain indoors, whilst +Claude went walking all alone over the frost-bound, clanking roads. +And he, finding himself in solitude during these walks, after months of +constant companionship, wondered at the way his life had turned, against +his own will, as it were. He had never wished for home life even with +her; had he been consulted, he would have expressed his horror of it; +it had come about, however, and could not be undone, for--without +mentioning the child--he was one of those who lack the courage to break +off. This fate had evidently been in store for him, he felt; he had been +destined to succumb to the first woman who did not feel ashamed of him. +The hard ground resounded beneath his wooden-soled shoes, and the blast +froze the current of his reverie, which lingered on vague thoughts, on +his luck of having, at any rate, met with a good and honest girl, on how +cruelly he would have suffered had it been otherwise. And then his love +came back to him; he hurried home to take Christine in his trembling +arms as if he had been in danger of losing her. + +The child, a boy, was born about the middle of February, and at once +began to revolutionise the home, for Christine, who had shown herself +such an active housewife, proved to be a very awkward nurse. She failed +to become motherly, despite her kind heart and her distress at the sight +of the slightest pimple. She soon grew weary, gave in, and called for +Melie, who only made matters worse by her gaping stupidity. The father +had to come to the rescue, and proved still more awkward than the two +women. The discomfort which needlework had caused Christine of old, her +want of aptitude as regards the usual occupations of her sex, revived +amid the cares that the baby required. The child was ill-kept, and grew +up anyhow in the garden, or in the large rooms left untidy in sheer +despair, amidst broken toys, uncleanliness and destruction. And when +matters became too bad altogether, Christine could only throw herself +upon the neck of the man she loved. She was pre-eminently an amorosa and +would have sacrificed her son for his father twenty times over. + +It was at this period, however, that Claude resumed work a little. The +winter was drawing to a close; he did not know how to spend the bright +sunny mornings, since Christine could no longer go out before mid-day +on account of Jacques, whom they had named thus after his maternal +grandfather, though they neglected to have him christened. Claude worked +in the garden, at first, in a random way: made a rough sketch of the +lines of apricot trees, roughed out the giant rose-bushes, composed some +bits of 'still life,' out of four apples, a bottle, and a stoneware +jar, disposed on a table-napkin. This was only to pass his time. But +afterwards he warmed to his work; the idea of painting a figure in +the full sunlight ended by haunting him; and from that moment his wife +became his victim, she herself agreeable enough, offering herself, +feeling happy at affording him pleasure, without as yet understanding +what a terrible rival she was giving herself in art. He painted her a +score of times, dressed in white, in red, amidst the verdure, standing, +walking, or reclining on the grass, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, +or bare-headed, under a parasol, the cherry-tinted silk of which +steeped her features in a pinky glow. He never felt wholly satisfied; +he scratched out the canvases after two or three sittings, and at once +began them afresh, obstinately sticking to the same subject. Only a few +studies, incomplete, but charmingly indicated in a vigorous style, +were saved from the palette-knife, and hung against the walls of the +dining-room. + +And after Christine it became Jacques' turn to pose. They stripped +him to the skin, like a little St. John the Baptist, on warm days, and +stretched him on a blanket, where he was told not to stir. But devil a +bit could they make him keep still. Getting frisky, in the sunlight, he +crowed and kicked with his tiny pink feet in the air, rolling about and +turning somersaults. The father, after laughing, became angry, and swore +at the tiresome mite, who would not keep quiet for a minute. Who ever +heard of trifling with painting? Then the mother made big eyes at the +little one, and held him while the painter quickly sketched an arm or a +leg. Claude obstinately kept at it for weeks, tempted as he felt by the +pretty tones of that childish skin. It was not as a father, but as an +artist, that he gloated over the boy as the subject for a masterpiece, +blinking his eyes the while, and dreaming of some wonderful picture he +would paint. And he renewed the experiment again and again, watching the +lad for days, and feeling furious when the little scamp would not go to +sleep at times when he, Claude, might so well have painted him. + +One day, when Jacques was sobbing, refusing to keep still, Christine +gently remarked: + +'My dear, you tire the poor pet.' + +At this Claude burst forth, full of remorse: + +'After all! you are right; I'm a fool with this painting of mine. +Children are not intended for that sort of thing.' + +The spring and summer sped by amidst great quietude. They went out less +often; they had almost given up the boat, which finished rotting against +the bank, for it was quite a job to take the little one with them +among the islets. But they often strolled along the banks of the Seine, +without, however, going farther afield than a thousand yards or so. +Claude, tired of the everlasting views in the garden, now attempted some +sketches by the river-side, and on such days Christine went to fetch him +with the child, sitting down to watch him paint, until they all three +returned home with flagging steps, beneath the ashen dusk of waning +daylight. One afternoon Claude was surprised to see Christine bring with +her the old album which she had used as a young girl. She joked about +it, and explained that to sit behind him like that had roused in her a +wish to work herself. Her voice was a little unsteady as she spoke; the +truth was that she felt a longing to share his labour, since this labour +took him away from her more and more each day. She drew and ventured +to wash in two or three water-colours in the careful style of a +school-girl. Then, discouraged by his smiles, feeling that no community +of ideas would be arrived at on that ground, she once more put her album +aside, making him promise to give her some lessons in painting whenever +he should have time. + +Besides, she thought his more recent pictures very pretty. After that +year of rest in the open country, in the full sunlight, he painted +with fresh and clearer vision, as it were, with a more harmonious and +brighter colouring. He had never before been able to treat reflections +so skilfully, or possessed a more correct perception of men and things +steeped in diffuse light. And henceforth, won over by that feast of +colours, she would have declared it all capital if he would only have +condescended to finish his work a little more, and if she had not +remained nonplussed now and then before a mauve ground or a blue tree, +which upset all her preconceived notions of colour. One day when she +ventured upon a bit of criticism, precisely about an azure-tinted +poplar, he made her go to nature and note for herself the delicate +bluishness of the foliage. It was true enough, the tree was blue; but +in her inmost heart she did not surrender, and condemned reality; there +ought not to be any blue trees in nature. + +She no longer spoke but gravely of the studies hanging in the +dining-room. Art was returning into their lives, and it made her muse. +When she saw him go off with his bag, his portable easel, and his +sunshade, it often happened that she flung herself upon his neck, +asking: + +'You love me, say?' + +'How silly you are! Why shouldn't I love you?' + +'Then kiss me, since you love me, kiss me a great deal, a great deal.' + +Then accompanying him as far as the road, she added: + +'And mind you work; you know that I have never prevented you from +working. Go, go; I am very pleased when you work.' + +Anxiety seemed to seize hold of Claude, when the autumn of the second +year tinged the leaves yellow, and ushered in the cold weather. The +season happened to be abominable; a fortnight of pouring rain kept him +idle at home; and then fog came at every moment, hindering his work. He +sat in front of the fire, out of sorts; he never spoke of Paris, but +the city rose up over yonder, on the horizon, the winter city, with its +gaslamps flaring already at five o'clock, its gatherings of friends, +spurring each other on to emulation, and its life of ardent production, +which even the frosts of December could not slacken. He went there +thrice in one month, on the pretext of seeing Malgras, to whom he had, +again, sold a few small pictures. He no longer avoided passing in front +of Faucheur's inn; he even allowed himself to be waylaid at times by old +Porrette, and to accept a glass of white wine at the inn, and his glance +scoured the room as if, despite the season, he had been looking for some +comrades of yore, who had arrived there, perchance, that morning. He +lingered as if awaiting them; then, in despair at his solitude, he +returned home, stifling with all that was fermenting within him, ill at +having nobody to whom he might shout the thoughts which made his brain +almost burst. + +However, the winter went by, and Claude had the consolation of being +able to paint some lovely snow scenes. A third year was beginning, when, +towards the close of May, an unexpected meeting filled him with emotion. +He had that morning climbed up to the plateau to find a subject, having +at last grown tired of the banks of the Seine; and at the bend of a +road he stopped short in amazement on seeing Dubuche, in a silk hat, and +carefully-buttoned frock coat, coming towards him, between the double +row of elder hedges. + +'What! is it you?' + +The architect stammered from sheer vexation: + +'Yes, I am going to pay a visit. It's confoundedly idiotic in the +country, eh? But it can't be helped. There are certain things one's +obliged to do. And you live near here, eh? I knew--that is to say, I +didn't. I had been told something about it, but I thought it was on the +opposite side, farther down.' + +Claude, very much moved at seeing him, helped him out of his difficulty. + +'All right, all right, old man, there is no need to apologise. I am the +most guilty party. Ah! it's a long while since we saw one another! If +you knew what a thump my heart gave when I saw your nose appear from +behind the leaves!' + +Then he took his arm and accompanied him, giggling with pleasure, while +the other, in his constant worry about his future, which always made him +talk about himself, at once began speaking of his prospects. He had just +become a first-class pupil at the School, after securing the regulation +'honourable mentions,' with infinite trouble. But his success left +him as perplexed as ever. His parents no longer sent him a penny, they +wailed about their poverty so much that he might have to support them +in his turn. He had given up the idea of competing for the Prix de Rome, +feeling certain of being beaten in the effort, and anxious to earn his +living. And he was weary already; sick at scouring the town, at earning +twenty-five sous an hour from ignorant architects, who treated him +like a hodman. What course should he adopt? How was he to guess at the +shortest route? He might leave the School; he would get a lift from his +master, the influential Dequersonniere, who liked him for his docility +and diligence; only what a deal of trouble and uncertainty there would +still be before him! And he bitterly complained of the Government +schools, where one slaved away for years, and which did not even provide +a position for all those whom they cast upon the pavement. + +Suddenly he stopped in the middle of the path. The elder hedges were +leading to an open plain, and La Richaudiere appeared amid its lofty +trees. + +'Hold hard! of course,' exclaimed Claude, 'I hadn't thought about +it--you're going to that shanty. Oh! the baboons; there's a lot of ugly +mugs, if you like!' + +Dubuche, looking vexed at this outburst of artistic feeling, protested +stiffly. 'All the same, Papa Margaillan, idiot as he seems to you, is +a first-rate man of business. You should see him in his building-yards, +among the houses he runs up, as active as the very fiend, showing +marvellous good management, and a wonderful scent as to the right +streets to build and what materials to buy! Besides, one does not earn +millions without becoming a gentleman. And then, too, it would be very +silly of me not to be polite to a man who can be useful to me.' + +While talking, he barred the narrow path, preventing his friend from +advancing further--no doubt from a fear of being compromised by being +seen in his company, and in order to make him understand that they ought +to separate there. + +Claude was on the point of inquiring about their comrades in Paris, but +he kept silent. Not even a word was said respecting Christine, and he +was reluctantly deciding to quit Dubuche, holding out his hand to take +leave, when, in spite of himself, this question fell from his quivering +lips: + +'And is Sandoz all right?' + +'Yes, he's pretty well. I seldom see him. He spoke to me about you last +month. He is still grieved at your having shown us the door.' + +'But I didn't show you the door,' exclaimed Claude, beside himself. +'Come and see me, I beg of you. I shall be so glad!' + +'All right, then, we'll come. I'll tell him to come, I give you my +word--good-bye, old man, good-bye; I'm in a hurry.' + +And Dubuche went off towards La Richaudiere, whilst Claude watched +his figure dwindle as he crossed the cultivated plain, until nothing +remained but the shiny silk of his hat and the black spot of his coat. +The young man returned home slowly, his heart bursting with nameless +sadness. However, he said nothing about this meeting to Christine. + +A week later she had gone to Faucheur's to buy a pound of vermicelli, +and was lingering on her way back, gossiping with a neighbour, with +her child on her arm, when a gentleman who alighted from the ferry-boat +approached and asked her: + +'Does not Monsieur Claude Lantier live near here?' + +She was taken aback, and simply answered: + +'Yes, monsieur; if you'll kindly follow me--' + +They walked on side by side for about a hundred yards. The stranger, who +seemed to know her, had glanced at her with a good-natured smile; but as +she hurried on, trying to hide her embarrassment by looking very grave, +he remained silent. She opened the door and showed the visitor into the +studio, exclaiming: + +'Claude, here is somebody for you.' + +Then a loud cry rang out; the two men were already in each other's arms. + +'Oh, my good old Pierre! how kind of you to come! And Dubuche?' + +'He was prevented at the last moment by some business, and he sent me a +telegram to go without him.' + +'All right, I half expected it; but you are here. By the thunder of +heaven, I am glad!' + +And, turning towards Christine, who was smiling, sharing their delight: + +'It's true, I didn't tell you. But the other day I met Dubuche, who was +going up yonder, to the place where those monsters live--' + +But he stopped short again, and then with a wild gesture shouted: + +'I'm losing my wits, upon my word. You have never spoken to each other, +and I leave you there like that. My dear, you see this gentleman? He's +my old chum, Pierre Sandoz, whom I love like a brother. And you, my boy; +let me introduce my wife. And you have got to give each other a kiss.' + +Christine began to laugh outright, and tendered her cheek heartily. +Sandoz had pleased her at once with his good-natured air, his sound +friendship, the fatherly sympathy with which he looked at her. Tears of +emotion came to her eyes as he kept both her hands in his, saying: + +'It is very good of you to love Claude, and you must love each other +always, for love is, after all, the best thing in life.' + +Then, bending to kiss the little one, whom she had on her arm, he added: +'So there's one already!' + +While Christine, preparing lunch, turned the house up-side down, Claude +retained Sandoz in the studio. In a few words he told him the whole of +the story, who she was, how they had met each other, and what had led +them to start housekeeping together, and he seemed to be surprised +when his friend asked him why they did not get married. In faith, +why? Because they had never even spoken about it, because they would +certainly be neither more nor less happy; in short it was a matter of no +consequence whatever. + +'Well,' said the other, 'it makes no difference to me; but, if she was a +good and honest girl when she came to you, you ought to marry her.' + +'Why, I'll marry her whenever she likes, old man. Surely I don't mean to +leave her in the lurch!' + +Sandoz then began to marvel at the studies hanging on the walls. Ha, the +scamp had turned his time to good account! What accuracy of colouring! +What a dash of real sunlight! And Claude, who listened to him, +delighted, and laughing proudly, was just going to question him about +the comrades in Paris, about what they were all doing, when Christine +reappeared, exclaiming: 'Make haste, the eggs are on the table.' + +They lunched in the kitchen, and an extraordinary lunch it was; a dish +of fried gudgeons after the boiled eggs; then the beef from the soup of +the night before, arranged in salad fashion, with potatoes, and a red +herring. It was delicious; there was the pungent and appetising smell +of the herring which Melie had upset on the live embers, and the song +of the coffee, as it passed, drop by drop, into the pot standing on the +range; and when the dessert appeared--some strawberries just gathered, +and a cream cheese from a neighbour's dairy--they gossiped and gossiped +with their elbows squarely set on the table. In Paris? Well, to tell the +truth, the comrades were doing nothing very original in Paris. And yet +they were fighting their way, jostling each other in order to get first +to the front. Of course, the absent ones missed their chance; it was as +well to be there if one did not want to be altogether forgotten. But +was not talent always talent? Wasn't a man always certain to get on +with strength and will? Ah! yes, it was a splendid dream to live in the +country, to accumulate masterpieces, and then, one day, to crush Paris +by simply opening one's trunks. + +In the evening, when Claude accompanied Sandoz to the station, the +latter said to him: + +'That reminds me, I wanted to tell you something. I think I am going to +get married.' + +The painter burst out laughing. + +'Ah, you wag, now I understand why you gave me a lecture this morning.' + +While waiting for the train to arrive, they went on chatting. Sandoz +explained his ideas on marriage, which, in middle-class fashion, he +considered an indispensable condition for good work, substantial orderly +labour, among great modern producers. The theory of woman being a +destructive creature--one who killed an artist, pounded his heart, and +fed upon his brain--was a romantic idea against which facts protested. +Besides, as for himself, he needed an affection that would prove the +guardian of his tranquillity, a loving home, where he might shut himself +up, so as to devote his whole life to the huge work which he ever dreamt +of. And he added that everything depended upon a man's choice--that +he believed he had found what he had been looking for, an orphan, +the daughter of petty tradespeople, without a penny, but handsome and +intelligent. For the last six months, after resigning his clerkship, he +had embraced journalism, by which he gained a larger income. He had just +moved his mother to a small house at Batignolles, where the three would +live together--two women to love him, and he strong enough to provide +for the household. + +'Get married, old man,' said Claude. 'One should act according to one's +feelings. And good-bye, for here's your train. Don't forget your promise +to come and see us again.' + +Sandoz returned very often. He dropped in at odd times whenever his +newspaper work allowed him, for he was still free, as he was not to +be married till the autumn. Those were happy days, whole afternoons +of mutual confidences when all their old determination to secure fame +revived. + +One day, while Sandoz was alone with Claude on an island of the Seine, +both of them lying there with their eyes fixed on the sky, he told the +painter of his vast ambition, confessed himself aloud. + +'Journalism, let me tell you, is only a battle-ground. A man must live, +and he has to fight to do so. Then, again, that wanton, the Press, +despite the unpleasant phases of the profession, is after all a +tremendous power, a resistless weapon in the hands of a fellow with +convictions. But if I am obliged to avail myself of journalism, I don't +mean to grow grey in it! Oh, dear no! And, besides, I've found what I +wanted, a machine that'll crush one with work, something I'm going to +plunge into, perhaps never to come out of it.' + +Silence reigned amid the foliage, motionless in the dense heat. He +resumed speaking more slowly and in jerky phrases: + +'To study man as he is, not man the metaphysical puppet but +physiological man, whose nature is determined by his surroundings, +and to show all his organism in full play. That's my idea! Is it not +farcical that some should constantly and exclusively study the functions +of the brain on the pretext that the brain alone is the noble part of +our organism? Thought, thought, confound it all! thought is the product +of the whole body. Let them try to make a brain think by itself alone; +see what becomes of the nobleness of the brain when the stomach is +ailing! No, no, it's idiotic; there is no philosophy nor science in +it! We are positivists, evolutionists, and yet we are to stick to the +literary lay-figures of classic times, and continue disentangling the +tangled locks of pure reason! He who says psychologist says traitor to +truth. Besides, psychology, physiology, it all signifies nothing. The +one has become blended with the other, and both are but one nowadays, +the mechanism of man leading to the sum total of his functions. Ah, the +formula is there, our modern revolution has no other basis; it means the +certain death of old society, the birth of a new one, and necessarily +the upspringing of a new art in a new soil. Yes, people will see what +literature will sprout forth for the coming century of science and +democracy.' + +His cry uprose and was lost in the immense vault of heaven. Not a breath +stirred; there was nought but the silent ripple of the river past the +willows. And Sandoz turned abruptly towards his companion, and said to +him, face to face: + +'So I have found what I wanted for myself. Oh, it isn't much, a little +corner of study only, but one that should be sufficient for a man's +life, even when his ambition is over-vast. I am going to take a family, +and I shall study its members, one by one, whence they come, whither +they go, how they re-act one upon another--in short, I shall have +mankind in a small compass, the way in which mankind grows and behaves. +On the other hand, I shall set my men and women in some given period +of history, which will provide me with the necessary surroundings and +circumstances,--you understand, eh? a series of books, fifteen, twenty +books, episodes that will cling together, although each will have a +separate framework, a series of novels with which I shall be able to +build myself a house for my old days, if they don't crush me!' + +He fell on his back again, spread out his arms on the grass, as if he +wanted to sink into the earth, laughing and joking all the while. + +'Oh, beneficent earth, take me unto thee, thou who art our common +mother, our only source of life! thou the eternal, the immortal one, in +whom circulates the soul of the world, the sap that spreads even into +the stones, and makes the trees themselves our big, motionless brothers! +Yes, I wish to lose myself in thee; it is thou that I feel beneath my +limbs, clasping and inflaming me; thou alone shalt appear in my work +as the primary force, the means and the end, the immense ark in which +everything becomes animated with the breath of every being!' + +Though begun as mere pleasantry, with all the bombast of lyrical +emphasis, the invocation terminated in a cry of ardent conviction, +quivering with profound poetical emotion, and Sandoz's eyes grew moist; +and, to hide how much he felt moved, he added, roughly, with a sweeping +gesture that took in the whole scene around: + +'How idiotic it is! a soul for every one of us, when there is that big +soul there!' + +Claude, who had disappeared amid the grass, had not stirred. After a +fresh spell of silence he summed up everything: + +'That's it, old boy! Run them through, all of them. Only you'll get +trounced.' + +'Oh,' said Sandoz, rising up and stretching himself, 'my bones are too +hard. They'll smash their own wrists. Let's go back; I don't want to +miss the train.' + +Christine had taken a great liking to him, seeing him so robust and +upright in his doings, and she plucked up courage at last to ask a +favour of him: that of standing godfather to Jacques. True, she never +set foot in church now, but why shouldn't the lad be treated according +to custom? What influenced her above all was the idea of giving the boy +a protector in this godfather, whom she found so serious and sensible, +even amidst the exuberance of his strength. Claude expressed surprise, +but gave his consent with a shrug of the shoulders. And the christening +took place; they found a godmother, the daughter of a neighbour, and +they made a feast of it, eating a lobster, which was brought from Paris. + +That very day, as they were saying good-bye, Christine took Sandoz +aside, and said, in an imploring voice: + +'Do come again soon, won't you? He is bored.' + +In fact, Claude had fits of profound melancholy. He abandoned his work, +went out alone, and prowled in spite of himself about Faucheur's inn, +at the spot where the ferry-boat landed its passengers, as if ever +expecting to see all Paris come ashore there. He had Paris on the brain; +he went there every month and returned desolate, unable to work. Autumn +came, then winter, a very wet and muddy winter, and he spent it in +a state of morose torpidity, bitter even against Sandoz, who, having +married in October, could no longer come to Bennecourt so often. Claude +only seemed to wake up at each of the other's visits; deriving a week's +excitement from them, and never ceasing to comment feverishly about +the news brought from yonder. He, who formerly had hidden his regret of +Paris, nowadays bewildered Christine with the way in which he chatted +to her from morn till night about things she was quite ignorant of, and +people she had never seen. When Jacques fell asleep, there were endless +comments between the parents as they sat by the fireside. Claude grew +passionate, and Christine had to give her opinion and to pronounce +judgment on all sorts of matters. + +Was not Gagniere an idiot for stultifying his brain with music, he who +might have developed so conscientious a talent as a landscape painter? +It was said that he was now taking lessons on the piano from a young +lady--the idea, at his age! What did she, Christine, think of it? And +Jory had been trying to get into the good graces of Irma Becot again, +ever since she had secured that little house in the Rue de Moscou! +Christine knew those two; two jades who well went together, weren't +they? But the most cunning of the whole lot was Fagerolles, to whom he, +Claude, would tell a few plain truths and no mistake, when he met him. +What! the turn-coat had competed for the Prix de Rome, which, of course, +he had managed to miss. To think of it. That fellow did nothing but jeer +at the School, and talked about knocking everything down, yet took part +in official competitions! Ah, there was no doubt but that the itching to +succeed, the wish to pass over one's comrades and be hailed by idiots, +impelled some people to very dirty tricks. Surely Christine did not mean +to stick up for him, eh? She was not sufficiently a philistine to defend +him. And when she had agreed with everything Claude said, he always +came back with nervous laughter to the same story--which he thought +exceedingly comical--the story of Mahoudeau and Chaine, who, between +them, had killed little Jabouille, the husband of Mathilde, that +dreadful herbalist woman. Yes, killed the poor consumptive fellow with +kindness one evening when he had had a fainting fit, and when, on being +called in by the woman, they had taken to rubbing him with so much +vigour that he had remained dead in their hands. + +And if Christine failed to look amused at all this, Claude rose up and +said, in a churlish voice: 'Oh, you; nothing will make you laugh--let's +go to bed.' + +He still adored her, but she no longer sufficed. Another torment had +invincibly seized hold of him--the passion for art, the thirst for fame. + +In the spring, Claude, who, with an affectation of disdain, had sworn he +would never again exhibit, began to worry a great deal about the Salon. +Whenever he saw Sandoz he questioned him about what the comrades were +going to send. On the opening day he went to Paris and came back the +same evening, stern and trembling. There was only a bust by Mahoudeau, +said he, good enough, but of no importance. A small landscape by +Gagniere, admitted among the ruck, was also of a pretty sunny tone. Then +there was nothing else, nothing but Fagerolles' picture--an actress in +front of her looking-glass painting her face. He had not mentioned it at +first; but he now spoke of it with indignant laughter. What a trickster +that Fagerolles was! Now that he had missed his prize he was no longer +afraid to exhibit--he threw the School overboard; but you should have +seen how skilfully he managed it, what compromises he effected, painting +in a style which aped the audacity of truth without possessing one +original merit. And it would be sure to meet with success, the bourgeois +were only too fond of being titillated while the artist pretended to +hustle them. Ah! it was time indeed for a true artist to appear in that +mournful desert of a Salon, amid all the knaves and the fools. And, by +heavens, what a place might be taken there! + +Christine, who listened while he grew angry, ended by faltering: + +'If you liked, we might go back to Paris.' + +'Who was talking of that?' he shouted. 'One can never say a word to you +but you at once jump to false conclusions.' + +Six weeks afterwards he heard some news that occupied his mind for +a week. His friend Dubuche was going to marry Mademoiselle Regine +Margaillan, the daughter of the owner of La Richaudiere. It was +an intricate story, the details of which surprised and amused him +exceedingly. First of all, that cur Dubuche had managed to hook a medal +for a design of a villa in a park, which he had exhibited; that of +itself was already sufficiently amusing, as it was said that the drawing +had been set on its legs by his master, Dequersonniere, who had quietly +obtained this medal for him from the jury over which he presided. +Then the best of it was that this long-awaited reward had decided the +marriage. Ah! it would be nice trafficking if medals were now awarded to +settle needy pupils in rich families! Old Margaillan, like all parvenus, +had set his heart upon having a son-in-law who could help him, by +bringing authentic diplomas and fashionable clothes into the business; +and for some time past he had had his eyes on that young man, that +pupil of the School of Arts, whose notes were excellent, who was so +persevering, and so highly recommended by his masters. The medal aroused +his enthusiasm; he at once gave the young fellow his daughter and took +him as a partner, who would soon increase his millions now lying idle, +since he knew all that was needful in order to build properly. Besides, +by this arrangement poor Regine, always low-spirited and ailing, would +at least have a husband in perfect health. + +'Well, a man must be fond of money to marry that wretched flayed +kitten,' repeated Claude. + +And as Christine compassionately took the girl's part, he added: + +'But I am not down upon her. So much the better if the marriage does not +finish her off. She is certainly not to be blamed, if her father, +the ex-stonemason, had the stupid ambition to marry a girl of the +middle-classes. Her father, you know, has the vitiated blood of +generations of drunkards in his veins, and her mother comes of a stock +in the last stages of degeneracy. Ah! they may coin money, but that +doesn't prevent them from being excrescences on the face of the earth!' + +He was growing ferocious, and Christine had to clasp him in her arms and +kiss him, and laugh, to make him once more the good-natured fellow +of earlier days. Then, having calmed down, he professed to understand +things, saying that he approved of the marriages of his old chums. It +was true enough, all three had taken wives unto themselves. How funny +life was! + +Once more the summer drew to an end; it was the fourth spent at +Bennecourt. In reality they could never be happier than now; life was +peaceful and cheap in the depths of that village. Since they had been +there they had never lacked money. Claude's thousand francs a year and +the proceeds of the few pictures he had sold had sufficed for their +wants; they had even put something by, and had bought some house linen. +On the other hand, little Jacques, by now two years and a half old, got +on admirably in the country. From morning till night he rolled about +the garden, ragged and dirt-begrimed, but growing as he listed in robust +ruddy health. His mother often did not know where to take hold of him +when she wished to wash him a bit. However, when she saw him eat and +sleep well she did not trouble much; she reserved her anxious affection +for her big child of an artist, whose despondency filled her with +anguish. The situation grew worse each day, and although they lived on +peacefully without any cause for grief, they, nevertheless, drifted to +melancholy, to a discomfort that showed itself in constant irritation. + +It was all over with their first delights of country life. Their rotten +boat, staved in, had gone to the bottom of the Seine. Besides, they did +not even think of availing themselves of the skiff that the Faucheurs +had placed at their disposal. The river bored them; they had grown too +lazy to row. They repeated their exclamations of former times respecting +certain delightful nooks in the islets, but without ever being tempted +to return and gaze upon them. Even the walks by the river-side had lost +their charm--one was broiled there in summer, and one caught cold there +in winter. And as for the plateau, the vast stretch of land planted +with apple trees that overlooked the village, it became like a distant +country, something too far off for one to be silly enough to risk one's +legs there. Their house also annoyed them--that barracks where they had +to take their meals amid the greasy refuse of the kitchen, where their +room seemed a meeting-place for the winds from every point of the +compass. As a finishing stroke of bad luck, the apricots had failed that +year, and the finest of the giant rose-bushes, which were very old, had +been smitten with some canker or other and died. How sorely time and +habit wore everything away! How eternal nature herself seemed to age +amidst that satiated weariness. But the worst was that the painter +himself was getting disgusted with the country, no longer finding a +single subject to arouse his enthusiasm, but scouring the fields with +a mournful tramp, as if the whole place were a void, whose life he had +exhausted without leaving as much as an overlooked tree, an unforeseen +effect of light to interest him. No, it was over, frozen, he should +never again be able to paint anything worth looking at in that +confounded country! + +October came with its rain-laden sky. On one of the first wet evenings +Claude flew into a passion because dinner was not ready. He turned that +goose of a Melie out of the house and clouted Jacques, who got between +his legs. Whereupon, Christine, crying, kissed him and said: + +'Let's go, oh, let us go back to Paris.' + +He disengaged himself, and cried in an angry voice: 'What, again! Never! +do you hear me?' + +'Do it for my sake,' she said, warmly. 'It's I who ask it of you, it's I +that you'll please.' + +'Why, are you tired of being here, then?' + +'Yes, I shall die if we stay here much longer; and, besides I want you +to work. I feel quite certain that your place is there. It would be a +crime for you to bury yourself here any longer.' + +'No, leave me!' + +He was quivering. On the horizon Paris was calling him, the Paris of +winter-tide which was being lighted up once more. He thought he could +hear from where he stood the great efforts that his comrades were +making, and, in fancy, he returned thither in order that they might not +triumph without him, in order that he might become their chief again, +since not one of them had strength or pride enough to be such. And amid +this hallucination, amid the desire he felt to hasten to Paris, he +yet persisted in refusing to do so, from a spirit of involuntary +contradiction, which arose, though he could not account for it, from his +very entrails. Was it the fear with which the bravest quivers, the mute +struggle of happiness seeking to resist the fatality of destiny? + +'Listen,' said Christine, excitedly. 'I shall get our boxes ready, and +take you away.' + +Five days later, after packing and sending their chattels to the +railway, they started for Paris. + +Claude was already on the road with little Jacques, when Christine +fancied that she had forgotten something. She returned alone to the +house; and finding it quite bare and empty, she burst out crying. It +seemed as if something were being torn from her, as if she were leaving +something of herself behind--what, she could not say. How willingly +would she have remained! how ardent was her wish to live there +always--she who had just insisted on that departure, that return to the +city of passion where she scented the presence of a rival. However, she +continued searching for what she lacked, and in front of the kitchen she +ended by plucking a rose, a last rose, which the cold was turning brown. +And then she slowly closed the gate upon the deserted garden. + + + + +VII + +WHEN Claude found himself once more on the pavement of Paris he was +seized with a feverish longing for hubbub and motion, a desire to gad +about, scour the whole city, and see his chums. He was off the moment +he awoke, leaving Christine to get things shipshape by herself in the +studio which they had taken in the Rue de Douai, near the Boulevard de +Clichy. In this way, on the second day of his arrival, he dropped in at +Mahoudeau's at eight o'clock in the morning, in the chill, grey November +dawn which had barely risen. + +However, the shop in the Rue du Cherche-Midi, which the sculptor still +occupied, was open, and Mahoudeau himself, half asleep, with a white +face, was shivering as he took down the shutters. + +Ah! it's you. The devil! you've got into early habits in the country. So +it's settled--you are back for good?' + +'Yes; since the day before yesterday.' + +'That's all right. Then we shall see something of each other. Come in; +it's sharp this morning.' + +But Claude felt colder in the shop than outside. He kept the collar +of his coat turned up, and plunged his hands deep into his pockets; +shivering before the dripping moisture of the bare walls, the muddy +heaps of clay, and the pools of water soddening the floor. A blast of +poverty had swept into the place, emptying the shelves of the casts +from the antique, and smashing stands and buckets, which were now held +together with bits of rope. It was an abode of dirt and disorder, +a mason's cellar going to rack and ruin. On the window of the door, +besmeared with whitewash, there appeared in mockery, as it were, a large +beaming sun, roughly drawn with thumb-strokes, and ornamented in the +centre with a face, the mouth of which, describing a semicircle, seemed +likely to burst with laughter. + +'Just wait,' said Mahoudeau, 'a fire's being lighted. These confounded +workshops get chilly directly, with the water from the covering cloths.' + +At that moment, Claude, on turning round, noticed Chaine on his knees +near the stove, pulling the straw from the seat of an old stool to light +the coals with. He bade him good-morning, but only elicited a muttered +growl, without succeeding in making him look up. + +'And what are you doing just now, old man?' he asked the sculptor. + +'Oh! nothing of much account. It's been a bad year--worse than the last +one, which wasn't worth a rap. There's a crisis in the church-statue +business. Yes, the market for holy wares is bad, and, dash it, I've had +to tighten my belt! Look, in the meanwhile, I'm reduced to this.' + +He thereupon took the linen wraps off a bust, showing a long face still +further elongated by whiskers, a face full of conceit and infinite +imbecility. + +'It's an advocate who lives near by. Doesn't he look repugnant, eh? And +the way he worries me about being very careful with his mouth. However, +a fellow must eat, mustn't he?' + +He certainly had an idea for the Salon; an upright figure, a girl about +to bathe, dipping her foot in the water, and shivering at its freshness +with that slight shiver that renders a woman so adorable. He showed +Claude a little model of it, which was already cracking, and the painter +looked at it in silence, surprised and displeased at certain concessions +he noticed in it: a sprouting of prettiness from beneath a persistent +exaggeration of form, a natural desire to please, blended with a +lingering tendency to the colossal. However, Mahoudeau began lamenting; +an upright figure was no end of a job. He would want iron braces that +cost money, and a modelling frame, which he had not got; in fact, a lot +of appliances. So he would, no doubt, decide to model the figure in a +recumbent attitude beside the water. + +'Well, what do you say--what do you think of it?' he asked. + +'Not bad,' answered the painter at last. 'A little bit sentimental, in +spite of the strapping limbs; but it'll all depend upon the execution. +And put her upright, old man; upright, for there would be nothing in it +otherwise.' + +The stove was roaring, and Chaine, still mute, rose up. He prowled about +for a minute, entered the dark back shop, where stood the bed that he +shared with Mahoudeau, and then reappeared, his hat on his head, but +more silent, it seemed, than ever. With his awkward peasant fingers he +leisurely took up a stick of charcoal and then wrote on the wall: 'I +am going to buy some tobacco; put some more coals in the stove.' And +forthwith he went out. + +Claude, who had watched him writing, turned to the other in amazement. + +'What's up?' + +'We no longer speak to one another; we write,' said the sculptor, +quietly. + +'Since when?' + +'Since three months ago.' + +'And you sleep together?' + +'Yes.' + +Claude burst out laughing. Ah! dash it all! they must have hard nuts. +But what was the reason of this falling-out? Then Mahoudeau vented his +rage against that brute of a Chaine! Hadn't he, one night on coming home +unexpectedly, found him treating Mathilde, the herbalist woman, to a +pot of jam? No, he would never forgive him for treating himself in that +dirty fashion to delicacies on the sly, while he, Mahoudeau, was half +starving, and eating dry bread. The deuce! one ought to share and share +alike. + +And the grudge had now lasted for nearly three months without a break, +without an explanation. They had arranged their lives accordingly; they +had reduced their strictly necessary intercourse to a series of short +phrases charcoaled on the walls. As for the rest, they lived as before, +sharing the same bed in the back shop. After all, there was no need for +so much talk in life, people managed to understand one another all the +same. + +While filling the stove, Mahoudeau continued to relieve his mind. + +'Well, you may believe me if you like, but when a fellow's almost +starving it isn't disagreeable to keep quiet. Yes, one gets numb amidst +silence; it's like an inside coating that stills the gnawing of the +stomach a bit. Ah, that Chaine! You haven't a notion of his peasant +nature. When he had spent his last copper without earning the fortune +he expected by painting, he went into trade, a petty trade, which was to +enable him to finish his studies. Isn't the fellow a sharp 'un, eh? +And just listen to his plan. He had some olive oil sent to him from +Saint-Firmin, his village, and then he tramped the streets and found +a market for the oil among well-to-do families from Provence living in +Paris. Unfortunately, it did not last. He is such a clod-hopper that +they showed him the door on all sides. And as there was a jar of oil +left which nobody would buy, well, old man, we live upon it. Yes, on the +days when we happen to have some bread we dip our bread into it.' + +Thereupon he pointed to the jar standing in a corner of the shop. Some +of the oil having been spilt, the wall and the floor were darkened by +large greasy stains. + +Claude left off laughing. Ah! misery, how discouraging it was! how +could he show himself hard on those whom it crushed? He walked about +the studio, no longer vexed at finding models weakened by concessions +to middle-class taste; he even felt tolerant with regard to that hideous +bust. But, all at once, he came across a copy that Chaine had made at +the Louvre, a Mantegna, which was marvellously exact in its dryness. + +'Oh, the brute,' he muttered, 'it's almost the original; he's never done +anything better than that. Perhaps his only fault is that he was born +four centuries too late.' + +Then, as the heat became too great, he took off his over-coat, adding: + +'He's a long while fetching his tobacco.' + +'Oh! his tobacco! I know what that means,' said Mahoudeau, who had set +to work at his bust, finishing the whiskers; 'he has simply gone next +door.' + +'Oh! so you still see the herbalist?' + +'Yes, she comes in and out.' + +He spoke of Mathilde and Chaine without the least show of anger, simply +saying that he thought the woman crazy. Since little Jabouille's death +she had become devout again, though this did not prevent her from +scandalising the neighbourhood. Her business was going to wreck, and +bankruptcy seemed impending. One night, the gas company having cut off +the gas in default of payment, she had come to borrow some of their +olive oil, which, after all, would not burn in the lamps. In short, it +was quite a disaster; that mysterious shop, with its fleeting shadows of +priests' gowns, its discreet confessional-like whispers, and its odour +of sacristy incense, was gliding to the abandonment of ruin. And the +wretchedness had reached such a point that the dried herbs suspended +from the ceiling swarmed with spiders, while defunct leeches, which had +already turned green, floated on the tops of the glass jars. + +'Hallo, here he comes!' resumed the sculptor. 'You'll see her arrive at +his heels.' + +In fact, Chaine came in. He made a great show of drawing a screw of +tobacco from his pocket, then filled his pipe, and began to smoke in +front of the stove, remaining obstinately silent, as if there were +nobody present. And immediately afterwards Mathilde made her appearance +like a neighbour who comes in to say 'Good morning.' Claude thought that +she had grown still thinner, but her eyes were all afire, and her mouth +was seemingly enlarged by the loss of two more teeth. The smell of +aromatic herbs which she always carried in her uncombed hair seemed to +have become rancid. There was no longer the sweetness of camomile, +the freshness of aniseed; she filled the place with a horrid odour of +peppermint that seemed to be her very breath. + +'Already at work!' she exclaimed. 'Good morning.' And, without minding +Claude, she kissed Mahoudeau. Then, after going to shake hands with the +painter in her brazen way, she continued: + +'What do you think? I've found a box of mallow root, and we will treat +ourselves to it for breakfast. Isn't that nice of me now! We'll share.' + +'Thanks,' said the sculptor, 'it makes my mouth sticky. I prefer to +smoke a pipe.' + +And, seeing that Claude was putting on his overcoat again, he asked: +'Are you going?' + +'Yes. I want to get the rust off, and breathe the air of Paris a bit.' + +All the same, he stopped for another few minutes watching Chaine and +Mathilde, who stuffed themselves with mallow root, each taking a piece +by turns. And though he had been warned, he was again amazed when he saw +Mahoudeau take up the stick of charcoal and write on the wall: 'Give me +the tobacco you have shoved into your pocket.' + +Without a word, Chaine took out the screw and handed it to the sculptor, +who filled his pipe. + +'Well, I'll see you again soon,' said Claude. + +'Yes, soon--at any rate, next Thursday, at Sandoz's.' + +Outside, Claude gave an exclamation of surprise on jostling a gentleman, +who stood in front of the herbalist's peering into the shop. + +'What, Jory! What are you doing there?' + +Jory's big pink nose gave a sniff. + +'I? Nothing. I was passing and looked in,' said he in dismay. + +Then he decided to laugh, and, as if there were any one to overhear him, +lowered his voice to ask: + +'She is next door with our friends, isn't she? All right; let's be off, +quick!' + +And he took the painter with him, telling him all manner of strange +stories of that creature Mathilde. + +'But you used to say that she was frightful,' said Claude, laughing. + +Jory made a careless gesture. Frightful? No, he had not gone as far as +that. Besides, there might be something attractive about a woman even +though she had a plain face. Then he expressed his surprise at seeing +Claude in Paris, and, when he had been fully posted, and learned that +the painter meant to remain there for good, he all at once exclaimed: + +'Listen, I am going to take you with me. You must come to lunch with me +at Irma's.' + +The painter, taken aback, refused energetically, and gave as a reason +that he wasn't even wearing a frock-coat. + +'What does that matter? On the contrary, it makes it more droll. She'll +be delighted. I believe she has a secret partiality for you. She is +always talking about you to us. Come, don't be a fool. I tell you she +expects me this morning, and we shall be received like princes.' + +He did not relax his hold on Claude's arm, and they both continued their +way towards the Madeleine, talking all the while. As a rule, Jory kept +silent about his many love adventures, just as a drunkard keeps silent +about his potations. But that morning he brimmed over with revelations, +chaffed himself and owned to all sorts of scandalous things. After all +he was delighted with existence, his affairs went apace. His miserly +father had certainly cut off the supplies once more, cursing him for +obstinately pursuing a scandalous career, but he did not care a rap for +that now; he earned between seven and eight thousand francs a year by +journalism, in which he was making his way as a gossipy leader writer +and art critic. The noisy days of 'The Drummer,' the articles at a louis +apiece, had been left far behind. He was getting steady, wrote for two +widely circulated papers, and although, in his inmost heart he remained +a sceptical voluptuary, a worshipper of success at any price, he was +acquiring importance, and readers began to look upon his opinions as +fiats. Swayed by hereditary meanness, he already invested money every +month in petty speculations, which were only known to himself, for never +had his vices cost him less than nowadays. + +As he and Claude reached the Rue de Moscou, he told the painter that +it was there that Irma Becot now lived. 'Oh! she is rolling in wealth,' +said he, 'paying twenty thousand francs a year rent and talking of +building a house which would cost half a million.' Then suddenly pulling +up he exclaimed: 'Come, here we are! In with you, quick!' + +But Claude still objected. His wife was waiting for him to lunch; he +really couldn't. And Jory was obliged to ring the bell, and then push +him inside the hall, repeating that his excuse would not do; for they +would send the valet to the Rue de Douai to tell his wife. A door opened +and they found themselves face to face with Irma Becot, who uttered a +cry of surprise as soon as she perceived the painter. + +'What! is it you, savage?' she said. + +She made him feel at home at once by treating him like an old chum, +and, in fact, he saw well enough that she did not even notice his old +clothes. He himself was astonished, for he barely recognised her. In +the course of four years she had become a different being; her head was +'made up' with all an actress's skill, her brow hidden beneath a mass of +curly hair, and her face elongated, by a sheer effort of will, no doubt. +And from a pale blonde she had become flaringly carrotty; so that a +Titianesque creature seemed to have sprung from the little urchin-like +girl of former days. Her house, with all its show of luxury, still had +its bald spots. What struck the painter were some good pictures on the +walls, a Courbet, and, above all, an unfinished study by Delacroix. So +this wild, wilful creature was not altogether a fool, although there +was a frightful cat in coloured _biscuit_ standing on a console in the +drawing-room. + +When Jory spoke of sending the valet to his friend's place, she +exclaimed in great surprise: + +'What! you are married?' + +'Why, yes,' said Claude, simply. + +She glanced at Jory, who smiled; then she understood, and added: + +'Ah! But why did people tell me that you were a woman-hater? I'm awfully +vexed, you know. I frightened you, don't you remember, eh? You still +think me very ugly, don't you? Well, well, we'll talk about it all some +other day.' + +It was the coachman who went to the Rue de Douai with a note from +Claude, for the valet had opened the door of the dining-room, to +announce that lunch was served. The repast, a very delicate one, was +partaken of in all propriety, under the icy stare of the servant. They +talked about the great building works that were revolutionising Paris; +and then discussed the price of land, like middle-class people with +money to invest. But at dessert, when they were all three alone with the +coffee and liqueurs, which they had decided upon taking there, without +leaving the table, they gradually became animated, and dropped into +their old familiar ways, as if they had met each other at the Cafe +Baudequin. + +'Ah, my lads,' said Irma, 'this is the only real enjoyment, to be jolly +together and to snap one's fingers at other people.' + +She was twisting cigarettes; she had just placed the bottle of +chartreuse near her, and had begun to empty it, looking the while very +flushed, and lapsing once more to her low street drollery. + +'So,' continued Jory, who was apologising for not having sent her that +morning a book she wanted, 'I was going to buy it last night at about +ten o'clock, when I met Fagerolles--' + +'You are telling a lie,' said she, interrupting him in a clear voice. +And to cut short his protestations--'Fagerolles was here,' she added, +'so you see that you are telling a lie.' + +Then, turning to Claude, 'No, it's too disgusting. You can't conceive +what a liar he is. He tells lies like a woman, for the pleasure of it, +for the merest trifle. Now, the whole of his story amounts simply to +this: that he didn't want to spend three francs to buy me that book. +Each time he was to have sent me a bouquet, he had dropped it under the +wheels of a carriage, or there were no flowers to be had in all Paris. +Ah! there's a fellow who only cares for himself, and no mistake.' + +Jory, without getting in the least angry, tilted back his chair and +sucked his cigar, merely saying with a sneer: + +'Oh! if you see Fagerolles now--' + +'Well, what of it?' she cried, becoming furious. 'It's no business of +yours. I snap my fingers at your Fagerolles, do you hear? He knows very +well that people don't quarrel with me. We know each other; we sprouted +in the same crack between the paving-stones. Look here, whenever I like, +I have only to hold up my finger, and your Fagerolles will be there on +the floor, licking my feet.' + +She was growing animated, and Jory thought it prudent to beat a retreat. + +'_My_ Fagerolles,' he muttered; '_my_ Fagerolles.' + +'Yes, _your_ Fagerolles. Do you think that I don't see through you both? +He is always patting you on the back, as he hopes to get articles out of +you, and you affect generosity and calculate the advantage you'll derive +if you write up an artist liked by the public.' + +This time Jory stuttered, feeling very much annoyed on account of Claude +being there. He did not attempt to defend himself, however, preferring +to turn the quarrel into a joke. Wasn't she amusing, eh? when she blazed +up like that, with her lustrous wicked eyes, and her twitching mouth, +eager to indulge in vituperation? + +'But remember, my dear, this sort of thing cracks your Titianesque +"make-up,"' he added. + +She began to laugh, mollified at once. + +Claude, basking in physical comfort, kept on sipping small glasses of +cognac one after another, without noticing it. During the two hours +they had been there a kind of intoxication had stolen over them, the +hallucinatory intoxication produced by liqueurs and tobacco smoke. They +changed the conversation; the high prices that pictures were +fetching came into question. Irma, who no longer spoke, kept a bit +of extinguished cigarette between her lips, and fixed her eyes on the +painter. At last she abruptly began to question him about his wife. + +Her questions did not appear to surprise him; his ideas were going +astray: 'She had just come from the provinces,' he said. 'She was in a +situation with a lady, and was a very good and honest girl.' + +'Pretty?' + +'Why, yes, pretty.' + +For a moment Irma relapsed into her reverie, then she said, smiling: +'Dash it all! How lucky you are!' + +Then she shook herself, and exclaimed, rising from the table: 'Nearly +three o'clock! Ah! my children, I must turn you out of the house. Yes, +I have an appointment with an architect; I am going to see some ground +near the Parc Monceau, you know, in the new quarter which is being +built. I have scented a stroke of business in that direction.' + +They had returned to the drawing-room. She stopped before a +looking-glass, annoyed at seeing herself so flushed. + +'It's about that house, isn't it?' asked Jory. 'You have found the +money, then?' + +She brought her hair down over her brow again, then with her hands +seemed to efface the flush on her cheeks; elongated the oval of her +face, and rearranged her tawny head, which had all the charm of a work +of art; and finally, turning round, she merely threw Jory these words by +way of reply: Look! there's my Titianesque effect back again.' + +She was already, amidst their laughter, edging them towards the hall, +where once more, without speaking, she took Claude's hands in her own, +her glance yet again diving into the depths of his eyes. When he +reached the street he felt uncomfortable. The cold air dissipated his +intoxication; he remorsefully reproached himself for having spoken of +Christine in that house, and swore to himself that he would never set +foot there again. + +Indeed, a kind of shame deterred Claude from going home, and when his +companion, excited by the luncheon and feeling inclined to loaf about, +spoke of going to shake hands with Bongrand, he was delighted with the +idea, and both made their way to the Boulevard de Clichy. + +For the last twenty years Bongrand had there occupied a very large +studio, in which he had in no wise sacrificed to the tastes of the +day, to that magnificence of hangings and nick-nacks with which young +painters were then beginning to surround themselves. It was the bare, +greyish studio of the old style, exclusively ornamented with sketches +by the master, which hung there unframed, and in close array like the +votive offerings in a chapel. The only tokens of elegance consisted of +a cheval glass, of the First Empire style, a large Norman wardrobe, and +two arm-chairs upholstered in Utrecht velvet, and threadbare with +usage. In one corner, too, a bearskin which had lost nearly all its +hair covered a large couch. However, the artist had retained since his +youthful days, which had been spent in the camp of the Romanticists, the +habit of wearing a special costume, and it was in flowing trousers, in +a dressing-gown secured at the waist by a silken cord, and with his head +covered with a priest's skull-cap, that he received his visitors. + +He came to open the door himself, holding his palette and brushes. + +'So here you are! It was a good idea of yours to come! I was thinking +about you, my dear fellow. Yes, I don't know who it was that told me of +your return, but I said to myself that it wouldn't be long before I saw +you.' + +The hand that he had free grasped Claude's in a burst of sincere +affection. He then shook Jory's, adding: + +'And you, young pontiff; I read your last article, and thank you for +your kind mention of myself. Come in, come in, both of you! You don't +disturb me; I'm taking advantage of the daylight to the very last +minute, for there's hardly time to do anything in this confounded month +of November.' + +He had resumed his work, standing before his easel, on which there was +a small canvas, which showed two women, mother and daughter, sitting +sewing in the embrasure of a sunlit window. The young fellows stood +looking behind him. + +'Exquisite,' murmured Claude, at last. + +Bongrand shrugged his shoulders without turning round. + +'Pooh! A mere nothing at all. A fellow must occupy his time, eh? I did +this from life at a friend's house, and I am cleaning it a bit.' + +'But it's perfect--it is a little gem of truth and light,' replied +Claude, warming up. 'And do you know, what overcomes me is its +simplicity, its very simplicity.' + +On hearing this the painter stepped back and blinked his eyes, looking +very much surprised. + +'You think so? It really pleases you? Well, when you came in I was just +thinking it was a foul bit of work. I give you my word, I was in the +dumps, and felt convinced that I hadn't a scrap of talent left.' + +His hands shook, his stalwart frame trembled as with the agony of +travail. He rid himself of his palette, and came back towards them, +his arms sawing the air, as it were; and this artist, who had grown old +amidst success, who was assured of ranking in the French School, cried +to them: + +'It surprises you, eh? but there are days when I ask myself whether +I shall be able to draw a nose correctly. Yes, with every one of my +pictures I still feel the emotion of a beginner; my heart beats, anguish +parches my mouth--in fact, I funk abominably. Ah! you youngsters, you +think you know what funk means; but you haven't as much as a notion +of it, for if you fail with one work, you get quits by trying to do +something better. Nobody is down upon you; whereas we, the veterans, +who have given our measure, who are obliged to keep up to the level +previously attained, if not to surpass it, we mustn't weaken under +penalty of rolling down into the common grave. And so, Mr. Celebrity, +Mr. Great Artist, wear out your brains, consume yourself in striving to +climb higher, still higher, ever higher, and if you happen to kick +your heels on the summit, think yourself lucky! Wear your heels out +in kicking them up as long as possible, and if you feel that you are +declining, why, make an end of yourself by rolling down amid the death +rattle of your talent, which is no longer suited to the period; roll +down forgetful of such of your works as are destined to immortality, and +in despair at your powerless efforts to create still further!' + +His full voice had risen to a final outburst like thunder, and his +broad flushed face wore an expression of anguish. He strode about, +and continued, as if carried away, in spite of himself, by a violent +whirlwind: + +'I have told you a score of times that one was for ever beginning one's +career afresh, that joy did not consist in having reached the summit, +but in the climbing, in the gaiety of scaling the heights. Only, you +don't understand, you cannot understand; a man must have passed through +it. Just remember! You hope for everything, you dream of everything; it +is the hour of boundless illusions, and your legs are so strong that the +most fatiguing roads seem short; you are consumed with such an appetite +for glory, that the first petty successes fill your mouth with a +delicious taste. What a feast it will be when you are able to gratify +ambition to satiety! You have nearly reached that point, and you look +right cheerfully on your scratches! Well, the thing is accomplished; the +summit has been gained; it is now a question of remaining there. Then +a life of abomination begins; you have exhausted intoxication, and you +have discovered that it does not last long enough, that it is not worth +the struggle it has cost, and that the dregs of the cup taste bitter. +There is nothing left to be learnt, no new sensation to be felt; pride +has had its allowance of fame; you know that you have produced your +greatest works; and you are surprised that they did not bring keener +enjoyment with them. From that moment the horizon becomes void; no fresh +hope inflames you; there is nothing left but to die. And yet you still +cling on, you won't admit that it's all up with you, you obstinately +persist in trying to produce--just as old men cling to love with +painful, ignoble efforts. Ah! a man ought to have the courage and the +pride to strangle himself before his last masterpiece!' + +While he spoke he seemed to have increased in stature, reaching to the +elevated ceiling of the studio, and shaken by such keen emotion that +the tears started to his eyes. And he dropped into a chair before his +picture, asking with the anxious look of a beginner who has need of +encouragement: + +'Then this really seems to you all right? I myself no longer dare to +believe anything. My unhappiness springs from the possession of both too +much and not enough critical acumen. The moment I begin a sketch I exalt +it, then, if it's not successful, I torture myself. It would be better +not to know anything at all about it, like that brute Chambouvard, or +else to see very clearly into the business and then give up painting.... +Really now, you like this little canvas?' + +Claude and Jory remained motionless, astonished and embarrassed by those +tokens of the intense anguish of art in its travail. Had they come at a +moment of crisis, that this master thus groaned with pain, and consulted +them like comrades? The worst was that they had been unable to disguise +some hesitation when they found themselves under the gaze of the ardent, +dilated eyes with which he implored them--eyes in which one could read +the hidden fear of decline. They knew current rumours well enough; they +agreed with the opinion that since his 'Village Wedding' the painter had +produced nothing equal to that famous picture. Indeed, after maintaining +something of that standard of excellence in a few works, he was now +gliding into a more scientific, drier manner. Brightness of colour +was vanishing; each work seemed to show a decline. However, these were +things not to be said; so Claude, when he had recovered his composure, +exclaimed: + +'You never painted anything so powerful!' + +Bongrand looked at him again, straight in the eyes. Then he turned +to his work, in which he became absorbed, making a movement with his +herculean arms, as if he were breaking every bone of them to lift that +little canvas which was so very light. And he muttered to himself: +'Confound it! how heavy it is! Never mind, I'll die at it rather than +show a falling-off.' + +He took up his palette and grew calm at the first stroke of the brush, +while bending his manly shoulders and broad neck, about which one +noticed traces of peasant build remaining amid the bourgeois refinement +contributed by the crossing of classes of which he was the outcome. + +Silence had ensued, but Jory, his eyes still fixed on the picture, +asked: + +'Is it sold?' + +Bongrand replied leisurely, like the artist who works when he likes +without care of profit: + +'No; I feel paralysed when I've a dealer at my back.' And, without +pausing in his work, he went on talking, growing waggish. + +'Ah! people are beginning to make a trade of painting now. Really and +truly I have never seen such a thing before, old as I am getting. For +instance, you, Mr. Amiable Journalist, what a quantity of flowers you +fling to the young ones in that article in which you mentioned me! There +were two or three youngsters spoken of who were simply geniuses, nothing +less.' + +Jory burst out laughing. + +'Well, when a fellow has a paper, he must make use of it. Besides, the +public likes to have great men discovered for it.' + +'No doubt, public stupidity is boundless, and I am quite willing that +you should trade on it. Only I remember the first starts that we old +fellows had. Dash it! We were not spoiled like that, I can tell you. +We had ten years' labour and struggle before us ere we could impose +on people a picture the size of your hand; whereas nowadays the first +hobbledehoy who can stick a figure on its legs makes all the trumpets of +publicity blare. And what kind of publicity is it? A hullabaloo from one +end of France to the other, sudden reputations that shoot up of a night, +and burst upon one like thunderbolts, amid the gaping of the throng. +And I say nothing of the works themselves, those works announced with +salvoes of artillery, awaited amid a delirium of impatience, maddening +Paris for a week, and then falling into everlasting oblivion!' + +'This is an indictment against journalism,' said Jory, who had stretched +himself on the couch and lighted another cigar. 'There is a great deal +to be said for and against it, but devil a bit, a man must keep pace +with the times.' + +Bongrand shook his head, and then started off again, amid a tremendous +burst of mirth: + +'No! no! one can no longer throw off the merest daub without being +hailed as a young "master." Well, if you only knew how your young +masters amuse me!' + +But as if these words had led to some other ideas, he cooled down, and +turned towards Claude to ask this question: 'By the way, have you seen +Fagerolles' picture?' + +'Yes,' said the young fellow, quietly. + +They both remained looking at each other: a restless smile had risen to +their lips, and Bongrand eventually added: + +'There's a fellow who pillages you right and left.' + +Jory, becoming embarrassed, had lowered his eyes, asking himself whether +he should defend Fagerolles. He, no doubt, concluded that it would be +profitable to do so, for he began to praise the picture of the actress +in her dressing-room, an engraving of which was then attracting a great +deal of notice in the print-shops. Was not the subject a really modern +one? Was it not well painted, in the bright clear tone of the new +school? A little more vigour might, perhaps, have been desirable; +but every one ought to be left to his own temperament. And besides, +refinement and charm were not so common by any means, nowadays. + +Bending over his canvas, Bongrand, who, as a rule, had nothing but +paternal praise for the young ones, shook and made a visible effort +to avoid an outburst. The explosion took place, however, in spite of +himself. + +'Just shut up, eh? about your Fagerolles! Do you think us greater fools +than we really are? There! you see the great painter here present. +Yes; I mean the young gentleman in front of you. Well, the whole trick +consists in pilfering his originality, and dishing it up with the +wishy-washy sauce of the School of Arts! Quite so! you select a modern +subject, and you paint in the clear bright style, only you adhere to +correctly commonplace drawing, to all the habitual pleasing style of +composition--in short, to the formula which is taught over yonder +for the pleasure of the middle-classes. And you souse all that with +deftness, that execrable deftness of the fingers which would just +as well carve cocoanuts, the flowing, pleasant deftness that begets +success, and which ought to be punished with penal servitude, do you +hear?' + +He brandished his palette and brushes aloft, in his clenched fists. + +'You are severe,' said Claude, feeling embarrassed. 'Fagerolles shows +delicacy in his work.' + +'I have been told,' muttered Jory, mildly, 'that he has just signed a +very profitable agreement with Naudet.' + +That name, thrown haphazard into the conversation, had the effect of +once more soothing Bongrand, who repeated, shrugging his shoulders: + +'Ah! Naudet--ah! Naudet.' + +And he greatly amused the young fellows by telling them about Naudet, +with whom he was well acquainted. He was a dealer, who, for some few +years, had been revolutionising the picture trade. There was nothing of +the old fashion about his style--the greasy coat and keen taste of +Papa Malgras, the watching for the pictures of beginners, bought at ten +francs, to be resold at fifteen, all the little humdrum comedy of +the connoisseur, turning up his nose at a coveted canvas in order to +depreciate it, worshipping painting in his inmost heart, and earning a +meagre living by quickly and prudently turning over his petty capital. +No, no; the famous Naudet had the appearance of a nobleman, with a +fancy-pattern jacket, a diamond pin in his scarf, and patent-leather +boots; he was well pomaded and brushed, and lived in fine style, with +a livery-stable carriage by the month, a stall at the opera, and his +particular table at Bignon's. And he showed himself wherever it was the +correct thing to be seen. For the rest, he was a speculator, a +Stock Exchange gambler, not caring one single rap about art. But he +unfailingly scented success, he guessed what artist ought to be properly +started, not the one who seemed likely to develop the genius of a great +painter, furnishing food for discussion, but the one whose deceptive +talent, set off by a pretended display of audacity, would command a +premium in the market. And that was the way in which he revolutionised +that market, giving the amateur of taste the cold shoulder, and only +treating with the moneyed amateur, who knew nothing about art, but who +bought a picture as he might buy a share at the Stock Exchange, either +from vanity or with the hope that it would rise in value. + +At this stage of the conversation Bongrand, very jocular by nature, +and with a good deal of the mummer about him, began to enact the scene. +Enter Naudet in Fagerolles' studio. + +'"You've real genius, my dear fellow. Your last picture is sold, then? +For how much?" + +'"For five hundred francs." + +'"But you must be mad; it was worth twelve hundred. And this one which +you have by you--how much?" + +'"Well, my faith, I don't know. Suppose we say twelve hundred?" + +'"What are you talking about? Twelve hundred francs! You don't +understand me, then, my boy; it's worth two thousand. I take it at +two thousand. And from this day forward you must work for no one but +myself--for me, Naudet. Good-bye, good-bye, my dear fellow; don't +overwork yourself--your fortune is made. I have taken it in hand." +Wherewith he goes off, taking the picture with him in his carriage. He +trots it round among his amateurs, among whom he has spread the rumour +that he has just discovered an extraordinary painter. One of the +amateurs bites at last, and asks the price. + +"'Five thousand." + +'"What, five thousand francs for the picture of a man whose name hasn't +the least notoriety? Are you playing the fool with me?" + +'"Look here, I'll make you a proposal; I'll sell it you for five +thousand francs, and I'll sign an agreement to take it back in a +twelvemonth at six thousand, if you no longer care for it." + +Of course the amateur is tempted. What does he risk after all? In +reality it's a good speculation, and so he buys. After that Naudet loses +no time, but disposes in a similar manner of nine or ten paintings by +the same man during the course of the year. Vanity gets mingled with the +hope of gain, the prices go up, the pictures get regularly quoted, so +that when Naudet returns to see his amateur, the latter, instead of +returning the picture, buys another one for eight thousand francs. And +the prices continue to go up, and painting degenerates into something +shady, a kind of gold mine situated on the heights of Montmartre, +promoted by a number of bankers, and around which there is a constant +battle of bank-notes.' + +Claude was growing indignant, but Jory thought it all very clever, when +there came a knock at the door. Bongrand, who went to open it, uttered a +cry of surprise. + +'Naudet, as I live! We were just talking about you.' + +Naudet, very correctly dressed, without a speck of mud on him, despite +the horrible weather, bowed and came in with the reverential politeness +of a man of society entering a church. + +'Very pleased--feel flattered, indeed, dear master. And you only spoke +well of me, I'm sure of it.' + +'Not at all, Naudet, not at all,' said Bongrand, in a quiet tone. 'We +were saying that your manner of trading was giving us a nice generation +of artists--tricksters crossed with dishonest business men.' + +Naudet smiled, without losing his composure. + +'The remark is harsh, but so charming! Never mind, never mind, dear +master, nothing that you say offends me.' + +And, dropping into ecstasy before the picture of the two little women at +needlework: + +'Ah! Good heavens, I didn't know this, it's a little marvel! Ah! that +light, that broad substantial treatment! One has to go back to Rembrandt +for anything like it; yes, to Rembrandt! Look here, I only came in to +pay my respects, but I thank my lucky star for having brought me here. +Let us do a little bit of business. Let me have this gem. Anything you +like to ask for it--I'll cover it with gold.' + +One could see Bongrand's back shake, as if his irritation were +increasing at each sentence. He curtly interrupted the dealer. + +'Too late; it's sold.' + +'Sold, you say. And you cannot annul your bargain? Tell me, at any rate, +to whom it's sold? I'll do everything, I'll give anything. Ah! What a +horrible blow! Sold, are you quite sure of it? Suppose you were offered +double the sum?' + +'It's sold, Naudet. That's enough, isn't it?' + +However, the dealer went on lamenting. He remained for a few minutes +longer, going into raptures before other sketches, while making the tour +of the studio with the keen glances of a speculator in search of luck. +When he realised that his time was badly chosen, and that he would be +able to take nothing away with him, he went off, bowing with an air of +gratitude, and repeating remarks of admiration as far as the landing. + +As soon as he had gone, Jory, who had listened to the conversation with +surprise, ventured to ask a question: + +'But you told us, I thought--It isn't sold, is it?' + +Without immediately answering, Bongrand went back to his picture. Then, +in his thundering voice, resuming in one cry all his hidden suffering, +the whole of the nascent struggle within him which he dared not avow, he +said: + +'He plagues me. He shall never have anything of mine! Let him go and buy +of Fagerolles!' + +A quarter of an hour later, Claude and Jory also said good-bye, leaving +Bongrand struggling with his work in the waning daylight. Once outside, +when the young painter had left his companion, he did not at once return +home to the Rue de Douai, in spite of his long absence. He still felt +the want of walking about, of surrendering himself up to that great +city of Paris, where the meetings of one single day sufficed to fill +his brain; and this need of motion made him wander about till the black +night had fallen, through the frozen mud of the streets, beneath the +gas-lamps, which, lighted up one by one, showed like nebulous stars +amidst the fog. + +Claude impatiently awaited the Thursday when he was to dine at Sandoz's, +for the latter, immutable in his habits, still invited his cronies to +dinner once a week. All those who chose could come, their covers were +laid. His marriage, his change of life, the ardent literary struggle +into which he had thrown himself, made no difference; he kept to his day +'at home,' that Thursday which dated from the time he had left college, +from the time they had all smoked their first pipes. As he himself +expressed it, alluding to his wife, there was only one chum more. + +'I say, old man,' he had frankly said to Claude, 'I'm greatly worried--' + +'What about?' + +'Why, about inviting Madame Christine. There are a lot of idiots, a lot +of philistines watching me, who would say all manner of things--' + +'You are quite right, old man. But Christine herself would decline to +come. Oh! we understand the position very well. I'll come alone, depend +upon it.' + +At six o'clock, Claude started for Sandoz's place in the Rue Nollet, in +the depths of Batignolles, and he had no end of trouble in finding the +small pavilion which his friend had rented. First of all he entered a +large house facing the street, and applied to the doorkeeper, who made +him cross three successive courtyards; then he went down a passage, +between two other buildings, descended some steps, and tumbled upon the +iron gate of a small garden. That was the spot, the pavilion was there +at the end of a path. But it was so dark, and he had nearly broken his +legs coming down the steps, that he dared not venture any further, the +more so as a huge dog was barking furiously. At last he heard the voice +of Sandoz, who was coming forward and trying to quiet the dog. + +'Ah, it's you! We are quite in the country, aren't we? We are going to +set up a lantern, so that our company may not break their necks. Come +in, come in! Will you hold your noise, you brute of a Bertrand? Don't +you see that it's a friend, fool?' + +Thereupon the dog accompanied them as far as the pavilion, wagging his +tail and barking joyously. A young servant-girl had come out with +a lantern, which she fastened to the gate, in order to light up the +breakneck steps. In the garden there was simply a small central lawn, +on which there stood a large plum tree, diffusing a shade around that +rotted the grass; and just in front of the low house, which showed only +three windows, there stretched an arbour of Virginia creeper, with a +brand-new seat shining there as an ornament amid the winter showers, +pending the advent of the summer sun. + +'Come in,' repeated Sandoz. + +On the right-hand side of the hall he ushered Claude into the parlour, +which he had turned into a study. The dining-room and kitchen were +on the left. Upstairs, his mother, who was now altogether bedridden, +occupied the larger room, while he and his wife contented themselves +with the other one, and a dressing-room that parted the two. That was +the whole place, a real cardboard box, with rooms like little drawers +separated by partitions as thin as paper. Withal, it was the abode of +work and hope, vast in comparison with the ordinary garrets of youth, +and already made bright by a beginning of comfort and luxury. + +'There's room here, eh?' he exclaimed. 'Ah! it's a jolly sight more +comfortable than the Rue d'Enfer. You see that I've a room to myself. +And I have bought myself an oaken writing-table, and my wife made me +a present of that dwarf palm in that pot of old Rouen ware. Isn't it +swell, eh?' + +His wife came in at that very moment. Tall, with a pleasant, tranquil +face and beautiful brown hair, she wore a large white apron over her +plainly made dress of black poplin; for although they had a regular +servant, she saw to the cooking, for she was proud of certain of +her dishes, and she put the household on a footing of middle-class +cleanliness and love of cheer. + +She and Claude became old chums at once. + +'Call him Claude, my darling. And you, old man, call her Henriette. No +madame nor monsieur, or I shall fine you five sous each time.' + +They laughed, and she scampered away, being wanted in the kitchen to +look after a southern dish, a _bouillabaisse_, with which she wished +to surprise the Plassans friend. She had obtained the recipe from her +husband himself, and had become marvellously deft at it, so he said. + +'Your wife is charming,' said Claude, 'and I see she spoils you.' + +But Sandoz, seated at his table, with his elbows among such pages of the +book he was working at as he had written that morning, began to talk of +the first novel of his series, which he had published in October. Ah! +they had treated his poor book nicely! It had been a throttling, +a butchering, all the critics yelling at his heels, a broadside of +imprecations, as if he had murdered people in a wood. He himself laughed +at it, excited rather than otherwise, for he had sturdy shoulders and +the quiet bearing of a toiler who knows what he's after. Mere surprise +remained to him at the profound lack of intelligence shown by those +fellows the critics, whose articles, knocked off on the corner of some +table, bespattered him with mud, without appearing as much as to guess +at the least of his intentions. Everything was flung into the same +slop-pail of abuse: his studies of physiological man; the important part +he assigned to circumstances and surroundings; his allusions to nature, +ever and ever creating; in short, life--entire, universal life--existent +through all the animal world without there really being either high +or low, beauty or ugliness; he was insulted, too, for his boldness of +language for the conviction he expressed that all things ought to be +said, that there are abominable expressions which become necessary, +like branding irons, and that a language emerges enriched from such +strength-giving baths. He easily granted their anger, but he would at +least have liked them to do him the honour of understanding him and +getting angry at his audacity, not at the idiotic, filthy designs of +which he was accused. + +'Really,' he continued, 'I believe that the world still contains more +idiots than downright spiteful people. They are enraged with me on +account of the form I give to my productions, the written sentences, the +similes, the very life of my style. Yes, the middle-classes fairly split +with hatred of literature!' + +Then he became silent, having grown sad. + +'Never mind,' said Claude, after an interval, 'you are happy, you at +least work, you produce--' + +Sandoz had risen from his seat with a gesture of sudden pain. + +'True, I work. I work out my books to their last pages--But if you only +knew, if I told you amidst what discouragement, amidst what torture! +Won't those idiots take it into their heads to accuse me of pride! I, +whom the imperfection of my work pursues even in my sleep--I, who +never look over the pages of the day before, lest I should find them so +execrable that I might afterwards lack the courage to continue. Oh, I +work, no doubt, I work! I go on working, as I go on living, because I +am born to it, but I am none the gayer on account of it. I am never +satisfied; there is always a great collapse at the end.' + +He was interrupted by a loud exclamation outside, and Jory appeared, +delighted with life, and relating that he had just touched up an old +article in order to have the evening to himself. Almost immediately +afterwards Gagniere and Mahoudeau, who had met at the door, came in +conversing together. The former, who had been absorbed for some months +in a theory of colours, was explaining his system to the other. + +'I paint my shade in,' he continued, as if in a dream. 'The red of the +flag loses its brightness and becomes yellowish because it stands +out against the blue of the sky, the complementary shade of +which--orange--blends with red--' + +Claude, interested at once, was already questioning him when the servant +brought in a telegram. + +'All right,' said Sandoz, 'it's from Dubuche, who apologises; he +promises to come and surprise us at about eleven o'clock.' + +At this moment Henriette threw the door wide open, and personally +announced that dinner was ready. She had doffed her white apron, and +cordially shook hands, as hostess, with all of them. 'Take your seats! +take your seats!' was her cry. It was half-past seven already, the +_bouillabaisse_ could not wait. Jory, having observed that Fagerolles +had sworn to him that he would come, they would not believe it. +Fagerolles was getting ridiculous with his habit of aping the great +artist overwhelmed with work! + +The dining-room into which they passed was so small that, in order to +make room for a piano, a kind of alcove had been made out of a dark +closet which had formerly served for the accommodation of crockery. +However, on grand occasions half a score of people still gathered round +the table, under the white porcelain hanging lamp, but this was only +accomplished by blocking up the sideboard, so that the servant could not +even pass to take a plate from it. However, it was the mistress of the +house who carved, while the master took his place facing her, against +the blockaded sideboard, in order to hand round whatever things might be +required. + +Henriette had placed Claude on her right hand, Mahoudeau on her left, +while Gagniere and Jory were seated next to Sandoz. + +'Francoise,' she called, 'give me the slices of toast. They are on the +range.' + +And the girl having brought the toast, she distributed two slices to +each of them, and was beginning to ladle the _bouillabaisse_ into the +plates, when the door opened once more. + +'Fagerolles at last!' she said. 'I have given your seat to Mahoudeau. +Sit down there, next to Claude.' + +He apologised with an air of courtly politeness, by alleging a business +appointment. Very elegantly dressed, tightly buttoned up in clothes of +an English cut, he had the carriage of a man about town, relieved by +the retention of a touch of artistic free-and-easiness. Immediately on +sitting down he grasped his neighbour's hand, affecting great delight. + +'Ah, my old Claude! I have for such a long time wanted to see you. A +score of times I intended going after you into the country; but then, +you know, circumstances--' + +Claude, feeling uncomfortable at these protestations, endeavoured to +meet them with a like cordiality. But Henriette, who was still serving, +saved the situation by growing impatient. + +'Come, Fagerolles, just answer me. Do you wish two slices of toast?' + +'Certainly, madame, two, if you please. I am very fond of +_bouillabaisse_. Besides, yours is delicious, a marvel!' + +In fact, they all went into raptures over it, especially Jory and +Mahoudeau, who declared they had never tasted anything better at +Marseilles; so much so, that the young wife, delighted and still flushed +with the heat of the kitchen, her ladle in her hand, had all she could +do to refill the plates held out to her; and, indeed, she rose up and +ran in person to the kitchen to fetch the remains of the soup, for the +servant-girl was losing her wits. + +'Come, eat something,' said Sandoz to her. 'We'll wait well enough till +you have done.' + +But she was obstinate and remained standing. + +'Never mind me. You had better pass the bread--yes, there, behind you on +the sideboard. Jory prefers crumb, which he can soak in the soup.' + +Sandoz rose in his turn and assisted his wife, while the others chaffed +Jory on his love for sops. And Claude, moved by the pleasant cordiality +of his hosts, and awaking, as it were, from a long sleep, looked at them +all, asking himself whether he had only left them on the previous night, +or whether four years had really elapsed since he had dined with them +one Thursday. They were different, however; he felt them to be changed: +Mahoudeau soured by misery, Jory wrapt up in his own pleasures, Gagniere +more distant, with his thoughts elsewhere. And it especially seemed to +him that Fagerolles was chilly, in spite of his exaggerated cordiality +of manner. No doubt their features had aged somewhat amid the wear and +tear of life; but it was not only that which he noticed, it seemed to +him also as if there was a void between them; he beheld them isolated +and estranged from each other, although they were seated elbow to elbow +in close array round the table. Then the surroundings were different; +nowadays, a woman brought her charm to bear on them, and calmed them by +her presence. Then why did he, face to face with the irrevocable current +of things, which die and are renewed, experience that sensation of +beginning something over again--why was it that he could have sworn that +he had been seated at that same place only last Thursday? At last he +thought he understood. It was Sandoz who had not changed, who remained +as obstinate as regards his habits of friendship, as regards his habits +of work, as radiant at being able to receive his friends at the board of +his new home as he had formerly been, when sharing his frugal bachelor +fare with them. A dream of eternal friendship made him changeless. +Thursdays similar one to another followed and followed on until the +furthest stages of their lives. All of them were eternally together, all +started at the self-same hour, and participated in the same triumph! + +Sandoz must have guessed the thought that kept Claude mute, for he said +to him across the table, with his frank, youthful smile: + +'Well, old man, here you are again! Ah, confound it! we missed you +sorely. But, you see, nothing is changed; we are all the same--aren't +we, all of you?' + +They answered by nodding their heads--no doubt, no doubt! + +'With this difference,' he went on, beaming--'with this difference, that +the cookery is somewhat better than in the Rue d'Enfer! What a lot of +messes I did make you swallow!' + +After the _bouillabaisse_ there came a _civet_ of hare; and a roast fowl +and salad terminated the dinner. But they sat for a long time at table, +and the dessert proved a protracted affair, although the conversation +lacked the fever and violence of yore. Every one spoke of himself and +ended by relapsing into silence on perceiving that the others did not +listen to him. With the cheese, however, when they had tasted some +burgundy, a sharp little growth, of which the young couple had ordered a +cask out of the profits of Sandoz's first novel, their voices rose to a +higher key, and they all grew animated. + +'So you have made an arrangement with Naudet, eh?' asked Mahoudeau, +whose bony cheeks seemed to have grown yet more hollow. 'Is it true that +he guarantees you fifty thousand francs for the first year?' + +Fagerolles replied, with affected carelessness, 'Yes, fifty thousand +francs. But nothing is settled; I'm thinking it over. It is hard to +engage oneself like that. I am not going to do anything precipitately.' + +'The deuce!' muttered the sculptor; 'you are hard to please. For twenty +francs a day I'd sign whatever you like.' + +They all now listened to Fagerolles, who posed as being wearied by +his budding success. He still had the same good-looking, disturbing +hussy-like face, but the fashion in which he wore his hair and the cut +of his beard lent him an appearance of gravity. Although he still came +at long intervals to Sandoz's, he was separating from the band; he +showed himself on the boulevards, frequented the cafes and newspaper +offices--all the places where a man can advertise himself and make +useful acquaintances. These were tactics of his own, a determination to +carve his own victory apart from the others; the smart idea that if he +wished to triumph he ought to have nothing more in common with those +revolutionists, neither dealer, nor connections, nor habits. It was +even said that he had interested the female element of two or three +drawing-rooms in his success, not in Jory's style, but like a vicious +fellow who rises superior to his passions, and is content to adulate +superannuated baronesses. + +Just then Jory, in view of lending importance to himself, called +Fagerolles' attention to a recently published article; he pretended that +he had made Fagerolles just as he pretended that he had made Claude. +'I say, have you read that article of Vernier's about yourself? There's +another fellow who repeats my ideas!' + +'Ah, he does get articles, and no mistake!' sighed Mahoudeau. + +Fagerolles made a careless gesture, but he smiled with secret contempt +for all those poor beggars who were so utterly deficient in shrewdness +that they clung, like simpletons, to their crude style, when it was so +easy to conquer the crowd. Had it not sufficed for him to break with +them, after pillaging them, to make his own fortune? He benefited by +all the hatred that folks had against them; his pictures, of a softened, +attenuated style, were held up in praise, so as to deal the death-blow +to their ever obstinately violent works. + +'Have you read Vernier's article?' asked Jory of Gagniere. 'Doesn't he +say exactly what I said?' + +For the last few moments Gagniere had been absorbed in contemplating +his glass, the wine in which cast a ruddy reflection on the white +tablecloth. He started: + +'Eh, what, Vernier's article?' + +'Why, yes; in fact, all those articles which appear about Fagerolles.' + +Gagniere in amazement turned to the painter. + +'What, are they writing articles about you? I know nothing about them, I +haven't seen them. Ah! they are writing articles about you, but whatever +for?' + +There was a mad roar of laughter. Fagerolles alone grinned with an +ill grace, for he fancied himself the butt of some spiteful joke. But +Gagniere spoke in absolute good faith. He felt surprised at the success +of a painter who did not even observe the laws regulating the value of +tints. Success for that trickster! Never! For in that case what would +become of conscientiousness? + +This boisterous hilarity enlivened the end of the dinner. They all left +off eating, though the mistress of the house still insisted upon filling +their plates. + +'My dear, do attend to them,' she kept saying to Sandoz, who had +grown greatly excited amidst the din. 'Just stretch out your hand; the +biscuits are on the side-board.' + +They all declined anything more, and rose up. As the rest of the evening +was to be spent there, round the table, drinking tea, they leaned back +against the walls and continued chatting while the servant cleared +away. The young couple assisted, Henriette putting the salt-cellars in a +drawer, and Sandoz helping to fold the cloth. + +'You can smoke,' said Henriette. 'You know that it doesn't inconvenience +me in the least.' + +Fagerolles, who had drawn Claude into the window recess, offered him a +cigar, which was declined. + +'True, I forgot; you don't smoke. Ah! I say, I must go to see what you +have brought back with you. Some very interesting things, no doubt. You +know what I think of your talent. You are the cleverest of us all.' + +He showed himself very humble, sincere at heart, and allowing his +admiration of former days to rise once more to the surface; indeed, +he for ever bore the imprint of another's genius, which he admitted, +despite the complex calculations of his cunning mind. But his humility +was mingled with a certain embarrassment very rare with him--the +concern he felt at the silence which the master of his youth preserved +respecting his last picture. At last he ventured to ask, with quivering +lips: + +'Did you see my actress at the Salon? Do you like it? Tell me candidly.' + +Claude hesitated for a moment; then, like the good-natured fellow he +was, said: + +'Yes; there are some very good bits in it.' + +Fagerolles already repented having asked that stupid question, and he +ended by altogether floundering; he tried to excuse himself for his +plagiarisms and his compromises. When with great difficulty he had +got out of the mess, enraged with himself for his clumsiness, he for a +moment became the joker of yore again, made even Claude laugh till he +cried, and amused them all. At last he held out his hand to take leave +of Henriette. + +'What, going so soon?' + +'Alas! yes, dear madame. This evening my father is entertaining the head +of a department at one of the ministries, an official whom he's trying +to influence in view of obtaining a decoration; and, as I am one of his +titles to that distinction, I had to promise that I would look in.' + +When he was gone, Henriette, who had exchanged a few words in a low +voice with Sandoz, disappeared; and her light footfall was heard on the +first floor. Since her marriage it was she who tended the old, infirm +mother, absenting herself in this fashion several times during the +evening, just as the son had done formerly. + +Not one of the guests, however, had noticed her leave the room. +Mahoudeau and Gagniere were now talking about Fagerolles; showing +themselves covertly bitter, without openly attacking him. As yet +they contented themselves with ironical glances and shrugs of the +shoulders--all the silent contempt of fellows who don't wish to slash a +chum. Then they fell back on Claude; they prostrated themselves before +him, overwhelmed him with the hopes they set in him. Ah! it was high +time for him to come back, for he alone, with his great gifts, his +vigorous touch, could become the master, the recognised chief. Since +the Salon of the Rejected the 'school of the open air' had increased in +numbers; a growing influence was making itself felt; but unfortunately, +the efforts were frittered away; the new recruits contented themselves +with producing sketches, impressions thrown off with a few strokes of +the brush; they were awaiting the necessary man of genius, the one who +would incarnate the new formula in masterpieces. What a position to +take! to master the multitude, to open up a century, to create a new +art! Claude listened to them, with his eyes turned to the floor and his +face very pale. Yes, that indeed was his unavowed dream, the ambition he +dared not confess to himself. Only, with the delight that the flattery +caused him, there was mingled a strange anguish, a dread of the future, +as he heard them raising him to the position of dictator, as if he had +already triumphed. + +'Don't,' he exclaimed at last; 'there are others as good as myself. I am +still seeking my real line.' + +Jory, who felt annoyed, was smoking in silence. Suddenly, as the others +obstinately kept at it, he could not refrain from remarking: + +'All this, my boys, is because you are vexed at Fagerolles' success.' + +They energetically denied it; they burst out in protestations. +Fagerolles, the young master! What a good joke! + +'Oh, you are turning your back upon us, we know it,' said Mahoudeau. +'There's no fear of your writing a line about us nowadays.' + +'Well, my dear fellow,' answered Jory, vexed, 'everything I write about +you is cut out. You make yourselves hated everywhere. Ah! if I had a +paper of my own!' + +Henriette came back, and Sandoz's eyes having sought hers, she answered +him with a glance and the same affectionate, quiet smile that he had +shown when leaving his mother's room in former times. Then she summoned +them all. They sat down again round the table while she made the tea and +poured it out. But the gathering grew sad, benumbed, as it were, with +lassitude. Sandoz vainly tried a diversion by admitting Bertrand, the +big dog, who grovelled at sight of the sugar-basin, and ended by +going to sleep near the stove, where he snored like a man. Since the +discussion on Fagerolles there had been intervals of silence, a kind of +bored irritation, which fell heavily upon them amidst the dense tobacco +smoke. And, in fact, Gagniere felt so out of sorts that he left the +table for a moment to seat himself at the piano, murdering some passages +from Wagner in a subdued key, with the stiff fingers of an amateur who +tries his first scale at thirty. + +Towards eleven o'clock Dubuche, arriving at last, contributed the +finishing touch to the general frost. He had made his escape from a ball +to fulfil what he considered a remaining duty towards his old comrades; +and his dress-coat, his white necktie, his fat, pale face, all +proclaimed his vexation at having come, the importance he attached to +the sacrifice, and the fear he felt of compromising his new position. He +avoided mentioning his wife, so that he might not have to bring her to +Sandoz's. When he had shaken hands with Claude, without showing more +emotion than if he had met him the day before, he declined a cup of +tea and spoke slowly--puffing out his cheeks the while--of his worry in +settling in a brand-new house, and of the work that had overwhelmed +him since he had attended to the business of his father-in-law, who was +building a whole street near the Parc Monceau. + +Then Claude distinctly felt that something had snapped. Had life then +already carried away the evenings of former days, those evenings so +fraternal in their very violence, when nothing had as yet separated +them, when not one of them had thought of keeping his part of glory to +himself? Nowadays the battle was beginning. Each hungry one was eagerly +biting. And a fissure was there, a scarcely perceptible crack that had +rent the old, sworn friendships, and some day would make them crumble +into a thousand pieces. + +However, Sandoz, with his craving for perpetuity, had so far noticed +nothing; he still beheld them as they had been in the Rue d'Enfer, all +arm in arm, starting off to victory. Why change what was well? Did not +happiness consist in one pleasure selected from among all, and then +enjoyed for ever afterwards? And when, an hour later, the others made up +their minds to go off, wearied by the dull egotism of Dubuche, who +had not left off talking about his own affairs; when they had dragged +Gagniere, in a trance, away from the piano, Sandoz, followed by his +wife, absolutely insisted, despite the coldness of the night, on +accompanying them all to the gate at the end of the garden. He shook +hands all round, and shouted after them: + +'Till Thursday, Claude; till next Thursday, all of you, eh? Mind you all +come!' + +'Till Thursday!' repeated Henriette, who had taken the lantern and was +holding it aloft so as to light the steps. + +And, amid the laughter, Gagniere and Mahoudeau replied, jokingly: 'Till +Thursday, young master! Good-night, young master!' + +Once in the Rue Nollet, Dubuche immediately hailed a cab, in which +he drove away. The other four walked together as far as the outer +boulevards, scarcely exchanging a word, looking dazed, as it were, at +having been in each other's company so long. At last Jory decamped, +pretending that some proofs were waiting for him at the office of his +newspaper. Then Gagniere mechanically stopped Claude in front of the +Cafe Baudequin, the gas of which was still blazing away. Mahoudeau +refused to go in, and went off alone, sadly ruminating, towards the Rue +du Cherche-Midi. + +Without knowing how, Claude found himself seated at their old table, +opposite Gagniere, who was silent. The cafe had not changed. The friends +still met there of a Sunday, showing a deal of fervour, in fact, since +Sandoz had lived in the neighbourhood; but the band was now lost amid +a flood of new-comers; it was slowly being submerged by the increasing +triteness of the young disciples of the 'open air.' At that hour +of night, however, the establishment was getting empty. Three young +painters, whom Claude did not know, came to shake hands with him as they +went off; and then there merely remained a petty retired tradesman of +the neighbourhood, asleep in front of a saucer. + +Gagniere, quite at his ease, as if he had been at home, absolutely +indifferent to the yawns of the solitary waiter, who was stretching his +arms, glanced towards Claude, but without seeing him, for his eyes were +dim. + +'By the way,' said the latter, 'what were you explaining to Mahoudeau +this evening? Yes, about the red of a flag turning yellowish amid +the blue of the sky. That was it, eh? You are studying the theory of +complementary colours.' + +But the other did not answer. He took up his glass of beer, set it down +again without tasting its contents, and with an ecstatic smile ended by +muttering: + +'Haydn has all the gracefulness of a rhetorician--his is a gentle +music, quivering like the voice of a great-grandmother in powdered hair. +Mozart, he's the precursory genius--the first who endowed an orchestra +with an individual voice; and those two will live mostly because they +created Beethoven. Ah, Beethoven! power and strength amidst serene +suffering, Michael Angelo at the tomb of the Medici! A heroic logician, +a kneader of human brains; for the symphony, with choral accompaniments, +was the starting-point of all the great ones of to-day!' + +The waiter, tired of waiting, began to turn off the gas, wearily +dragging his feet along as he did so. Mournfulness pervaded the deserted +room, dirty with saliva and cigar ends, and reeking of spilt drink; +while from the hushed boulevard the only sound that came was the distant +blubbering of some drunkard. + +Gagniere, still in the clouds, however, continued to ride his +hobby-horse. + +'Weber passes by us amid a romantic landscape, conducting the ballads of +the dead amidst weeping willows and oaks with twisted branches. Schumann +follows him, beneath the pale moonlight, along the shores of silvery +lakes. And behold, here comes Rossini, incarnation of the musical gift, +so gay, so natural, without the least concern for expression, caring +nothing for the public, and who isn't my man by a long way--ah! +certainly not--but then, all the same, he astonishes one by his wealth +of production, and the huge effects he derives from an accumulation of +voices and an ever-swelling repetition of the same strain. These +three led to Meyerbeer, a cunning fellow who profited by everything, +introducing symphony into opera after Weber, and giving dramatic +expression to the unconscious formulas of Rossini. Oh! the superb bursts +of sound, the feudal pomp, the martial mysticism, the quivering of +fantastic legends, the cry of passion ringing out through history! And +such finds!--each instrument endowed with a personality, the dramatic +_recitatives_ accompanied symphoniously by the orchestra--the typical +musical phrase on which an entire work is built! Ah! he was a great +fellow--a very great fellow indeed!' + +'I am going to shut up, sir,' said the waiter, drawing near. + +And, seeing that Gagniere did not as much as look round, he went to +awaken the petty retired tradesman, who was still dozing in front of his +saucer. + +'I am going to shut up, sir.' + +The belated customer rose up, shivering, fumbled in the dark corner +where he was seated for his walking-stick, and when the waiter had +picked it up for him from under the seats he went away. + +And Gagniere rambled on: + +'Berlioz has mingled literature with his work. He is the musical +illustrator of Shakespeare, Virgil, and Goethe. But what a painter!--the +Delacroix of music, who makes sound blaze forth amidst effulgent +contrasts of colour. And withal he has romanticism in his brain, a +religious mysticism that carries him away, an ecstasy that soars higher +than mountain summits. A bad builder of operas, but marvellous in +detached pieces, asking too much at times of the orchestra which he +tortures, having pushed the personality of instruments to its furthest +limits; for each instrument represents a character to him. Ah! that +remark of his about clarionets: "They typify beloved women." Ah! it has +always made a shiver run down my back. And Chopin, so dandified in +his Byronism; the dreamy poet of those who suffer from neurosis! And +Mendelssohn, that faultless chiseller! a Shakespeare in dancing pumps, +whose "songs without words" are gems for women of intellect! And after +that--after that--a man should go down on his knees.' + +There was now only one gas-lamp alight just above his head, and the +waiter standing behind him stood waiting amid the gloomy, chilly void of +the room. Gagniere's voice had come to a reverential _tremolo_. He was +reaching devotional fervour as he approached the inner tabernacle, the +holy of holies. + +'Oh! Schumann, typical of despair, the voluptuousness of despair! Yes, +the end of everything, the last song of saddened purity hovering above +the ruins of the world! Oh! Wagner, the god in whom centuries of music +are incarnated! His work is the immense ark, all the arts blended +in one; the real humanity of the personages at last expressed, the +orchestra itself living apart the life of the drama. And what a massacre +of conventionality, of inept formulas! what a revolutionary emancipation +amid the infinite! The overture of "Tannhauser," ah! that's the sublime +hallelujah of the new era. First of all comes the chant of the pilgrims, +the religious strain, calm, deep and slowly throbbing; then the voices +of the sirens gradually drown it; the voluptuous pleasures of Venus, +full of enervating delight and languor, grow more and more imperious and +disorderly; and soon the sacred air gradually returns, like the aspiring +voice of space, and seizes hold of all other strains and blends them +in one supreme harmony, to waft them away on the wings of a triumphal +hymn!' + +'I am going to shut up, sir,' repeated the waiter. + +Claude, who no longer listened, he also being absorbed in his own +passion, emptied his glass of beer and cried: 'Eh, old man, they are +going to shut up.' + +Then Gagniere trembled. A painful twitch came over his ecstatic face, +and he shivered as if he had dropped from the stars. He gulped down his +beer, and once on the pavement outside, after pressing his companion's +hand in silence, he walked off into the gloom. + +It was nearly two o'clock in the morning when Claude returned to the Rue +de Douai. During the week that he had been scouring Paris anew, he had +each time brought back with him the feverish excitement of the day. But +he had never before returned so late, with his brain so hot and smoky. +Christine, overcome with fatigue, was asleep under the lamp, which had +gone out, her brow resting on the edge of the table. + + + + +VIII + +AT last Christine gave a final stroke with her feather-broom, and they +were settled. The studio in the Rue de Douai, small and inconvenient, +had only one little room, and a kitchen, as big as a cupboard, attached +to it. They were obliged to take their meals in the studio; they had +to live in it, with the child always tumbling about their legs. And +Christine had a deal of trouble in making their few sticks suffice, as +she wished to do, in order to save expense. After all, she was obliged +to buy a second-hand bedstead; and yielded to the temptation of having +some white muslin curtains, which cost her seven sous the metre. The +den then seemed charming to her, and she began to keep it scrupulously +clean, resolving to do everything herself, and to dispense with a +servant, as living would be a difficult matter. + +During the first months Claude lived in ever-increasing excitement. His +peregrinations through the noisy streets; his feverish discussions on +the occasion of his visits to friends; all the rage and all the burning +ideas he thus brought home from out of doors, made him hold forth aloud +even in his sleep. Paris had seized hold of him again; and in the full +blaze of that furnace, a second youth, enthusiastic ambition to see, +do, and conquer, had come upon him. Never had he felt such a passion for +work, such hope, as if it sufficed for him to stretch out his hand in +order to create masterpieces that should set him in the right rank, +which was the first. While crossing Paris he discovered subjects for +pictures everywhere; the whole city, with its streets, squares, bridges, +and panoramas of life, suggested immense frescoes, which he, however, +always found too small, for he was intoxicated with the thought of doing +something colossal. Thus he returned home quivering, his brain seething +with projects; and of an evening threw off sketches on bits of paper, in +the lamp-light, without being able to decide by what he ought to begin +the series of grand productions that he dreamt about. + +One serious obstacle was the smallness of his studio. If he had only had +the old garret of the Quai de Bourbon, or even the huge dining-room of +Bennecourt! But what could he do in that oblong strip of space, that +kind of passage, which the landlord of the house impudently let to +painters for four hundred francs a year, after roofing it in with glass? +The worst was that the sloping glazed roof looked to the north, between +two high walls, and only admitted a greenish cellar-like light. He was +therefore obliged to postpone his ambitious projects, and he decided +to begin with average-sized canvases, wisely saying to himself that the +dimensions of a picture are not a proper test of an artist's genius. + +The moment seemed to him favourable for the success of a courageous +artist who, amidst the breaking up of the old schools, would at length +bring some originality and sincerity into his work. The formulas of +recent times were already shaken. Delacroix had died without leaving any +disciples. Courbet had barely a few clumsy imitators behind him; their +best pieces would merely become so many museum pictures, blackened +by age, tokens only of the art of a certain period. It seemed easy to +foresee the new formula that would spring from theirs, that rush of +sunshine, that limpid dawn which was rising in new works under the +nascent influence of the 'open air' school. It was undeniable; those +light-toned paintings over which people had laughed so much at the Salon +of the Rejected were secretly influencing many painters, and gradually +brightening every palette. Nobody, as yet, admitted it, but the first +blow had been dealt, and an evolution was beginning, which became more +perceptible at each succeeding Salon. And what a stroke it would be if, +amidst the unconscious copies of impotent essayists, amidst the timid +artful attempts of tricksters, a master were suddenly to reveal himself, +giving body to the new formula by dint of audacity and power, without +compromise, showing it such as it should be, substantial, entire, so +that it might become the truth of the end of the century! + +In that first hour of passion and hope, Claude, usually so harassed by +doubts, believed in his genius. He no longer experienced any of those +crises, the anguish of which had driven him for days into the streets in +quest of his vanished courage. A fever stiffened him, he worked on with +the blind obstinacy of an artist who dives into his entrails, to drag +therefrom the fruit that tortures him. His long rest in the country had +endowed him with singular freshness of visual perception, and joyous +delight in execution; he seemed to have been born anew to his art, +and endowed with a facility and balance of power he had never hitherto +possessed. He also felt certain of progress, and experienced great +satisfaction at some successful bits of work, in which his former +sterile efforts at last culminated. As he had said at Bennecourt, he +had got hold of his 'open air,' that carolling gaiety of tints which +astonished his comrades when they came to see him. They all admired, +convinced that he would only have to show his work to take a very high +place with it, such was its individuality of style, for the first time +showing nature flooded with real light, amid all the play of reflections +and the constant variations of colours. + +Thus, for three years, Claude struggled on, without weakening, spurred +to further efforts by each rebuff, abandoning nought of his ideas, but +marching straight before him, with all the vigour of faith. + +During the first year he went forth amid the December snows to place +himself for four hours a day behind the heights of Montmartre, at the +corner of a patch of waste land whence as a background he painted some +miserable, low, tumble-down buildings, overtopped by factory chimneys, +whilst in the foreground, amidst the snow, he set a girl and a ragged +street rough devouring stolen apples. His obstinacy in painting from +nature greatly complicated his work, and gave rise to almost insuperable +difficulties. However, he finished this picture out of doors; he merely +cleaned and touched it up a bit in his studio. When the canvas was +placed beneath the wan daylight of the glazed roof, he himself was +startled by its brutality. It showed like a scene beheld through a +doorway open on the street. The snow blinded one. The two figures, of a +muddy grey in tint, stood out, lamentable. He at once felt that such a +picture would not be accepted, but he did not try to soften it; he sent +it to the Salon, all the same. After swearing that he would never again +try to exhibit, he now held the view that one should always present +something to the hanging committee if merely to accentuate its +wrong-doing. Besides, he admitted the utility of the Salon, the only +battlefield on which an artist might come to the fore at one stroke. The +hanging committee refused his picture. + +The second year Claude sought a contrast. He selected a bit of the +public garden of Batignolles in May; in the background were some large +chestnut trees casting their shade around a corner of greensward and +several six-storied houses; while in front, on a seat of a crude green +hue, some nurses and petty cits of the neighbourhood sat in a line +watching three little girls making sand pies. When permission to paint +there had been obtained, he had needed some heroism to bring his work to +a successful issue amid the bantering crowd. At last he made up his mind +to go there at five in the morning, in order to paint in the background; +reserving the figures, he contented himself with making mere sketches +of them from nature, and finishing them in his studio. This time his +picture seemed to him less crude; it had acquired some of the wan, +softened light which descended through the glass roof. He thought his +picture accepted, for all his friends pronounced it to be a masterpiece, +and went about saying that it would revolutionise the Salon. There +was stupefaction and indignation when a fresh refusal of the hanging +committee was rumoured. The committee's intentions could not be denied: +it was a question of systematically strangling an original artist. He, +after his first burst of passion, vented all his anger upon his work, +which he stigmatised as false, dishonest, and execrable. It was a +well-deserved lesson, which he should remember: ought he to have +relapsed into that cellar-like studio light? Was he going to revert to +the filthy cooking of imaginary figures? When the picture came back, he +took a knife and ripped it from top to bottom. + +And so during the third year he obstinately toiled on a work of revolt. +He wanted the blazing sun, that Paris sun which, on certain days, turns +the pavement to a white heat in the dazzling reflection from the house +frontages. Nowhere is it hotter; even people from burning climes mop +their faces; you would say you were in some region of Africa beneath the +heavily raining glow of a sky on fire. The subject Claude chose was a +corner of the Place du Carrousel, at one o'clock in the afternoon, when +the sunrays fall vertically. A cab was jolting along, its driver half +asleep, its horse steaming, with drooping head, vague amid the throbbing +heat. The passers-by seemed, as it were, intoxicated, with the one +exception of a young woman, who, rosy and gay under her parasol, walked +on with an easy queen-like step, as if the fiery element were her proper +sphere. But what especially rendered this picture terrible was a new +interpretation of the effects of light, a very accurate decomposition +of the sunrays, which ran counter to all the habits of eyesight, by +emphasising blues, yellows and reds, where nobody had been accustomed to +see any. In the background the Tuileries vanished in a golden shimmer; +the paving-stones bled, so to say; the figures were only so many +indications, sombre patches eaten into by the vivid glare. This time his +comrades, while still praising, looked embarrassed, all seized with +the same apprehensions. Such painting could only lead to martyrdom. He, +amidst their praises, understood well enough the rupture that was taking +place, and when the hanging committee had once more closed the Salon +against him, he dolorously exclaimed, in a moment of lucidity: + +'All right; it's an understood thing--I'll die at the task.' + +However, although his obstinate courage seemed to increase, he now and +then gradually relapsed into his former doubts, consumed by the struggle +he was waging with nature. Every canvas that came back to him seemed bad +to him--above all incomplete, not realising what he had aimed at. It was +this idea of impotence that exasperated him even more than the refusals +of the hanging committee. No doubt he did not forgive the latter; his +works, even in an embryo state, were a hundred times better than all +the trash which was accepted. But what suffering he felt at being ever +unable to show himself in all his strength, in such a master-piece as he +could not bring his genius to yield! There were always some superb bits +in his paintings. He felt satisfied with this, that, and the other. Why, +then, were there sudden voids? Why were there inferior bits, which he +did not perceive while he was at work, but which afterwards utterly +killed the picture like ineffaceable defects? And he felt quite +unable to make any corrections; at certain moments a wall rose up, an +insuperable obstacle, beyond which he was forbidden to venture. If he +touched up the part that displeased him a score of times, so a score of +times did he aggravate the evil, till everything became quite muddled +and messy. + +He grew anxious, and failed to see things clearly; his brush refused to +obey him, and his will was paralysed. Was it his hands or his eyes that +ceased to belong to him amid those progressive attacks of the hereditary +disorder that had already made him anxious? Those attacks became more +frequent; he once more lapsed into horrible weeks, wearing himself out, +oscillating betwixt uncertainty and hope; and his only support during +those terrible hours, which he spent in a desperate hand-to-hand +struggle with his rebellious work, was the consoling dream of his future +masterpiece, the one with which he would at last be fully satisfied, in +painting which his hands would show all the energy and deftness of true +creative skill. By some ever-recurring phenomenon, his longing to create +outstripped the quickness of his fingers; he never worked at one picture +without planning the one that was to follow. Then all that remained +to him was an eager desire to rid himself of the work on which he was +engaged, for it brought him torture; no doubt it would be good for +nothing; he was still making fatal concessions, having recourse to +trickery, to everything that a true artist should banish from his +conscience. But what he meant to do after that--ah! what he meant to +do--he beheld it superb and heroic, above attack and indestructible. All +this was the everlasting mirage that goads on the condemned disciples +of art, a falsehood that comes in a spirit of tenderness and compassion, +and without which production would become impossible to those who die of +their failure to create life. + +In addition to those constantly renewed struggles with himself, Claude's +material difficulties now increased. Was it not enough that he could not +give birth to what he felt existing within him? Must he also battle with +every-day cares? Though he refused to admit it, painting from nature in +the open air became impossible when a picture was beyond a certain size. +How could he settle himself in the streets amidst the crowd?--how obtain +from each person the necessary number of sittings? That sort of painting +must evidently be confined to certain determined subjects, landscapes, +small corners of the city, in which the figures would be but so many +silhouettes, painted in afterwards. There were also a thousand and one +difficulties connected with the weather; the wind which threatened to +carry off the easel, the rain which obliged one to interrupt one's work. +On such days Claude came home in a rage, shaking his fist at the sky +and accusing nature of resisting him in order that he might not take and +vanquish her. He also complained bitterly of being poor; for his dream +was to have a movable studio, a vehicle in Paris, a boat on the Seine, +in both of which he would have lived like an artistic gipsy. But nothing +came to his aid, everything conspired against his work. + +And Christine suffered with Claude. She had shared his hopes very +bravely, brightening the studio with her housewifely activity; but now +she sat down, discouraged, when she saw him powerless. At each picture +which was refused she displayed still deeper grief, hurt in her womanly +self-love, taking that pride in success which all women have. The +painter's bitterness soured her also; she entered into his feelings and +passions, identified herself with his tastes, defended his painting, +which had become, as it were, part of herself, the one great concern of +their lives--indeed, the only important one henceforth, since it was the +one whence she expected all her happiness. She understood well enough +that art robbed her more and more of her lover each day, but the real +struggle between herself and art had not yet begun. For the time she +yielded, and let herself be carried away with Claude, so that they +might be but one--one only in the self-same effort. From that partial +abdication of self there sprang, however, a sadness, a dread of what +might be in store for her later on. Every now and then a shudder chilled +her to the very heart. She felt herself growing old, while intense +melancholy upset her, an unreasoning longing to weep, which she +satisfied in the gloomy studio for hours together, when she was alone +there. + +At that period her heart expanded, as it were, and a mother sprang from +the loving woman. That motherly feeling for her big artist child was +made up of all the vague infinite pity which filled her with tenderness, +of the illogical fits of weakness into which she saw him fall each +hour, of the constant pardons which she was obliged to grant him. He was +beginning to make her unhappy, his caresses were few and far between, a +look of weariness constantly overspread his features. How could she love +him then if not with that other affection of every moment, remaining in +adoration before him, and unceasingly sacrificing herself? In her inmost +being insatiable passion still lingered; she was still the sensuous +woman with thick lips set in obstinately prominent jaws. Yet there was +a gentle melancholy, in being merely a mother to him, in trying to make +him happy amid that life of theirs which now was spoilt. + +Little Jacques was the only one to suffer from that transfer of +tenderness. She neglected him more; the man, his father, became her +child, and the poor little fellow remained as mere testimony of their +great passion of yore. As she saw him grow up, and no longer require so +much care, she began to sacrifice him, without intentional harshness, +but merely because she felt like that. At meal-times she only gave +him the inferior bits; the cosiest nook near the stove was not for his +little chair; if ever the fear of an accident made her tremble now +and then, her first cry, her first protecting movement was not for her +helpless child. She ever relegated him to the background, suppressed +him, as it were: 'Jacques, be quiet; you tire your father. Jacques, keep +still; don't you see that your father is at work?' + +The urchin suffered from being cooped up in Paris. He, who had had the +whole country-side to roll about in, felt stifled in the narrow space +where he now had to keep quiet. His rosy cheeks became pale, he grew up +puny, serious, like a little man, with eyes which stared at things in +wonder. He was five by now, and his head by a singular phenomenon had +become disproportionately large, in such wise as to make his father say, +'He has a great man's nut!' But the child's intelligence seemed, on the +contrary, to decrease in proportion as his skull became larger. Very +gentle and timid, he became absorbed in thought for hours, incapable of +answering a question. And when he emerged from that state of immobility +he had mad fits of shouting and jumping, like a young animal giving rein +to instinct. At such times warnings 'to keep quiet' rained upon him, for +his mother failed to understand his sudden outbursts, and became uneasy +at seeing the father grow irritated as he sat before his easel. Getting +cross herself, she would then hastily seat the little fellow in his +corner again. Quieted all at once, giving the startled shudder of one +who has been too abruptly awakened, the child would after a time doze +off with his eyes wide open, so careless of enjoying life that his toys, +corks, pictures, and empty colour-tubes dropped listlessly from his +hands. Christine had already tried to teach him his alphabet, but he +had cried and struggled, so they had decided to wait another year or two +before sending him to school, where his masters would know how to make +him learn. + +Christine at last began to grow frightened at the prospect of impending +misery. In Paris, with that growing child beside them, living proved +expensive, and the end of each month became terrible, despite her +efforts to save in every direction. They had nothing certain but +Claude's thousand francs a year; and how could they live on fifty +francs a month, which was all that was left to them after deducting four +hundred francs for the rent? At first they had got out of embarrassment, +thanks to the sale of a few pictures, Claude having found Gagniere's old +amateur, one of those detested bourgeois who possess the ardent souls +of artists, despite the monomaniacal habits in which they are confined. +This one, M. Hue, a retired chief clerk in a public department, was +unfortunately not rich enough to be always buying, and he could only +bewail the purblindness of the public, which once more allowed a genius +to die of starvation; for he himself, convinced, struck by grace at the +first glance, had selected Claude's crudest works, which he hung by the +side of his Delacroix, predicting equal fortune for them. The worst was +that Papa Malgras had just retired after making his fortune. It was but +a modest competence after all, an income of about ten thousand francs, +upon which he had decided to live in a little house at Bois Colombes, +like the careful man he was. + +It was highly amusing to hear him speak of the famous Naudet, full of +disdain for the millions turned over by that speculator, 'millions +that would some day fall upon his nose,' said Malgras. Claude, having +casually met him, only succeeded in selling him a last picture, one of +his sketches from the nude made at the Boutin studio, that superb study +of a woman's trunk which the erstwhile dealer had not been able to see +afresh without feeling a revival of his old passion for it. So misery +was imminent; outlets were closing instead of new ones opening; +disquieting rumours were beginning to circulate concerning the young +painter's works, so constantly rejected at the Salon; and besides, +Claude's style of art, so revolutionary and imperfect, in which the +startled eye found nought of admitted conventionality, would of itself +have sufficed to drive away wealthy buyers. One evening, being unable +to settle his bill at his colour shop, the painter had exclaimed that he +would live upon the capital of his income rather than lower himself to +the degrading production of trade pictures. But Christine had violently +opposed such an extreme measure; she would retrench still further; +in short, she preferred anything to such madness, which would end by +throwing them into the streets without even bread to eat. + +After the rejection of Claude's third picture, the summer proved so +wonderfully fine that the painter seemed to derive new strength from +it. There was not a cloud; limpid light streamed day after day upon the +giant activity of Paris. Claude had resumed his peregrinations through +the city, determined to find a masterstroke, as he expressed it, +something huge, something decisive, he did not exactly know what. +September came, and still he had found nothing that satisfied him; +he simply went mad for a week about one or another subject, and then +declared that it was not the thing after all. His life was spent in +constant excitement; he was ever on the watch, on the point of setting +his hand on the realisation of his dream, which always flew away. In +reality, beneath his intractable realism lay the superstition of a +nervous woman; he believed in occult and complex influences; everything, +luck or ill-luck, must depend upon the view selected. + +One afternoon--it was one of the last fine days of the season--Claude +took Christine out with him, leaving little Jacques in the charge of the +doorkeeper, a kind old woman, as was their wont when they wanted to go +out together. That day the young painter was possessed by a sudden whim +to ramble about and revisit in Christine's company the nooks beloved in +other days; and behind this desire of his there lurked a vague hope +that she would bring him luck. And thus they went as far as the Pont +Louis-Philippe, and remained for a quarter of an hour on the Quai des +Ormes, silent, leaning against the parapet, and looking at the old Hotel +du Martoy, across the Seine, where they had first loved each other. +Then, still without saying a word, they went their former round; they +started along the quays, under the plane trees, seeing the past rise up +before them at every step. Everything spread out again: the bridges +with their arches opening upon the sheeny water; the Cite, enveloped in +shade, above which rose the flavescent towers of Notre-Dame; the +great curve of the right bank flooded with sunlight, and ending in the +indistinct silhouette of the Pavillon de Flore, together with the broad +avenues, the monuments and edifices on both banks, and all the life of +the river, the floating wash-houses, the baths, and the lighters. + +As of old, the orb in its decline followed them, seemingly rolling along +the distant housetops, and assuming a crescent shape, as it appeared +from behind the dome of the Institute. There was a dazzling sunset, they +had never beheld a more magnificent one, such a majestic descent amidst +tiny cloudlets that changed into purple network, between the meshes of +which a shower of gold escaped. But of the past that thus rose up before +their eyes there came to them nought but invincible sadness--a sensation +that things escaped them, and that it was impossible for them to retrace +their way up stream and live their life over again. All those old stones +remained cold. The constant current beneath the bridges, the water that +had ever flowed onward and onward, seemed to have borne away something +of their own selves, the delight of early desire and the joyfulness of +hope. Now that they belonged to one another, they no longer tasted the +simple happiness born of feeling the warm pressure of their arms as they +strolled on slowly, enveloped by the mighty vitality of Paris. + +On reaching the Pont des Saints-Peres, Claude, in sheer despair, stopped +short. He had relinquished Christine's arm, and had turned his face +towards the point of the Cite. She no doubt felt the severance that +was taking place and became very sad. Seeing that he lingered there +obliviously, she wished to regain her hold upon him. + +'My dear,' said she, 'let us go home; it's time. Jacques will be waiting +for us, you know.' + +But he went half way across the bridge, and she had to follow him. Then +once more he remained motionless, with his eyes still fixed on the Cite, +on that island which ever rode at anchor, the cradle and heart of Paris, +where for centuries all the blood of her arteries had converged amid the +constant growth of faubourgs invading the plain. And a glow came +over Claude's face, his eyes sparkled, and at last he made a sweeping +gesture: + +'Look! Look!' + +In the immediate foreground beneath them was the port of St. Nicolas, +with the low shanties serving as offices for the inspectors of +navigation, and the large paved river-bank sloping down, littered with +piles of sand, barrels, and sacks, and edged with a row of lighters, +still full, in which busy lumpers swarmed beneath the gigantic arm of +an iron crane. Then on the other side of the river, above a cold +swimming-bath, resounding with the shouts of the last bathers of the +season, the strips of grey linen that served as a roofing flapped in +the wind. In the middle, the open stream flowed on in rippling, greenish +wavelets tipped here and there with white, blue, and pink. And then +there came the Pont des Arts, standing back, high above the water on +its iron girders, like black lace-work, and animated by a ceaseless +procession of foot-passengers, who looked like ants careering over the +narrow line of the horizontal plane. Below, the Seine flowed away to +the far distance; you saw the old arches of the Pont-Neuf, browny +with stone-rust; on the left, as far as the Isle of St. Louis, came a +mirror-like gap; and the other arm of the river curved sharply, the lock +gates of the Mint shutting out the view with a bar of foam. Along the +Pont-Neuf passed big yellow omnibuses, motley vehicles of all kinds, +with the mechanical regularity of so many children's toys. The whole of +the background was inframed within the perspective of the two banks; on +the right were houses on the quays, partly hidden by a cluster of lofty +trees, from behind which on the horizon there emerged a corner of the +Hotel de Villa, together with the square clock tower of St. Gervais, +both looking as indistinct as if they had stood far away in the suburbs. +And on the left bank there was a wing of the Institute, the flat +frontage of the Mint, and yet another enfilade of trees. + +But the centre of the immense picture, that which rose most prominently +from the stream and soared to the sky, was the Cite, showing like the +prow of an antique vessel, ever burnished by the setting sun. Down +below, the poplars on the strip of ground that joins the two sections +of the Pont-Neuf hid the statue of Henri IV. with a dense mass of green +foliage. Higher up, the sun set the two lines of frontages in contrast, +wrapping the grey buildings of the Quai de l'Horloge in shade, and +illumining with a blaze those of the Quai des Orfevres, rows of +irregular houses which stood out so clearly that one distinguished the +smallest details, the shops, the signboards, even the curtains at the +windows. Higher up, amid the jagged outlines of chimney stacks, behind a +slanting chess-board of smaller roofs, the pepper-caster turrets of the +Palais de Justice and the garrets of the Prefecture of Police displayed +sheets of slate, intersected by a colossal advertisement painted in blue +upon a wall, with gigantic letters which, visible to all Paris, seemed +like some efflorescence of the feverish life of modern times sprouting +on the city's brow. Higher, higher still, betwixt the twin towers of +Notre-Dame, of the colour of old gold, two arrows darted upwards, +the spire of the cathedral itself, and to the left that of the +Sainte-Chapelle, both so elegantly slim that they seemed to quiver in +the breeze, as if they had been the proud topmasts of the ancient vessel +rising into the brightness of the open sky. + +'Are you coming, dear?' asked Christine, gently. + +Claude did not listen to her; this, the heart of Paris, had taken full +possession of him. The splendid evening seemed to widen the horizon. +There were patches of vivid light, and of clearly defined shadow; there +was a brightness in the precision of each detail, a transparency in the +air, which throbbed with gladness. And the river life, the turmoil of +the quays, all the people, streaming along the streets, rolling over the +bridges, arriving from every side of that huge cauldron, Paris, steamed +there in visible billows, with a quiver that was apparent in the +sunlight. There was a light breeze, high aloft a flight of small +cloudlets crossed the paling azure sky, and one could hear a slow +but mighty palpitation, as if the soul of Paris here dwelt around its +cradle. + +But Christine, frightened at seeing Claude so absorbed, and seized +herself with a kind of religious awe, took hold of his arm and dragged +him away, as if she had felt that some great danger was threatening him. + +'Let us go home. You are doing yourself harm. I want to get back.' + +At her touch he started like a man disturbed in sleep. Then, turning his +head to take a last look, he muttered: 'Ah! heavens! Ah! heavens, how +beautiful!' + +He allowed himself to be led away. But throughout the evening, first +at dinner, afterwards beside the stove, and until he went to bed, he +remained like one dazed, so deep in his cogitations that he did not +utter half a dozen sentences. And Christine, failing to draw from him +any answer to her questions, at last became silent also. She looked +at him anxiously; was it the approach of some serious illness, had he +inhaled some bad air whilst standing midway across the bridge yonder? +His eyes stared vaguely into space, his face flushed as if with +some inner straining. One would have thought it the mute travail of +germination, as if something were springing into life within him. + +The next morning, immediately after breakfast, he set off, and Christine +spent a very sorrowful day, for although she had become more easy in +mind on hearing him whistle some of his old southern tunes as he got up, +she was worried by another matter, which she had not mentioned to him +for fear of damping his spirits again. That day they would for the first +time lack everything; a whole week separated them from the date when +their little income would fall due, and she had spent her last copper +that morning. She had nothing left for the evening, not even the +wherewithal to buy a loaf. To whom could she apply? How could she manage +to hide the truth any longer from him when he came home hungry? She +made up her mind to pledge the black silk dress which Madame Vanzade +had formerly given her, but it was with a heavy heart; she trembled with +fear and shame at the idea of the pawnshop, that familiar resort of the +poor which she had never as yet entered. And she was tortured by such +apprehension about the future, that from the ten francs which were lent +her she only took enough to make a sorrel soup and a stew of potatoes. +On coming out of the pawn-office, a meeting with somebody she knew had +given her the finishing stroke. + +As it happened, Claude came home very late, gesticulating merrily, and +his eyes very bright, as if he were excited by some secret joy; he was +very hungry, and grumbled because the cloth was not laid. Then, having +sat down between Christine and little Jacques, he swallowed his soup and +devoured a plateful of potatoes. + +'Is that all?' he asked, when he had finished. 'You might as well have +added a scrap of meat. Did you have to buy some boots again?' + +She stammered, not daring to tell him the truth, but hurt at heart by +this injustice. He, however, went on chaffing her about the coppers +she juggled away to buy herself things with; and getting more and more +excited, amid the egotism of feelings which he seemingly wished to keep +to himself, he suddenly flew out at Jacques. + +'Hold your noise, you brat!--you drive one mad.' + +The child, forgetting all about his dinner, had been tapping the edge +of his plate with his spoon, his eyes full of mirthful delight at this +music. + +'Jacques, be quiet,' scoldingly said his mother, in her turn. 'Let your +father have his dinner in peace.' + +Then the little one, abashed, at once became very quiet, and relapsed +into gloomy stillness, with his lustreless eyes fixed on his potatoes, +which, however, he did not eat. + +Claude made a show of stuffing himself with cheese, while Christine, +quite grieved, offered to fetch some cold meat from a ham and beef shop; +but he declined, and prevented her going by words that pained her still +more. Then, the table having been cleared, they all sat round the lamp +for the evening, she sewing, the little one turning over a picture-book +in silence, and Claude drumming on the table with his fingers, his mind +the while wandering back to the spot whence he had come. Suddenly he +rose, sat down again with a sheet of paper and a pencil, and began +sketching rapidly, in the vivid circle of light that fell from under the +lamp-shade. And such was his longing to give outward expression to the +tumultuous ideas beating in his skull, that soon this sketch did not +suffice for his relief. On the contrary, it goaded him on, and he +finished by unburthening his mind in a flood of words. He would have +shouted to the walls; and if he addressed himself to his wife it was +because she happened to be there. + +'Look, that's what we saw yesterday. It's magnificent. I spent three +hours there to-day. I've got hold of what I want--something wonderful, +something that'll knock everything else to pieces. Just look! I station +myself under the bridge; in the immediate foreground I have the Port of +St. Nicolas, with its crane, its lighters which are being unloaded, and +its crowd of labourers. Do you see the idea--it's Paris at work--all +those brawny fellows displaying their bare arms and chests? Then on +the other side I have the swimming-baths--Paris at play--and some skiff +there, no doubt, to occupy the centre of the composition; but of that +I am not as yet certain. I must feel my way. As a matter of course, the +Seine will be in the middle, broad, immense.' + +While talking, he kept on indicating outlines with his pencil, +thickening his strokes over and over again, and tearing the paper in +his very energy. She, in order to please him, bent over the sketch, +pretending to grow very interested in his explanations. But there was +such a labyrinth of lines, such a confusion of summary details, that she +failed to distinguish anything. + +'You are following me, aren't you?' + +'Yes, yes, very beautiful indeed.' + +'Then I have the background, the two arms of the rivet with their quays, +the Cite, rising up triumphantly in the centre, and standing out against +the sky. Ah! that background, what a marvel! People see it every day, +pass before it without stopping; but it takes hold of one all the same; +one's admiration accumulates, and one fine afternoon it bursts forth. +Nothing in the world can be grander; it is Paris herself, glorious in +the sunlight. Ah! what a fool I was not to think of it before! How many +times I have looked at it without seeing! However, I stumbled on it +after that ramble along the quays! And, do you remember, there's a dash +of shadow on that side; while here the sunrays fall quite straight. The +towers are yonder; the spire of the Sainte-Chapelle tapers upward, as +slim as a needle pointing to the sky. But no, it's more to the right. +Wait, I'll show you.' + +He began again, never wearying, but constantly retouching the sketch, +and adding innumerable little characteristic details which his painter's +eye had noticed; here the red signboard of a distant shop vibrated in +the light; closer by was a greenish bit of the Seine, on whose surface +large patches of oil seemed to be floating; and then there was the +delicate tone of a tree, the gamut of greys supplied by the house +frontages, and the luminous cast of the sky. She complaisantly approved +of all he said and tried to look delighted. + +But Jacques once again forgot what he had been told. After long +remaining silent before his book, absorbed in the contemplation of a +wood-cut depicting a black cat, he began to hum some words of his own +composition: 'Oh, you pretty cat; oh, you ugly cat; oh, you pretty, ugly +cat,' and so on, _ad infinitum_, ever in the same lugubrious manner. + +Claude, who was made fidgety by the buzzing noise, did not at first +understand what was upsetting him. But after a time the child's +harassing phrase fell clearly upon his ear. + +'Haven't you done worrying us with your cat?' he shouted furiously. + +'Hold your tongue, Jacques, when your father is talking!' repeated +Christine. + +Upon my word, I do believe he is becoming an idiot. Just look at his +head, if it isn't like an idiot's. It's dreadful. Just say; what do you +mean by your pretty and ugly cat?' + +The little fellow, turning pale and wagging his big head, looked stupid, +and replied: 'Don't know.' + +Then, as his father and mother gazed at each other with a discouraged +air, he rested his cheek on the open picture-book, and remained like +that, neither stirring nor speaking, but with his eyes wide open. + +It was getting late; Christine wanted to put him to bed, but Claude had +already resumed his explanations. He now told her that, the very next +morning, he should go and make a sketch on the spot, just in order to +fix his ideas. And, as he rattled on, he began to talk of buying a small +camp easel, a thing upon which he had set his heart for months. He kept +harping on the subject, and spoke of money matters till she at last +became embarrassed, and ended by telling him of everything--the last +copper she had spent that morning, and the silk dress she had pledged +in order to dine that evening. Thereupon he became very remorseful +and affectionate; he kissed her and asked her forgiveness for having +complained about the dinner. She would excuse him, surely; he would have +killed father and mother, as he kept on repeating, when that confounded +painting got hold of him. As for the pawn-shop, it made him laugh; he +defied misery. + +'I tell you that we are all right,' he exclaimed. 'That picture means +success.' + +She kept silent, thinking about her meeting of the morning, which she +wished to hide from him; but without apparent cause or transition, in +the kind of torpor that had come over her, the words she would have kept +back rose invincibly to her lips. + +'Madame Vanzade is dead,' she said. + +He looked surprised. Ah! really? How did she, Christine, know it? + +'I met the old man-servant. Oh, he's a gentleman by now, looking very +sprightly, in spite of his seventy years. I did not know him again. It +was he who spoke to me. Yes, she died six weeks ago. Her millions have +gone to various charities, with the exception of an annuity to the +old servants, upon which they are living snugly like people of the +middle-classes.' + +He looked at her, and at last murmured, in a saddened voice: 'My poor +Christine, you are regretting things now, aren't you? She would have +given you a marriage portion, have found you a husband! I told you so in +days gone by. She would, perhaps, have left you all her money, and you +wouldn't now be starving with a crazy fellow like myself.' + +She then seemed to wake from her dream. She drew her chair to his, +caught hold of one of his arms and nestled against him, as if her whole +being protested against his words: + +'What are you saying? Oh! no; oh! no. It would have been shameful to +have thought of her money. I would confess it to you if it were the +case, and you know that I never tell lies; but I myself don't know what +came over me when I heard the news. I felt upset and saddened, so sad +that I imagined everything was over for me. It was no doubt remorse; +yes, remorse at having deserted her so brutally, poor invalid that she +was, the good old soul who called me her daughter! I behaved very badly, +and it won't bring me luck. Ah! don't say "No," I feel it well enough; +henceforth there's an end to everything for me.' + +Then she wept, choked by those confused regrets, the significance of +which she failed to understand, regrets mingling with the one feeling +that her life was spoilt, and that she now had nothing but unhappiness +before her. + +'Come, wipe your eyes,' said Claude, becoming affectionate once more. +'Is it possible that you, who were never nervous, can conjure up +chimeras and worry yourself in this way? Dash it all, we shall get out +of our difficulties! First of all, you know that it was through you that +I found the subject for my picture. There cannot be much of a curse upon +you, since you bring me luck.' + +He laughed, and she shook her head, seeing well enough that he wanted to +make her smile. She was suffering on account of his picture already; for +on the bridge he had completely forgotten her, as if she had ceased to +belong to him! And, since the previous night, she had realised that he +was farther and farther removed from her, alone in a world to which she +could not ascend. But she allowed him to soothe her, and they exchanged +one of their kisses of yore, before rising from the table to retire to +rest. + +Little Jacques had heard nothing. Benumbed by his stillness, he had +fallen asleep, with his cheek on his picture-book; and his big head, so +heavy at times that it bent his neck, looked pale in the lamplight. +Poor little offspring of genius, which, when it begets at all, so often +begets idiocy or physical imperfection! When his mother put him to bed +Jacques did not even open his eyes. + +It was only at this period that the idea of marrying Christine came +to Claude. Though yielding to the advice of Sandoz, who expressed +his surprise at the prolongation of an irregular situation which no +circumstances justified, he more particularly gave way to a feeling +of pity, to a desire to show himself kind to his mistress, and to win +forgiveness for his delinquencies. He had seen her so sad of late, so +uneasy with respect to the future, that he did not know how to revive +her spirits. He himself was growing soured, and relapsing into his +former fits of anger, treating her, at times, like a servant, to whom +one flings a week's notice. Being his lawful wife, she would, no doubt, +feel herself more in her rightful home, and would suffer less from his +rough behaviour. She herself, for that matter, had never again spoken +of marriage. She seemed to care nothing for earthly things, but entirely +reposed upon him; however, he understood well enough that it grieved +her that she was not able to visit at Sandoz's. Besides, they no longer +lived amid the freedom and solitude of the country; they were in Paris, +with its thousand and one petty spites, everything that is calculated +to wound a woman in an irregular position. In reality, he had nothing +against marriage save his old prejudices, those of an artist who takes +life as he lists. Since he was never to leave her, why not afford her +that pleasure? And, in fact, when he spoke to her about it, she gave a +loud cry and threw her arms round his neck, surprised at experiencing +such great emotion. During a whole week it made her feel thoroughly +happy. But her joy subsided long before the ceremony. + +Moreover, Claude did not hurry over any of the formalities, and they had +to wait a long while for the necessary papers. He continued getting the +sketches for his picture together, and she, like himself, did not seem +in the least impatient. What was the good? It would assuredly make no +difference in their life. They had decided to be married merely at the +municipal offices, not in view of displaying any contempt for religion, +but to get the affair over quickly and simply. That would suffice. +The question of witnesses embarrassed them for a moment. As she was +absolutely unacquainted with anybody, he selected Sandoz and Mahoudeau +to act for her. For a moment he had thought of replacing the latter by +Dubuche, but he never saw the architect now, and he feared to compromise +him. He, Claude, would be content with Jory and Gagniere. In that way +the affair would pass off among friends, and nobody would talk of it. + +Several weeks had gone by; they were in December, and the weather proved +terribly cold. On the day before the wedding, although they barely had +thirty-five francs left them, they agreed that they could not send their +witnesses away with a mere shake of the hand; and, rather than have +a lot of trouble in the studio, they decided to offer them lunch at a +small restaurant on the Boulevard de Clichy, after which they would all +go home. + +In the morning, while Christine was tacking a collar to a grey linsey +gown which, with the coquetry of woman, she had made for the occasion, +it occurred to Claude, who was already wearing his frock-coat and +kicking his heels impatiently, to go and fetch Mahoudeau, for the +latter, he asserted, was quite capable of forgetting all about the +appointment. Since autumn, the sculptor had been living at Montmartre, +in a small studio in the Rue des Tilleuls. He had moved thither in +consequence of a series of affairs that had quite upset him. First +of all, he had been turned out of the fruiterer's shop in the Rue du +Cherche-Midi for not paying his rent; then had come a definite rupture +with Chaine, who, despairing of being able to live by his brush, had +rushed into commercial enterprise, betaking himself to all the fairs +around Paris as the manager of a kind of 'fortune's wheel' belonging to +a widow; while last of all had come the sudden flight of Mathilde, her +herbalist's business sold up, and she herself disappearing, it seemed, +with some mysterious admirer. At present Mahoudeau lived all by himself +in greater misery than ever, only eating when he secured a job at +scraping some architectural ornaments, or preparing work for some more +prosperous fellow-sculptor. + +'I am going to fetch him, do you hear?' Claude repeated to Christine. +'We still have a couple of hours before us. And, if the others come, +make them wait. We'll go to the municipal offices all together.' + +Once outside, Claude hurried along in the nipping cold which loaded +his moustache with icicles. Mahoudeau's studio was at the end of a +conglomeration of tenements--'rents,' so to say--and he had to cross a +number of small gardens, white with rime, and showing the bleak, stiff +melancholy of cemeteries. He could distinguish his friend's place from +afar on account of the colossal plaster statue of the 'Vintaging Girl,' +the once successful exhibit of the Salon, for which there had not been +sufficient space in the narrow ground-floor studio. Thus it was rotting +out in the open like so much rubbish shot from a cart, a lamentable +spectacle, weather-bitten, riddled by the rain's big, grimy tears. The +key was in the door, so Claude went in. + +'Hallo! have you come to fetch me?' said Mahoudeau, in surprise. 'I've +only got my hat to put on. But wait a bit, I was asking myself whether +it wouldn't be better to light a little fire. I am uneasy about my woman +there.' + +Some water in a bucket was ice-bound. So cold was the studio that it +froze inside as hard as it did out of doors, for, having been penniless +for a whole week, Mahoudeau had gingerly eked out the little coal +remaining to him, only lighting the stove for an hour or two of a +morning. His studio was a kind of tragic cavern, compared with which the +shop of former days evoked reminiscences of snug comfort, such was the +tomb-like chill that fell on one's shoulders from the creviced ceiling +and the bare walls. In the various corners some statues, of less bulky +dimensions than the 'Vintaging Girl,' plaster figures which had been +modelled with passion and exhibited, and which had then come back for +want of buyers, seemed to be shivering with their noses turned to the +wall, forming a melancholy row of cripples, some already badly damaged, +showing mere stumps of arms, and all dust-begrimed and clay-bespattered. +Under the eyes of their artist creator, who had given them his heart's +blood, those wretched nudities dragged out years of agony. At first, no +doubt, they were preserved with jealous care, despite the lack of room, +but then they lapsed into the grotesque honor of all lifeless things, +until a day came when, taking up a mallet, he himself finished them off, +breaking them into mere lumps of plaster, so as to be rid of them. + +'You say we have got two hours, eh?' resumed Mahoudeau. 'Well, I'll just +light a bit of fire; it will be the wiser perhaps.' + +Then, while lighting the stove, he began bewailing his fate in an angry +voice. What a dog's life a sculptor's was! The most bungling stonemason +was better off. A figure which the Government bought for three thousand +francs cost well nigh two thousand, what with its model, clay, marble +or bronze, all sorts of expenses, indeed, and for all that it remained +buried in some official cellar on the pretext that there was no room +for it elsewhere. The niches of the public buildings remained empty, +pedestals were awaiting statues in the public gardens. No matter, there +was never any room! And there were no possible commissions from private +people; at best one received an order for a few busts, and at very rare +intervals one for a memorial statue, subscribed for by the public and +hurriedly executed at reduced terms. Sculpture was the noblest of arts, +the most manly, yes, but the one which led the most surely to death by +starvation! + +'Is your machine progressing?' asked Claude. + +'Without this confounded cold, it would be finished,' answered +Mahoudeau. 'I'll show it you.' + +He rose from his knees after listening to the snorting of the stove. +In the middle of the studio, on a packing-case, strengthened by +cross-pieces, stood a statue swathed is linen wraps which were quite +rigid, hard frozen, draping the figure with the whiteness of a shroud. +This statue embodied Mahoudeau's old dream, unrealised until now from +lack of means--it was an upright figure of that bathing girl of whom +more than a dozen small models had been knocking about his place for +years. In a moment of impatient revolt he himself had manufactured +trusses and stays out of broom-handles, dispensing with the necessary +iron work in the hope that the wood would prove sufficiently solid. +From time to time he shook the figure to try it, but as yet it had not +budged. + +'The devil!' he muttered; 'some warmth will do her good. These wraps +seem glued to her--they form quite a breastplate.' + +The linen was crackling between his fingers, and splinters of ice were +breaking off. He was obliged to wait until the heat produced a slight +thaw, and then with great care he stripped the figure, baring the +head first, then the bosom, and then the hips, well pleased at finding +everything intact, and smiling like a lover at a woman fondly adored. + +'Well, what do you think of it?' + +Claude, who had only previously seen a little rough model of the statue, +nodded his head, in order that he might not have to answer immediately. +Decidedly, that good fellow Mahoudeau was turning traitor, and drifting +towards gracefulness, in spite of himself, for pretty things ever sprang +from under his big fingers, former stonecutter though he was. Since +his colossal 'Vintaging Girl,' he had gone on reducing and reducing the +proportions of his figures without appearing to be aware of it himself, +always ready to stick out ferociously for the gigantic, which agreed +with his temperament, but yielding to the partiality of his eyes for +sweetness and gracefulness. And indeed real nature broke at last through +inflated ambition. Exaggerated still, his 'Bathing Girl' was already +possessed of great charm, with her quivering shoulders and her +tightly-crossed arms that supported her breast. + +'Well, you don't like her?' he asked, looking annoyed. + +'Oh, yes, I do! I think you are right to tone things down a bit, seeing +that you feel like that. You'll have a great success with this. Yes, +it's evident it will please people very much.' + +Mahoudeau, whom such praises would once have thrown into consternation, +seemed delighted. He explained that he wished to conquer public opinion +without relinquishing a tithe of his convictions. + +'Ah! dash it! it takes a weight off my mind to find you pleased,' said +he, 'for I should have destroyed it if you had told me to do so, I +give you my word! Another fortnight's work, and I'll sell my skin to no +matter whom in order to pay the moulder. I say, I shall have a fine show +at the Salon, perhaps get a medal.' + +He laughed, waved his arms about, and then, breaking off: + +'As we are not in a hurry, sit down a bit. I want to get the wraps quite +thawed.' + +The stove, which was becoming red hot, diffused great heat. The figure, +placed close by, seemed to revive under the warm air that now crept up +her from her shins to her neck. And the two friends, who had sat down, +continued looking the statue full in the face, chatting about it and +noting each detail. The sculptor especially grew excited in his delight, +and indulged in caressing gestures. + +All at once, however, Claude fancied he was the victim of some +hallucination. To him the figure seemed to be moving; a quiver like +the ripple of a wavelet crossed her stomach, and her left hip became +straightened, as if the right leg were about to step out. + +'Have you noticed the smooth surface just about the loins?' Mahoudeau +went on, without noticing anything. 'Ah, my boy, I took great pains over +that!' + +But by degrees the whole statue was becoming animated. The loins swayed +and the bosom swelled, as with a deep sigh, between the parted arms. And +suddenly the head drooped, the thighs bent, and the figure came forward +like a living being, with all the wild anguish, the grief-inspired +spring of a woman who is flinging herself down. + +Claude at last understood things, when Mahoudeau uttered a terrible cry. +'By heavens, she's breaking to pieces!--she is coming down!' + +The clay, in thawing, had snapped the weak wooden trusses. There came a +cracking noise, as if bones indeed were splitting; and Mahoudeau, with +the same passionate gesture with which he had caressed the figure from +afar, working himself into a fever, opened both arms, at the risk of +being killed by the fall. For a moment the bathing girl swayed to and +fro, and then with one crash came down on her face, broken in twain at +the ankles, and leaving her feet sticking to the boards. + +Claude had jumped up to hold his friend back. + +'Dash it! you'll be smashed!' he cried. + +But dreading to see her finish herself off on the floor, Mahoudeau +remained with hands outstretched. And the girl seemed to fling herself +on his neck. He caught her in his arms, winding them tightly around her. +Her bosom was flattened against his shoulder and her thighs beat against +his own, while her decapitated head rolled upon the floor. The shock was +so violent that Mahoudeau was carried off his legs and thrown over, as +far back as the wall; and there, without relaxing his hold on the girl's +trunk, he remained as if stunned lying beside her. + +'Ah! confound it!' repeated Claude, furiously, believing that his friend +was dead. + +With great difficulty Mahoudeau rose to his knees, and burst into +violent sobs. He had only damaged his face in the fall. Some blood +dribbled down one of his cheeks, mingling with his tears. + +'Ah! curse poverty!' he said. 'It's enough to make a fellow drown +himself not to be able to buy a couple of rods! And there she is, there +she is!' + +His sobs grew louder; they became an agonising wail; the painful +shrieking of a lover before the mutilated corpse of his affections. With +unsteady hands he touched the limbs lying in confusion around him; the +head, the torso, the arms that had snapped in twain; above aught else +the bosom, now caved in. That bosom, flattened, as if it had been +operated upon for some terrible disease, suffocated him, and he +unceasingly returned to it, probing the sore, trying to find the gash by +which life had fled, while his tears, mingled with blood, flowed freely, +and stained the statue's gaping wounds with red. + +'Do help me!' he gasped. 'One can't leave her like this.' + +Claude was overcome also, and his own eyes grew moist from a feeling +of artistic brotherliness. He hastened to his comrade's aide, but the +sculptor, after claiming his assistance, persisted in picking up the +remains by himself, as if dreading the rough handling of anybody else. +He slowly crawled about on his knees, took up the fragments one by +one, and put them together on a board. The figure soon lay there in its +entirety, as if it had been one of those girls who, committing suicide +from love, throw themselves from some monument and are shattered +by their fall, and put together again, looking both grotesque and +lamentable, to be carried to the Morgue. Mahoudeau, seated on the floor +before his statue, did not take his eyes from it, but became absorbed in +heart-rending contemplation. However, his sobs subsided, and at last +he said with a long-drawn sigh: 'I shall have to model her lying down! +There's no other way! Ah, my poor old woman, I had such trouble to set +her on her legs, and I thought her so grand like that!' + +But all at once Claude grew uneasy. What about his wedding? Mahoudeau +must change his clothes. As he had no other frock-coat than the one he +was wearing, he was obliged to make a jacket do. Then, the figure having +been covered with linen wraps once more, like a corpse over which a +sheet has been pulled, they both started off at a run. The stove was +roaring away, the thaw filled the whole studio with water, and slush +streamed from the old dust-begrimed plaster casts. + +When they reached the Rue de Douai there was no one there except little +Jacques, in charge of the doorkeeper. Christine, tired of waiting, had +just started off with the three others, thinking that there had been +some mistake--that Claude might have told her that he would go straight +to the mayor's offices with Mahoudeau. The pair fell into a sharp trot, +but only overtook Christine and their comrades in the Rue Drouot in +front of the municipal edifice. They all went upstairs together, and +as they were late they met with a very cool reception from the usher on +duty. The wedding was got over in a few minutes, in a perfectly empty +room. The mayor mumbled on, and the bride and bridegroom curtly uttered +the binding 'Yes,' while their witnesses were marvelling at the bad +taste of the appointments of the apartment. Once outside, Claude took +Christine's arm again, and that was all. + +It was pleasant walking in the clear frosty weather. Thus the party +quietly went back on foot, climbing the Rue des Martyrs to reach the +restaurant on the Boulevard de Clichy. A small private room had been +engaged; the lunch was a very friendly affair, and not a word was +said about the simple formality that had just been gone through; other +subjects were spoken of all the while, as at one of their customary +gatherings. + +It was thus that Christine, who in reality was very affected despite +her pretended indifference, heard her husband and his friends excite +themselves for three mortal hours about Mahoudeau's unfortunate statue. +Since the others had been made acquainted with the story, they kept +harping on every particular of it. Sandoz thought the whole thing +very wonderful; Jory and Gagniere discussed the strength of stays and +trusses; the former mainly concerned about the monetary loss involved, +and the other demonstrating with a chair that the statue might have +been kept up. As for Mahoudeau, still very shaky and growing dazed; he +complained of a stiffness which he had not felt before; his limbs began +to hurt him, he had strained his muscles and bruised his skin as if he +had been caught in the embrace of a stone siren. Christine washed the +scratch on his cheek, which had begun to bleed again, and it seemed to +her as if the mutilated bathing girl had sat down to table with them, +as if she alone was of any importance that day; for she alone seemed to +interest Claude, whose narrative, repeated a score of times, was full of +endless particulars about the emotion he had felt on seeing that bosom +and those hips of clay shattered at his feet. + +However, at dessert there came a diversion, for Gagniere all at once +remarked to Jory: + +'By the way, I saw you with Mathilde the day before yesterday. Yes, yes, +in the Rue Dauphine.' + +Jory, who had turned very red, tried to deny it; 'Oh, a mere accidental +meeting--honour bright!' he stammered. 'I don't know where she hangs +out, or I would tell you.' + +'What! is it you who are hiding her?' exclaimed Mahoudeau. 'Well, nobody +wants to see her again!' + +The truth was that Jory, throwing to the winds all his habits of +prudence and parsimony, was now secretly providing for Mathilde. She had +gained an ascendency over him by his vices. + +They still lingered at table, and night was falling when they escorted +Mahoudeau to his own door. Claude and Christine, on reaching home, took +Jacques from the doorkeeper, and found the studio quite chilly, wrapped +in such dense gloom that they had to grope about for several minutes +before they were able to light the lamp. They also had to light the +stove again, and it struck seven o'clock before they were able to draw +breath at their ease. They were not hungry, so they merely finished the +remains of some boiled beef, mainly by way of encouraging the child to +eat his soup; and when they had put him to bed, they settled themselves +with the lamp betwixt them, as was their habit every evening. + +However, Christine had not put out any work, she felt too much moved to +sew. She sat there with her hands resting idly on the table, looking at +Claude, who on his side had at once become absorbed in a sketch, a +bit of his picture, some workmen of the Port Saint Nicolas, unloading +plaster. Invincible dreaminess came over the young woman, all sorts of +recollections and regrets became apparent in the depths of her dim +eyes; and by degrees growing sadness, great mute grief took absolute +possession of her, amid the indifference, the boundless solitude into +which she seemed to be drifting, although she was so near to Claude. He +was, indeed, on the other side of the table, yet how far away she felt +him to be! He was yonder before that point of the Cite, he was even +farther still, in the infinite inaccessible regions of art; so far, +indeed, that she would now never more be able to join him! She several +times tried to start a conversation, but without eliciting any answer. +The hours went by, she grew weary and numb with doing nothing, and she +ended by taking out her purse and counting her money. + +'Do you know how much we have to begin our married life with?' + +Claude did not even raise his head. + +'We've nine sous. Ah! talk of poverty--' + +He shrugged his shoulders, and finally growled: 'We shall be rich some +day; don't fret.' + +Then the silence fell again, and she did not even attempt to break it, +but gazed at her nine coppers laid in a row upon the table. At last, as +it struck midnight, she shivered, ill with waiting and chilled by the +cold. + +'Let's go to bed, dear,' she murmured; 'I'm dead tired.' + +He, however, was working frantically, and did not even hear her. + +'The fire's gone out,' she began again, 'we shall make ourselves ill; +let's go to bed.' + +Her imploring voice reached him at last, and made him start with sudden +exasperation. + +'Oh! go if you like! You can see very well that I want to finish +something!' + +She remained there for another minute, amazed by his sudden anger, her +face expressive of deep sorrow. Then, feeling that he would rather be +without her, that the very presence of a woman doing nothing upset him, +she rose from the table and went off, leaving the door wide open. Half +an hour, three-quarters went by, nothing stirred, not a sound came from +her room; but she was not asleep, her eyes were staring into the gloom; +and at last she timidly ventured upon a final appeal, from the depths of +the dark alcove. + +An oath was the only reply she received. And nothing stirred after that. +She perhaps dozed off. The cold in the studio grew keener, and the wick +of the lamp began to carbonise and burn red, while Claude, still bending +over his sketch, did not seem conscious of the passing minutes. + +At two o'clock, however, he rose up, furious to find the lamp going out +for lack of oil. He only had time to take it into the other room, so +that he might not have to undress in the dark. But his displeasure +increased on seeing that Christine's eyes were wide open. He felt +inclined to complain of it. However, after some random remarks, he +suddenly exclaimed: + +'The most surprising thing is that her trunk wasn't hurt!' + +'What do you mean?' asked Christine, in amazement. + +'Why, Mahoudeau's girl,' he answered. + +At this she shook nervously, turned and buried her face in the pillow; +and he was quite surprised on hearing her burst into sobs. + +'What! you are crying?' he exclaimed. + +She was choking, sobbing with heart-rending violence. + +'Come, what's the matter with you?--I've said nothing to you. Come, +darling, what's the matter?' + +But, while he was speaking, the cause of her great grief dawned +upon him. No doubt, on a day like that, he ought to have shown more +affection; but his neglect was unintentional enough; he had not even +given the matter a thought. She surely knew him, said he; he became a +downright brute when he was at work. Then he bent over and embraced her. +But it was as if something irreparable had taken place, as if something +had for ever snapped, leaving a void between them. The formality of +marriage seemed to have killed love. + + + + +IX + +AS Claude could not paint his huge picture in the small studio of +the Rue de Douai, he made up his mind to rent some shed that would be +spacious enough, elsewhere; and strolling one day on the heights of +Montmartre, he found what he wanted half way down the slope of the Rue +Tourlaque, a street that descends abruptly behind the cemetery, and +whence one overlooks Clichy as far as the marshes of Gennevilliers. It +had been a dyer's drying shed, and was nearly fifty feet long and more +than thirty broad, with walls of board and plaster admitting the wind +from every point of the compass. The place was let to him for three +hundred francs. Summer was at hand; he would soon work off his picture +and then quit. + +This settled, feverish with hope, Claude decided to go to all the +necessary expenses; as fortune was certain to come in the end, why +trammel its advent by unnecessary scruples? Taking advantage of his +right, he broke in upon the principal of his income, and soon grew +accustomed to spend money without counting. At first he kept the matter +from Christine, for she had already twice stopped him from doing so; +and when he was at last obliged to tell her, she also, after a week of +reproaches and apprehension, fell in with it, happy at the comfort in +which she lived, and yielding to the pleasure of always having a little +money in her purse. Thus there came a few years of easy unconcern. + +Claude soon became altogether absorbed in his picture. He had furnished +the huge studio in a very summary style: a few chairs, the old couch +from the Quai de Bourbon, and a deal table bought second-hand for five +francs sufficed him. In the practice of his art he was entirely devoid +of that vanity which delights in luxurious surroundings. The only real +expense to which he went was that of buying some steps on castors, with +a platform and a movable footboard. Next he busied himself about his +canvas, which he wished to be six and twenty feet in length and sixteen +in height. He insisted upon preparing it himself; ordered a framework +and bought the necessary seamless canvas, which he and a couple of +friends had all the work in the world to stretch properly by the aid +of pincers. Then he just coated the canvas with ceruse, laid on with a +palette-knife, refusing to size it previously, in order that it might +remain absorbent, by which method he declared that the painting would be +bright and solid. An easel was not to be thought of. It would not have +been possible to move a canvas of such dimensions on it. So he invented +a system of ropes and beams, which held it slightly slanting against the +wall in a cheerful light. And backwards and forwards in front of the +big white surface rolled the steps, looking like an edifice, like the +scaffolding by means of which a cathedral is to be reared. + +But when everything was ready, Claude once more experienced misgivings. +An idea that he had perhaps not chosen the proper light in which to +paint his picture fidgeted him. Perhaps an early morning effect would +have been better? Perhaps, too, he ought to have chosen a dull day, and +so he went back to the Pont des Saint-Peres, and lived there for another +three months. + +The Cite rose up before him, between the two arms of the river, at all +hours and in all weather. After a late fall of snow he beheld it wrapped +in ermine, standing above mud-coloured water, against a light slatey +sky. On the first sunshiny days he saw it cleanse itself of everything +that was wintry and put on an aspect of youth, when verdure sprouted +from the lofty trees which rose from the ground below the bridge. He +saw it, too, on a somewhat misty day recede to a distance and almost +evaporate, delicate and quivering, like a fairy palace. Then, again, +there were pelting rains, which submerged it, hid it as with a huge +curtain drawn from the sky to the earth; storms, with lightning flashes +which lent it a tawny hue, the opaque light of some cut-throat place +half destroyed by the fall of the huge copper-coloured clouds; and there +were winds that swept over it tempestuously, sharpening its angles and +making it look hard, bare, and beaten against the pale blue sky. Then, +again, when the sunbeams broke into dust amidst the vapours of the +Seine, it appeared steeped in diffused brightness, without a shadow +about it, lighted up equally on every side, and looking as charmingly +delicate as a cut gem set in fine gold. He insisted on beholding it when +the sun was rising and transpiercing the morning mists, when the Quai +de l'Horloge flushes and the Quai des Orfevres remains wrapt in gloom; +when, up in the pink sky, it is already full of life, with the bright +awakening of its towers and spires, while night, similar to a falling +cloak, slides slowly from its lower buildings. He beheld it also at +noon, when the sunrays fall on it vertically, when a crude glare bites +into it, and it becomes discoloured and mute like a dead city, retaining +nought but the life of heat, the quiver that darts over its distant +housetops. He beheld it, moreover, beneath the setting sun, surrendering +itself to the night which was slowly rising from the river, with the +salient edges of its buildings still fringed with a glow as of embers, +and with final conflagrations rekindling in its windows, from whose +panes leapt tongue-like flashes. But in presence of those twenty +different aspects of the Cite, no matter what the hour or the weather +might be, he ever came back to the Cite that he had seen the first time, +at about four o'clock one fine September afternoon, a Cite all serenity +under a gentle breeze, a Cite which typified the heart of Paris beating +in the limpid atmosphere, and seemingly enlarged by the vast stretch of +sky which a flight of cloudlets crossed. + +Claude spent his time under the Pont des Saints-Peres, which he had +made his shelter, his home, his roof. The constant din of the vehicles +overhead, similar to the distant rumbling of thunder, no longer +disturbed him. Settling himself against the first abutment, beneath the +huge iron arches, he took sketches and painted studies. The _employes_ +of the river navigation service, whose offices were hard by, got to +know him, and, indeed, the wife of an inspector, who lived in a sort +of tarred cabin with her husband, two children, and a cat, kept his +canvases for him, to save him the trouble of carrying them to and fro +each day. It became his joy to remain in that secluded nook beneath +Paris, which rumbled in the air above him, whose ardent life he ever +felt rolling overhead. He at first became passionately interested in +Port St. Nicolas, with its ceaseless bustle suggesting that of a distant +genuine seaport. The steam crane, _The Sophia_, worked regularly, +hauling up blocks of stone; tumbrels arrived to fetch loads of sand; men +and horses pulled, panting for breath on the big paving-stones, which +sloped down as far as the water, to a granite margin, alongside which +two rows of lighters and barges were moored. For weeks Claude worked +hard at a study of some lightermen unloading a cargo of plaster, +carrying white sacks on their shoulders, leaving a white pathway behind +them, and bepowdered with white themselves, whilst hard by the coal +removed from another barge had stained the waterside with a huge inky +smear. Then he sketched the silhouette of a swimming-bath on the left +bank, together with a floating wash-house somewhat in the rear, showing +the windows open and the washerwomen kneeling in a row, on a level with +the stream, and beating their dirty linen. In the middle of the river, +he studied a boat which a waterman sculled over the stern; then, +farther behind, a steamer of the towing service straining its chain, and +dragging a series of rafts loaded with barrels and boards up stream. The +principal backgrounds had been sketched a long while ago, still he did +several bits over again--the two arms of the Seine, and a sky all by +itself, into which rose only towers and spires gilded by the sun. And +under the hospitable bridge, in that nook as secluded as some far-off +cleft in a rock, he was rarely disturbed by anybody. Anglers passed +by with contemptuous unconcern. His only companion was virtually the +overseer's cat, who cleaned herself in the sunlight, ever placid beneath +the tumult of the world overhead. + +At last Claude had all his materials ready. In a few days he threw off +an outline sketch of the whole, and the great work was begun. However, +the first battle between himself and his huge canvas raged in the +Rue Tourlaque throughout the summer; for he obstinately insisted +upon personally attending to all the technical calculations of his +composition, and he failed to manage them, getting into constant muddles +about the slightest deviation from mathematical accuracy, of which he +had no experience. It made him indignant with himself. So he let it +go, deciding to make what corrections might be necessary afterwards. He +covered his canvas with a rush--in such a fever as to live all day on +his steps, brandishing huge brushes, and expending as much muscular +force as if he were anxious to move mountains. And when evening came +he reeled about like a drunken man, and fell asleep as soon as he had +swallowed his last mouthful of food. His wife even had to put him to +bed like a child. From those heroic efforts, however, sprang a masterly +first draught in which genius blazed forth amidst the somewhat chaotic +masses of colour. Bongrand, who came to look at it, caught the painter +in his big arms, and stifled him with embraces, his eyes full of tears. +Sandoz, in his enthusiasm, gave a dinner; the others, Jory, Mahoudeau +and Gagniere, again went about announcing a masterpiece. As for +Fagerolles, he remained motionless before the painting for a moment, +then burst into congratulations, pronouncing it too beautiful. + +And, in fact, subsequently, as if the irony of that successful trickster +had brought him bad luck, Claude only spoilt his original draught. +It was the old story over again. He spent himself in one effort, one +magnificent dash; he failed to bring out all the rest; he did not know +how to finish. He fell into his former impotence; for two years he lived +before that picture only, having no feeling for anything else. At times +he was in a seventh heaven of exuberant joy; at others flung to earth, +so wretched, so distracted by doubt, that dying men gasping in their +beds in a hospital were happier than himself. Twice already had he +failed to be ready for the Salon, for invariably, at the last moment, +when he hoped to have finished in a few sittings, he found some void, +felt his composition crack and crumble beneath his fingers. When the +third Salon drew nigh, there came a terrible crisis; he remained for a +fortnight without going to his studio in the Rue Tourlaque, and when +he did so, it was as to a house desolated by death. He turned the huge +canvas to the wall and rolled his steps into a corner; he would have +smashed and burned everything if his faltering hands had found strength +enough. Nothing more existed; amid a blast of anger he swept the floor +clean, and spoke of setting to work at little things, since he was +incapable of perfecting paintings of any size. + +In spite of himself, his first idea of a picture on a smaller scale +took him back to the Cite. Why should not he paint a simple view, on +a moderate sized canvas? But a kind of shame, mingled with strange +jealousy, prevented him from settling himself in his old spot under the +Pont des Saints-Peres. It seemed to him as if that spot were sacred now; +that he ought not to offer any outrage to his great work, dead as it +was. So he stationed himself at the end of the bank, above the bridge. +This time, at any rate, he would work directly from nature; and he felt +happy at not having to resort to any trickery, as was unavoidable with +works of a large size. The small picture, very carefully painted, more +highly finished than usual, met, however, with the same fate as the +others before the hanging committee, who were indignant with this style +of painting, executed with a tipsy brush, as was said at the time in +the studios. The slap in the face which Claude thus received was all the +more severe, as a report had spread of concessions, of advances made by +him to the School of Arts, in order that his work might be received. +And when the picture came back to him, he, deeply wounded, weeping with +rage, tore it into narrow shreds, which he burned in his stove. It was +not sufficient that he should kill that one with a knife-thrust, it must +be annihilated. + +Another year went by for Claude in desultory toil. He worked from force +of habit, but finished nothing; he himself saying, with a dolorous +laugh, that he had lost himself, and was trying to find himself again. +In reality, tenacious consciousness of his genius left him a hope which +nothing could destroy, even during his longest crises of despondency. He +suffered like some one damned, for ever rolling the rock which slipped +back and crushed him; but the future remained, with the certainty of one +day seizing that rock in his powerful arms and flinging it upward to the +stars. His friends at last beheld his eyes light up with passion once +more. It was known that he again secluded himself in the Rue Tourlaque. +He who formerly had always been carried beyond the work on which he was +engaged, by some dream of a picture to come, now stood at bay before +that subject of the Cite. It had become his fixed idea--the bar that +closed up his life. And soon he began to speak freely of it again in a +new blaze of enthusiasm, exclaiming, with childish delight, that he had +found his way and that he felt certain of victory. + +One day Claude, who, so far, had not opened his door to his friends, +condescended to admit Sandoz. The latter tumbled upon a study with a +deal of dash in it, thrown off without a model, and again admirable in +colour. The subject had remained the same--the Port St. Nicolas on +the left, the swimming-baths on the right, the Seine and Cite in the +background. But Sandoz was amazed at perceiving, instead of the boat +sculled by a waterman, another large skiff taking up the whole centre +of the composition--a skiff occupied by three women. One, in a bathing +costume, was rowing; another sat over the edge with her legs dangling in +the water, her costume partially unfastened, showing her bare shoulder; +while the third stood erect and nude at the prow, so bright in tone that +she seemed effulgent, like the sun. + +'Why, what an idea!' muttered Sandoz. 'What are those women doing +there?' + +'Why, they are bathing,' Claude quietly answered. 'Don't you see that +they have come out of the swimming-baths? It supplies me with a motive +for the nude; it's a real find, eh? Does it shock you?' + +His old friend, who knew him well by now, dreaded lest he should give +him cause for discouragement. + +'I? Oh, no! Only I am afraid that the public will again fail +to understand. That nude woman in the very midst of Paris--it's +improbable.' + +Claude looked naively surprised. + +'Ah! you think so? Well, so much the worse. What's the odds, as long as +the woman is well painted? Besides, I need something like that to get my +courage up.' + +On the following occasions, Sandoz gently reverted to the strangeness +of the composition, pleading, as was his nature, the cause of outraged +logic. How could a modern painter who prided himself on painting merely +what was real--how could he so bastardise his work as to introduce +fanciful things into it? It would have been so easy to choose another +subject, in which the nude would have been necessary. But Claude became +obstinate, and resorted to lame and violent explanations, for he would +not avow his real motive: an idea which had come to him and which he +would have been at a loss to express clearly. It was, however, a longing +for some secret symbolism. A recrudescence of romanticism made him see +an incarnation of Paris in that nude figure; he pictured the city bare +and impassioned, resplendent with the beauty of woman. + +Before the pressing objections of his friend he pretended to be shaken +in his resolutions. + +'Well, I'll see; I'll dress my old woman later on, since she worries +you,' he said. 'But meanwhile I shall do her like that. You understand, +she amuses me.' + +He never reverted to the subject again, remaining silently obstinate, +merely shrugging his shoulders and smiling with embarrassment whenever +any allusion betrayed the general astonishment which was felt at the +sight of that Venus emerging triumphantly from the froth of the Seine +amidst all the omnibuses on the quays and the lightermen working at the +Port of St. Nicolas. + +Spring had come round again, and Claude had once more resolved to work +at his large picture, when in a spirit of prudence he and Christine +modified their daily life. She, at times, could not help feeling uneasy +at seeing all their money so quickly spent. Since the supply had seemed +inexhaustible, they had ceased counting. But, at the end of four years, +they had woke up one morning quite frightened, when, on asking for +accounts, they found that barely three thousand francs were left out +of the twenty thousand. They immediately reverted to severe economy, +stinting themselves as to bread, planning the cutting down of the most +elementary expenses; and it was thus that, in the first impulse of +self-sacrifice, they left the Rue de Douai. What was the use of paying +two rents? There was room enough in the old drying-shed in the Rue +Tourlaque--still stained with the dyes of former days--to afford +accommodation for three people. Settling there was, nevertheless, a +difficult affair; for however big the place was, it provided them, after +all, with but one room. It was like a gipsy's shed, where everything had +to be done in common. As the landlord was unwilling, the painter himself +had to divide it at one end by a partition of boards, behind which +he devised a kitchen and a bedroom. They were then delighted with the +place, despite the chinks through which the wind blew, and although +on rainy days they had to set basins beneath the broader cracks in the +roof. The whole looked mournfully bare; their few poor sticks seemed to +dance alongside the naked walls. They themselves pretended to be proud +at being lodged so spaciously; they told their friends that Jacques +would at least have a little room to run about. Poor Jacques, in spite +of his nine years, did not seem to be growing; his head alone became +larger and larger. They could not send him to school for more than a +week at a stretch, for he came back absolutely dazed, ill from having +tried to learn, in such wise that they nearly always allowed him to live +on all fours around them, crawling from one corner to another. + +Christine, who for quite a long while had not shared Claude's daily +work, now once more found herself beside him throughout his long hours +of toil. She helped him to scrape and pumice the old canvas of the big +picture, and gave him advice about attaching it more securely to the +wall. But they found that another disaster had befallen them--the steps +had become warped by the water constantly trickling through the roof, +and, for fear of an accident, Claude had to strengthen them with an oak +cross-piece, she handing him the necessary nails one by one. Then once +more, and for the second time, everything was ready. She watched him +again outlining the work, standing behind him the while, till she +felt faint with fatigue, and finally dropping to the floor, where she +remained squatting, and still looking at him. + +Ah! how she would have liked to snatch him from that painting which had +seized hold of him! It was for that purpose that she made herself his +servant, only too happy to lower herself to a labourer's toil. Since she +shared his work again, since the three of them, he, she, and the canvas, +were side by side, her hope revived. If he had escaped her when she, all +alone, cried her eyes out in the Rue de Douai, if he lingered till late +in the Rue Tourlaque, fascinated as by a mistress, perhaps now that she +was present she might regain her hold over him. Ah, painting, painting! +in what jealous hatred she held it! Hers was no longer the revolt of a +girl of the bourgeoisie, who painted neatly in water-colours, against +independent, brutal, magnificent art. No, little by little she had come +to understand it, drawn towards it at first by her love for the painter, +and gained over afterwards by the feast of light, by the original charm +of the bright tints which Claude's works displayed. And now she had +accepted everything, even lilac-tinted soil and blue trees. Indeed, a +kind of respect made her quiver before those works which had at first +seemed so horrid to her. She recognised their power well enough, and +treated them like rivals about whom one could no longer joke. But her +vindictiveness grew in proportion to her admiration; she revolted at +having to stand by and witness, as it were, a diminution of herself, the +blow of another love beneath her own roof. + +At first there was a silent struggle of every minute. She thrust herself +forward, interposed whatever she could, a hand, a shoulder, between the +painter and his picture. She was always there, encompassing him with her +breath, reminding him that he was hers. Then her old idea revived--she +also would paint; she would seek and join him in the depths of his art +fever. Every day for a whole month she put on a blouse, and worked like +a pupil by the side of a master, diligently copying one of his sketches, +and she only gave in when she found the effort turn against her +object; for, deceived, as it were, by their joint work, he finished by +forgetting that she was a woman, and lived with her on a footing of mere +comradeship as between man and man. Accordingly she resorted to what was +her only strength. + +To perfect some of the small figures of his latter pictures, Claude had +many a time already taken the hint of a head, the pose of an arm, the +attitude of a body from Christine. He threw a cloak over her shoulders, +and caught her in the posture he wanted, shouting to her not to stir. +These were little services which she showed herself only too pleased to +render him, but she had not hitherto cared to go further, for she was +hurt by the idea of being a model now that she was his wife. However, +since Claude had broadly outlined the large upright female figure which +was to occupy the centre of his picture, Christine had looked at the +vague silhouette in a dreamy way, worried by an ever-pursuing thought +before which all scruples vanished. And so, when he spoke of taking a +model, she offered herself, reminding him that she had posed for the +figure in the 'Open Air' subject, long ago. 'A model,' she added, 'would +cost you seven francs a sitting. We are not so rich, we may as well save +the money.' + +The question of economy decided him at once. + +'I'm agreeable, and it's even very good of you to show such courage, for +you know that it is not a bit of pastime to sit for me. Never mind, you +had better confess to it, you big silly, you are afraid of another woman +coming here; you are jealous.' + +Jealous! Yes, indeed she was jealous, so she suffered agony. But she +snapped her fingers at other women; all the models in Paris might have +sat to him for what she cared. She had but one rival, that painting, +that art which robbed her of him. + +Claude, who was delighted, at first made a study, a simple academic +study, in the attitude required for his picture. They waited until +Jacques had gone to school, and the sitting lasted for hours. During +the earlier days Christine suffered a great deal from being obliged to +remain in the same position; then she grew used to it, not daring to +complain, lest she might vex him, and even restraining her tears when +he roughly pushed her about. And he soon acquired the habit of doing so, +treating her like a mere model; more exacting with her, however, than if +he had paid her, never afraid of unduly taxing her strength, since she +was his wife. He employed her for every purpose, at every minute, for an +arm, a foot, the most trifling detail that he stood in need of. And thus +in a way he lowered her to the level of a 'living lay figure,' which he +stuck in front of him and copied as he might have copied a pitcher or a +stew-pan for a bit of still life. + +This time Claude proceeded leisurely, and before roughing in the large +figure he tired Christine for months by making her pose in twenty +different ways. At last, one day, he began the roughing in. It was an +autumnal morning, the north wind was already sharp, and it was by no +means warm even in the big studio, although the stove was roaring. As +little Jacques was poorly again and unable to go to school, they had +decided to lock him up in the room at the back, telling him to be very +good. And then the mother settled herself near the stove, motionless, in +the attitude required. + +During the first hour, the painter, perched upon his steps, kept +glancing at her, but did not speak a word. Unutterable sadness stole +over her, and she felt afraid of fainting, no longer knowing whether she +was suffering from the cold or from a despair that had come from afar, +and the bitterness of which she felt to be rising within her. Her +fatigue became so great that she staggered and hobbled about on her +numbed legs. + +'What, already?' cried Claude. 'Why, you haven't been at it more than a +quarter of an hour. You don't want to earn your seven francs, then?' + +He was joking in a gruff voice, delighted with his work. And she had +scarcely recovered the use of her limbs, beneath the dressing-gown she +had wrapped round her, when he went on shouting: 'Come on, come on, no +idling! It's a grand day to-day is! I must either show some genius or +else kick the bucket.' + +Then, in a weary way, she at last resumed the pose. + +The misfortune was that before long, both by his glances and the +language he used, she fully realised that she herself was as nothing to +him. If ever he praised a limb, a tint, a contour, it was solely from +the artistic point of view. Great enthusiasm and passion he often +showed, but it was not passion for herself as in the old days. She felt +confused and deeply mortified. Ah! this was the end; in her he no longer +loved aught but his art, the example of nature and life! And then, +with her eyes gazing into space, she would remain rigid, like a statue, +keeping back the tears which made her heart swell, lacking even the +wretched consolation of being able to cry. And day by day the same sorry +life began afresh for her. To stand there as his model had become her +profession. She could not refuse, however bitter her grief. Their once +happy life was all over, there now seemed to be three people in the +place; it was as if Claude had introduced a mistress into it--that woman +he was painting. The huge picture rose up between them, parted them as +with a wall, beyond which he lived with the other. That duplication of +herself well nigh drove Christine mad with jealousy, and yet she was +conscious of the pettiness of her sufferings, and did not dare to +confess them lest he should laugh at her. However, she did not deceive +herself; she fully realised that he preferred her counterfeit to +herself, that her image was the worshipped one, the sole thought, the +affection of his every hour. He almost killed her with long sittings in +that cold draughty studio, in order to enhance the beauty of the other; +upon whom depended all his joys and sorrows according as to whether he +beheld her live or languish beneath his brush. Was not this love? +And what suffering to have to lend herself so that the other might be +created, so that she might be haunted by a nightmare of that rival, so +that the latter might for ever rise between them, more powerful than +reality! To think of it! So much dust, the veriest trifle, a patch +of colour on a canvas, a mere semblance destroying all their +happiness!--he, silent, indifferent, brutal at times, and she, tortured +by his desertion, in despair at being unable to drive away that creature +who ever encroached more and more upon their daily life! + +And it was then that Christine, finding herself altogether beaten in her +efforts to regain Claude's love, felt all the sovereignty of art weigh +down upon her. That painting, which she had already accepted without +restriction, she raised still higher in her estimation, placed inside an +awesome tabernacle before which she remained overcome, as before those +powerful divinities of wrath which one honours from the very hatred +and fear that they inspire. Hers was a holy awe, a conviction that +struggling was henceforth useless, that she would be crushed like a +bit of straw if she persisted in her obstinacy. Each of her husband's +canvases became magnified in her eyes, the smallest assumed triumphal +dimensions, even the worst painted of them overwhelmed her with victory, +and she no longer judged them, but grovelled, trembling, thinking them +all formidable, and invariably replying to Claude's questions: + +'Oh, yes; very good! Oh, superb! Oh, very, very extraordinary that one!' + +Nevertheless, she harboured no anger against him; she still worshipped +him with tearful tenderness, as she saw him thus consume himself with +efforts. After a few weeks of successful work, everything got spoilt +again; he could not finish his large female figure. At times he almost +killed his model with fatigue, keeping hard at work for days and days +together, then leaving the picture untouched for a whole month. The +figure was begun anew, relinquished, painted all over again at least a +dozen times. One year, two years went by without the picture reaching +completion. Though sometimes it was almost finished, it was scratched +out the next morning and painted entirely over again. + +Ah! what an effort of creation it was, an effort of blood and tears, +filling Claude with agony in his attempt to beget flesh and instil life! +Ever battling with reality, and ever beaten, it was a struggle with the +Angel. He was wearing himself out with this impossible task of making a +canvas hold all nature; he became exhausted at last with the pains +which racked his muscles without ever being able to bring his genius +to fruition. What others were satisfied with, a more or less faithful +rendering, the various necessary bits of trickery, filled him with +remorse, made him as indignant as if in resorting to such practices one +were guilty of ignoble cowardice; and thus he began his work over and +over again, spoiling what was good through his craving to do better. +He would always be dissatisfied with his women--so his friends jokingly +declared--until they flung their arms round his neck. What was lacking +in his power that he could not endow them with life? Very little, no +doubt. Sometimes he went beyond the right point, sometimes he stopped +short of it. One day the words, 'an incomplete genius,' which he +overheard, both flattered and frightened him. Yes, it must be that; he +jumped too far or not far enough; he suffered from a want of nervous +balance; he was afflicted with some hereditary derangement which, +because there were a few grains the more or the less of some substance +in his brain, was making him a lunatic instead of a great man. Whenever +a fit of despair drove him from his studio, whenever he fled from his +work, he now carried about with him that idea of fatal impotence, and +he heard it beating against his skull like the obstinate tolling of a +funeral bell. + +His life became wretched. Never had doubt of himself pursued him in that +way before. He disappeared for whole days together; he even stopped out +a whole night, coming back the next morning stupefied, without being +able to say where he had gone. It was thought that he had been tramping +through the outskirts of Paris rather than find himself face to face +with his spoilt work. His sole relief was to flee the moment that work +filled him with shame and hatred, and to remain away until he felt +sufficient courage to face it once more. And not even his wife dared to +question him on his return--indeed, she was only too happy to see him +back again after her anxious waiting. At such times he madly scoured +Paris, especially the outlying quarters, from a longing to debase +himself and hob-nob with labourers. He expressed at each recurring +crisis his old regret at not being some mason's hodman. Did not +happiness consist in having solid limbs, and in performing the work one +was built for well and quickly? He had wrecked his life; he ought to +have got himself engaged in the building line in the old times when he +had lunched at the 'Dog of Montargis,' Gomard's tavern, where he had +known a Limousin, a big, strapping, merry fellow, whose brawny arms he +envied. Then, on coming back to the Rue Tourlaque, with his legs faint +and his head empty, he gave his picture much the same distressful, +frightened glance as one casts at a corpse in a mortuary, until fresh +hope of resuscitating it, of endowing it with life, brought a flush to +his face once more. + +One day Christine was posing, and the figure of the woman was again +well nigh finished. For the last hour, however, Claude had been growing +gloomy, losing the childish delight that he had displayed at the +beginning of the sitting. So his wife scarcely dared to breathe, feeling +by her own discomfort that everything must be going wrong once more, and +afraid that she might accelerate the catastrophe if she moved as much +as a finger. And, surely enough, he suddenly gave a cry of anguish, and +launched forth an oath in a thunderous voice. + +'Oh, curse it! curse it!' + +He had flung his handful of brushes from the top of the steps. Then, +blinded with rage, with one blow of his fist he transpierced the canvas. + +Christine held out her trembling hands. + +'My dear, my dear!' + +But when she had flung a dressing-gown over her shoulders, and +approached the picture, she experienced keen delight, a burst of +satisfied hatred. Claude's fist had struck 'the other one' full in the +bosom, and there was a gaping hole! At last, then, that other one was +killed! + +Motionless, horror-struck by that murder, Claude stared at the +perforated bosom. Poignant grief came upon him at the sight of the wound +whence the blood of his work seemed to flow. Was it possible? Was it +he who had thus murdered what he loved best of all on earth? His anger +changed into stupor; his fingers wandered over the canvas, drawing the +ragged edges of the rent together, as if he had wished to close the +bleeding gash. He was choking; he stammered, distracted with boundless +grief: + +'She is killed, she is killed!' + +Then Christine, in her maternal love for that big child of an artist, +felt moved to her very entrails. She forgave him as usual. She saw well +enough that he now had but one thought--to mend the rent, to repair +the evil at once; and she helped him; it was she who held the shreds +together, whilst he from behind glued a strip of canvas against them. +When she dressed herself, 'the other one' was there again, immortal, +simply retaining near her heart a slight scar, which seemed to make her +doubly dear to the painter. + +As this unhinging of Claude's faculties increased, he drifted into a +sort of superstition, into a devout belief in certain processes and +methods. He banished oil from his colours, and spoke of it as of a +personal enemy. On the other hand, he held that turpentine produced a +solid unpolished surface, and he had some secrets of his own which +he hid from everybody; solutions of amber, liquefied copal, and other +resinous compounds that made colours dry quickly, and prevented +them from cracking. But he experienced some terrible worries, as +the absorbent nature of the canvas at once sucked in the little oil +contained in the paint. Then the question of brushes had always worried +him greatly; he insisted on having them with special handles; and +objecting to sable, he used nothing but oven-dried badger hair. +More important, however, than everything else was the question of +palette-knives, which, like Courbet, he used for his backgrounds. He +had quite a collection of them, some long and flexible, others broad and +squat, and one which was triangular like a glazier's, and which had been +expressly made for him. It was the real Delacroix knife. Besides, he +never made use of the scraper or razor, which he considered beneath an +artist's dignity. But, on the other hand, he indulged in all sorts of +mysterious practices in applying his colours, concocted recipes and +changed them every month, and suddenly fancied that he had bit on the +right system of painting, when, after repudiating oil and its flow, he +began to lay on successive touches until he arrived at the exact tone +he required. One of his fads for a long while was to paint from right to +left; for, without confessing as much, he felt sure that it brought +him luck. But the terrible affair which unhinged him once more was an +all-invading theory respecting the complementary colours. Gagniere had +been the first to speak to him on the subject, being himself equally +inclined to technical speculation. After which Claude, impelled by +the exuberance of his passion, took to exaggerating the scientific +principles whereby, from the three primitive colours, yellow, red, and +blue, one derives the three secondary ones, orange, green, and violet, +and, further, a whole series of complementary and similar hues, whose +composites are obtained mathematically from one another. Thus science +entered into painting, there was a method for logical observation +already. One only had to take the predominating hue of a picture, and +note the complementary or similar colours, to establish experimentally +what variations would occur; for instance, red would turn yellowish if +it were near blue, and a whole landscape would change in tint by the +refractions and the very decomposition of light, according to the clouds +passing over it. Claude then accurately came to this conclusion: +That objects have no real fixed colour; that they assume various hues +according to ambient circumstances; but the misfortune was that when +he took to direct observation, with his brain throbbing with scientific +formulas, his prejudiced vision lent too much force to delicate shades, +and made him render what was theoretically correct in too vivid a +manner: thus his style, once so bright, so full of the palpitation +of sunlight, ended in a reversal of everything to which the eye +was accustomed, giving, for instance, flesh of a violet tinge under +tricoloured skies. Insanity seemed to be at the end of it all. + +Poverty finished off Claude. It had gradually increased, while the +family spent money without counting; and, when the last copper of the +twenty thousand francs had gone, it swooped down upon them--horrible and +irreparable. Christine, who wanted to look for work, was incapable of +doing anything, even ordinary needlework. She bewailed her lot, twirling +her fingers and inveighing against the idiotic young lady's education +that she had received, since it had given her no profession, and her +only resource would be to enter into domestic service, should life still +go against them. Claude, on his side, had become a subject of chaff with +the Parisians, and no longer sold a picture. An independent exhibition +at which he and some friends had shown some pictures, had finished him +off as regards amateurs--so merry had the public become at the sight of +his canvases, streaked with all the colours of the rainbow. The dealers +fled from him. M. Hue alone now and then made a pilgrimage to the Rue +Tourlaque, and remained in ecstasy before the exaggerated bits, those +which blazed in unexpected pyrotechnical fashion, in despair at being +unable to cover them with gold. And though the painter wanted to make +him a present of them, implored him to accept them, the old fellow +displayed extraordinary delicacy of feeling. He pinched himself to amass +a small sum of money from time to time, and then religiously took away +the seemingly delirious picture, to hang it beside his masterpieces. +Such windfalls came too seldom, and Claude was obliged to descend to +'trade art,' repugnant as it was to him. Such, indeed, was his despair +at having fallen into that poison house, where he had sworn never to set +foot, that he would have preferred starving to death, but for the two +poor beings who were dependent on him and who suffered like himself. He +became familiar with 'viae dolorosae' painted at reduced prices, with +male and female saints at so much per gross, even with 'pounced' shop +blinds--in short, all the ignoble jobs that degrade painting and make it +so much idiotic delineation, lacking even the charm of naivete. He even +suffered the humiliation of having portraits at five-and-twenty francs +a-piece refused, because he failed to produce a likeness; and he reached +the lowest degree of distress--he worked according to size for the petty +dealers who sell daubs on the bridges, and export them to semi-civilised +countries. They bought his pictures at two and three francs a-piece, +according to the regulation dimensions. This was like physical decay, it +made him waste away; he rose from such tasks feeling ill, incapable of +serious work, looking at his large picture in distress, and leaving it +sometimes untouched for a week, as if he had felt his hands befouled and +unworthy of working at it. + +They scarcely had bread to eat, and the huge shanty, which Christine had +shown herself so proud of, on settling in it, became uninhabitable in +the winter. She, once such an active housewife, now dragged herself +about the place, without courage even to sweep the floor, and thus +everything lapsed into abandonment. In the disaster little Jacques was +sadly weakened by unwholesome and insufficient food, for their meals +often consisted of a mere crust, eaten standing. With their lives thus +ill-regulated, uncared for, they were drifting to the filth of the poor +who lose even all self-pride. + +At the close of another year, Claude, on one of those days of defeat, +when he fled from his miscarried picture, met an old acquaintance. This +time he had sworn he would never go home again, and he had been tramping +across Paris since noon, as if at his heels he had heard the wan spectre +of the big, nude figure of his picture--ravaged by constant retouching, +and always left incomplete--pursuing him with a passionate craving for +birth. The mist was melting into a yellowish drizzle, befouling the +muddy streets. It was about five o'clock, and he was crossing the Rue +Royale like one walking in his sleep, at the risk of being run over, +his clothes in rags and mud-bespattered up to his neck, when a brougham +suddenly drew up. + +'Claude, eh? Claude!--is that how you pass your friends?' + +It was Irma Becot who spoke, Irma in a charming grey silk dress, covered +with Chantilly lace. She had hastily let down the window, and she sat +smiling, beaming in the frame-work of the carriage door. + +'Where are you going?' + +He, staring at her open-mouthed, replied that he was going nowhere. At +which she merrily expressed surprise in a loud voice, looking at him +with her saucy eyes. + +'Get in, then; it's such a long while since we met,' said she. 'Get in, +or you'll be knocked down.' + +And, in fact, the other drivers were getting impatient, and urging their +horses on, amidst a terrible din, so he did as he was bidden, feeling +quite dazed; and she drove him away, dripping, with the unmistakable +signs of his poverty upon him, in the brougham lined with blue satin, +where he sat partly on the lace of her skirt, while the cabdrivers +jeered at the elopement before falling into line again. + +When Claude came back to the Rue Tourlaque he was in a dazed condition, +and for a couple of days remained musing whether after all he might not +have taken the wrong course in life. He seemed so strange that Christine +questioned him, whereupon he at first stuttered and stammered, and +finally confessed everything. There was a scene; she wept for a long +while, then pardoned him once more, full of infinite indulgence for him. +And, indeed, amidst all her bitter grief there sprang up a hope that he +might yet return to her, for if he could deceive her thus he could not +care as much as she had imagined for that hateful painted creature who +stared down from the big canvas. + +The days went by, and towards the middle of the winter Claude's courage +revived once more. One day, while putting some old frames in order, he +came upon a roll of canvas which had fallen behind the other pictures. +On opening the roll he found on it the nude figure, the reclining woman +of his old painting, 'In the Open Air,' which he had cut out when the +picture had come back to him from the Salon of the Rejected. And, as he +gazed at it, he uttered a cry of admiration: + +'By the gods, how beautiful it is!' + +He at once secured it to the wall with four nails, and remained for +hours in contemplation before it. His hands shook, the blood rushed to +his face. Was it possible that he had painted such a masterly thing? +He had possessed genius in those days then. So his skull, his eyes, his +fingers had been changed. He became so feverishly excited and felt such +a need of unburthening himself to somebody, that at last he called his +wife. + +'Just come and have a look. Isn't her attitude good, eh? How delicately +her muscles are articulated! Just look at that bit there, full of +sunlight. And at the shoulder here. Ah, heavens! it's full of life; I +can feel it throb as I touch it.' + +Christine, standing by, kept looking and answering in monosyllables. +This resurrection of herself, after so many years, had at first +flattered and surprised her. But on seeing him become so excited, she +gradually felt uncomfortable and irritated, without knowing why. + +'Tell me,' he continued, 'don't you think her beautiful enough for one +to go on one's knees to her?' + +'Yes, yes. But she has become rather blackish--' + +Claude protested vehemently. Become blackish, what an idea! That woman +would never grow black; she possessed immortal youth! Veritable passion +had seized hold of him; he spoke of the figure as of a living being; he +had sudden longings to look at her that made him leave everything else, +as if he were hurrying to an appointment. + +Then, one morning, he was taken with a fit of work. + +'But, confound it all, as I did that, I can surely do it again,' he +said. 'Ah, this time, unless I'm a downright brute, we'll see about it.' + +And Christine had to give him a sitting there and then. For eight hours +a day, indeed, during a whole month he kept her before him, without +compassion for her increasing exhaustion or for the fatigue he felt +himself. He obstinately insisted upon producing a masterpiece; he was +determined that the upright figure of his big picture should equal that +reclining one which he saw on the wall, beaming with life. He constantly +referred to it, compared it with the one he was painting, distracted by +the fear of being unable to equal it. He cast one glance at it, another +at Christine, and a third at his canvas, and burst into oaths whenever +he felt dissatisfied. He ended by abusing his wife. + +She was no longer young. Age had spoilt her figure, and that it was +which spoilt his work. She listened, and staggered in her very grief. +Those sittings, from which she had already suffered so much, were +becoming unbearable torture now. What was this new freak of crushing +her with her own girlhood, of fanning her jealousy by filling her with +regret for vanished beauty? She was becoming her own rival, she could +no longer look at that old picture of herself without being stung at the +heart by hateful envy. Ah, how heavily had that picture, that study +she had sat for long ago, weighed upon her existence! The whole of her +misfortunes sprang from it. It had changed the current of her existence. +And it had come to life again, it rose from the dead, endowed with +greater vitality than herself, to finish killing her, for there was no +longer aught but one woman for Claude--she who was shown reclining on +the old canvas, and who now arose and became the upright figure of his +new picture. + +Then Christine felt herself growing older and older at each successive +sitting. And she experienced the infinite despair which comes upon +passionate women when love, like beauty, abandons them. Was it because +of this that Claude no longer cared for her, that he sought refuge in +an unnatural passion for his work? She soon lost all clear perception +of things; she fell into a state of utter neglect, going about in a +dressing jacket and dirty petticoats, devoid of all coquettish feeling, +discouraged by the idea that it was useless for her to continue +struggling, since she had become old. + +There were occasionally abominable scenes between her and Claude, who +this time, however, obstinately stuck to his work and finished his +picture, swearing that, come what might, he would send it to the Salon. +He lived on his steps, cleaning up his backgrounds until dark. At last, +thoroughly exhausted, he declared that he would touch the canvas no +more; and Sandoz, on coming to see him one day, at four o'clock, did not +find him at home. Christine declared that he had just gone out to take a +breath of air on the height of Montmartre. + +The breach between Claude and his old friends had gradually widened. +With time the latters' visits had become brief and far between, for they +felt uncomfortable when they found themselves face to face with that +disturbing style of painting; and they were more and more upset by the +unhinging of a mind which had been the admiration of their youth. Now +all had fled; none excepting Sandoz ever came. Gagniere had even left +Paris, to settle down in one of the two houses he owned at Melun, where +he lived frugally upon the proceeds of the other one, after suddenly +marrying, to every one's surprise, an old maid, his music mistress, who +played Wagner to him of an evening. As for Mahoudeau, he alleged work +as an excuse for not coming, and indeed he was beginning to earn some +money, thanks to a bronze manufacturer, who employed him to touch up +his models. Matters were different with Jory, whom no one saw, since +Mathilde despotically kept him sequestrated. She had conquered him, +and he had fallen into a kind of domesticity comparable to that of a +faithful dog, yielding up the keys of his cashbox, and only carrying +enough money about him to buy a cigar at a time. It was even said that +Mathilde, like the devotee she had once been, had thrown him into the +arms of the Church, in order to consolidate her conquest, and that she +was constantly talking to him about death, of which he was horribly +afraid. Fagerolles alone affected a lively, cordial feeling towards +his old friend Claude whenever he happened to meet him. He then always +promised to go and see him, but never did so. He was so busy since his +great success, in such request, advertised, celebrated, on the road to +every imaginable honour and form of fortune! And Claude regretted +nobody save Dubuche, to whom he still felt attached, from a feeling +of affection for the old reminiscences of boyhood, notwithstanding the +disagreements which difference of disposition had provoked later on. But +Dubuche, it appeared, was not very happy either. No doubt he was gorged +with millions, but he led a wretched life, constantly at logger-heads +with his father-in-law (who complained of having been deceived with +regard to his capabilities as an architect), and obliged to pass +his life amidst the medicine bottles of his ailing wife and his two +children, who, having been prematurely born, had to be reared virtually +in cotton wool. + +Of all the old friends, therefore, there only remained Sandoz, who still +found his way to the Rue Tourlaque. He came thither for little Jacques, +his godson, and for the sorrowing woman also, that Christine whose +passionate features amidst all this distress moved him deeply, like a +vision of one of the ardently amorous creatures whom he would have +liked to embody in his books. But, above all, his feeling of artistic +brotherliness had increased since he had seen Claude losing ground, +foundering amidst the heroic folly of art. At first he had remained +utterly astonished at it, for he had believed in his friend more than in +himself. Since their college days, he had always placed himself second, +while setting Claude very high on fame's ladder--on the same rung, +indeed, as the masters who revolutionise a period. Then he had been +grievously affected by that bankruptcy of genius; he had become full +of bitter, heartfelt pity at the sight of the horrible torture of +impotency. Did one ever know who was the madman in art? Every failure +touched him to the quick, and the more a picture or a book verged upon +aberration, sank to the grotesque and lamentable, the more did Sandoz +quiver with compassion, the more did he long to lull to sleep, in the +soothing extravagance of their dreams, those who were thus blasted by +their own work. + +On the day when Sandoz called, and failed to find Claude at home, he did +not go away; but, seeing Christine's eyelids red with crying, he said: + +'If you think that he'll be in soon, I'll wait for him.' + +'Oh! he surely won't be long.' + +'In that case I'll wait, unless I am in your way.' + +Never had her demeanour, the crushed look of a neglected woman, her +listless movements, her slow speech, her indifference for everything but +the passion that was consuming her, moved him so deeply. For the last +week, perhaps, she had not put a chair in its place, or dusted a piece +of furniture; she left the place to go to wreck and ruin, scarcely +having the strength to drag herself about. And it was enough to break +one's heart to behold that misery ending in filth beneath the glaring +light from the big window; to gaze on that ill-pargetted shanty, so bare +and disorderly, where one shivered with melancholy although it was a +bright February afternoon. + +Christine had slowly sat down beside an iron bedstead, which Sandoz had +not noticed when he came in. + +'Hallo,' he said, 'is Jacques ill?' + +She was covering up the child, who constantly flung off the bedclothes. + +'Yes, he hasn't been up these three days. We brought his bed in here so +that he might be with us. He was never very strong. But he is getting +worse and worse, it's distracting.' + +She had a fixed stare in her eyes and spoke in a monotonous tone, and +Sandoz felt frightened when he drew up to the bedside. The child's pale +head seemed to have grown bigger still, so heavy that he could no longer +support it. He lay perfectly still, and one might have thought he was +dead, but for the heavy breathing coming from between his discoloured +lips. + +'My poor little Jacques, it's I, your godfather. Won't you say how d'ye +do?' + +The child made a fruitless, painful effort to lift his head; his eyelids +parted, showing his white eyeballs, then closed again. + +'Have you sent for a doctor?' + +Christine shrugged her shoulders. + +'Oh! doctors, what do they know?' she answered. 'We sent for one; he +said that there was nothing to be done. Let us hope that it will pass +over again. He is close upon twelve years old now, and maybe he is +growing too fast.' + +Sandoz, quite chilled, said nothing for fear of increasing her anxiety, +since she did not seem to realise the gravity of the disease. He walked +about in silence and stopped in front of the picture. + +'Ho, ho! it's getting on; it's on the right road this time.' + +'It's finished.' + +'What! finished?' + +And when she told him that the canvas was to be sent to the Salon that +next week, he looked embarrassed, and sat down on the couch, like a man +who wishes to judge the work leisurely. The background, the quays, the +Seine, whence arose the triumphal point of the Cite, still remained in a +sketchy state--masterly, however, but as if the painter had been afraid +of spoiling the Paris of his dream by giving it greater finish. There +was also an excellent group on the left, the lightermen unloading the +sacks of plaster being carefully and powerfully treated. But the boat +full of women in the centre transpierced the picture, as it were, with +a blaze of flesh-tints which were quite out of place; and the brilliancy +and hallucinatory proportions of the large nude figure which Claude had +painted in a fever seemed strangely, disconcertingly false amidst the +reality of all the rest. + +Sandoz, silent, fell despair steal over him as he sat in front of that +magnificent failure. But he saw Christine's eyes fixed upon him, and had +sufficient strength of mind to say: + +'Astounding!--the woman, astounding!' + +At that moment Claude came in, and on seeing his old chum he uttered +a joyous exclamation and shook his hand vigorously. Then he approached +Christine, and kissed little Jacques, who had once more thrown off the +bedclothes. + +'How is he?' + +'Just the same.' + +'To be sure, to be sure; he is growing too fast. A few days' rest will +set him all right. I told you not to be uneasy.' + +And Claude thereupon sat down beside Sandoz on the couch. They both took +their ease, leaning back, with their eyes surveying the picture; while +Christine, seated by the bed, looked at nothing, and seemingly thought +of nothing, in the everlasting desolation of her heart. Night was slowly +coming on, the vivid light from the window paled already, losing its +sheen amidst the slowly-falling crepuscular dimness. + +'So it's settled; your wife told me that you were going to send it in.' + +'Yes.' + +'You are right; you had better have done with it once for all. Oh, there +are some magnificent bits in it. The quay in perspective to the left, +the man who shoulders that sack below. But--' + +He hesitated, then finally took the bull by the horns. + +'But, it's odd that you have persisted in leaving those women nude. It +isn't logical, I assure you; and, besides, you promised me you would +dress them--don't you remember? You have set your heart upon them very +much then?' + +'Yes.' + +Claude answered curtly, with the obstinacy of one mastered by a fixed +idea and unwilling to give any explanations. Then he crossed his arms +behind his head, and began talking of other things, without, however, +taking his eyes off his picture, over which the twilight began to cast a +slight shadow. + +'Do you know where I have just come from?' he asked. 'I have been to +Courajod's. You know, the great landscape painter, whose "Pond of Gagny" +is at the Luxembourg. You remember, I thought he was dead, and we were +told that he lived hereabouts, on the other side of the hill, in the Rue +de l'Abreuvoir. Well, old boy, he worried me, did Courajod. While taking +a breath of air now and then up there, I discovered his shanty, and I +could no longer pass in front of it without wanting to go inside. Just +think, a master, a man who invented our modern landscape school, and who +lives there, unknown, done for, like a mole in its hole! You can have no +idea of the street or the caboose: a village street, full of fowls, and +bordered by grassy banks; and a caboose like a child's toy, with tiny +windows, a tiny door, a tiny garden. Oh! the garden--a mere patch of +soil, sloping down abruptly, with a bed where four pear trees stand, +and the rest taken up by a fowl-house, made out of green boards, old +plaster, and wire network, held together with bits of string.' + +His words came slowly; he blinked while he spoke as if the thought of +his picture had returned to him and was gradually taking possession +of him, to such a degree as to hamper him in his speech about other +matters. + +'Well, as luck would have it, I found Courajod on his doorstep to-day. +An old man of more than eighty, wrinkled and shrunk to the size of a +boy. I should like you to see him, with his clogs, his peasant's jersey +and his coloured handkerchief wound over his head as if he were an old +market-woman. I pluckily went up to him, saying, "Monsieur Courajod, I +know you very well; you have a picture in the Luxembourg Gallery which +is a masterpiece. Allow a painter to shake hands with you as he would +with his master." And then you should have seen him take fright, draw +back and stutter, as if I were going to strike him. A regular flight! +However, I followed him, and gradually he recovered his composure, and +showed me his hens, his ducks, his rabbits and dogs--an extraordinary +collection of birds and beasts; there was even a raven among them. He +lives in the midst of them all; he speaks to no one but his animals. +As for the view, it's simply magnificent; you see the whole of the +St. Denis plain for miles upon miles; rivers and towns, smoking +factory-chimneys, and puffing railway-engines; in short, the place is +a real hermitage on a hill, with its back turned to Paris and its eyes +fixed on the boundless country. As a matter of course, I came back to +his picture. "Oh, Monsieur Courajod," said I, "what talent you showed! +If you only knew how much we all admire you. You are one of our +illustrious men; you'll remain the ancestor of us all." But his lips +began to tremble again; he looked at me with an air of terror-stricken +stupidity; I am sure he would not have waved me back with a more +imploring gesture if I had unearthed under his very eyes the corpse of +some forgotten comrade of his youth. He kept chewing disconnected words +between his toothless gums; it was the mumbling of an old man who had +sunk into second childhood, and whom it's impossible to understand. +"Don't know--so long ago--too old--don't care a rap." To make a long +story short, he showed me the door; I heard him hurriedly turn the +key in lock, barricading himself and his birds and animals against the +admiration of the outside world. Ah, my good fellow, the idea of it! +That great man ending his life like a retired grocer; that voluntary +relapse into "nothingness" even before death. Ah, the glory, the glory +for which we others are ready to die!' + +Claude's voice, which had sunk lower and lower, died away at last in +a melancholy sigh. Darkness was still coming on; after gradually +collecting in the corners, it rose like a slow, inexorable tide, first +submerging the legs of the chairs and the table, all the confusion of +things that littered the tiled floor. The lower part of the picture was +already growing dim, and Claude, with his eyes still desperately fixed +on it, seemed to be watching the ascent of the darkness as if he had at +last judged his work in the expiring light. And no sound was heard save +the stertorous breathing of the sick child, near whom there still loomed +the dark silhouette of the motionless mother. + +Then Sandoz spoke in his turn, his hands also crossed behind his head, +and his back resting against one of the cushions of the couch. + +'Does one ever know? Would it not be better, perhaps, to live and die +unknown? What a sell it would be if artistic glory existed no more than +the Paradise which is talked about in catechisms and which even children +nowadays make fun of! We, who no longer believe in the Divinity, still +believe in our own immortality. What a farce it all is!' + +Then, affected to melancholy himself by the mournfulness of the +twilight, and stirred by all the human suffering he beheld around him, +he began to speak of his own torments. + +'Look here, old man, I, whom you envy, perhaps--yes, I, who am beginning +to get on in the world, as middle-class people say--I, who publish books +and earn a little money--well, I am being killed by it all. I have often +already told you this, but you don't believe me, because, as you only +turn out work with a deal of trouble and cannot bring yourself to public +notice, happiness in your eyes could naturally consist in producing a +great deal, in being seen, and praised or slated. Well, get admitted to +the next Salon, get into the thick of the battle, paint other pictures, +and then tell me whether that suffices, and whether you are happy at +last. Listen; work has taken up the whole of my existence. Little by +little, it has robbed me of my mother, of my wife, of everything I love. +It is like a germ thrown into the cranium, which feeds on the brain, +finds its way into the trunk and limbs, and gnaws up the whole of the +body. The moment I jump out of bed of a morning, work clutches hold +of me, rivets me to my desk without leaving me time to get a breath of +fresh air; then it pursues me at luncheon--I audibly chew my sentences +with my bread. Next it accompanies me when I go out, comes back with me +and dines off the same plate as myself; lies down with me on my pillow, +so utterly pitiless that I am never able to set the book in hand on one +side; indeed, its growth continues even in the depth of my sleep. And +nothing outside of it exists for me. True, I go upstairs to embrace my +mother, but in so absent-minded a way, that ten minutes after leaving +her I ask myself whether I have really been to wish her good-morning. My +poor wife has no husband; I am not with her even when our hands touch. +Sometimes I have an acute feeling that I am making their lives very +sad, and I feel very remorseful, for happiness is solely composed of +kindness, frankness and gaiety in one's home; but how can I escape from +the claws of the monster? I at once relapse into the somnambulism of my +working hours, into the indifference and moroseness of my fixed idea. +If the pages I have written during the morning have been worked off all +right, so much the better; if one of them has remained in distress, so +much the worse. The household will laugh or cry according to the whim of +that all-devouring monster--Work. No, no! I have nothing that I can call +my own. In my days of poverty I dreamt of rest in the country, of travel +in distant lands; and now that I might make those dreams reality, the +work that has been begun keeps me shut up. There is no chance of a walk +in the morning's sun, no chance of running round to a friend's house, or +of a mad bout of idleness! My strength of will has gone with the rest; +all this has become a habit; I have locked the door of the world behind +me, and thrown the key out of the window. There is no longer anything in +my den but work and myself--and work will devour me, and then there will +be nothing left, nothing at all!' + +He paused, and silence reigned once more in the deepening gloom. Then he +began again with an effort: + +'And if one were only satisfied, if one only got some enjoyment out of +such a nigger's life! Ah! I should like to know how those fellows manage +who smoke cigarettes and complacently stroke their beards while they are +at work. Yes, it appears to me that there are some who find production +an easy pleasure, to be set aside or taken up without the least +excitement. They are delighted, they admire themselves, they +cannot write a couple of lines but they find those lines of a rare, +distinguished, matchless quality. Well, as for myself, I bring forth +in anguish, and my offspring seems a horror to me. How can a man +be sufficiently wanting in self-doubt as to believe in himself? It +absolutely amazes me to see men, who furiously deny talent to everybody +else, lose all critical acumen, all common-sense, when it becomes a +question of their own bastard creations. Why, a book is always very +ugly. To like it one mustn't have had a hand in the cooking of it. I say +nothing of the jugsful of insults that are showered upon one. Instead of +annoying, they rather encourage me. I see men who are upset by attacks, +who feel a humiliating craving to win sympathy. It is a simple question +of temperament; some women would die if they failed to please. But, to +my thinking, insult is a very good medicine to take; unpopularity is a +very manly school to be brought up in. Nothing keeps one in such good +health and strength as the hooting of a crowd of imbeciles. It suffices +that a man can say that he has given his life's blood to his work; that +he expects neither immediate justice nor serious attention; that he +works without hope of any kind, and simply because the love of work +beats beneath his skin like his heart, irrespective of any will of his +own. If he can do all this, he may die in the effort with the consoling +illusion that he will be appreciated one day or other. Ah! if the others +only knew how jauntily I bear the weight of their anger. Only there +is my own choler, which overwhelms me; I fret that I cannot live for a +moment happy. What hours of misery I spend, great heavens! from the +very day I begin a novel. During the first chapters there isn't so much +trouble. I have plenty of room before me in which to display genius. But +afterwards I become distracted, and am never satisfied with the daily +task; I condemn the book before it is finished, judging it inferior +to its elders; and I torture myself about certain pages, about certain +sentences, certain words, so that at last the very commas assume an +ugly look, from which I suffer. And when it is finished--ah! when it is +finished, what a relief! Not the enjoyment of the gentleman who exalts +himself in the worship of his offspring, but the curse of the labourer +who throws down the burden that has been breaking his back. Then, +later on, with another book, it all begins afresh; it will always begin +afresh, and I shall die under it, furious with myself, exasperated +at not having had more talent, enraged at not leaving a "work" more +complete, of greater dimensions--books upon books, a pile of mountain +height! And at my death I shall feel horrible doubts about the task I +may have accomplished, asking myself whether I ought not to have gone to +the left when I went to the right, and my last word, my last gasp, will +be to recommence the whole over again--' + +He was thoroughly moved; the words stuck in his throat; he was obliged +to draw breath for a moment before delivering himself of this passionate +cry in which all his impenitent lyricism took wing: + +Ah, life! a second span of life, who shall give it to me, that work may +rob me of it again--that I may die of it once more?' + +It had now become quite dark; the mother's rigid silhouette was no +longer visible; the hoarse breathing of the child sounded amidst the +obscurity like a terrible and distant signal of distress, uprising from +the streets. In the whole studio, which had become lugubriously black, +the big canvas only showed a glimpse of pallidity, a last vestige of the +waning daylight. The nude figure, similar to an agonising vision, seemed +to be floating about, without definite shape, the legs having already +vanished, one arm being already submerged, and the only part at all +distinct being the trunk, which shone like a silvery moon. + +After a protracted pause, Sandoz inquired: + +'Shall I go with you when you take your picture?' + +Getting no answer from Claude, he fancied he could hear him crying. Was +it with the same infinite sadness, the despair by which he himself +had been stirred just now? He waited for a moment, then repeated his +question, and at last the painter, after choking down a sob, stammered: + +'Thanks, the picture will remain here; I sha'n't send it.' + +'What? Why, you had made up your mind?' + +'Yes, yes, I had made up my mind; but I had not seen it as I saw it +just now in the waning daylight. I have failed with it, failed with it +again--it struck my eyes like a blow, it went to my very heart.' + +His tears now flowed slow and scalding in the gloom that hid him from +sight. He had been restraining himself, and now the silent anguish which +had consumed him burst forth despite all his efforts. + +'My poor friend,' said Sandoz, quite upset; 'it is hard to tell you so, +but all the same you are right, perhaps, in delaying matters to finish +certain parts rather more. Still I am angry with myself, for I shall +imagine that it was I who discouraged you by my everlasting stupid +discontent with things.' + +Claude simply answered: + +'You! what an idea! I was not even listening to you. No; I was looking, +and I saw everything go helter-skelter in that confounded canvas. The +light was dying away, and all at once, in the greyish dusk, the scales +suddenly dropped from my eyes. The background alone is pretty; the +nude woman is altogether too loud; what's more, she's out of the +perpendicular, and her legs are badly drawn. When I noticed that, ah! +it was enough to kill me there and then; I felt life departing from me. +Then the gloom kept rising and rising, bringing a whirling sensation, a +foundering of everything, the earth rolling into chaos, the end of the +world. And soon I only saw the trunk waning like a sickly moon. And +look, look! there now remains nothing of her, not a glimpse; she is +dead, quite black!' + +In fact, the picture had at last entirely disappeared. But the painter +had risen and could be heard swearing in the dense obscurity. + +'D--n it all, it doesn't matter, I'll set to work at it again--' + +Then Christine, who had also risen from her chair, against which he +stumbled, interrupted him, saying: 'Take care, I'll light the lamp.' + +She lighted it and came back looking very pale, casting a glance of +hatred and fear at the picture. It was not to go then? The abomination +was to begin once more! + +'I'll set to work at it again,' repeated Claude, 'and it shall kill me, +it shall kill my wife, my child, the whole lot; but, by heaven, it shall +be a masterpiece!' + +Christine sat down again; they approached Jacques, who had thrown the +clothes off once more with his feverish little hands. He was still +breathing heavily, lying quite inert, his head buried in the pillow like +a weight, with which the bed seemed to creak. When Sandoz was on +the point of going, he expressed his uneasiness. The mother appeared +stupefied; while the father was already returning to his picture, the +masterpiece which awaited creation, and the thought of which filled him +with such passionate illusions that he gave less heed to the painful +reality of the sufferings of his child, the true living flesh of his +flesh. + +On the following morning, Claude had just finished dressing, when he +heard Christine calling in a frightened voice. She also had just woke +with a start from the heavy sleep which had benumbed her while she sat +watching the sick child. + +'Claude! Claude! Oh, look! He is dead.' + +The painter rushed forward, with heavy eyes, stumbling, and apparently +failing to understand, for he repeated with an air of profound +amazement, 'What do you mean by saying he is dead?' + +For a moment they remained staring wildly at the bed. The poor little +fellow, with his disproportionate head--the head of the progeny of +genius, exaggerated as to verge upon cretinism--did not appear to have +stirred since the previous night; but no breath came from his mouth, +which had widened and become discoloured, and his glassy eyes were open. +His father laid his hands upon him and found him icy cold. + +'It is true, he is dead.' + +And their stupor was such that for yet another moment they remained with +their eyes dry, simply thunderstruck, as it were, by the abruptness of +that death which they considered incredible. + +Then, her knees bending under her, Christine dropped down in front of +the bed, bursting into violent sobs which shook her from head to foot, +and wringing her hands, whilst her forehead remained pressed against +the mattress. In that first moment of horror her despair was aggravated +above all by poignant remorse--the remorse of not having sufficiently +cared for the poor child. Former days started up before her in a rapid +vision, each bringing with it regretfulness for unkind words, deferred +caresses, rough treatment even. And now it was all over; she would never +be able to compensate the lad for the affection she had withheld from +him. He whom she thought so disobedient had obeyed but too well at last. +She had so often told him when at play to be still, and not to disturb +his father at his work, that he was quiet at last, and for ever. The +idea suffocated her; each sob drew from her a dull moan. + +Claude had begun walking up and down the studio, unable to remain still. +With his features convulsed, he shed a few big tears, which he brushed +away with the back of his hand. And whenever he passed in front of the +little corpse he could not help glancing at it. The glassy eyes, wide +open, seemed to exercise a spell over him. At first he resisted, but a +confused idea assumed shape within him, and would not be shaken off. He +yielded to it at last, took a small canvas, and began to paint a study +of the dead child. For the first few minutes his tears dimmed his +sight, wrapping everything in a mist; but he kept wiping them away, and +persevered with his work, even though his brush shook. Then the passion +for art dried his tears and steadied his hand, and in a little while it +was no longer his icy son that lay there, but merely a model, a subject, +the strange interest of which stirred him. That huge head, that waxy +flesh, those eyes which looked like holes staring into space--all +excited and thrilled him. He stepped back, seemed to take pleasure in +his work, and vaguely smiled at it. + +When Christine rose from her knees, she found him thus occupied. Then, +bursting into tears again, she merely said: + +'Ah! you can paint him now, he'll never stir again.' + +For five hours Claude kept at it, and on the second day, when Sandoz +came back with him from the cemetery, after the funeral, he shuddered +with pity and admiration at the sight of the small canvas. It was one of +the fine bits of former days, a masterpiece of limpidity and power, +to which was added a note of boundless melancholy, the end of +everything--all life ebbing away with the death of that child. + +But Sandoz, who had burst out into exclamations fall of praise, was +quite taken aback on hearing Claude say to him: + +'You are sure you like it? In that case, as the other machine isn't +ready, I'll send this to the Salon.' + + + + +X + +ONE morning, as Claude, who had taken 'The Dead Child' to the Palais de +l'Industrie the previous day, was roaming round about the Parc Monceau, +he suddenly came upon Fagerolles. + +'What!' said the latter, cordially, 'is it you, old fellow? What's +becoming of you? What are you doing? We see so little of each other +now.' + +Then, Claude having mentioned what he had sent to the Salon--that little +canvas which his mind was full of--Fagerolles added: + +'Ah! you've sent something; then I'll get it "hung" for you. You know +that I'm a candidate for the hanging committee this year.' + +Indeed, amid the tumult and everlasting discontent of the artists, after +attempts at reform, repeated a score of times and then abandoned, the +authorities had just invested the exhibitors with the privilege of +electing the members of the hanging committee; and this had quite upset +the world of painters and sculptors, a perfect electoral fever had +set in, with all sorts of ambitious cabals and intrigues--all the low +jobbery, indeed, by which politics are dishonoured. + +'I'm going to take you with me,' continued Fagerolles; you must come +and see how I'm settled in my little house, in which you haven't yet set +foot, in spite of all your promises. It's there, hard by, at the corner +of the Avenue de Villiers.' + +Claude, whose arm he had gaily taken, was obliged to follow him. He was +seized with a fit of cowardice; the idea that his old chum might get +his picture 'hung' for him filled him with mingled shame and desire. +On reaching the avenue, he stopped in front of the house to look at its +frontage, a bit of coquettish, _precioso_ architectural tracery--the +exact copy of a Renaissance house at Bourges, with lattice windows, a +staircase tower, and a roof decked with leaden ornaments. It looked +like the abode of a harlot; and Claude was struck with surprise when, +on turning round, he recognised Irma Becot's regal mansion just over +the way. Huge, substantial, almost severe of aspect, it had all the +importance of a palace compared to its neighbour, the dwelling of the +artist, who was obliged to limit himself to a fanciful nick-nack. + +'Ah! that Irma, eh?' said Fagerolles with just a shade of respect in his +tone. 'She has got a cathedral and no mistake! But come in.' + +The interior of Fagerolles' house was strangely and magnificently +luxurious. Old tapestry, old weapons, a heap of old furniture, Chinese +and Japanese curios were displayed even in the very hall. On the left +there was a dining-room, panelled with lacquer work and having its +ceiling draped with a design of a red dragon. Then there was a staircase +of carved wood above which banners drooped, whilst tropical plants rose +up like plumes. Overhead, the studio was a marvel, though rather small +and without a picture visible. The walls, indeed, were entirely covered +with Oriental hangings, while at one end rose up a huge chimney-piece +with chimerical monsters supporting the tablet, and at the other +extremity appeared a vast couch under a tent--the latter quite +a monument, with lances upholding the sumptuous drapery, above a +collection of carpets, furs and cushions heaped together almost on a +level with the flooring. + +Claude looked at it all, and there came to his lips a question which +he held back--Was all this paid for? Fagerolles, who had been decorated +with the Legion of Honour the previous year, now asked, it was said, +ten thousand francs for painting a mere portrait. Naudet, who, after +launching him, duly turned his success to profit in a methodical +fashion, never let one of his pictures go for less than twenty, thirty, +forty thousand francs. Orders would have fallen on the painter's +shoulders as thick as hail, if he had not affected the disdain, the +weariness of the man whose slightest sketches are fought for. And yet +all this display of luxury smacked of indebtedness, there was only so +much paid on account to the upholsterers; all the money--the money won +by lucky strokes as on 'Change--slipped through the artist's fingers, +and was spent without trace of it remaining. Moreover, Fagerolles, +still in the full flush of his sudden good fortune, did not calculate or +worry, being confident that he would always sell his works at higher +and higher prices, and feeling glorious at the high position he was +acquiring in contemporary art. + +Eventually, Claude espied a little canvas on an ebony easel, draped with +red plush. Excepting a rosewood tube case and box of crayons, forgotten +on an article of furniture, nothing reminding one of the artistic +profession could be seen lying about. + +'Very finely treated,' said Claude, wishing to be amiable, as he stood +in front of the little canvas. 'And is your picture for the Salon sent?' + +'Ah! yes, thank heavens! What a number of people I had here! A perfect +procession which kept me on my legs from morning till evening during a +week. I didn't want to exhibit it, as it lowers one to do so, and Naudet +also opposed it. But what would you have done? I was so begged and +prayed; all the young fellows want to set me on the committee, so that I +may defend them. Oh! my picture is simple enough--I call it "A +Picnic." There are a couple of gentlemen and three ladies under some +trees--guests at some chateau, who have brought a collation with them +and are eating it in a glade. You'll see, it's rather original.' + +He spoke in a hesitating manner, and when his eyes met those of Claude, +who was looking at him fixedly, he lost countenance altogether, and +joked about the little canvas on the easel. + +'That's a daub Naudet asked me for. Oh! I'm not ignorant of what I +lack--a little of what you have too much of, old man. You know that +I'm still your friend; why, I defended you only yesterday with some +painters.' + +He tapped Claude on the shoulders, for he had divined his old +master's secret contempt, and wished to win him back by his old-time +caresses--all the wheedling practices of a hussy. Very sincerely and +with a sort of anxious deference he again promised Claude that he would +do everything in his power to further the hanging of his picture, 'The +Dead Child.' + +However, some people arrived; more than fifteen persons came in and +went off in less than an hour--fathers bringing young pupils, exhibitors +anxious to say a good word on their own behalf, friends who wanted +to barter influence, even women who placed their talents under the +protection of their charms. And one should have seen the painter play +his part as a candidate, shaking hands most lavishly, saying to one +visitor: 'Your picture this year is so pretty, it pleases me so much!' +then feigning astonishment with another: 'What! you haven't had a medal +yet?' and repeating to all of them: 'Ah! If I belonged to the committee, +I'd make them walk straight.' He sent every one away delighted, closed +the door behind each visitor with an air of extreme amiability, through +which, however, there pierced the secret sneer of an ex-lounger on the +pavement. + +'You see, eh?' he said to Claude, at a moment when they happened to be +left alone. 'What a lot of time I lose with those idiots!' + +Then he approached the large window, and abruptly opened one of the +casements; and on one of the balconies of the house over the way a +woman clad in a lace dressing-gown could be distinguished waving her +handkerchief. Fagerolles on his side waved his hand three times in +succession. Then both windows were closed again. + +Claude had recognised Irma; and amid the silence which fell Fagerolles +quietly explained matters: + +'It's convenient, you see, one can correspond. We have a complete system +of telegraphy. She wants to speak to me, so I must go--' + +Since he and Irma had resided in the avenue, they met, it was said, +on their old footing. It was even asserted that he, so 'cute,' so +well-acquainted with Parisian humbug, let himself be fleeced by her, +bled at every moment of some good round sum, which she sent her maid +to ask for--now to pay a tradesman, now to satisfy a whim, often for +nothing at all, or rather for the sole pleasure of emptying his +pockets; and this partly explained his embarrassed circumstances, his +indebtedness, which ever increased despite the continuous rise in the +quotations of his canvases. + +Claude had put on his hat again. Fagerolles was shuffling about +impatiently, looking nervously at the house over the way. + +'I don't send you off, but you see she's waiting for me,' he said, +'Well, it's understood, your affair's settled--that is, unless I'm +not elected. Come to the Palais de l'Industrie on the evening the +voting-papers are counted. Oh! there will be a regular crush, quite a +rumpus! Still, you will always learn if you can rely on me.' + +At first, Claude inwardly swore that he would not trouble about it. +Fagerolles' protection weighed heavily upon him; and yet, in his heart +of hearts, he really had but one fear, that the shifty fellow would not +keep his promise, but would ultimately be taken with a fit of cowardice +at the idea of protecting a defeated man. However, on the day of the +vote Claude could not keep still, but went and roamed about the Champs +Elysees under the pretence of taking a long walk. He might as well go +there as elsewhere, for while waiting for the Salon he had altogether +ceased work. He himself could not vote, as to do so it was necessary to +have been 'hung' on at least one occasion. However, he repeatedly passed +before the Palais de l'Industrie,* the foot pavement in front of which +interested him with its bustling aspect, its procession of artist +electors, whom men in dirty blouses caught hold of, shouting to them +the titles of their lists of candidates--lists some thirty in number +emanating from every possible coterie, and representing every possible +opinion. There was the list of the studios of the School of Arts, the +liberal list, the list of the uncompromising radical painters, the +conciliatory list, the young painters' list, even the ladies' list, +and so forth. The scene suggested all the turmoil at the door of an +electoral polling booth on the morrow of a riot. + + * This palace, for many years the home of the 'Salon,' was built + for the first Paris International Exhibition, that of 1855, + and demolished in connection with that of 1900.--ED. + +At four o'clock in the afternoon, when the voting was over, Claude could +not resist a fit of curiosity to go and have a look. The staircase was +now free, and whoever chose could enter. Upstairs, he came upon the huge +gallery, overlooking the Champs Elysees, which was set aside for the +hanging committee. A table, forty feet long, filled the centre of this +gallery, and entire trees were burning in the monumental fireplace at +one end of it. Some four or five hundred electors, who had remained to +see the votes counted, stood there, mingled with friends and inquisitive +strangers, talking, laughing, and setting quite a storm loose under the +lofty ceiling. Around the table, parties of people who had volunteered +to count the votes were already settled and at work; there were some +fifteen of these parties in all, each comprising a chairman and two +scrutineers. Three or four more remained to be organised, and nobody +else offered assistance; in fact, every one turned away in fear of the +crushing labour which would rivet the more zealous people to the spot +far into the night. + +It precisely happened that Fagerolles, who had been in the thick of +it since the morning, was gesticulating and shouting, trying to make +himself heard above the hubbub. + +'Come, gentlemen, we need one more man here! Come, some willing person, +over here!' + +And at that moment, perceiving Claude, he darted forward and forcibly +dragged him off. + +'Ah! as for you, you will just oblige me by sitting down there and +helping us! It's for the good cause, dash it all!' + +Claude abruptly found himself chairman of one of the counting +committees, and began to perform his functions with all the gravity of +a timid man, secretly experiencing a good deal of emotion, as if the +hanging of his canvas would depend upon the conscientiousness he showed +in his work. He called out the names inscribed upon the voting-papers, +which were passed to him in little packets, while the scrutineers, on +sheets of paper prepared for the purpose, noted each successive vote +that each candidate obtained. And all this went on amidst a most +frightful uproar, twenty and thirty names being called out at the same +time by different voices, above the continuous rumbling of the crowd. +As Claude could never do anything without throwing passion into it, he +waxed excited, became despondent whenever a voting-paper did not bear +Fagerolles' name, and grew happy as soon as he had to shout out that +name once more. Moreover, he often tasted that delight, for his friend +had made himself popular, showing himself everywhere, frequenting the +cafes where influential groups of artists assembled, even venturing +to expound his opinions there, and binding himself to young artists, +without neglecting to bow very low to the members of the Institute. Thus +there was a general current of sympathy in his favour. Fagerolles was, +so to say, everybody's spoilt child. + +Night came on at about six o'clock that rainy March day. The assistants +brought lamps; and some mistrustful artists, who, gloomy and silent, +were watching the counting askance, drew nearer. Others began to play +jokes, imitated the cries of animals, or attempted a _tyrolienne_. But +it was only at eight o'clock, when a collation of cold meat and wine +was served, that the gaiety reached its climax. The bottles were hastily +emptied, the men stuffed themselves with whatever they were lucky enough +to get hold of, and there was a free-and-easy kind of Kermesse in that +huge hall which the logs in the fireplace lit up with a forge-like glow. +Then they all smoked, and the smoke set a kind of mist around the +yellow light from the lamps, whilst on the floor trailed all the spoilt +voting-papers thrown away during the polling; indeed, quite a layer of +dirty paper, together with corks, breadcrumbs, and a few broken plates. +The heels of those seated at the table disappeared amidst this litter. +Reserve was cast aside; a little sculptor with a pale face climbed upon +a chair to harangue the assembly, and a painter, with stiff moustaches +under a hook nose, bestrode a chair and galloped, bowing, round the +table, in mimicry of the Emperor. + +Little by little, however, a good many grew tired and went off. At +eleven o'clock there were not more than a couple of hundred persons +present. Past midnight, however, some more people arrived, loungers in +dress-coats and white ties, who had come from some theatre or soiree +and wished to learn the result of the voting before all Paris knew it. +Reporters also appeared; and they could be seen darting one by one out +of the room as soon as a partial result was communicated to them. + +Claude, hoarse by now, still went on calling names. The smoke and the +heat became intolerable, a smell like that of a cow-house rose from +the muddy litter on the floor. One o'clock, two o'clock in the morning +struck, and he was still unfolding voting-papers, the conscientiousness +which he displayed delaying him to such a point that the other parties +had long since finished their work, while his was still a maze of +figures. At last all the additions were centralised and the definite +result proclaimed. Fagerolles was elected, coming fifteenth among forty, +or five places ahead of Bongrand, who had been a candidate on the same +list, but whose name must have been frequently struck out. And daylight +was breaking when Claude reached home in the Rue Tourlaque, feeling both +worn out and delighted. + +Then, for a couple of weeks he lived in a state of anxiety. A dozen +times he had the idea of going to Fagerolles' for information, but a +feeling of shame restrained him. Besides, as the committee proceeded +in alphabetical order, nothing perhaps was yet decided. However, one +evening, on the Boulevard de Clichy, he felt his heart thump as he saw +two broad shoulders, with whose lolloping motion he was well acquainted, +coming towards him. + +They were the shoulders of Bongrand, who seemed embarrassed. He was the +first to speak, and said: + +'You know matters aren't progressing very well over yonder with those +brutes. But everything isn't lost. Fagerolles and I are on the watch. +Still, you must rely on Fagerolles; as for me, my dear fellow, I am +awfully afraid of compromising your chances.' + +To tell the truth, there was constant hostility between Bongrand and the +President of the hanging committee, Mazel, a famous master of the School +of Arts, and the last rampart of the elegant, buttery, conventional +style of art. Although they called each other 'dear colleague' and made +a great show of shaking hands, their hostility had burst forth the very +first day; one of them could never ask for the admission of a picture +without the other one voting for its rejection. Fagerolles, who had been +elected secretary, had, on the contrary, made himself Mazel's amuser, +his vice, and Mazel forgave his old pupil's defection, so skilfully +did the renegade flatter him. Moreover, the young master, a regular +turncoat, as his comrades said, showed even more severity than the +members of the Institute towards audacious beginners. He only became +lenient and sociable when he wanted to get a picture accepted, on those +occasions showing himself extremely fertile in devices, intriguing and +carrying the vote with all the supple deftness of a conjurer. + +The committee work was really a hard task, and even Bongrand's strong +legs grew tired of it. It was cut out every day by the assistants. +An endless row of large pictures rested on the ground against the +handrails, all along the first-floor galleries, right round the Palace; +and every afternoon, at one o'clock precisely, the forty committee-men, +headed by their president, who was equipped with a bell, started off +on a promenade, until all the letters in the alphabet, serving as +exhibitors' initials, had been exhausted. They gave their decisions +standing, and the work was got through as fast as possible, the worst +canvases being rejected without going to the vote. At times, however, +discussions delayed the party, there came a ten minutes' quarrel, +and some picture which caused a dispute was reserved for the evening +revision. Two men, holding a cord some thirty feet long, kept it +stretched at a distance of four paces from the line of pictures, so as +to restrain the committee-men, who kept on pushing each other in the +heat of their dispute, and whose stomachs, despite everything, were +ever pressing against the cord. Behind the committee marched seventy +museum-keepers in white blouses, executing evolutions under the +orders of a brigadier. At each decision communicated to them by the +secretaries, they sorted the pictures, the accepted paintings being +separated from the rejected ones, which were carried off like corpses +after a battle. And the round lasted during two long hours, without a +moment's respite, and without there being a single chair to sit upon. +The committee-men had to remain on their legs, tramping on in a tired +way amid icy draughts, which compelled even the least chilly among them +to bury their noses in the depths of their fur-lined overcoats. + +Then the three o'clock snack proved very welcome: there was half an +hour's rest at a buffet, where claret, chocolate, and sandwiches could +be obtained. It was there that the market of mutual concessions was +held, that the bartering of influence and votes was carried on. In order +that nobody might be forgotten amid the hailstorm of applications which +fell upon the committee-men, most of them carried little note-books, +which they consulted; and they promised to vote for certain exhibitors +whom a colleague protected on condition that this colleague voted for +the ones in whom they were interested. Others, however, taking no part +in these intrigues, either from austerity or indifference, finished the +interval in smoking a cigarette and gazing vacantly about them. + +Then the work began again, but more agreeably, in a gallery where +there were chairs, and even tables with pens and paper and ink. All the +pictures whose height did not reach four feet ten inches were judged +there--'passed on the easel,' as the expression goes--being ranged, ten +or twelve together, on a kind of trestle covered with green baize. A +good many committee-men then grew absent-minded, several wrote their +letters, and the president had to get angry to obtain presentable +majorities. Sometimes a gust of passion swept by; they all jostled each +other; the votes, usually given by raising the hand, took place amid +such feverish excitement that hats and walking-sticks were waved in the +air above the tumultuous surging of heads. + +And it was there, 'on the easel,' that 'The Dead Child' at last made its +appearance. During the previous week Fagerolles, whose pocket-book was +full of memoranda, had resorted to all kinds of complicated bartering +in order to obtain votes in Claude's favour; but it was a difficult +business, it did not tally with his other engagements, and he only met +with refusals as soon as he mentioned his friend's name. He complained, +moreover, that he could get no help from Bongrand, who did not carry a +pocket-book, and who was so clumsy, too, that he spoilt the best causes +by his outbursts of unseasonable frankness. A score of times already +would Fagerolles have forsaken Claude, had it not been for his obstinate +desire to try his power over his colleagues by asking for the admittance +of a work by Lantier, which was a reputed impossibility. However, people +should see if he wasn't yet strong enough to force the committee into +compliance with his wishes. Moreover, perhaps from the depths of his +conscience there came a cry for justice, an unconfessed feeling of +respect for the man whose ideas he had stolen. + +As it happened, Mazel was in a frightfully bad humour that day. At the +outset of the sitting the brigadier had come to him, saying: 'There +was a mistake yesterday, Monsieur Mazel. A _hors-concours_* picture was +rejected. You know, No. 2520, a nude woman under a tree.' + + * A painting by one of those artists who, from the fact that they + had obtained medals at previous Salons, had the right to go on + exhibiting at long as they lived, the committee being debarred + from rejecting their work however bad it might be.--ED. + +In fact, on the day before, this painting had been consigned to the +grave amid unanimous contempt, nobody having noticed that it was the +work of an old classical painter highly respected by the Institute; and +the brigadier's fright, and the amusing circumstance of a picture having +thus been condemned by mistake, enlivened the younger members of the +committee and made them sneer in a provoking manner. + +Mazel, who detested such mishaps, which he rightly felt were disastrous +for the authority of the School of Arts, made an angry gesture, and +drily said: + +'Well, fish it out again, and put it among the admitted pictures. It +isn't so surprising, there was an intolerable noise yesterday. How can +one judge anything like that at a gallop, when one can't even obtain +silence?' + +He rang his bell furiously, and added: + +'Come, gentlemen, everything is ready--a little good will, if you +please.' + +Unluckily, a fresh misfortune occurred as soon as the first paintings +were set on the trestle. One canvas among others attracted Mazel's +attention, so bad did he consider it, so sharp in tone as to make one's +very teeth grate. As his sight was failing him, he leant forward to look +at the signature, muttering the while: 'Who's the pig--' + +But he quickly drew himself up, quite shocked at having read the name +of one of his friends, an artist who, like himself, was a rampart of +healthy principles. Hoping that he had not been overheard, he thereupon +called out: + +'Superb! No. 1, eh, gentlemen?' + +No. 1 was granted--the formula of admission which entitled the picture +to be hung on the line. Only, some of the committee-men laughed and +nudged each other, at which Mazel felt very hurt, and became very +fierce. + +Moreover, they all made such blunders at times. A great many of them +eased their feelings at the first glance, and then recalled their words +as soon as they had deciphered the signature. This ended by making them +cautious, and so with furtive glances they made sure of the artist's +name before expressing any opinion. Besides, whenever a colleague's +work, some fellow committee-man's suspicious-looking canvas, was brought +forward, they took the precaution to warn each other by making signs +behind the painter's back, as if to say, 'Take care, no mistake, mind; +it's his picture.' + +Fagerolles, despite his colleagues' fidgety nerves, carried the day on +a first occasion. It was a question of admitting a frightful portrait +painted by one of his pupils, whose family, a very wealthy one, received +him on a footing of intimacy. To achieve this he had taken Mazel on +one side in order to try to move him with a sentimental story about +an unfortunate father with three daughters, who were starving. But the +president let himself be entreated for a long while, saying that a man +shouldn't waste his time painting when he was dying for lack of food, +and that he ought to have a little more consideration for his three +daughters! However, in the result, Mazel raised his hand, alone, with +Fagerolles. Some of the others then angrily protested, and even +two members of the Institute seemed disgusted, whereupon Fagerolles +whispered to them in a low key: + +'It's for Mazel! He begged me to vote. The painter's a relative of his, +I think; at all events, he greatly wants the picture to be accepted.' + +At this the two academicians promptly raised their hands, and a large +majority declared itself in favour of the portrait. + +But all at once laughter, witticisms, and indignant cries rang out: 'The +Dead Child' had just been placed on the trestle. Were they to have the +Morgue sent to them now? said some. And while the old men drew back +in alarm, the younger ones scoffed at the child's big head, which was +plainly that of a monkey who had died from trying to swallow a gourd. + +Fagerolles at once understood that the game was lost. At first he +tried to spirit the vote away by a joke, in accordance with his skilful +tactics: + +'Come, gentlemen, an old combatant--' + +But furious exclamations cut him short. Oh, no! not that one. They +knew him, that old combatant! A madman who had been persevering in his +obstinacy for fifteen years past--a proud, stuck-up fellow who posed for +being a genius, and who had talked about demolishing the Salon, without +even sending a picture that it was possible to accept. All their hatred +of independent originality, of the competition of the 'shop over the +way,' which frightened them, of that invincible power which triumphs +even when it is seemingly defeated, resounded in their voices. No, no; +away with it! + +Then Fagerolles himself made the mistake of getting irritated, yielding +to the anger he felt at finding what little real influence he possessed. + +'You are unjust; at least, be impartial,' he said. + +Thereupon the tumult reached a climax. He was surrounded and jostled, +arms waved about him in threatening fashion, and angry words were shot +out at him like bullets. + +'You dishonour the committee, monsieur!' + +'If you defend that thing, it's simply to get your name in the +newspapers!' + +'You aren't competent to speak on the subject!' + +Then Fagerolles, beside himself, losing even the pliancy of his +bantering disposition, retorted: + +'I'm as competent as you are.' + +'Shut up!' resumed a comrade, a very irascible little painter with a +fair complexion. 'You surely don't want to make us swallow such a turnip +as that?' + +Yes, yes, a turnip! They all repeated the word in tones of +conviction--that word which they usually cast at the very worst smudges, +at the pale, cold, glairy painting of daubers. + +'All right,' at last said Fagerolles, clenching his teeth. 'I demand the +vote.' + +Since the discussion had become envenomed, Mazel had been ringing his +bell, extremely flushed at finding his authority ignored. + +'Gentlemen--come, gentlemen; it's extraordinary that one can't settle +matters without shouting--I beg of you, gentlemen--' + +At last he obtained a little silence. In reality, he was not a +bad-hearted man. Why should not they admit that little picture, although +he himself thought it execrable? They admitted so many others! + +'Come, gentlemen, the vote is asked for.' + +He himself was, perhaps, about to raise his hand, when Bongrand, who +had hitherto remained silent, with the blood rising to his cheeks in the +anger he was trying to restrain, abruptly went off like a pop-gun, +most unseasonably giving vent to the protestations of his rebellious +conscience. + +'But, curse it all! there are not four among us capable of turning out +such a piece of work!' + +Some grunts sped around; but the sledge-hammer blow had come upon them +with such force that nobody answered. + +'Gentlemen, the vote is asked for,' curtly repeated Mazel, who had +turned pale. + +His tone sufficed to explain everything: it expressed all his latent +hatred of Bongrand, the fierce rivalry that lay hidden under their +seemingly good-natured handshakes. + +Things rarely came to such a pass as this. They almost always arranged +matters. But in the depths of their ravaged pride there were wounds +which always bled; they secretly waged duels which tortured them with +agony, despite the smile upon their lips. + +Bongrand and Fagerolles alone raised their hands, and 'The Dead Child,' +being rejected, could only perhaps be rescued at the general revision. + +This general revision was the terrible part of the task. Although, after +twenty days' continuous toil, the committee allowed itself forty-eight +hours' rest, so as to enable the keepers to prepare the final work, +it could not help shuddering on the afternoon when it came upon the +assemblage of three thousand rejected paintings, from among which it +had to rescue as many canvases as were necessary for the then regulation +total of two thousand five hundred admitted works to be complete. Ah! +those three thousand pictures, placed one after the other alongside the +walls of all the galleries, including the outer one, deposited also even +on the floors, and lying there like stagnant pools, between which the +attendants devised little paths--they were like an inundation, a deluge, +which rose up, streamed over the whole Palais de l'Industrie, and +submerged it beneath the murky flow of all the mediocrity and madness +to be found in the river of Art. And but a single afternoon sitting was +held, from one till seven o'clock--six hours of wild galloping through +a maze! At first they held out against fatigue and strove to keep their +vision clear; but the forced march soon made their legs give way, their +eyesight was irritated by all the dancing colours, and yet it was still +necessary to march on, to look and judge, even until they broke down +with fatigue. By four o'clock the march was like a rout--the scattering +of a defeated army. Some committee-men, out of breath, dragged +themselves along very far in the rear; others, isolated, lost amid the +frames, followed the narrow paths, renouncing all prospect of emerging +from them, turning round and round without any hope of ever getting to +the end! How could they be just and impartial, good heavens? What +could they select from amid that heap of horrors? Without clearly +distinguishing a landscape from a portrait, they made up the number +they required in pot-luck fashion. Two hundred, two hundred and +forty--another eight, they still wanted eight more. That one? No, that +other. As you like! Seven, eight, it was over! At last they had got to +the end, and they hobbled away, saved--free! + +In one gallery a fresh scene drew them once more round 'The Dead Child,' +lying on the floor among other waifs. But this time they jested. A joker +pretended to stumble and set his foot in the middle of the canvas, while +others trotted along the surrounding little paths, as if trying to find +out which was the picture's top and which its bottom, and declaring that +it looked much better topsy-turvy. + +Fagerolles himself also began to joke. + +'Come, a little courage, gentlemen; go the round, examine it, you'll be +repaid for your trouble. Really now, gentlemen, be kind, rescue it; pray +do that good action!' + +They all grew merry in listening to him, but with cruel laughter they +refused more harshly than ever. 'No, no, never!' + +'Will you take it for your "charity"?' cried a comrade. + +This was a custom; the committee-men had a right to a 'charity'; each +of them could select a canvas among the lot, no matter how execrable it +might be, and it was thereupon admitted without examination. As a rule, +the bounty of this admission was bestowed upon poor artists. The forty +paintings thus rescued at the eleventh hour, were those of the beggars +at the door--those whom one allowed to glide with empty stomachs to the +far end of the table. + +'For my "charity,"' repeated Fagerolles, feeling very much embarrassed; +'the fact is, I meant to take another painting for my "charity." Yes, +some flowers by a lady--' + +He was interrupted by loud jeers. Was she pretty? In front of the +women's paintings the gentlemen were particularly prone to sneer, never +displaying the least gallantry. And Fagerolles remained perplexed, for +the 'lady' in question was a person whom Irma took an interest in. He +trembled at the idea of the terrible scene which would ensue should he +fail to keep his promise. An expedient occurred to him. + +'Well, and you, Bongrand? You might very well take this funny little +dead child for your charity.' + +Bongrand, wounded to the heart, indignant at all the bartering, waved +his long arms: + +'What! _I_? _I_ insult a real painter in that fashion? Let him be +prouder, dash it, and never send anything to the Salon!' + +Then, as the others still went on sneering, Fagerolles, desirous that +victory should remain to him, made up his mind, with a proud air, like +a man who is conscious of his strength and does not fear being +compromised. + +'All right, I'll take it for my "charity,"' he said. + +The others shouted bravo, and gave him a bantering ovation, with a +series of profound bows and numerous handshakes. All honour to the brave +fellow who had the courage of his opinions! And an attendant carried +away in his arms the poor derided, jolted, soiled canvas; and thus +it was that a picture by the painter of 'In the Open Air' was at last +accepted by the hanging committee of the Salon. + +On the very next morning a note from Fagerolles apprised Claude, in +a couple of lines, that he had succeeded in getting 'The Dead Child' +admitted, but that it had not been managed without trouble. Claude, +despite the gladness of the tidings, felt a pang at his heart; the note +was so brief, and was written in such a protecting, pitying style, that +all the humiliating features of the business were apparent to him. For +a moment he felt sorry over this victory, so much so that he would have +liked to take his work back and hide it. Then his delicacy of feeling, +his artistic pride again gave way, so much did protracted waiting for +success make his wretched heart bleed. Ah! to be seen, to make his +way despite everything! He had reached the point when conscience +capitulates; he once more began to long for the opening of the Salon +with all the feverish impatience of a beginner, again living in a state +of illusion which showed him a crowd, a press of moving heads acclaiming +his canvas. + +By degrees Paris had made it the fashion to patronise 'varnishing +day'--that day formerly set aside for painters only to come and finish +the toilets of their pictures. Now, however, it was like a feast of +early fruit, one of those solemnities which set the city agog and +attract a tremendous crowd. For a week past the newspaper press, the +streets, and the public had belonged to the artists. They held Paris in +their grasp; the only matters talked of were themselves, their exhibits, +their sayings or doings--in fact, everything connected with them. It +was one of those infatuations which at last draw bands of country +folk, common soldiers, and even nursemaids to the galleries on days +of gratuitous admission, in such wise that fifty thousand visitors are +recorded on some fine Sundays, an entire army, all the rear battalions +of the ignorant lower orders, following society, and marching, with +dilated eyes, through that vast picture shop. + +That famous 'varnishing day' at first frightened Claude, who was +intimidated by the thought of all the fine people whom the newspapers +spoke about, and he resolved to wait for the more democratic day of +the real inauguration. He even refused to accompany Sandoz. But he was +consumed by such a fever, that after all he started off abruptly at +eight o'clock in the morning, barely taking time to eat a bit of bread +and cheese beforehand. Christine, who lacked the courage to go with him, +kissed him again and again, feeling anxious and moved. + +'Mind, my dear, don't worry, whatever happens,' said she. + +Claude felt somewhat oppressed as he entered the Gallery of Honour. His +heart was beating fast from the swiftness with which he had climbed the +grand staircase. There was a limpid May sky out of doors, and through +the linen awnings, stretched under the glazed roof, there filtered a +bright white light, while the open doorways, communicating with the +garden gallery, admitted moist gusts of quivering freshness. For a +moment Claude drew breath in that atmosphere which was already tainted +with a vague smell of varnish and the odour of the musk with which the +women present perfumed themselves. At a glance he took stock of the +pictures on the walls: a huge massacre scene in front of him, streaming +with carmine; a colossal, pallid, religious picture on his left; +a Government order, the commonplace delineation of some official +festivity, on the right; and then a variety of portraits, landscapes, +and indoor scenes, all glaring sharply amid the fresh gilding of their +frames. However, the fear which he retained of the folks usually present +at this solemnity led him to direct his glances upon the gradually +increasing crowd. On a circular settee in the centre of the gallery, +from which sprang a sheaf of tropical foliage, there sat three ladies, +three monstrously fat creatures, attired in an abominable fashion, who +had settled there to indulge in a whole day's backbiting. Behind him +he heard somebody crushing harsh syllables in a hoarse voice. It was an +Englishman in a check-pattern jacket, explaining the massacre scene to +a yellow woman buried in the depths of a travelling ulster. There were +some vacant spaces; groups of people formed, scattered, and formed again +further on; all heads were raised; the men carried walking-sticks and +had overcoats on their arms, the women strolled about slowly, showing +distant profiles as they stopped before the pictures; and Claude's +artistic eye was caught by the flowers in their hats and bonnets, which +seemed very loud in tint amid the dark waves of the men's silk hats. +He perceived three priests, two common soldiers who had found their +way there no one knew whence, some endless processions of gentlemen +decorated with the ribbon of the Legion of Honour, and troops of girls +and their mothers, who constantly impeded the circulation. However, a +good many of these people knew each other; there were smiles and bows +from afar, at times a rapid handshake in passing. And conversation was +carried on in a discreet tone of voice, above which rose the continuous +tramping of feet. + +Then Claude began to look for his own picture. He tried to find his way +by means of the initial letters inscribed above the entrances of the +galleries, but made a mistake, and went through those on the left hand. +There was a succession of open entrances, a perspective of old tapestry +door-hangings, with glimpses of the distant pictures. He went as far +as the great western gallery, and came back by the parallel suite of +smaller galleries without finding that allotted to the letter L. And +when he reached the Gallery of Honour again, the crowd had greatly +increased. In fact, it was now scarcely possible for one to move about +there. Being unable to advance, he looked around, and recognised a +number of painters, that nation of painters which was at home there +that day, and was therefore doing the honours of its abode. Claude +particularly remarked an old friend of the Boutin Studio--a young fellow +consumed with the desire to advertise himself, who had been working for +a medal, and who was now pouncing upon all the visitors possessed of any +influence and forcibly taking them to see his pictures. Then there was a +celebrated and wealthy painter who received his visitors in front of his +work with a smile of triumph on his lips, showing himself compromisingly +gallant with the ladies, who formed quite a court around him. And there +were all the others: the rivals who execrated one another, although they +shouted words of praise in full voices; the savage fellows who covertly +watched their comrades' success from the corner of a doorway; the timid +ones whom one could not for an empire induce to pass through the +gallery where their pictures were hung; the jokers who hid the bitter +mortification of their defeat under an amusing witticism; the sincere +ones who were absorbed in contemplation, trying to understand the +various works, and already in fancy distributing the medals. And +the painters' families were also there. One charming young woman was +accompanied by a coquettishly bedecked child; a sour-looking, skinny +matron of middle-class birth was flanked by two ugly urchins in black; +a fat mother had foundered on a bench amid quite a tribe of dirty brats; +and a lady of mature charms, still very good-looking, stood beside her +grown-up daughter, quietly watching a hussy pass--this hussy being the +father's mistress. And then there were also the models--women who pulled +one another by the sleeve, who showed one another their own forms in the +various pictorial nudities, talking very loudly the while and dressed +without taste, spoiling their superb figures by such wretched gowns +that they seemed to be hump-backed beside the well-dressed dolls--those +Parisiennes who owed their figures entirely to their dressmakers. + +When Claude got free of the crowd, he enfiladed the line of doorways +on the right hand. His letter was on that side; but he searched the +galleries marked with an L without finding anything. Perhaps his canvas +had gone astray and served to fill up a vacancy elsewhere. So when he +had reached the large eastern gallery, he set off along a number of +other little ones, a secluded suite visited by very few people, where +the pictures seemed to frown with boredom. And there again he found +nothing. Bewildered, distracted, he roamed about, went on to the garden +gallery, searching among the superabundant exhibits which overflowed +there, pallid and shivering in the crude light; and eventually, after +other distant excursions, he tumbled into the Gallery of Honour for the +third time. + +There was now quite a crush there. All those who in any way create a +stir in Paris were assembled together--the celebrities, the wealthy, the +adored, talent, money and grace, the masters of romance, of the drama +and of journalism, clubmen, racing men and speculators, women of every +category, hussies, actresses and society belles. And Claude, angered by +his vain search, grew amazed at the vulgarity of the faces thus massed +together, at the incongruity of the toilets--but a few of which were +elegant, while so many were common looking--at the lack of majesty which +that vaunted 'society' displayed, to such a point, indeed, that the fear +which had made him tremble was changed into contempt. Were these the +people, then, who were going to jeer at his picture, provided it were +found again? Two little reporters with fair complexions were completing +a list of persons whose names they intended to mention. A critic +pretended to take some notes on the margin of his catalogue; another +was holding forth in professor's style in the centre of a party of +beginners; a third, all by himself, with his hands behind his back, +seemed rooted to one spot, crushing each work beneath his august +impassibility. And what especially struck Claude was the jostling +flock-like behaviour of the people, their banded curiosity in which +there was nothing youthful or passionate, the bitterness of their +voices, the weariness to be read on their faces, their general +appearance of suffering. Envy was already at work; there was the +gentleman who makes himself witty with the ladies; the one who, without +a word, looks, gives a terrible shrug of the shoulders, and then goes +off; and there were the two who remain for a quarter of an hour leaning +over the handrail, with their noses close to a little canvas, whispering +very low and exchanging the knowing glances of conspirators. + +But Fagerolles had just appeared, and amid the continuous ebb and flow +of the groups there seemed to be no one left but him. With his hand +outstretched, he seemed to show himself everywhere at the same time, +lavishly exerting himself to play the double part of a young 'master' +and an influential member of the hanging committee. Overwhelmed with +praise, thanks, and complaints, he had an answer ready for everybody +without losing aught of his affability. Since early morning he had been +resisting the assault of the petty painters of his set who found their +pictures badly hung. It was the usual scamper of the first moment, +everybody looking for everybody else, rushing to see one another and +bursting into recriminations--noisy, interminable fury. Either the +picture was too high up, or the light did not fall upon it properly, +or the paintings near it destroyed its effect; in fact, some talked of +unhooking their works and carrying them off. One tall thin fellow +was especially tenacious, going from gallery to gallery in pursuit of +Fagerolles, who vainly explained that he was innocent in the matter and +could do nothing. Numerical order was followed, the pictures for each +wall were deposited on the floor below and then hung up without anybody +being favoured. He carried his obligingness so far as to promise his +intervention when the galleries were rearranged after the medals had +been awarded; but even then he did not manage to calm the tall thin +fellow, who still continued pursuing him. + +Claude for a moment elbowed his way through the crowd to go and ask +Fagerolles where his picture had been hung. But on seeing his friend +so surrounded, pride restrained him. Was there not something absurd and +painful about this constant need of another's help? Besides, he suddenly +reflected that he must have skipped a whole suite of galleries on the +right-hand side; and, indeed, there were fresh leagues of painting +there. He ended by reaching a gallery where a stifling crowd was massed +in front of a large picture which filled the central panel of honour. +At first he could not see it, there was such a surging sea of shoulders, +such a thick wall of heads, such a rampart of hats. People rushed +forward with gaping admiration. At length, however, by dint of rising on +tiptoe, he perceived the marvel, and recognised the subject, by what had +been told him. + +It was Fagerolles' picture. And in that 'Picnic' he found his own +forgotten work, 'In the Open Air,' the same light key of colour, the +same artistic formula, but softened, trickishly rendered, spoilt by +skin-deep elegance, everything being 'arranged' with infinite skill to +satisfy the low ideal of the public. Fagerolles had not made the mistake +of stripping his three women; but, clad in the audacious toilets of +women of society, they showed no little of their persons. As for the two +gallant gentlemen in summer jackets beside them, they realised the ideal +of everything most _distingue_; while afar off a footman was pulling a +hamper off the box of a landau drawn up behind the trees. The whole +of it, the figures, the drapery, the bits of still life of the repast, +stood out gaily in full sunlight against the darkened foliage of the +background; and the supreme skill of the painter lay in his pretended +audacity, in a mendacious semblance of forcible treatment which just +sufficed to send the multitude into ecstasies. It was like a storm in a +cream-jug! + +Claude, being unable to approach, listened to the remarks around him. +At last there was a man who depicted real truth! He did not press +his points like those fools of the new school; he knew how to convey +everything without showing anything. Ah! the art of knowing where to +draw the line, the art of letting things be guessed, the respect due to +the public, the approval of good society! And withal such delicacy, such +charm and art! He did not unseasonably deliver himself of passionate +things of exuberant design; no, when he had taken three notes from +nature, he gave those three notes, nothing more. A newspaper man who +arrived went into raptures over the 'Picnic,' and coined the expression +'a very Parisian style of painting.' It was repeated, and people no +longer passed without declaring that the picture was 'very Parisian' +indeed. + +All those bent shoulders, all those admiring remarks rising from a sea +of spines, ended by exasperating Claude; and seized with a longing to +see the faces of the folk who created success, he manoeuvred in such a +way as to lean his back against the handrail hard by. From that point, +he had the public in front of him in the grey light filtering through +the linen awning which kept the centre of the gallery in shade; whilst +the brighter light, gliding from the edges of the blinds, illumined the +paintings on the walls with a white flow, in which the gilding of the +frames acquired a warm sunshiny tint. Claude at once recognised the +people who had formerly derided him--if these were not the same, they +were at least their relatives--serious, however, and enraptured, their +appearance greatly improved by their respectful attention. The evil +look, the weariness, which he had at first remarked on their faces, as +envious bile drew their skin together and dyed it yellow, disappeared +here while they enjoyed the treat of an amiable lie. Two fat ladies, +open-mouthed, were yawning with satisfaction. Some old gentlemen opened +their eyes wide with a knowing air. A husband explained the subject to +his young wife, who jogged her chin with a pretty motion of the neck. +There was every kind of marvelling, beatifical, astonished, profound, +gay, austere, amidst unconscious smiles and languid postures of the +head. The men threw back their black silk hats, the flowers in the +women's bonnets glided to the napes of their necks. And all the faces, +after remaining motionless for a moment, were then drawn aside and +replaced by others exactly like them. + +Then Claude, stupefied by that triumph, virtually forgot everything +else. The gallery was becoming too small, fresh bands of people +constantly accumulated inside it. There were no more vacant spaces, as +there had been early in the morning; no more cool whiffs rose from +the garden amid the ambient smell of varnish; the atmosphere was now +becoming hot and bitter with the perfumes scattered by the women's +dresses. Before long the predominant odour suggested that of a wet dog. +It must have been raining outside; one of those sudden spring showers +had no doubt fallen, for the last arrivals brought moisture with +them--their clothes hung about them heavily and seemed to steam as soon +as they encountered the heat of the gallery. And, indeed, patches of +darkness had for a moment been passing above the awning of the roof. +Claude, who raised his eyes, guessed that large clouds were galloping +onward lashed by the north wind, that driving rain was beating upon +the glass panes. Moire-like shadows darted along the walls, all +the paintings became dim, the spectators themselves were blended in +obscurity until the cloud was carried away, whereupon the painter +saw the heads again emerge from the twilight, ever agape with idiotic +rapture. + +But there was another cup of bitterness in reserve for Claude. On the +left-hand panel, facing Fagerolles', he perceived Bongrand's picture. +And in front of that painting there was no crush whatever; the visitors +walked by with an air of indifference. Yet it was Bongrand's supreme +effort, the thrust he had been trying to give for years, a last work +conceived in his obstinate craving to prove the virility of his decline. +The hatred he harboured against the 'Village Wedding,' that first +masterpiece which had weighed upon all his toilsome after-life, had +impelled him to select a contrasting but corresponding subject: the +'Village Funeral'--the funeral of a young girl, with relatives and +friends straggling among fields of rye and oats. Bongrand had wrestled +with himself, saying that people should see if he were done for, if the +experience of his sixty years were not worth all the lucky dash of his +youth; and now experience was defeated, the picture was destined to be +a mournful failure, like the silent fall of an old man, which does +not even stay passers-by in their onward course. There were still some +masterly bits, the choirboy holding the cross, the group of daughters +of the Virgin carrying the bier, whose white dresses and ruddy flesh +furnished a pretty contrast with the black Sunday toggery of the rustic +mourners, among all the green stuff; only the priest in his alb, the +girl carrying the Virgin's banner, the family following the body, were +drily handled; the whole picture, in fact, was displeasing in its very +science and the obstinate stiffness of its treatment. One found in it a +fatal, unconscious return to the troubled romanticism which had been the +starting-point of the painter's career. And the worst of the business +was that there was justification for the indifference with which the +public treated that art of another period, that cooked and somewhat dull +style of painting, which no longer stopped one on one's way, since great +blazes of light had come into vogue. + +It precisely happened that Bongrand entered the gallery with the +hesitating step of a timid beginner, and Claude felt a pang at his heart +as he saw him give a glance at his neglected picture and then another +at Fagerolles', which was bringing on a riot. At that moment the old +painter must have been acutely conscious of his fall. If he had so +far been devoured by the fear of slow decline, it was because he still +doubted; and now he obtained sudden certainty; he was surviving his +reputation, his talent was dead, he would never more give birth to +living, palpitating works. He became very pale, and was about to turn +and flee, when Chambouvard, the sculptor, entering the gallery by the +other door, followed by his customary train of disciples, called to him +without caring a fig for the people present: + +'Ah! you humbug, I catch you at it--admiring yourself!' + +He, Chambouvard, exhibited that year an execrable 'Reaping Woman,' one +of those stupidly spoilt figures which seemed like hoaxes on his part, +so unworthy they were of his powerful hands; but he was none the less +radiant, feeling certain that he had turned out yet another masterpiece, +and promenading his god-like infallibility through the crowd which he +did not hear laughing at him. + +Bongrand did not answer, but looked at him with eyes scorched by fever. + +'And my machine downstairs?' continued the sculptor. 'Have you seen +it? The little fellows of nowadays may try it on, but we are the only +masters--we, old France!' + +And thereupon he went off, followed by his court and bowing to the +astonished public. + +'The brute!' muttered Bongrand, suffocating with grief, as indignant as +at the outburst of some low-bred fellow beside a deathbed. + +He perceived Claude, and approached him. Was it not cowardly to flee +from this gallery? And he determined to show his courage, his lofty +soul, into which envy had never entered. + +'Our friend Fagerolles has a success and no mistake,' he said. 'I +should be a hypocrite if I went into ecstasies over his picture, which +I scarcely like; but he himself is really a very nice fellow indeed. +Besides, you know how he exerted himself on your behalf.' + +Claude was trying to find a word of admiration for the 'Village +Funeral.' + +'The little cemetery in the background is so pretty!' he said at last. +'Is it possible that the public--' + +But Bongrand interrupted him in a rough voice: + +'No compliments of condolence, my friend, eh? I see clear enough.' + +At this moment somebody nodded to them in a familiar way, and Claude +recognised Naudet--a Naudet who had grown and expanded, gilded by the +success of his colossal strokes of business. Ambition was turning his +head; he talked about sinking all the other picture dealers; he had +built himself a palace, in which he posed as the king of the market, +centralising masterpieces, and there opening large art shops of the +modern style. One heard a jingle of millions on the very threshold +of his hall; he held exhibitions there, even ran up other galleries +elsewhere; and each time that May came round, he awaited the visits +of the American amateurs whom he charged fifty thousand francs for a +picture which he himself had purchased for ten thousand. Moreover, he +lived in princely style, with a wife and children, a mistress, a country +estate in Picardy, and extensive shooting grounds. His first large +profits had come from the rise in value of works left by illustrious +artists, now defunct, whose talent had been denied while they lived, +such as Courbet, Millet, and Rousseau; and this had ended by making +him disdain any picture signed by a still struggling artist. However, +ominous rumours were already in circulation. As the number of well-known +pictures was limited, and the number of amateurs could barely be +increased, a time seemed to be coming when business would prove very +difficult. There was talk of a syndicate, of an understanding with +certain bankers to keep up the present high prices; the expedient of +simulated sales was resorted to at the Hotel Drouot--pictures being +bought in at a big figure by the dealer himself--and bankruptcy seemed +to be at the end of all that Stock Exchange jobbery, a perfect tumble +head-over-heels after all the excessive, mendacious _agiotage_. + +'Good-day, dear master,' said Naudet, who had drawn near. 'So you have +come, like everybody else, to see my Fagerolles, eh?' + +He no longer treated Bongrand in the wheedling, respectful manner of +yore. And he spoke of Fagerolles as of a painter belonging to him, of a +workman to whom he paid wages, and whom he often scolded. It was he who +had settled the young artist in the Avenue de Villiers, compelling him +to have a little mansion of his own, furnishing it as he would have +furnished a place for a hussy, running him into debt with supplies of +carpets and nick-nacks, so that he might afterwards hold him at his +mercy; and now he began to accuse him of lacking orderliness and +seriousness, of compromising himself like a feather-brain. Take that +picture, for instance, a serious painter would never have sent it to the +Salon; it made a stir, no doubt, and people even talked of its obtaining +the medal of honour; but nothing could have a worse effect on high +prices. When a man wanted to get hold of the Yankees, he ought to know +how to remain at home, like an idol in the depths of his tabernacle. + +'You may believe me or not, my dear fellow,' he said to Bongrand, 'but +I would have given twenty thousand francs out of my pocket to prevent +those stupid newspapers from making all this row about my Fagerolles +this year.' + +Bongrand, who, despite his sufferings, was listening bravely, smiled. + +'In point of fact,' he said, 'they are perhaps carrying indiscretion too +far. I read an article yesterday in which I learnt that Fagerolles ate +two boiled eggs every morning.' + +He laughed over the coarse puffery which, after a first article on the +'young master's' picture, as yet seen by nobody, had for a week past +kept all Paris occupied about him. The whole fraternity of reporters +had been campaigning, stripping Fagerolles to the skin, telling their +readers all about his father, the artistic zinc manufacturer, his +education, the house in which he resided, how he lived, even revealing +the colour of his socks, and mentioning a habit he had of pinching his +nose. And he was the passion of the hour, the 'young master' according +to the tastes of the day, one who had been lucky enough to miss the +Prix de Rome, and break off with the School of Arts, whose principles, +however, he retained. After all, the success of that style of painting +which aims merely at approximating reality, not at rendering it in all +its truth, was the fortune of a season which the wind brings and blows +away again, a mere whim on the part of the great lunatic city; the stir +it caused was like that occasioned by some accident, which upsets +the crowd in the morning and is forgotten by night amidst general +indifference. + +However, Naudet noticed the 'Village Funeral.' + +'Hullo! that's your picture, eh?' he said. 'So you wanted to give a +companion to the "Wedding"? Well, I should have tried to dissuade you! +Ah! the "Wedding"! the "Wedding"!' + +Bongrand still listened to him without ceasing to smile. Barely a twinge +of pain passed over his trembling lips. He forgot his masterpieces, +the certainty of leaving an immortal name, he was only cognisant of the +vogue which that youngster, unworthy of cleaning his palette, had so +suddenly and easily acquired, that vogue which seemed to be pushing him, +Bongrand, into oblivion--he who had struggled for ten years before he +had succeeded in making himself known. Ah! when the new generations +bury a man, if they only knew what tears of blood they make him shed in +death! + +However, as he had remained silent, he was seized with the fear that he +might have let his suffering be divined. Was he falling to the baseness +of envy? Anger with himself made him raise his head--a man should die +erect. And instead of giving the violent answer which was rising to his +lips, he said in a familiar way: + +'You are right, Naudet, I should have done better if I had gone to bed +on the day when the idea of that picture occurred to me.' + +'Ah! there he is; excuse me!' cried the dealer, making off. + +It was Fagerolles showing himself at the entrance of the gallery. He +discreetly stood there without entering, carrying his good fortune with +the ease of a man who knows what he is about. Besides, he was looking +for somebody; he made a sign to a young man, and gave him an answer, +a favourable one, no doubt, for the other brimmed over with gratitude. +Then two other persons sprang forward to congratulate him; a woman +detained him, showing him, with a martyr's gesture, a bit of still life +hung in a dark corner. And finally he disappeared, after casting but one +glance at the people in raptures before his picture. + +Claude, who had looked and listened, was overwhelmed with sadness. +The crush was still increasing, he now had nought before him but faces +gaping and sweating in the heat, which had become intolerable. Above the +nearer shoulders rose others, and so on and so on as far as the door, +whence those who could see nothing pointed out the painting to each +other with the tips of their umbrellas, from which dripped the water +left by the showers outside. And Bongrand remained there out of pride, +erect in defeat, firmly planted on his legs, those of an old combatant, +and gazing with limpid eyes upon ungrateful Paris. He wished to finish +like a brave man, whose kindness of heart is boundless. Claude, who +spoke to him without receiving any answer, saw very well that there was +nothing behind that calm, gay face; the mind was absent, it had flown +away in mourning, bleeding with frightful torture; and thereupon, full +of alarm and respect, he did not insist, but went off. And Bongrand, +with his vacant eyes, did not even notice his departure. + +A new idea had just impelled Claude onward through the crowd. He was +lost in wonderment at not having been able to discover his picture. But +nothing could be more simple. Was there not some gallery where people +grinned, some corner full of noise and banter, some gathering of jesting +spectators, insulting a picture? That picture would assuredly be his. He +could still hear the laughter of the bygone Salon of the Rejected. And +now at the door of each gallery he listened to ascertain if it were +there that he was being hissed. + +However, as he found himself once more in the eastern gallery, that hall +where great art agonises, that depository where vast, cold, and gloomy +historical and religious compositions are accumulated, he started, and +remained motionless with his eyes turned upward. He had passed through +that gallery twice already, and yet that was certainly his picture up +yonder, so high up that he hesitated about recognising it. It looked, +indeed, so little, poised like a swallow at the corner of a frame--the +monumental frame of an immense painting five-and-thirty feet long, +representing the Deluge, a swarming of yellow figures turning +topsy-turvy in water of the hue of wine lees. On the left, moreover, +there was a pitiable ashen portrait of a general; on the right a +colossal nymph in a moonlit landscape, the bloodless corpse of a +murdered woman rotting away on some grass; and everywhere around there +were mournful violet-shaded things, mixed up with a comic scene of some +bibulous monks, and an 'Opening of the Chamber of Deputies,' with a +whole page of writing on a gilded cartouch, bearing the heads of the +better-known deputies, drawn in outline, together with their names. +And high up, high up, amid those livid neighbours, the little canvas, +over-coarse in treatment, glared ferociously with the painful grimace of +a monster. + +Ah! 'The Dead Child.' At that distance the wretched little creature was +but a confused lump of flesh, the lifeless carcase of some shapeless +animal. Was that swollen, whitened head a skull or a stomach? And those +poor hands twisted among the bedclothes, like the bent claws of a bird +killed by cold! And the bed itself, that pallidity of the sheets, below +the pallidity of the limbs, all that white looking so sad, those tints +fading away as if typical of the supreme end! Afterwards, however, one +distinguished the light eyes staring fixedly, one recognised a child's +head, and it all seemed to suggest some disease of the brain, profoundly +and frightfully pitiful. + +Claude approached, and then drew back to see the better. The light was +so bad that refractions darted from all points across the canvas. How +they _had_ hung his little Jacques! no doubt out of disdain, or perhaps +from shame, so as to get rid of the child's lugubrious ugliness. But +Claude evoked the little fellow such as he had once been, and beheld him +again over yonder in the country, so fresh and pinky, as he rolled +about in the grass; then in the Rue de Douai, growing pale and stupid +by degrees, and then in the Rue Tourlaque, no longer able to carry his +head, and dying one night, all alone, while his mother was asleep; and +he beheld her also, that mother, the sad woman who had stopped at home, +to weep there, no doubt, as she was now in the habit of doing for +entire days. No matter, she had done right in not coming; 'twas too +mournful--their little Jacques, already cold in his bed, cast on one +side like a pariah, and so brutalised by the dancing light that his face +seemed to be laughing, distorted by an abominable grin. + +But Claude suffered still more from the loneliness of his work. +Astonishment and disappointment made him look for the crowd, the rush +which he had anticipated. Why was he not hooted? Ah! the insults of +yore, the mocking, the indignation that had rent his heart, but made +him live! No, nothing more, not even a passing expectoration: this was +death. The visitors filed rapidly through the long gallery, seized with +boredom. There were merely some people in front of the 'Opening of the +Chamber,' where they collected to read the inscriptions, and show each +other the deputies' heads. At last, hearing some laughter behind him, he +turned round; but nobody was jeering, some visitors were simply making +merry over the tipsy monks, the comic success of the Salon, which some +gentlemen explained to some ladies, declaring that it was brilliantly +witty. And all these people passed beneath little Jacques, and not a +head was raised, not a soul even knew that he was up there. + +However, the painter had a gleam of hope. On the central settee, +two personages, one of them fat and the other thin, and both of them +decorated with the Legion of Honour, sat talking, reclining against the +velvet, and looking at the pictures in front of them. Claude drew near +them and listened. + +'And I followed them,' said the fat fellow. 'They went along the Rue +St. Honore, the Rue St. Roch, the Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin, the Rue la +Fayette--' + +'And you spoke to them?' asked the thin man, who appeared to be deeply +interested. + +'No, I was afraid of getting in a rage.' + +Claude went off and returned on three occasions, his heart beating fast +each time that some visitor stopped short and glanced slowly from the +line to the ceiling. He felt an unhealthy longing to hear one word, but +one. Why exhibit? How fathom public opinion? Anything rather than such +torturing silence! And he almost suffocated when he saw a young married +couple approach, the husband a good-looking fellow with little fair +moustaches, the wife, charming, with the delicate slim figure of a +shepherdess in Dresden china. She had perceived the picture, and asked +what the subject was, stupefied that she could make nothing out of it; +and when her husband, turning over the leaves of the catalogue, had +found the title, 'The Dead Child,' she dragged him away, shuddering, and +raising this cry of affright: + +'Oh, the horror! The police oughtn't to allow such horrors!' + +Then Claude remained there, erect, unconscious and haunted, his eyes +raised on high, amid the continuous flow of the crowd which passed on, +quite indifferent, without one glance for that unique sacred thing, +visible to him alone. And it was there that Sandoz came upon him, amid +the jostling. + +The novelist, who had been strolling about alone--his wife having +remained at home beside his ailing mother--had just stopped short, +heart-rent, below the little canvas, which he had espied by chance. Ah! +how disgusted he felt with life! He abruptly lived the days of his youth +over again. He recalled the college of Plassans, his freaks with Claude +on the banks of the Viorne, their long excursions under the burning sun, +and all the flaming of their early ambition; and, later on, when they +had lived side by side, he remembered their efforts, their certainty of +coming glory, that fine irresistible, immoderate appetite that had +made them talk of swallowing Paris at one bite! How many times, at that +period, had he seen in Claude a great man, whose unbridled genius would +leave the talent of all others far behind in the rear! First had come +the studio of the Impasse des Bourdonnais; later, the studio of the Quai +de Bourbon, with dreams of vast compositions, projects big enough to +make the Louvre burst; and, meanwhile, the struggle was incessant; the +painter laboured ten hours a day, devoting his whole being to his work. +And then what? After twenty years of that passionate life he ended +thus--he finished with that poor, sinister little thing, which nobody +noticed, which looked so distressfully sad in its leper-like solitude! +So much hope and torture, a lifetime spent in the toil of creating, to +come to that, to that, good God! + +Sandoz recognised Claude standing by, and fraternal emotion made his +voice quake as he said to him: + +'What! so you came? Why did you refuse to call for me, then?' + +The painter did not even apologise. He seemed very tired, overcome with +somniferous stupor. + +'Well, don't stay here,' added Sandoz. 'It's past twelve o'clock, and +you must lunch with me. Some people were to wait for me at Ledoyen's; +but I shall give them the go-by. Let's go down to the buffet; we shall +pick up our spirits there, eh, old fellow?' + +And then Sandoz led him away, holding his arm, pressing it, warming it, +and trying to draw him from his mournful silence. + +'Come, dash it all! you mustn't give way like that. Although they +have hung your picture badly, it is all the same superb, a real bit of +genuine painting. Oh! I know that you dreamt of something else! But you +are not dead yet, it will be for later on. And, just look, you ought +to be proud, for it's you who really triumph at the Salon this year. +Fagerolles isn't the only one who pillages you; they all imitate you +now; you have revolutionised them since your "Open Air," which they +laughed so much about. Look, look! there's an "open air" effect, and +there's another, and here and there--they all do it.' + +He waved his hand towards the pictures as he and Claude passed along +the galleries. In point of fact, the dash of clear light, introduced by +degrees into contemporary painting, had fully burst forth at last. The +dingy Salons of yore, with their pitchy canvases, had made way for +a Salon full of sunshine, gay as spring itself. It was the dawn, the +aurora which had first gleamed at the Salon of the Rejected, and which +was now rising and rejuvenating art with a fine, diffuse light, full of +infinite shades. On all sides you found Claude's famous 'bluey tinge,' +even in the portraits and the _genre_ scenes, which had acquired the +dimensions and the serious character of historical paintings. The old +academical subjects had disappeared with the cooked juices of tradition, +as if the condemned doctrine had carried its people of shadows away with +it; rare were the works of pure imagination, the cadaverous nudities of +mythology and catholicism, the legendary subjects painted without faith, +the anecdotic bits destitute of life--in fact, all the bric-a-brac of +the School of Arts used up by generations of tricksters and fools; and +the influence of the new principle was evident even among those artists +who lingered over the antique recipes, even among the former masters +who had now grown old. The flash of sunlight had penetrated to +their studios. From afar, at every step you took, you saw a painting +transpierce the wall and form, as it were, a window open upon Nature. +Soon the walls themselves would fall, and Nature would walk in; for the +breach was a broad one, and the assault had driven routine away in that +gay battle waged by audacity and youth. + +'Ah! your lot is a fine one, all the same, old fellow!' continued +Sandoz. 'The art of to-morrow will be yours; you have made them all.' + +Claude thereupon opened his mouth, and, with an air of gloomy brutality, +said in a low voice: + +'What do I care if I _have_ made them all, when I haven't made myself? +See here, it's too big an affair for me, and that's what stifles me.' + +He made a gesture to finish expressing his thought, his consciousness +of his inability to prove the genius of the formula he had brought with +him, the torture he felt at being merely a precursor, the one who +sows the idea without reaping the glory, his grief at seeing himself +pillaged, devoured by men who turned out hasty work, by a whole flight +of fellows who scattered their efforts and lowered the new form of +art, before he or another had found strength enough to produce the +masterpiece which would make the end of the century a date in art. + +But Sandoz protested, the future lay open. Then, to divert Claude, he +stopped him while crossing the Gallery of Honour and said: + +'Just look at that lady in blue before that portrait! What a slap Nature +does give to painting! You remember when we used to look at the dresses +and the animation of the galleries in former times? Not a painting +then withstood the shock. And yet now there are some which don't suffer +overmuch. I even noticed over there a landscape, the general yellowish +tinge of which completely eclipsed all the women who approached it.' + +Claude was quivering with unutterable suffering. + +'Pray, let's go,' he said. 'Take me away--I can't stand it any longer.' + +They had all the trouble in the world to find a free table in the +refreshment room. People were pressed together in that big, shady +retreat, girt round with brown serge drapery under the girders of the +lofty iron flooring of the upstairs galleries. In the background, and +but partially visible in the darkness, stood three dressers displaying +dishes of preserved fruit symmetrically ranged on shelves; while, nearer +at hand, at counters placed on the right and left, two ladies, a dark +one and a fair one, watched the crowd with a military air; and from the +dim depths of this seeming cavern rose a sea of little marble tables, a +tide of chairs, serried, entangled, surging, swelling, overflowing and +spreading into the garden, under the broad, pallid light which fell from +the glass roof. + +At last Sandoz saw some people rise. He darted forward and conquered the +vacant table by sheer struggling with the mob. + +'Ah! dash it! we are here at all events. What will you have to eat?' + +Claude made a gesture of indifference. The lunch was execrable; there +was some trout softened by over-boiling, some undercut of beef dried up +in the oven, some asparagus smelling of moist linen, and, in addition, +one had to fight to get served; for the hustled waiters, losing their +heads, remained in distress in the narrow passages which the chairs were +constantly blocking. Behind the hangings on the left, one could hear a +racket of saucepans and crockery; the kitchen being installed there on +the sand, like one of those Kermesse cook-shops set up by the roadside +in the open air. + +Sandoz and Claude had to eat, seated obliquely and half strangled +between two parties of people whose elbows almost ended by getting into +their plates; and each time that a waiter passed he gave their chairs +a shake with his hips. However, the inconvenience, like the abominable +cookery, made one gay. People jested about the dishes, different tables +fraternised together, common misfortune brought about a kind of pleasure +party. Strangers ended by sympathising; friends kept up conversations, +although they were seated three rows distant from one another, and +were obliged to turn their heads and gesticulate over their neighbours' +shoulders. The women particularly became animated, at first rather +anxious as to the crush, and then ungloving their hands, catching up +their skirts, and laughing at the first thimbleful of neat wine they +drank. + +However, Sandoz, who had renounced finishing his meat, raised his voice +amid the terrible hubbub caused by the chatter and the serving: + +'A bit of cheese, eh? And let's try to get some coffee.' + +Claude, whose eyes looked dreamy, did not hear. He was gazing into the +garden. From his seat he could see the central clump of verdure, some +lofty palms which stood in relief against the grey hangings with which +the garden was decorated all round. A circle of statues was set out +there; and you could see the back of a faun; the profile of a young +girl with full cheeks; the face of a bronze Gaul, a colossal bit of +romanticism which irritated one by its stupid assumption of patriotism; +the trunk of a woman hanging by the wrists, some Andromeda of the +Place Pigalle; and others, and others still following the bends of the +pathways; rows of shoulders and hips, heads, breasts, legs, and arms, +all mingling and growing indistinct in the distance. On the left +stretched a line of busts--such delightful ones--furnishing a most +comical and uncommon suite of noses. There was the huge pointed nose +of a priest, the tip-tilted nose of a soubrette, the handsome classical +nose of a fifteenth-century Italian woman, the mere fancy nose of a +sailor--in fact, every kind of nose, both the magistrate's and the +manufacturer's, and the nose of the gentleman decorated with the Legion +of Honour--all of them motionless and ranged in endless succession! + +However, Claude saw nothing of them; to him they were but grey spots +in the hazy, greenish light. His stupor still lasted, and he was only +conscious of one thing, the luxuriousness of the women's dresses, of +which he had formed a wrong estimate amid the pushing in the galleries, +and which were here freely displayed, as if the wearers had been +promenading over the gravel in the conservatory of some chateau. All the +elegance of Paris passed by, the women who had come to show themselves, +in dresses thoughtfully combined and destined to be described in the +morrow's newspapers. People stared a great deal at an actress, who +walked about with a queen-like tread, on the arm of a gentleman who +assumed the complacent airs of a prince consort. The women of society +looked like so many hussies, and they all of them took stock of one +another with that slow glance which estimates the value of silk and the +length of lace, and which ferrets everywhere, from the tips of boots +to the feathers upon bonnets. This was neutral ground, so to say; +some ladies who were seated had drawn their chairs together, after +the fashion in the garden of the Tuileries, and occupied themselves +exclusively with criticising those of their own sex who passed by. Two +female friends quickened their pace, laughing. Another woman, all alone, +walked up and down, mute, with a black look in her eyes. Some others, +who had lost one another, met again, and began ejaculating about +the adventure. And, meantime, the dark moving mass of men came to a +standstill, then set off again till it stopped short before a bit of +marble, or eddied back to a bit of bronze. And among the mere bourgeois, +who were few in number, though all of them looked out of their element +there, moved men with celebrated names--all the _illustrations_ of +Paris. A name of resounding glory re-echoed as a fat, ill-clad gentleman +passed by; the winged name of a poet followed as a pale man with a flat, +common face approached. A living wave was rising from this crowd in the +even, colourless light when suddenly a flash of sunshine, from behind +the clouds of a final shower, set the glass panes on high aflame, making +the stained window on the western side resplendent, and raining down +in golden particles through the still atmosphere; and then everything +became warm--the snowy statues amid the shiny green stuff, the soft +lawns parted by the yellow sand of the pathways, the rich dresses +with their glossy satin and bright beads, even the very voices, whose +hilarious murmur seemed to crackle like a bright fire of vine shoots. +Some gardeners, completing the arrangements of the flower-beds, turned +on the taps of the stand-pipes and promenaded about with their pots, the +showers squirting from which came forth again in tepid steam from the +drenched grass. And meanwhile a plucky sparrow, who had descended from +the iron girders, despite the number of people, dipped his beak in the +sand in front of the buffet, eating some crumbs which a young woman +threw him by way of amusement. Of all the tumult, however, Claude +only heard the ocean-like din afar, the rumbling of the people rolling +onwards in the galleries. And a recollection came to him, he remembered +that noise which had burst forth like a hurricane in front of his +picture at the Salon of the Rejected. But nowadays people no longer +laughed at him; upstairs the giant roar of Paris was acclaiming +Fagerolles! + +It so happened that Sandoz, who had turned round, said to Claude: +'Hallo! there's Fagerolles!' + +And, indeed, Fagerolles and Jory had just laid hands on a table near by +without noticing their friends, and the journalist, continuing in his +gruff voice a conversation which had previously begun, remarked: + +'Yes, I saw his "Dead Child"! Ah! the poor devil! what an ending!' + +But Fagerolles nudged Jory, and the latter, having caught sight of his +two old comrades, immediately added: + +'Ah! that dear old Claude! How goes it, eh? You know that I haven't yet +seen your picture. But I'm told that it's superb.' + +'Superb!' declared Fagerolles, who then began to express his surprise. +'So you lunched here. What an idea! Everything is so awfully bad. We two +have just come from Ledoyen's. Oh! such a crowd and such hustling, such +mirth! Bring your table nearer and let us chat a bit.' + +They joined the two tables together. But flatterers and petitioners were +already after the triumphant young master. Three friends rose up and +noisily saluted him from afar. A lady became smilingly contemplative +when her husband had whispered his name in her ear. And the tall, +thin fellow, the artist whose picture had been badly hung, and who had +pursued him since the morning, as enraged as ever, left a table where he +was seated at the further end of the buffet, and again hurried forward +to complain, imperatively demanding 'the line' at once. + +'Oh! go to the deuce!' at last cried Fagerolles, his patience and +amiability exhausted. And he added, when the other had gone off, +mumbling some indistinct threats: 'It's true; a fellow does all he can +to be obliging, but those chaps would drive one mad! All of them on +the "line"! leagues of "line" then! Ah! what a business it is to be a +committee-man! One wears out one's legs, and one only reaps hatred as +reward.' + +Claude, who was looking at him with his oppressed air, seemed to wake up +for a moment, and murmured: + +'I wrote to you; I wanted to go and see you to thank you. Bongrand told +me about all the trouble you had. So thanks again.' + +But Fagerolles hastily broke in: + +'Tut, tut! I certainly owed that much to our old friendship. It's I who +am delighted to have given you any pleasure.' + +He showed the embarrassment which always came upon him in presence of +the acknowledged master of his youth, that kind of humility which filled +him perforce when he was with the man whose mute disdain, even at this +moment, sufficed to spoil all his triumph. + +'Your picture is very good,' slowly added Claude, who wished to be +kind-hearted and generous. + +This simple praise made Fagerolles' heart swell with exaggerated, +irresistible emotion, springing he knew not whence; and this rascal, who +believed in nothing, who was usually so proficient in humbug, answered +in a shaky voice: + +'Ah! my dear fellow, ah! it's very kind of you to tell me that!' + +Sandoz had at last obtained two cups of coffee, and as the waiter had +forgotten to bring any sugar, he had to content himself with some pieces +which a party had left on an adjoining table. A few tables, indeed, +had now become vacant, but the general freedom had increased, and one +woman's laughter rang out so loudly that every head turned round. The +men were smoking, and a bluish cloud slowly rose above the straggling +tablecloths, stained by wine and littered with dirty plates and dishes. +When Fagerolles, on his aide, succeeded in obtaining two glasses of +chartreuse for himself and Jory, he began to talk to Sandoz, whom he +treated with a certain amount of deference, divining that the novelist +might become a power. And Jory thereupon appropriated Claude, who had +again become mournful and silent. + +'You know, my dear fellow,' said the journalist, 'I didn't send you any +announcement of my marriage. On account of our position we managed it on +the quiet without inviting any guests. All the same, I should have liked +to let you know. You will excuse me, won't you?' + +He showed himself expansive, gave particulars, full of the happiness of +life, and egotistically delighted to feel fat and victorious in front of +that poor vanquished fellow. He succeeded with everything, he said. +He had given up leader-writing, feeling the necessity of settling down +seriously, and he had risen to the editorship of a prominent art review, +on which, so it was asserted, he made thirty thousand francs a year, +without mentioning certain profits realised by shady trafficking in +the sale of art collections. The middle-class rapacity which he had +inherited from his mother, the hereditary passion for profit which had +secretly impelled him to embark in petty speculations as soon as he had +gained a few coppers, now openly displayed itself, and ended by making +him a terrible customer, who bled all the artists and amateurs who came +under his clutches. + +It was amidst this good luck of his that Mathilde, now all-powerful, +had brought him to the point of begging her, with tears in his eyes, to +become his wife, a request which she had proudly refused during six long +months. + +'When folks are destined to live together,' he continued, 'the best +course is to set everything square. You experienced it yourself, my +dear fellow; you know something about it, eh? And if I told you that she +wouldn't consent at first--yes, it's a fact--for fear of being misjudged +and of doing me harm. Oh! she has such grandeur, such delicacy of mind! +No, nobody can have an idea of that woman's qualities. Devoted, taking +all possible care of one, economical, and acute, too, and such a good +adviser! Ah! it was a lucky chance that I met her! I no longer do +anything without consulting her; I let her do as she likes; she manages +everything, upon my word.' + +The truth was that Mathilde had finished by reducing him to the +frightened obedience of a little boy. The once dissolute she-ghoul +had become a dictatorial spouse, eager for respect, and consumed with +ambition and love of money. She showed, too, every form of sourish +virtue. It was said that they had been seen taking the Holy Communion +together at Notre Dame de Lorette. They kissed one another before +other people, and called each other by endearing nicknames. Only, of an +evening, he had to relate how he had spent his time during the day, and +if the employment of a single hour remained suspicious, if he did not +bring home all the money he had received, down to the odd coppers, she +led him the most abominable life imaginable. + +This, of course, Jory left unmentioned. By way of conclusion he +exclaimed: 'And so we waited for my father's death, and then I married +her.' + +Claude, whose mind had so far been wandering, and who had merely nodded +without listening, was struck by that last sentence. + +'What! you married her--married Mathilde?' + +That exclamation summed up all the astonishment that the affair caused +him, all the recollections that occurred to him of Mahoudeau's shop. +That Jory, why, he could still hear him talking about Mathilde in an +abominable manner; and yet he had married her! It was really stupid for +a fellow to speak badly of a woman, for he never knew if he might not +end by marrying her some day or other! + +However, Jory was perfectly serene, his memory was dead, he never +allowed himself an allusion to the past, never showed the slightest +embarrassment when his comrades' eyes were turned on him. Besides, +Mathilde seemed to be a new-comer. He introduced her to them as if they +knew nothing whatever about her. + +Sandoz, who had lent an ear to the conversation, greatly interested by +this fine business, called out as soon as Jory and Claude became silent: + +'Let's be off, eh? My legs are getting numbed.' + +But at that moment Irma Becot appeared, and stopped in front of the +buffet. With her hair freshly gilded, she had put on her best looks--all +the tricky sheen of a tawny hussy, who seemed to have just stepped +out of some old Renaissance frame; and she wore a train of light blue +brocaded silk, with a satin skirt covered with Alencon lace, of such +richness that quite an escort of gentlemen followed her in admiration. +On perceiving Claude among the others, she hesitated for a moment, +seized, as it were, with cowardly shame in front of that ill-clad, ugly, +derided devil. Then, becoming valiant, as it were, it was his hand that +she shook the first amid all those well-dressed men, who opened their +eyes in amazement. She laughed with an affectionate air, and spoke to +him in a friendly, bantering way. + +Fagerolles, however, was already paying for the two chartreuses he had +ordered, and at last he went off with Irma, whom Jory also decided to +follow. Claude watched them walk away together, she between the two men, +moving on in regal fashion, greatly admired, and repeatedly bowed to by +people in the crowd. + +'One can see very well that Mathilde isn't here,' quietly remarked +Sandoz. 'Ah! my friend, what clouts Jory would receive on getting home!' + +The novelist now asked for the bill. All the tables were becoming +vacant; there only remained a litter of bones and crusts. A couple of +waiters were wiping the marble slabs with sponges, whilst a third raked +up the soiled sand. Behind the brown serge hangings the staff of the +establishment was lunching--one could hear a grinding of jaws and husky +laughter, a rumpus akin to that of a camp of gipsies devouring the +contents of their saucepans. + +Claude and Sandoz went round the garden, where they discovered a statue +by Mahoudeau, very badly placed in a corner near the eastern vestibule. +It was the bathing girl at last, standing erect, but of diminutive +proportions, being scarcely as tall as a girl ten years old, but +charmingly delicate--with slim hips and a tiny bosom, displaying all the +exquisite hesitancy of a sprouting bud. The figure seemed to exhale a +perfume, that grace which nothing can give, but which flowers where it +lists, stubborn, invincible, perennial grace, springing still and ever +from Mahoudeau's thick fingers, which were so ignorant of their special +aptitude that they had long treated this very grace with derision. + +Sandoz could not help smiling. + +'And to think that this fellow has done everything he could to warp +his talent. If his figure were better placed, it would meet with great +success.' + +'Yes, great success,' repeated Claude. 'It is very pretty.' + +Precisely at that moment they perceived Mahoudeau, already in the +vestibule, and going towards the staircase. They called him, ran after +him, and then all three remained talking together for a few minutes. The +ground-floor gallery stretched away, empty, with its sanded pavement, +and the pale light streaming through its large round windows. One might +have fancied oneself under a railway bridge. Strong pillars supported +the metallic framework, and an icy chillness blew from above, moistening +the sand in which one's feet sank. In the distance, behind a torn +curtain, one could see rows of statues, the rejected sculptural +exhibits, the casts which poor sculptors did not even remove, +gathered together in a livid kind of Morgue, in a state of lamentable +abandonment. But what surprised one, on raising one's head, was the +continuous din, the mighty tramp of the public over the flooring of the +upper galleries. One was deafened by it; it rolled on without a pause, +as if interminable trains, going at full speed, were ever and ever +shaking the iron girders. + +When Mahoudeau had been complimented, he told Claude that he had +searched for his picture in vain. In the depths of what hole could they +have put it? Then, in a fit of affectionate remembrance for the past, +he asked anxiously after Gagniere and Dubuche. Where were the Salons of +yore which they had all reached in a band, the mad excursions through +the galleries as in an enemy's country, the violent disdain they had +felt on going away, the discussions which had made their tongues swell +and emptied their brains? Nobody now saw Dubuche. Two or three times a +month Gagniere came from Melun, in a state of bewilderment, to attend +some concert; and he now took such little interest in painting that he +had not even looked in at the Salon, although he exhibited his usual +landscape, the same view of the banks of the Seine which he had been +sending for the last fifteen years--a picture of a pretty greyish tint, +so conscientious and quiet that the public had never remarked it. + +'I was going upstairs,' resumed Mahoudeau. 'Will you come with me?' + +Claude, pale with suffering, raised his eyes every second. Ah! that +terrible rumbling, that devouring gallop of the monster overhead, the +shock of which he felt in his very limbs! + +He held out his hand without speaking. + +'What! are you going to leave us?' exclaimed Sandoz. Take just another +turn with us, and we'll go away together.' + +Then, on seeing Claude so weary, a feeling of pity made his heart +contract. He divined that the poor fellow's courage was exhausted, that +he was desirous of solitude, seized with a desire to fly off alone and +hide his wound. + +'Then, good-bye, old man: I'll call and see you to-morrow.' + +Staggering, and as if pursued by the tempest upstairs, Claude +disappeared behind the clumps of shrubbery in the garden. But two hours +later Sandoz, who after losing Mahoudeau had just found him again with +Jory and Fagerolles, perceived the unhappy painter again standing in +front of his picture, at the same spot where he had met him the first +time. At the moment of going off the wretched fellow had come up there +again, harassed and attracted despite himself. + +There was now the usual five o'clock crush. The crowd, weary of winding +round the galleries, became distracted, and pushed and shoved without +ever finding its way out. Since the coolness of the morning, the heat of +all the human bodies, the odour of all the breath exhaled there had made +the atmosphere heavy, and the dust of the floors, flying about, rose up +in a fine mist. People still took each other to see certain pictures, +the subjects of which alone struck and attracted the crowd. Some +went off, came back, and walked about unceasingly. The women were +particularly obstinate in not retiring; they seemed determined to remain +there till the attendants should push them out when six o'clock began +to strike. Some fat ladies had foundered. Others, who had failed to find +even the tiniest place to sit down, leaned heavily on their parasols, +sinking, but still obstinate. Every eye was turned anxiously and +supplicatingly towards the settees laden with people. And all that those +thousands of sight-seers were now conscious of, was that last fatigue of +theirs, which made their legs totter, drew their features together, and +tortured them with headache--that headache peculiar to fine-art shows, +which is caused by the constant straining of one's neck and the blinding +dance of colours. + +Alone on the little settee where at noon already they had been talking +about their private affairs, the two decorated gentlemen were still +chatting quietly, with their minds a hundred leagues away from the +place. Perhaps they had returned thither, perhaps they had not even +stirred from the spot. + +'And so,' said the fat one, 'you went in, pretending not to understand?' + +'Quite so,' replied the thin one. 'I looked at them and took off my hat. +It was clear, eh?' + +'Astonishing! You really astonish me, my dear friend.' + +Claude, however, only heard the low beating of his heart, and only +beheld the 'Dead Child' up there in the air, near the ceiling. He did +not take his eyes off it, a prey to a fascination which held him there, +quite independent of his will. The crowd turned round him, people's feet +trod on his own, he was pushed and carried away; and, like some inert +object, he abandoned himself, waved about, and ultimately found himself +again on the same spot as before without having once lowered his +head, quite ignorant of what was occurring below, all his life being +concentrated up yonder beside his work, his little Jacques, swollen +in death. Two big tears which stood motionless between his eyelids +prevented him from seeing clearly. And it seemed to him as if he would +never have time to see enough. + +Then Sandoz, in his deep compassion, pretended he did not perceive his +old friend; it was as if he wished to leave him there, beside the tomb +of his wrecked life. Their comrades once more went past in a band. +Fagerolles and Jory darted on ahead, and, Mahoudeau having asked Sandoz +where Claude's picture was hung, the novelist told a lie, drew him aside +and took him off. All of them went away. + +In the evening Christine only managed to draw curt words from Claude; +everything was going on all right, said he; the public showed no +ill-humour; the picture had a good effect, though it was hung perhaps +rather high up. However, despite this semblance of cold tranquillity, he +seemed so strange that she became frightened. + +After dinner, as she returned from carrying the dirty plates into the +kitchen, she no longer found him near the table. He had opened a window +which overlooked some waste ground, and he stood there, leaning out +to such a degree that she could scarcely see him. At this she sprang +forward, terrified, and pulled him violently by his jacket. + +'Claude! Claude! what are you doing?' + +He turned round, with his face as white as a sheet and his eyes haggard. + +'I'm looking,' he said. + +But she closed the window with trembling hands, and after that +significant incident such anguish clung to her that she no longer slept +at night-time. + + + + +XI + +CLAUDE set to work again on the very next day, and months elapsed, +indeed the whole summer went by, in heavy quietude. He had found a job, +some little paintings of flowers for England, the proceeds of which +sufficed for their daily bread. All his available time was again devoted +to his large canvas, and he no longer went into the same fits of anger +over it, but seemed to resign himself to that eternal task, evincing +obstinate, hopeless industry. However, his eyes retained their crazy +expression--one could see the death of light, as it were, in them, when +they gazed upon the failure of his existence. + +About this period Sandoz also experienced great grief. His mother died, +his whole life was upset--that life of three together, so homely in +its character, and shared merely by a few friends. He began to hate the +pavilion of the Rue Nollet, and, moreover, success suddenly declared +itself with respect to his books, which hitherto had sold but moderately +well. So, prompted by the advent of comparative wealth, he rented in the +Rue de Londres a spacious flat, the arrangements of which occupied him +and his wife for several months. Sandoz's grief had drawn him closer to +Claude again, both being disgusted with everything. After the terrible +blow of the Salon, the novelist had felt very anxious about his old +chum, divining that something had irreparably snapped within him, that +there was some wound by which life ebbed away unseen. Then, however, +finding Claude so cold and quiet, he ended by growing somewhat +reassured. + +Sandoz often walked up to the Rue Tourlaque, and whenever he found only +Christine at home, he questioned her, realising that she also lived in +apprehension of a calamity of which she never spoke. Her face bore a +look of worry, and now and again she started nervously, like a mother +who watches over her child and trembles at the slightest sound, with the +fear that death may be entering the chamber. + +One July morning Sandoz asked her: 'Well, are you pleased? Claude's +quiet, he works a deal.' + +She gave the large picture her usual glance, a side glance full of +terror and hatred. + +'Yes, yes, he works,' she said. 'He wants to finish everything else +before taking up the woman again.' And without confessing the fear that +harassed her, she added in a lower tone: 'But his eyes--have you noticed +his eyes? They always have the same wild expression. I know very well +that he lies, despite his pretence of taking things so easily. Pray, +come and see him, and take him out with you, so as to change the current +of his thoughts. He only has you left; help me, do help me!' + +After that Sandoz diligently devised motives for various walks, arriving +at Claude's early in the morning, and carrying him away from his work +perforce. It was almost always necessary to drag him from his steps, +on which he habitually sat, even when he was not painting. A feeling of +weariness stopped him, a kind of torpor benumbed him for long minutes, +during which he did not give a single stroke with the brush. In those +moments of mute contemplation, his gaze reverted with pious fervour to +the woman's figure which he no longer touched: it was like a hesitating +desire combined with sacred awe, a passion which he refused to satisfy, +as he felt certain that it would cost him his life. When he set to work +again at the other figures and the background of the picture, he well +knew that the woman's figure was still there, and his glance wavered +whenever he espied it; he felt that he would only remain master of +himself as long as he did not touch it again. + +One evening, Christine, who now visited at Sandoz's and never missed a +single Thursday there, in the hope of seeing her big sick child of an +artist brighten up in the society of his friends, took the novelist +aside and begged him to drop in at their place on the morrow. And on the +next day Sandoz, who, as it happened, wanted to take some notes for +a novel, on the other side of Montmartre, went in search of Claude, +carried him off and kept him idling about until night-time. + +On this occasion they went as far as the gate of Clignancourt, where a +perpetual fair was held, with merry-go-rounds, shooting-galleries, and +taverns, and on reaching the spot they were stupefied to find themselves +face to face with Chaine, who was enthroned in a large and stylish +booth. It was a kind of chapel, highly ornamented. There were four +circular revolving stands set in a row and loaded with articles in china +and glass, all sorts of ornaments and nick-nacks, whose gilding and +polish shone amid an harmonica-like tinkling whenever the hand of a +gamester set the stand in motion. It then spun round, grating against +a feather, which, on the rotatory movement ceasing, indicated what +article, if any, had been won. The big prize was a live rabbit, adorned +with pink favours, which waltzed and revolved unceasingly, intoxicated +with fright. And all this display was set in red hangings, scalloped at +the top; and between the curtains one saw three pictures hanging at the +rear of the booth, as in the sanctuary of some tabernacle. They were +Chaine's three masterpieces, which now followed him from fair to fair, +from one end of Paris to the other. The 'Woman taken in Adultery' in the +centre, the copy of the Mantegna on the left, and Mahoudeau's stove +on the right. Of an evening, when the petroleum lamps flamed and the +revolving stands glowed and radiated like planets, nothing seemed +finer than those pictures hanging amid the blood-tinged purple of the +hangings, and a gaping crowd often flocked to view them. + +The sight was such that it wrung an exclamation from Claude: 'Ah, good +heavens! But those paintings look very well--they were surely intended +for this.' + +The Mantegna, so naively harsh in treatment, looked like some faded +coloured print nailed there for the delectation of simple-minded +folk; whilst the minutely painted stove, all awry, hanging beside +the gingerbread Christ absolving the adulterous woman, assumed an +unexpectedly gay aspect. + +However, Chaine, who had just perceived the two friends, held out his +hand to them, as if he had left them merely the day before. He was calm, +neither proud nor ashamed of his booth, and he had not aged, having +still a leathery aspect; though, on the other hand, his nose had +completely vanished between his cheeks, whilst his mouth, clammy with +prolonged silence, was buried in his moustache and beard. + +'Hallo! so we meet again!' said Sandoz, gaily. 'Do you know, your +paintings have a lot of effect?' + +'The old humbug!' added Claude. 'Why, he has his little Salon all to +himself. That's very cute indeed.' + +Chaine's face became radiant, and he dropped the remark: 'Of course!' + +Then, as his artistic pride was roused, he, from whom people barely +wrung anything but growls, gave utterance to a whole sentence: + +'Ah! it's quite certain that if I had had any money, like you fellows, I +should have made my way, just as you have done, in spite of everything.' + +That was his conviction. He had never doubted of his talent, he had +simply forsaken the profession because it did not feed him. When he +visited the Louvre, at sight of the masterpieces hanging there he felt +convinced that time alone was necessary to turn out similar work. + +'Ah, me!' said Claude, who had become gloomy again. 'Don't regret what +you've done; you alone have succeeded. Business is brisk, eh?' + +But Chaine muttered bitter words. No, no, there was nothing doing, not +even in his line. People wouldn't play for prizes; all the money found +its way to the wine-shops. In spite of buying paltry odds and ends, +and striking the table with the palm of one's hand, so that the feather +might not indicate one of the big prizes, a fellow barely had water to +drink nowadays. Then, as some people had drawn near, he stopped short in +his explanation to call out: 'Walk up, walk up, at every turn you win!' +in a gruff voice which the two others had never known him to possess, +and which fairly stupefied them. + +A workman who was carrying a sickly little girl with large covetous +eyes, let her play two turns. The revolving stands grated and the +nick-nacks danced round in dazzling fashion, while the live rabbit, with +his ears lowered, revolved and revolved so rapidly that the outline of +his body vanished and he became nothing but a whitish circle. There +was a moment of great emotion, for the little girl had narrowly missed +winning him. + +Then, after shaking hands with Chaine, who was still trembling with the +fright this had given him, the two friends walked away. + +'He's happy,' said Claude, after they had gone some fifty paces in +silence. + +'He!' cried Sandoz; 'why, he believes he has missed becoming a member of +the Institute, and it's killing him.' + +Shortly after this meeting, and towards the middle of August, Sandoz +devised a real excursion which would take up a whole day. He had met +Dubuche--Dubuche, careworn and mournful, who had shown himself plaintive +and affectionate, raking up the past and inviting his two old chums to +lunch at La Richaudiere, where he should be alone with his two children +for another fortnight. Why shouldn't they go and surprise him there, +since he seemed so desirous of renewing the old intimacy? But in vain +did Sandoz repeat that he had promised Dubuche on oath to bring +Claude with him; the painter obstinately refused to go, as if he were +frightened at the idea of again beholding Bennecourt, the Seine, the +islands, all the stretch of country where his happy years lay dead and +buried. It was necessary for Christine to interfere, and he finished +by giving way, although full of repugnance to the trip. It precisely +happened that on the day prior to the appointment he had worked at his +painting until very late, being taken with the old fever again. And so +the next morning--it was Sunday--being devoured with a longing to paint, +he went off most reluctantly, tearing himself away from his picture with +a pang. What was the use of returning to Bennecourt? All that was dead, +it no longer existed. Paris alone remained, and even in Paris there +was but one view, the point of the Cite, that vision which haunted him +always and everywhere, that one corner where he ever left his heart. + +Sandoz, finding him nervous in the railway carriage, and seeing that +his eyes remained fixed on the window as if he had been leaving the +city--which had gradually grown smaller and seemed shrouded in mist--for +years, did all he could to divert his mind, telling him, for instance, +what he knew about Dubuche's real position. At the outset, old +Margaillan, glorifying in his bemedalled son-in-law, had trotted him +about and introduced him everywhere as his partner and successor. There +was a fellow who would conduct business briskly, who would build houses +more cheaply and in finer style than ever, for hadn't he grown pale +over books? But Dubuche's first idea proved disastrous; on some land +belonging to his father-in-law in Burgundy he established a brickyard +in so unfavourable a situation, and after so defective a plan, that the +venture resulted in the sheer loss of two hundred thousand francs. Then +he turned his attention to erecting houses, insisting upon bringing +personal ideas into execution, a certain general scheme of his which +would revolutionise the building art. These ideas were the old theories +he held from the revolutionary chums of his youth, everything that he +had promised he would realise when he was free; but he had not properly +reduced the theories to method, and he applied them unseasonably, with +the awkwardness of a pupil lacking the sacred fire; he experimented with +terra-cotta and pottery ornamentation, large bay windows, and especially +with the employment of iron--iron girders, iron staircases, and iron +roofings; and as the employment of these materials increased the outlay, +he again ended with a catastrophe, which was all the greater as he was +a pitiful manager, and had lost his head since he had become rich, +rendered the more obtuse, it seemed, by money, quite spoilt and at +sea, unable even to revert to his old habits of industry. This time +Margaillan grew angry; he for thirty years had been buying ground, +building and selling again, estimating at a glance the cost and return +of house property; so many yards of building at so much the foot having +to yield so many suites of rooms at so much rent. He wouldn't have +anything more to do with a fellow who blundered about lime, bricks, +millstones, and in fact everything, who employed oak when deal would +have suited, and who could not bring himself to cut up a storey--like a +consecrated wafer--into as many little squares as was necessary. No, no, +none of that! He rebelled against art, after having been ambitious +to introduce a little of it into his routine, in order to satisfy a +long-standing worry about his own ignorance. And after that matters +had gone from bad to worse, terrible quarrels had arisen between the +son-in-law and the father-in-law, the former disdainful, intrenching +himself behind his science, and the latter shouting that the commonest +labourer knew more than an architect did. The millions were in +danger, and one fine day Margaillan turned Dubuche out of his offices, +forbidding him ever to set foot in them again, since he did not even +know how to direct a building-yard where only four men worked. It was a +disaster, a lamentable failure, the School of Arts collapsing, derided +by a mason! + +At this point of Sandoz's story, Claude, who had begun to listen to his +friend, inquired: + +'Then what is Dubuche doing now?' + +'I don't know--nothing probably,' answered Sandoz. 'He told me that he +was anxious about his children's health, and was taking care of them.' + +That pale woman, Madame Margaillan, as slender as the blade of a knife, +had died of tubercular consumption, which was plainly the hereditary +disease, the source of the family's degeneracy, for her daughter, +Regine, had been coughing ever since her marriage. She was now drinking +the waters at Mont-Dore, whither she had not dared to take her children, +as they had been very poorly the year before, after a season spent +in that part, where the air was too keen for them. This explained the +scattering of the family: the mother over yonder with her maid; +the grandfather in Paris, where he had resumed his great building +enterprises, battling amid his four hundred workmen, and crushing the +idle and the incapable beneath his contempt; and the father in exile at +La Richaudiere, set to watch over his son and daughter, shut up there, +after the very first struggle, as if it had broken him down for life. In +a moment of effusion Dubuche had even let Sandoz understand that as his +wife was so extremely delicate he now lived with her merely on friendly +terms. + +'A nice marriage,' said Sandoz, simply, by way of conclusion. + +It was ten o'clock when the two friends rang at the iron gate of La +Richaudiere. The estate, with which they were not acquainted, amazed +them. There was a superb park, a garden laid out in the French style, +with balustrades and steps spreading away in regal fashion; three huge +conservatories and a colossal cascade--quite a piece of folly, with its +rocks brought from afar, and the quantity of cement and the number of +conduits that had been employed in arranging it. Indeed, the owner had +sunk a fortune in it, out of sheer vanity. But what struck the friends +still more was the melancholy, deserted aspect of the domain; the gravel +of the avenues carefully raked, with never a trace of footsteps; the +distant expanses quite deserted, save that now and then a solitary +gardener passed by; and the house looking lifeless, with all its windows +closed, excepting two, which were barely set ajar. + +However, a valet who had decided to show himself began to question +them, and when he learnt that they wished to see 'monsieur,' he became +insolent, and replied that 'monsieur' was behind the house in the +gymnasium, and then went indoors again. + +Sandoz and Claude followed a path which led them towards a lawn, and +what they saw there made them pause. Dubuche, who stood in front of a +trapeze, was raising his arms to support his son, Gaston, a poor sickly +boy who, at ten years of age, still had the slight, soft limbs of early +childhood; while the girl, Alice, sat in a perambulator awaiting her +turn. She was so imperfectly developed that, although she was six years +old, she could not yet walk. The father, absorbed in his task, continued +exercising the slim limbs of his little boy, swinging him backwards and +forwards, and vainly trying to make him raise himself up by his wrists. +Then, as this slight effort sufficed to bring on perspiration, he +removed the little fellow from the trapeze and rolled him in a rug. And +all this was done amid complete silence, alone under the far expanse of +sky, his face wearing a look of distressful pity as he knelt there in +that splendid park. However, as he rose up he perceived the two friends. + +'What! it's you? On a Sunday, and without warning me!' + +He had made a gesture of annoyance, and at once explained that the maid, +the only woman to whom he could trust the children, went to Paris on +Sundays, and that it was consequently impossible for him to leave Gaston +and Alice for a minute. + +'I'll wager that you came to lunch?' he added. + +As Claude gave Sandoz an imploring glance, the novelist made haste to +answer: + +'No, no. As it happens, we only have time enough to shake hands with +you. Claude had to come down here on a business matter. He lived at +Bennecourt, as you know. And as I accompanied him, we took it into our +heads to walk as far as here. But there are people waiting for us, so +don't disturb yourself in the least.' + +Thereupon, Dubuche, who felt relieved, made a show of detaining them. +They certainly had an hour to spare, dash it all! And they all three +began to talk. Claude looked at Dubuche, astonished to find him so aged; +his flabby face had become wrinkled--it was of a yellowish hue, and +streaked with red, as if bile had splashed his skin; whilst his hair +and his moustaches were already growing grey. In addition, his figure +appeared to have become more compact; a bitter weariness made each of +his gestures seem an effort. Were defeats in money matters as hard to +bear, then, as defeats in art? Everything about this vanquished man--his +voice, his glance--proclaimed the shameful dependency in which he had to +live: the bankruptcy of his future which was cast in his teeth, with the +accusation of having allowed a talent he did not possess to be set down +as an asset in the marriage contract. Then there was the family money +which he nowadays stole, the money spent on what he ate, the clothes he +wore, and the pocket-money he needed--in fact, the perpetual alms which +were bestowed upon him, just as they might have been bestowed upon some +vulgar swindler, whom one unluckily could not get rid of. + +'Wait a bit,' resumed Dubuche; 'I have to stop here five minutes longer +with one of my poor duckies, and afterwards we'll go indoors.' + +Gently, and with infinite motherly precautions, he removed little Alice +from the perambulator and lifted her to the trapeze. Then, stammering +coaxing words and smiling, he encouraged her, and left her hanging for +a couple of minutes, so as to develop her muscles; but he remained with +open arms, watching each movement with the fear of seeing her smashed to +pieces, should her weak little wax-like hands relax their hold. She +did not say anything, but obeyed him in spite of the terror that this +exercise caused her; and she was so pitifully light in weight that +she did not even fully stretch the ropes, being like one of those poor +scraggy little birds which fall from a young tree without as much as +bending it. + +At this moment, Dubuche, having given Gaston a glance, became distracted +on remarking that the rug had slipped and that the child's legs were +uncovered. + +'Good heavens! good heavens! Why, he'll catch cold on this grass! And I, +who can't move! Gaston, my little dear! It's the same thing every day; +you wait till I'm occupied with your sister. Sandoz, pray cover him +over! Ah, thanks! Pull the rug up more; don't be afraid!' + +So this was the outcome of his splendid marriage--those two poor, weak +little beings, whom the least breath from the sky threatened to kill +like flies. Of the fortune he had married, all that remained to him was +the constant grief of beholding those woeful children stricken by +the final degeneracy of scrofula and phthisis. However, this big, +egotistical fellow showed himself an admirable father. The only energy +that remained to him consisted in a determination to make his children +live, and he struggled on hour after hour, saving them every morning, +and dreading to lose them every night. They alone existed now amid his +finished existence, amid the bitterness of his father-in-law's insulting +reproaches, the coldness of his sorry, ailing wife. And he kept to his +task in desperation; he finished bringing those children into the world, +as it were, by dint of unremitting tenderness. + +'There, my darling, that's enough, isn't it?' he said. 'You'll soon see +how big and pretty you'll become.' + +He then placed Alice in the perambulator again, took Gaston, who was +still wrapped up, on one of his arms; and when his friends wished to +help him, he declined their offer, pushing the little girl's vehicle +along with his right hand, which had remained free. + +'Thanks,' he said, 'I'm accustomed to it. Ah! the poor darlings are not +heavy; and besides, with servants one can never be sure of anything.' + +On entering the house, Sandoz and Claude again saw the valet who had +been so insolent; and they noticed that Dubuche trembled before him. The +kitchen and the hall shared the contempt of the father-in-law, who +paid for everything, and treated 'madame's' husband like a beggar whose +presence was merely tolerated out of charity. Each time that a shirt +was got ready for him, each time that he asked for some more bread, the +servants' impolite gestures made him feel that he was receiving alms. + +'Well, good-bye, we must leave you,' said Sandoz, who suffered at the +sight of it all. + +'No, no, wait a bit. The children are going to breakfast, and afterwards +I'll accompany you with them. They must go for their outing.' + +Each day was regulated hour by hour. Of a morning came the baths and +the gymnastics; then the breakfast, which was quite an affair, as the +children needed special food, which was duly discussed and weighed. And +matters were carried to such a point that even their wine and water was +slightly warmed, for fear that too chilly a drop might give them a cold. +On this occasion they each partook of the yolk of an egg diluted in some +broth, and a mutton cutlet, which the father cut up into tiny morsels. +Then, prior to the siesta, came the promenade. + +Sandoz and Claude found themselves once more out-of-doors, walking +down the broad avenues with Dubuche, who again propelled Alice's +perambulator, whilst Gaston walked beside him. They talked about the +estate as they went towards the gate. The master glanced over the park +with timid, nervous eyes, as if he did not feel at home. Besides he did +not know anything; he did not occupy himself about anything. He appeared +even to have forgotten the profession which he was said to be ignorant +of, and seemed to have gone astray, to be bowed down by sheer inaction. + +'And your parents, how are they?' asked Sandoz. + +A spark was once more kindled in Dubuche's dim eyes. + +'Oh! my parents are happy,' he said; 'I bought them a little house, +where they live on the annuity which I had specified in my marriage +contract. Well, you see, mamma had advanced enough money for my +education, and I had to return it to her, as I had promised, eh? Yes, I +can at least say that my parents have nothing to reproach me with.' + +Having reached the gate, they tarried there for a few minutes. At last, +still looking crushed, Dubuche shook hands with his old comrades; and +retaining Claude's hand in his, he concluded, as if making a simple +statement of fact quite devoid of anger: + +'Good-bye; try to get out of worry! As for me, I've spoilt my life.' + +And they watched him walk back towards the house, pushing the +perambulator, and supporting Gaston, who was already stumbling with +fatigue--he, Dubuche, himself having his back bent and the heavy tread +of an old man. + +One o'clock was striking, and they both hurried down towards Bennecourt, +saddened and ravenous. But mournfulness awaited them there as well; a +murderous blast had swept over the place, both Faucheurs, husband and +wife, and old Porrette, were all dead; and the inn, having fallen into +the hands of that goose Melie, was becoming repugnant with its filth and +coarseness. An abominable repast was served them, an omelette with hairs +in it, and cutlets smelling of grease, in the centre of the common room, +to which an open window admitted the pestilential odour of a dung heap, +while the place was so full of flies that they positively blackened the +tables. The heat of the burning afternoon came in with the stench, and +Claude and Sandoz did not even feel the courage to order any coffee; +they fled. + +'And you who used to extol old Mother Faucheur's omelettes!' said +Sandoz. 'The place is done for. We are going for a turn, eh?' + +Claude was inclined to refuse. Ever since the morning he had had but +one idea--that of walking on as fast as possible, as if each step would +shorten the disagreeable task and bring him back to Paris. His heart, +his head, his whole being had remained there. He looked neither to right +nor to left, he glided along without distinguishing aught of the +fields or trees, having but one fixed idea in his brain, a prey to such +hallucinations that at certain moments he fancied the point of the +Cite rose up and called to him from amid the vast expanse of stubble. +However, Sandoz's proposal aroused memories in his mind; and, softening +somewhat, he replied: + +'Yes, that's it, we'll have a look.' + +But as they advanced along the river bank, he became indignant and +grieved. He could scarcely recognise the place. A bridge had been built +to connect Bennecourt with Bonnieres: a bridge, good heavens! in the +place of the old ferry-boat, grating against its chain--the old black +boat which, cutting athwart the current, had been so full of interest to +the artistic eye. Moreover, a dam established down-stream at Port-Villez +had raised the level of the river, most of the islands of yore were +now submerged, and the little armlets of the stream had become broader. +There were no more pretty nooks, no more rippling alleys amid which one +could lose oneself; it was a disaster that inclined one to strangle all +the river engineers! + +'Why, that clump of pollards still emerging from the water on the left,' +cried Claude, 'was the Barreux Island, where we used to chat together, +lying on the grass! You remember, don't you? Ah! the scoundrels!' + +Sandoz, who could never see a tree felled without shaking his fist at +the wood-cutter, turned pale with anger, and felt exasperated that the +authorities had thus dared to mutilate nature. + +Then, as Claude approached his old home, he became silent, and his teeth +clenched. The house had been sold to some middle-class folk, and +now there was an iron gate, against which he pressed his face. The +rose-bushes were all dead, the apricot trees were dead also; the garden, +which looked very trim, with its little pathways and its square-cut beds +of flowers and vegetables, bordered with box, was reflected in a large +ball of plated glass set upon a stand in the very centre of it; and the +house, newly whitewashed and painted at the corners and round the doors +and windows, in a manner to imitate freestone, suggested some clownish +parvenu awkwardly arrayed in his Sunday toggery. The sight fairly +enraged the painter. No, no, nothing of himself, nothing of Christine, +nothing of the great love of their youth remained there! He wished to +look still further; he turned round behind the house, and sought for +the wood of oak trees where they had left the living quiver of their +embraces; but the wood was dead, dead like all the rest, felled, sold, +and burnt! Then he made a gesture of anathema, in which he cast all his +grief to that stretch of country which was now so changed that he could +not find in it one single token of his past life. And so a few years +sufficed to efface the spot where one had laboured, loved, and suffered! +What was the use of man's vain agitation if the wind behind him swept +and carried away all the traces of his footsteps? He had rightly +realised that he ought not to return thither, for the past is simply +the cemetery of our illusions, where our feet for ever stumble against +tombstones! + +'Let us go!' he cried; 'let us go at once! It's stupid to torture one's +heart like this!' + +When they were on the new bridge, Sandoz tried to calm him by showing +him the view which had not formerly existed, the widened bed of the +Seine, full to the brim, as it were, and the water flowing onward, +proudly and slowly. But this water failed to interest Claude, until he +reflected that it was the same water which, as it passed through Paris, +had bathed the old quay walls of the Cite; and then he felt touched, he +leant over the parapet of the bridge for a moment, and thought that he +could distinguish glorious reflections in it--the towers of Notre-Dame, +and the needle-like spire of the Sainte-Chapelle, carried along by the +current towards the sea. + +The two friends missed the three o'clock train, and it was real torture +to have to spend two long hours more in that region, where everything +weighed so heavily on their shoulders. Fortunately, they had forewarned +Christine and Madame Sandoz that they might return by a night train +if they were detained. So they resolved upon a bachelor dinner at a +restaurant on the Place du Havre, hoping to set themselves all right +again by a good chat at dessert as in former times. Eight o'clock was +about to strike when they sat down to table. + +Claude, on leaving the terminus, with his feet once more on the Paris +pavement, had lost his nervous agitation, like a man who at last finds +himself once more at home. And with the cold, absent-minded air which he +now usually displayed, he listened to Sandoz trying to enliven him. +The novelist treated his friend like a mistress whose head he wished to +turn; they partook of delicate, highly spiced dishes and heady wines. +But mirth was rebellious, and Sandoz himself ended by becoming gloomy. +All his hopes of immortality were shaken by his excursion to that +ungrateful country village, that Bennecourt, so loved and so forgetful, +where he and Claude had not found a single stone retaining any +recollection of them. If things which are eternal forget so soon, can +one place any reliance for one hour on the memory of man? + +'Do you know, old fellow,' said the novelist, 'it's that which sometimes +sends me into a cold sweat. Have you ever reflected that posterity may +not be the faultless dispenser of justice that we dream of? One consoles +oneself for being insulted and denied, by relying on the equity of the +centuries to come; just as the faithful endure all the abominations of +this earth in the firm belief of another life, in which each will be +rewarded according to his deserts. But suppose Paradise exists no +more for the artist than it does for the Catholic, suppose that future +generations prolong the misunderstanding and prefer amiable little +trifles to vigorous works! Ah! what a sell it would be, eh? To have led +a convict's life--to have screwed oneself down to one's work--all for a +mere delusion! Please notice that it's quite possible, after all. +There are some consecrated reputations which I wouldn't give a rap for. +Classical education has deformed everything, and has imposed upon us as +geniuses men of correct, facile talent, who follow the beaten track. +To them one may prefer men of free tendencies, whose work is at times +unequal; but these are only known to a few people of real culture, +so that it looks as if immortality might really go merely to the +middle-class "average" talent, to the men whose names are forced into +our brains at school, when we are not strong enough to defend ourselves. +But no, no, one mustn't say those things; they make me shudder! Should I +have the courage to go on with my task, should I be able to remain erect +amid all the jeering around me if I hadn't the consoling illusion that I +shall some day be appreciated?' + +Claude had listened with his dolorous expression, and he now made a +gesture of indifference tinged with bitterness. + +'Bah! what does it matter? Well, there's nothing hereafter. We are even +madder than the fools who kill themselves for a woman. When the earth +splits to pieces in space like a dry walnut, our works won't add one +atom to its dust.' + +'That's quite true,' summed up Sandoz, who was very pale. 'What's the +use of trying to fill up the void of space? And to think that we know +it, and that our pride still battles all the same!' + +They left the restaurant, roamed about the streets, and foundered again +in the depths of a cafe, where they philosophised. They had come by +degrees to raking up the memories of their childhood, and this ended +by filling their hearts with sadness. One o'clock in the morning struck +when they decided to go home. + +However, Sandoz talked of seeing Claude as far as the Rue Tourlaque. +That August night was a superb one, the air was warm, the sky studded +with stars. And as they went the round by way of the Quartier de +l'Europe, they passed before the old Cafe Baudequin on the Boulevard des +Batignolles. It had changed hands three times. It was no longer arranged +inside in the same manner as formerly; there were now a couple of +billiard tables on the right hand; and several strata of customers had +followed each other thither, one covering the other, so that the old +frequenters had disappeared like buried nations. However, curiosity, the +emotion they had derived from all the past things they had been raking +up together, induced them to cross the boulevard and to glance into the +cafe through the open doorway. They wanted to see their table of yore, +on the left hand, right at the back of the room. + +'Oh, look!' said Sandoz, stupefied. + +'Gagniere!' muttered Claude. + +It was indeed Gagniere, seated all alone at that table at the end of the +empty cafe. He must have come from Melun for one of the Sunday concerts +to which he treated himself; and then, in the evening, while astray in +Paris, an old habit of his legs had led him to the Cafe Baudequin. Not +one of the comrades ever set foot there now, and he, who had beheld +another age, obstinately remained there alone. He had not yet touched +his glass of beer; he was looking at it, so absorbed in thought that +he did not even stir when the waiters began piling the chairs on +the tables, in order that everything might be ready for the morrow's +sweeping. + +The two friends hurried off, upset by the sight of that dim figure, +seized as it were with a childish fear of ghosts. They parted in the Rue +Tourlaque. + +'Ah! that poor devil Dubuche!' said Sandoz as he pressed Claude's hand, +'he spoilt our day for us.' + +As soon as November had come round, and when all the old friends were +back in Paris again, Sandoz thought of gathering them together at one +of those Thursday dinners which had remained a habit with him. They were +always his greatest delight. The sale of his books was increasing, and +he was growing rich; the flat in the Rue de Londres was becoming quite +luxurious compared with the little house at Batignolles; but he himself +remained immutable. On this occasion, he was anxious, in his good +nature, to procure real enjoyment for Claude by organising one of the +dear evenings of their youth. So he saw to the invitations; Claude and +Christine naturally must come; next Jory and his wife, the latter of +whom it had been necessary to receive since her marriage, then Dubuche, +who always came alone, with Fagerolles, Mahoudeau, and finally Gagniere. +There would be ten of them--all the men comrades of the old band, +without a single outsider, in order that the good understanding and +jollity might be complete. + +Henriette, who was more mistrustful than her husband, hesitated when +this list of guests was decided upon. + +'Oh! Fagerolles? You believe in having Fagerolles with the others? They +hardly like him--nor Claude either; I fancied I noticed a coolness--' + +But he interrupted her, bent on not admitting it. + +'What! a coolness? It's really funny, but women can't understand that +fellows chaff each other. All that doesn't prevent them from having +their hearts in the right place.' + +Henriette took especial care in preparing the menu for that Thursday +dinner. She now had quite a little staff to overlook, a cook, a +man-servant, and so on; and if she no longer prepared any of the dishes +herself, she still saw that very delicate fare was provided, out of +affection for her husband, whose sole vice was gluttony. She went to +market with the cook, and called in person on the tradespeople. She +and her husband had a taste for gastronomical curiosities from the four +corners of the world. On this occasion they decided to have some ox-tail +soup, grilled mullet, undercut of beef with mushrooms, _raviolis_ in +the Italian fashion, hazel-hens from Russia, and a salad of truffles, +without counting caviare and _kilkis_ as side-dishes, a _glace +pralinee_, and a little emerald-coloured Hungarian cheese, with fruit +and pastry. As wine, some old Bordeaux claret in decanters, chambertin +with the roast, and sparkling moselle at dessert, in lieu of champagne, +which was voted commonplace. + +At seven o'clock Sandoz and Henriette were waiting for their guests, he +simply wearing a jacket, and she looking very elegant in a plain dress +of black satin. People dined at their house in frock-coats, without +any fuss. The drawing-room, the arrangements of which they were now +completing, was becoming crowded with old furniture, old tapestry, +nick-nacks of all countries and all times--a rising and now overflowing +stream of things which had taken source at Batignolles with an old pot +of Rouen ware, which Henriette had given her husband on one of his fete +days. They ran about to the curiosity shops together; a joyful passion +for buying possessed them. Sandoz satisfied the longings of his youth, +the romanticist ambitions which the first books he had read had +given birth to. Thus this writer, so fiercely modern, lived amid the +worm-eaten middle ages which he had dreamt of when he was a lad of +fifteen. As an excuse, he laughingly declared that handsome modern +furniture cost too much, whilst with old things, even common ones, you +immediately obtained something with effect and colour. There was nothing +of the collector about him, he was entirely concerned as to decoration +and broad effects; and to tell the truth, the drawing-room, lighted by +two lamps of old Delft ware, had quite a soft warm tint with the dull +gold of the dalmaticas used for upholstering the seats, the yellowish +incrustations of the Italian cabinets and Dutch show-cases, the faded +hues of the Oriental door-hangings, the hundred little notes of the +ivory, crockery and enamel work, pale with age, which showed against the +dull red hangings of the room. + +Claude and Christine were the first to arrive. The latter had put on +her only silk dress--an old, worn-out garment which she preserved with +especial care for such occasions. Henriette at once took hold of +both her hands and drew her to a sofa. She was very fond of her, and +questioned her, seeing her so strange, touchingly pale, and with anxious +eyes. What was the matter? Did she feel poorly? No, no, she answered +that she was very gay and very pleased to come; but while she spoke, she +kept on glancing at Claude, as if to study him, and then looked away. He +seemed excited, evincing a feverishness in his words and gestures which +he had not shown for a month past. At intervals, however, his agitation +subsided, and he remained silent, with his eyes wide open, gazing +vacantly into space at something which he fancied was calling him. + +'Ah! old man,' he said to Sandoz, 'I finished reading your book last +night. It's deucedly clever; you have shut up their mouths this time!' + +They both talked standing in front of the chimney-piece, where some logs +were blazing. Sandoz had indeed just published a new novel, and although +his critics did not disarm, there was at last that stir of success which +establishes a man's reputation despite the persistent attacks of his +adversaries. Besides, he had no illusions; he knew very well that the +battle, even if it were won, would begin again at each fresh book he +wrote. The great work of his life was advancing, that series of novels +which he launched forth in volumes one after another in stubborn, +regular fashion, marching towards the goal he had selected without +letting anything, obstacles, insults, or fatigue, conquer him. + +'It's true,' he gaily replied, 'they are weakening this time. There's +even one who has been foolish enough to admit that I'm an honest man! +See how everything degenerates! But they'll make up for it, never fear! +I know some of them whose nuts are too much unlike my own to let +them accept my literary formula, my boldness of language, and my +physiological characters acting under the influence of circumstances; +and I refer to brother writers who possess self-respect; I leave the +fools and the scoundrels on one side. For a man to be able to work on +pluckily, it is best for him to expect neither good faith nor justice. +To be in the right he must begin by dying.' + +At this Claude's eyes abruptly turned towards a corner of the +drawing-room, as if to pierce the wall and go far away yonder, whither +something had summoned him. Then they became hazy and returned from +their journey, whilst he exclaimed: + +'Oh! you speak for yourself! I should do wrong to kick the bucket. No +matter, your book sent me into a deuced fever. I wanted to paint to-day, +but I couldn't. Ah! it's lucky that I can't get jealous of you, else you +would make me too unhappy.' + +However, the door had opened, and Mathilde came in, followed by Jory. +She was richly attired in a tunic of nasturtium-hued velvet and a skirt +of straw-coloured satin, with diamonds in her ears and a large bouquet +of roses on her bosom. What astonished Claude the most was that he did +not recognise her, for she had become plump, round, and fair skinned, +instead of thin and sunburnt as he had known her. Her disturbing +ugliness had departed in a swelling of the face; her mouth, once +noted for its black voids, now displayed teeth which looked over-white +whenever she condescended to smile, with a disdainful curling of the +upper lip. You could guess that she had become immoderately respectable; +her five and forty summers gave her weight beside her husband, who was +younger than herself and seemed to be her nephew. The only thing of yore +that clung to her was a violent perfume; she drenched herself with the +strongest essences, as if she had been anxious to wash from her skin the +smell of all the aromatic simples with which she had been impregnated +by her herbalist business; however, the sharpness of rhubarb, the +bitterness of elder-seed, and the warmth of peppermint clung to her; +and as soon as she crossed the drawing-room, it was filled with an +undefinable smell like that of a chemist's shop, relieved by an acute +odour of musk. + +Henriette, who had risen, made her sit down beside Christine, saying: + +'You know each other, don't you? You have already met here.' + +Mathilde gave but a cold glance at the modest attire of that woman +who had lived for a long time with a man, so it was said, before being +married to him. She herself was exceedingly rigid respecting such +matters since the tolerance prevailing in literary and artistic circles +had admitted her to a few drawing-rooms. Henriette hated her, however, +and after the customary exchange of courtesies, not to be dispensed +with, resumed her conversation with Christine. + +Jory had shaken hands with Claude and Sandoz, and, standing near them, +in front of the fireplace, he apologised for an article slashing the +novelist's new book which had appeared that very morning in his review. + +'As you know very well, my dear fellow, one is never the master in one's +own house. I ought to see to everything, but I have so little time! I +hadn't even read that article, I relied on what had been told me +about it. So you will understand how enraged I was when I read it this +afternoon. I am dreadfully grieved, dreadfully grieved--' + +'Oh, let it be! It's the natural order of things,' replied Sandoz, +quietly. 'Now that my enemies are beginning to praise me, it's only +proper that my friends should attack me.' + +The door again opened, and Gagniere glided in softly, like a +will-o'-the-wisp. He had come straight from Melun, and was quite alone, +for he never showed his wife to anybody. When he thus came to dinner he +brought the country dust with him on his boots, and carried it back with +him the same night on taking the last train. On the other hand, he did +not alter; or, rather, age seemed to rejuvenate him; his complexion +became fairer as he grew old. + +'Hallo! Why, Gagniere's here!' exclaimed Sandoz. + +Then, just as Gagniere was making up his mind to bow to the ladies, +Mahoudeau entered. He had already grown grey, with a sunken, +fierce-looking face and childish, blinking eyes. He still wore trousers +which were a good deal too short for him, and a frock-coat which creased +in the back, in spite of the money which he now earned; for the bronze +manufacturer for whom he worked had brought out some charming statuettes +of his, which one began to see on middle-class mantel-shelves and +consoles. + +Sandoz and Claude had turned round, inquisitive to witness the meeting +between Mahoudeau and Mathilde. However, matters passed off very +quietly. The sculptor bowed to her respectfully, while Jory, the +husband, with his air of serene unconsciousness, thought fit to +introduce her to him, for the twentieth time, perhaps. + +'Eh! It's my wife, old fellow. Shake hands together.' + +Thereupon, both very grave, like people of society who are forced +somewhat over-promptly into familiarity, Mathilde and Mahoudeau shook +hands. Only, as soon as the latter had got rid of the job and had found +Gagniere in a corner of the drawing-room, they both began sneering and +recalling, in terrible language, all the abominations of yore. + +Dubuche was expected that evening, for he had formally promised to come. + +'Yes,' explained Henriette, 'there will only be nine of us. Fagerolles +wrote this morning to apologise; he is forced to go to some official +dinner, but he hopes to escape, and will join us at about eleven +o'clock.' + +At that moment, however, a servant came in with a telegram. It was from +Dubuche, who wired: 'Impossible to stir. Alice has an alarming cough.' + +'Well, we shall only be eight, then,' resumed Henriette, with the +somewhat peevish resignation of a hostess disappointed by her guests. + +And the servant having opened the dining-room door and announced that +dinner was ready, she added: + +'We are all here. Claude, offer me your arm.' + +Sandoz took Mathilde's, Jory charged himself with Christine, while +Mahoudeau and Gagniere brought up the rear, still joking coarsely about +what they called the beautiful herbalist's padding. + +The dining-room which they now entered was very spacious, and the light +was gaily bright after the subdued illumination of the drawing-room. The +walls, covered with specimens of old earthenware, displayed a gay medley +of colours, reminding one of cheap coloured prints. Two sideboards, +one laden with glass and the other with silver plate, sparkled like +jewellers' show-cases. And in the centre of the room, under the +big hanging lamp girt round with tapers, the table glistened like a +_catafalque_ with the whiteness of its cloth, laid in perfect style, +with decorated plates, cut-glass decanters white with water or +ruddy with wine, and symmetrical side-dishes, all set out around the +centre-piece, a silver basket full of purple roses. + +They sat down, Henriette between Claude and Mahoudeau, Sandoz with +Mathilde and Christine beside him, Jory and Gagniere at either end; and +the servant had barely finished serving the soup, when Madame Jory made +a most unfortunate remark. Wishing to show herself amiable, and not +having heard her husband's apologies, she said to the master of the +house: + +'Well, were you pleased with the article in this morning's number? +Edouard personally revised the proofs with the greatest care!' + +On hearing this, Jory became very much confused and stammered: + +'No, no! you are mistaken! It was a very bad article indeed, and you +know very well that it was "passed" the other evening while I was away.' + +By the silent embarrassment which ensued she guessed her blunder. But +she made matters still worse, for, giving her husband a sharp glance, +she retorted in a very loud voice, so as to crush him, as it were, and +disengage her own responsibility: + +'Another of your lies! I repeat what you told me. I won't allow you to +make me ridiculous, do you hear?' + +This threw a chill over the beginning of the dinner. Henriette +recommended the _kilkis_, but Christine alone found them very nice. +When the grilled mullet appeared, Sandoz, who was amused by Jory's +embarrassment, gaily reminded him of a lunch they had had together at +Marseilles in the old days. Ah! Marseilles, the only city where people +know how to eat! + +Claude, who for a little while had been absorbed in thought, now seemed +to awaken from a dream, and without any transition he asked: + +'Is it decided? Have they selected the artists for the new decorations +of the Hotel de Ville?' + +'No,' said Mahoudeau, 'they are going to do so. I sha'n't get anything, +for I don't know anybody. Fagerolles himself is very anxious. If he +isn't here to-night, it's because matters are not going smoothly. Ah! +he has had his bite at the cherry; all that painting for millions is +cracking to bits!' + +There was a laugh, expressive of spite finally satisfied, and even +Gagniere at the other end of the table joined in the sneering. Then they +eased their feelings in malicious words, and rejoiced over the sudden +fall of prices which had thrown the world of 'young masters' into +consternation. It was inevitable, the predicted time was coming, +the exaggerated rise was about to finish in a catastrophe. Since the +amateurs had been panic-stricken, seized with consternation like that +of speculators when a 'slump' sweeps over a Stock Exchange, prices were +giving way day by day, and nothing more was sold. It was a sight to +see the famous Naudet amid the rout; he had held out at first, he had +invented 'the dodge of the Yankee'--the unique picture hidden deep in +some gallery, in solitude like an idol--the picture of which he would +not name the price, being contemptuously certain that he could never +find a man rich enough to purchase it, but which he finally sold for two +or three hundred thousand francs to some pig-dealer of Chicago, who +felt glorious at carrying off the most expensive canvas of the year. But +those fine strokes of business were not to be renewed at present, and +Naudet, whose expenditure had increased with his gains, drawn on and +swallowed up in the mad craze which was his own work, could now hear +his regal mansion crumbling beneath him, and was reduced to defend it +against the assault of creditors. + +'Won't you take some more mushrooms, Mahoudeau?' obligingly interrupted +Henriette. + +The servant was now handing round the undercut. They ate, and emptied +the decanters; but their bitterness was so great that the best things +were offered without being tasted, which distressed the master and +mistress of the house. + +'Mushrooms, eh?' the sculptor ended by repeating. 'No, thanks.' And he +added: 'The funny part of it all is, that Naudet is suing Fagerolles. +Oh, quite so! he's going to distrain on him. Ah! it makes me laugh! We +shall see a pretty scouring in the Avenue de Villiers among all those +petty painters with mansions of their own. House property will go for +nothing next spring! Well, Naudet, who had compelled Fagerolles to build +a house, and who furnished it for him as he would have furnished a place +for a hussy, wanted to get hold of his nick-nacks and hangings again. +But Fagerolles had borrowed money on them, so it seems. You can imagine +the state of affairs; the dealer accuses the artist of having spoilt his +game by exhibiting with the vanity of a giddy fool; while the painter +replies that he doesn't mean to be robbed any longer; and they'll end by +devouring each other--at least, I hope so.' + +Gagniere raised his voice, the gentle but inexorable voice of a dreamer +just awakened. + +'Fagerolles is done for. Besides, he never had any success.' + +The others protested. Well, what about the hundred thousand francs' +worth of pictures he had sold a year, and his medals and his cross +of the Legion of Honour? But Gagniere, still obstinate, smiled with +a mysterious air, as if facts could not prevail against his inner +conviction. He wagged his head and, full of disdain, replied: + +'Let me be! He never knew anything about chiaroscuro.' + +Jory was about to defend the talent of Fagerolles, whom he considered to +be his own creation, when Henriette solicited a little attention for +the _raviolis_. There was a short slackening of the quarrel amid the +crystalline clinking of the glasses and the light clatter of the forks. +The table, laid with such fine symmetry, was already in confusion, and +seemed to sparkle still more amid the ardent fire of the quarrel. And +Sandoz, growing anxious, felt astonished. What was the matter with them +all that they attacked Fagerolles so harshly? Hadn't they all begun +together, and were they not all to reach the goal in the same victory? +For the first time, a feeling of uneasiness disturbed his dream of +eternity, that delight in his Thursdays, which he had pictured following +one upon another, all alike, all of them happy ones, into the far +distance of the future. But the feeling was as yet only skin deep, and +he laughingly exclaimed: + +'Husband your strength, Claude, here are the hazel-hens. Eh! Claude, +where are you?' + +Since silence had prevailed, Claude had relapsed into his dream, gazing +about him vacantly, and taking a second help of _raviolis_ without +knowing what he was about; Christine, who said nothing, but sat there +looking sad and charming, did not take her eyes off him. He started when +Sandoz spoke, and chose a leg from amid the bits of hazel-hen now being +served, the strong fumes of which filled the room with a resinous smell. + +'Do you smell that?' exclaimed Sandoz, amused; 'one would think one were +swallowing all the forests of Russia.' + +But Claude returned to the matter which worried him. + +'Then you say that Fagerolles will be entrusted with the paintings for +the Municipal Council's assembly room?' + +And this remark sufficed; Mahoudeau and Gagniere, set on the track, at +once started off again. Ah! a nice wishy-washy smearing it would be +if that assembly room were allotted to him; and he was doing plenty of +dirty things to get it. He, who had formerly pretended to spit on +orders for work, like a great artist surrounded by amateurs, was basely +cringing to the officials, now that his pictures no longer sold. +Could anything more despicable be imagined than a painter soliciting +a functionary, bowing and scraping, showing all kinds of cowardice and +making all kinds of concessions? It was shameful that art should be +dependent upon a Minister's idiotic good pleasure! Fagerolles, at that +official dinner he had gone to, was no doubt conscientiously licking the +boots of some chief clerk, some idiot who was only fit to be made a guy +of. + +'Well,' said Jory, 'he effects his purpose, and he's quite right. _You_ +won't pay his debts.' + +'Debts? Have I any debts, I who have always starved?' answered Mahoudeau +in a roughly arrogant tone. 'Ought a fellow to build himself a palace +and spend money on creatures like that Irma Becot, who's ruining +Fagerolles?' + +At this Jory grew angry, while the others jested, and Irma's name went +flying over the table. But Mathilde, who had so far remained reserved +and silent by way of making a show of good breeding, became intensely +indignant. 'Oh! gentlemen, oh! gentlemen,' she exclaimed, 'to talk +before _us_ about that creature. No, not that creature, I implore you! + +After that Henriette and Sandoz, who were in consternation, witnessed +the rout of their menu. The truffle salad, the ice, the dessert, +everything was swallowed without being at all appreciated amidst the +rising anger of the quarrel; and the chambertin and sparkling moselle +were imbibed as if they had merely been water. In vain did Henriette +smile, while Sandoz good-naturedly tried to calm them by making +allowances for human weakness. Not one of them retreated from his +position; a single word made them spring upon each other. There was +none of the vague boredom, the somniferous satiety which at times had +saddened their old gatherings; at present there was real ferocity in the +struggle, a longing to destroy one another. The tapers of the hanging +lamp flared up, the painted flowers of the earthenware on the walls +bloomed, the table seemed to have caught fire amid the upsetting of its +symmetrical arrangements and the violence of the talk, that demolishing +onslaught of chatter which had filled them with fever for a couple of +hours past. + +And amid the racket, when Henriette made up her mind to rise so as to +silence them, Claude at length remarked: + +'Ah! if I only had the Hotel de Ville work, and if I could! It used to +be my dream to cover all the walls of Paris!' + +They returned to the drawing-room, where the little chandelier and the +bracket-candelabra had just been lighted. It seemed almost cold there in +comparison with the kind of hot-house which had just been left; and +for a moment the coffee calmed the guests. Nobody beyond Fagerolles was +expected. The house was not an open one by any means, the Sandozes +did not recruit literary dependents or muzzle the press by dint of +invitations. The wife detested society, and the husband said with a +laugh that he needed ten years to take a liking to anybody, and then he +must like him always. But was not that real happiness, seldom realised? +A few sound friendships and a nook full of family affection. No +music was ever played there, and nobody had ever read a page of his +composition aloud. + +On that particular Thursday the evening seemed a long one, on account +of the persistent irritation of the men. The ladies had begun to chat +before the smouldering fire; and when the servant, after clearing the +table, reopened the door of the dining-room, they were left alone, the +men repairing to the adjoining apartment to smoke and sip some beer. + +Sandoz and Claude, who were not smokers, soon returned, however, and sat +down, side by side, on a sofa near the doorway. The former, who was glad +to see his old friend excited and talkative, recalled the memories +of Plassans apropos of a bit of news he had learnt the previous day. +Pouillaud, the old jester of their dormitory, who had become so grave +a lawyer, was now in trouble over some adventure with a woman. Ah! that +brute of a Pouillaud! But Claude did not answer, for, having heard his +name mentioned in the dining-room, he listened attentively, trying to +understand. + +Jory, Mahoudeau, and Gagniere, unsatiated and eager for another bite, +had started on the massacre again. Their voices, at first mere whispers, +gradually grew louder, till at last they began to shout. + +'Oh! the man, I abandon the man to you,' said Jory, who was speaking of +Fagerolles. 'He isn't worth much. And he out-generalled you, it's true. +Ah! how he did get the better of you fellows, by breaking off from you +and carving success for himself on your backs! You were certainly not at +all cute.' + +Mahoudeau, waxing furious, replied: + +'Of course! It sufficed for us to be with Claude, to be turned away +everywhere.' + +'It was Claude who did for us!' so Gagniere squarely asserted. + +And thus they went on, relinquishing Fagerolles, whom they reproached +for toadying the newspapers, for allying himself with their enemies and +wheedling sexagenarian baronesses, to fall upon Claude, who now became +the great culprit. Well, after all, the other was only a hussy, one of +the many found in the artistic fraternity, fellows who accost the public +at street corners, leave their comrades in the lurch, and victimise them +so as to get the bourgeois into their studios. But Claude, that abortive +great artist, that impotent fellow who couldn't set a figure on its legs +in spite of all his pride, hadn't he utterly compromised them, hadn't he +let them in altogether? Ah! yes, success might have been won by breaking +off. If they had been able to begin over again, they wouldn't have been +idiots enough to cling obstinately to impossible principles! And they +accused Claude of having paralysed them, of having traded on them--yes, +traded on them, but in so clumsy and dull-witted a manner that he +himself had not derived any benefit by it. + +'Why, as for me,' resumed Mahoudeau, 'didn't he make me quite idiotic at +one moment? When I think of it, I sound myself, and remain wondering +why I ever joined his band. Am I at all like him? Was there ever any one +thing in common between us, eh? Ah! it's exasperating to find the truth +out so late in the day!' + +'And as for myself,' said Gagniere, 'he robbed me of my originality. Do +you think it has amused me, each time I have exhibited a painting during +the last fifteen years, to hear people saying behind me, "That's a +Claude!" Oh! I've had enough of it, I prefer not to paint any more. +All the same, if I had seen clearly in former times, I shouldn't have +associated with him.' + +It was a stampede, the snapping of the last ties, in their stupefaction +at suddenly finding that they were strangers and enemies, after a long +youth of fraternity together. Life had disbanded them on the road, and +the great dissimilarity of their characters stood revealed; all that +remained in them was the bitterness left by the old enthusiastic dream, +that erstwhile hope of battle and victory to be won side by side, which +now increased their spite. + +'The fact is,' sneered Jory, 'that Fagerolles did not let himself be +pillaged like a simpleton.' + +But Mahoudeau, feeling vexed, became angry. 'You do wrong to laugh,' he +said, 'for you are a nice backslider yourself. Yes, you always told us +that you would give us a lift up when you had a paper of your own.' + +'Ah! allow me, allow me--' + +Gagniere, however, united with Mahoudeau: 'That's quite true!' he said. +'You can't say any more that what you write about us is cut out, for you +are the master now. And yet, never a word! You didn't even name us in +your articles on the last Salon.' + +Then Jory, embarrassed and stammering, in his turn flew into a rage. + +'Ah! well, it's the fault of that cursed Claude! I don't care to lose my +subscribers simply to please you fellows. It's impossible to do anything +for you! There! do you understand? You, Mahoudeau, may wear yourself +out in producing pretty little things; you, Gagniere, may even never do +anything more; but you each have a label on the back, and you'll need +ten years' efforts before you'll be able to get it off. In fact, there +have been some labels that would never come off! The public is amused +by it, you know; there were only you fellows to believe in the genius of +that big ridiculous lunatic, who will be locked up in a madhouse one of +these fine mornings!' + +Then the dispute became terrible, they all three spoke at once, coming +at last to abominable reproaches, with such outbursts, and such furious +motion of the jaw, that they seemed to be biting one another. + +Sandoz, seated on the sofa, and disturbed in the gay memories he was +recalling, was at last obliged to lend ear to the tumult which reached +him through the open doorway. + +'You hear them?' whispered Claude, with a dolorous smile; 'they are +giving it me nicely! No, no, stay here, I won't let you stop them; I +deserve it, since I have failed to succeed.' + +And Sandoz, turning pale, remained there, listening to that bitter +quarrelling, the outcome of the struggle for life, that grappling of +conflicting personalities, which bore all his chimera of everlasting +friendship away. + +Henriette, fortunately, became anxious on hearing the violent shouting. +She rose and went to shame the smokers for thus forsaking the ladies +to go and quarrel together. They then returned to the drawing-room, +perspiring, breathing hard, and still shaken by their anger. And as +Henriette, with her eyes on the clock, remarked that they certainly +would not see Fagerolles that evening, they, began to sneer again, +exchanging glances. Ah! he had a fine scent, and no mistake; he wouldn't +be caught associating with old friends, who had become troublesome, and +whom he hated. + +In fact, Fagerolles did not come. The evening finished laboriously. They +once more went back to the dining-room, where the tea was served on a +Russian tablecloth embroidered with a stag-hunt in red thread; and under +the tapers a plain cake was displayed, with plates full of sweetstuff +and pastry, and a barbarous collection of liqueurs and spirits, whisky, +hollands, Chio raki, and kummel. The servant also brought some punch, +and bestirred himself round the table, while the mistress of the house +filled the teapot from the samovar boiling in front of her. But all the +comfort, all the feast for the eyes and the fine perfume of the tea did +not move their hearts. The conversation again turned on the success that +some men achieved and the ill-luck that befell others. For instance, was +it not shameful that art should be dishonoured by all those medals, all +those crosses, all those rewards, which were so badly distributed to +boot? Were artists always to remain like little boys at school? All +the universal platitude came from the docility and cowardice which were +shown, as in the presence of ushers, so as to obtain good marks. + +They had repaired to the drawing-room once more, and Sandoz, who was +greatly distressed, had begun to wish that they would take themselves +off, when he noticed Mathilde and Gagniere seated side by side on a sofa +and talking languishingly of music, while the others remained exhausted, +lacking saliva and power of speech. Gagniere philosophised and poetised +in a state of ecstasy, while Mathilde rolled up her eyes and went into +raptures as if titillated by some invisible wing. They had caught sight +of each other on the previous Sunday at the concert at the Cirque, and +they apprised each other of their enjoyment in alternate, far-soaring +sentences. + +'Ah! that Meyerbeer, monsieur, the overture of "Struensee," that +funereal strain, and then that peasant dance, so full of dash and +colour; and then the mournful burden which returns, the duo of the +violoncellos. Ah! monsieur, the violoncellos, the violoncellos!' + +'And Berlioz, madame, the festival air in "Romeo." Oh! the solo of the +clarionets, the beloved women, with the harp accompaniment! Something +enrapturing, something white as snow which ascends! The festival +bursts upon you, like a picture by Paul Veronese, with the tumultuous +magnificence of the "Marriage of Cana"; and then the love-song begins +again, oh, how softly! Oh! always higher! higher still--' + +'Did you notice, monsieur, in Beethoven's Symphony in A, that knell +which ever and ever comes back and beats upon your heart? Yes, I see +very well, you feel as I do, music is a communion--Beethoven, ah, me! +how sad and sweet it is to be two to understand him and give way--' + +'And Schumann, madame, and Wagner, madame--Schumann's "Reverie," nothing +but the stringed instruments, a warm shower falling on acacia leaves, a +sunray which dries them, barely a tear in space. Wagner! ah, Wagner! the +overture of the "Flying Dutchman," are you not fond of it?--tell me you +are fond of it! As for myself, it overcomes me. There is nothing left, +nothing left, one expires--' + +Their voices died away; they did not even look at each other, but sat +there elbow to elbow, with their faces turned upward, quite overcome. + +Sandoz, who was surprised, asked himself where Mathilde could have +picked up that jargon. In some article of Jory's, perhaps. Besides, he +had remarked that women talk music very well, even without knowing a +note of it. And he, whom the bitterness of the others had only grieved, +became exasperated at sight of Mathilde's languishing attitude. No, no, +that was quite enough; the men tore each other to bits; still that might +pass, after all; but what an end to the evening it was, that feminine +fraud, cooing and titillating herself with thoughts of Beethoven's and +Schumann's music! Fortunately, Gagniere suddenly rose. He knew what +o'clock it was even in the depths of his ecstasy, and he had only just +time left him to catch his last train. So, after exchanging nerveless +and silent handshakes with the others, he went off to sleep at Melun. + +'What a failure he is!' muttered Mahoudeau. 'Music has killed painting; +he'll never do anything!' + +He himself had to leave, and the door had scarcely closed behind his +back when Jory declared: + +'Have you seen his last paperweight? He'll end by sculpturing +sleeve-links. There's a fellow who has missed his mark! To think that he +prided himself on being vigorous!' + +But Mathilde was already afoot, taking leave of Christine with a curt +little inclination of the head, affecting social familiarity with +Henriette, and carrying off her husband, who helped her on with her +cloak in the ante-room, humble and terrified at the severe glance she +gave him, for she had an account to settle. + +Then, the door having closed behind them, Sandoz, beside himself, +cried out: 'That's the end! The journalist was bound to call the others +abortions--yes, the journalist who, after patching up articles, has +fallen to trading upon public credulity! Ah! luckily there's Mathilde +the Avengeress!' + +Of the guests Christine and Claude alone were left. The latter, since +the drawing-room had been growing empty, had remained ensconced in the +depths of an arm-chair, no longer speaking, but overcome by that species +of magnetic slumber which stiffened him, and fixed his eyes on something +far away beyond the walls. He protruded his face, a convulsive kind +of attention seemed to carry it forward; he certainly beheld something +invisible, and heard a summons in the silence. + +Christine having risen in her turn, and apologised for being the last +to leave, Henriette took hold of her hands, repeated how fond she was of +her, begged her to come and see her frequently, and to dispose of her +in all things as she would with a sister. But Claude's sorrowful wife, +looking so sadly charming in her black dress, shook her head with a pale +smile. + +'Come,' said Sandoz in her ear, after giving a glance at Claude, 'you +mustn't distress yourself like that. He has talked a great deal, he has +been gayer this evening. He's all right.' + +But in a terrified voice she answered: + +'No, no; look at his eyes--I shall tremble as long as he has his eyes +like that. You have done all you could, thanks. What you haven't done no +one will do. Ah! how I suffer at being unable to hope, at being unable +to do anything!' + +Then in a loud tone she asked: + +'Are you coming, Claude?' + +She had to repeat her question twice, for at first he did not hear her; +he ended by starting, however, and rose to his feet, saying, as if he +had answered the summons from the horizon afar off: + +'Yes, I'm coming, I'm coming.' + +When Sandoz and his wife at last found themselves alone in the +drawing-room, where the atmosphere now was stifling--heated by the +lights and heavy, as it were, with melancholy silence after all the +outbursts of the quarrelling--they looked at one another and let their +arms fall, quite heart-rent by the unfortunate issue of their dinner +party. Henrietta tried to laugh it off, however, murmuring: + +'I warned you, I quite understood--' + +But he interrupted her with a despairing gesture. What! was that, then, +the end of his long illusion, that dream of eternity which had made +him set happiness in a few friendships, formed in childhood, and shared +until extreme old age? Ah! what a wretched band, what a final rending, +what a terrible balance-sheet to weep over after that bankruptcy of the +human heart! And he grew astonished on thinking of the friends who had +fallen off by the roadside, of the great affections lost on the way, +of the others unceasingly changing around himself, in whom he found no +change. His poor Thursdays filled him with pity, so many memories were +in mourning, it was the slow death of all that one loves! Would his +wife and himself have to resign themselves to live as in a desert, to +cloister themselves in utter hatred of the world? Ought they rather to +throw their doors wide open to a throng of strangers and indifferent +folk? By degrees a certainty dawned in the depths of his grief: +everything ended and nothing began again in life. He seemed to yield to +evidence, and, heaving a big sigh, exclaimed: + +'You were right. We won't invite them to dinner again--they would devour +one another.' + +As soon as Claude and Christine reached the Place de la Trinite on their +way home, the painter let go of his wife's arm; and, stammering that +he had to go somewhere, he begged her to return to the Rue Tourlaque +without him. She had felt him shuddering, and she remained quite scared +with surprise and fear. Somewhere to go at that hour--past midnight! +Where had he to go, and what for? He had turned round and was making +off, when she overtook him, and, pretending that she was frightened, +begged that he would not leave her to climb up to Montmartre alone at +that time of night. This consideration alone brought him back. He took +her arm again; they ascended the Rue Blanche and the Rue Lepic, and at +last found themselves in the Rue Tourlaque. And on reaching their door, +he rang the bell, and then again left her. + +'Here you are,' he said; 'I'm going.' + +He was already hastening away, taking long strides, and gesticulating +like a madman. Without even closing the door which had been opened, she +darted off, bent on following him. In the Rue Lepic she drew near; but +for fear of exciting him still more she contented herself with keeping +him in sight, walking some thirty yards in the rear, without his knowing +that she was behind him. On reaching the end of the Rue Lepic he went +down the Rue Blanche again, and then proceeded by way of the Rue de +la Chaussee-d'Antin and the Rue du Dix Decembre as far as the Rue de +Richelieu. When she saw him turn into the last-named thoroughfare, a +mortal chill came over her: he was going towards the Seine; it was the +realisation of the frightful fear which kept her of a night awake, full +of anguish! And what could she do, good Lord? Go with him, hang upon his +neck over yonder? She was now only able to stagger along, and as each +step brought them nearer to the river, she felt life ebbing from her +limbs. Yes, he was going straight there; he crossed the Place du +Theatre Francais, then the Carrousel, and finally reached the Pont des +Saints-Peres. After taking a few steps along the bridge, he approached +the railing overlooking the water; and at the thought that he was about +to jump over, a loud cry was stifled in her contracted throat. + +But no; he remained motionless. Was it then only the Cite over yonder +that haunted him, that heart of Paris which pursued him everywhere, +which he conjured up with his fixed eyes, even through walls, and which, +when he was leagues away, cried out the constant summons heard by him +alone? She did not yet dare to hope it; she had stopped short, in the +rear, watching him with giddy anxiety, ever fancying that she saw him +take the terrible leap, but resisting her longing to draw nearer, for +fear lest she might precipitate the catastrophe by showing herself. +Oh, God! to think that she was there with her devouring passion, her +bleeding motherly heart--that she was there beholding everything, +without daring to risk one movement to hold him back! + +He stood erect, looking very tall, quite motionless, and gazing into the +night. + +It was a winter's night, with a misty sky of sooty blackness, and was +rendered extremely cold by a sharp wind blowing from the west. Paris, +lighted up, had gone to sleep, showing no signs of life save such as +attached to the gas-jets, those specks which scintillated and grew +smaller and smaller in the distance till they seemed but so much starry +dust. The quays stretched away showing double rows of those luminous +beads whose reverberation glimmered on the nearer frontages. On the left +were the houses of the Quai du Louvre, on the right the two wings of the +Institute, confused masses of monuments and buildings, which became lost +to view in the darkening gloom, studded with sparks. Then between those +cordons of burners, extending as far as the eye could reach, the bridges +stretched bars of lights, ever slighter and slighter, each formed of a +train of spangles, grouped together and seemingly hanging in mid-air. +And in the Seine there shone the nocturnal splendour of the animated +water of cities; each gas-jet there cast a reflection of its flame, like +the nucleus of a comet, extending into a tail. The nearer ones, mingling +together, set the current on fire with broad, regular, symmetrical fans +of light, glowing like live embers, while the more distant ones, seen +under the bridges, were but little motionless sparks of fire. But the +large burning tails appeared to be animated, they waggled as they spread +out, all black and gold, with a constant twirling of scales, in which +one divined the flow of the water. The whole Seine was lighted up by +them, as if some fete were being given in its depths--some mysterious, +fairy-like entertainment, at which couples were waltzing beneath the +river's red-flashing window-panes. High above those fires, above the +starry quays, the sky, in which not a planet was visible, showed a ruddy +mass of vapour, that warm, phosphorescent exhalation which every night, +above the sleep of the city, seems to set the crater of a volcano. + +The wind blew hard, and Christine, shivering, her eyes full of tears, +felt the bridge move under her, as if it were bearing her away amid a +smash up of the whole scene. Had not Claude moved? Was he not climbing +over the rail? No; everything became motionless again, and she saw him +still on the same spot, obstinately stiff, with his eyes turned towards +the point of the Cite, which he could not see. + +It had summoned him, and he had come, and yet he could not see it in +the depths of the darkness. He could only distinguish the bridges, with +their light framework standing out blackly against the sparkling water. +But farther off everything became confused, the island had disappeared, +he could not even have told its exact situation if some belated cabs +had not passed from time to time over the Pont-Neuf, with their lamps +showing like those shooting sparks which dart at times through embers. +A red lantern, on a level with the dam of the Mint, cast a streamlet of +blood, as it were, into the water. Something huge and lugubrious, some +drifting form, no doubt a lighter which had become unmoored, slowly +descended the stream amid the reflections. Espied for a moment, it was +immediately afterwards lost in the darkness. Where had the triumphal +island sunk? In the depths of that flow of water? Claude still gazed, +gradually fascinated by the great rushing of the river in the night. He +leant over its broad bed, chilly like an abyss, in which the mysterious +flames were dancing. And the loud, sad wail of the current attracted +him, and he listened to its call, despairing, unto death. + +By a shooting pain at her heart, Christine this time realised that the +terrible thought had just occurred to him. She held out her quivering +hands which the wind was lashing. But Claude remained there, struggling +against the sweetness of death; indeed he did not move for another hour, +he lingered there unconscious of the lapse of time, with his eyes still +turned in the direction of the Cite, as if by a miracle of power they +were about to create light, and conjure up the island so that he might +behold it. + +When Claude at last left the bridge, with stumbling steps, Christine had +to pass in front and run in order to be home in the Rue Tourlaque before +him. + + + + +XII + +IT was nearly three o'clock when they went to bed that night, with the +bitter cold November wind blowing through their little room and the big +studio. Christine, breathless from her run, had quickly slipped between +the sheets so that he might not know that she had followed him; and +Claude, quite overcome, had taken his clothes off, one garment after +another, without saying a word. For long months they had been as +strangers; until then, however, she had never felt such a barrier +between them, such tomb-like coldness. + +She struggled for nearly a quarter of an hour against the sleepiness +coming over her. She was very tired, and a kind of torpor numbed her; +still she would not give way, feeling anxious at leaving him awake. She +thus waited every night until he dozed off, so that she herself might +afterwards sleep in peace. But he had not extinguished the candle, he +lay there with his eyes open, fixed upon its flame. What could he be +thinking of? Had he remained in fancy over yonder in the black night, +amid the moist atmosphere of the quays, in front of Paris studded with +stars like a frosty sky? And what inner conflict, what matter that had +to be decided, contracted his face like that? Then, resistance being +impossible, she succumbed and glided into the slumber following upon +great weariness. + +An hour later, the consciousness of something missing, the anguish +of uneasiness awoke her with a sudden start. She at once felt the bed +beside her, it was already cold: he was no longer there, she had already +divined it while asleep. And she was growing alarmed, still but half +awake, her head heavy and her ears buzzing, when through the doorway, +left ajar, she perceived a ray of light coming from the studio. She then +felt reassured, she thought that in a fit of sleeplessness he had gone +to fetch some book or other; but at last, as he did not return, she +ended by softly rising so as to take a peep. What she beheld quite +unsettled her, and kept her standing on the tiled floor, with her feet +bare, in such surprise that she did not at first dare to show herself. + +Claude, who was in his shirt-sleeves, despite the coldness of the +temperature, having merely put on his trousers and slippers in his +haste, was standing on the steps in front of his large picture. His +palette was lying at his feet, and with one hand he held the candle, +while with the other he painted. His eyes were dilated like those of +a somnambulist, his gestures were precise and stiff; he stooped every +minute to take some colour on his brush, and then rose up, casting a +large fantastic shadow on the wall. And there was not a sound; frightful +silence reigned in the big dim room. + +Christine guessed the truth and shuddered. The besetting worry, +made more acute by that hour spent on the Pont des Saints-Peres, had +prevented him from sleeping and had brought him once more before his +canvas, consumed with a longing to look at it again, in spite of the +lateness of the hour. He had, no doubt, only climbed the steps to fill +his eyes the nearer. Then, tortured by the sight of some faulty shade, +upset by some defect, to such a point that he could not wait for +daylight, he had caught up a brush, at first merely wishing to give +a simple touch, and then had been carried on from correction to +correction, until at last, with the candle in his hand, he painted there +like a man in a state of hallucination, amid the pale light which darted +hither and thither as he gesticulated. His powerless creative rage had +seized hold of him again, he was wearing himself out, oblivious of the +hour, oblivious of the world; he wished to infuse life into his work at +once. + +Ah, what a pitiful sight! And with what tear-drenched eyes did Christine +gaze at him! At first she thought of leaving him to that mad work, as a +maniac is left to the pleasures of his craziness. He would never finish +that picture, that was quite certain now. The more desperately he worked +at it, the more incoherent did it become; the colouring had grown heavy +and pasty, the drawing was losing shape and showing signs of effort. +Even the background and the group of labourers, once so substantial +and satisfactory, were getting spoiled; yet he clung to them, he had +obstinately determined to finish everything else before repainting the +central figure, the nude woman, which remained the dread and the desire +of his hours of toil, and which would finish him off whenever he might +again try to invest it with life. For months he had not touched it, +and this had tranquillised Christine and made her tolerant and +compassionate, amid her jealous spite; for as long as he did not return +to that feared and desired mistress, she thought that he betrayed her +less. + +Her feet were freezing on the tiles, and she was turning to get into bed +again when a shock brought her back to the door. She had not understood +at first, but now at last she saw. With broad curved strokes of his +brush, full of colour, Claude was at once wildly and caressingly +modelling flesh. He had a fixed grin on his lips, and did not feel +the burning candle-grease falling on his fingers, while with silent, +passionate see-sawing, his right arm alone moved against the wall, +casting black confusion upon it. He was working at the nude woman. + +Then Christine opened the door and walked into the studio. An invincible +revolt, the anger of a wife buffeted at home, impelled her forward. Yes, +he was with that other, he was painting her like a visionary, whom wild +craving for truth had brought to the madness of the unreal; and those +limbs were being gilded like the columns of a tabernacle, that trunk was +becoming a star, shimmering with yellow and red, splendid and unnatural. +Such strange nudity--like unto a monstrance gleaming with precious +stones and intended for religious adoration--brought her anger to a +climax. She had suffered too much, she would not tolerate it. + +And yet at first she simply showed herself despairing and supplicating. +It was but the mother remonstrating with her big mad boy of an artist +that spoke. + +'What are you doing there, Claude? Is it reasonable, Claude, to have +such ideas? Come to bed, I beg of you, don't stay on those steps where +you will catch your death of cold!' + +He did not answer; he stooped again to take some more paint on his +brush, and made the figure flash with two bright strokes of vermilion. + +'Listen to me, Claude, in pity come to me--you know that I love you--you +see how anxious you have made me. Come, oh! come, if you don't want me +to die of cold and waiting for you.' + +With his face haggard, he did not look at her; but while he bedecked a +part of the figure with carmine, he grumbled in a husky voice: + +'Just leave me alone, will you? I'm working.' + +Christine remained silent for a moment. She was drawing herself erect, +her eyes began to gleam with fire, rebellion inflated her gentle, +charming form. Then she burst forth, with the growl of a slave driven to +extremities. + +'Well, no, I won't leave you alone! I've had enough of it. I'll tell +you what's stifling me, what has been killing me ever since I have known +you. Ah! that painting, yes, your painting, she's the murderess who +has poisoned my life! I had a presentiment of it on the first day; your +painting frightened me as if it were a monster. I found it abominable, +execrable; but then, one's cowardly, I loved you too much not to like +it also; I ended by growing accustomed to it! But later on, how I +suffered!--how it tortured me! For ten years I don't recollect having +spent a day without shedding tears. No, leave me! I am easing my mind, +I must speak out, since I have found strength enough to do so. For ten +years I have been abandoned and crushed every day. Ah! to be nothing +more to you, to feel myself cast more and more on one side, to fall +to the rank of a servant; and to see that other one, that thief, place +herself between you and me and clutch hold of you and triumph and insult +me! For dare, yes, dare to say that she hasn't taken possession of +you, limb by limb, glided into your brain, your heart, your flesh, +everywhere! She holds you like a vice, she feeds on you; in fact, +she's your wife, not I. She's the only one you care for! Ah! the cursed +wretch, the hussy!' + +Claude was now listening to her, in his astonishment at that dolorous +outburst; and being but half roused from his exasperated creative dream, +he did not as yet very well understand why she was talking to him like +that. And at sight of his stupor, the shuddering of a man surprised in +a debauch, she flew into a still greater passion; she mounted the steps, +tore the candlestick from his hand, and in her turn flashed the light in +front of the picture. + +'Just look!' she cried, 'just tell me how you have improved matters? +It's hideous, it's lamentable and grotesque; you'll end by seeing so +yourself. Come, isn't it ugly, isn't it idiotic? You see very well that +you are conquered, so why should you persist any longer? There is no +sense in it, that's what upsets me. If you can't be a great painter, +life, at least, remains to us. Ah! life, life!' + +She had placed the candle on the platform of the steps, and as he had +gone down, staggering, she sprang off to join him, and they both found +themselves below, he crouching on the last step, and she pressing his +inert, dangling hands with all her strength. + +'Come, there's life! Drive your nightmare away, and let us live, live +together. Isn't it too stupid, to be we two together, to be growing old +already, and to torture ourselves, and fail in every attempt to find +happiness? Oh! the grave will take us soon enough, never fear. Let's try +to live, and love one another. Remember Bennecourt! Listen to my dream. +I should like to be able to take you away to-morrow. We would go far +from this cursed Paris, we would find a quiet spot somewhere, and you +would see how pleasant I would make your life; how nice it would be +to forget everything together! Of a morning there are strolls in the +sunlight, the breakfast which smells nice, the idle afternoon, the +evening spent side by side under the lamp! And no more worrying about +chimeras, nothing but the delight of living! Doesn't it suffice that I +love you, that I adore you, that I am willing to be your servant, your +slave, to exist solely for your pleasures? Do you hear, I love you, I +love you? there is nothing else, and that is enough--I love you!' + +He had freed his hands, and making a gesture of refusal, he said, in a +gloomy voice: + +'No, it is not enough! I _won't_ go away with you, I _won't_ be happy, I +_will paint_!' + +'And I shall die of it, eh? And you will die of it, and we shall end by +leaving all our blood and all our tears in it! There's nothing beyond +Art, that is the fierce almighty god who strikes us with his thunder, +and whom you honour! he may crush us, since he is the master, and you +will still bless his name!' + +'Yes, I belong to that god, he may do what he pleases with me. I +should die if I no longer painted, and I prefer to paint and die of it. +Besides, my will is nothing in the matter. Nothing exists beyond art; +let the world burst!' + +She drew herself up in a fresh spurt of anger. Her voice became harsh +and passionate again. + +'But I--I am alive, and the women you love are lifeless! Oh! don't say +no! I know very well that all those painted women of yours are the only +ones you care about! Before I was yours I had already perceived it. +Then, for a short time you appeared to love me. It was at that period +you told me all that nonsense about your fondness for your creations. +You held such shadows in pity when you were with me; but it didn't last. +You returned to them, oh! like a maniac returns to his mania. I, though +living, no longer existed for you; it was they, the visions, who again +became the only realities of your life. What I then endured you never +knew, for you are wonderfully ignorant of women. I have lived by your +side without your ever understanding me. Yes, I was jealous of those +painted creatures. When I posed to you, only one idea lent me the +courage that I needed. I wanted to fight them, I hoped to win you back; +but you granted me nothing, not even a kiss on my shoulder! Oh, God! +how ashamed I sometimes felt! What grief I had to force back at finding +myself thus disdained and thus betrayed!' + +She continued boldly, she spoke out freely--she, so strangely compounded +of passion and modesty. And she was not mistaken in her jealousy when +she accused his art of being responsible for his neglect of herself. +At the bottom of it all, there was the theory which he had repeated a +hundred times in her presence: genius should be chaste, an artist's only +spouse should be his work. + +'You repulse me,' she concluded violently; 'you draw back from me as +if I displeased you! And you love what? A nothing, a mere semblance, a +little dust, some colour spread upon a canvas! But, once more, look at +her, look at your woman up yonder! See what a monster you have made +of her in your madness! Are there any women like that? Have any women +golden limbs, and flowers on their bodies? Wake up, open your eyes, +return to life again!' + +Claude, obeying the imperious gesture with which she pointed to the +picture, had now risen and was looking. The candle, which had remained +upon the platform of the steps, illumined the nude woman like a taper +in front of an altar, whilst the whole room around remained plunged in +darkness. He was at length awakening from his dream, and the woman +thus seen from below, at a distance of a few paces, filled him with +stupefaction. Who had just painted that idol of some unknown religion? +Who had wrought her of metals, marbles, and gems? Was it he who had +unconsciously created that symbol of insatiable passion, that unhuman +presentment of flesh, which had become transformed into gold and +diamonds under his fingers, in his vain effort to make it live? He +gasped and felt afraid of his work, trembling at the thought of that +sudden plunge into the infinite, and understanding at last that it +had become impossible for him even to depict Reality, despite his long +effort to conquer and remould it, making it yet more real with his human +hands. + +'You see! you see!' Christine repeated, victoriously. And he, in a very +low voice, stammered: + +'Oh! what have I done? Is it impossible to create, then? Haven't our +hands the power to create beings?' + +She felt that he was giving way, and she caught him in her arms: + +'But why all this folly?--why think of anyone but me--I who love +you? You took me for your model, but what was the use, say? Are those +paintings of yours worth me? They are frightful, they are as stiff, as +cold as corpses. But I am alive, and I love you!' + +She seemed to be at that moment the very incarnation of passionate +love. He turned and looked at her, and little by little he returned her +embrace; she was softening him and conquering him. + +'Listen!' she continued. 'I know that you had a frightful thought; yes, +I never dared to speak to you about it, because one must never bring +on misfortune; but I no longer sleep of a night, you frighten me. This +evening I followed you to that bridge which I hate, and I trembled, oh! +I thought that it was all over--that I had lost you. Oh, God! what would +become of me? I need you--you surely do not wish to kill me! Let us live +and love one another--yes, love one another!' + +Then, in the emotion caused him by her infinite passion and grief, he +yielded. He pressed her to him, sobbing and stammering: + +'It is true I had that frightful thought--I should have done it, and I +only resisted on thinking of that unfinished picture. But can I still +live if work will have nothing more to do with me? How can I live after +that, after what's there, what I spoilt just now?' + +'I will love you, and you will live.' + +'Ah! you will never love me enough--I know myself. Something which +does not exist would be necessary--something which would make me forget +everything. You were already unable to change me. You cannot accomplish +a miracle!' + +Then, as she protested and kissed him passionately, he went on: 'Well, +yes, save me! Yes, save me, if you don't want me to kill myself! Lull +me, annihilate me, so that I may become your thing, slave enough, small +enough to dwell under your feet, in your slippers. Ah! to live only on +your perfume, to obey you like a dog, to eat and sleep--if I could, if I +only _could_!' + +She raised a cry of victory: 'At last you are mine! There is only I +left, the other is quite dead!' + +And she dragged him from the execrated painting, she carried him off +triumphantly. The candle, now nearly consumed, flared up for a minute +behind them on the steps, before the big painting, and then went out. It +was victory, yes, but could it last? + +Daylight was about to break, and Christine lay asleep beside Claude. She +was breathing softly, and a smile played upon her lips. He had closed +his eyes; and yet, despite himself, he opened them afresh and gazed into +the darkness. Sleep fled from him, and confused ideas again ascended +to his brain. As the dawn appeared, yellowishly dirty, like a splash +of liquid mud on the window-panes, he started, fancying that he heard +a loud voice calling to him from the far end of the studio. Then, +irresistibly, despite a few brief hours' forgetfulness, all his old +thoughts returned, overflowing and torturing him, hollowing his cheeks +and contracting his jaws in the disgust he felt for mankind. Two +wrinkles imparted intense bitterness to the expression of his face, +which looked like the wasted countenance of an old man. And suddenly +the loud voice from the far end of the studio imperiously summoned him +a second time. Then he quite made up his mind: it was all over, he +suffered too much, he could no longer live, since everything was a lie, +since there was nothing left upon earth. Love! what was it? Nought but +a passing illusion. This thought at last mastered him, possessed him +entirely; and soon the craving for nothingness as his only refuge came +on him stronger than ever. At first he let Christine's head slip down +from his shoulder on which it rested. And then, as a third summons rang +out in his mind, he rose and went to the studio, saying: + +'Yes, yes, I'm coming,' + +The sky did not clear, it still remained dirty and mournful--it was one +of those lugubrious winter dawns; and an hour later Christine herself +awoke with a great chilly shiver. She did not understand at first. How +did it happen that she was alone? Then she remembered: she had fallen +asleep with her cheek against his. How was it then that he had left her? +Where could he be? Suddenly, amid her torpor, she sprang out of bed and +ran into the studio. Good God! had he returned to the other then? Had +the other seized hold of him again, when she herself fancied that she +had conquered him for ever? + +She saw nothing at the first glance she took; in the cold and murky +morning twilight the studio seemed to her to be deserted. But whilst she +was tranquillising herself at seeing nobody there, she raised her eyes +to the canvas, and a terrible cry leapt from her gaping mouth: + +'Claude! oh, Claude!' + +Claude had hanged himself from the steps in front of his spoilt work. He +had simply taken one of the cords which held the frame to the wall, +and had mounted the platform, so as to fasten the rope to an oaken +crosspiece, which he himself had one day nailed to the uprights to +consolidate them. Then from up above he had leapt into space. He was +hanging there in his shirt, with his feet bare, looking horrible, with +his black tongue protruding, and his bloodshot eyes starting from their +orbits; he seemed to have grown frightfully tall in his motionless +stiffness, and his face was turned towards the picture, close to the +nude woman, as if he had wished to infuse his soul into her with +his last gasp, and as if he were still looking at her with his +expressionless eyes. + +Christine, however, remained erect, quite overwhelmed with the grief, +fright, and anger which dilated her body. Only a continuous howl +came from her throat. She opened her arms, stretched them towards the +picture, and clenched both hands. + +'Oh, Claude! oh, Claude!' she gasped at last, 'she has taken you +back--the hussy has killed you, killed you, killed you!' + +Then her legs gave way. She span round and fell all of a heap upon the +tiled flooring. Her excessive suffering had taken all the blood from her +heart, and, fainting away, she lay there, as if she were dead, like a +white rag, miserable, done for, crushed beneath the fierce sovereignty +of Art. Above her the nude woman rose radiant in her symbolic idol's +brightness; painting triumphed, alone immortal and erect, even when mad. + +At nine o'clock on the Monday morning, when Sandoz, after the +formalities and delay occasioned by the suicide, arrived in the Rue +Tourlaque for the funeral, he found only a score of people on the +footway. Despite his great grief, he had been running about for three +days, compelled to attend to everything. At first, as Christine had +been picked up half dead, he had been obliged to have her carried to the +Hopital de Lariboisiere; then he had gone from the municipal offices, +to the undertaker's and the church, paying everywhere, and full of +indifference so far as that went, since the priests were willing to pray +over that corpse with a black circle round its neck. Among the people +who were waiting he as yet only perceived some neighbours, together +with a few inquisitive folk; while other people peered out of the house +windows and whispered together, excited by the tragedy. Claude's friends +would, no doubt, soon come. He, Sandoz, had not been able to write to +any members of the family, as he did not know their addresses. However, +he retreated into the background on the arrival of two relatives, whom +three lines in the newspapers had roused from the forgetfulness in +which Claude himself, no doubt, had left them. There was an old female +cousin,* with the equivocal air of a dealer in second-hand goods, and +a male cousin, of the second degree, a wealthy man, decorated with the +Legion of Honour, and owning one of the large Paris drapery shops. +He showed himself good-naturedly condescending in his elegance, and +desirous of displaying an enlightened taste for art. The female cousin +at once went upstairs, turned round the studio, sniffed at all the bare +wretchedness, and then walked down again, with a hard mouth, as if she +were irritated at having taken the trouble to come. The second cousin, +on the contrary, drew himself up and walked first behind the hearse, +filling the part of chief mourner with proud and pleasant fitness. + + * Madame Sidonie, who figures in M. Zola's novel, 'La Curee.' + The male cousin, mentioned immediately afterwards, is Octave + Mouret, the leading character of 'Pot-Bouille' and 'Au Bonheur + des Dames.'--ED. + +As the procession was starting off, Bongrand came up, and, after shaking +hands with Sandoz, remained beside him. He was gloomy, and, glancing at +the fifteen or twenty strangers who followed, he murmured: + +'Ah! poor chap! What! are there only we two?' + +Dubuche was at Cannes with his children. Jory and Fagerolles kept away, +the former hating the deceased and the latter being too busy. Mahoudeau +alone caught the party up at the rise of the Rue Lepic, and he explained +that Gagniere must have missed the train. + +The hearse slowly ascended the steep thoroughfare which winds round +the flanks of the height of Montmartre; and now and then cross streets, +sloping downward, sudden gaps amid the houses, showed one the immensity +of Paris as deep and as broad as a sea. When the party arrived in front +of the Church of St. Pierre, and the coffin was carried up the steps, +it overtopped the great city for a moment. There was a grey wintry sky +overhead, large masses of clouds swept along, carried away by an icy +wind, and in the mist Paris seemed to expand, to become endless, filling +the horizon with threatening billows. The poor fellow who had wished to +conquer it, and had broken his neck in his fruitless efforts, now passed +in front of it, nailed under an oaken board, returning to the earth like +one of the city's muddy waves. + +On leaving the church the female cousin disappeared, Mahoudeau likewise; +while the second cousin again took his position behind the hearse. Seven +other unknown persons decided to follow, and they started for the new +cemetery of St. Ouen, to which the populace has given the disquieting +and lugubrious name of Cayenne. There were ten mourners in all. + +'Well, we two shall be the only old friends,' repeated Bongrand as he +walked on beside Sandoz. + +The procession, preceded by the mourning coach in which the priest and +the choirboy were seated, now descended the other side of the height, +along winding streets as precipitous as mountain paths. The horses of +the hearse slipped over the slimy pavement; one could hear the wheels +jolting noisily. Right behind, the ten mourners took short and careful +steps, trying to avoid the puddles, and being so occupied with the +difficulty of the descent that they refrained from speaking. But at +the bottom of the Rue du Ruisseau, when they reached the Porte de +Clignancourt and the vast open spaces, where the boulevard running round +the city, the circular railway, the talus and moat of the fortifications +are displayed to view, there came sighs of relief, a few words were +exchanged, and the party began to straggle. + +Sandoz and Bongrand by degrees found themselves behind all the others, +as if they had wished to isolate themselves from those folk whom they +had never previously seen. Just as the hearse was passing the city gate, +the painter leant towards the novelist. + +'And the little woman, what is going to be done with her?' + +'Ah! how dreadful it is!' replied Sandoz. 'I went to see her yesterday +at the hospital. She has brain fever. The house doctor maintains that +they will save her, but that she will come out of it ten years older and +without any strength. Do you know that she had come to such a point +that she no longer knew how to spell. Such a crushing fall, a young lady +abased to the level of a drudge! Yes, if we don't take care of her like +a cripple, she will end by becoming a scullery-maid somewhere.' + +'And not a copper, of course?' + +'Not a copper. I thought I should find the studies Claude made from +nature for his large picture, those superb studies which he afterwards +turned to such poor account. But I ferreted everywhere; he gave +everything away; people robbed him. No, nothing to sell, not a canvas +that could be turned to profit, nothing but that huge picture, which I +demolished and burnt with my own hands, and right gladly, I assure you, +even as one avenges oneself.' + +They became silent for a moment. The broad road leading to St. Ouen +stretched out quite straight as far as the eye could reach; and over the +plain went the procession, pitifully small, lost, as it were, on that +highway, along which there flowed a river of mud. A line of palings +bordered it on either side, waste land extended both to right and left, +while afar off one only saw some factory chimneys and a few lofty white +houses, standing alone, obliquely to the road. They passed through the +Clignancourt fete, with booths, circuses, and roundabouts on either +side, all shivering in the abandonment of winter, empty dancing cribs, +mouldy swings, and a kind of stage homestead, 'The Picardy Farm,' +looking dismally sad between its broken fences. + +'Ah! his old canvases,' resumed Bongrand, 'the things he had at the Quai +de Bourbon, do you remember them? There were some extraordinary bits +among them. The landscapes he brought back from the south and the +academy studies he painted at Boutin's--a girl's legs and a woman's +trunk, for instance. Oh, that trunk! Old Malgras must have it. A +magisterial study it was, which not one of our "young masters" could +paint. Yes, yes, the fellow was no fool--simply a great painter.' + +'When I think,' said Sandoz, 'that those little humbugs of the School +and the press accused him of idleness and ignorance, repeating one +after the other that he had always refused to learn his art. Idle! good +heavens! why, I have seen him faint with fatigue after sittings ten +hours long; he gave his whole life to his work, and killed himself in +his passion for toil! And they call him ignorant--how idiotic! They +will never understand that the individual gift which a man brings in +his nature is superior to all acquired knowledge. Delacroix also was +ignorant of his profession in their eyes, simply because he could not +confine himself to hard and fast rules! Ah! the ninnies, the slavish +pupils who are incapable of painting anything incorrectly!' + +He took a few steps in silence, and then he added: + +'A heroic worker, too--a passionate observer whose brain was crammed +with science--the temperament of a great artist endowed with admirable +gifts. And to think that he leaves nothing, nothing!' + +'Absolutely nothing, not a canvas,' declared Bongrand. 'I know nothing +of his but rough drafts, sketches, notes carelessly jotted down, as it +were, all that artistic paraphernalia which can't be submitted to the +public. Yes, indeed, it is really a dead man, dead completely, who is +about to be lowered into the grave.' + +However, the painter and the novelist now had to hasten their steps, for +they had got far behind the others while talking; and the hearse, after +rolling past taverns and shops full of tombstones and crosses, was +turning to the right into the short avenue leading to the cemetery. They +overtook it, and passed through the gateway with the little procession. +The priest in his surplice and the choirboy carrying the holy water +receiver, who had both alighted from the mourning coach, walked on +ahead. + +It was a large flat cemetery, still in its youth, laid out by rule +and line in the suburban waste land, and divided into squares by broad +symmetrical paths. A few raised tombs bordered the principal avenues, +but most of the graves, already very numerous, were on a level with the +soil. They were hastily arranged temporary sepulchres, for five-year +grants were the only ones to be obtained, and families hesitated to go +to any serious expense. Thus, the stones sinking into the ground for +lack of foundations, the scrubby evergreens which had not yet had time +to grow, all the provisional slop kind of mourning that one saw there, +imparted to that vast field of repose a look of poverty and cold, clean, +dismal bareness like that of a barracks or a hospital. There was not a +corner to be found recalling the graveyard nooks sung of in the ballads +of the romantic period, not one leafy turn quivering with mystery, not +a single large tomb speaking of pride and eternity. You were in the new +style of Paris cemetery, where everything is set out straight and duly +numbered--the cemetery of democratic times, where the dead seem to +slumber at the bottom of an office drawer, after filing past one by +one, as people do at a fete under the eyes of the police, so as to avoid +obstruction. + +'Dash it!' muttered Bongrand, 'it isn't lively here.' + +'Why not?' asked Sandoz. 'It's commodious; there is plenty of air. And +even although there is no sun, see what a pretty colour it all has.' + +In fact, under the grey sky of that November morning, in the penetrating +quiver of the wind, the low tombs, laden with garlands and crowns of +beads, assumed soft tints of charming delicacy. There were some quite +white, and others all black, according to the colour of the beads. But +the contrast lost much of its force amid the pale green foliage of the +dwarfish trees. Poor families exhausted their affection for the dear +departed in decking those five-year grants; there were piles of crowns +and blooming flowers--freshly brought there on the recent Day of +the Dead. Only the cut flowers had as yet faded, between their paper +collars. Some crowns of yellow immortelles shone out like freshly +chiselled gold. But the beads predominated to such a degree that at +the first glance there seemed to be nothing else; they gushed forth +everywhere, hiding the inscriptions and covering the stones and +railings. There were beads forming hearts, beads in festoons and +medallions, beads framing either ornamental designs or objects under +glass, such as velvet pansies, wax hands entwined, satin bows, or, at +times, even photographs of women--yellow, faded, cheap photographs, +showing poor, ugly, touching faces that smiled awkwardly. + +As the hearse proceeded along the Avenue du Rond Point, Sandoz, whose +last remark--since it was of an artistic nature--had brought him back to +Claude, resumed the conversation, saying: + +'This is a cemetery which he would have understood, he who was so mad +on modern things. No doubt he suffered physically, wasted away by the +over-severe lesion that is so often akin to genius, "three grains too +little, or three grains too much, of some substance in the brain," as +he himself said when he reproached his parents for his constitution. +However, his disorder was not merely a personal affair, he was +the victim of our period. Yes, our generation has been soaked in +romanticism, and we have remained impregnated with it. It is in +vain that we wash ourselves and take baths of reality, the stain is +obstinate, and all the scrubbing in the world won't take it away.' + +Bongrand smiled. 'Oh! as for romanticism,' said he, 'I'm up to my ears +in it. It has fed my art, and, indeed, I'm impenitent. If it be true +that my final impotence is due to that, well, after all, what does it +matter? I can't deny the religion of my artistic life. However, your +remark is quite correct; you other fellows, you are rebellious sons. +Claude, for instance, with his big nude woman amid the quays, that +extravagant symbol--' + +'Ah, that woman!' interrupted Sandoz, 'it was she who throttled him! If +you knew how he worshipped her! I was never able to cast her out of +him. And how can one possibly have clear perception, a solid, +properly-balanced brain when such phantasmagoria sprouts forth from your +skull? Though coming after yours, our generation is too imaginative to +leave healthy work behind it. Another generation, perhaps two, will be +required before people will be able to paint and write logically, with +the high, pure simplicity of truth. Truth, nature alone, is the right +basis, the necessary guide, outside of which madness begins; and the +toiler needn't be afraid of flattening his work, his temperament is +there, which will always carry him sufficiently away. Does any one +dream of denying personality, the involuntary thumb-stroke which deforms +whatever we touch and constitutes our poor creativeness?' + +However, he turned his head, and involuntarily added: + +'Hallo! what's burning? Are they lighting bonfires here?' + +The procession had turned on reaching the Rond Point, where the ossuary +was situated--the common vault gradually filled with all the remnants +removed from the graves, and the stone slab of which, in the centre of +a circular lawn, disappeared under a heap of wreaths, deposited there +by the pious relatives of those who no longer had an individual +resting-place. And, as the hearse rolled slowly to the left in +transversal Avenue No. 2, there had come a sound of crackling, and thick +smoke had risen above the little plane trees bordering the path. Some +distance ahead, as the party approached, they could see a large pile of +earthy things beginning to burn, and they ended by understanding. The +fire was lighted at the edge of a large square patch of ground, which +had been dug up in broad parallel furrows, so as to remove the coffins +before allotting the soil to other corpses; just as the peasant turns +the stubble over before sowing afresh. The long empty furrows seemed +to yawn, the mounds of rich soil seemed to be purifying under the broad +grey sky; and the fire thus burning in that corner was formed of the +rotten wood of the coffins that had been removed--slit, broken boards, +eaten into by the earth, often reduced to a ruddy humus, and gathered +together in an enormous pile. They broke up with faint detonations, and +being damp with human mud, they refused to flame, and merely smoked with +growing intensity. Large columns of the smoke rose into the pale sky, +and were beaten down by the November wind, and torn into ruddy shreds, +which flew across the low tombs of quite one half of the cemetery. + +Sandoz and Bongrand had looked at the scene without saying a word. Then, +having passed the fire, the former resumed: + +'No, he did not prove to be the man of the formula he laid down. I mean +that his genius was not clear enough to enable him to set that formula +erect and impose it upon the world by a definite masterpiece. And now +see how other fellows scatter their efforts around him, after him! They +go no farther than roughing off, they give us mere hasty impressions, +and not one of them seems to have strength enough to become the master +who is awaited. Isn't it irritating, this new notion of light, this +passion for truth carried as far as scientific analysis, this evolution +begun with so much originality, and now loitering on the way, as it +were, falling into the hands of tricksters, and never coming to a head, +simply because the necessary man isn't born? But pooh! the man will be +born; nothing is ever lost, light must be.' + +'Who knows? not always,' said Bongrand. 'Life miscarries, like +everything else. I listen to you, you know, but I'm a despairer. I am +dying of sadness, and I feel that everything else is dying. Ah! yes, +there is something unhealthy in the atmosphere of the times--this end of +a century is all demolition, a litter of broken monuments, and soil +that has been turned over and over a hundred times, the whole exhaling a +stench of death! Can anybody remain in good health amid all that? +One's nerves become unhinged, the great neurosis is there, art grows +unsettled, there is general bustling, perfect anarchy, all the madness +of self-love at bay. Never have people quarrelled more and seen less +clearly than since it is pretended that one knows everything.' + +Sandoz, who had grown pale, watched the large ruddy coils of smoke +rolling in the wind. + +'It was fated,' he mused in an undertone. 'Our excessive activity and +pride of knowledge were bound to cast us back into doubt. This century, +which has already thrown so much light over the world, was bound to +finish amid the threat of a fresh flow of darkness--yes, our discomfort +comes from that! Too much has been promised, too much has been hoped +for; people have looked forward to the conquest and explanation of +everything, and now they growl impatiently. What! don't things go +quicker than that? What! hasn't science managed to bring us absolute +certainty, perfect happiness, in a hundred years? Then what is the use +of going on, since one will never know everything, and one's bread will +always be as bitter? It is as if the century had become bankrupt, as if +it had failed; pessimism twists people's bowels, mysticism fogs their +brains; for we have vainly swept phantoms away with the light of +analysis, the supernatural has resumed hostilities, the spirit of +the legends rebels and wants to conquer us, while we are halting with +fatigue and anguish. Ah! I certainly don't affirm anything; I myself +am tortured. Only it seems to me that this last convulsion of the old +religious terrors was to be foreseen. We are not the end, we are but a +transition, a beginning of something else. It calms me and does me good +to believe that we are marching towards reason, and the substantiality +of science.' + +His voice had become husky with emotion, and he added: + +'That is, unless madness plunges us, topsy-turvy, into night again, and +we all go off throttled by the ideal, like our old friend who sleeps +there between his four boards.' + +The hearse was leaving transversal Avenue No. 2 to turn, on the right, +into lateral Avenue No. 3, and the painter, without speaking, called +the novelist's attention to a square plot of graves, beside which the +procession was now passing. + +There was here a children's cemetery, nothing but children's tombs, +stretching far away in orderly fashion, separated at regular intervals +by narrow paths, and looking like some infantile city of death. There +were tiny little white crosses, tiny little white railings, disappearing +almost beneath an efflorescence of white and blue wreaths, on a level +with the soil; and that peaceful field of repose, so soft in colour, +with the bluish tint of milk about it, seemed to have been made flowery +by all the childhood lying in the earth. The crosses recorded various +ages, two years, sixteen months, five months. One poor little cross, +destitute of any railing, was out of line, having been set up slantingly +across a path, and it simply bore the words: 'Eugenie, three days.' +Scarcely to exist as yet, and withal to sleep there already, alone, on +one side, like the children who on festive occasions dine at a little +side table! + +However, the hearse had at last stopped, in the middle of the avenue; +and when Sandoz saw the grave ready at the corner of the next division, +in front of the cemetery of the little ones, he murmured tenderly: + +'Ah! my poor old Claude, with your big child's heart, you will be in +your place beside them.' + +The under-bearers removed the coffin from the hearse. The priest, who +looked surly, stood waiting in the wind; some sextons were there with +their shovels. Three neighbours had fallen off on the road, the ten had +dwindled into seven. The second cousin, who had been holding his hat in +his hand since leaving the church, despite the frightful weather, now +drew nearer. All the others uncovered, and the prayers were about to +begin, when a loud piercing whistle made everybody look up. + +Beyond this corner of the cemetery as yet untenanted, at the end of +lateral Avenue No. 3, a train was passing along the high embankment of +the circular railway which overlooked the graveyard. The grassy slope +rose up, and a number of geometrical lines, as it were, stood out +blackly against the grey sky; there were telegraph-posts, connected by +thin wires, a superintendent's box, and a red signal plate, the only +bright throbbing speck visible. When the train rolled past, with its +thunder-crash, one plainly distinguished, as on the transparency of a +shadow play, the silhouettes of the carriages, even the heads of the +passengers showing in the light gaps left by the windows. And the line +became clear again, showing like a simple ink stroke across the horizon; +while far away other whistles called and wailed unceasingly, shrill with +anger, hoarse with suffering, or husky with distress. Then a guard's +horn resounded lugubriously. + +'_Revertitur in terram suam unde erat_,' recited the priest, who had +opened a book and was making haste. + +But he was not heard, for a large engine had come up puffing, and was +manoeuvring backwards and forwards near the funeral party. It had a loud +thick voice, a guttural whistle, which was intensely mournful. It came +and went, panting; and seen in profile it looked like a heavy monster. +Suddenly, moreover, it let off steam, with all the furious blowing of a +tempest. + +'_Requiescat in pace_,' said the priest. + +'Amen,' replied the choirboy. + +But the words were again lost amid the lashing, deafening detonation, +which was prolonged with the continuous violence of a fusillade. + +Bongrand, quite exasperated, turned towards the engine. It became +silent, fortunately, and every one felt relieved. Tears had risen to +the eyes of Sandoz, who had already been stirred by the words which had +involuntarily passed his lips, while he walked behind his old comrade, +talking as if they had been having one of their familiar chats of yore; +and now it seemed to him as if his youth were about to be consigned to +the earth. It was part of himself, the best part, his illusions and his +enthusiasm, which the sextons were taking away to lower into the depths. +At that terrible moment an accident occurred which increased his grief. +It had rained so hard during the preceding days, and the ground was so +soft, that a sudden subsidence of soil took place. One of the sextons +had to jump into the grave and empty it with his shovel with a slow +rhythmical movement. There was no end to the matter, the funeral seemed +likely to last for ever amid the impatience of the priest and the +interest of the four neighbours who had followed on to the end, though +nobody could say why. And up above, on the embankment, the engine had +begun manoeuvring again, retreating and howling at each turn of its +wheels, its fire-box open the while, and lighting up the gloomy scene +with a rain of sparks. + +At last the pit was emptied, the coffin lowered, and the aspergillus +passed round. It was all over. The second cousin, standing erect, did +the honours with his correct, pleasant air, shaking hands with all these +people whom he had never previously seen, in memory of the relative +whose name he had not remembered the day before. + +'That linen-draper is a very decent fellow,' said Bongrand, who was +swallowing his tears. + +'Quite so,' replied Sandoz, sobbing. + +All the others were going off, the surplices of the priest and the +choirboy disappeared between the green trees, while the straggling +neighbours loitered reading the inscriptions on the surrounding tombs. + +Then Sandoz, making up his mind to leave the grave, which was now half +filled, resumed: + +'We alone shall have known him. There is nothing left of him, not even a +name!' + +'He is very happy,' said Bongrand; 'he has no picture on hand, in the +earth where he sleeps. It is as well to go off as to toil as we do +merely to turn out infirm children, who always lack something, their +legs or their head, and who don't live.' + +'Yes, one must really be wanting in pride to resign oneself to turning +out merely approximate work and resorting to trickery with life. I, +who bestow every care on my books--I despise myself, for I feel that, +despite all my efforts, they are incomplete and untruthful.' + +With pale faces, they slowly went away, side by side, past the +children's white tombs, the novelist then in all the strength of his +toil and fame, the painter declining but covered with glory. + +'There, at least, lies one who was logical and brave,' continued Sandoz; +'he confessed his powerlessness and killed himself.' + +'That's true,' said Bongrand; 'if we didn't care so much for our skins +we should all do as he has done, eh?' + +'Well, yes; since we cannot create anything, since we are but feeble +copyists, we might as well put an end to ourselves at once.' + +Again they found themselves before the burning pile of old rotten +coffins, now fully alight, sweating and crackling; but there were still +no flames to be seen, the smoke alone had increased--a thick acrid +smoke, which the wind carried along in whirling coils, so that it now +covered the whole cemetery as with a cloud of mourning. + +'Dash it! Eleven o'clock!' said Bongrand, after pulling out his watch. +'I must get home again.' + +Sandoz gave an exclamation of surprise: + +'What, already eleven?' + +Over the low-lying graves, over the vast bead-flowered field of death, +so formal of aspect and so cold, he cast a long look of despair, his +eyes still bedimmed by his tears. And then he added: + +'Let's go to work.' + + + + THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of His Masterpiece, by Emile Zola + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIS MASTERPIECE *** + +***** This file should be named 15900.txt or 15900.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/0/15900/ + +Produced by Dagny; and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/15900.zip b/old/15900.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..051d7a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/15900.zip diff --git a/old/20050525.15900.txt b/old/20050525.15900.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bc5f52 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20050525.15900.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15595 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of His Masterpiece, by Emile Zola + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: His Masterpiece + +Author: Emile Zola + +Editor: Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + +Release Date: May 25, 2005 [EBook #15900] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIS MASTERPIECE *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + + HIS MASTERPIECE + + BY + + EMILE ZOLA + + + Edited, With a Preface, By + Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + + + + PREFACE + +'HIS MASTERPIECE,' which in the original French bears the title of +_L'Oeuvre_, is a strikingly accurate story of artistic life in Paris +during the latter years of the Second Empire. Amusing at times, +extremely pathetic and even painful at others, it not only contributes +a necessary element to the Rougon-Macquart series of novels--a series +illustrative of all phases of life in France within certain dates--but +it also represents a particular period of M. Zola's own career and +work. Some years, indeed, before the latter had made himself known at +all widely as a novelist, he had acquired among Parisian painters and +sculptors considerable notoriety as a revolutionary art critic, a +fervent champion of that 'Open-air' school which came into being +during the Second Empire, and which found its first real master in +Edouard Manet, whose then derided works are regarded, in these later +days, as masterpieces. Manet died before his genius was fully +recognised; still he lived long enough to reap some measure of +recognition and to see his influence triumph in more than one respect +among his brother artists. Indeed, few if any painters left a stronger +mark on the art of the second half of the nineteenth century than he +did, even though the school, which he suggested rather than +established, lapsed largely into mere impressionism--a term, by the +way, which he himself coined already in 1858; for it is an error to +attribute it--as is often done--to his friend and junior, Claude +Monet. + +It was at the time of the Salon of 1866 that M. Zola, who criticised +that exhibition in the _Evenement_ newspaper,* first came to the front +as an art critic, slashing out, to right and left, with all the vigour +of a born combatant, and championing M. Manet--whom he did not as yet +know personally--with a fervour born of the strongest convictions. He +had come to the conclusion that the derided painter was being treated +with injustice, and that opinion sufficed to throw him into the fray; +even as, in more recent years, the belief that Captain Dreyfus was +innocent impelled him in like manner to plead that unfortunate +officer's cause. When M. Zola first championed Manet and his disciples +he was only twenty-six years old, yet he did not hesitate to pit +himself against men who were regarded as the most eminent painters and +critics of France; and although (even as in the Dreyfus case) the only +immediate result of his campaign was to bring him hatred and +contumely, time, which always has its revenges, has long since shown +how right he was in forecasting the ultimate victory of Manet and his +principal methods. + + * Some of the articles will be found in the volume of his + miscellaneous writings entitled _Mes Haines_. + +In those days M. Zola's most intimate friend--a companion of his +boyhood and youth--was Paul Cezanne, a painter who developed talent as +an impressionist; and the lives of Cezanne and Manet, as well as that +of a certain rather dissolute engraver, who sat for the latter's +famous picture _Le Bon Bock_, suggested to M. Zola the novel which he +has called _L'Oeuvre_. Claude Lantier, the chief character in the +book, is, of course, neither Cezanne nor Manet, but from the careers +of those two painters, M. Zola has borrowed many little touches and +incidents.* The poverty which falls to Claude's lot is taken from the +life of Cezanne, for Manet--the only son of a judge--was almost +wealthy. Moreover, Manet married very happily, and in no wise led the +pitiful existence which in the novel is ascribed to Claude Lantier and +his helpmate, Christine. The original of the latter was a poor woman +who for many years shared the life of the engraver to whom I have +alluded; and, in that connection, it as well to mention that what may +be called the Bennecourt episode of the novel is virtually +photographed from life. + + * So far as Manet is concerned, the curious reader may consult M. + Antonin Proust's interesting 'Souvenirs,' published in the _Revue + Blanche_, early in 1897. + +Whilst, however, Claude Lantier, the hero of _L'Oeuvre_, is unlike +Manet in so many respects, there is a close analogy between the +artistic theories and practices of the real painter and the imaginary +one. Several of Claude's pictures are Manet's, slightly modified. For +instance, the former's painting, 'In the Open Air,' is almost a +replica of the latter's _Dejeuner sur l'Herbe_ ('A Lunch on the +Grass'), shown at the Salon of the Rejected in 1863. Again, many of +the sayings put into Claude's mouth in the novel are really sayings of +Manet's. And Claude's fate, at the end of the book, is virtually that +of a moody young fellow who long assisted Manet in his studio, +preparing his palette, cleaning his brushes, and so forth. This lad, +whom Manet painted in _L'Enfant aux Cerises_ ('The Boy with the +Cherries'), had artistic aspirations of his own and, being unable to +justify them, ended by hanging himself. + +I had just a slight acquaintance with Manet, whose studio I first +visited early in my youth, and though the exigencies of life led me +long ago to cast aside all artistic ambition of my own, I have been +for more than thirty years on friendly terms with members of the +French art world. Thus it would be comparatively easy for me to +identify a large number of the characters and the incidents figuring +in 'His Masterpiece'; but I doubt if such identification would have +any particular interest for English readers. I will just mention that +Mahoudeau, the sculptor, is, in a measure, Solari, another friend of +M. Zola's boyhood and youth; that Fagerolles, in his main features, is +Gervex; and that Bongrand is a commingling of Courbet, Cabanel and +Gustave Flaubert. For instance, his so-called 'Village Wedding' is +suggested by Courbet's 'Funeral at Ornans'; his friendship for Claude +is Cabanel's friendship for Manet; whilst some of his mannerisms, such +as his dislike for the praise accorded to certain of his works, are +simply those of Flaubert, who (like Balzac in the case of _Eugenie +Grandet_) almost invariably lost his temper if one ventured to extol +_Madame Bovary_ in his presence. Courbet, by the way, so far as +disposition goes, crops up again in M. Zola's pages in the person of +Champbouvard, a sculptor, who, artistically, is a presentment of +Clesinger. + +I now come to a personage of a very different character, Pierre +Sandoz, clerk, journalist, and novelist; and Sandoz, it may be frankly +admitted, is simply M. Zola himself. Personal appearance, life, +habits, opinions, all are those of the novelist at a certain period of +his career; and for this reason, no doubt, many readers of 'His +Masterpiece' will find Sandoz the most interesting personage in the +book. It is needless, I think, to enter into particulars on the +subject. The reader may take it from me that everything attributed in +the following pages to Pierre Sandoz was done, experienced, felt or +said by Emile Zola. In this respect, then 'His Masterpiece' is +virtually M. Zola's 'David Copperfield'--the book into which he has +put most of his real life. I may also mention, perhaps, that the long +walks on the quays of Paris which in the narrative are attributed to +Claude Lantier are really M. Zola's walks; for, in his youth, when he +vainly sought employment after failing in his examinations, he was +wont, at times of great discouragement, to roam the Paris quays, +studying their busy life and their picturesque vistas, whenever he was +not poring over the second-hand books set out for sale upon their +parapets. From a purely literary standpoint, the pictures of the quays +and the Seine to be found in _L'Oeuvre_ are perhaps the best bits of +the book, though it is all of interest, because it is essentially a +_livre vecu_, a work really 'lived' by its author. And if in the +majority of its characters, those readers possessing some real +knowledge of French art life find one man's qualities blended with +another's defects, the appearance of a third, and the habits of a +fourth, the whole none the less makes a picture of great fidelity to +life and truth. This is the Parisian art world as it really was, with +nothing improbable or overstrained in the narrative, save its very +first chapter, in which romanticism is certainly allowed full play. + +It is quite possible that some readers may not judge Claude Lantier, +the 'hero,' very favourably; he is like the dog in the fable who +forsakes the substance for the shadow; but it should be borne in mind +that he is only in part responsible for his actions, for the +fatal germ of insanity has been transmitted to him from his +great-grandmother. He is, indeed, the son of Gervaise, the heroine of +_L'Assommoir_ ('The Dram Shop'), by her lover Lantier. And Gervaise, +it may be remembered, was the daughter of Antoine Macquart (of 'The +Fortune of the Rougons' and 'Dr. Pascal'), the latter being the +illegitimate son of Adelaide Fouque, from whom sprang the insanity of +the Rougon-Macquarts. At the same time, whatever view may be taken of +Claude's artistic theories, whatever interest his ultimate fate may +inspire, it cannot be denied that his opinions on painting are very +ably expressed, and that his 'case,' from a pathological point of +view, is diagnosticated by M. Zola with all the skill of a physician. +Moreover, there can be but one opinion concerning the helpmate of his +life, the poor devoted Christine; and no one possessed of feeling will +be able to read the history of little Jacques unmoved. + +Stories of artistic life are not as a rule particularly popular with +English readers, but this is not surprising when one remembers that +those who take a genuine interest in art, in this country, are still a +small minority. Quite apart from artistic matters, however, there is, +I think, an abundance of human interest in the pages of 'His +Masterpiece,' and thus I venture to hope that the present version, +which I have prepared as carefully as my powers permit, will meet with +the favour of those who have supported me, for a good many years now, +in my endeavours to make the majority of M. Zola's works accessible in +this country. + + E. A. V. + + MERTON, SURREY. + + + + HIS MASTERPIECE + + + + I + +CLAUDE was passing in front of the Hotel de Ville, and the clock was +striking two o'clock in the morning when the storm burst forth. He had +been roaming forgetfully about the Central Markets, during that +burning July night, like a loitering artist enamoured of nocturnal +Paris. Suddenly the raindrops came down, so large and thick, that he +took to his heels and rushed, wildly bewildered, along the Quai de la +Greve. But on reaching the Pont Louis Philippe he pulled up, ragefully +breathless; he considered this fear of the rain to be idiotic; and so +amid the pitch-like darkness, under the lashing shower which drowned +the gas-jets, he crossed the bridge slowly, with his hands dangling by +his side. + +He had only a few more steps to go. As he was turning on to the Quai +Bourbon, on the Isle of St. Louis, a sharp flash of lightning +illumined the straight, monotonous line of old houses bordering the +narrow road in front of the Seine. It blazed upon the panes of the +high, shutterless windows, showing up the melancholy frontages of the +old-fashioned dwellings in all their details; here a stone balcony, +there the railing of a terrace, and there a garland sculptured on a +frieze. The painter had his studio close by, under the eaves of the +old Hotel du Martoy, nearly at the corner of the Rue de la +Femme-sans-Tete.* So he went on while the quay, after flashing forth +for a moment, relapsed into darkness, and a terrible thunder-clap +shook the drowsy quarter. + + * The street of the Headless woman.--ED. + +When Claude, blinded by the rain, got to his door--a low, rounded +door, studded with iron--he fumbled for the bell knob, and he was +exceedingly surprised--indeed, he started--on finding a living, +breathing body huddled against the woodwork. Then, by the light of a +second flash, he perceived a tall young girl, dressed in black, and +drenched already, who was shivering with fear. When a second +thunder-clap had shaken both of them, Claude exclaimed: + +'How you frighten one! Who are you, and what do you want?' + +He could no longer see her; he only heard her sob, and stammer: + +'Oh, monsieur, don't hurt me. It's the fault of the driver, whom I +hired at the station, and who left me at this door, after ill-treating +me. Yes, a train ran off the rails, near Nevers. We were four hours +late, and a person who was to wait for me had gone. Oh, dear me; I +have never been in Paris before, and I don't know where I am. . . .' + +Another blinding flash cut her short, and with dilated eyes she +stared, terror-stricken, at that part of the strange capital, that +violet-tinted apparition of a fantastic city. The rain had ceased +falling. On the opposite bank of the Seine was the Quai des Ormes, +with its small grey houses variegated below by the woodwork of their +shops and with their irregular roofs boldly outlined above, while the +horizon suddenly became clear on the left as far as the blue slate +eaves of the Hotel de Ville, and on the right as far as the +leaden-hued dome of St. Paul. What startled her most of all, however, +was the hollow of the stream, the deep gap in which the Seine flowed, +black and turgid, from the heavy piles of the Pont Marie, to the light +arches of the new Pont Louis Philippe. Strange masses peopled the +river, a sleeping flotilla of small boats and yawls, a floating +washhouse, and a dredger moored to the quay. Then, farther down, +against the other bank, were lighters, laden with coals, and barges +full of mill stone, dominated as it were by the gigantic arm of a +steam crane. But, suddenly, everything disappeared again. + +Claude had an instinctive distrust of women--that story of an +accident, of a belated train and a brutal cabman, seemed to him a +ridiculous invention. At the second thunder-clap the girl had shrunk +farther still into her corner, absolutely terrified. + +'But you cannot stop here all night,' he said. + +She sobbed still more and stammered, 'I beseech you, monsieur, take me +to Passy. That's where I was going.' + +He shrugged his shoulders. Did she take him for a fool? Mechanically, +however, he turned towards the Quai des Celestins, where there was a +cabstand. Not the faintest glimmer of a lamp to be seen. + +'To Passy, my dear? Why not to Versailles? Where do you think one can +pick up a cab at this time of night, and in such weather?' + +Her only answer was a shriek; for a fresh flash of lightning had +almost blinded her, and this time the tragic city had seemed to her to +be spattered with blood. An immense chasm had been revealed, the two +arms of the river stretching far away amidst the lurid flames of a +conflagration. The smallest details had appeared: the little closed +shutters of the Quai des Ormes, and the two openings of the Rue de la +Masure, and the Rue du Paon-Blanc, which made breaks in the line of +frontages; then near the Pont Marie one could have counted the leaves +on the lofty plane trees, which there form a bouquet of magnificent +verdure; while on the other side, beneath the Pont Louis Philippe, at +the Mail, the barges, ranged in a quadruple line, had flared with the +piles of yellow apples with which they were heavily laden. And there +was also the ripple of the water, the high chimney of the floating +washhouse, the tightened chain of the dredger, the heaps of sand on +the banks, indeed, an extraordinary agglomeration of things, quite a +little world filling the great gap which seemed to stretch from one +horizon to the other. But the sky became dark again, and the river +flowed on, all obscurity, amid the crashing of the thunder. + +'Thank heaven it's over. Oh, heaven! what's to become of me?' + +Just then the rain began to fall again, so stiffly and impelled by so +strong a wind that it swept along the quay with the violence of water +escaping through an open lock. + +'Come, let me get in,' said Claude; 'I can stand this no longer.' + +Both were getting drenched. By the flickering light of the gas lamp at +the corner of the Rue de la Femme-sans-Tete the young man could see +the water dripping from the girl's dress, which was clinging to her +skin, in the deluge that swept against the door. He was seized with +compassion. Had he not once picked up a cur on such a stormy night as +this? Yet he felt angry with himself for softening. He never had +anything to do with women; he treated them all as if ignorant of their +existence, with a painful timidity which he disguised under a mask of +bravado. And that girl must really think him a downright fool, to +bamboozle him with that story of adventure--only fit for a farce. +Nevertheless, he ended by saying, 'That's enough. You had better come +in out of the wet. You can sleep in my rooms.' + +But at this the girl became even more frightened, and threw up her +arms. + +'In your rooms? Oh! good heavens. No, no; it's impossible. I beseech +you, monsieur, take me to Passy. Let me beg of you.' + +But Claude became angry. Why did she make all this fuss, when he was +willing to give her shelter? He had already rung the bell twice. At +last the door opened and he pushed the girl before him. + +'No, no, monsieur; I tell you, no--' + +But another flash dazzled her, and when the thunder growled she +bounded inside, scarce knowing what she was about. The heavy door had +closed upon them, she was standing under a large archway in complete +darkness. + +'It's I, Madame Joseph,' cried Claude to the doorkeeper. Then he +added, in a whisper, 'Give me your hand, we have to cross the +courtyard.' + +The girl did as she was told; she no longer resisted; she was +overwhelmed, worn out. Once more they encountered the diluvian rain, +as they ran side by side as hard as they could across the yard. It was +a baronial courtyard, huge, and surrounded with stone arcades, +indistinct amidst the gloom. However, they came to a narrow passage +without a door, and he let go her hand. She could hear him trying to +strike some matches, and swearing. They were all damp. It was +necessary for them to grope their way upstairs. + +'Take hold of the banisters, and be careful,' said Claude; 'the steps +are very high.' + +The staircase, a very narrow one, a former servants' staircase, was +divided into three lofty flights, which she climbed, stumbling, with +unskilful, weary limbs. Then he warned her that they had to turn down +a long passage. She kept behind him, touching the walls on both sides +with her outstretched hands, as she advanced along that endless +passage which bent and came back to the front of the building on the +quay. Then there were still other stairs right under the roof +--creaking, shaky wooden stairs, which had no banister, and suggested +the unplaned rungs of a miller's ladder. The landing at the top was so +small that the girl knocked against the young man, as he fumbled in +his pocket for his key. At last, however, he opened the door. + +'Don't come in, but wait, else you'll hurt yourself again.' + +She did not stir. She was panting for breath, her heart was beating +fast, there was a buzzing in her ears, and she felt indeed exhausted +by that ascent in the dense gloom. It seemed to her as if she had been +climbing for hours, in such a maze, amidst such a turning and twisting +of stairs that she would never be able to find her way down again. +Inside the studio there was a shuffling of heavy feet, a rustling of +hands groping in the dark, a clatter of things being tumbled about, +accompanied by stifled objurgations. At last the doorway was lighted +up. + +'Come in, it's all right now.' + +She went in and looked around her, without distinguishing anything. +The solitary candle burned dim in that garret, more than fifteen feet +high, and filled with a confused jumble of things whose big shadows +showed fantastically on the walls, which were painted in grey +distemper. No, she did not distinguish anything. She mechanically +raised her eyes to the large studio-window, against which the rain was +beating with a deafening roll like that of a drum, but at that moment +another flash of lightning illumined the sky, followed almost +immediately by a thunder-clap that seemed to split the roof. +Dumb-stricken, pale as death, she dropped upon a chair. + +'The devil!' muttered Claude, who also was rather pale. 'That clap +wasn't far off. We were just in time. It's better here than in the +streets, isn't it?' + +Then he went towards the door, closed it with a bang and turned the +key, while she watched him with a dazed look. + +'There, now, we are at home.' + +But it was all over. There were only a few more thunder-claps in the +distance, and the rain soon ceased altogether. Claude, who was now +growing embarrassed, had examined the girl, askance. She seemed by no +means bad looking, and assuredly she was young: twenty at the most. +This scrutiny had the effect of making him more suspicious of her +still, in spite of an unconscious feeling, a vague idea, that she was +not altogether deceiving him. In any case, no matter how clever she +might be, she was mistaken if she imagined she had caught him. To +prove this he wilfully exaggerated his gruffness and curtness of +manner. + +Her very anguish at his words and demeanour made her rise, and in her +turn she examined him, though without daring to look him straight in +the face. And the aspect of that bony young man, with his angular +joints and wild bearded face, increased her fears. With his black felt +hat and his old brown coat, discoloured by long usage, he looked like +a kind of brigand. + +Directly he told her to make herself at home and go to bed, for he +placed his bed at her disposal, she shrinkingly replied: 'Thank you; +I'll do very well as I am; I'll not undress.' + +'But your clothes are dripping,' he retorted. 'Come now, don't make an +idiot of yourself.' + +And thereupon he began to knock about the chairs, and flung aside an +old screen, behind which she noticed a washstand and a tiny iron +bedstead, from which he began to remove the coverlet. + +'No, no, monsieur, it isn't worth while; I assure you that I shall +stay here.' + +At this, however, Claude became angry, gesticulating and shaking his +fists. + +'How much more of this comedy are we to have?' said he. 'As I give you +my bed, what have you to complain of? You need not pay any attention +to me. I shall sleep on that couch.' + +He strode towards her with a threatening look, and thereupon, beside +herself with fear, thinking that he was going to strike her, she +tremblingly unfastened her hat. The water was dripping from her +skirts. He kept on growling. Nevertheless, a sudden scruple seemed to +come to him, for he ended by saying, condescendingly: + +'Perhaps you don't like to sleep in my sheets. I'll change them.' + +He at once began dragging them from the bed and flinging them on to +the couch at the other end of the studio. And afterwards he took a +clean pair from the wardrobe and began to make the bed with all the +deftness of a bachelor accustomed to that kind of thing. He carefully +tucked in the clothes on the side near the wall, shook the pillows, +and turned back a corner of the coverlet. + +'There, that'll do; won't it?' said he. + +And as she did not answer, but remained motionless, he pushed her +behind the screen. 'Good heavens! what a lot of fuss,' he thought. And +after spreading his own sheets on the couch, and hanging his clothes +on an easel, he quickly went to bed himself. When he was on the point +of blowing out the candle, however, he reflected that if he did so she +would have to undress in the dark, and so he waited. At first he had +not heard her stir; she had no doubt remained standing against the +iron bedstead. But at last he detected a slight rustling, a slow, +faint movement, as if amidst her preparations she also were listening, +frightened perchance by the candle which was still alight. At last, +after several minutes, the spring mattress creaked, and then all +became still. + +'Are you comfortable, mademoiselle?' now asked Claude, in a much more +gentle voice. + +'Yes, monsieur, very comfortable,' she replied, in a scarcely audible +voice, which still quivered with emotion. + +'Very well, then. Good-night.' + +'Good-night.' + +He blew out the candle, and the silence became more intense. In spite +of his fatigue, his eyes soon opened again, and gazed upward at the +large window of the studio. The sky had become very clear again, the +stars were twinkling in the sultry July night, and, despite the storm, +the heat remained oppressive. Claude was thinking about the girl +--agitated for a moment by contrary feelings, though at last contempt +gained the mastery. He indeed believed himself to be very +strong-minded; he imagined a romance concocted to destroy his +tranquillity, and he gibed contentedly at having frustrated it. His +experience of women was very slight, nevertheless he endeavoured to +draw certain conclusions from the story she had told him, struck as he +was at present by certain petty details, and feeling perplexed. But +why, after all, should he worry his brain? What did it matter whether +she had told him the truth or a lie? In the morning she would go off; +there would be an end to it all, and they would never see each other +again. Thus Claude lay cogitating, and it was only towards daybreak, +when the stars began to pale, that he fell asleep. As for the girl +behind the screen, in spite of the crushing fatigue of her journey, +she continued tossing about uneasily, oppressed by the heaviness of +the atmosphere beneath the hot zinc-work of the roof; and doubtless, +too, she was rendered nervous by the strangeness of her surroundings. + +In the morning, when Claude awoke, his eyes kept blinking. It was very +late, and the sunshine streamed through the large window. One of his +theories was, that young landscape painters should take studios +despised by the academical figure painters--studios which the sun +flooded with living beams. Nevertheless he felt dazzled, and fell back +again on his couch. Why the devil had he been sleeping there? His +eyes, still heavy with sleep, wandered mechanically round the studio, +when, all at once, beside the screen he noticed a heap of petticoats. +Then he at once remembered the girl. He began to listen, and heard a +sound of long-drawn, regular breathing, like that of a child +comfortably asleep. Ah! so she was still slumbering, and so calmly, +that it would be a pity to disturb her. He felt dazed and somewhat +annoyed at the adventure, however, for it would spoil his morning's +work. He got angry at his own good nature; it would be better to shake +her, so that she might go at once. Nevertheless he put on his trousers +and slippers softly, and walked about on tiptoes. + +The cuckoo clock struck nine, and Claude made a gesture of annoyance. +Nothing had stirred; the regular breathing continued. The best thing +to do, he thought, would be to set to work on his large picture; he +would see to his breakfast later on, when he was able to move about. +But, after all, he could not make up his mind. He who lived amid +chronic disorder felt worried by that heap of petticoats lying on the +floor. Some water had dripped from them, but they were damp still. And +so, while grumbling in a low tone, he ended by picking them up one by +one and spreading them over the chairs in the sunlight. Had one ever +seen the like, clothes thrown about anyhow? They would never get dry, +and she would never go off! He turned all that feminine apparel over +very awkwardly, got entangled with the black dress-body, and went on +all fours to pick up the stockings that had fallen behind an old +canvas. They were Balbriggan stockings of a dark grey, long and fine, +and he examined them, before hanging them up to dry. The water oozing +from the edge of the dress had soaked them, so he wrung and stretched +them with his warm hands, in order that he might be able to send her +away the quicker. + +Since he had been on his legs, Claude had felt sorely tempted to push +aside the screen and to take a look at his guest. This self-condemned +curiosity only increased his bad temper. At last, with his habitual +shrug of the shoulders, he was taking up his brushes, when he heard +some words stammered amidst a rustling of bed-clothes. Then, however, +soft breathing was heard again, and this time he yielded to the +temptation, dropping his brushes, and peeping from behind the screen. +The sight that met his eyes rooted him to the spot, so fascinated that +he muttered, 'Good gracious! good gracious!' + +The girl, amidst the hot-house heat that came from the window, had +thrown back her coverlet, and, overcome with the fatigue of a restless +night, lay steeped in a flood of sunshine, unconscious of everything. +In her feverish slumbers a shoulder button had become unfastened, and +a sleeve slipping down allowed her bosom to be seen, with skin which +looked almost gilded and soft like satin. Her right arm rested beneath +her neck, her head was thrown back, and her black unwound tresses +enwrapped her like a dusky cloak. + +'Good gracious! But she's a beauty!' muttered Claude once more. + +There, in every point, was the figure he had vainly sought for his +picture, and it was almost in the right pose. She was rather spare, +perhaps, but then so lithe and fresh. + +With a light step, Claude ran to take his box of crayons, and a large +sheet of paper. Then, squatting on a low chair, he placed a portfolio +on his knees and began to sketch with an air of perfect happiness. All +else vanished amidst artistic surprise and enthusiasm. No thought of +sex came to him. It was all a mere question of chaste outlines, +splendid flesh tints, well-set muscles. Face to face with nature, an +uneasy mistrust of his powers made him feel small; so, squaring his +elbows, he became very attentive and respectful. This lasted for about +a quarter of an hour, during which he paused every now and then, +blinking at the figure before him. As he was afraid, however, that she +might change her position, he speedily set to work again, holding his +breath, lest he should awaken her. + +And yet, while steadily applying himself to his work, vague fancies +again assailed his mind. Who could she be? Assuredly no mere hussy. +But why had she told him such an unbelievable tale? Thereupon he began +to imagine other stories. Perhaps she had but lately arrived in Paris +with a lover, who had abandoned her; perhaps she was some young woman +of the middle classes led into bad company by a female friend, and not +daring to go home to her relatives; or else there was some still more +intricate drama beneath it all; something horrible, inexplicable, the +truth of which he would never fathom. All these hypotheses increased +his perplexity. Meanwhile, he went on sketching her face, studying it +with care. The whole of the upper part, the clear forehead, as smooth +as a polished mirror, the small nose, with its delicately chiselled +and nervous nostrils, denoted great kindliness and gentleness. One +divined the sweet smile of the eyes beneath the closed lids; a smile +that would light up the whole of the features. Unfortunately, the +lower part of the face marred that expression of sweetness; the jaw +was prominent, and the lips, rather too full, showed almost blood-like +over the strong white teeth. There was here, like a flash of passion, +something that spoke of awakening womanhood, still unconscious of +itself amidst those other traits of childlike softness. + +But suddenly a shiver rippled over the girl's satiny skin. Perhaps she +had felt the weight of that gaze thus mentally dissecting her. She +opened her eyes very wide and uttered a cry. + +'Ah! great heavens!' + +Sudden terror paralysed her at the sight of that strange room, and +that young man crouching in his shirt-sleeves in front of her and +devouring her with his eyes. Flushing hotly, she impulsively pulled up +the counterpane. + +'Well, what's the matter?' cried Claude, angrily, his crayon suspended +in mid-air; 'what wasp has stung you now?' + +He, whose knowledge of womankind was largely limited to professional +models, was at a loss to understand the girl's action. + +She neither spoke nor stirred, but remained with the counterpane +tightly wrapped round her throat, her body almost doubled up, and +scarcely showing an outline beneath her coverings. + +'I won't eat you, will I?' urged Claude. 'Come, just lie as you were, +there's a good girl.' + +Again she blushed to her very ears. At last she stammered, 'Oh, no, +monsieur, no--pray!' + +But he began to lose his temper altogether. One of the angry fits to +which he was subject was coming upon him. He thought her obstinacy +stupid. And as in response to his urgent requests she only began to +sob, he quite lost his head in despair before his sketch, thinking +that he would never be able to finish it, and would thus lose a +capital study for his picture. + +'Well, you won't, eh? But it's idiotic. What do you take me for? Have +I annoyed you at all? You know I haven't. Besides, listen, it is very +unkind of you to refuse me this service, because, after all, I +sheltered you--I gave up my bed to you.' + +She only continued to cry, with her head buried in the pillow. + +'I assure you that I am very much in want of this sketch, else I +wouldn't worry you.' + +He grew surprised at the girl's abundant tears, and ashamed at having +been so rough with her, so he held his tongue at last, feeling +embarrassed, and wishing too that she might have time to recover a +bit. Then he began again, in a very gentle tone: + +'Well, as it annoys you, let's say no more about it. But if you only +knew. I've got a figure in my picture yonder which doesn't make +head-way at all, and you were just in the very note. As for me, when +it's a question of painting, I'd kill father and mother, you know. +Well, you'll excuse me, won't you? And if you'd like me to be very +nice, you'd just give me a few minutes more. No, no; keep quiet as you +are; I only want the head--nothing but the head. If I could finish +that, it would be all right. Really now, be kind; put your arm as it +was before, and I shall be very grateful to you--grateful all my life +long.' + +It was he who was entreating now, pitifully waving his crayon amid the +emotion of his artistic craving. Besides, he had not stirred, but +remained crouching on his low chair, at a distance from the bed. At +last she risked the ordeal, and uncovered her tranquillised face. What +else could she do? She was at his mercy, and he looked so wretchedly +unhappy. + +Nevertheless, she still hesitated, she felt some last scruples. But +eventually, without saying a word, she slowly brought her bare arm +from beneath the coverings, and again slipped it under her head, +taking care, however, to keep the counterpane tightly round her +throat. + +'Ah! how kind you are! I'll make haste, you will be free in a minute.' + +He bent over his drawing, and only looked at her now and then with the +glance of a painter who simply regards the woman before him as a +model. At first she became pink again; the consciousness that she was +showing her bare arm--which she would have shown in a ball-room +without thinking at all about it--filled her with confusion. +Nevertheless, the young man seemed so reasonable that she became +reassured. The blush left her cheeks, and her lips parted in a vague +confiding smile. And from between her half-opened eyelids she began to +study him. How he had frightened her the previous night with his thick +brown beard, his large head, and his impulsive gestures. And yet he +was not ugly; she even detected great tenderness in the depths of his +brown eyes, while his nose altogether surprised her. It was a +finely-cut woman's nose, almost lost amidst the bristling hair on his +lips. He shook slightly with a nervous anxiety which made his crayon +seem a living thing in his slender hand, and which touched her though +she knew not why. She felt sure he was not bad-natured, his rough, +surly ways arose from bashfulness. She did not decipher all this very +clearly, but she divined it, and began to put herself at her ease, as +if she were with a friend. + +Nevertheless, the studio continued to frighten her a little. She cast +sidelong glances around it, astonished at so much disorder and +carelessness. Before the stove the cinders of the previous winter +still lay in a heap. Besides the bed, the small washstand, and the +couch, there was no other furniture than an old dilapidated oaken +wardrobe and a large deal table, littered with brushes, colours, dirty +plates, and a spirit lamp, atop of which was a saucepan, with shreds +of vermicelli sticking to its sides. Some rush-bottomed chairs, their +seats the worse for wear, were scattered about beside spavined easels. +Near the couch the candlestick used on the previous night stood on the +floor, which looked as if it had not been swept for fully a month. +There was only the cuckoo clock, a huge one, with a dial illuminated +with crimson flowers, that looked clean and bright, ticking sonorously +all the while. But what especially frightened her were some sketches +in oils that hung frameless from the walls, a serried array of +sketches reaching to the floor, where they mingled with heaps of +canvases thrown about anyhow. She had never seen such terrible +painting, so coarse, so glaring, showing a violence of colour, that +jarred upon her nerves like a carter's oath heard on the doorstep of +an inn. She cast her eyes down for a moment, and then became attracted +by a picture, the back of which was turned to her. It was the large +canvas at which the painter was working, and which he pushed against +the wall every night, the better to judge it on the morrow in the +surprise of the first glance. What could it be, that one, she +wondered, since he dared not even show it? And, meantime, through the +vast room, a sheet of burning sunlight, falling straight from the +window panes, unchecked by any blind, spread with the flow of molten +gold over all the broken-down furniture, whose devil-may-care +shabbiness it threw into bold relief. + +Claude began to feel the silence oppressive; he wanted to say +something, no matter what, first, in order to be polite, and more +especially to divert her attention from her pose. But cudgel his brain +as he would, he could only think of asking: 'Pray, what is your name?' + +She opened her eyes, which she had closed, as if she were feeling +sleepy. + +'Christine,' she said. + +At which he seemed surprised. Neither had he told her his name. Since +the night before they had been together, side by side, without knowing +one another. + +'My name is Claude.' + +And, having looked at her just at that moment, he saw her burst into a +pretty laugh. It was the sudden, merry peal of a big girl, still +scarcely more than a hoyden. She considered this tardy exchange of +names rather droll. Then something else amused her. + +'How funny--Claude, Christine--they begin with the same letter.' + +They both became silent once more. He was blinking at his work, +growing absorbed in it, and at a loss how to continue the +conversation. He fancied that she was beginning to feel tired and +uncomfortable, and in his fear lest she should stir, he remarked at +random, merely to occupy her thoughts, 'It feels rather warm.' + +This time she checked her laughter, her natural gaiety that revived +and burst forth in spite of herself ever since she had felt easier in +mind. Truth to tell, the heat was indeed so oppressive that it seemed +to her as if she were in a bath, with skin moist and pale with the +milky pallor of a camellia. + +'Yes, it feels rather warm,' she said, seriously, though mirth was +dancing in her eyes. + +Thereupon Claude continued, with a good-natured air: + +'It's the sun falling straight in; but, after all, a flood of sunshine +on one's skin does one good. We could have done with some of it last +night at the door, couldn't we?' + +At this both burst out laughing, and he, delighted at having hit upon +a subject of conversation, questioned her about her adventure, +without, however, feeling inquisitive, for he cared little about +discovering the real truth, and was only intent upon prolonging the +sitting. + +Christine simply, and in a few words, related what had befallen her. +Early on the previous morning she had left Clermont for Paris, where +she was to take up a situation as reader and companion to the widow of +a general, Madame Vanzade, a rich old lady, who lived at Passy. The +train was timed to reach Paris at ten minutes past nine in the +evening, and a maid was to meet her at the station. They had even +settled by letter upon a means of recognition. She was to wear a black +hat with a grey feather in it. But, a little above Nevers, her train +had come upon a goods train which had run off the rails, its litter of +smashed trucks still obstructing the line. There was quite a series of +mishaps and delays. First an interminable wait in the carriages, which +the passengers had to quit at last, luggage and all, in order to +trudge to the next station, three kilometres distant, where the +authorities had decided to make up another train. By this time they +had lost two hours, and then another two were lost in the general +confusion which the accident had caused from one end of the line to +the other, in such wise that they reached the Paris terminus four +hours behind time, that is, at one o'clock in the morning. + +'Bad luck, indeed,' interrupted Claude, who was still sceptical, +though half disarmed, in his surprise at the neat way in which the +girl arranged the details of her story. + +'And, of course, there was no one at the station to meet you?' he +added. + +Christine had, indeed, missed Madame Vanzade's maid, who, no doubt, +had grown tired of waiting. She told Claude of her utter helplessness +at the Lyons terminus--that large, strange, dark station, deserted at +that late hour of night. She had not dared to take a cab at first, but +had kept on walking up and down, carrying her small bag, and still +hoping that somebody would come for her. When at last she made up her +mind there only remained one driver, very dirty and smelling of drink, +who prowled round her, offering his cab in a knowing, impudent way. + +'Yes, I know, a dawdler,' said Claude, getting as interested as if he +were listening to a fairy tale. 'So you got into his cab?' + +Looking up at the ceiling, Christine continued, without shifting her +position: 'He made me; he called me his little dear, and frightened +me. When he found out that I was going to Passy, he became very angry, +and whipped his horse so hard that I was obliged to hold on by the +doors. After that I felt more easy, because the cab trundled along all +right through the lighted streets, and I saw people about. At last I +recognised the Seine, for though I was never in Paris before, I had +often looked at a map. Naturally I thought he would keep along the +quay, so I became very frightened again on noticing that we crossed a +bridge. Just then it began to rain, and the cab, which had got into a +very dark turning, suddenly stopped. The driver got down from his +seat, and declared it was raining too hard for him to remain on the +box--' + +Claude burst out laughing. He no longer doubted. She could not have +invented that driver. And as she suddenly stopped, somewhat confused, +he said, 'All right, the cabman was having a joke.' + +'I jumped out at once by the other door,' resumed Christine. 'Then he +began to swear at me, saying that we had arrived at Passy, and that he +would tear my hat from my head if I did not pay him. It was raining in +torrents, and the quay was absolutely deserted. I was losing my head, +and when I had pulled out a five-franc piece, he whipped up his horse +and drove off, taking my little bag, which luckily only contained two +pocket-handkerchiefs, a bit of cake, and the key of my trunk, which I +had been obliged to leave behind in the train.' + +'But you ought to have taken his number,' exclaimed the artist +indignantly. In fact he now remembered having been brushed against by +a passing cab, which had rattled by furiously while he was crossing +the Pont Louis Philippe, amid the downpour of the storm. And he +reflected how improbable truth often was. The story he had conjured up +as being the most simple and logical was utterly stupid beside the +natural chain of life's many combinations. + +'You may imagine how I felt under the doorway,' concluded Christine. +'I knew well enough that I was not at Passy, and that I should have to +spend the night there, in this terrible Paris. And there was the +thunder and the lightning--those horrible blue and red flashes, which +showed me things that made me tremble.' + +She closed her eyelids once more, she shivered, and the colour left +her cheeks as, in her fancy, she again beheld the tragic city--that +line of quays stretching away in a furnace-like blaze, the deep moat +of the river, with its leaden waters obstructed by huge black masses, +lighters looking like lifeless whales, and bristling with motionless +cranes which stretched forth gallows-like arms. Was that a welcome to +Paris? + +Again did silence fall. Claude had resumed his drawing. But she became +restless, her arm was getting stiff. + +'Just put your elbow a little lower, please,' said Claude. Then, with +an air of concern, as if to excuse his curtness: 'Your parents will be +very uneasy, if they have heard of the accident.' + +'I have no parents.' + +'What! neither father nor mother? You are all alone in the world?' + +'Yes; all alone.' + +She was eighteen years old, and had been born in Strasburg, quite by +chance, though, between two changes of garrison, for her father was a +soldier, Captain Hallegrain. Just as she entered upon her twelfth +year, the captain, a Gascon, hailing from Montauban, had died at +Clermont, where he had settled when paralysis of the legs had obliged +him to retire from active service. For nearly five years afterwards, +her mother, a Parisian by birth, had remained in that dull provincial +town, managing as well as she could with her scanty pension, but eking +it out by fan-painting, in order that she might bring up her daughter +as a lady. She had, however, now been dead for fifteen months, and had +left her child penniless and unprotected, without a friend, save the +Superior of the Sisters of the Visitation, who had kept her with them. +Christine had come straight to Paris from the convent, the Superior +having succeeded in procuring her a situation as reader and companion +to her old friend, Madame Vanzade, who was almost blind. + +At these additional particulars, Claude sat absolutely speechless. +That convent, that well-bred orphan, that adventure, all taking so +romantic a turn, made him relapse into embarrassment again, into all +his former awkwardness of gesture and speech. He had left off drawing, +and sat looking, with downcast eyes, at his sketch. + +'Is Clermont pretty?' he asked, at last. + +'Not very; it's a gloomy town. Besides, I don't know; I scarcely ever +went out.' + +She was resting on her elbow, and continued, as if talking to herself +in a very low voice, still tremulous from the thought of her +bereavement. + +'Mamma, who wasn't strong, killed herself with work. She spoilt me; +nothing was too good for me. I had all sorts of masters, but I did not +get on very well; first, because I fell ill, then because I paid no +attention. I was always laughing and skipping about like a +featherbrain. I didn't care for music, piano playing gave me a cramp +in my arms. The only thing I cared about at all was painting.' + +He raised his head and interrupted her. 'You can paint?' + +'Oh, no; I know nothing, nothing at all. Mamma, who was very talented, +made me do a little water-colour, and I sometimes helped her with the +backgrounds of her fans. She painted some lovely ones.' + +In spite of herself, she then glanced at the startling sketches with +which the walls seemed ablaze, and her limpid eyes assumed an uneasy +expression at the sight of that rough, brutal style of painting. From +where she lay she obtained a topsy-turvy view of the study of herself +which the painter had begun, and her consternation at the violent +tones she noticed, the rough crayon strokes, with which the shadows +were dashed off, prevented her from asking to look at it more closely. +Besides, she was growing very uncomfortable in that bed, where she lay +broiling; she fidgetted with the idea of going off and putting an end +to all these things which, ever since the night before, had seemed to +her so much of a dream. + +Claude, no doubt, became aware of her discomfort. A sudden feeling of +shame brought with it one of compunction. + +He put his unfinished sketch aside, and hastily exclaimed: 'Much +obliged for your kindness, mademoiselle. Forgive me, I have really +abused it. Yes, indeed, pray get up; it's time for you to look for +your friends.' + +And without appearing to understand why she did not follow his advice, +but hid more and more of her bare arm in proportion as he drew nearer, +he still insisted upon advising her to rise. All at once, as the real +state of things struck him, he swung his arms about like a madman, set +the screen in position, and went to the far end of the studio, where +he began noisily setting his crockery in order, so that she might jump +out and dress herself, without fear of being overheard. + +Amidst the din he had thus raised, he failed to hear her hesitating +voice, 'Monsieur, monsieur--' + +At last he caught her words. + +'Monsieur, would you be so kind--I can't find my stockings.' + +Claude hurried forward. What had he been thinking of? What was she to +do behind that screen, without her stockings and petticoats, which he +had spread out in the sunlight? The stockings were dry, he assured +himself of that by gently rubbing them together, and he handed them to +her over the partition; again noticing her arm, bare, plump and rosy +like that of a child. Then he tossed the skirts on to the foot of the +bed and pushed her boots forward, leaving nothing but her bonnet +suspended from the easel. She had thanked him and that was all; he +scarcely distinguished the rustling of her clothes and the discreet +splashing of water. Still he continued to concern himself about her. + +'You will find the soap in a saucer on the table. Open the drawer and +take a clean towel. Do you want more water? I'll give you the +pitcher.' + +Suddenly the idea that he was blundering again exasperated him. + +'There, there, I am only worrying you. I will leave you to your own +devices. Do as if you were at home.' + +And he continued to potter about among the crockery. He was debating +with himself whether he should ask her to stay to breakfast. He ought +not to let her go like that. On the other hand, if she did stay, he +would never get done; it would mean a loss of his whole morning. +Without deciding anything, as soon as he had lighted his spirit lamp, +he washed his saucepan and began to make some chocolate. He thought it +more _distingue_, feeling rather ashamed of his vermicelli, which he +mixed with bread and soused with oil as people do in the South of +France. However, he was still breaking the chocolate into bits, when +he uttered a cry of surprise, 'What, already?' + +It was Christine, who had pushed back the screen, and who appeared +looking neat and correct in her black dress, duly laced and buttoned +up, equipped, as it were, in a twinkle. Her rosy face did not even +show traces of the water, her thick hair was twisted in a knot at the +back of her head, not a single lock out of place. And Claude remained +open-mouthed before that miracle of quickness, that proof of feminine +skill in dressing well and promptly. + +'The deuce, if you go about everything in that way!' said he. + +He found her taller and handsomer than he had fancied. But what struck +him most was her look of quiet decision. She was evidently no longer +afraid of him. It seemed as though she had re-donned her armour and +become an amazon again. She smiled and looked him straight in the +face. Whereupon he said what he was still reluctant to say: + +'You'll breakfast with me, won't you?' + +But she refused the offer. 'No, thank you. I am going to the station, +where my trunk must have arrived by now, and then I shall drive to +Passy.' + +It was in vain that he told her that she must be hungry, that it was +unreasonable for her to go out without eating something. + +'Well, if you won't, I'll go down and fetch you a cab,' he ended by +exclaiming. + +'Pray don't take such trouble.' + +'But you can't go such a distance on foot. Let me at least take you to +the cabstand, as you don't know Paris.' + +'No, really I do not need you. If you wish to oblige me, let me go +away by myself.' + +She had evidently made up her mind. She no doubt shrank from the idea +of being seen with a man, even by strangers. She meant to remain +silent about that strange night, she meant to tell some falsehood, and +keep the recollection of her adventure entirely to herself. He made a +furious gesture, which was tantamount to sending her to the devil. +Good riddance; it suited him better not to have to go down. But, all +the same, he felt hurt at heart, and considered that she was +ungrateful. + +'As you please, then. I sha'n't resort to force,' he said. + +At these words, Christine's vague smile became more accentuated. She +did not reply, but took her bonnet and looked round in search of a +glass. Failing to find one, she tied the strings as best she could. +With her arms uplifted, she leisurely arranged and smoothed the +ribbons, her face turned towards the golden rays of the sun. Somewhat +surprised, Claude looked in vain for the traits of childish softness +that he had just portrayed; the upper part of her face, her clear +forehead, her gentle eyes had become less conspicuous; and now the +lower part stood out, with its somewhat sensual jaw, ruddy mouth, and +superb teeth. And still she smiled with that enigmatical, girlish +smile, which was, perhaps, an ironical one. + +'At any rate,' he said, in a vexed tone, 'I do not think you have +anything to reproach me with.' + +At which she could not help laughing, with a slight, nervous laugh. + +'No, no, monsieur, not in the least.' + +He continued staring at her, fighting the battle of inexperience and +bashfulness over again, and fearing that he had been ridiculous. Now +that she no longer trembled before him, had she become contemptuously +surprised at having trembled at all? What! he had not made the +slightest attempt at courtship, not even pressed a kiss on her +finger-tips. The young fellow's bearish indifference, of which she had +assuredly been conscious, must have hurt her budding womanly feelings. + +'You were saying,' she resumed, becoming sedate once more, 'that the +cabstand is at the end of the bridge on the opposite quay?' + +'Yes; at the spot where there is a clump of trees.' + +She had finished tying her bonnet strings, and stood ready gloved, +with her hands hanging by her side, and yet she did not go, but stared +straight in front of her. As her eyes met the big canvas turned to the +wall she felt a wish to see it, but did not dare to ask. Nothing +detained her; still she seemed to be looking around as if she had +forgotten something there, something which she could not name. At last +she stepped towards the door. + +Claude was already opening it, and a small loaf placed erect against +the post tumbled into the studio. + +'You see,' he said, 'you ought to have stopped to breakfast with me. +My doorkeeper brings the bread up every morning.' + +She again refused with a shake of the head. When she was on the +landing she turned round, and for a moment remained quite still. Her +gay smile had come back; she was the first to hold out her hand. + +'Thank you, thank you very much.' + +He had taken her small gloved hand within his large one, all +pastel-stained as it was. Both hands remained like that for a few +moments, closely and cordially pressed. The young girl was still +smiling at him, and he had a question on the tip of his tongue: 'When +shall I see you again?' But he felt ashamed to ask it, and after +waiting a while she withdrew her hand. + +'Good-bye, monsieur.' + +'Good-bye, mademoiselle.' + +Christine, without another glance, was already descending the steep +ladder-like stairway whose steps creaked, when Claude turned abruptly +into his studio, closing the door with a bang, and shouting to +himself: 'Ah, those confounded women!' + +He was furious--furious with himself, furious with everyone. Kicking +about the furniture, he continued to ease his feelings in a loud +voice. Was not he right in never allowing them to cross his threshold? +They only turned a fellow's head. What proof had he after all that +yonder chit with the innocent look, who had just gone, had not fooled +him most abominably? And he had been silly enough to believe in her +cock-and-bull stories! All his suspicions revived. No one would ever +make him swallow that fairy tale of the general's widow, the railway +accident, and especially the cabman. Did such things ever happen in +real life? Besides, that mouth of hers told a strange tale, and her +looks had been very singular just as she was going. Ah! if he could +only have understood why she had told him all those lies; but no, they +were profitless, inexplicable. It was art for art's sake. How she must +be laughing at him by this time. + +He roughly folded up the screen and sent it flying into a corner. She +had no doubt left all in disorder. And when he found that everything +was in its proper place--basin, towel, and soap--he flew into a rage +because she had not made the bed. With a great deal of fuss he began +to make it himself, lifting the mattress in his arms, banging the +pillow about with his fists, and feeling oppressed by the pure scent +of youth that rose from everything. Then he had a good wash to cool +himself, and in the damp towel he found the same virgin fragrance, +which seemed to spread through the studio. Swearing the while, he +drank his chocolate from the saucepan, so excited, so eager to set to +work, as to swallow large mouthfuls of bread without taking breath. + +'Why, it's enough to kill one here,' he suddenly exclaimed. 'It must +be this confounded heat that's making me ill.' + +After all, the sun had shifted, and it was far less hot. But he opened +a small window on a level with the roof, and inhaled, with an air of +profound relief, the whiff of warm air that entered. Then he took up +his sketch of Christine's head and for a long while he lingered +looking at it. + + + + II + +IT had struck twelve, and Claude was working at his picture when there +was a loud, familiar knock at the door. With an instinctive yet +involuntary impulse, the artist slipped the sketch of Christine's +head, by the aid of which he was remodelling the principal figure of +his picture, into a portfolio. After which he decided to open the +door. + +'You, Pierre!' he exclaimed, 'already!' + +Pierre Sandoz, a friend of his boyhood, was about twenty-two, very +dark, with a round and determined head, a square nose, and gentle +eyes, set in energetic features, girt round with a sprouting beard. + +'I breakfasted earlier than usual,' he answered, 'in order to give you +a long sitting. The devil! you are getting on with it.' + +He had stationed himself in front of the picture, and he added almost +immediately: 'Hallo! you have altered the character of your woman's +features!' + +Then came a long pause; they both kept staring at the canvas. It +measured about sixteen feet by ten, and was entirely painted over, +though little of the work had gone beyond the roughing-out. This +roughing-out, hastily dashed off, was superb in its violence and +ardent vitality of colour. A flood of sunlight streamed into a forest +clearing, with thick walls of verdure; to the left, stretched a dark +glade with a small luminous speck in the far distance. On the grass, +amidst all the summer vegetation, lay a nude woman with one arm +supporting her head, and though her eyes were closed she smiled amidst +the golden shower that fell around her. In the background, two other +women, one fair, and the other dark, wrestled playfully, setting light +flesh tints amidst all the green leaves. And, as the painter had +wanted something dark by way of contrast in the foreground, he had +contented himself with seating there a gentleman, dressed in a black +velveteen jacket. This gentleman had his back turned and the only part +of his flesh that one saw was his left hand, with which he was +supporting himself on the grass. + +'The woman promises well,' said Sandoz, at last; 'but, dash it, there +will be a lot of work in all this.' + +Claude, with his eyes blazing in front of his picture, made a gesture +of confidence. 'I've lots of time from now till the Salon. One can get +through a deal of work in six months. And perhaps this time I'll be +able to prove that I am not a brute.' + +Thereupon he set up a whistle, inwardly pleased at the sketch he had +made of Christine's head, and buoyed up by one of those flashes of +hope whence he so often dropped into torturing anguish, like an artist +whom passion for nature consumed. + +'Come, no more idling,' he shouted. 'As you're here, let us set to.' + +Sandoz, out of pure friendship, and to save Claude the cost of a +model, had offered to pose for the gentleman in the foreground. In +four or five Sundays, the only day of the week on which he was free, +the figure would be finished. He was already donning the velveteen +jacket, when a sudden reflection made him stop. + +'But, I say, you haven't really lunched, since you were working when I +came in. Just go down and have a cutlet while I wait here.' + +The idea of losing time revolted Claude. 'I tell you I have +breakfasted. Look at the saucepan. Besides, you can see there's a +crust of bread left. I'll eat it. Come, to work, to work, lazy-bones.' + +And he snatched up his palette and caught his brushes, saying, as he +did so, 'Dubuche is coming to fetch us this evening, isn't he?' + +'Yes, about five o'clock.' + +'Well, that's all right then. We'll go down to dinner directly he +comes. Are you ready? The hand more to the left, and your head a +little more forward.' + +Having arranged some cushions, Sandoz settled himself on the couch in +the required attitude. His back was turned, but all the same the +conversation continued for another moment, for he had that very +morning received a letter from Plassans, the little Provencal town +where he and the artist had known each other when they were wearing +out their first pairs of trousers on the eighth form of the local +college. However, they left off talking. The one was working with his +mind far away from the world, while the other grew stiff and cramped +with the sleepy weariness of protracted immobility. + +It was only when Claude was nine years old that a lucky chance had +enabled him to leave Paris and return to the little place in Provence, +where he had been born. His mother, a hardworking laundress,* whom his +ne'er-do-well father had scandalously deserted, had afterwards married +an honest artisan who was madly in love with her. But in spite of +their endeavours, they failed to make both ends meet. Hence they +gladly accepted the offer of an elderly and well-to-do townsman to +send the lad to school and keep him with him. It was the generous +freak of an eccentric amateur of painting, who had been struck by the +little figures that the urchin had often daubed. And thus for seven +years Claude had remained in the South, at first boarding at the +college, and afterwards living with his protector. The latter, +however, was found dead in his bed one morning. He left the lad a +thousand francs a year, with the faculty of disposing of the principal +when he reached the age of twenty-five. Claude, already seized with a +passion for painting, immediately left school without even attempting +to secure a bachelor's degree, and rushed to Paris whither his friend +Sandoz had preceded him. + + * Gervaise of 'The Dram Shop'(L'Assommoir).--ED. + +At the College of Plassans, while still in the lowest form, Claude +Lantier, Pierre Sandoz, and another lad named Louis Dubuche, had been +three inseparables. Sprung from three different classes of society, by +no means similar in character, but simply born in the same year at a +few months' interval, they had become friends at once and for aye, +impelled thereto by certain secret affinities, the still vague +promptings of a common ambition, the dawning consciousness of +possessing greater intelligence than the set of dunces who maltreated +them. Sandoz's father, a Spaniard, who had taken refuge in France in +consequence of some political disturbances in which he had been mixed +up, had started, near Plassans, a paper mill with new machinery of his +own invention. When he had died, heart-broken by the petty local +jealousy that had sought to hamper him in every way, his widow had +found herself in so involved a position, and burdened with so many +tangled law suits, that the whole of her remaining means were +swallowed up. She was a native of Burgundy. Yielding to her hatred of +the Provencals, and laying at their door even the slow paralysis from +which she was suffering, she removed to Paris with her son, who then +supported her out of a meagre clerk's salary, he himself haunted by +the vision of literary glory. As for Dubuche, he was the son of a +baker of Plassans. Pushed by his mother, a covetous and ambitious +woman, he had joined his friends in Paris later on. He was attending +the courses at the School of Arts as a pupil architect, living as best +he might upon the last five-franc pieces that his parents staked on +his chances, with the obstinacy of usurers discounting the future at +the rate of a hundred per cent. + +'Dash it!' at last exclaimed Sandoz, breaking the intense silence that +hung upon the room. 'This position isn't at all easy; my wrist feels +broken. Can I move for a moment?' + +Claude let him stretch himself without answering. He was now working +at the velveteen jacket, laying on the colour with thick strokes, +However, stepping backward and blinking, he suddenly burst into loud +laughter at some reminiscence. + +'I say, do you recollect, when we were in the sixth form, how, one +day, Pouillaud lighted the candles in that idiot Lalubie's cupboard? +And how frightened Lalubie was when, before going to his desk, he +opened the cupboard to take his books, and found it transformed into a +mortuary chapel? Five hundred lines to every one in the form.' + +Sandoz, unable to withstand the contagion of the other's gaiety, flung +himself back on the couch. As he resumed his pose, he remarked, 'Ah, +that brute of a Pouillaud. You know that in his letter this morning he +tells me of Lalubie's forthcoming marriage. The old hack is marrying a +pretty girl. But you know her, she's the daughter of Gallissard, the +haberdasher--the little fair-haired girl whom we used to serenade!' + +Once on the subject of their recollections there was no stopping them, +though Claude went on painting with growing feverishness, while +Pierre, still turned towards the wall, spoke over his shoulders, +shaking every now and then with excitement. + +First of all came recollections of the college, the old, dank convent, +that extended as far as the town ramparts; the two courtyards with +their huge plane trees; the slimy sedge-covered pond, where they had +learned to swim, and the class-rooms with dripping plaster walls on +the ground floor; then the refectory, with its atmosphere constantly +poisoned by the fumes of dish-water; the dormitory of the little ones, +famous for its horrors, the linen room, and the infirmary, full of +gentle sisters, nuns in black gowns who looked so sweet beneath their +white coifs. What a to-do there had been when Sister Angela, she whose +Madonna-like face had turned the heads of all the big fellows, +disappeared one morning with Hermeline, a stalwart first-form lad, +who, from sheer love, purposely cut his hands with his penknife so as +to get an opportunity of seeing and speaking to her while she dressed +his self-inflicted injuries with gold-beater's skin. + +Then they passed the whole college staff in review; a pitiful, +grotesque, and terrible procession it was, with such heads as +are seen on meerschaum pipes, and profiles instinct with hatred +and suffering. There was the head master, who ruined himself in +giving parties, in order to marry his daughters--two tall, elegant +girls, the butt of constant and abominable insults, written and +sketched on every wall; there was the comptroller Pifard, whose +wonderful nose betrayed his presence behind every door, when he went +eavesdropping; and there were all the teachers, each befouled with +some insulting nickname: the severe 'Rhadamantus,' who had never been +seen to smile; 'Filth,' who by the constant rubbing of his head had +left his mark on the wall behind every professional seat he occupied; +'Thou-hast-deceived-me-Adele,' the professor of physics, at whom ten +generations of schoolboys had tauntingly flung the name of his +unfaithful wife. There were others still: Spontini, the ferocious +usher, with his Corsican knife, rusty with the blood of three cousins; +little Chantecaille, who was so good-natured that he allowed the +pupils to smoke when out walking; and also a scullion and a scullery +maid, two ugly creatures who had been nicknamed Paraboulomenos and +Paralleluca, and who were accused of kissing one another over the +vegetable parings. + +Then came comical reminiscences; the sudden recollection of practical +jokes, at which they shook with laughter after all those years. Oh! +the morning when they had burned the shoes of Mimi-la-Mort, _alias_ +the Skeleton Day Boarder, a lank lad, who smuggled snuff into the +school for the whole of the form. And then that winter evening when +they had bagged some matches lying near the lamp in the chapel, in +order to smoke dry chestnut leaves in reed pipes. Sandoz, who had been +the ringleader on that occasion, now frankly avowed his terror; the +cold perspiration that had come upon him when he had scrambled out of +the choir, wrapt in darkness. And again there was the day when Claude +had hit upon the sublime idea of roasting some cockchafers in his desk +to see whether they were good to eat, as people said they were. So +terrible had been the stench, so dense the smoke that poured from the +desk, that the usher had rushed to the water pitcher, under the +impression that the place was on fire. And then their marauding +expeditions; the pillaging of onion beds while they were out walking; +the stones thrown at windows, the correct thing being to make the +breakage resemble a well-known geographical map. Also the Greek +exercises, written beforehand in large characters on the blackboard, +so that every dunce might easily read them though the master remained +unaware of it; the wooden seats of the courtyard sawn off and carried +round the basin like so many corpses, the boys marching in procession +and singing funeral dirges. Yes! that had been a capital prank. +Dubuche, who played the priest, had tumbled into the basin while +trying to scoop some water into his cap, which was to serve as a holy +water pot. But the most comical and amusing of all the pranks had +perhaps been that devised by Pouillaud, who one night had fastened all +the unmentionable crockery of the dormitory to one long string passed +under the beds. At dawn--it was the very morning when the long +vacation began--he had pulled the string and skedaddled down the three +flights of stairs with this frightful tail of crockery bounding and +smashing to pieces behind him. + +At the recollection of this last incident, Claude remained grinning +from ear to ear, his brush suspended in mid-air. 'That brute of a +Pouillaud!' he laughed. 'And so he has written to you. What is he +doing now?' + +'Why, nothing at all, old man,' answered Sandoz, seating himself more +comfortably on the cushions. 'His letter is idiotic. He is just +finishing his law studies, and he will inherit his father's practice +as a solicitor. You ought to see the style he has already assumed--all +the idiotic austerity of a philistine, who has turned over a new +leaf.' + +They were silent once more until Sandoz added, 'You see, old boy, we +have been protected against that sort of thing.' + +Then they relapsed again into reminiscences, but such as made their +hearts thump; the remembrance of the many happy days they had spent +far away from the college, in the open air and the full sunlight. When +still very young, and only in the sixth form, the three inseparables +had become passionately fond of taking long walks. The shortest +holidays were eagerly seized upon to tramp for miles and miles; and, +getting bolder as they grew up, they finished by scouring the whole of +the country-side, by making journeys that sometimes lasted for days. +They slept where they could, in the cleft of a rock, on some +threshing-floor, still burning hot, where the straw of the beaten corn +made them a soft couch, or in some deserted hut, the ground of which +they covered with wild thyme and lavender. Those were flights far from +the everyday world, when they became absorbed in healthy mother Nature +herself, adoring trees and streams and mountains; revelling in the +supreme joy of being alone and free. + +Dubuche, who was a boarder, had only joined them on half-holidays and +during the long vacation. Besides, his legs were heavy, and he had the +quiet nature of a studious lad. But Claude and Sandoz never wearied; +they awakened each other every Sunday morning by throwing stones at +their respective shutters. In summer, above all, they were haunted by +the thought of the Viorne, the torrent, whose tiny stream waters the +low-lying pastures of Plassans. When scarcely twelve they already knew +how to swim, and it became a passion with them to potter about in the +holes where the water accumulated; to spend whole days there, stark +naked, drying themselves on the burning sand, and then replunging into +the river, living there as it were, on their backs, on their stomachs, +searching among the reeds on the banks, immersed up to their ears, and +watching the hiding-places of the eels for hours at a stretch. That +constant contact of water beneath a burning sun prolonged their +childhood, as it were, and lent them the joyous laughter of truant +urchins, though they were almost young men, when of an evening they +returned to the town amidst the still oppressive heat of a summer +sunset. Later on they became very fond of shooting, but shooting such +as is carried on in a region devoid of game, where they had to trudge +a score of miles to pick off half a dozen pettychaps, or fig-peckers; +wonderful expeditions, whence they returned with their bags empty, or +with a mere bat, which they had managed to bring down while +discharging their guns at the outskirts of the town. Their eyes +moistened at the recollection of those happy days; they once more +beheld the white endless roads, covered with layers of dust, as if +there had been a fall of snow. They paced them again and again in +their imagination, happy to hear the fancied creaking of their heavy +shoes. Then they cut across the fields, over the reddish-brown +ferruginous soil, careering madly on and on; and there was a sky of +molten lead above them, not a shadow anywhere, nothing but dwarf olive +trees and almond trees with scanty foliage. And then the delicious +drowsiness of fatigue on their return, their triumphant bravado at +having covered yet more ground than on the precious journey, the +delight of being no longer conscious of effort, of advancing solely by +dint of strength acquired, spurring themselves on with some terrible +martial strain which helped to make everything like a dream. + +Already at that time Claude, in addition to his powder-flask and +cartridge-belt, took with him an album, in which he sketched little +bits of country, while Sandoz, on his side, always had some favourite +poet in his pocket. They lived in a perfect frenzy of romanticism, +winged strophes alternated with coarse garrison stories, odes were +flung upon the burning, flashing, luminous atmosphere that enwrapt +them. And when perchance they came upon a small rivulet, bordered by +half a dozen willows, casting grey shadows on the soil all ablaze with +colour, they at once went into the seventh heaven. They there by +themselves performed the dramas they knew by heart, inflating their +voices when repeating the speeches of the heroes, and reducing them to +the merest whisper when they replied as queens and love-sick maidens. +On such days the sparrows were left in peace. In that remote province, +amidst the sleepy stupidity of that small town, they had thus lived on +from the age of fourteen, full of enthusiasm, devoured by a passion +for literature and art. The magnificent scenarios devised by Victor +Hugo, the gigantic phantasies which fought therein amidst a ceaseless +cross-fire of antithesis, had at first transported them into the +fulness of epic glory; gesticulating, watching the sun decline behind +some ruins, seeing life pass by amidst all the superb but false +glitter of a fifth act. Then Musset had come to unman them with his +passion and his tears; they heard their own hearts throb in response +to his, a new world opened to them--a world more human--that conquered +them by its cries for pity, and of eternal misery, which henceforth +they were to hear rising from all things. Besides, they were not +difficult to please; they showed the voracity of youth, a furious +appetite for all kinds of literature, good and bad alike. So eager +were they to admire something, that often the most execrable works +threw them into a state of exaltation similar to that which the purest +masterpieces produce. + +And as Sandoz now remarked, it was their great love of bodily +exercise, their very revels of literature that had protected them +against the numbing influence of their ordinary surroundings. They +never entered a cafe, they had a horror of the streets, even +pretending to moult in them like caged eagles, whereas their +schoolfellows were already rubbing their elbows over the small marble +tables and playing at cards for drinks. Provincial life, which dragged +other lads, when still young, within its cogged mechanism, that habit +of going to one's club, of spelling out the local paper from its +heading to the last advertisement, the everlasting game of dominoes no +sooner finished than renewed, the same walk at the self-same hour and +ever along the same roads--all that brutifies the mind, like a +grindstone crushing the brain, filled them with indignation, called +forth their protestations. They preferred to scale the neighbouring +hills in search of some unknown solitary spot, where they declaimed +verses even amidst drenching showers, without dreaming of shelter in +their very hatred of town-life. They had even planned an encampment on +the banks of the Viorne, where they were to live like savages, happy +with constant bathing, and the company of five or six books, which +would amply suffice for their wants. Even womankind was to be strictly +banished from that camp. Being very timid and awkward in the presence +of the gentler sex, they pretended to the asceticism of superior +intellects. For two years Claude had been in love with a 'prentice +hat-trimmer, whom every evening he had followed at a distance, but to +whom he had never dared to address a word. Sandoz nursed dreams of +ladies met while travelling, beautiful girls who would suddenly spring +up in some unknown wood, charm him for a whole day, and melt into air +at dusk. The only love adventure which they had ever met with still +evoked their laughter, so silly did it seem to them now. It consisted +of a series of serenades which they had given to two young ladies +during the time when they, the serenaders, had formed part of the +college band. They passed their nights beneath a window playing the +clarinet and the cornet-a-piston, and thus raising a discordant din +which frightened all the folk of the neighbourhood, until one +memorable evening the indignant parents had emptied all the water +pitchers of the family over them. + +Ah! those were happy days, and how loving was the laughter with which +they recalled them. On the walls of the studio hung a series of +sketches, which Claude, it so happened, had made during a recent trip +southward. Thus it seemed as if they were surrounded by the familiar +vistas of bright blue sky overhanging a tawny country-side. Here +stretched a plain dotted with little greyish olive trees as far as a +rosy network of distant hills. There, between sunburnt russet slopes, +the exhausted Viorne was almost running dry beneath the span of an old +dust-bepowdered bridge, without a bit of green, nothing save a few +bushes, dying for want of moisture. Farther on, the mountain gorge of +the Infernets showed its yawning chasm amidst tumbled rocks, struck +down by lightning, a huge chaos, a wild desert, rolling stony billows +as far as the eye could reach. Then came all sorts of well remembered +nooks: the valley of Repentance, narrow and shady, a refreshing oasis +amid calcined fields; the wood of Les Trois Bons-Dieux, with hard, +green, varnished pines shedding pitchy tears beneath the burning sun; +the sheep walk of Bouffan, showing white, like a mosque, amidst a +far-stretching blood-red plain. And there were yet bits of blinding, +sinuous roads; ravines, where the heat seemed even to wring bubbling +perspiration from the pebbles; stretches of arid, thirsty sand, +drinking up rivers drop by drop; mole hills, goat paths, and hill +crests, half lost in the azure sky. + +'Hallo!' exclaimed Sandoz, turning towards one sketch, 'what's that?' + +Claude, indignant, waved his palette. 'What! don't you remember? We +were very nigh breaking our necks there. Surely you recollect the day +we clambered from the very bottom of Jaumegarde with Dubuche? The rock +was as smooth as your hand, and we had to cling to it with our nails, +so that at one moment we could neither get up nor go down again. When +we were once atop and about to cook our cutlets, we, you and I, nearly +came to blows.' + +Sandoz now remembered. 'Yes, yes; each had to roast his own cutlet on +rosemary sticks, and, as mine took fire, you exasperated me by +chaffing my cutlet, which was being reduced to cinders.' + +They both shook with laughter, until the painter resumed his work, +gravely concluding, 'That's all over, old man. There is to be no more +idling at present.' + +He spoke the truth. Since the three inseparables had realised their +dream of meeting together in Paris, which they were bent upon +conquering, their life had been terribly hard. They had tried to renew +the long walks of old. On certain Sunday mornings they had started on +foot from the Fontainebleau gate, had scoured the copses of Verrieres, +gone as far as the Bievre, crossed the woods of Meudon and Bellevue, +and returned home by way of Grenelle. But they taxed Paris with +spoiling their legs; they scarcely ever left the pavement now, +entirely taken up as they were with their struggle for fortune and +fame. + +From Monday morning till Saturday night Sandoz sat fuming and fretting +at the municipal building of the fifth Arrondissement in a dark corner +of the registry office for births, rooted to his stool by the thought +of his mother, whom his salary of a hundred and fifty francs a month +helped in some fashion to keep. Dubuche, anxious to pay his parents +the interest of the money placed on his head, was ever on the look-out +for some petty jobs among architects, outside his studies at the +School of Arts. As for Claude, thanks to his thousand francs a year, +he had his full liberty; but the latter days of each month were +terrible enough, especially if he had to share the fag-end of his +allowance. Luckily he was beginning to sell a little; disposing of +tiny canvases, at the rate of ten and twelve francs a-piece, to Papa +Malgras, a wary picture dealer. After all, he preferred starvation to +turning his art into mere commerce by manufacturing portraits of +tradesmen and their wives; concocting conventional religious pictures +or daubing blinds for restaurants or sign-boards for accoucheuses. +When first he had returned to Paris, he had rented a very large studio +in the Impasse des Bourdonnais; but he had moved to the Quai de +Bourbon from motives of economy. He lived there like a savage, with an +absolute contempt for everything that was not painting. He had fallen +out with his relatives, who disgusted him; he had even ceased visiting +his aunt, who kept a pork-butcher's shop near the Central Markets, +because she looked too flourishing and plump.* Respecting the downfall +of his mother, who was being eaten out of doors and driven into the +streets, he nursed a secret grief. + + * This aunt is Lisa of 'The Fat and the Thin' (Le Ventre de Paris) + in a few chapters of which Claude figures.--ED. + +Suddenly he shouted to Sandoz, 'Will you be kind enough not to tumble +to pieces?' But Sandoz declared that he was getting stiff, and jumped +from the couch to stretch his legs a bit. They took ten minutes' rest, +talking meanwhile about many things. Claude felt condescendingly +good-tempered. When his work went smoothly he brightened up and became +talkative; he, who painted with his teeth set, and raged inwardly +directly he felt that nature was escaping him. Hence his friend had +scarcely resumed his attitude before he went on chattering, without, +however, missing a stroke of his brush. + +'It's going on all right, old boy, isn't it? You look all there in it. +Oh, the brutes, I'll just see whether they'll refuse me this time. I +am more severe for myself than they are for themselves, I'm sure of +it; and whenever I pass one of my own pictures, it's more serious than +if it had passed before all the hanging committees on earth. You know +my picture of the markets, with the two urchins tumbling about on a +heap of vegetables? Well, I've scratched it all out, it didn't come +right. I found that I had got hold of a beastly machine,* a deal too +heavy for my strength. But, never you fear, I'll take the subject up +again some day, when I know better, and I'll take up others, machines +which will knock them all cock-a-hoop with surprise.' + + * In familiar conversation, French artists, playwrights, and + novelists invariably call their productions by the slang + term 'machines.'--ED. + +He made a magnificent gesture, as if to sweep a whole crowd away; +emptied a tube of cobalt on his palette; and then began to jeer, +asking what his first master would say to a picture like this? His +first master indeed, Papa Belloque, a retired infantry captain, with +one arm, who for a quarter of a century had taught drawing to the +youth of Plassans in one of the galleries of the Museum! Then, in +Paris, hadn't the celebrated Berthou, the painter of 'Nero in the +Circus'--Berthou, whose lessons he had attended for six long months +--told him a score of times that he would never be able to do +anything? How he now regretted those six months wasted in idiotic +efforts, absurd 'studies,' under the iron rule of a man whose ideas +differed so much from his own. He at last began to hold forth against +working at the Louvre. He would, he said, sooner chop his hand off +than return there to spoil his perception of nature by undertaking one +of those copies which for ever dim the vision of the world in which +one lives. + +Was there aught else in art than the rendering of what one felt within +oneself? Was not the whole of art reduced to placing a woman in front +of one--and then portraying her according to the feelings that she +inspired? Was not a bunch of carrots--yes, a bunch of carrots--studied +from nature, and painted unaffectedly, in a personal style, worth all +the ever-lasting smudges of the School of Arts, all that tobacco-juice +painting, cooked up according to certain given recipes? The day would +come when one carrot, originally rendered, would lead to a revolution. +It was because of this that he now contented himself with going to the +Boutin studio, a free studio, kept by a former model, in the Rue de la +Huchette. When he had paid his twenty francs he was put in front of as +many men and women as he cared for, and set about his work with a +will, never thinking of eating or drinking, but struggling unrestingly +with nature, mad almost with the excitement of work, by the side of a +pack of dandies who accused him of ignorant laziness, and arrogantly +prated about their 'studies,' because they copied noses and mouths, +under the eye of a master. + +'Listen to this, old man: when one of those whipper-snappers can build +up a torso like that one over yonder, he may come up and tell me, and +we'll have a talk together.' + +With the end of his brush he pointed to a study of the nude, suspended +from the wall near the door. It was really magnificent, full of +masterly breadth of colouring. By its side were some other admirable +bits, a girl's feet exquisite in their delicate truthfulness, and a +woman's trunk with quivering satin-like skin. In his rare moments of +content he felt proud of those few studies, the only ones which +satisfied him, which, as it were, foretold a great painter, admirably +gifted, but hampered by sudden and inexplicable fits of impotency. + +Dealing sabre-like strokes at the velveteen jacket, he continued +lashing himself into excitement with his uncompromising theories which +respected nobody: + +'They are all so many daubers of penny prints, who have stolen their +reputations; a set of idiots or knaves on their knees before public +imbecility! Not one among them dares to give the philistines a slap in +the face. And, while we are about it, you know that old Ingres turns +me sick with his glairy painting. Nevertheless, he's a brick, and a +plucky fellow, and I take off my hat to him, for he did not care a +curse for anybody, and he used to draw like the very devil. He ended +by making the idiots, who nowadays believe they understand him, +swallow that drawing of his. After him there are only two worth +speaking of, Delacroix and Courbet. The others are only numskulls. Oh, +that old romantic lion, the carriage of him! He was a decorator who +knew how to make the colours blaze. And what a grasp he had! He would +have covered every wall in Paris if they had let him; his palette +boiled, and boiled over. I know very well that it was only so much +phantasmagoria. Never mind, I like it for all that, as it was needed +to set the School on fire. Then came the other, a stout workman--that +one, the truest painter of the century, and altogether classical +besides, a fact which not one of the dullards understood. They yelled, +of course; they shouted about profanation and realism, when, after +all, the realism was only in the subject. The perception remained that +of the old masters, and the execution resumed and continued the best +bits of work one can find in our public galleries. Both Delacroix and +Courbet came at the proper time. Each made a stride forward. And now +--ah, now!' + +He ceased speaking and drew back a few steps to judge of the effect of +his picture, becoming absorbed in contemplation for a moment, and then +resuming: + +'Yes, nowadays we want something different--what, I don't exactly +know. If I did, and could do it, I should be clever indeed. No one +else would be in the race with me. All I do know and feel is that +Delacroix's grand romantic scenes are foundering and splitting, that +Courbet's black painting already reeks of the mustiness of a studio +which the sun never penetrates. You understand me, don't you? We, +perhaps, want the sun, the open air, a clear, youthful style of +painting, men and things such as they appear in the real light. In +short, I myself am unable to say what our painting should be; the +painting that our eyes of to-day should execute and behold.' + +His voice again fell; he stammered and found himself unable to explain +the formulas of the future that were rising within him. Deep silence +came while he continued working at the velveteen jacket, quivering all +the time. + +Sandoz had been listening to him without stirring from his position. +His back was still turned, and he said slowly, as if speaking to the +wall in a kind of dream: + +'No; one does not know, and still we ought to know. But each time a +professor has wanted to impress a truth upon me, I have mistrustfully +revolted, thinking: "He is either deceiving himself or deceiving me." +Their ideas exasperate me. It seems to me that truth is larger, more +general. How beautiful would it be if one could devote the whole of +one's existence to one single work, into which one would endeavour to +put everything, the beasts of the field as well as mankind; in short, +a kind of immense ark. And not in the order indicated by manuals of +philosophy, or according to the idiotic hierarchy on which we pride +ourselves, but according to the full current of life; a world in which +we should be nothing more than an accident, in which the passing cur, +even the stones of the roads, would complete and explain us. In sum, +the grand whole, without low or high, or clean or unclean, such as it +indeed is in reality. It is certainly to science that poets and +novelists ought to address themselves, for it is the only possible +source of inspiration to-day. But what are we to borrow from it? How +are we to march in its company? The moment I begin to think about that +sort of thing I feel that I am floundering. Ah, if I only knew, what a +series of books I would hurl at the heads of the crowd!' + +He also became silent. The previous winter he had published his first +book: a series of little sketches, brought from Plassans, among which +only a few rougher notes indicated that the author was a mutineer, a +passionate lover of truth and power. And lately he had been feeling +his way, questioning himself while all sorts of confused ideas +throbbed in his brain. At first, smitten with the thought of +undertaking something herculean, he had planned a genesis of the +universe, in three phases or parts; the creation narrated according to +science; mankind supervening at the appointed hour and playing its +part in the chain of beings and events; then the future--beings +constantly following one another, and finishing the creation of the +world by the endless labour of life. But he had calmed down in +presence of the venturesome hypotheses of this third phase; and he was +now looking out for a more restricted, more human framework, in which, +however, his vast ambition might find room. + +'Ah, to be able to see and paint everything,' exclaimed Claude, after +a long interval. 'To have miles upon miles of walls to cover, to +decorate the railway stations, the markets, the municipal offices, +everything that will be built, when architects are no longer idiots. +Only strong heads and strong muscles will be wanted, for there will be +no lack of subjects. Life such as it runs about the streets, the life +of the rich and the poor, in the market places, on the race-courses, +on the boulevards, in the populous alleys; and every trade being +plied, and every passion portrayed in full daylight, and the peasants, +too, and the beasts of the fields and the landscapes--ah! you'll see +it all, unless I am a downright brute. My very hands are itching to do +it. Yes! the whole of modern life! Frescoes as high as the Pantheon! A +series of canvases big enough to burst the Louvre!' + +Whenever they were thrown together the painter and the author +generally reached this state of excitement. They spurred each other +mutually, they went mad with dreams of glory; and there was such a +burst of youth, such a passion for work about their plans, that they +themselves often smiled afterwards at those great, proud dreams which +seemed to endow them with suppleness, strength, and spirit. + +Claude, who had stepped back as far as the wall, remained leaning +against it, and gazing at his work. Seeing which, Sandoz, overcome by +fatigue, left the couch and joined him. Then both looked at the +picture without saying a word. The gentleman in the velveteen jacket +was entirely roughed in. His hand, more advanced than the rest, +furnished a pretty fresh patch of flesh colour amid the grass, and the +dark coat stood out so vigorously that the little silhouettes in the +background, the two little women wrestling in the sunlight, seemed to +have retreated further into the luminous quivering of the glade. The +principal figure, the recumbent woman, as yet scarcely more than +outlined, floated about like some aerial creature seen in dreams, some +eagerly desired Eve springing from the earth, with her features +vaguely smiling and her eyelids closed. + +'Well, now, what are you going to call it?' asked Sandoz. + +'_The Open Air_,' replied Claude, somewhat curtly. + +The title sounded rather technical to the writer, who, in spite of +himself, was sometimes tempted to introduce literature into pictorial +art. + +'_The Open Air_! that doesn't suggest anything.' + +'There is no occasion for it to suggest anything. Some women and a man +are reposing in a forest in the sunlight. Does not that suffice? Don't +fret, there's enough in it to make a masterpiece.' + +He threw back his head and muttered between his teeth: 'Dash it all! +it's very black still. I can't get Delacroix out of my eye, do what I +will. And then the hand, that's Courbet's manner. Everyone of us dabs +his brush into the romantic sauce now and then. We had too much of it +in our youth, we floundered in it up to our very chins. We need a +jolly good wash to get clear of it.' + +Sandoz shrugged his shoulders with a gesture of despair. He also +bewailed the fact that he had been born at what he called the +confluence of Hugo and Balzac. Nevertheless, Claude remained +satisfied, full of the happy excitement of a successful sitting. If +his friend could give him two or three more Sundays the man in the +jacket would be all there. He had enough of him for the present. Both +began to joke, for, as a rule, Claude almost killed his models, only +letting them go when they were fainting, half dead with fatigue. He +himself now very nigh dropped, his legs bending under him, and his +stomach empty. And as the cuckoo clock struck five, he snatched at his +crust of bread and devoured it. Thoroughly worn out, he broke it with +trembling fingers, and scarcely chewed it, again standing before his +picture, pursued by his passion to such a degree as to be unconscious +even that he was eating. + +'Five o'clock,' said Sandoz, as he stretched himself, with his arms +upraised. 'Let's go and have dinner. Ah! here comes Dubuche, just in +time.' + +There was a knock at the door, and Dubuche came in. He was a stout +young fellow, dark, with regular but heavy features, close-cropped +hair, and moustaches already full-blown. He shook hands with both his +friends, and stopped before the picture, looking nonplussed. In +reality that harum-scarum style of painting upset him, such was the +even balance of his nature, such his reverence as a steady student for +the established formulas of art; and it was only his feeling of +friendship which, as a rule, prevented him from criticising. But this +time his whole being revolted visibly. + +'Well, what's the matter? Doesn't it suit you?' asked Sandoz, who was +watching him. + +'Yes, oh yes, it's very well painted--but--' + +'Well, spit it out. What is it that ruffles you?' + +'Not much, only the gentleman is fully dressed, and the women are not. +People have never seen anything like that before.' + +This sufficed to make both the others wild. Why, were there not a +hundred pictures in the Louvre composed in precisely the same way? +Hadn't all Paris and all the painters and tourists of the world seen +them? And besides, if people had never seen anything like it, they +would see it now. After all, they didn't care a fig for the public! + +Not in the least disconcerted by these violent replies, Dubuche +repeated quietly: 'The public won't understand--the public will think +it indecorous--and so it is!' + +'You wretched bourgeois philistine!' exclaimed Claude, exasperated. +'They are making a famous idiot of you at the School of Arts. You +weren't such a fool formerly.' + +These were the current amenities of his two friends since Dubuche had +attended the School of Arts. He thereupon beat a retreat, rather +afraid of the turn the dispute was taking, and saved himself by +belabouring the painters of the School. Certainly his friends were +right in one respect, the School painters were real idiots. But as for +the architects, that was a different matter. Where was he to get his +tuition, if not there? Besides his tuition would not prevent him from +having ideas of his own, later on. Wherewith he assumed a very +revolutionary air. + +'All right,' said Sandoz, 'the moment you apologise, let's go and +dine.' + +But Claude had mechanically taken up a brush and set to work again. +Beside the gentleman in the velveteen jacket the figure of the +recumbent woman seemed to be fading away. Feverish and impatient, he +traced a bold outline round her so as to bring her forward. + +'Are you coming?' + +'In a minute; hang it, what's the hurry? Just let me set this right, +and I'll be with you.' + +Sandoz shook his head and then remarked very quietly, lest he should +still further annoy him: 'You do wrong to worry yourself like that, +old man. Yes, you are knocked up, and have had nothing to eat, and +you'll only spoil your work, as you did the other day.' + +But the painter waved him off with a peevish gesture. It was the old +story--he did not know when to leave off; he intoxicated himself with +work in his craving for an immediate result, in order to prove to +himself that he held his masterpiece at last. Doubts had just driven +him to despair in the midst of his delight at having terminated a +successful sitting. Had he done right, after all, in making the +velveteen jacket so prominent, and would he not afterwards fail to +secure the brilliancy which he wished the female figure to show? +Rather than remain in suspense he would have dropped down dead on the +spot. Feverishly drawing the sketch of Christine's head from the +portfolio where he had hidden it, he compared it with the painting on +the canvas, assisting himself, as it were, by means of this document +derived from life. + +'Hallo!' exclaimed Dubuche, 'where did you get that from? Who is it?' + +Claude, startled by the questions, did not answer; then, without +reflecting, he who usually told them everything, brusquely lied, +prompted by a delicate impulse to keep silent respecting the adventure +of the night. + +'Tell us who it is?' repeated the architect. + +'Nobody at all--a model.' + +'A model! a very young one, isn't she? She looks very nice. I wish you +would give me her address. Not for myself, but for a sculptor I know +who's on the look-out for a Psyche. Have you got the address there?' + +Thereupon Dubuche turned to a corner of the greyish wall on which the +addresses of several models were written in chalk, haphazard. The +women particularly left their cards in that way, in awkward, childish +handwriting. Zoe Piedefer, 7 Rue Campagne-Premiere, a big brunette, +who was getting rather too stout, had scrawled her sign manual right +across the names of little Flore Beauchamp, 32 Rue de Laval, and +Judith Vaquez, 69 Rue du Rocher, a Jewess, both of whom were too thin. + +'I say, have you got the address?' resumed Dubuche. + +Then Claude flew into a passion. 'Don't pester me! I don't know and +don't care. You're a nuisance, worrying like that just when a fellow +wants to work.' + +Sandoz had not said a word. Surprised at first, he had soon smiled. He +was gifted with more penetration than Dubuche, so he gave him a +knowing nod, and they then began to chaff. They begged Claude's +pardon; the moment he wanted to keep the young person for his personal +use, they would not ask him to lend her. Ha! ha! the scamp went +hunting about for pretty models. And where had he picked up that one? + +More and more embarrassed by these remarks, Claude went on fidgetting. +'What a couple of idiots you are!' he exclaimed, 'If you only knew +what fools you are making of yourselves. That'll do. You really make +me sorry for both of you.' + +His voice sounded so stern that they both became silent immediately, +while he, after once more scratching out the woman's head, drew it +anew and began to paint it in, following his sketch of Christine, but +with a feverish, unsteady touch which went at random. + +'Just give me another ten minutes, will you?' he repeated. 'I will +rough in the shoulders to be ready for to-morrow, and then we'll go +down.' + +Sandoz and Dubuche, knowing that it was of no use to prevent him from +killing himself in this fashion, resigned themselves to the +inevitable. The latter lighted his pipe, and flung himself on the +couch. He was the only one of the three who smoked; the others had +never taken kindly to tobacco, always feeling qualmish after a cigar. +And when Dubuche was stretched on his back, his eyes turned towards +the clouds of smoke he raised, he began to talk about himself in an +interminable monotonous fashion. Ah! that confounded Paris, how one +had to work one's fingers to the bone in order to get on. He recalled +the fifteen months of apprenticeship he had spent with his master, the +celebrated Dequersonniere, a former grand-prize man, now architect of +the Civil Branch of Public Works, an officer of the Legion of Honour +and a member of the Institute, whose chief architectural performance, +the church of St. Mathieu, was a cross between a pastry-cook's mould +and a clock in the so-called First Empire style. A good sort of +fellow, after all, was this Dequersonniere whom Dubuche chaffed, while +inwardly sharing his reverence for the old classical formulas. +However, but for his fellow-pupils, the young man would not have +learnt much at the studio in the Rue du Four, for the master only paid +a running visit to the place some three times a week. A set of +ferocious brutes, were those comrades of his, who had made his life +jolly hard in the beginning, but who, at least, had taught him how to +prepare a surface, outline, and wash in a plan. And how often had he +had to content himself with a cup of chocolate and a roll for dejeuner +in order to pay the necessary five-and-twenty francs to the +superintendent! And the sheets of paper he had laboriously smudged, +and the hours he had spent in poring over books before he had dared to +present himself at the School! And he had narrowly escaped being +plucked in spite of all his assiduous endeavours. He lacked +imagination, and the drawings he submitted, a caryatide and a summer +dining-room, both extremely mediocre performances, had classed him at +the bottom of the list. Fortunately, he had made up for this in his +oral examination with his logarithms, geometry, and history of +architecture, for he was very strong in the scientific parts. Now that +he was attending the School as a second-class student, he had to toil +and moil in order to secure a first-class diploma. It was a dog's +life, there was no end to it, said he. + +He stretched his legs apart, high upon the cushions, and smoked +vigorously and regularly. + +'What with their courses of perspective, of descriptive geometry, of +stereotomy, of building, and of the history of art--ah! upon my word, +they do make one blacken paper with notes. And every month there is a +competitive examination in architecture, sometimes a simple sketch, at +others a complete design. There's no time for pleasure if a fellow +wishes to pass his examinations and secure the necessary honourable +mentions, especially if, besides all that, he has to find time to earn +his bread. As for myself, it's almost killing me.' + +One of the cushions having slipped upon the floor, he fished it up +with his feet. 'All the same, I'm lucky. There are so many of us +scouring the town every day without getting the smallest job. The day +before yesterday I discovered an architect who works for a large +contractor. You can have no idea of such an ignoramus of an architect +--a downright numskull, incapable even of tracing a plan. He gives me +twenty-five sous an hour, and I set his houses straight for him. It +came just in time, too, for my mother sent me word that she was quite +cleared out. Poor mother, what a lot of money I have to refund her!' + +As Dubuche was evidently talking to himself, chewing the cud of his +everyday thoughts--his constant thoughts of making a rapid fortune +--Sandoz did not even trouble to listen to him. He had opened the +little window, and seated himself on a level with the roof, for he +felt oppressed by the heat in the studio. But all at once he +interrupted the architect. + +'I say, are you coming to dinner on Thursday? All the other fellows +will be there--Fagerolles, Mahoudeau, Jory, Gagniere.' + +Every Thursday, quite a band met at Sandoz's: friends from Plassans +and others met in Paris--revolutionaries to a man, and all animated by +the same passionate love of art. + +'Next Thursday? No, I think not,' answered Dubuche. + +'I am obliged to go to a dance at a family's I know.' + +'Where you expect to get hold of a dowry, I suppose?' + +'Well, it wouldn't be such a bad spec.' + +He shook the ashes from his pipe on to his left palm, and then, +suddenly raising his voice--'I almost forgot. I have had a letter from +Pouillaud.' + +'You, too!--well, I think he's pretty well done for, Pouillaud. +Another good fellow gone wrong.' + +'Why gone wrong? He'll succeed his father; he'll spend his money +quietly down there. He writes rationally enough. I always said he'd +show us a thing or two, in spite of all his practical jokes. Ah! that +beast of a Pouillaud.' + +Sandoz, furious, was about to reply, when a despairing oath from +Claude stopped him. The latter had not opened his lips since he had so +obstinately resumed his work. To all appearance he had not even +listened. + +'Curse it--I have failed again. Decidedly, I'm a brute, I shall never +do anything.' And in a fit of mad rage he wanted to rush at his +picture and dash his fist through it. His friends had to hold him +back. Why, it was simply childish to get into such a passion. Would +matters be improved when, to his mortal regret, he had destroyed his +work? Still shaking, he relapsed into silence, and stared at the +canvas with an ardent fixed gaze that blazed with all the horrible +agony born of his powerlessness. He could no longer produce anything +clear or life-like; the woman's breast was growing pasty with heavy +colouring; that flesh which, in his fancy, ought to have glowed, was +simply becoming grimy; he could not even succeed in getting a correct +focus. What on earth was the matter with his brain that he heard it +bursting asunder, as it were, amidst his vain efforts? Was he losing +his sight that he was no longer able to see correctly? Were his hands +no longer his own that they refused to obey him? And thus he went on +winding himself up, irritated by the strange hereditary lesion which +sometimes so greatly assisted his creative powers, but at others +reduced him to a state of sterile despair, such as to make him forget +the first elements of drawing. Ah, to feel giddy with vertiginous +nausea, and yet to remain there full of a furious passion to create, +when the power to do so fled with everything else, when everything +seemed to founder around him--the pride of work, the dreamt-of glory, +the whole of his existence! + +'Look here, old boy,' said Sandoz at last, 'we don't want to worry +you, but it's half-past six, and we are starving. Be reasonable, and +come down with us.' + +Claude was cleaning a corner of his palette. Then he emptied some more +tubes on it, and, in a voice like thunder, replied with one single +word, 'No.' + +For the next ten minutes nobody spoke; the painter, beside himself, +wrestled with his picture, whilst his friends remained anxious at this +attack, which they did not know how to allay. Then, as there came a +knock at the door, the architect went to open it. + +'Hallo, it's Papa Malgras.' + +Malgras, the picture-dealer, was a thick-set individual, with +close-cropped, brush-like, white hair, and a red splotchy face. He was +wrapped in a very dirty old green coat, that made him look like an +untidy cabman. In a husky voice, he exclaimed: 'I happened to pass +along the quay, on the other side of the way, and I saw that gentleman +at the window. So I came up.' + +Claude's continued silence made him pause. The painter had turned to +his picture again with an impatient gesture. Not that this silence in +any way embarrassed the new comer, who, standing erect on his sturdy +legs and feeling quite at home, carefully examined the new picture +with his bloodshot eyes. Without any ceremony, he passed judgment upon +it in one phrase--half ironic, half affectionate: 'Well, well, there's +a machine.' + +Then, seeing that nobody said anything, he began to stroll round the +studio, looking at the paintings on the walls. + +Papa Malgras, beneath his thick layer of grease and grime, was really +a very cute customer, with taste and scent for good painting. He never +wasted his time or lost his way among mere daubers; he went straight, +as if from instinct, to individualists, whose talent was contested +still, but whose future fame his flaming, drunkard's nose sniffed from +afar. Added to this he was a ferocious hand at bargaining, and +displayed all the cunning of a savage in his efforts to secure, for a +song, the pictures that he coveted. True, he himself was satisfied +with very honest profits, twenty per cent., thirty at the most. He +based his calculations on quickly turning over his small capital, +never purchasing in the morning without knowing where to dispose of +his purchase at night. As a superb liar, moreover, he had no equal. + +Pausing near the door, before the studies from the nude, painted at +the Boutin studio, he contemplated them in silence for a few moments, +his eyes glistening the while with the enjoyment of a connoisseur, +which his heavy eyelids tried to hide. Assuredly, he thought, there +was a great deal of talent and sentiment of life about that big crazy +fellow Claude, who wasted his time in painting huge stretches of +canvas which no one would buy. The girl's pretty legs, the admirably +painted woman's trunk, filled the dealer with delight. But there was +no sale for that kind of stuff, and he had already made his choice--a +tiny sketch, a nook of the country round Plassans, at once delicate +and violent--which he pretended not to notice. At last he drew near, +and said, in an off-hand way: + +'What's this? Ah! yes, I know, one of the things you brought back with +you from the South. It's too crude. I still have the two I bought of +you.' + +And he went on in mellow, long-winded phrases. 'You'll perhaps not +believe me, Monsieur Lantier, but that sort of thing doesn't sell at +all--not at all. I've a set of rooms full of them. I'm always afraid +of smashing something when I turn round. I can't go on like that, +honour bright; I shall have to go into liquidation, and I shall end my +days in the hospital. You know me, eh? my heart is bigger than my +pocket, and there's nothing I like better than to oblige young men of +talent like yourself. Oh, for the matter of that, you've got talent, +and I keep on telling them so--nay, shouting it to them--but what's +the good? They won't nibble, they won't nibble!' + +He was trying the emotional dodge; then, with the spirit of a man +about to do something rash: 'Well, it sha'n't be said that I came in +to waste your time. What do you want for that rough sketch?' + +Claude, still irritated, was painting nervously. He dryly answered, +without even turning his head: 'Twenty francs.' + +'Nonsense; twenty francs! you must be mad. You sold me the others ten +francs a-piece--and to-day I won't give a copper more than eight +francs.' + +As a rule the painter closed with him at once, ashamed and humbled at +this miserable chaffering, glad also to get a little money now and +then. But this time he was obstinate, and took to insulting the +picture-dealer, who, giving tit for tat, all at once dropped the +formal 'you' to assume the glib 'thou,' denied his talent, overwhelmed +him with invective, and taxed him with ingratitude. Meanwhile, +however, he had taken from his pocket three successive five-franc +pieces, which, as if playing at chuck-farthing, he flung from a +distance upon the table, where they rattled among the crockery. + +'One, two, three--not one more, dost hear? for there is already one +too many, and I'll take care to get it back; I'll deduct it from +something else of thine, as I live. Fifteen francs for that! Thou art +wrong, my lad, and thou'lt be sorry for this dirty trick.' + +Quite exhausted, Claude let him take down the little canvas, which +disappeared as if by magic in his capacious green coat. Had it dropped +into a special pocket, or was it reposing on Papa Malgras' ample +chest? Not the slightest protuberance indicated its whereabouts. + +Having accomplished his stroke of business, Papa Malgras abruptly +calmed down and went towards the door. But he suddenly changed his +mind and came back. 'Just listen, Lantier,' he said, in the honeyest +of tones; 'I want a lobster painted. You really owe me that much after +fleecing me. I'll bring you the lobster, you'll paint me a bit of +still life from it, and keep it for your pains. You can eat it with +your friends. It's settled, isn't it?' + +At this proposal Sandoz and Dubuche, who had hitherto listened +inquisitively, burst into such loud laughter that the picture-dealer +himself became gay. Those confounded painters, they did themselves no +good, they simply starved. What would have become of the lazy beggars +if he, Papa Malgras, hadn't brought a leg of mutton now and then, or a +nice fresh plaice, or a lobster, with its garnish of parsley? + +'You'll paint me my lobster, eh, Lantier? Much obliged.' And he +stationed himself anew before the large canvas, with his wonted smile +of mingled derision and admiration. And at last he went off, +repeating, 'Well, well, there's a machine.' + +Claude wanted to take up his palette and brushes once more. But his +legs refused their service; his arms fell to his side, stiff, as if +pinioned there by some occult force. In the intense melancholy silence +that had followed the din of the dispute he staggered, distracted, +bereft of sight before his shapeless work. + +'I'm done for, I'm done for,' he gasped. 'That brute has finished me +off!' + +The clock had just struck seven; he had been at work for eight mortal +hours without tasting anything but a crust of bread, without taking a +moment's rest, ever on his legs, shaken by feverish excitement. And +now the sun was setting, shadows began to darken the studio, which in +the gloaming assumed a most melancholy aspect. When the light went +down like this on the crisis of a bad day's work, it seemed to Claude +as if the sun would never rise again, but had for ever carried life +and all the jubilant gaiety of colour away. + +'Come,' implored Sandoz, with all the gentleness of brotherly +compassion. 'Come, there's a good fellow.' + +Even Dubuche added, 'You'll see more clearly into it to-morrow. Come +and dine.' + +For a moment Claude refused to surrender. He stood rooted to the spot, +deaf to their friendly voices, and fiercely obstinate. + +What did he want to do then, since his tired fingers were no longer +able to grasp the brush? He did not know, but, however powerless he +might be, he was gnawed by a mad craving to go on working still and to +create in spite of everything. Even if he did nothing, he would at +least stay there, he would not vacate the spot. All at once, however, +he made up his mind, shaken the while as by a big sob. He clutched +firmly hold of his broadest palette-knife, and, with one deep, slow +sweep, he obliterated the woman's head and bosom. It was veritable +murder, a pounding away of human flesh; the whole disappeared in a +murky, muddy mash. By the side of the gentleman in the dark jacket, +amidst the bright verdure, where the two little wrestlers so lightly +tinted were disporting themselves, there remained naught of the nude, +headless, breastless woman but a mutilated trunk, a vague cadaverous +stump, an indistinct, lifeless patch of visionary flesh. + +Sandoz and Dubuche were already descending the stairs with a great +clatter, and Claude followed them, fleeing his work, in agony at +having to leave it thus scarred with a gaping gash. + + + + III + +THE beginning of the week proved disastrous to Claude. He had relapsed +into one of those periods of self-doubt that made him hate painting, +with the hatred of a lover betrayed, who overwhelms the faithless one +with insults although tortured by an uncontrollable desire to worship +her yet again. So on the Thursday, after three frightful days of +fruitless and solitary battling, he left home as early as eight in the +morning, banging his door violently, and feeling so disgusted with +himself that he swore he would never take up a brush again. When he +was unhinged by one of these attacks there was but one remedy, he had +to forget himself, and, to do so, it was needful that he should look +up some comrades with whom to quarrel, and, above all, walk about and +trudge across Paris, until the heat and odour of battle rising from +her paving-stones put heart into him again. + +That day, like every other Thursday, he was to dine at Sandoz's, in +company with their friends. But what was he to do until the evening? +The idea of remaining by himself, of eating his heart out, disgusted +him. He would have gone straight to his friend, only he knew that the +latter must be at his office. Then the thought of Dubuche occurred to +him, but he hesitated, for their old friendship had lately been +cooling down. He felt that the fraternity of the earlier times of +effort no longer existed between them. He guessed that Dubuche lacked +intelligence, had become covertly hostile, and was occupied with +ambitions different from his own. However, he, Claude, must go +somewhere. So he made up his mind, and repaired to the Rue Jacob, +where the architect rented a small room on the sixth floor of a big +frigid-looking house. + +Claude was already on the landing of the second floor, when the +doorkeeper, calling him back, snappishly told him that M. Dubuche was +not at home, and had, in fact, stayed out all night. The young man +slowly descended the stairs and found himself in the street, +stupefied, as it were, by so prodigious an event as an escapade on the +part of Dubuche. It was a piece of inconceivable bad luck. For a +moment he strolled along aimlessly; but, as he paused at the corner of +the Rue de Seine, not knowing which way to go, he suddenly recollected +what his friend had told him about a certain night spent at the +Dequersonniere studio--a night of terrible hard work, the eve of the +day on which the pupils' designs had to be deposited at the School of +Arts. At once he walked towards the Rue du Four, where the studio was +situated. Hitherto he had carefully abstained from calling there for +Dubuche, from fear of the yells with which outsiders were greeted. But +now he made straight for the place without flinching, his timidity +disappearing so thoroughly before the anguish of loneliness that he +felt ready to undergo any amount of insult could he but secure a +companion in misfortune. + +The studio was situated in the narrowest part of the Rue du Four, at +the far end of a decrepit, tumble-down building. Claude had to cross +two evil-smelling courtyards to reach a third, across which ran a sort +of big closed shed, a huge out-house of board and plaster work, which +had once served as a packing-case maker's workshop. From outside, +through the four large windows, whose panes were daubed with a coating +of white lead, nothing could be seen but the bare whitewashed ceiling. + +Having pushed the door open, Claude remained motionless on the +threshold. The place stretched out before him, with its four long +tables ranged lengthwise to the windows--broad double tables they +were, which had swarms of students on either side, and were littered +with moist sponges, paint saucers, iron candlesticks, water bowls, and +wooden boxes, in which each pupil kept his white linen blouse, his +compasses, and colours. In one corner, the stove, neglected since the +previous winter, stood rusting by the side of a pile of coke that had +not been swept away; while at the other end a large iron cistern with +a tap was suspended between two towels. And amidst the bare untidiness +of this shed, the eye was especially attracted by the walls which, +above, displayed a litter of plaster casts ranged in haphazard fashion +on shelves, and disappeared lower down behind forests of T-squares and +bevels, and piles of drawing boards, tied together with webbing +straps. Bit by bit, such parts of the partitions as had remained +unoccupied had become covered with inscriptions and drawings, a +constantly rising flotsam and jetsam of scrawls traced there as on the +margin of an ever-open book. There were caricatures of the students +themselves, coarse witticisms fit to make a gendarme turn pale, +epigrammatic sentences, addition sums, addresses, and so forth; while, +above all else, written in big letters, and occupying the most +prominent place, appeared this inscription: 'On the 7th of June, Gorfu +declared that he didn't care a hang for Rome.--Signed, Godemard.'* + + * The allusion is to the French Art School at Rome, and the + competitions into which students enter to obtain admission + to it, or to secure the prizes offered for the best exhibits + which, during their term of residence, they send to Paris.--ED. + +Claude was greeted with a growl like that of wild beasts disturbed in +their lair. What kept him motionless was the strange aspect of this +place on the morning of the 'truck night,' as the embryo architects +termed the crucial night of labour. Since the previous evening, the +whole studio, some sixty pupils, had been shut up there; those who had +no designs to exhibit--'the niggers,' as they were called remaining to +help the others, the competitors who, being behind time, had to knock +off the work of a week in a dozen hours. Already, at midnight, they +had stuffed themselves with brawn, saveloys, and similar viands, +washed down with cheap wine. Towards one o'clock they had secured the +company of some 'ladies'; and, without the work abating, the feast had +turned into a Roman orgy, blended with a smoking competition. On the +damp, stained floor there remained a great litter of greasy paper and +broken bottles; while the atmosphere reeked of burnt tallow, musk, +highly seasoned sausages, and cheap bluish wine. + +And now many voices savagely yelled: 'Turn him out. Oh, that mug! What +does he want, that guy? Turn him out, turn him out.' + +For a moment Claude, quite dazed, staggered beneath the violence of +the onslaught. But the epithets became viler, for the acme of +elegance, even for the more refined among these young fellows, was to +rival one's friends in beastly language. He was, nevertheless, +recovering and beginning to answer, when Dubuche recognised him. The +latter turned crimson, for he detested that kind of adventure. He felt +ashamed of his friend, and rushed towards him, amidst the jeers, which +were now levelled at himself: + +'What, is it you?' he gasped. 'I told you never to come in. Just wait +for me a minute in the yard.' + +At that moment, Claude, who was stepping back, narrowly escaped being +knocked down by a little hand-truck which two big full-bearded fellows +brought up at a gallop. It was from this truck that the night of heavy +toil derived its name: and for the last week the students who had got +behindhand with their work, through taking up petty paid jobs outside, +had been repeating the cry, 'Oh! I'm in the truck and no mistake.' The +moment the vehicle appeared, a clamour arose. It was a quarter to nine +o'clock, there was barely time to reach the School of Arts. However, a +helter-skelter rush emptied the studio; each brought out his chases, +amidst a general jostling; those who obstinately wished to give their +designs a last finishing touch were knocked about and carried away +with their comrades. In less than five minutes every frame was piled +upon the truck, and the two bearded fellows, the most recent additions +to the studio, harnessed themselves to it like cattle and drew it +along with all their strength, the others vociferating, and pushing +from behind. It was like the rush of a sluice; the three courtyards +were crossed amidst a torrential crash, and the street was invaded, +flooded by the howling throng. + +Claude, nevertheless, had set up running by the side of Dubuche, who +came at the fag-end, very vexed at not having had another quarter of +an hour to finish a tinted drawing more carefully. + +'What are you going to do afterwards?' asked Claude. + +'Oh! I've errands which will take up my whole day.' + +The painter was grieved to see that even this friend escaped him. 'All +right, then,' said he; 'in that case I leave you. Shall we see you at +Sandoz's to-night?' + +'Yes, I think so; unless I'm kept to dinner elsewhere.' + +Both were getting out of breath. The band of embryo architects, +without slackening their pace, had purposely taken the longest way +round for the pleasure of prolonging their uproar. After rushing down +the Rue du Four, they dashed across the Place Gozlin and swept into +the Rue de l'Echaude. Heading the procession was the truck, drawn and +pushed along more and more vigorously, and constantly rebounding over +the rough paving-stones, amid the jolting of the frames with which it +was laden. Its escort galloped along madly, compelling the passers-by +to draw back close to the houses in order to save themselves from +being knocked down; while the shop-keepers, standing open-mouthed on +their doorsteps, believed in a revolution. The whole neighbourhood +seemed topsy-turvy. In the Rue Jacob, such was the rush, so frightful +were the yells, that several house shutters were hastily closed. As +the Rue Bonaparte was, at last, being reached, one tall, fair fellow +thought it a good joke to catch hold of a little servant girl who +stood bewildered on the pavement, and drag her along with them, like a +wisp of straw caught in a torrent. + +'Well,' said Claude, 'good-bye, then; I'll see you to-night.' + +'Yes, to-night.' + +The painter, out of breath, had stopped at the corner of the Rue des +Beaux Arts. The court gates of the Art School stood wide open in front +of him, and the procession plunged into the yard. + +After drawing breath, Claude retraced his steps to the Rue de Seine. +His bad luck was increasing; it seemed ordained that he should not be +able to beguile a chum from work that morning. So he went up the +street, and slowly walked on as far as the Place du Pantheon, without +any definite aim. Then it occurred to him that he might just look into +the Municipal Offices, if only to shake hands with Sandoz. That would, +at any rate, mean ten minutes well spent. But he positively gasped +when he was told by an attendant that M. Sandoz had asked for a day +off to attend a funeral. However, he knew the trick of old. His friend +always found the same pretext whenever he wanted to do a good day's +work at home. He had already made up his mind to join him there, when +a feeling of artistic brotherliness, the scruple of an honest worker, +made him pause; yes, it would be a crime to go and disturb that good +fellow, and infect him with the discouragement born of a difficult +task, at the very moment when he was, no doubt, manfully accomplishing +his own work. + +So Claude had to resign himself to his fate. He dragged his black +melancholy along the quays until mid-day, his head so heavy, so full +of thoughts of his lack of power, that he only espied the well-loved +horizons of the Seine through a mist. Then he found himself once more +in the Rue de la Femme-sans-Tete, where he breakfasted at Gomard's +wine shop, whose sign 'The Dog of Montargis,' inspired him with +interest. Some stonemasons, in their working blouses, bespattered with +mortar, were there at table, and, like them, and with them, he ate his +eight sous' 'ordinary'--some beef broth in a bowl, in which he soaked +some bread, followed by a slice of boiled soup-beef, garnished with +haricot beans, and served up on a plate damp with dish-water. However, +it was still too good, he thought, for a brute unable to earn his +bread. Whenever his work miscarried, he undervalued himself, ranked +himself lower than a common labourer, whose sinewy arms could at least +perform their appointed task. For an hour he lingered in the tavern +brutifying himself by listening to the conversation at the tables +around him. Once outside he slowly resumed his walk in haphazard +fashion. + +When he got to the Place de l'Hotel de Ville, however, a fresh idea +made him quicken his pace. Why had he not thought of Fagerolles? +Fagerolles was a nice fellow, gay, and by no means a fool, although he +studied at the School of Arts. One could talk with him, even when he +defended bad painting. If he had lunched at his father's, in the Rue +Vieille-du-Temple, he must certainly still be there. + +On entering the narrow street, Claude felt a sensation of refreshing +coolness come over him. In the sun it had grown very warm, and +moisture rose from the pavement, which, however bright the sky, +remained damp and greasy beneath the constant tramping of the +pedestrians. Every minute, when a push obliged Claude to leave the +footwalk, he found himself in danger of being knocked down by trucks +or vans. Still the street amused him, with its straggling houses out +of line, their flat frontages chequered with signboards up to the very +eaves, and pierced with small windows, whence came the hum of every +kind of handiwork that can be carried on at home. In one of the +narrowest parts of the street a small newspaper shop made him stop. It +was betwixt a hairdresser's and a tripeseller's, and had an outdoor +display of idiotic prints, romantic balderdash mixed with filthy +caricatures fit for a barrack-room. In front of these 'pictures,' a +lank hobbledehoy stood lost in reverie, while two young girls nudged +each other and jeered. He felt inclined to slap their faces, but he +hurried across the road, for Fagerolles' house happened to be +opposite. It was a dark old tenement, standing forward from the +others, and was bespattered like them with the mud from the gutters. +As an omnibus came up, Claude barely had time to jump upon the foot +pavement, there reduced to the proportions of a simple ledge; the +wheels brushed against his chest, and he was drenched to his knees. + +M. Fagerolles, senior, a manufacturer of artistic zinc-work, had his +workshops on the ground floor of the building, and having converted +two large front rooms on the first floor into a warehouse, he +personally occupied a small, dark, cellar-like apartment overlooking +the courtyard. It was there that his son Henri had grown up, like a +true specimen of the flora of the Paris streets, at the edge of that +narrow pavement constantly struck by the omnibus wheels, always +soddened by the gutter water, and opposite the print and newspaper +shop, flanked by the barber's and tripeseller's. At first his father +had made an ornamental draughtsman of him for personal use. But when +the lad had developed higher ambition, taking to painting proper, and +talking about the School of Arts, there had been quarrels, blows, a +series of separations and reconciliations. Even now, although Henri +had already achieved some successes, the manufacturer of artistic +zinc-work, while letting him have his will, treated him harshly, like +a lad who was spoiling his career. + +After shaking off the water, Claude went up the deep archway entrance, +to a courtyard, where the light was quite greenish, and where there +was a dank, musty smell, like that at the bottom of a tank. There was +an overhanging roofing of glass and iron at the foot of the staircase, +which was a wide one, with a wrought-iron railing, eaten with rust. As +the painter passed the warehouse on the first floor, he glanced +through a glass door and noticed M. Fagerolles examining some +patterns. Wishing to be polite, he entered, in spite of the artistic +disgust he felt for all that zinc, coloured to imitate bronze, and +having all the repulsive mendacious prettiness of spurious art. + +'Good morning, monsieur. Is Henri still at home?' + +The manufacturer, a stout, sallow-looking man, drew himself straight +amidst all his nosegay vases and cruets and statuettes. He had in his +hand a new model of a thermometer, formed of a juggling girl who +crouched and balanced the glass tube on her nose. + +'Henri did not come in to lunch,' he answered drily. + +This cool reception upset Claude. 'Ah! he did not come back; I beg +pardon for having disturbed you, then. Good-day, monsieur.' + +'Good-day.' + +Once more outside, Claude began to swear to himself. His ill-luck was +complete, Fagerolles escaped him also. He even felt vexed with himself +for having gone there, and having taken an interest in that +picturesque old street; he was infuriated by the romantic gangrene +that ever sprouted afresh within him, do what he might. It was his +malady, perhaps, the false principle which he sometimes felt like a +bar across his skull. And when he had reached the quays again, he +thought of going home to see whether his picture was really so very +bad. But the mere idea made him tremble all over. His studio seemed a +chamber of horrors, where he could no more continue to live, as if, +indeed, he had left the corpse of some beloved being there. No, no; to +climb the three flights of stairs, to open the door, to shut himself +up face to face with 'that,' would have needed strength beyond his +courage. So he crossed the Seine and went along the Rue St. Jacques. +He felt too wretched and lonely; and, come what might, he would go to +the Rue d'Enfer to turn Sandoz from his work. + +Sandoz's little fourth-floor flat consisted of a dining-room, a +bedroom, and a strip of kitchen. It was tenanted by himself alone; his +mother, disabled by paralysis, occupied on the other side of the +landing a single room, where she lived in morose and voluntary +solitude. The street was a deserted one; the windows of the rooms +overlooked the gardens of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, above which rose +the rounded crest of a lofty tree, and the square tower of St. +Jacques-du-Haut-Pas. + +Claude found Sandoz in his room, bending over his table, busy with a +page of 'copy.' + +'I am disturbing you?' said Claude. + +'Not at all. I have been working ever since morning, and I've had +enough of it. I've been killing myself for the last hour over a +sentence that reads anyhow, and which has worried me all through my +lunch.' + +The painter made a gesture of despair, and the other, seeing him so +gloomy, at once understood matters. + +'You don't get on either, eh? Well, let's go out. A sharp walk will +take a little of the rust off us. Shall we go?' + +As he was passing the kitchen, however, an old woman stopped him. It +was his charwoman, who, as a rule, came only for two hours in the +morning and two hours in the evening. On Thursdays, however, she +remained the whole afternoon in order to look after the dinner. + +'Then it's decided, monsieur?' she asked. 'It's to be a piece of skate +and a leg of mutton, with potatoes.' + +'Yes, if you like.' + +'For how many am I to lay the cloth?' + +'Oh! as for that, one never knows. Lay for five, at any rate; we'll +see afterwards. Dinner at seven, eh? we'll try to be home by then.' + +When they were on the landing, Sandoz, leaving Claude to wait for him, +stole into his mother's room. When he came out again, in the same +discreet affectionate manner, they both went downstairs in silence. +Outside, having sniffed to right and left, as if to see which way the +wind blew, they ended by going up the street, reached the Place de +l'Observatoire, and turned down the Boulevard du Montparnasse. This +was their ordinary promenade; they reached the spot instinctively, +being fond of the wide expanse of the outer boulevards, where they +could roam and lounge at ease. They continued silent, for their heads +were heavy still, but the comfort of being together gradually made +them more serene. Still it was only when they were opposite the +Western Railway Station that Sandoz spoke. + +'I say, suppose we go to Mahoudeau's, to see how he's getting on with +his big machine. I know that he has given "his gods and saints" the +slip to-day.' + +'All right,' answered Claude. 'Let's go to Mahoudeau's.' + +They at once turned into the Rue du Cherche-Midi. There, at a few +steps from the boulevard, Mahoudeau, a sculptor, had rented the shop +of a fruiterer who had failed in business, and he had installed his +studio therein, contenting himself with covering the windows with a +layer of whitening. At this point, the street, wide and deserted, has +a quiet, provincial aspect, with a somewhat ecclesiastical touch. +Large gateways stand wide open showing a succession of deep roomy +yards; from a cowkeeper's establishment comes a tepid, pungent smell +of litter; and the dead wall of a convent stretches away for a goodly +length. It was between this convent and a herbalist's that the shop +transformed into a studio was situated. It still bore on its +sign-board the inscription, 'Fruit and Vegetables,' in large yellow +letters. + +Claude and Sandoz narrowly missed being blinded by some little girls +who were skipping in the street. On the foot pavement sat several +families whose barricades of chairs compelled the friends to step down +on to the roadway. However, they were drawing nigh, when the sight of +the herbalist's shop delayed them for a moment. Between its windows, +decked with enemas, bandages, and similar things, beneath the dried +herbs hanging above the doorway, whence came a constant aromatic +smell, a thin, dark woman stood taking stock of them, while, behind +her, in the gloom of the shop, one saw the vague silhouette of a +little sickly-looking man, who was coughing and expectorating. The +friends nudged each other, their eyes lighted up with bantering mirth; +and then they turned the handle of Mahoudeau's door. + +The shop, though tolerably roomy, was almost filled by a mass of clay: +a colossal Bacchante, falling back upon a rock. The wooden stays bent +beneath the weight of that almost shapeless pile, of which nothing but +some huge limbs could as yet be distinguished. Some water had been +spilt on the floor, several muddy buckets straggled here and there, +while a heap of moistened plaster was lying in a corner. On the +shelves, formerly occupied by fruit and vegetables, were scattered +some casts from the antique, covered with a tracery of cinder-like +dust which had gradually collected there. A wash-house kind of +dampness, a stale smell of moist clay, rose from the floor. And the +wretchedness of this sculptor's studio and the dirt attendant upon the +profession were made still more conspicuous by the wan light that +filtered through the shop windows besmeared with whitening. + +'What! is it you?' shouted Mahoudeau, who sat before his female +figure, smoking a pipe. + +He was small and thin, with a bony face, already wrinkled at +twenty-seven. His black mane-like hair lay entangled over his very low +forehead, and his sallow mask, ugly almost to ferociousness, was +lighted up by a pair of childish eyes, bright and empty, which smiled +with winning simplicity. The son of a stonemason of Plassans, he had +achieved great success at the local art competitions, and had +afterwards come to Paris as the town laureate, with an allowance of +eight hundred francs per annum, for a period of four years. In the +capital, however, he had found himself at sea, defenceless, failing in +his competitions at the School of Arts, and spending his allowance to +no purpose; so that, at the end of his term, he had been obliged for a +livelihood to enter the employment of a dealer in church statues, at +whose establishment, for ten hours a day, he scraped away at St. +Josephs, St. Rochs, Mary Magdalens, and, in fact, all the saints of +the calendar. For the last six months, however, he had experienced a +revival of ambition, on finding himself once more among his comrades +of Provence, the eldest of whom he was--fellows whom he had known at +Geraud's boarding-school for little boys, and who had since grown into +savage revolutionaries. At present, through his constant intercourse +with impassioned artists, who troubled his brain with all sorts of +wild theories, his ambition aimed at the gigantic. + +'The devil!' said Claude, 'there's a lump.' + +The sculptor, delighted, gave a long pull at his pipe, and blew a +cloud of smoke. + +'Eh, isn't it? I am going to give them some flesh, and living flesh, +too; not the bladders of lard that they turn out.' + +'It's a woman bathing, isn't it?' asked Sandoz. + +'No; I shall put some vine leaves around her head. A Bacchante, you +understand.' + +At this Claude flew into a violent passion. + +'A Bacchante? Do you want to make fools of people? Does such a thing +as a Bacchante exist? A vintaging girl, eh? And quite modern, dash it +all. I know she's nude, so let her be a peasant woman who has +undressed. And that must be properly conveyed, mind; people must +realise that she lives.' + +Mahoudeau, taken aback, listened, trembling. He was afraid of Claude, +and bowed to his ideal of strength and truth. So he even improved upon +the painter's idea. + +'Yes, yes, that's what I meant to say--a vintaging girl. And you'll +see whether there isn't a real touch of woman about her.' + +At that moment Sandoz, who had been making the tour of the huge block +of clay, exclaimed: 'Why, here's that sneak of a Chaine.' + +Behind the pile, indeed, sat Chaine, a burly fellow who was quietly +painting away, copying the fireless rusty stove on a small canvas. It +could be told that he was a peasant by his heavy, deliberate manner +and his bull-neck, tanned and hardened like leather. His only +noticeable feature was his forehead, displaying all the bumps of +obstinacy; for his nose was so small as to be lost between his red +cheeks, while a stiff beard hid his powerful jaws. He came from Saint +Firmin, a village about six miles from Plassans, where he had been a +cow-boy, until he drew for the conscription; and his misfortunes dated +from the enthusiasm that a gentleman of the neighbourhood had shown +for the walking-stick handles which he carved out of roots with his +knife. From that moment, having become a rustic genius, an embryo +great man for this local connoisseur, who happened to be a member of +the museum committee, he had been helped by him, adulated and driven +crazy with hopes; but he had successively failed in everything--his +studies and competitions--thus missing the town's purse. Nevertheless, +he had started for Paris, after worrying his father, a wretched +peasant, into premature payment of his heritage, a thousand francs, on +which he reckoned to live for a twelvemonth while awaiting the +promised victory. The thousand francs had lasted eighteen months. +Then, as he had only twenty francs left, he had taken up his quarters +with his friend, Mahoudeau. They both slept in the same bed, in the +dark back shop; they both in turn cut slices from the same loaves of +bread--of which they bought sufficient for a fortnight at a time, so +that it might get very hard, and that they might thus be able to eat +but little of it. + +'I say, Chaine,' continued Sandoz, 'your stove is really very exact.' + +Chaine, without answering, gave a chuckle of triumph which lighted up +his face like a sunbeam. By a crowning stroke of imbecility, and to +make his misfortunes perfect, his protector's advice had thrown him +into painting, in spite of the real taste that he showed for wood +carving. And he painted like a whitewasher, mixing his colours as a +hodman mixes his mortar, and managing to make the clearest and +brightest of them quite muddy. His triumph consisted, however, in +combining exactness with awkwardness; he displayed all the naive +minuteness of the primitive painters; in fact, his mind, barely raised +from the clods, delighted in petty details. The stove, with its +perspective all awry, was tame and precise, and in colour as dingy as +mire. + +Claude approached and felt full of compassion at the sight of that +painting, and though he was as a rule so harsh towards bad painters, +his compassion prompted him to say a word of praise. + +'Ah! one can't say that you are a trickster; you paint, at any rate, +as you feel. Very good, indeed.' + +However, the door of the shop had opened, and a good-looking, fair +fellow, with a big pink nose, and large, blue, short-sighted eyes, +entered shouting: + +'I say, why does that herbalist woman next door always stand on her +doorstep? What an ugly mug she's got!' + +They all laughed, except Mahoudeau, who seemed very much embarrassed. + +'Jory, the King of Blunderers,' declared Sandoz, shaking hands with +the new comer. + +'Why? What? Is Mahoudeau interested in her? I didn't know,' resumed +Jory, when he had at length grasped the situation. 'Well, well, what +does it matter? When everything's said, they are all irresistible.' + +'As for you,' the sculptor rejoined, 'I can see you have tumbled on +your lady-love's finger-nails again. She has dug a bit out of your +cheek!' + +They all burst out laughing anew, while Jory, in his turn, reddened. +In fact, his face was scratched: there were even two deep gashes +across it. The son of a magistrate of Plassans, whom he had driven +half-crazy by his dissolute conduct, he had crowned everything by +running away with a music-hall singer under the pretext of going to +Paris to follow the literary profession. During the six months that +they had been camping together in a shady hotel of the Quartier Latin, +the girl had almost flayed him alive each time she caught him paying +attention to anybody else of her sex. And, as this often happened, he +always had some fresh scar to show--a bloody nose, a torn ear, or a +damaged eye, swollen and blackened. + +At last they all began to talk, with the exception of Chaine, who went +on painting with the determined expression of an ox at the plough. +Jory had at once gone into ecstasies over the roughly indicated figure +of the vintaging girl. He worshipped a massive style of beauty. His +first writings in his native town had been some Parnassian sonnets +celebrating the copious charms of a handsome pork-butcheress. In +Paris--where he had fallen in with the whole band of Plassans--he had +taken to art criticism, and, for a livelihood, he wrote articles for +twenty francs apiece in a small, slashing paper called 'The Drummer.' +Indeed, one of these articles, a study on a picture by Claude +exhibited at Papa Malgras's, had just caused a tremendous scandal; for +Jory had therein run down all the painters whom the public appreciated +to extol his friend, whom he set up as the leader of a new school, the +school of the 'open air.' Very practical at heart, he did not care in +reality a rap about anything that did not conduce to his own +pleasures; he simply repeated the theories he heard enunciated by his +friends. 'I say, Mahoudeau,' he now exclaimed, 'you shall have an +article; I'll launch that woman of yours. What limbs, my boys! She's +magnificent!' + +Then suddenly changing the conversation: 'By the way,' he said, 'my +miserly father has apologised. He is afraid I shall drag his name +through the mud, so he sends me a hundred francs a month now. I am +paying my debts.' + +'Debts! you are too careful to have any,' muttered Sandoz, with a +smile. + +In fact, Jory displayed a hereditary tightness of fist which much +amused his friends. He managed to lead a profligate life without money +and without incurring debts; and with the skill he thus displayed was +allied constant duplicity, a habit of incessantly lying, which he had +contracted in the devout sphere of his family, where his anxiety to +hide his vices had made him lie about everything at all hours, and +even without occasion. But he now gave a superb reply, the cry of a +sage of deep experience. + +'Oh, you fellows, you don't know the worth of money!' + +This time he was hooted. What a philistine! And the invectives +continued, when some light taps on one of the window-panes suddenly +made the din cease. + +'She is really becoming a nuisance,' said Mahoudeau, with a gesture of +annoyance. + +'Eh? Who is it? The herbalist woman?' asked Jory. 'Let her come in; it +will be great fun.' + +The door indeed had already been opened, and Mahoudeau's neighbour, +Madame Jabouille, or Mathilde, as she was familiarly called, appeared +on the threshold. She was about thirty, with a flat face horribly +emaciated, and passionate eyes, the lids of which had a bluish tinge +as if they were bruised. It was said that some members of the clergy +had brought about her marriage with little Jabouille, at a time when +the latter's business was still flourishing, thanks to the custom of +all the pious folk of the neighbourhood. The truth was, that one +sometimes espied black cassocks stealthily crossing that mysterious +shop, where all the aromatic herbs set a perfume of incense. A kind of +cloistral quietude pervaded the place; the devotees who came in spoke +in low voices, as if in a confessional, slipped their purchases into +their bags furtively, and went off with downcast eyes. Unfortunately, +some very horrid rumours had got abroad--slander invented by the +wine-shop keeper opposite, said pious folks. At any rate, since the +widower had re-married, the business had been going to the dogs. The +glass jars seemed to have lost all their brightness, and the dried +herbs, suspended from the ceiling, were tumbling to dust. Jabouille +himself was coughing his life out, reduced to a very skeleton. And +although Mathilde professed to be religious, the pious customers +gradually deserted her, being of opinion that she made herself too +conspicuous with young fellows of the neighbourhood now that Jabouille +was almost eaten out of house and home. + +For a moment Mathilde remained motionless, blinking her eyes. A +pungent smell had spread through the shop, a smell of simples, which +she brought with her in her clothes and greasy, tumbled hair; the +sickly sweetness of mallow, the sharp odour of elderseed, the bitter +effluvia of rhubarb, but, above all, the hot whiff of peppermint, +which seemed like her very breath. + +She made a gesture of feigned surprise. 'Oh, dear me! you have +company--I did not know; I'll drop in again.' + +'Yes, do,' said Mahoudeau, looking very vexed. 'Besides, I am going +out; you can give me a sitting on Sunday.' + +At this Claude, stupefied, fairly stared at the emaciated Mathilde, +and then at the huge vintaging woman. + +'What?' he cried, 'is it madame who poses for that figure? The +dickens, you exaggerate!' + +Then the laughter began again, while the sculptor stammered his +explanations. 'Oh! she only poses for the head and the hands, and +merely just to give me a few indications.' + +Mathilde, however, laughed with the others, with a sharp, brazen-faced +laughter, showing the while the gaping holes in her mouth, where +several teeth were wanting. + +'Yes,' resumed Mahoudeau. 'I have to go out on some business now. +Isn't it so, you fellows, we are expected over yonder?' + +He had winked at his friends, feeling eager for a good lounge. They +all answered that they were expected, and helped him to cover the +figure of the vintaging girl with some strips of old linen which were +soaking in a pail of water. + +However, Mathilde, looking submissive but sad, did not stir. She +merely shifted from one place to another, when they pushed against +her, while Chaine, who was no longer painting, glanced at her over his +picture. So far, he had not opened his lips. But as Mahoudeau at last +went off with his three friends, he made up his mind to ask, in his +husky voice: + +'Shall you come home to-night?' + +'Very late. Have your dinner and go to bed. Good-bye.' + +Then Chaine remained alone with Mathilde in the damp shop, amidst the +heaps of clay and the puddles of water, while the chalky light from +the whitened windows glared crudely over all the wretched untidiness. + +Meantime the four others, Claude and Mahoudeau, Jory and Sandoz, +strolled along, seeming to take up the whole width of the Boulevard +des Invalides. It was the usual thing, the band was gradually +increased by the accession of comrades picked up on the way, and then +came the wild march of a horde upon the war-path. With the bold +assurance of their twenty summers, these young fellows took possession +of the foot pavement. The moment they were together trumpets seemed to +sound in advance of them; they seized upon Paris and quietly dropped +it into their pockets. There was no longer the slightest doubt about +their victory; they freely displayed their threadbare coats and old +shoes, like destined conquerors of to-morrow who disdained bagatelles, +and had only to take the trouble to become the masters of all the +luxury surrounding them. And all this was attended by huge contempt +for everything that was not art--contempt for fortune, contempt for +the world at large, and, above all, contempt for politics. What was +the good of all such rubbish? Only a lot of incapables meddled with +it. A warped view of things, magnificent in its very injustice, +exalted them; an intentional ignorance of the necessities of social +life, the crazy dream of having none but artists upon earth. They +seemed very stupid at times, but, all the same, their passion made +them strong and brave. + +Claude became excited. Faith in himself revived amidst the glow of +common hopes. His worry of the morning had only left a vague numbness +behind, and he now once more began to discuss his picture with Sandoz +and Mahoudeau, swearing, it is true, that he would destroy it the next +day. Jory, who was very short-sighted, stared at all the elderly +ladies he met, and aired his theories on artistic work. A man ought to +give his full measure at once in the first spurt of inspiration; as +for himself, he never corrected anything. And, still discussing, the +four friends went on down the boulevard, which, with its comparative +solitude, and its endless rows of fine trees, seemed to have been +expressly designed as an arena for their disputations. When they +reached the Esplanade, the wrangling became so violent that they +stopped in the middle of that large open space. Beside himself, Claude +called Jory a numskull; was it not better to destroy one's work than +to launch a mediocre performance upon the world? Truckling to trade +was really disgusting. Mahoudeau and Sandoz, on their side, shouted +both together at the same time. Some passers-by, feeling uneasy, +turned round to look, and at last gathered round these furious young +fellows, who seemed bent on swallowing each other. But they went off +vexed, thinking that some practical joke had been played upon them, +when they suddenly saw the quartette, all good friends again, go into +raptures over a wet-nurse, dressed in light colours, with long +cherry-tinted ribbons streaming from her cap. There, now! That was +something like--what a tint, what a bright note it set amid the +surroundings! Delighted, blinking their eyes, they followed the nurse +under the trees, and then suddenly seemed roused and astonished to +find they had already come so far. The Esplanade, open on all sides, +save on the south, where rose the distant pile of the Hotel des +Invalides, delighted them--it was so vast, so quiet; they there had +plenty of room for their gestures; and they recovered breath there, +although they were always declaring that Paris was far too small for +them, and lacked sufficient air to inflate their ambitious lungs. + +'Are you going anywhere particular?' asked Sandoz of Mahoudeau and +Jory. + +'No,' answered the latter, 'we are going with you. Where are _you_ +going?' + +Claude, gazing carelessly about him, muttered: 'I don't know. That +way, if you like.' + +They turned on to the Quai d'Orsay, and went as far as the Pont de la +Concorde. In front of the Corps Legislatif the painter remarked, with +an air of disgust: 'What a hideous pile!' + +'Jules Favre made a fine speech the other day. How he did rile +Rouher,' said Jory. + +However, the others left him no time to proceed, the disputes began +afresh. 'Who was Jules Favre? Who was Rouher? Did they exist? A parcel +of idiots whom no one would remember ten years after their death.' The +young men had now begun to cross the bridge, and they shrugged their +shoulders with compassion. Then, on reaching the Place de la Concorde, +they stopped short and relapsed into silence. + +'Well,' opined Claude at last, 'this isn't bad, by any means.' + +It was four o'clock, and the day was waning amidst a glorious powdery +shimmer. To the right and left, towards the Madeleine and towards the +Corps Legislatif, lines of buildings stretched away, showing against +the sky, while in the Tuileries Gardens rose gradients of lofty +rounded chestnut trees. And between the verdant borders of the +pleasure walks, the avenue of the Champs Elysees sloped upward as far +as the eye could reach, topped by the colossal Arc de Triomphe, agape +in front of the infinite. A double current, a twofold stream rolled +along--horses showing like living eddies, vehicles like retreating +waves, which the reflections of a panel or the sudden sparkle of the +glass of a carriage lamp seemed to tip with white foam. Lower down, +the square--with its vast footways, its roads as broad as lakes--was +filled with a constant ebb and flow, crossed in every direction by +whirling wheels, and peopled with black specks of men, while the two +fountains plashed and streamed, exhaling delicious coolness amid all +the ardent life. + +Claude, quivering with excitement, kept saying: 'Ah! Paris! It's ours. +We have only to take it.' + +They all grew excited, their eyes opened wide with desire. Was it not +glory herself that swept from the summit of that avenue over the whole +capital? Paris was there, and they longed to make her theirs. + +'Well, we'll take her one day,' said Sandoz, with his obstinate air. + +'To be sure we shall,' said Mahoudeau and Jory in the simplest manner. + +They had resumed walking; they still roamed about, found themselves +behind the Madeleine, and went up the Rue Tronchet. At last, as they +reached the Place du Havre, Sandoz exclaimed, 'So we are going to +Baudequin's, eh?' + +The others looked as if they had dropped from the sky; in fact, it did +seem as if they were going to Baudequin's. + +'What day of the week is it?' asked Claude. 'Thursday, eh? Then +Fagerolles and Gagniere are sure to be there. Let's go to +Baudequin's.' + +And thereupon they went up the Rue d'Amsterdam. They had just crossed +Paris, one of their favourite rambles, but they took other routes at +times--from one end of the quays to the other; or from the Porte St. +Jacques to the Moulineaux, or else to Pere-la-Chaise, followed by a +roundabout return along the outer boulevards. They roamed the streets, +the open spaces, the crossways; they rambled on for whole days, as +long as their legs would carry them, as if intent on conquering one +district after another by hurling their revolutionary theories at the +house-fronts; and the pavement seemed to be their property--all the +pavement touched by their feet, all that old battleground whence arose +intoxicating fumes which made them forget their lassitude. + +The Cafe Baudequin was situated on the Boulevard des Batignolles, at +the corner of the Rue Darcet. Without the least why or wherefore, it +had been selected by the band as their meeting-place, though Gagniere +alone lived in the neighbourhood. They met there regularly on Sunday +nights; and on Thursday afternoons, at about five o'clock, those who +were then at liberty had made it a habit to look in for a moment. That +day, as the weather was fine and bright, the little tables outside +under the awning were occupied by rows of customers, obstructing the +footway. But the band hated all elbowing and public exhibition, so +they jostled the other people in order to go inside, where all was +deserted and cool. + +'Hallo, there's Fagerolles by himself,' exclaimed Claude. + +He had gone straight to their usual table at the end of the cafe, on +the left, where he shook hands with a pale, thin, young man, whose +pert girlish face was lighted up by a pair of winning, satirical grey +eyes, which at times flashed like steel. They all sat down and ordered +beer, after which the painter resumed: + +'Do you know that I went to look for you at your father's; and a nice +reception he gave me.' + +Fagerolles, who affected a low devil-may-care style, slapped his +thighs. 'Oh, the old fellow plagues me! I hooked it this morning, +after a row. He wants me to draw some things for his beastly zinc +stuff. As if I hadn't enough zinc stuff at the Art School.' + +This slap at the professors delighted the young man's friends. He +amused them and made himself their idol by dint of alternate flattery +and blame. His smile went from one to the other, while, by the aid of +a few drops of beer spilt on the table, his long nimble fingers began +tracing complicated sketches. His art evidently came very easily to +him; it seemed as if he could do anything with a turn of the hand. + +'And Gagniere?' asked Mahoudeau; 'haven't you seen him?' + +'No; I have been here for the last hour.' + +Just then Jory, who had remained silent, nudged Sandoz, and directed +his attention to a girl seated with a gentleman at a table at the back +of the room. There were only two other customers present, two +sergeants, who were playing cards. The girl was almost a child, one of +those young Parisian hussies who are as lank as ever at eighteen. She +suggested a frizzy poodle--with the shower of fair little locks that +fell over her dainty little nose, and her large smiling mouth, set +between rosy cheeks. She was turning over the leaves of an illustrated +paper, while the gentleman accompanying her gravely sipped a glass of +Madeira; but every other minute she darted gay glances from over the +newspaper towards the band of artists. + +'Pretty, isn't she?' whispered Jory. 'Who is she staring at? Why, +she's looking at me.' + +But Fagerolles suddenly broke in: 'I say, no nonsense. Don't imagine +that I have been here for the last hour merely waiting for you.' + +The others laughed; and lowering his voice he told them about the +girl, who was named Irma Becot. She was the daughter of a grocer in +the Rue Montorgueil, and had been to school in the neighbourhood till +she was sixteen, writing her exercises between two bags of lentils, +and finishing off her education on her father's doorstep, lolling +about on the pavement, amidst the jostling of the throng, and learning +all about life from the everlasting tittle-tattle of the cooks, who +retailed all the scandal of the neighbourhood while waiting for five +sous' worth of Gruyere cheese to be served them. Her mother having +died, her father himself had begun to lead rather a gay life, in such +wise that the whole of the grocery stores--tea, coffee, dried +vegetables, and jars and drawers of sweetstuff--were gradually +devoured. Irma was still going to school, when, one day, the place was +sold up. Her father died of a fit of apoplexy, and Irma sought refuge +with a poor aunt, who gave her more kicks than halfpence, with the +result that she ended by running away, and taking her flight through +all the dancing-places of Montmartre and Batignolles. + +Claude listened to the story with his usual air of contempt for women. +Suddenly, however, as the gentleman rose and went out after whispering +in her ear, Irma Becot, after watching him disappear, bounded from her +seat with the impulsiveness of a school girl, in order to join +Fagerolles, beside whom she made herself quite at home, giving him a +smacking kiss, and drinking out of his glass. And she smiled at the +others in a very engaging manner, for she was partial to artists, and +regretted that they were generally so miserably poor. As Jory was +smoking, she took his cigarette out of his mouth and set it in her +own, but without pausing in her chatter, which suggested that of a +saucy magpie. + +'You are all painters, aren't you? How amusing! But why do those three +look as if they were sulking. Just laugh a bit, or I shall make you, +you'll see!' + +As a matter of fact, Sandoz, Claude, and Mahoudeau, quite taken aback, +were watching her most gravely. She herself remained listening, and, +on hearing her companion come back, she hastily gave Fagerolles an +appointment for the morrow. Then, after replacing the cigarette +between Jory's lips, she strode off with her arms raised, and making a +very comical grimace; in such wise that when the gentleman reappeared, +looking sedate and somewhat pale, he found her in her former seat, +still looking at the same engraving in the newspaper. The whole scene +had been acted so quickly, and with such jaunty drollery, that the two +sergeants who sat nearby, good-natured fellows both of them, almost +died of laughter as they shuffled their cards afresh. + +In fact, Irma had taken them all by storm. Sandoz declared that her +name of Becot was very well suited for a novel; Claude asked whether +she would consent to pose for a sketch; while Mahoudeau already +pictured her as a Paris gamin, a statuette that would be sure to sell. +She soon went off, however, and behind the gentleman's back she wafted +kisses to the whole party, a shower of kisses which quite upset the +impressionable Jory. + +It was five o'clock, and the band ordered some more beer. Some of the +usual customers had taken possession of the adjacent tables, and these +philistines cast sidelong glances at the artists' corner, glances in +which contempt was curiously mingled with a kind of uneasy deference. +The artists were indeed well known; a legend was becoming current +respecting them. They themselves were now talking on common-place +subjects: about the heat, the difficulty of finding room in the +omnibus to the Odeon, and the discovery of a wine-shop where real meat +was obtainable. One of them wanted to start a discussion about a +number of idiotic pictures that had lately been hung in the Luxembourg +Museum; but there was only one opinion on the subject, that the +pictures were not worth their frames. Thereupon they left off +conversing; they smoked, merely exchanging a word or a significant +smile now and then. + +'Well,' asked Claude at last, 'are we going to wait for Gagniere?' + +At this there was a protest. Gagniere was a bore. Besides, he would +turn up as soon as he smelt the soup. + +'Let's be off, then,' said Sandoz. 'There's a leg of mutton this +evening, so let's try to be punctual.' + +Each paid his score, and they all went out. Their departure threw the +cafe into a state of emotion. Some young fellows, painters, no doubt, +whispered together as they pointed at Claude, much in the same manner +as if he were the redoubtable chieftain of a horde of savages. Jory's +famous article was producing its effect; the very public was becoming +his accomplice, and of itself was soon to found that school of the +open air, which the band had so far only joked about. As they gaily +said, the Cafe Baudequin was not aware of the honour they had done it +on the day when they selected it to be the cradle of a revolution. + +Fagerolles having reinforced the group, they now numbered five, and +slowly they took their way across Paris, with their tranquil look of +victory. The more numerous they were, the more did they stretch across +the pavement, and carry away on their heels the burning life of the +streets. When they had gone down the Rue de Clichy, they went straight +along the Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin, turned towards the Rue de +Richelieu, crossed the Seine by the Pont des Arts, so as to fling +their gibes at the Institute, and finally reached the Luxembourg by +way of the Rue de Seine, where a poster, printed in three colours, the +garish announcement of a travelling circus, made them all shout with +admiration. Evening was coming on; the stream of wayfarers flowed more +slowly; the tired city was awaiting the shadows of night, ready to +yield to the first comer who might be strong enough to take her. + +On reaching the Rue d'Enfer, when Sandoz had ushered his four friends +into his own apartments, he once more vanished into his mother's room. +He remained there for a few moments, and then came out without saying +a word, but with the tender, gentle smile habitual to him on such +occasions. And immediately afterwards a terrible hubbub, of laughter, +argument, and mere shouting, arose in his little flat. Sandoz himself +set the example, all the while assisting the charwoman, who burst into +bitter language because it was half-past seven, and her leg of mutton +was drying up. The five companions, seated at table, were already +swallowing their soup, a very good onion soup, when a new comer +suddenly appeared. + +'Hallo! here's Gagniere,' was the vociferous chorus. + +Gagniere, short, slight, and vague looking, with a doll-like startled +face, set off by a fair curly beard, stood for a moment on the +threshold blinking his green eyes. He belonged to Melun, where his +well-to-do parents, who were both dead, had left him two houses; and +he had learnt painting, unassisted, in the forest of Fontainebleau. +His landscapes were at least conscientiously painted, excellent in +intention; but his real passion was music, a madness for music, a +cerebral bonfire which set him on a level with the wildest of the +band. + +'Am I in the way?' he gently asked. + +'Not at all; come in!' shouted Sandoz. + +The charwoman was already laying an extra knife and fork. + +'Suppose she lays a place for Dubuche, while she is about it,' said +Claude. 'He told me he would perhaps come.' + +But they were all down upon Dubuche, who frequented women in society. +Jory said that he had seen him in a carriage with an old lady and her +daughter, whose parasols he was holding on his knees. + +'Where have you come from to be so late?' asked Fagerolles of +Gagniere. + +The latter, who was about to swallow his first spoonful of soup, set +it in his plate again. + +'I was in the Rue de Lancry--you know, where they have chamber music. +Oh! my boy, some of Schumann's machines! You haven't an idea of them! +They clutch hold of you at the back of your head just as if somebody +were breathing down your back. Yes, yes, it's something much more +immaterial than a kiss, just a whiff of breath. 'Pon my honour, a +fellow feels as if he were going to die.' + +His eyes were moistening and he turned pale, as if experiencing some +over-acute enjoyment. + +'Eat your soup,' said Mahoudeau; 'you'll tell us all about it +afterwards.' + +The skate was served, and they had the vinegar bottle put on the table +to improve the flavour of the black butter, which seemed rather +insipid. They ate with a will, and the hunks of bread swiftly +disappeared. There was nothing refined about the repast, and the wine +was mere common stuff, which they watered considerably from a feeling +of delicacy, in order to lessen their host's expenses. They had just +saluted the leg of mutton with a hurrah, and the host had begun to +carve it, when the door opened anew. But this time there were furious +protests. + +'No, no, not another soul! Turn him out, turn him out.' + +Dubuche, out of breath with having run, bewildered at finding himself +amidst such howling, thrust his fat, pallid face forward, whilst +stammering explanations. + +'Really, now, I assure you it was the fault of the omnibuses. I had to +wait for five of them in the Champs Elysees.' + +'No, no, he's lying!--Let him go, he sha'n't have any of that mutton. +Turn him out, turn him out!' + +All the same, he ended by coming in, and it was then noticed that he +was stylishly attired, all in black, trousers and frock-coat alike, +and cravated and booted in the stiff ceremonious fashion of some +respectable member of the middle classes going out to dinner. + +'Hallo! he has missed his invitation,' chaffed Fagerolles. 'Don't you +see that his fine ladies didn't ask him to stay to dinner, and so now +he's come to gobble up our leg of mutton, as he doesn't know where +else to go?' + +At this Dubuche turned red, and stammered: 'Oh! what an idea! How +ill-natured you are! And, besides, just attend to your own business.' + +Sandoz and Claude, seated next to each other, smiled, and the former, +beckoning to Dubuche, said to him: 'Lay your own place, bring a plate +and a glass, and sit between us--like that, they'll leave you alone.' + +However, the chaff continued all the time that the mutton was being +eaten. When the charwoman had brought Dubuche a plate of soup and a +piece of skate, he himself fell in with the jokes good-naturedly. He +pretended to be famished, greedily mopped out his plate, and related a +story about a mother having refused him her daughter because he was an +architect. The end of the dinner thus became very boisterous; they all +rattled on together. The only dessert, a piece of Brie cheese, met +with enormous success. Not a scrap of it was left, and the bread +almost ran short. The wine did run short, so they each swallowed a +clear draught of water, smacking their lips the while amidst great +laughter. And, with faces beaming, and well-filled paunches, they +passed into the bedroom with the supreme content of folks who have +fared very sumptuously indeed. + +Those were Sandoz's jolly evenings. Even at the times when he was hard +up he had always had some boiled beef and broth to share with his +comrades. He felt delighted at having a number of them around him, all +friends, inspired by the same ideas. Though he was of their own age, +he beamed with fatherly feelings and satisfied good-nature when he saw +them in his rooms, around him, hand in hand, and intoxicated with +hope. As he had but two rooms, the bedroom did duty as a drawing-room, +and became as much theirs as his. For lack of sufficient chairs, two +or three had to seat themselves on the bed. And on those warm summer +evenings the window remained wide open to let in the air. From it two +black silhouettes were to be seen rising above the houses, against the +clear sky--the tower of St. Jacques du Haut-Pas and the tree of the +Deaf and Dumb Asylum. When money was plentiful there was beer. Every +one brought his own tobacco, the room soon became full of smoke, and +without seeing each other they ended by conversing far into the night, +amidst the deep mournful silence of that deserted district. + +On that particular evening, at about nine o'clock, the charwoman came +in. + +'Monsieur, I have done. Can I go?' + +'Yes, go to bed. You have left the kettle on the fire, haven't you? +I'll make the tea myself.' + +Sandoz had risen. He went off at the heels of the charwoman, and only +returned a quarter of an hour afterwards. He had no doubt been to kiss +his mother, whom he tucked up every night before she dozed off. + +Meanwhile the voices had risen to a high pitch again. Fagerolles was +telling a story. + +'Yes, old fellow; at the School they even correct Nature herself. The +other day Mazel comes up to me and says: "Those two arms don't +correspond"; whereupon I reply: "Look for yourself, monsieur--the +model's are like that." It was little Flore Beauchamp, you know. +"Well," Mazel furiously replies, "if she has them like that, it's very +wrong of her."' + +They almost all shrieked, especially Claude, to whom Fagerolles told +the story by way of paying court. For some time previously the younger +artist had yielded to the elder's influence; and although he continued +to paint with purely tricky skill, he no longer talked of anything but +substantial, thickly-painted work, of bits of nature thrown on to +canvas, palpitating with life, such as they really were. This did not +prevent him, though, from elsewhere chaffing the adepts of the +open-air school, whom he accused of impasting with a kitchen ladle. + +Dubuche, who had not laughed, his sense of rectitude being offended, +made so bold as to reply: + +'Why do you stop at the School if you think you are being brutified +there? It's simple enough, one goes away--Oh, I know you are all +against me, because I defend the School. But, you see, my idea is +that, when a fellow wants to carry on a trade, it is not a bad thing +for him to begin by learning it.' + +Ferocious shouts arose at this, and Claude had need of all his +authority to secure a hearing. + +'He is right. One must learn one's trade. But it won't do to learn it +under the ferule of professors who want to cram their own views +forcibly into your nut. That Mazel is a perfect idiot!' + +He flung himself backward on the bed, on which he had been sitting, +and with his eyes raised to the ceiling, he went on, in an excited +tone: + +'Ah! life! life! to feel it and portray it in its reality, to love it +for itself, to behold in it the only real, lasting, and changing +beauty, without any idiotic idea of ennobling it by mutilation. To +understand that all so-called ugliness is nothing but the mark of +individual character, to create real men and endow them with life +--yes, that's the only way to become a god!' + +His faith was coming back to him, the march across Paris had spurred +him on once more; he was again seized by his passion for living flesh. +They listened to him in silence. He made a wild gesture, then calmed +down. + +'No doubt every one has his own ideas; but the annoyance is that at +the Institute they are even more intolerant than we are. The hanging +committee of the Salon is in their hands. I am sure that that idiot +Mazel will refuse my picture.' + +Thereupon they all broke out into imprecations, for this question of +the hanging committee was the everlasting subject of their wrath. They +demanded reforms; every one had a solution of the problem ready--from +universal suffrage, applied to the election of a hanging committee, +liberal in the widest sense of the word, down to unrestricted liberty, +a Salon open to all exhibitors.* + + * The reader will bear in mind that all these complaints made by + Claude and his friends apply to the old Salons, as organized + under Government control, at the time of the Second Empire.--ED. + +While the others went on discussing the subject, Gagniere drew +Mahoudeau to the open window, where, in a low voice, his eyes the +while staring into space, he murmured: + +'Oh, it's nothing at all, only four bars; a simple impression jotted +down there and then. But what a deal there is in it! To me it's first +of all a landscape, dwindling away in the distance; a bit of +melancholy road, with the shadow of a tree that one cannot see; and +then a woman passes along, scarcely a silhouette; on she goes and you +never meet her again, no, never more again.' + +Just at that moment, however, Fagerolles exclaimed, 'I say, Gagniere, +what are you going to send to the Salon this year?' + +Gagniere did not hear, but continued talking, enraptured, as it were. + +'In Schumann one finds everything--the infinite. And Wagner, too, whom +they hissed again last Sunday!' + +But a fresh call from Fagerolles made him start. + +'Eh! what? What am I going to send to the Salon? A small landscape, +perhaps; a little bit of the Seine. It is so difficult to decide; +first of all I must feel pleased with it myself.' + +He had suddenly become timid and anxious again. His artistic scruples, +his conscientiousness, kept him working for months on a canvas the +size of one's hand. Following the track of the French landscape +painters, those masters who were the first to conquer nature, he +worried about correctness of tone, pondering and pondering over the +precise value of tints, till theoretical scruples ended by making his +touch heavy. And he often did not dare to chance a bright dash of +colour, but painted in a greyish gloomy key which was astonishing, +when one remembered his revolutionary passions. + +'For my part,' said Mahoudeau, 'I feel delighted at the prospect of +making them squint with my woman.' + +Claude shrugged his shoulders. 'Oh! you'll get in, the sculptors have +broader minds than the painters. And, besides, you know very well what +you are about; you have something at your fingers' ends that pleases. +There will be plenty of pretty bits about your vintaging girl.' + +The compliment made Mahoudeau feel serious. He posed above all for +vigour of execution; he was unconscious of his real vein of talent, +and despised gracefulness, though it ever invincibly sprung from his +big, coarse fingers--the fingers of an untaught working-man--like a +flower that obstinately sprouts from the hard soil where the wind has +flung its seed. + +Fagerolles, who was very cunning, had decided to send nothing, for +fear of displeasing his masters; and he chaffed the Salon, calling it +'a foul bazaar, where all the bad painting made even the good turn +musty.' In his inmost heart he was dreaming of one day securing the +Rome prize, though he ridiculed it, as he did everything else. + +However, Jory stationed himself in the middle of the room, holding up +his glass of beer. Sipping every now and then, he declared: 'Well, +your hanging committee quite disgusts me! I say, shall I demolish it? +I'll begin bombarding it in our very next number. You'll give me some +notes, eh? and we'll knock it to pieces. That will be fine fun.' + +Claude was at last fully wound up, and general enthusiasm prevailed. +Yes, yes, they must start a campaign. They would all be in it, and, +pressing shoulder to shoulder, march to the battle together. At that +moment there was not one of them who reserved his share of fame, for +nothing divided them as yet; neither the profound dissemblance of +their various natures, of which they themselves were ignorant, nor +their rivalries, which would some day bring them into collision. Was +not the success of one the success of all the others? Their youth was +fermenting, they were brimming over with mutual devotion; they +indulged anew in their everlasting dream of gathering into a phalanx +to conquer the world, each contributing his individual effort; this +one helping that one forward, and the whole band reaching fame at once +in one row. Claude, as the acknowledged chief, was already sounding +the victory, distributing laurels with such lyrical abundance that he +overlooked himself. Fagerolles himself, gibing Parisian though he +might be, believed in the necessity of forming an army; while even +Jory, although he had a coarser appetite, with a deal of the +provincial still about him, displayed much useful comradeship, +catching various artistic phrases as they fell from his companions' +lips, and already preparing in his mind the articles which would +herald the advent of the band and make them known. And Mahoudeau +purposely exaggerated his intentional roughness, and clasped his hands +like an ogre kneading human flesh; while Gagniere, in ecstasy, as if +freed from the everlasting greyishness of his art, sought to refine +sensation to the utmost limits of intelligence; and Dubuche, with his +matter-of-fact convictions, threw in but a word here and there; words, +however, which were like club-blows in the very midst of the fray. +Then Sandoz, happy and smiling at seeing them so united, 'all in one +shirt,' as he put it, opened another bottle of beer. He would have +emptied every one in the house. + +'Eh?' he cried, 'we're agreed, let's stick to it. It's really pleasant +to come to an understanding among fellows who have something in their +nuts, so may the thunderbolts of heaven sweep all idiots away!' + +At that same moment a ring at the bell stupefied him. Amidst the +sudden silence of the others, he inquired--'Who, to the deuce, can +that be--at eleven o'clock?' + +He ran to open the door, and they heard him utter a cry of delight. He +was already coming back again, throwing the door wide open as he said +--'Ah! it's very kind indeed to think of us and surprise us like this! +Bongrand, gentlemen.' + +The great painter, whom the master of the house announced in this +respectfully familiar way, entered, holding out both hands. They all +eagerly rose, full of emotion, delighted with that manly, cordial +handshake so willingly bestowed. Bongrand was then forty-five years +old, stout, and with a very expressive face and long grey hair. He had +recently become a member of the Institute, and wore the rosette of an +officer of the Legion of Honour in the top button-hole of his +unpretentious alpaca jacket. He was fond of young people; he liked +nothing so much as to drop in from time to time and smoke a pipe among +these beginners, whose enthusiasm warmed his heart. + +'I am going to make the tea,' exclaimed Sandoz. + +When he came back from the kitchen, carrying the teapot and cups, he +found Bongrand installed astride a chair, smoking his short cutty, +amidst the din which had again arisen. Bongrand himself was holding +forth in a stentorian voice. The grandson of a farmer of the Beauce +region, the son of a man risen to the middle classes, with peasant +blood in his veins, indebted for his culture to a mother of very +artistic tastes, he was rich, had no need to sell his pictures, and +retained many tastes and opinions of Bohemian life. + +'The hanging committee? Well, I'd sooner hang myself than belong to +it!' said he, with sweeping gestures. 'Am I an executioner to kick +poor devils, who often have to earn their bread, out of doors?' + +'Still, you might render us great service by defending our pictures +before the committee,' observed Claude. + +'Oh, dear, no! I should only make matters worse for you--I don't +count; I'm nobody.' + +There was a chorus of protestations; Fagerolles objected, in a shrill +voice: + +'Well, if the painter of "The Village Wedding" does not count--' + +But Bongrand was getting angry; he had risen, his cheeks afire. + +'Eh? Don't pester me with "The Wedding"; I warn you I am getting sick +of that picture. It is becoming a perfect nightmare to me ever since +it has been hung in the Luxembourg Museum.' + +This 'Village Wedding'--a party of wedding guests roaming through a +corn-field, peasants studied from life, with an epic look of the +heroes of Homer about them--had so far remained his masterpiece. The +picture had brought about an evolution in art, for it had inaugurated +a new formula. Coming after Delacroix, and parallel with Courbet, it +was a piece of romanticism tempered by logic, with more correctness of +observation, more perfection in the handling. And though it did not +squarely tackle nature amidst the crudity of the open air, the new +school claimed connection with it. + +'There can be nothing more beautiful,' said Claude, 'than the two +first groups, the fiddler, and then the bride with the old peasant.' + +'And the strapping peasant girl, too,' added Mahoudeau; the one who is +turning round and beckoning! I had a great mind to take her for the +model of a statue.' + +'And that gust of wind among the corn,' added Gagniere, 'and the +pretty bit of the boy and girl skylarking in the distance.' + +Bongrand sat listening with an embarrassed air, and a smile of inward +suffering; and when Fagerolles asked him what he was doing just then, +he answered, with a shrug of his shoulders: + +'Well, nothing; some little things. But I sha'n't exhibit this time. I +should like to find a telling subject. Ah, you fellows are happy at +still being at the bottom of the hill. A man has good legs then, he +feels so plucky when it's a question of getting up. But when once he +is a-top, the deuce take it! the worries begin. A real torture, +fisticuffs, efforts which must be constantly renewed, lest one should +slip down too quickly. Really now, one would prefer being below, for +the pleasure of still having everything to do-- Ah, you may laugh, but +you'll see it all for yourselves some day!' + +They were indeed laughing, thinking it a paradox, or a little piece of +affectation, which they excused. To be hailed, like Bongrand, with the +name of master--was that not the height of bliss? He, with his arms +resting on the back of his chair, listened to them in silence, +leisurely puffing his pipe, and renouncing the idea of trying to make +them understand him. + +Meanwhile, Dubuche, who had rather domesticated tastes, helped Sandoz +to hand the tea round, and the din continued. Fagerolles related a +story about Daddy Malgras and a female cousin by marriage, whom the +dealer offered as a model on conditions that he was given a +presentment of her in oils. Then they began to talk of models. +Mahoudeau waxed furious, because the really well-built female models +were disappearing. It was impossible to find one with a decent figure +now. Then suddenly the tumult increased again; Gagniere was being +congratulated about a connoisseur whose acquaintance he had made in +the Palais Royal one afternoon, while the band played, an eccentric +gentleman living on a small income, who never indulged in any other +extravagance than that of buying pictures. The other artists laughed +and asked for the gentleman's address. Then they fell foul of the +picture dealers, dirty black-guards, who preyed on artists and starved +them. It was really a pity that connoisseurs mistrusted painters to +such a degree as to insist upon a middleman under the impression that +they would thus make a better bargain. This question of bread and +butter excited them yet more, though Claude showed magnificent +contempt for it all. The artist was robbed, no doubt, but what did +that matter, if he had painted a masterpiece, and had some water to +drink? Jory, having again expressed some low ideas about lucre, +aroused general indignation. Out with the journalist! He was asked +stringent questions. Would he sell his pen? Would he not sooner chop +off his wrist than write anything against his convictions? But they +scarcely waited for his answer, for the excitement was on the +increase; it became the superb madness of early manhood, contempt for +the whole world, an absorbing passion for good work, freed from all +human weaknesses, soaring in the sky like a very sun. Ah! how +strenuous was their desire to lose themselves, consume themselves, in +that brazier of their own kindling! + +Bongrand, who had not stirred the while, made a vague gesture of +suffering at the sight of that boundless confidence, that boisterous +joy at the prospect of attack. He forgot the hundred paintings which +had brought him his glory, he was thinking of the work which he had +left roughed out on his easel now. Taking his cutty from between his +lips, he murmured, his eyes glistening with kindliness, 'Oh, youth, +youth!' + +Until two in the morning, Sandoz, who seemed ubiquitous, kept on +pouring fresh supplies of hot water into the teapot. From the +neighbourhood, now asleep, one now only heard the miawing of an +amorous tabby. They all talked at random, intoxicated by their own +words, hoarse with shouting, their eyes scorched, and when at last +they made up their minds to go, Sandoz took the lamp to show them a +light over the banisters, saying very softly: + +'Don't make a noise, my mother is asleep.' + +The hushed tread of their boots on the stairs died away at last, and +deep silence fell upon the house. + +It struck four. Claude, who had accompanied Bongrand, still went on +talking to him in the deserted streets. He did not want to go to bed; +he was waiting for daylight, with impatient fury, so that he might set +to work at his picture again. This time he felt certain of painting a +masterpiece, exalted as he was by that happy day of good-fellowship, +his mind pregnant with a world of things. He had discovered at last +what painting meant, and he pictured himself re-entering his studio as +one returns into the presence of a woman one adores, his heart +throbbing violently, regretting even this one day's absence, which +seemed to him endless desertion. And he would go straight to his +canvas, and realise his dream in one sitting. However, at every dozen +steps or so, amidst the flickering light of the gaslamps, Bongrand +caught him by a button of his coat, to repeat to him that, after all, +painting was an accursed trade. Sharp as he, Bongrand, was supposed to +be, he did not understand it yet. At each new work he undertook, he +felt as if he were making a debut; it was enough to make one smash +one's head against the wall. The sky was now brightening, some market +gardeners' carts began rolling down towards the central markets; and +the pair continued chattering, each talking for himself, in a loud +voice, beneath the paling stars. + + + + IV + +SIX weeks later, Claude was painting one morning amidst a flood of +sunshine that streamed through the large window of his studio. +Constant rain had made the middle of August very dull, but his courage +for work returned with the blue sky. His great picture did not make +much progress, albeit he worked at it throughout long, silent +mornings, like the obstinate, pugnacious fellow he was. + +All at once there came a knock at his door. He thought that Madame +Joseph, the doorkeeper, was bringing up his lunch, and as the key was +always in the door, he simply called: 'Come in!' + +The door had opened; there was a slight rustle, and then all became +still. He went on painting without even turning his head. But the +quivering silence, and the consciousness of some vague gentle +breathing near him, at last made him fidgety. He looked up, and felt +amazed; a woman stood there clad in a light gown, her features +half-hidden by a white veil, and he did not know her, and she was +carrying a bunch of roses, which completed his bewilderment. + +All at once he recognised her. + +'You, mademoiselle? Well, I certainly didn't expect you!' + +It was Christine. He had been unable to restrain that somewhat +unamiable exclamation, which was a cry from the heart itself. At first +he had certainly thought of her; then, as the days went by for nearly +a couple of months without sign of life from her, she had become for +him merely a fleeting, regretted vision, a charming silhouette which +had melted away in space, and would never be seen again. + +'Yes, monsieur, it's I. I wished to come. I thought it was wrong not +to come and thank you--' + +She blushed and stammered, at a loss for words. She was out of breath, +no doubt through climbing the stairs, for her heart was beating fast. +What! was this long-debated visit out of place after all? It had ended +by seeming quite natural to her. The worst was that, in passing along +the quay, she had bought that bunch of roses with the delicate +intention of thereby showing her gratitude to the young fellow, and +the flowers now dreadfully embarrassed her. How was she to give them +to him? What would he think of her? The impropriety of the whole +proceeding had only struck her as she opened the door. + +But Claude, more embarrassed still, resorted to exaggerated +politeness. He had thrown aside his palette and was turning the studio +upside down in order to clear a chair. + +'Pray be seated, mademoiselle. This is really a surprise. You are too +kind.' + +Once seated, Christine recovered her equanimity. He looked so droll +with his wild sweeping gestures, and she felt so conscious of his +shyness that she began to smile, and bravely held out the bunch of +roses. + +'Look here; I wished to show you that I am not ungrateful.' + +At first he said nothing, but stood staring at her, thunderstruck. +When he saw, though, that she was not making fun of him, he shook both +her hands, with almost sufficient energy to dislocate them. Then he at +once put the flowers in his water-jug, repeating: + +'Ah! now you are a good fellow, you really are. This is the first time +I pay that compliment to a woman, honour bright.' + +He came back to her, and, looking straight into her eyes, he asked: + +'Then you have not altogether forgotten me?' + +'You see that I have not,' she replied, laughing. + +'Why, then, did you wait two months before coming to see me?' + +Again she blushed. The falsehood she was about to tell revived her +embarrassment for a moment. + +'But you know that I am not my own mistress,' she said. 'Oh, Madame +Vanzade is very kind to me, only she is a great invalid, and never +leaves the house. But she grew anxious as to my health and compelled +me to go out to breathe a little fresh air.' + +She did not allude to the shame which she had felt during the first +few days after her adventure on the Quai de Bourbon. Finding herself +in safety, beneath the old lady's roof, the recollection of the night +she had spent in Claude's room had filled her with remorse; but she +fancied at last that she had succeeded in dismissing the matter from +her mind. It was no longer anything but a bad dream, which grew more +indistinct each day. Then, how it was she could not tell, but amidst +the profound quietude of her existence, the image of that young man +who had befriended her had returned to her once more, becoming more +and more precise, till at last it occupied her daily thoughts. Why +should she forget him? She had nothing to reproach him with; on the +contrary, she felt she was his debtor. The thought of seeing him +again, dismissed at first, struggled against later on, at last became +an all-absorbing craving. Each evening the temptation to go and see +him came strong upon her in the solitude of her own room. She +experienced an uncomfortable irritating feeling, a vague desire which +she could not define, and only calmed down somewhat on ascribing this +troubled state of mind to a wish to evince her gratitude. She was so +utterly alone, she felt so stifled in that sleepy abode, the +exuberance of youth seethed so strongly within her, her heart craved +so desperately for friendship! + +'So I took advantage of my first day out,' she continued. 'And +besides, the weather was so nice this morning after all the dull +rain.' + +Claude, feeling very happy and standing before her, also confessed +himself, but _he_ had nothing to hide. + +'For my part,' said he, 'I dared not think of you any more. You are +like one of the fairies of the story-books, who spring from the floor +and disappear into the walls at the very moment one least expects it; +aren't you now? I said to myself, "It's all over: it was perhaps only +in my fancy that I saw her come to this studio." Yet here you are. +Well, I am pleased at it, very pleased indeed.' + +Smiling, but embarrassed, Christine averted her head, pretending to +look around her. But her smile soon died away. The ferocious-looking +paintings which she again beheld, the glaring sketches of the South, +the terrible anatomical accuracy of the studies from the nude, all +chilled her as on the first occasion. She became really afraid again, +and she said gravely, in an altered voice: + +'I am disturbing you; I am going.' + +'Oh! not at all, not at all,' exclaimed Claude, preventing her from +rising. 'It does me good to have a talk with you, for I was working +myself to death. Oh! that confounded picture; it's killing me as it +is.' + +Thereupon Christine, lifting her eyes, looked at the large picture, +the canvas that had been turned to the wall on the previous occasion, +and which she had vainly wished to see. + +The background--the dark glade pierced by a flood of sunlight--was +still only broadly brushed in. But the two little wrestlers--the fair +one and the dark--almost finished by now, showed clearly in the light. +In the foreground, the gentleman in the velveteen jacket, three times +begun afresh, had now been left in distress. The painter was more +particularly working at the principal figure, the woman lying on the +grass. He had not touched the head again. He was battling with the +body, changing his model every week, so despondent at being unable to +satisfy himself that for a couple of days he had been trying to +improve the figure from imagination, without recourse to nature, +although he boasted that he never invented. + +Christine at once recognised herself. Yes, that nude girl sprawling on +the grass, one arm behind her head, smiling with lowered eyelids, was +herself, for she had her features. The idea absolutely revolted her, +and she was wounded too by the wildness of the painting, so brutal +indeed that she considered herself abominably insulted. She did not +understand that kind of art; she thought it execrable, and felt a +hatred against it, the instinctive hatred of an enemy. She rose at +last, and curtly repeated, 'I must be going.' + +Claude watched her attentively, both grieved and surprised by her +sudden change of manner. + +'Going already?' + +'Yes, they are waiting for me. Good-bye.' + +And she had already reached the door before he could take her hand, +and venture to ask her: + +'When shall I see you again?' + +She allowed her hand to remain in his. For a moment she seemed to +hesitate. + +'I don't know. I am so busy.' + +Then she withdrew her hand and went off, hastily, saying: 'One of +these days, when I can. Good-bye.' + +Claude remained stock-still on the threshold. He wondered what had +come over her again to cause her sudden coolness, her covert +irritation. He closed the door, and walked about, with dangling arms, +and without understanding, seeking vainly for the phrase, the gesture +that could have offended her. And he in his turn became angry, and +launched an oath into space, with a terrific shrug of the shoulders, +as if to rid himself of this silly worry. Did a man ever understand +women? However, the sight of the roses, overlapping the water-jug, +pacified him; they smelt so sweet. Their scent pervaded the whole +studio, and silently he resumed his work amidst the perfume. + +Two more months passed by. During the earlier days Claude, at the +slightest stir of a morning, when Madame Joseph brought him up his +breakfast or his letters, quickly turned his head, and could not +control a gesture of disappointment. He no longer went out until after +four, and the doorkeeper having told him one evening, on his return +home, that a young person had called to see him at about five, he had +only grown calm on ascertaining that the visitor was merely a model, +Zoe Piedefer. Then, as the days went by, he was seized with a furious +fit of work, becoming unapproachable to every one, indulging in such +violent theories that even his friends did not venture to contradict +him. He swept the world from his path with one gesture; there was no +longer to be anything but painting left. One might murder one's +parents, comrades, and women especially, and it would all be a good +riddance. After this terrible fever he fell into abominable +despondency, spending a week of impotence and doubt, a whole week of +torture, during which he fancied himself struck silly. But he was +getting over it, he had resumed his usual life, his resigned solitary +struggle with his great picture, when one foggy morning, towards the +end of October, he started and hastily set his palette aside. There +had been no knock, but he had just recognised the footfall coming up +the stairs. He opened the door and she walked in. She had come at +last. + +Christine that day wore a large cloak of grey material which enveloped +her from head to foot. Her little velvet hat was dark, and the fog +outside had pearled her black lace veil. But he thought her looking +very cheerful, with the first slight shiver of winter upon her. She at +once began to make excuses for having so long delayed her return. She +smiled at him in her pretty candid manner, confessed that she had +hesitated, and that she had almost made up her mind to come no more. +Yes, she had her own opinions about things, which she felt sure he +understood. As it happened, he did not understand at all--he had no +wish to understand, seeing that she was there. It was quite sufficient +that she was not vexed with him, that she would consent to look in now +and then like a chum. There were no explanations; they kept their +respective torments and the struggles of recent times to themselves. +For nearly an hour they chatted together right pleasantly, with +nothing hidden nor antagonistic remaining between them; it was as if +an understanding had been arrived at, unknown to themselves, and while +they were far apart. She did not even appear to notice the sketches +and studies on the walls. For a moment she looked fixedly at the large +picture, at the figure of the woman lying on the grass under the +blazing golden sun. No, it was not like herself, that girl had neither +her face nor her body. How silly to have fancied that such a horrid +mess of colour was herself! And her friendship for the young fellow +was heightened by a touch of pity; he could not even convey a +likeness. When she went off, it was she who on the threshold cordially +held out her hand. + +'You know, I shall come back again--' + +'Yes, in two months' time.' + +'No, next week. You'll see, next Thursday.' + +On the Thursday she punctually returned, and after that she did not +miss a week. At first she had no particular day for calling, simply +taking advantage of her opportunities; but subsequently she selected +Monday, the day allowed her by Madame Vanzade in order that she might +have a walk in the fresh, open air of the Bois de Boulogne. She had to +be back home by eleven, and she walked the whole way very quickly, +coming in all aglow from the run, for it was a long stretch from Passy +to the Quai de Bourbon. During four winter months, from October to +February, she came in this fashion, now in drenching rain, now among +the mists from the Seine, now in the pale sunlight that threw a little +warmth over the quays. Indeed, after the first month, she at times +arrived unexpectedly, taking advantage of some errand in town to look +in, and then she could only stay for a couple of minutes; they had +barely had time enough to say 'How do you do?' when she was already +scampering down the stairs again, exclaiming 'Good-bye.' + +And now Claude learned to know Christine. With his everlasting +mistrust of woman a suspicion had remained to him, the suspicion of +some love adventure in the provinces; but the girl's soft eyes and +bright laughter had carried all before them; he felt that she was as +innocent as a big child. As soon as she arrived, quite unembarrassed, +feeling fully at her ease, as with a friend, she began to indulge in a +ceaseless flow of chatter. She had told him a score of times about her +childhood at Clermont, and she constantly reverted to it. On the +evening that her father, Captain Hallegrain, had suddenly died, she +and her mother had been to church. She perfectly remembered their +return home and the horrible night that had followed; the captain, +very stout and muscular, lying stretched on a mattress, with his lower +jaw protruding to such a degree that in her girlish memory she could +not picture him otherwise. She also had that same jaw, and when her +mother had not known how to master her, she had often cried: 'Ah, my +girl, you'll eat your heart's blood out like your father.' Poor +mother! how she, Christine, had worried her with her love of +horseplay, with her mad turbulent fits. As far back as she could +remember, she pictured her mother ever seated at the same window, +quietly painting fans, a slim little woman with very soft eyes, the +only thing she had inherited of her. When people wanted to please her +mother they told her, 'she has got your eyes.' And then she smiled, +happy in the thought of having contributed at least that touch of +sweetness to her daughter's features. After the death of her husband, +she had worked so late as to endanger her eyesight. But how else could +she have lived? Her widow's pension--five hundred francs per annum +--barely sufficed for the needs of her child. For five years Christine +had seen her mother grow thinner and paler, wasting away a little bit +each day until she became a mere shadow. And now she felt remorseful +at not having been more obedient, at having driven her mother to +despair by lack of application. She had begun each week with +magnificent intentions, promising that she would soon help her to earn +money; but her arms and legs got the fidgets, in spite of her efforts; +the moment she became quiet she fell ill. Then one morning her mother +had been unable to get up, and had died; her voice too weak to make +itself heard, her eyes full of big tears. Ever did Christine behold +her thus dead, with her weeping eyes wide open and fixed on her. + +At other times, Christine, when questioned by Claude about Clermont, +forgot those sorrows to recall more cheerful memories. She laughed +gaily at the idea of their encampment, as she called it, in the Rue de +l'Eclache; she born in Strasburg, her father a Gascon, her mother a +Parisian, and all three thrown into that nook of Auvergne, which they +detested. The Rue de l'Eclache, sloping down to the Botanical Gardens, +was narrow and dank, gloomy, like a vault. Not a shop, never a +passer-by--nothing but melancholy frontages, with shutters always +closed. At the back, however, their windows, overlooking some +courtyards, were turned to the full sunlight. The dining-room opened +even on to a spacious balcony, a kind of wooden gallery, whose arcades +were hung with a giant wistaria which almost smothered them with +foliage. And the girl had grown up there, at first near her invalid +father, then cloistered, as it were, with her mother, whom the least +exertion exhausted. She had remained so complete a stranger to the +town and its neighbourhood, that Claude and herself burst into +laughter when she met his inquiries with the constant answer, 'I don't +know.' The mountains? Yes, there were mountains on one side, they +could be seen at the end of the streets; while on the other side of +the town, after passing along other streets, there were flat fields +stretching far away; but she never went there, the distance was too +great. The only height she remembered was the Puy de Dome, rounded off +at the summit like a hump. In the town itself she could have found her +way to the cathedral blindfold; one had to turn round by the Place de +Jaude and take the Rue des Gras; but more than that she could not tell +him; the rest of the town was an entanglement, a maze of sloping lanes +and boulevards; a town of black lava ever dipping downward, where the +rain of the thunderstorms swept by torrentially amidst formidable +flashes of lightning. Oh! those storms; she still shuddered to think +of them. Just opposite her room, above the roofs, the lightning +conductor of the museum was always on fire. In the sitting-room she +had her own window--a deep recess as big as a room itself--where her +work-table and personal nick-nacks stood. It was there that her mother +had taught her to read; it was there that, later on, she had fallen +asleep while listening to her masters, so greatly did the fatigue of +learning daze her. And now she made fun of her own ignorance; she was +a well-educated young lady, and no mistake, unable even to repeat the +names of the Kings of France, with the dates of their accessions; a +famous musician too, who had never got further than that elementary +pianoforte exercise, 'The little boats'; a prodigy in water-colour +painting, who scamped her trees because foliage was too difficult to +imitate. Then she skipped, without any transition, to the fifteen +months she had spent at the Convent of the Visitation after her +mother's death--a large convent, outside the town, with magnificent +gardens. There was no end to her stories about the good sisters, their +jealousies, their foolish doings, their simplicity, that made one +start. She was to have taken the veil, but she felt stifled the moment +she entered a church. It had seemed to be all over with her, when the +Superior, by whom she was treated with great affection, diverted her +from the cloister by procuring her that situation at Madame Vanzade's. +She had not yet got over the surprise. How had Mother des Saints Anges +been able to read her mind so clearly? For, in fact, since she had +been living in Paris she had dropped into complete indifference about +religion. + +When all the reminiscences of Clermont were exhausted, Claude wanted +to hear about her life at Madame Vanzade's, and each week she gave him +fresh particulars. The life led in the little house at Passy, silent +and shut off from the outer world, was a very regular one, with no +more noise about it than the faint tic-tac of an old-fashioned +timepiece. Two antiquated domestics, a cook and a manservant, who had +been with the family for forty years, alone glided in their slippers +about the deserted rooms, like a couple of ghosts. Now and then, at +very long intervals, there came a visitor: some octogenarian general, +so desiccated, so slight of build that he scarcely pressed on the +carpet. The house was also the home of shadows; the sun filtered with +the mere gleam of a night light through the Venetian blinds. Since +madame had become paralysed in the knees and stone blind, so that she +no longer left her room, she had had no other recreation than that of +listening to the reading of religious books. Ah! those endless +readings, how they weighed upon the girl at times! If she had only +known a trade, how gladly she would have cut out dresses, concocted +bonnets, or goffered the petals of artificial flowers. And to think +that she was capable of nothing, when she had been taught everything, +and that there was only enough stuff in her to make a salaried drudge, +a semi-domestic! She suffered horribly, too, in that stiff, lonely +dwelling which smelt of the tomb. She was seized once more with the +vertigo of her childhood, as when she had striven to compel herself to +work, in order to please her mother; her blood rebelled; she would +have liked to shout and jump about, in her desire for life. But madame +treated her so gently, sending her away from her room, and ordering +her to take long walks, that she felt full of remoras when, on her +return to the Quai de Bourbon, she was obliged to tell a falsehood; to +talk of the Bois de Boulogne or invent some ceremony at church where +she now never set foot. Madame seemed to take to her more and more +every day; there were constant presents, now a silk dress, now a tiny +gold watch, even some underlinen. She herself was very fond of Madame +Vanzade; she had wept one day when the latter had called her daughter; +she had sworn never to leave her, such was her heart-felt pity at +seeing her so old and helpless. + +'Well,' said Claude one morning, 'you'll be rewarded; she'll leave you +her money.' + +Christine looked astonished. 'Do you think so? It is said that she is +worth three millions of francs. No, no, I have never dreamt of such a +thing, and I won't. What would become of me?' + +Claude had averted his head, and hastily replied, 'Well, you'd become +rich, that's all. But no doubt she'll first of all marry you off--' + +On hearing this, Christine could hold out no longer, but burst into +laughter. 'To one of her old friends, eh? perhaps the general who has +a silver chin. What a good joke!' + +So far they had gone no further than chumming like old friends. He was +almost as new to life as she, having had nothing but chance +adventures, and living in an ideal world of his own, fanciful amid +romantic amours. To see each other in secret like this, from pure +friendship, without anything more tender passing between them than a +cordial shake of the hand at her arrival, and another one when she +left, seemed to them quite natural. Still for her part she scented +that he was shy, and at times she looked at him fixedly, with the +wondering perturbation of unconscious passion. But as yet nothing +ardent or agitating spoilt the pleasure they felt in being together. +Their hands remained cool; they spoke cheerfully on all subjects; they +sometimes argued like friends, who feel sure they will not fall out. +Only, this friendship grew so keen that they could no longer live +without seeing one another. + +The moment Christine came, Claude took the key from outside the door. +She herself insisted upon this, lest somebody might disturb them. +After a few visits she had taken absolute possession of the studio. +She seemed to be at home there. She was tormented by a desire to make +the place a little more tidy, for such disorder worried her and made +her uncomfortable. But it was not an easy matter. The painter had +strictly forbidden Madame Joseph to sweep up things, lest the dust +should get on the fresh paint. So, on the first occasions when his +companion attempted to clean up a bit, he watched her with anxious +entreating eyes. What was the good of changing the place of things? +Didn't it suffice to have them at hand? However, she exhibited such +gay determination, she seemed so happy at playing the housewife, that +he let her have her own way at last. And now, the moment she had +arrived and taken off her gloves, she pinned up her dress to avoid +soiling it, and set the big studio in order in the twinkling of an +eye. There was no longer a pile of cinders before the stove; the +screen hid the bedstead and the washstand; the couch was brushed, the +wardrobe polished; the deal table was cleared of the crockery, and had +not a stain of paint; and above the chairs, which were symmetrically +arranged, and the spanned easels propped against the walls, the big +cuckoo clock, with full-blown pink flowers on its dial, seemed to tick +more sonorously. Altogether it was magnificent; one would not have +recognised the place. He, stupefied, watched her trotting to and fro, +twisting about and singing as she went. Was this then the lazybones +who had such dreadful headaches at the least bit of work? But she +laughed; at headwork, yes; but exertion with her hands and feet did +her good, seemed to straighten her like a young sapling. She +confessed, even as she would have confessed some depraved taste, her +liking for lowly household cares; a liking which had greatly worried +her mother, whose educational ideal consisted of accomplishments, and +who would have made her a governess with soft hands, touching nothing +vulgar. How Christine had been chided indeed whenever she was caught, +as a little girl, sweeping, dusting, and playing delightedly at being +cook! Even nowadays, if she had been able to indulge in a bout with +the dust at Madame Vanzade's, she would have felt less bored. But what +would they have said to that? She would no longer have been considered +a lady. And so she came to satisfy her longings at the Quai de +Bourbon, panting with the exercise, all aglow, her eyes glistening +with a woman's delight at biting into forbidden fruit. + +Claude by this time grew conscious of having a woman's care around +him. In order to make her sit down and chat quietly, he would ask her +now and then to sew a torn cuff or coat-tail. She herself had offered +to look over his linen; but it was no longer with the ardour of a +housewife, eager to be up and doing. First of all, she hardly knew how +to work; she held her needle like a girl brought up in contempt of +sewing. Besides, the enforced quiescence and the attention that had to +be given to such work, the small stitches which had to be looked to +one by one, exasperated her. Thus the studio was bright with +cleanliness like a drawing-room, but Claude himself remained in rags, +and they both joked about it, thinking it great fun. + +How happy were those months that they spent together, those four +months of frost and rain whiled away in the studio, where the red-hot +stove roared like an organ-pipe! The winter seemed to isolate them +from the world still more. When the snow covered the adjacent roofs, +when the sparrows fluttered against the window, they smiled at feeling +warm and cosy, at being lost, as it were, amidst the great silent +city. But they did not always confine themselves to that one little +nook, for she allowed him at last to see her home. For a long while +she had insisted upon going away by herself, feeling ashamed of being +seen in the streets on a man's arm. Then, one day when the rain fell +all of a sudden, she was obliged to let him come downstairs with an +umbrella. The rain having ceased almost immediately, she sent him back +when they reached the other side of the Pont Louis-Philippe. They only +remained a few moments beside the parapet, looking at the Mail, and +happy at being together in the open air. Down below, large barges, +moored against the quay, and full of apples, were ranged four rows +deep, so close together that the planks thrown across them made a +continuous path for the women and children running to and fro. They +were amused by the sight of all that fruit, those enormous piles +littering the banks, the round baskets which were carried hither and +thither, while a strong odour, suggestive of cider in fermentation, +mingled with the moist gusts from the river. + +A week later, when the sun again showed itself, and Claude extolled +the solitude of the quays round the Isle Saint Louis, Christine +consented to take a walk. They strolled up the Quai de Bourbon and the +Quai d'Anjou, pausing at every few steps and growing interested in the +various scenes of river life; the dredger whose buckets grated against +their chains, the floating wash-house, which resounded with the hubbub +of a quarrel, and the steam cranes busy unloading the lighters. She +did not cease to wonder at one thought which came to her. Was it +possible that yonder Quai des Ormes, so full of life across the +stream, that this Quai Henri IV., with its broad embankment and lower +shore, where bands of children and dogs rolled over in the sand, that +this panorama of an active, densely-populated capital was the same +accursed scene that had appeared to her for a moment in a gory flash +on the night of her arrival? They went round the point of the island, +strolling more leisurely still to enjoy the solitude and tranquillity +which the old historic mansions seem to have implanted there. They +watched the water seething between the wooden piles of the Estacade, +and returned by way of the Quai de Bethune and the Quai d'Orleans, +instinctively drawn closer to each other by the widening of the +stream, keeping elbow to elbow at sight of the vast flow, with their +eyes fixed on the distant Halle aux Vins and the Jardin des Plantes. +In the pale sky, the cupolas of the public buildings assumed a bluish +hue. When they reached the Pont St. Louis, Claude had to point out +Notre-Dame by name, for Christine did not recognise the edifice from +the rear, where it looked like a colossal creature crouching down +between its flying buttresses, which suggested sprawling paws, while +above its long leviathan spine its towers rose like a double head. +Their real find that day, however, was at the western point of the +island, that point like the prow of a ship always riding at anchor, +afloat between two swift currents, in sight of Paris, but ever unable +to get into port. They went down some very steep steps there, and +discovered a solitary bank planted with lofty trees. It was a charming +refuge--a hermitage in the midst of a crowd. Paris was rumbling around +them, on the quays, on the bridges, while they at the water's edge +tasted the delight of being alone, ignored by the whole world. From +that day forth that bank became a little rustic coign of theirs, a +favourite open-air resort, where they took advantage of the sunny +hours, when the great heat of the studio, where the red-hot stove kept +roaring, oppressed them too much, filling their hands with a fever of +which they were afraid. + +Nevertheless, Christine had so far objected to be accompanied farther +than the Mail. At the Quai des Ormes she always bade Claude go back, +as if Paris, with her crowds and possible encounters, began at the +long stretch of quays which she had to traverse on her way home. But +Passy was so far off, and she felt so dull at having to go such a +distance alone, that gradually she gave way. She began by allowing +Claude to see her as far as the Hotel de Ville; then as far as the +Pont-Neuf; at last as far as the Tuileries. She forgot the danger; +they walked arm in arm like a young married couple; and that +constantly repeated promenade, that leisurely journey over the +self-same ground by the river side, acquired an infinite charm, full +of a happiness such as could scarcely be surpassed in after-times. +They truly belonged to each other, though they had not erred. It +seemed as if the very soul of the great city, rising from the river, +wrapped them around with all the love that had throbbed behind the +grey stone walls through the long lapse of ages. + +Since the nipping colds of December, Christine only came in the +afternoon, and it was about four o'clock, when the sun was sinking, +that Claude escorted her back on his arm. On days when the sky was +clear, they could see the long line of quays stretching away into +space directly they had crossed the Pont Louis-Philippe. From one end +to the other the slanting sun powdered the houses on the right bank +with golden dust, while, on the left, the islets, the buildings, stood +out in a black line against the blazing glory of the sunset. Between +the sombre and the brilliant margin, the spangled river sparkled, cut +in twain every now and then by the long bars of its bridges; the five +arches of the Pont Notre-Dame showing under the single span of the +Pont d'Arcole; then the Pont-au-Change and the Pont-Neuf, beyond each +of whose shadows appeared a luminous patch, a sheet of bluish satiny +water, growing paler here and there with a mirror-like reflection. And +while the dusky outlines on the left terminated in the silhouettes of +the pointed towers of the Palais de Justice, sharply and darkly +defined against the sky, a gentle curve undulated on the right, +stretching away so far that the Pavillon de Flore, who stood forth +like a citadel at the curve's extreme end, seemed a fairy castle, +bluey, dreamlike and vague, amidst the rosy mist on the horizon. But +Claude and Christine, with the sunlight streaming on them, athwart the +leafless plane trees, turned away from the dazzlement, preferring to +gaze at certain spots, one above all--a block of old houses just above +the Mail. Below, there was a series of one-storied tenements, little +huckster and fishing-tackle shops, with flat terrace roofs, ornamented +with laurel and Virginia creeper. And in the rear rose loftier, but +decrepit, dwellings, with linen hung out to dry at their windows, a +collection of fantastic structures, a confused mass of woodwork and +masonry, overtoppling walls, and hanging gardens, in which coloured +glass balls shone out like stars. They walked on, leaving behind them +the big barracks and the Hotel de Ville, and feeling much more +interest in the Cite which appeared across the river, pent between +lofty smooth embankments rising from the water. Above the darkened +houses rose the towers of Notre-Dame, as resplendent as if they had +been newly gilt. Then the second-hand bookstalls began to invade the +quays. Down below a lighter full of charcoal struggled against the +strong current beneath an arch of the Pont Notre-Dame. And then, on +the days when the flower market was held, they stopped, despite the +inclement weather, to inhale the scent of the first violets and the +early gillyflowers. On their left a long stretch of bank now became +visible; beyond the pepper-caster turrets of the Palais de Justice, +the small, murky tenements of the Quai de l'Horloge showed as far as +the clump of trees midway across the Pont-Neuf; then, as they went +farther on, other quays emerged from the mist, in the far distance: +the Quai Voltaire, the Quai Malaquais, the dome of the Institute of +France, the square pile of the Mint, a long grey line of frontages of +which they could not even distinguish the windows, a promontory of +roofs, which, with their stacks of chimney-pots, looked like some +rugged cliff, dipping down into a phosphorescent sea. In front, +however, the Pavillon de Flore lost its dreamy aspect, and became +solidified in the final sun blaze. Then right and left, on either bank +of the river, came the long vistas of the Boulevard de Sebastopol and +the Boulevard du Palais; the handsome new buildings of the Quai de la +Megisserie, with the new Prefecture of Police across the water; and +the old Pont-Neuf, with its statue of Henri IV. looking like a splash +of ink. The Louvre, the Tuileries followed, and beyond Grenelle there +was a far-stretching panorama of the slopes of Sevres, the country +steeped in a stream of sun rays. Claude never went farther. Christine +always made him stop just before they reached the Pont Royal, near the +fine trees beside Vigier's swimming baths; and when they turned round +to shake hands once more in the golden sunset now flushing into +crimson, they looked back and, on the horizon, espied the Isle Saint +Louis, whence they had come, the indistinct distance of the city upon +which night was already descending from the slate-hued eastern sky. + +Ah! what splendid sunsets they beheld during those weekly strolls. The +sun accompanied them, as it were, amid the throbbing gaiety of the +quays, the river life, the dancing ripples of the currents; amid the +attractions of the shops, as warm as conservatories, the flowers sold +by the seed merchants, and the noisy cages of the bird fanciers; amid +all the din of sound and wealth of colour which ever make a city's +waterside its youthful part. As they proceeded, the ardent blaze of +the western sky turned to purple on their left, above the dark line of +houses, and the orb of day seemed to wait for them, falling gradually +lower, slowly rolling towards the distant roofs when once they had +passed the Pont Notre-Dame in front of the widening stream. In no +ancient forest, on no mountain road, beyond no grassy plain will there +ever be such triumphal sunsets as behind the cupola of the Institute. +It is there one sees Paris retiring to rest in all her glory. At each +of their walks the aspect of the conflagration changed; fresh furnaces +added their glow to the crown of flames. One evening, when a shower +had surprised them, the sun, showing behind the downpour, lit up the +whole rain cloud, and upon their heads there fell a spray of glowing +water, irisated with pink and azure. On the days when the sky was +clear, however, the sun, like a fiery ball, descended majestically in +an unruffled sapphire lake; for a moment the black cupola of the +Institute seemed to cut away part of it and make it look like the +waning moon; then the globe assumed a violet tinge and at last became +submerged in the lake, which had turned blood-red. Already, in +February, the planet described a wider curve, and fell straight into +the Seine, which seemed to seethe on the horizon as at the contact of +red-hot iron. However, the grander scenes, the vast fairy pictures of +space only blazed on cloudy evenings. Then, according to the whim of +the wind, there were seas of sulphur splashing against coral reefs; +there were palaces and towers, marvels of architecture, piled upon one +another, burning and crumbling, and throwing torrents of lava from +their many gaps; or else the orb which had disappeared, hidden by a +veil of clouds, suddenly transpierced that veil with such a press of +light that shafts of sparks shot forth from one horizon to the other, +showing as plainly as a volley of golden arrows. And then the twilight +fell, and they said good-bye to each other, while their eyes were +still full of the final dazzlement. They felt that triumphal Paris was +the accomplice of the joy which they could not exhaust, the joy of +ever resuming together that walk beside the old stone parapets. + +One day, however, there happened what Claude had always secretly +feared. Christine no longer seemed to believe in the possibility of +meeting anybody who knew her. In fact, was there such a person? She +would always pass along like this, remaining altogether unknown. He, +however, thought of his own friends, and at times felt a kind of +tremor when he fancied he recognised in the distance the back of some +acquaintance. He was troubled by a feeling of delicacy; the idea that +somebody might stare at the girl, approach them, and perhaps begin to +joke, gave him intolerable worry. And that very evening, as she was +close beside him on his arm, and they were approaching the Pont des +Arts, he fell upon Sandoz and Dubuche, who were coming down the steps +of the bridge. It was impossible to avoid them, they were almost face +to face; besides, his friends must have seen him, for they smiled. +Claude, very pale, kept advancing, and he thought it all up on seeing +Dubuche take a step towards him; but Sandoz was already holding the +architect back, and leading him away. They passed on with an +indifferent air and disappeared into the courtyard of the Louvre +without as much as turning round. They had both just recognised the +original of the crayon sketch, which the painter hid away with all the +jealousy of a lover. Christine, who was chattering, had noticed +nothing. Claude, with his heart throbbing, answered her in +monosyllables, moved to tears, brimming over with gratitude to his old +chums for their discreet behaviour. + +A few days later, however, he had another shock. He did not expect +Christine, and had therefore made an appointment with Sandoz. Then, as +she had run up to spend an hour--it was one of those surprises that +delighted them--they had just withdrawn the key, as usual, when there +came a familiar knock with the fist on the door. Claude at once +recognised the rap, and felt so upset at the mishap that he overturned +a chair. After that it was impossible to pretend to be out. But +Christine turned so pale, and implored him with such a wild gesture, +that he remained rooted to the spot, holding his breath. The knocks +continued, and a voice called, 'Claude, Claude!' He still remained +quite still, debating with himself, however, with ashen lips and +downcast eyes. Deep silence reigned, and then footsteps were heard, +making the stairs creak as they went down. Claude's breast heaved with +intense sadness; he felt it bursting with remorse at the sound of each +retreating step, as if he had denied the friendship of his whole +youth. + +However, one afternoon there came another knock, and Claude had only +just time to whisper despairingly, 'The key has been left in the +door.' + +In fact, Christine had forgotten to take it out. She became quite +scared and darted behind the screen, with her handkerchief over her +mouth to stifle the sound of her breathing. + +The knocks became louder, there was a burst of laughter, and the +painter had to reply, 'Come in.' + +He felt more uncomfortable still when he saw Jory, who gallantly +ushered in Irma Becot, whose acquaintance he had made through +Fagerolles, and who was flinging her youth about the Paris studios. + +'She insisted upon seeing your studio, so I brought her,' explained +the journalist. + +The girl, however, without waiting, was already walking about and +making remarks, with perfect freedom of manner. 'Oh! how funny it is +here. And what funny painting. Come, there's a good fellow, show me +everything. I want to see everything.' + +Claude, apprehensively anxious, was afraid that she might push the +screen aside. He pictured Christine behind it, and felt distracted +already at what she might hear. + +'You know what she has come to ask of you?' resumed Jory cheerfully. +'What, don't you remember? You promised that she might pose for +something. And she'll do so if you like.' + +'Of course I will,' said Irma. + +'The fact is,' replied Claude, in an embarrassed tone, 'my picture +here will take up all my time till the Salon. I have a figure in it +that gives me a deal of trouble. It's impossible to perfect it with +those confounded models.' + +Irma had stationed herself in front of the picture, and looked at it +with a knowing air. 'Oh! I see,' she said, 'that woman in the grass, +eh? Do you think I could be of any use to you?' + +Jory flared up in a moment, warmly approving the idea, but Claude with +the greatest energy replied, 'No, no madame wouldn't suit. She is not +at all what I want for this picture; not at all.' + +Then he went on stammering excuses. He would be only too pleased later +on, but just now he was afraid that another model would quite complete +his confusion over that picture; and Irma responded by shrugging her +shoulders, and looking at him with an air of smiling contempt. + +Jory, however, now began to chat about their friends. Why had not +Claude come to Sandoz's on the previous Thursday? One never saw him +now. Dubuche asserted all sorts of things about him. There had been a +row between Fagerolles and Mahoudeau on the subject whether evening +dress was a thing to be reproduced in sculpture. Then on the previous +Sunday Gagniere had returned home from a Wagner concert with a black +eye. He, Jory, had nearly had a duel at the Cafe Baudequin on account +of one of his last articles in 'The Drummer.' The fact was he was +giving it hot to the twopenny-halfpenny painters, the men with the +usurped reputations! The campaign against the hanging committee of the +Salon was making a deuce of a row; not a shred would be left of those +guardians of the ideal, who wanted to prevent nature from entering +their show. + +Claude listened to him with impatient irritation. He had taken up his +palette and was shuffling about in front of his picture. The other one +understood at last. + +'You want to work, I see; all right, we'll leave you.' + +Irma, however, still stared at the painter, with her vague smile, +astonished at the stupidity of this simpleton, who did not seem to +appreciate her, and seized despite herself with a whim to please him. +His studio was ugly, and he himself wasn't handsome; but why should he +put on such bugbear airs? She chaffed him for a moment, and on going +off again offered to sit for him, emphasising her offer by warmly +pressing his hand. + +'Whenever you like,' were her parting words. + +They had gone at last, and Claude was obliged to pull the screen +aside, for Christine, looking very white, remained seated behind it, +as if she lacked the strength to rise. She did not say a word about +the girl, but simply declared that she had felt very frightened; and +--trembling lest there should come another knock--she wanted to go at +once, carrying away with her, as her startled looks testified, the +disturbing thought of many things which she did not mention. + +In fact, for a long time that sphere of brutal art, that studio full +of glaring pictures, had caused her a feeling of discomfort. Wounded +in all her feelings, full of repugnance, she could not get used to it +all. She had grown up full of affectionate admiration for a very +different style of art--her mother's fine water-colours, those fans of +dreamy delicacy, in which lilac-tinted couples floated about in bluish +gardens--and she quite failed to understand Claude's work. Even now +she often amused herself by painting tiny girlish landscapes, two or +three subjects repeated over and over again--a lake with a ruin, a +water-mill beating a stream, a chalet and some pine trees, white with +snow. And she felt surprised that an intelligent young fellow should +paint in such an unreasonable manner, so ugly and so untruthful +besides. For she not only thought Claude's realism monstrously ugly, +but considered it beyond every permissible truth. In fact, she thought +at times that he must be mad. + +One day Claude absolutely insisted upon seeing a small sketch-book +which she had brought away from Clermont, and which she had spoken +about. After objecting for a long while, she brought it with her, +flattered at heart and feeling very curious to know what he would say. +He turned over the leaves, smiling all the while, and as he did not +speak, she was the first to ask: + +'You think it very bad, don't you?' + +'Not at all,' he replied. 'It's innocent.' + +The reply hurt her, despite Claude's indulgent tone, which aimed at +making it amiable. + +'Well, you see I had so few lessons from mamma. I like painting to be +well done, and pleasing.' + +Thereupon he burst into frank laughter. + +'Confess now that my painting makes you feel ill! I have noticed it. +You purse your lips and open your eyes wide with fright. Certainly it +is not the style of painting for ladies, least of all for young girls. +But you'll get used to it; it's only a question of educating your eyes +and you'll end by seeing that what I am doing is very honest and +healthy.' + +Indeed, Christine slowly became used to it. But, at first, artistic +conviction had nothing to do with the change, especially as Claude, +with his contempt for female opinion, did not take the trouble to +indoctrinate her. On the contrary, in her company he avoided +conversing about art, as if he wished to retain for himself that +passion of his life, apart from the new passion which was gradually +taking possession of him. Still, Christine glided into the habit of +the thing, and became familiarised with it; she began to feel +interested in those abominable pictures, on noticing the important +place they held in the artist's existence. This was the first stage on +the road to conversion; she felt greatly moved by his rageful +eagerness to be up and doing, the whole-heartedness with which he +devoted himself to his work. Was it not very touching? Was there not +something very creditable in it? Then, on noticing his joy or +suffering, according to the success or the failure of the day's work, +she began to associate herself with his efforts. She felt saddened +when she found him sad, she grew cheerful when he received her +cheerfully; and from that moment her worry was--had he done a lot of +work? was he satisfied with what he had done since they had last seen +each other? At the end of the second month she had been gained over; +she stationed herself before his pictures to judge whether they were +progressing or not. She no longer felt afraid of them. She still did +not approve particularly of that style of painting, but she began to +repeat the artistic expressions which she had heard him use; declared +this bit to be 'vigorous in tone,' 'well built up,' or 'just in the +light it should be.' He seemed to her so good-natured, and she was so +fond of him, that after finding excuses for him for daubing those +horrors, she ended by discovering qualities in them in order that she +might like them a little also. + +Nevertheless, there was one picture, the large one, the one intended +for the Salon, to which for a long while she was quite unable to +reconcile herself. She already looked without dislike at the studies +made at the Boutin studio and the sketches of Plassans, but she was +still irritated by the sight of the woman lying in the grass. It was +like a personal grudge, the shame of having momentarily thought that +she could detect in it a likeness of herself, and silent +embarrassment, too, for that big figure continued to wound her +feelings, although she now found less and less of a resemblance in it. +At first she had protested by averting her eyes. Now she remained for +several minutes looking at it fixedly, in mute contemplation. How was +it that the likeness to herself had disappeared? The more vigorously +that Claude struggled on, never satisfied, touching up the same bit a +hundred times over, the more did that likeness to herself gradually +fade away. And, without being able to account for it, without daring +to admit as much to herself, she, whom the painting had so greatly +offended when she had first seen it, now felt a growing sorrow at +noticing that nothing of herself remained. + +Indeed it seemed to her as if their friendship suffered from this +obliteration; she felt herself further away from him as trait after +trait vanished. Didn't he care for her that he thus allowed her to be +effaced from his work? And who was the new woman, whose was the +unknown indistinct face that appeared from beneath hers? + +Claude, in despair at having spoilt the figure's head, did not know +exactly how to ask her for a few hours' sitting. She would merely have +had to sit down, and he would only have taken some hints. But he had +previously seen her so pained that he felt afraid of irritating her +again. Moreover, after resolving in his own mind to ask her this +favour in a gay, off-hand way, he had been at a loss for words, +feeling all at once ashamed at the notion. + +One afternoon he quite upset her by one of those bursts of anger which +he found it impossible to control, even in her presence. Everything +had gone wrong that week; he talked of scraping his canvas again, and +he paced up and down, beside himself, and kicking the furniture about. +Then all of a sudden he caught her by the shoulders, and made her sit +down on the couch. + +'I beg of you, do me this favour, or it'll kill me, I swear it will.' + +She did not understand him. + +'What--what is it you want?' + +Then as soon as she saw him take up his brushes, she added, without +heeding what she said, 'Ah, yes! Why did not you ask me before?' + +And of her own accord she threw herself back on a cushion and slipped +her arm under her neck. But surprise and confusion at having yielded +so quickly made her grave, for she did not know that she was prepared +for this kind of thing; indeed, she could have sworn that she would +never serve him as a model again. Her compliance already filled her +with remorse, as if she were lending herself to something wrong by +letting him impart her own countenance to that big creature, lying +refulgent under the sun. + +However, in two sittings, Claude worked in the head all right. He +exulted with delight, and exclaimed that it was the best bit of +painting he had ever done; and he was right, never had he thrown such +a play of real light over such a life-like face. Happy at seeing him +so pleased, Christine also became gay, going as far as to express +approval of her head, which, though not extremely like her, had a +wonderful expression. They stood for a long while before the picture, +blinking at it, and drawing back as far as the wall. + +'And now,' he said at last, 'I'll finish her off with a model. Ah! so +I've got her at last.' + +In a burst of childish glee, he took the girl round the waist, and +they performed 'a triumphant war dance,' as he called it. She laughed +very heartily, fond of romping as she was, and no longer feeling aught +of her scruples and discomfort. + +But the very next week Claude became gloomy again. He had chosen Zoe +Piedefer as a model, but she did not satisfy him. Christine's delicate +head, as he expressed it, did not set well on the other's shoulders. +He, nevertheless, persisted, scratched out, began anew, and worked so +hard that he lived in a constant state of fever. Towards the middle of +January, seized with despair, he abandoned his picture and turned it +against the wall, swearing that he would not finish it. But a +fortnight later, he began to work at it again with another model, and +then found himself obliged to change the whole tone of it. Thus +matters got still worse; so he sent for Zoe again; became altogether +at sea, and quite ill with uncertainty and anguish. And the pity of it +was, that the central figure alone worried him, for he was well +satisfied with the rest of the painting, the trees of the background, +the two little women and the gentleman in the velvet coat, all +finished and vigorous. February was drawing to a close; he had only a +few days left to send his picture to the Salon; it was quite a +disaster. + +One evening, in Christine's presence, he began swearing, and all at +once a cry of fury escaped him: 'After all, by the thunder of heaven, +is it possible to stick one woman's head on another's shoulders? I +ought to chop my hand off.' + +From the depths of his heart a single idea now rose to his brain: to +obtain her consent to pose for the whole figure. It had slowly +sprouted, first as a simple wish, quickly discarded as absurd; then +had come a silent, constantly-renewed debate with himself; and at +last, under the spur of necessity, keen and definite desire. The +recollection of the morning after the storm, when she had accepted his +hospitality, haunted and tortured him. It was she whom he needed; she +alone could enable him to realise his dream, and he beheld her again +in all her youthful freshness, beaming and indispensable. If he could +not get her to pose, he might as well give up his picture, for no one +else would ever satisfy him. At times, while he remained seated for +hours, distracted in front of the unfinished canvas, so utterly +powerless that he no longer knew where to give a stroke of the brush, +he formed heroic resolutions. The moment she came in he would throw +himself at her feet; he would tell her of his distress in such +touching words that she would perhaps consent. But as soon as he +beheld her, he lost all courage, he averted his eyes, lest she might +decipher his thoughts in his instinctive glances. Such a request would +be madness. One could not expect such a service from a friend; he +would never have the audacity to ask. + +Nevertheless, one evening as he was getting ready to accompany her, +and as she was putting on her bonnet, with her arms uplifted, they +remained for a moment looking into each other's eyes, he quivering, +and she suddenly becoming so grave, so pale, that he felt himself +detected. All along the quays they scarcely spoke; the matter remained +unmentioned between them while the sun set in the coppery sky. Twice +afterwards he again read in her looks that she was aware of his +all-absorbing thought. In fact, since he had dreamt about it, she had +began to do the same, in spite of herself, her attention roused by his +involuntary allusions. They scarcely affected her at first, though she +was obliged at last to notice them; still the question seemed to her +to be beyond the range of possibility, to be one of those unavowable +ideas which people do not even speak of. The fear that he would dare +to ask her did not even occur to her; she knew him well by now; she +could have silenced him with a gesture, before he had stammered the +first words, and in spite of his sudden bursts of anger. It was simple +madness. Never, never! + +Days went by, and between them that fixed idea grew in intensity. The +moment they were together they could not help thinking of it. Not a +word was spoken on the subject, but their very silence was eloquent; +they no longer made a movement, no longer exchanged a smile without +stumbling upon that thought, which they found impossible to put into +words, though it filled their minds. Soon nothing but that remained in +their fraternal intercourse. And the perturbation of heart and senses +which they had so far avoided in the course of their familiar +intimacy, came at last, under the influence of the all-besetting +thought. And then the anguish which they left unmentioned, but which +they could not hide from one another, racked and stifled them, left +them heaving distressfully with painful sighs. + +Towards the middle of March, Christine, at one of her visits, found +Claude seated before his picture, overcome with sorrow. He had not +even heard her enter. He remained motionless, with vacant, haggard +eyes staring at his unfinished work. In another three days the delay +for sending in exhibits for the Salon would expire. + +'Well,' she inquired gently, after standing for a long time behind +him, grief-stricken at seeing him in such despair. + +He started and turned round. + +'Well, it's all up. I sha'n't exhibit anything this year. Ah! I who +relied so much upon this Salon!' + +Both relapsed into despondency--a despondency and agitation full of +confused thoughts. Then she resumed, thinking aloud as it were: + +'There would still be time.' + +'Time? Oh! no indeed. A miracle would be needed. Where am I to find a +model so late in the day? Do you know, since this morning I have been +worrying, and for a moment I thought I had hit upon an idea: Yes, it +would be to go and fetch that girl, that Irma who came while you were +here. I know well enough that she is short and not at all such as I +thought of, and so I should perhaps have to change everything once +more; but all the same it might be possible to make her do. Decidedly, +I'll try her--' + +He stopped short. The glowing eyes with which he gazed at her clearly +said: 'Ah! there's you! ah! it would be the hoped-for miracle, and +triumph would be certain, if you were to make this supreme sacrifice +for me. I beseech you, I ask you devoutly, as a friend, the dearest, +the most beauteous, the most pure.' + +She, erect, looking very pale, seemed to hear each of those words, +though all remained unspoken, and his ardently beseeching eyes +overcame her. She herself did not speak. She simply did as she was +desired, acting almost like one in a dream. Beneath it all there +lurked the thought that he must not ask elsewhere, for she was now +conscious of her earlier jealous disquietude and wished to share his +affections with none. Yet it was in silence and all chastity that she +stretched herself on the couch, and took up the pose, with one arm +under her head, her eyes closed. + +And Claude? Startled, full of gratitude, he had at last found again +the sudden vision that he had so often evoked. But he himself did not +speak; he began to paint in the deep solemn silence that had fallen +upon them both. For two long hours he stood to his work with such +manly energy that he finished right off a superb roughing out of the +whole figure. Never before had he felt such enthusiasm in his art. It +seemed to him as if he were in the presence of some saint; and at +times he wondered at the transfiguration of Christine's face, whose +somewhat massive jaws seemed to have receded beneath the gentle +placidity which her brow and cheeks displayed. During those two hours +she did not stir, she did not speak, but from time to time she opened +her clear eyes, fixing them on some vague, distant point, and +remaining thus for a moment, then closing them again, and relapsing +into the lifelessness of fine marble, with the mysterious fixed smile +required by the pose. + +It was by a gesture that Claude apprized her he had finished. He +turned away, and when they stood face to face again, she ready to +depart, they gazed at one another, overcome by emotion which still +prevented them from speaking. Was it sadness, then, unconscious, +unnameable sadness? For their eyes filled with tears, as if they had +just spoilt their lives and dived to the depths of human misery. Then, +moved and grieved, unable to find a word, even of thanks, he kissed +her religiously upon the brow. + + + + V + +ON the 15th May, a Friday, Claude, who had returned at three o'clock +in the morning from Sandoz's, was still asleep at nine, when Madame +Joseph brought him up a large bouquet of white lilac which a +commissionaire had just left downstairs. He understood at once. +Christine had wished to be beforehand in celebrating the success of +his painting. For this was a great day for him, the opening day of the +'Salon of the Rejected,' which was first instituted that year,* and at +which his picture--refused by the hanging committee of the official +Salon--was to be exhibited. + + * This was in 1863.--ED. + +That delicate attention on Christine's part, that fresh and fragrant +lilac, affected him greatly, as if presaging a happy day. Still in his +nightshirt, with his feet bare, he placed the flowers in his water-jug +on the table. Then, with his eyes still swollen with sleep, almost +bewildered, he dressed, scolding himself the while for having slept so +long. On the previous night he had promised Dubuche and Sandoz to call +for them at the latter's place at eight o'clock, in order that they +might all three go together to the Palais de l'Industrie, where they +would find the rest of the band. And he was already an hour behind +time. + +Then, as luck would have it, he could not lay his hands upon anything +in his studio, which had been turned topsy-turvy since the despatch of +the big picture. For more than five minutes he hunted on his knees for +his shoes, among a quantity of old chases. Some particles of gold leaf +flew about, for, not knowing where to get the money for a proper +frame, he had employed a joiner of the neighbourhood to fit four +strips of board together, and had gilded them himself, with the +assistance of his friend Christine, who, by the way, had proved a very +unskilful gilder. At last, dressed and shod, and having his soft felt +hat bespangled with yellow sparks of the gold, he was about to go, +when a superstitious thought brought him back to the nosegay, which +had remained alone on the centre of the table. If he did not kiss the +lilac he was sure to suffer an affront. So he kissed it and felt +perfumed by its strong springtide aroma. + +Under the archway, he gave his key as usual to the doorkeeper. 'Madame +Joseph,' he said, 'I shall not be home all day.' + +In less than twenty minutes he was in the Rue d'Enfer, at Sandoz's. +But the latter, whom he feared would have already gone, was equally +late in consequence of a sudden indisposition which had come upon his +mother. It was nothing serious. She had merely passed a bad night, but +it had for a while quite upset him with anxiety. Now, easy in mind +again, Sandoz told Claude that Dubuche had written saying that they +were not to wait for him, and giving an appointment at the Palais. +They therefore started off, and as it was nearly eleven, they decided +to lunch in a deserted little _cremerie_ in the Rue St. Honore, which +they did very leisurely, seized with laziness amidst all their ardent +desire to see and know; and enjoying, as it were, a kind of sweet, +tender sadness from lingering awhile and recalling memories of their +youth. + +One o'clock was striking when they crossed the Champs Elysees. It was +a lovely day, with a limpid sky, to which the breeze, still somewhat +chilly, seemed to impart a brighter azure. Beneath the sun, of the hue +of ripe corn, the rows of chestnut trees showed new foliage of a +delicate and seemingly freshly varnished green; and the fountains with +their leaping sheafs of water, the well-kept lawns, the deep vistas of +the pathways, and the broad open spaces, all lent an air of luxurious +grandeur to the panorama. A few carriages, very few at that early +hour, were ascending the avenue, while a stream of bewildered, +bustling people, suggesting a swarm of ants, plunged into the huge +archway of the Palais de l'Industrie. + +When they were inside, Claude shivered slightly while crossing the +gigantic vestibule, which was as cold as a cellar, with a damp +pavement which resounded beneath one's feet, like the flagstones of a +church. He glanced right and left at the two monumental stairways, and +asked contemptuously: 'I say, are we going through their dirty Salon?' + +'Oh! no, dash it!' answered Sandoz. 'Let's cut through the garden. The +western staircase over there leads to "the Rejected."' + +Then they passed disdainfully between the two little tables of the +catalogue vendors. Between the huge red velvet curtains and beyond a +shady porch appeared the garden, roofed in with glass. At that time of +day it was almost deserted; there were only some people at the buffet +under the clock, a throng of people lunching. The crowd was in the +galleries on the first floor, and the white statues alone edged the +yellow-sanded pathways which with stretches of crude colour +intersected the green lawns. There was a whole nation of motionless +marble there steeped in the diffuse light falling from the glazed roof +on high. Looking southwards, some holland screens barred half of the +nave, which showed ambery in the sunlight and was speckled at both +ends by the dazzling blue and crimson of stained-glass windows. Just a +few visitors, tired already, occupied the brand-new chairs and seats, +shiny with fresh paint; while the flights of sparrows, who dwelt +above, among the iron girders, swooped down, quite at home, raking up +the sand and twittering as they pursued each other. + +Claude and Sandoz made a show of walking very quickly without giving a +glance around them. A stiff classical bronze statue, a Minerva by a +member of the Institute, had exasperated them at the very door. But as +they hastened past a seemingly endless line of busts, they recognised +Bongrand, who, all alone, was going slowly round a colossal, +overflowing, recumbent figure, which had been placed in the middle of +the path. With his hands behind his back, quite absorbed, he bent his +wrinkled face every now and then over the plaster. + +'Hallo, it's you?' he said, as they held out their hands to him. 'I +was just looking at our friend Mahoudeau's figure, which they have at +least had the intelligence to admit, and to put in a good position.' +Then, breaking off: 'Have you been upstairs?' he asked. + +'No, we have just come in,' said Claude. + +Thereupon Bongrand began to talk warmly about the Salon of the +Rejected. He, who belonged to the Institute, but who lived apart from +his colleagues, made very merry over the affair; the everlasting +discontent of painters; the campaign conducted by petty newspapers +like 'The Drummer'; the protestations, the constant complaints that +had at last disturbed the Emperor, and the artistic _coup d'etat_ +carried out by that silent dreamer, for this Salon of the Rejected was +entirely his work. Then the great painter alluded to all the hubbub +caused by the flinging of such a paving-stone into that frog's pond, +the official art world. + +'No,' he continued, 'you can have no idea of the rage and indignation +among the members of the hanging committee. And remember I'm +distrusted, they generally keep quiet when I'm there. But they are all +furious with the realists. It was to them that they systematically +closed the doors of the temple; it is on account of them that the +Emperor has allowed the public to revise their verdict; and finally it +is they, the realists, who triumph. Ah! I hear some nice things said; +I wouldn't give a high price for your skins, youngsters.' + +He laughed his big, joyous laugh, stretching out his arms the while as +if to embrace all the youthfulness that he divined rising around him. + +'Your disciples are growing,' said Claude, simply. + +But Bongrand, becoming embarrassed, silenced him with a wave of his +hand. He himself had not sent anything for exhibition, and the +prodigious mass of work amidst which he found himself--those pictures, +those statues, all those proofs of creative effort--filled him with +regret. It was not jealousy, for there lived not a more upright and +better soul; but as a result of self-examination, a gnawing fear of +impotence, an unavowed dread haunted him. + +'And at "the Rejected,"' asked Sandoz; 'how goes it there?' + +'Superb; you'll see.' + +Then turning towards Claude, and keeping both the young man's hands in +his own, 'You, my good fellow, you are a trump. Listen! they say I am +clever: well, I'd give ten years of my life to have painted that big +hussy of yours.' + +Praise like that, coming from such lips, moved the young painter to +tears. Victory had come at last, then? He failed to find a word of +thanks, and abruptly changed the conversation, wishing to hide his +emotion. + +'That good fellow Mahoudeau!' he said, 'why his figure's capital! He +has a deuced fine temperament, hasn't he?' + +Sandoz and Claude had begun to walk round the plaster figure. Bongrand +replied with a smile. + +'Yes, yes; there's too much fulness and massiveness in parts. But just +look at the articulations, they are delicate and really pretty. Come, +good-bye, I must leave you. I'm going to sit down a while. My legs are +bending under me.' + +Claude had raised his head to listen. A tremendous uproar, an +incessant crashing that had not struck him at first, careered through +the air; it was like the din of a tempest beating against a cliff, the +rumbling of an untiring assault, dashing forward from endless space. + +'Hallow, what's that?' he muttered. + +'That,' said Bongrand, as he walked away, 'that's the crowd upstairs +in the galleries.' + +And the two young fellows, having crossed the garden, then went up to +the Salon of the Rejected. + +It had been installed in first-rate style. The officially received +pictures were not lodged more sumptuously: lofty hangings of old +tapestry at the doors; 'the line' set off with green baize; seats of +crimson velvet; white linen screens under the large skylights of the +roof. And all along the suite of galleries the first impression was +the same--there were the same gilt frames, the same bright colours on +the canvases. But there was a special kind of cheerfulness, a sparkle +of youth which one did not altogether realise at first. The crowd, +already compact, increased every minute, for the official Salon was +being deserted. People came stung by curiosity, impelled by a desire +to judge the judges, and, above all, full of the conviction that they +were going to see some very diverting things. It was very hot; a fine +dust arose from the flooring; and certainly, towards four o'clock +people would stifle there. + +'Hang it!' said Sandoz, trying to elbow his way, 'it will be no easy +job to move about and find your picture.' + +A burst of fraternal feverishness made him eager to get to it. That +day he only lived for the work and glory of his old chum. + +'Don't worry!' exclaimed Claude; 'we shall get to it all right. My +picture won't fly off.' + +And he affected to be in no hurry, in spite of the almost irresistible +desire that he felt to run. He raised his head and looked around him; +and soon, amidst the loud voices of the crowd that had bewildered him, +he distinguished some restrained laughter, which was almost drowned by +the tramp of feet and the hubbub of conversation. Before certain +pictures the public stood joking. This made him feel uneasy, for +despite all his revolutionary brutality he was as sensitive and as +credulous as a woman, and always looked forward to martyrdom, though +he was ever grieved and stupefied at being repulsed and railed at. + +'They seem gay here,' he muttered. + +'Well, there's good reason,' remarked Sandoz. 'Just look at those +extravagant jades!' + +At the same moment, while still lingering in the first gallery, +Fagerolles ran up against them without seeing them. He started, being +no doubt annoyed by the meeting. However, he recovered his composure +immediately, and behaved very amiably. + +'Hallo! I was just thinking of you. I have been here for the last +hour.' + +'Where have they put Claude's picture?' asked Sandoz. Fagerolles, who +had just remained for twenty minutes in front of that picture studying +it and studying the impression which it produced on the public, +answered without wincing, 'I don't know; I haven't been able to find +it. We'll look for it together if you like.' + +And he joined them. Terrible wag as he was, he no longer affected +low-bred manners to the same degree as formerly; he already began to +dress well, and although with his mocking nature he was still disposed +to snap at everybody as of old, he pursed his lips into the serious +expression of a fellow who wants to make his way in the world. With an +air of conviction he added: 'I must say that I now regret not having +sent anything this year! I should be here with all the rest of you, +and have my share of success. And there are really some astonishing +things, my boys! those horses, for instance.' + +He pointed to a huge canvas in front of them, before which the crowd +was gathering and laughing. It was, so people said, the work of an +erstwhile veterinary surgeon, and showed a number of life-size horses +in a meadow, fantastic horses, blue, violet, and pink, whose +astonishing anatomy transpierced their sides. + +'I say, don't you humbug us,' exclaimed Claude, suspiciously. + +But Fagerolles pretended to be enthusiastic. 'What do you mean? The +picture's full of talent. The fellow who painted it understands horses +devilish well. No doubt he paints like a brute. But what's the odds if +he's original, and contributes a document?' + +As he spoke Fagerolles' delicate girlish face remained perfectly +grave, and it was impossible to tell whether he was joking. There was +but the slightest yellow twinkle of spitefulness in the depths of his +grey eyes. And he finished with a sarcastic allusion, the drift of +which was as yet patent to him alone. 'Ah, well! if you let yourself +be influenced by the fools who laugh, you'll have enough to do by and +by.' + +The three friends had gone on again, only advancing, however, with +infinite difficulty amid that sea of surging shoulders. On entering +the second gallery they gave a glance round the walls, but the picture +they sought was not there. In lieu thereof they perceived Irma Becot +on the arm of Gagniere, both of them pressed against a hand-rail, he +busy examining a small canvas, while she, delighted at being hustled +about, raised her pink little mug and laughed at the crowd. + +'Hallo!' said Sandoz, surprised, 'here she is with Gagniere now!' + +'Oh, just a fancy of hers!' exclaimed Fagerolles quietly. 'She has a +very swell place now. Yes, it was given her by that young idiot of a +marquis, whom the papers are always talking about. She's a girl who'll +make her way; I've always said so! But she seems to retain a weakness +for painters, and every now and then drops into the Cafe Baudequin to +look up old friends!' + +Irma had now seen them, and was making gestures from afar. They could +but go to her. When Gagniere, with his light hair and little beardless +face, turned round, looking more grotesque than over, he did not show +the least surprise at finding them there. + +'It's wonderful,' he muttered. + +'What's wonderful?' asked Fagerolles. + +'This little masterpiece--and withal honest and naif, and full of +conviction.' + +He pointed to a tiny canvas before which he had stood absorbed, an +absolutely childish picture, such as an urchin of four might have +painted; a little cottage at the edge of a little road, with a little +tree beside it, the whole out of drawing, and girt round with black +lines. Not even a corkscrew imitation of smoke issuing from the roof +was forgotten. + +Claude made a nervous gesture, while Fagerolles repeated +phlegmatically: + +'Very delicate, very delicate. But your picture, Gagniere, where is +it?' + +'My picture, it is there.' + +In fact, the picture he had sent happened to be very near the little +masterpiece. It was a landscape of a pearly grey, a bit of the Seine +banks, painted carefully, pretty in tone, though somewhat heavy, and +perfectly ponderated without a sign of any revolutionary splash. + +'To think that they were idiotic enough to refuse that!' said Claude, +who had approached with an air of interest. But why, I ask you, why?' + +'Because it's realistic,' said Fagerolles, in so sharp a voice that +one could not tell whether he was gibing at the jury or at the +picture. + +Meanwhile, Irma, of whom no one took any notice, was looking fixedly +at Claude with the unconscious smile which the savage loutishness of +that big fellow always brought to her lips. To think that he had not +even cared to see her again. She found him so much altered since the +last time she had seen him, so funny, and not at all prepossessing, +with his hair standing on end, and his face wan and sallow, as if he +had had a severe fever. Pained that he did not seem to notice her, she +wanted to attract his attention, and touched his arm with a familiar +gesture. + +'I say, isn't that one of your friends over there, looking for you?' + +It was Dubuche, whom she knew from having seen him on one occasion at +the Cafe Baudequin. He was, with difficulty, elbowing his way through +the crowd, and staring vaguely at the sea of heads around him. But all +at once, when Claude was trying to attract his notice by dint of +gesticulations, the other turned his back to bow very low to a party +of three--the father short and fat, with a sanguine face; the mother +very thin, of the colour of wax, and devoured by anemia; and the +daughter so physically backward at eighteen, that she retained all the +lank scragginess of childhood. + +'All right!' muttered the painter. 'There he's caught now. What ugly +acquaintances the brute has! Where can he have fished up such +horrors?' + +Gagniere quietly replied that he knew the strangers by sight. M. +Margaillan was a great masonry contractor, already a millionaire five +or six times over, and was making his fortune out of the great public +works of Paris, running up whole boulevards on his own account. No +doubt Dubuche had become acquainted with him through one of the +architects he worked for. + +However, Sandoz, compassionating the scragginess of the girl, whom he +kept watching, judged her in one sentence. + +'Ah! the poor little flayed kitten. One feels sorry for her.' + +'Let them alone!' exclaimed Claude, ferociously. 'They have all the +crimes of the middle classes stamped on their faces; they reek of +scrofula and idiocy. It serves them right. But hallo! our runaway +friend is making off with them. What grovellers architects are! Good +riddance. He'll have to look for us when he wants us!' + +Dubuche, who had not seen his friends, had just offered his arm to the +mother, and was going off, explaining the pictures with gestures +typical of exaggerated politeness. + +'Well, let's proceed then,' said Fagerolles; and, addressing Gagniere, +he asked, 'Do you know where they have put Claude's picture?' + +'I? no, I was looking for it--I am going with you.' + +He accompanied them, forgetting Irma Becot against the 'line.' It was +she who had wanted to visit the Salon on his arm, and he was so little +used to promenading a woman about, that he had constantly lost her on +the way, and was each time stupefied to find her again beside him, no +longer knowing how or why they were thus together. She ran after them, +and took his arm once more in order to follow Claude, who was already +passing into another gallery with Fagerolles and Sandoz. + +Then the five roamed about in Indian file, with their noses in the +air, now separated by a sudden crush, now reunited by another, and +ever carried along by the stream. An abomination of Chaine's, a +'Christ pardoning the Woman taken in Adultery,' made them pause; it +was a group of dry figures that looked as if cut out of wood, very +bony of build, and seemingly painted with mud. But close by they +admired a very fine study of a woman, seen from behind, with her head +turned sideways. The whole show was a mixture of the best and the +worst, all styles were mingled together, the drivellers of the +historical school elbowed the young lunatics of realism, the pure +simpletons were lumped together with those who bragged about their +originality. A dead Jezabel, that seemed to have rotted in the cellars +of the School of Arts, was exhibited near a lady in white, the very +curious conception of a future great artist*; then a huge shepherd +looking at the sea, a weak production, faced a little painting of some +Spaniards playing at rackets, a dash of light of splendid intensity. +Nothing execrable was wanting, neither military scenes full of little +leaden soldiers, nor wan antiquity, nor the middle ages, smeared, as +it were, with bitumen. But from amidst the incoherent ensemble, and +especially from the landscapes, all of which were painted in a +sincere, correct key, and also from the portraits, most of which were +very interesting in respect to workmanship, there came a good fresh +scent of youth, bravery and passion. If there were fewer bad pictures +in the official Salon, the average there was assuredly more +commonplace and mediocre. Here one found the smell of battle, of +cheerful battle, given jauntily at daybreak, when the bugle sounds, +and when one marches to meet the enemy with the certainty of beating +him before sunset. + + * Edouard Manet.--ED. + +Claude, whose spirits had revived amidst that martial odour, grew +animated and pugnacious as he listened to the laughter of the public. +He looked as defiant, indeed, as if he had heard bullets whizzing past +him. Sufficiently discreet at the entrance of the galleries, the +laughter became more boisterous, more unrestrained, as they advanced. +In the third room the women ceased concealing their smiles behind +their handkerchiefs, while the men openly held their sides the better +to ease themselves. It was the contagious hilarity of people who had +come to amuse themselves, and who were growing gradually excited, +bursting out at a mere trifle, diverted as much by the good things as +by the bad. Folks laughed less before Chaine's Christ than before the +back view of the nude woman, who seemed to them very comical indeed. +The 'Lady in White' also stupefied people and drew them together; +folks nudged each other and went into hysterics almost; there was +always a grinning group in front of it. Each canvas thus had its +particular kind of success; people hailed each other from a distance +to point out something funny, and witticisms flew from mouth to mouth; +to such a degree indeed that, as Claude entered the fourth gallery, +lashed into fury by the tempest of laughter that was raging there as +well, he all but slapped the face of an old lady whose chuckles +exasperated him. + +'What idiots!' he said, turning towards his friends. 'One feels +inclined to throw a lot of masterpieces at their heads.' + +Sandoz had become fiery also, and Fagerolles continued praising the +most dreadful daubs, which only tended to increase the laughter, while +Gagniere, at sea amid the hubbub, dragged on the delighted Irma, whose +skirts somehow wound round the legs of all the men. + +But of a sudden Jory stood before them. His fair handsome face +absolutely beamed. He cut his way through the crowd, gesticulated, and +exulted, as if over a personal victory. And the moment he perceived +Claude, he shouted: + +'Here you are at last! I have been looking for you this hour. A +success, old fellow, oh! a success--' + +'What success?' + +'Why, the success of your picture. Come, I must show it you. You'll +see, it's stunning.' + +Claude grew pale. A great joy choked him, while he pretended to +receive the news with composure. Bongrand's words came back to him. He +began to believe that he possessed genius. + +'Hallo, how are you?' continued Jory, shaking hands with the others. + +And, without more ado, he, Fagerolles and Gagniere surrounded Irma, +who smiled on them in a good-natured way. + +'Perhaps you'll tell us where the picture is,' said Sandoz, +impatiently. 'Take us to it.' + +Jory assumed the lead, followed by the band. They had to fight their +way into the last gallery. But Claude, who brought up the rear, still +heard the laughter that rose on the air, a swelling clamour, the roll +of a tide near its full. And as he finally entered the room, he beheld +a vast, swarming, closely packed crowd pressing eagerly in front of +his picture. All the laughter arose, spread, and ended there. And it +was his picture that was being laughed at. + +'Eh!' repeated Jory, triumphantly, 'there's a success for you.' + +Gagniere, intimidated, as ashamed as if he himself had been slapped, +muttered: 'Too much of a success--I should prefer something +different.' + +'What a fool you are,' replied Jory, in a burst of exalted conviction. +'That's what I call success. Does it matter a curse if they laugh? We +have made our mark; to-morrow every paper will talk about us.' + +'The idiots,' was all that Sandoz could gasp, choking with grief. + +Fagerolles, disinterested and dignified like a family friend following +a funeral procession, said nothing. Irma alone remained gay, thinking +it all very funny. And, with a caressing gesture, she leant against +the shoulder of the derided painter, and whispered softly in his ear: +'Don't fret, my boy. It's all humbug, be merry all the same.' + +But Claude did not stir. An icy chill had come over him. For a moment +his heart had almost ceased to beat, so cruel had been the +disappointment And with his eyes enlarged, attracted and fixed by a +resistless force, he looked at his picture. He was surprised, and +scarcely recognised it; it certainly was not such as it had seemed to +be in his studio. It had grown yellow beneath the livid light of the +linen screens; it seemed, moreover, to have become smaller; coarser +and more laboured also; and whether it was the effect of the light in +which it now hung, or the contrast of the works beside it, at all +events he now at the first glance saw all its defects, after having +remained blind to them, as it were, for months. With a few strokes of +the brush he, in thought, altered the whole of it, deepened the +distances, set a badly drawn limb right, and modified a tone. +Decidedly, the gentleman in the velveteen jacket was worth nothing at +all, he was altogether pasty and badly seated; the only really good +bit of work about him was his hand. In the background the two little +wrestlers--the fair and the dark one--had remained too sketchy, and +lacked substance; they were amusing only to an artist's eye. But he +was pleased with the trees, with the sunny glade; and the nude woman +--the woman lying on the grass appeared to him superior to his own +powers, as if some one else had painted her, and as if he had never +yet beheld her in such resplendency of life. + +He turned to Sandoz, and said simply: + +'They do right to laugh; it's incomplete. Never mind, the woman is all +right! Bongrand was not hoaxing me.' + +His friend wished to take him away, but he became obstinate, and drew +nearer instead. Now that he had judged his work, he listened and +looked at the crowd. The explosion continued--culminated in an +ascending scale of mad laughter. No sooner had visitors crossed the +threshold than he saw their jaws part, their eyes grow small, their +entire faces expand; and he heard the tempestuous puffing of the fat +men, the rusty grating jeers of the lean ones, amidst all the shrill, +flute-like laughter of the women. Opposite him, against the +hand-rails, some young fellows went into contortions, as if somebody +had been tickling them. One lady had flung herself on a seat, stifling +and trying to regain breath with her handkerchief over her mouth. +Rumours of this picture, which was so very, very funny, must have been +spreading, for there was a rush from the four corners of the Salon, +bands of people arrived, jostling each other, and all eagerness to +share the fun. 'Where is it?' 'Over there.' 'Oh, what a joke!' And the +witticisms fell thicker than elsewhere. It was especially the subject +that caused merriment; people failed to understand it, thought it +insane, comical enough to make one ill with laughter. 'You see the +lady feels too hot, while the gentleman has put on his velveteen +jacket for fear of catching cold.' 'Not at all; she is already blue; +the gentleman has pulled her out of a pond, and he is resting at a +distance, holding his nose.' 'I tell you it's a young ladies' school +out for a ramble. Look at the two playing at leap-frog.' 'Hallo! +washing day; the flesh is blue; the trees are blue; he's dipped his +picture in the blueing tub!' + +Those who did not laugh flew into a rage: that bluish tinge, that +novel rendering of light seemed an insult to them. Some old gentlemen +shook their sticks. Was art to be outraged like this? One grave +individual went away very wroth, saying to his wife that he did not +like practical jokes. But another, a punctilious little man, having +looked in the catalogue for the title of the work, in order to tell +his daughter, read out the words, '_In the Open Air_,' whereupon there +came a formidable renewal of the clamour, hisses and shouts, and what +not else besides. The title sped about; it was repeated, commented on. +'_In the Open Air_! ah, yes, the open air, the nude woman in the air, +everything in the air, tra la la laire.' The affair was becoming a +scandal. The crowd still increased. People's faces grew red with +congestion in the growing heat. Each had the stupidly gaping mouth of +the ignoramus who judges painting, and between them they indulged in +all the asinine ideas, all the preposterous reflections, all the +stupid spiteful jeers that the sight of an original work can possibly +elicit from bourgeois imbecility. + +At that moment, as a last blow, Claude beheld Dubuche reappear, +dragging the Margaillans along. As soon as he came in front of the +picture, the architect, ill at ease, overtaken by cowardly shame, +wished to quicken his pace and lead his party further on, pretending +that he saw neither the canvas nor his friends. But the contractor had +already drawn himself up on his short, squat legs, and was staring at +the picture, and asking aloud in his thick hoarse voice: + +'I say, who's the blockhead that painted this?' + +That good-natured bluster, that cry of a millionaire parvenu resuming +the average opinion of the assembly, increased the general merriment; +and he, flattered by his success, and tickled by the strange style of +the painting, started laughing in his turn, so sonorously that he +could be heard above all the others. This was the hallelujah, a final +outburst of the great organ of opinion. + +'Take my daughter away,' whispered pale-faced Madame Margaillan in +Dubuche's ear. + +He sprang forward and freed Regine, who had lowered her eyelids, from +the crowd; displaying in doing so as much muscular energy as if it had +been a question of saving the poor creature from imminent death. Then +having taken leave of the Margaillans at the door, with a deal of +handshaking and bows, he came towards his friends, and said +straightway to Sandoz, Fagerolles, and Gagniere: + +'What would you have? It isn't my fault--I warned him that the public +would not understand him. It's improper; yes, you may say what you +like, it's improper.' + +'They hissed Delacroix,' broke in Sandoz, white with rage, and +clenching his fists. 'They hissed Courbet. Oh, the race of enemies! +Oh, the born idiots!' + +Gagniere, who now shared this artistic vindictiveness, grew angry at +the recollection of his Sunday battles at the Pasdeloup Concerts in +favour of real music. + +'And they hiss Wagner too; they are the same crew. I recognise them. +You see that fat fellow over there--' + +Jory had to hold him back. The journalist for his part would rather +have urged on the crowd. He kept on repeating that it was famous, that +there was a hundred thousand francs' worth of advertisements in it. +And Irma, left to her own devices once more, went up to two of her +friends, young Bourse men who were among the most persistent scoffers, +but whom she began to indoctrinate, forcing them, as it were, into +admiration, by rapping them on the knuckles. + +Fagerolles, however, had not opened his lips. He kept on examining the +picture, and glancing at the crowd. With his Parisian instinct and the +elastic conscience of a skilful fellow, he at once fathomed the +misunderstanding. He was already vaguely conscious of what was wanted +for that style of painting to make the conquest of everybody--a little +trickery perhaps, some attenuations, a different choice of subject, a +milder method of execution. In the main, the influence that Claude had +always had over him persisted in making itself felt; he remained +imbued with it; it had set its stamp upon him for ever. Only he +considered Claude to be an arch-idiot to have exhibited such a thing +as that. Wasn't it stupid to believe in the intelligence of the +public? What was the meaning of that nude woman beside that gentleman +who was fully dressed? And what did those two little wrestlers in the +background mean? Yet the picture showed many of the qualities of a +master. There wasn't another bit of painting like it in the Salon! And +he felt a great contempt for that artist, so admirably endowed, who +through lack of tact made all Paris roar as if he had been the worst +of daubers. + +This contempt became so strong that he was unable to hide it. In a +moment of irresistible frankness he exclaimed: + +'Look here, my dear fellow, it's your own fault, you are too stupid.' + +Claude, turning his eyes from the crowd, looked at him in silence. He +had not winced, he had only turned pale amidst the laughter, and if +his lips quivered it was merely with a slight nervous twitching; +nobody knew him, it was his work alone that was being buffeted. Then +for a moment he glanced again at his picture, and slowly inspected the +other canvases in the gallery. And amidst the collapse of his +illusions, the bitter agony of his pride, a breath of courage, a whiff +of health and youth came to him from all that gaily-brave painting +which rushed with such headlong passion to beat down classical +conventionality. He was consoled and inspirited by it all; he felt no +remorse nor contrition, but, on the contrary, was impelled to fight +the popular taste still more. No doubt there was some clumsiness and +some puerility of effort in his work, but on the other hand what a +pretty general tone, what a play of light he had thrown into it, a +silvery grey light, fine and diffuse, brightened by all the dancing +sunbeams of the open air. It was as if a window had been suddenly +opened amidst all the old bituminous cookery of art, amidst all the +stewing sauces of tradition, and the sun came in and the walls smiled +under that invasion of springtide. The light note of his picture, the +bluish tinge that people had been railing at, flashed out among the +other paintings also. Was this not the expected dawn, a new aurora +rising on art? He perceived a critic who stopped without laughing, +some celebrated painters who looked surprised and grave, while Papa +Malgras, very dirty, went from picture to picture with the pout of a +wary connoisseur, and finally stopped short in front of his canvas, +motionless, absorbed. Then Claude turned round to Fagerolles, and +surprised him by this tardy reply: + +'A fellow can only be an idiot according to his own lights, my dear +chap, and it looks as if I am going to remain one. So much the better +for you if you are clever!' + +Fagerolles at once patted him on the shoulder, like a chum who had +only been in fun, and Claude allowed Sandoz to take his arm. They led +him off at last. The whole band left the Salon of the Rejected, +deciding that they would pass on their way through the gallery of +architecture; for a design for a museum by Dubuche had been accepted, +and for some few minutes he had been fidgeting and begging them with +so humble a look, that it seemed difficult indeed to deny him this +satisfaction. + +'Ah!' said Jory, jocularly, on entering the gallery, 'what an +ice-well! One can breathe here.' + +They all took off their hats and wiped their foreheads, with a feeling +of relief, as if they had reached some big shady trees after a long +march in full sunlight. The gallery was empty. From the roof, shaded +by a white linen screen, there fell a soft, even, rather sad light, +which was reflected like quiescent water by the well-waxed, +mirror-like floor. On the four walls, of a faded red, hung the plans +and designs in large and small chases, edged with pale blue borders. +Alone--absolutely alone--amidst this desert stood a very hirsute +gentleman, who was lost in the contemplation of the plan of a charity +home. Three ladies who appeared became frightened and fled across the +gallery with hasty steps. + +Dubuche was already showing and explaining his work to his comrades. +It was only a drawing of a modest little museum gallery, which he had +sent in with ambitious haste, contrary to custom and against the +wishes of his master, who, nevertheless, had used his influence to +have it accepted, thinking himself pledged to do so. + +'Is your museum intended for the accommodation of the paintings of the +"open air" school?' asked Fagerolles, very gravely. + +Gagniere pretended to admire the plan, nodding his head, but thinking +of something else; while Claude and Sandoz examined it with sincere +interest. + +'Not bad, old boy,' said the former. 'The ornamentation is still +bastardly traditional; but never mind; it will do.' + +Jory, becoming impatient at last, cut him short. + +'Come along, let's go, eh? I'm catching my death of cold here.' + +The band resumed its march. The worst was that to make a short cut +they had to go right through the official Salon, and they resigned +themselves to doing so, notwithstanding the oath they had taken not to +set foot in it, as a matter of protest. Cutting their way through the +crowd, keeping rigidly erect, they followed the suite of galleries, +casting indignant glances to right and left. There was none of the gay +scandal of their Salon, full of fresh tones and an exaggeration of +sunlight, here. One after the other came gilt frames full of shadows; +black pretentious things, nude figures showing yellowish in a +cellar-like light, the frippery of so-called classical art, +historical, genre and landscape painting, all showing the same +conventional black grease. The works reeked of uniform mediocrity, +they were characterised by a muddy dinginess of tone, despite their +primness--the primness of impoverished, degenerate blood. And the +friends quickened their steps: they ran to escape from that reign of +bitumen, condemning everything in one lump with their superb sectarian +injustice, repeating that there was nothing in the place worth looking +at--nothing, nothing at all! + +At last they emerged from the galleries, and were going down into the +garden when they met Mahoudeau and Chaine. The former threw himself +into Claude's arms. + +'Ah, my dear fellow, your picture; what artistic temperament it +shows!' + +The painter at once began to praise the 'Vintaging Girl.' + +'And you, I say, you have thrown a nice big lump at their heads!' + +But the sight of Chaine, to whom no one spoke about the 'Woman taken +in Adultery,' and who went silently wandering around, awakened +Claude's compassion. He thought there was something very sad about +that execrable painting, and the wasted life of that peasant who was a +victim of middle-class admiration. He always gave him the delight of a +little praise; so now he shook his hand cordially, exclaiming: + +'Your machine's very good too. Ah, my fine fellow, draughtsmanship has +no terrors for you!' + +'No, indeed,' declared Chaine, who had grown purple with vanity under +his black bushy beard. + +He and Mahoudeau joined the band, and the latter asked the others +whether they had seen Chambouvard's 'Sower.' It was marvellous; the +only piece of statuary worth looking at in the Salon. Thereupon they +all followed him into the garden, which the crowd was now invading. + +'There,' said Mahoudeau, stopping in the middle of the central path: +'Chambouvard is standing just in front of his "Sower."' + +In fact, a portly man stood there, solidly planted on his fat legs, +and admiring his handiwork. With his head sunk between his shoulders, +he had the heavy, handsome features of a Hindu idol. He was said to be +the son of a veterinary surgeon of the neighbourhood of Amiens. At +forty-five he had already produced twenty masterpieces: statues all +simplicity and life, flesh modern and palpitating, kneaded by a +workman of genius, without any pretension to refinement; and all this +was chance production, for he furnished work as a field bears harvest, +good one day, bad the next, in absolute ignorance of what he created. +He carried the lack of critical acumen to such a degree that he made +no distinction between the most glorious offspring of his hands and +the detestably grotesque figures which now and then he chanced to put +together. Never troubled by nervous feverishness, never doubting, +always solid and convinced, he had the pride of a god. + +'Wonderful, the "Sower"!' whispered Claude. 'What a figure! and what +an attitude!' + +Fagerolles, who had not looked at the statue, was highly amused by the +great man, and the string of young, open-mouthed disciples whom as +usual he dragged at his tail. + +'Just look at them, one would think they are taking the sacrament, +'pon my word--and he himself, eh? What a fine brutish face he has!' + +Isolated, and quite at his ease, amidst the general curiosity, +Chambouvard stood there wondering, with the stupefied air of a man who +is surprised at having produced such a masterpiece. He seemed to +behold it for the first time, and was unable to get over his +astonishment. Then an expression of delight gradually stole over his +broad face, he nodded his head, and burst into soft, irresistible +laughter, repeating a dozen times, 'It's comical, it's really +comical!' + +His train of followers went into raptures, while he himself could find +nothing more forcible to express how much he worshipped himself. All +at once there was a slight stir. Bongrand, who had been walking about +with his hands behind his back, glancing vaguely around him, had just +stumbled on Chambouvard, and the public, drawing back, whispered, and +watched the two celebrated artists shaking hands; the one short and of +a sanguine temperament, the other tall and restless. Some expressions +of good-fellowship were overheard. 'Always fresh marvels.' 'Of course! +And you, nothing this year?' 'No, nothing; I am resting, seeking--' +'Come, you joker! There's no need to seek, the thing comes by itself.' +'Good-bye.' 'Good-bye.' And Chambouvard, followed by his court, was +already moving slowly away among the crowd, with the glances of a +king, who enjoys life, while Bongrand, who had recognised Claude and +his friends, approached them with outstretched feverish hands, and +called attention to the sculptor with a nervous jerk of the chin, +saying, 'There's a fellow I envy! Ah! to be confident of always +producing masterpieces!' + +He complimented Mahoudeau on his 'Vintaging Girl'; showed himself +paternal to all of them, with that broad-minded good-nature of his, +the free and easy manner of an old Bohemian of the romantic school, +who had settled down and was decorated. Then, turning to Claude: + +'Well, what did I tell you? Did you see upstairs? You have become the +chief of a school.' + +'Ah! yes,' replied Claude. 'They are giving it me nicely. You are the +master of us all.' + +But Bongrand made his usual gesture of vague suffering and went off, +saying, 'Hold your tongue! I am not even my own master.' + +For a few moments longer the band wandered through the garden. They +had gone back to look at the 'Vintaging Girl,' when Jory noticed that +Gagniere no longer had Irma Becot on his arm. Gagniere was stupefied; +where the deuce could he have lost her? But when Fagerolles had told +him that she had gone off in the crowd with two gentlemen, he +recovered his composure, and followed the others, lighter of heart now +that he was relieved of that girl who had bewildered him. + +People now only moved about with difficulty. All the seats were taken +by storm; groups blocked up the paths, where the promenaders paused +every now and then, flowing back around the successful bits of bronze +and marble. From the crowded buffet there arose a loud buzzing, a +clatter of saucers and spoons which mingled with the throb of life +pervading the vast nave. The sparrows had flown up to the forest of +iron girders again, and one could hear their sharp little chirps, the +twittering with which they serenaded the setting sun, under the warm +panes of the glass roof. The atmosphere, moreover, had become heavy, +there was a damp greenhouse-like warmth; the air, stationary as it +was, had an odour as of humus, freshly turned over. And rising above +the garden throng, the din of the first-floor galleries, the tramping +of feet on their iron-girdered flooring still rolled on with the +clamour of a tempest beating against a cliff. + +Claude, who had a keen perception of that rumbling storm, ended by +hearing nothing else; it had been let loose and was howling in his +ears. It was the merriment of the crowd whose jeers and laughter swept +hurricane-like past his picture. With a weary gesture he exclaimed: + +'Come, what are we messing about here for? I sha'n't take anything at +the refreshment bar, it reeks of the Institute. Let's go and have a +glass of beer outside, eh?' + +They all went out, with sinking legs and tired faces, expressive of +contempt. Once outside, on finding themselves again face to face with +healthy mother Nature in her springtide season, they breathed noisily +with an air of delight. It had barely struck four o'clock, the +slanting sun swept along the Champs Elysees and everything flared: the +serried rows of carriages, like the fresh foliage of the trees, and +the sheaf-like fountains which spouted up and whirled away in golden +dust. With a sauntering step they went hesitatingly down the central +avenue, and finally stranded in a little cafe, the Pavillon de la +Concorde, on the left, just before reaching the Place. The place was +so small that they sat down outside it at the edge of the footway, +despite the chill which fell from a vault of leaves, already fully +grown and gloomy. But beyond the four rows of chestnut-trees, beyond +the belt of verdant shade, they could see the sunlit roadway of the +main avenue where Paris passed before them as in a nimbus, the +carriages with their wheels radiating like stars, the big yellow +omnibuses, looking even more profusely gilded than triumphal chariots, +the horsemen whose steeds seemed to raise clouds of sparks, and the +foot passengers whom the light enveloped in splendour. + +And during nearly three hours, with his beer untasted before him, +Claude went on talking and arguing amid a growing fever, broken down +as he was in body, and with his mind full of all the painting he had +just seen. It was the usual winding up of their visit to the Salon, +though this year they were more impassioned on account of the liberal +measure of the Emperor. + +'Well, and what of it, if the public does laugh?' cried Claude. 'We +must educate the public, that's all. In reality it's a victory. Take +away two hundred grotesque canvases, and our Salon beats theirs. We +have courage and audacity--we are the future. Yes, yes, you'll see it +later on; we shall kill their Salon. We shall enter it as conquerors, +by dint of producing masterpieces. Laugh, laugh, you big stupid Paris +--laugh until you fall on your knees before us!' + +And stopping short, he pointed prophetically to the triumphal avenue, +where the luxury and happiness of the city went rolling by in the +sunlight. His arms stretched out till they embraced even the Place de +la Concorde, which could be seen slantwise from where they sat under +the trees--the Place de la Concorde, with the plashing water of one of +its fountains, a strip of balustrade, and two of its statues--Rouen, +with the gigantic bosom, and Lille, thrusting forward her huge bare +foot. + +'"In the open air"--it amuses them, eh?' he resumed. 'All right, since +they are bent on it, the "open air" then, the school of the "open +air!" Eh! it was a thing strictly between us, it didn't exist +yesterday beyond the circle of a few painters. But now they throw the +word upon the winds, and they found the school. Oh! I'm agreeable. Let +it be the school of the "open air!"' + +Jory slapped his thighs. + +'Didn't I tell you? I felt sure of making them bite with those +articles of mine, the idiots that they are. Ah! how we'll plague them +now.' + +Mahoudeau also was singing victory, constantly dragging in his +'Vintaging Girl,' the daring points of which he explained to the +silent Chaine, the only one who listened to him; while Gagniere, with +the sternness of a timid man waxing wroth over questions of pure +theory, spoke of guillotining the Institute; and Sandoz, with the +glowing sympathy of a hard worker, and Dubuche, giving way to the +contagion of revolutionary friendship, became exasperated, and struck +the table, swallowing up Paris with each draught of beer. Fagerolles, +very calm, retained his usual smile. He had accompanied them for the +sake of amusement, for the singular pleasure which he found in urging +his comrades into farcical affairs that were bound to turn out badly. +At the very moment when he was lashing their spirit of revolt, he +himself formed the firm resolution to work in future for the Prix de +Rome. That day had decided him; he thought it idiotic to compromise +his prospects any further. + +The sun was declining on the horizon, there was now only a returning +stream of carriages, coming back from the Bois in the pale golden +shimmer of the sunset. And the exodus from the Salon must have been +nearly over; a long string of pedestrians passed by, gentlemen who +looked like critics, each with a catalogue under his arm. + +But all at once Gagniere became enthusiastic: 'Ah! Courajod, there was +one who had his share in inventing landscape painting! Have you seen +his "Pond of Gagny" at the Luxembourg?' + +'A marvel!' exclaimed Claude. 'It was painted thirty years ago, and +nothing more substantial has been turned out since. Why is it left at +the Luxembourg? It ought to be in the Louvre.' + +'But Courajod isn't dead,' said Fagerolles. + +'What! Courajod isn't dead! No one ever sees him or speaks of him +now.' + +There was general stupefaction when Fagerolles assured them that the +great landscape painter, now seventy years of age, lived somewhere in +the neighbourhood of Montmartre, in a little house among his fowls, +ducks, and dogs. So one might outlive one's own glory! To think that +there were such melancholy instances of old artists disappearing +before their death! Silence fell upon them all; they began to shiver +when they perceived Bongrand pass by on a friend's arm, with a +congestive face and a nervous air as he waved his hand to them; while +almost immediately behind him, surrounded by his disciples, came +Chambouvard, laughing very loudly, and tapping his heels on the +pavement with the air of absolute mastery that comes from confidence +in immortality. + +'What! are you going?' said Mahoudeau to Chaine, who was rising from +his chair. + +The other mumbled some indistinct words in his beard, and went off +after distributing handshakes among the party. + +'I know,' said Jory to Mahoudeau. 'I believe he has a weakness for +your neighbour, the herbalist woman. I saw his eyes flash all at once; +it comes upon him like toothache. Look how he's running over there.' + +The sculptor shrugged his shoulders amidst the general laughter. + +But Claude did not hear. He was now discussing architecture with +Dubuche. No doubt, that plan of a museum gallery which he exhibited +wasn't bad; only there was nothing new in it. It was all so much +patient marquetry of the school formulas. Ought not all the arts to +advance in one line of battle? Ought not the evolution that was +transforming literature, painting, even music itself, to renovate +architecture as well? If ever the architecture of a period was to have +a style of its own, it was assuredly the architecture of the period +they would soon be entering, a new period when they would find the +ground freshly swept, ready for the rebuilding of everything. Down +with the Greek temples! there was no reason why they should continue +to exist under our sky, amid our society! down with the Gothic +cathedrals, since faith in legend was dead! down with the delicate +colonnades, the lace-like work of the Renaissance--that revival of the +antique grafted on mediaevalism--precious art-jewellery, no doubt, but +in which democracy could not dwell. And he demanded, he called with +violent gestures for an architectural formula suited to democracy; +such work in stone as would express its tenets; edifices where it +would really be at home; something vast and strong, great and simple +at the same time; the something that was already being indicated in +the new railway stations and markets, whose ironwork displayed such +solid elegance, but purified and raised to a standard of beauty, +proclaiming the grandeur of the intellectual conquests of the age. + +'Ah! yes, ah! yes,' repeated Dubuche, catching Claude's enthusiasm; +'that's what I want to accomplish, you'll see some day. Give me time +to succeed, and when I'm my own master--ah! when I'm my own master.' + +Night was coming on apace, and Claude was growing more and more +animated and passionate, displaying a fluency, an eloquence which his +comrades had not known him to possess. They all grew excited in +listening to him, and ended by becoming noisily gay over the +extraordinary witticisms he launched forth. He himself, having +returned to the subject of his picture, again discussed it with a deal +of gaiety, caricaturing the crowd he had seen looking at it, and +imitating the imbecile laughter. Along the avenue, now of an ashy hue, +one only saw the shadows of infrequent vehicles dart by. The side-walk +was quite black; an icy chill fell from the trees. Nothing broke the +stillness but the sound of song coming from a clump of verdure behind +the cafe; there was some rehearsal at the Concert de l'Horloge, for +one heard the sentimental voice of a girl trying a love-song. + +'Ah! how they amused me, the idiots!' exclaimed Claude, in a last +burst. 'Do you know, I wouldn't take a hundred thousand francs for my +day's pleasure!' + +Then he relapsed into silence, thoroughly exhausted. Nobody had any +saliva left; silence reigned; they all shivered in the icy gust that +swept by. And they separated in a sort of bewilderment, shaking hands +in a tired fashion. Dubuche was going to dine out; Fagerolles had an +appointment; in vain did Jory, Mahoudeau, and Gagniere try to drag +Claude to Foucart's, a twenty-five sous' restaurant; Sandoz was +already taking him away on his arm, feeling anxious at seeing him so +excited. + +'Come along, I promised my mother to be back for dinner. You'll take a +bit with us. It will be nice; we'll finish the day together.' + +They both went down the quay, past the Tuileries, walking side by side +in fraternal fashion. But at the Pont des Saints-Peres the painter +stopped short. + +'What, are you going to leave me?' exclaimed Sandoz. + +'Why, I thought you were going to dine with me?' + +'No, thanks; I've too bad a headache--I'm going home to bed.' + +And he obstinately clung to this excuse. + +'All right, old man,' said Sandoz at last, with a smile. 'One doesn't +see much of you nowadays. You live in mystery. Go on, old boy, I don't +want to be in your way.' + +Claude restrained a gesture of impatience; and, letting his friend +cross the bridge, he went his way along the quays by himself. He +walked on with his arms hanging beside him, with his face turned +towards the ground, seeing nothing, but taking long strides like a +somnambulist who is guided by instinct. On the Quai de Bourbon, in +front of his door, he looked up, full of surprise on seeing a cab +waiting at the edge of the foot pavement, and barring his way. And it +was with the same automatical step that he entered the doorkeeper's +room to take his key. + +'I have given it to that lady,' called Madame Joseph from the back of +the room. 'She is upstairs.' + +'What lady?' he asked in bewilderment. + +'That young person. Come, you know very well, the one who always +comes.' + +He had not the remotest idea whom she meant. Still, in his utter +confusion of mind, he decided to go upstairs. The key was in the door, +which he slowly opened and closed again. + +For a moment Claude stood stock still. Darkness had invaded the +studio; a violet dimness, a melancholy gloom fell from the large +window, enveloping everything. He could no longer plainly distinguish +either the floor, or the furniture, or the sketches; everything that +was lying about seemed to be melting in the stagnant waters of a pool. +But on the edge of the couch there loomed a dark figure, stiff with +waiting, anxious and despairing amid the last gasp of daylight. It was +Christine; he recognised her. + +She held out her hands, and murmured in a low, halting voice: + +'I have been here for three hours; yes, for three hours, all alone, +and listening. I took a cab on leaving there, and I only wanted to +stay a minute, and get back as soon as possible. But I should have +stayed all night; I could not go away without shaking hands with you.' + +She continued, and told him of her mad desire to see the picture; her +prank of going to the Salon, and how she had tumbled into it amidst +the storm of laughter, amidst the jeers of all those people. It was +she whom they had hissed like that; it was on herself that they had +spat. And seized with wild terror, distracted with grief and shame, +she had fled, as if she could feel that laughter lashing her like a +whip, until the blood flowed. But she now forgot about herself in her +concern for him, upset by the thought of the grief he must feel, for +her womanly sensibility magnified the bitterness of the repulse, and +she was eager to console. + +'Oh, friend, don't grieve! I wished to see and tell you that they are +jealous of it all, that I found the picture very nice, and that I feel +very proud and happy at having helped you--at being, if ever so +little, a part of it.' + +Still, motionless, he listened to her as she stammered those tender +words in an ardent voice, and suddenly he sank down at her feet, +letting his head fall upon her knees, and bursting into tears. All his +excitement of the afternoon, all the bravery he had shown amidst the +jeering, all his gaiety and violence now collapsed, in a fit of sobs +which well nigh choked him. From the gallery where the laughter had +buffeted him, he heard it pursuing him through the Champs Elysees, +then along the banks of the Seine, and now in his very studio. His +strength was utterly spent; he felt weaker than a child; and rolling +his head from one side to another he repeated in a stifled voice: + +'My God! how I do suffer!' + +Then she, with both hands, raised his face to her lips in a transport +of passion. She kissed him, and with her warm breath she blew to his +very heart the words: 'Be quiet, be quiet, I love you!' + +They adored each other; it was inevitable. Near them, on the centre of +the table, the lilac she had sent him that morning embalmed the night +air, and, alone shiny with lingering light, the scattered particles of +gold leaf, wafted from the frame of the big picture, twinkled like a +swarming of stars. + + + + VI + +THE very next morning, at seven o'clock, Christine was at the studio, +her face still flushed by the falsehood which she had told Madame +Vanzade about a young friend from Clermont whom she was to meet at the +station, and with whom she should spend the day. + +Claude, overjoyed by the idea of spending a whole day with her, wanted +to take her into the country, far away under the glorious sunlight, so +as to have her entirely to himself. She was delighted; they scampered +off like lunatics, and reached the St. Lazare Station just in time to +catch the Havre train. He knew, beyond Mantes, a little village called +Bennecourt, where there was an artists' inn which he had at times +invaded with some comrades; and careless as to the two hours' rail, he +took her to lunch there, just as he would have taken her to Asnieres. +She made very merry over this journey, to which there seemed no end. +So much the better if it were to take them to the end of the world! It +seemed to them as if evening would never come. + +At ten o'clock they alighted at Bonnieres; and there they took the +ferry--an old ferry-boat that creaked and grated against its chain +--for Bennecourt is situated on the opposite bank of the Seine. It was +a splendid May morning, the rippling waters were spangled with gold in +the sunlight, the young foliage showed delicately green against the +cloudless azure. And, beyond the islets situated at this point of the +river, how delightful it was to find the country inn, with its little +grocery business attached, its large common room smelling of soapsuds, +and its spacious yard full of manure, on which the ducks disported +themselves. + +'Hallo, Faucheur! we have come to lunch. An omelette, some sausages, +and some cheese, eh?' + +'Are you going to stay the night, Monsieur Claude?' + +'No, no; another time. And some white wine; eh? you know that pinky +wine, that grates a bit in the throat.' + +Christine had already followed mother Faucheur to the barn-yard, and +when the latter came back with her eggs, she asked Claude with her +artful peasant's laugh: + +'And so now you're married?' + +'Well,' replied the painter without hesitation, 'it looks like it +since I'm with my wife.' + +The lunch was exquisite: the omelette overdone, the sausages too +greasy, and the bread so hard that he had to cut it into fingers for +Christine lest she should hurt her wrist. They emptied two bottles of +wine, and began a third, becoming so gay and noisy that they ended by +feeling bewildered in the long room, where they partook of the meal +all alone. She, with her cheeks aflame, declared that she was tipsy; +it had never happened to her before, and she thought it very funny. +Oh! so funny, and she burst into uncontrollable laughter. + +'Let us get a breath of air,' she said at last. + +'Yes, let's take a stroll. We must start back at four o'clock; so we +have three hours before us.' + +They went up the village of Bennecourt, whose yellow houses straggle +along the river bank for about a couple of thousand yards. All the +villagers were in the fields; they only met three cows, led by a +little girl. He, with an outstretched arm, told her all about the +locality; seemed to know whither he was going, and when they had +reached the last house--an old building, standing on the bank of the +Seine, just opposite the slopes of Jeufosse--turned round it, and +entered a wood of oak trees. It was like the end of the world, roofed +in with foliage, through which the sun alone penetrated in narrow +tongues of flame. And there they could stroll and talk and kiss in +freedom. + +When at last it became necessary for them to retrace their steps, +they found a peasant standing at the open doorway of the house by +the wood-side. Claude recognised the man and called to him: + +'Hallo, Porrette! Does that shanty belong to you?' + +At this the old fellow, with tears in his eyes, related that it did, +and that his tenants had gone away without paying him, leaving their +furniture behind. And he invited them inside. + +'There's no harm in looking; you may know somebody who would like to +take the place. There are many Parisians who'd be glad of it. Three +hundred francs a year, with the furniture; it's for nothing, eh?' + +They inquisitively followed him inside. It was a rambling old place +that seemed to have been cut out of a barn. Downstairs they found an +immense kitchen and a dining-room, in which one might have given a +dance; upstairs were two rooms also, so vast that one seemed lost in +them. As for the furniture, it consisted of a walnut bedstead in one +of the rooms, and of a table and some household utensils in the +kitchen. But in front of the house the neglected garden was planted +with magnificent apricot trees, and overgrown with large rose-bushes +in full bloom; while at the back there was a potato field reaching as +far as the oak wood, and surrounded by a quick-set hedge. + +'I'd leave the potatoes as they are,' said old Porrette. + +Claude and Christine looked at each other with one of those sudden +cravings for solitude and forgetfulness common to lovers. Ah! how +sweet it would be to love one another there in the depths of that +nook, so far away from everybody else! But they smiled. Was such a +thing to be thought of? They had barely time to catch the train that +was to take them back to Paris. And the old peasant, who was Madame +Faucheur's father, accompanied them along the river bank, and as they +were stepping into the ferry-boat, shouted to them, after quite an +inward struggle: + +'You know, I'll make it two hundred and fifty francs--send me some +people.' + +On reaching Paris, Claude accompanied Christine to Madame Vanzade's +door. They had grown very sad. They exchanged a long handshake, silent +and despairing, not daring to kiss each other there. + +A life of torment then began. In the course of a fortnight she was +only able to call on three occasions; and she arrived panting, having +but a few minutes at her disposal, for it so happened that the old +lady had just then become very exacting. Claude questioned her, +feeling uneasy at seeing her look so pale and out of sorts, with her +eyes bright with fever. Never had that pious house, that vault, +without air or light, where she died of boredom, caused her so much +suffering. Her fits of giddiness had come upon her again; the want of +exercise made the blood throb in her temples. She owned to him that +she had fainted one evening in her room, as if she had been suddenly +strangled by a leaden hand. Still she did not say a word against her +employer; on the contrary, she softened on speaking of her: the poor +creature, so old and so infirm, and so kind-hearted, who called her +daughter! She felt as if she were committing a wicked act each time +that she forsook her to hurry to her lover's. + +Two more weeks went by, and the falsehoods with which Christine had to +buy, as it were, each hour of liberty became intolerable to her. She +loved, she would have liked to proclaim it aloud, and her feelings +revolted at having to hide her love like a crime, at having to lie +basely, like a servant afraid of being sent away. + +At last, one evening in the studio, at the moment when she was +leaving, she threw herself with a distracted gesture into Claude's +arms, sobbing with suffering and passion. 'Ah! I cannot, I cannot +--keep me with you; prevent me from going back.' + +He had caught hold of her, and was almost smothering her with kisses. + +'You really love me, then! Oh, my darling! But I am so very poor, and +you would lose everything. Can I allow you to forego everything like +this?' + +She sobbed more violently still; her halting words were choked by her +tears. + +'The money, eh? which she might leave me? Do you think I calculate? I +have never thought of it, I swear it to you! Ah! let her keep +everything and let me be free! I have no ties, no relatives; can't I +be allowed to do as I like?' + +Then, in a last sob of agony: 'Ah, you are right; it's wrong to desert +the poor woman. Ah! I despise myself. I wish I had the strength. But I +love you too much, I suffer too much; surely you won't let me die?' + +'Oh!' he cried in a passionate transport. 'Let others die, there are +but we two on earth.' + +It was all so much madness. Christine left Madame Vanzade in the most +brutal fashion. She took her trunk away the very next morning. She and +Claude had at once remembered the deserted old house at Bennecourt, +the giant rose-bushes, the immense rooms. Ah! to go away, to go away +without the loss of an hour, to live at the world's end in all the +bliss of their passion! She clapped her hands for very joy. He, still +smarting from his defeat, at the Salon, and anxious to recover from +it, longed for complete rest in the country; yonder he would find the +real 'open air,' he would work away with grass up to his neck and +bring back masterpieces. In a couple of days everything was ready, the +studio relinquished, the few household chattels conveyed to the +railway station. Besides, they met with a slice of luck, for Papa +Malgras gave some five hundred francs for a score of sketches, +selected from among the waifs and strays of the removal. Thus they +would be able to live like princes. Claude still had his income of a +thousand francs a year; Christine, too, had saved some money, besides +having her outfit and dresses. And away they went; it was perfect +flight, friends avoided and not even warned by letter, Paris despised +and forsaken amid laughter expressive of relief. + +June was drawing to a close, and the rain fell in torrents during the +week they spent in arranging their new home. They discovered that old +Porrette had taken away half the kitchen utensils before signing the +agreement. But that matter did not affect them. They took a delight in +dabbling about amidst the showers; they made journeys three leagues +long, as far as Vernon, to buy plates and saucepans, which they +brought back with them in triumph. At last they got shipshape, +occupying one of the upstairs rooms, abandoning the other to the mice, +and transforming the dining-room into a studio; and, above all, as +happy as children at taking their meals in the kitchen off a deal +table, near the hearth where the soup sang in the pot. To wait upon +them they engaged a girl from the village, who came every morning and +went home at night. She was called Melie, she was a niece of the +Faucheurs, and her stupidity delighted them. In fact, one could not +have found a greater idiot in the whole region. + +The sun having shown itself again, some delightful days followed, the +months slipping away amid monotonous felicity. They never knew the +date, they were for ever mixing up the days of the week. Every day, +after the second breakfast, came endless strolls, long walks across +the tableland planted with apple trees, over the grassy country roads, +along the banks of the Seine through the meadows as far as La +Roche-Guyon; and there were still more distant explorations, perfect +journeys on the opposite side of the river, amid the cornfields of +Bonnieres and Jeufosse. A person who was obliged to leave the +neighbourhood sold them an old boat for thirty francs, so that they +also had the river at their disposal, and, like savages, became seized +with a passion for it, living on its waters for days together, rowing +about, discovering new countries, and lingering for hours under the +willows on the banks, or in little creeks, dark with shade. Betwixt +the eyots scattered along the stream there was a shifting and +mysterious city, a network of passages along which, with the lower +branches of the trees caressingly brushing against them, they softly +glided, alone, as it were, in the world, with the ringdoves and the +kingfishers. He at times had to spring out upon the sand, with bare +legs, to push off the skiff. She bravely plied the oars, bent on +forcing her way against the strongest currents, and exulting in her +strength. And in the evening they ate cabbage soup in the kitchen, +laughing at Melie's stupidity, as they had laughed at it the day +before; to begin the morrow just in the same fashion. + +Every evening, however, Christine said to Claude: + +'Now, my dear, you must promise me one thing--that you'll set to work +to-morrow.' + +'Yes, to-morrow; I give you my word.' + +'And you know if you don't, I shall really get angry this time. Is it +I who prevent you?' + +'You! what an idea. Since I came here to work--dash it all! you'll see +to-morrow.' + +On the morrow they started off again in the skiff; she looked at him +with an embarrassed smile when she saw that he took neither canvas nor +colours. Then she kissed him, laughing, proud of her power, moved by +the constant sacrifice he made to her. And then came fresh +affectionate remonstrances: 'To-morrow, ah! to-morrow she would tie +him to his easel!' + +However, Claude did make some attempts at work. He began a study of +the slopes of Jeufosse, with the Seine in the foreground; but +Christine followed him to the islet where he had installed himself, +and sat down on the grass close to him with parted lips, her eyes +watching the blue sky. And she looked so pretty there amidst the +verdure, in that solitude, where nothing broke the silence but the +rippling of the water, that every minute he relinquished his palette +to nestle by her side. On another occasion, he was altogether charmed +by an old farmhouse, shaded by some antiquated apple trees which had +grown to the size of oaks. He came thither two days in succession, but +on the third Christine took him to the market at Bonnieres to buy some +hens. The next day was also lost; the canvas had dried; then he grew +impatient in trying to work at it again, and finally abandoned it +altogether. Throughout the warm weather he thus made but a pretence to +work--barely roughing out little bits of painting, which he laid aside +on the first pretext, without an effort at perseverance. His passion +for toil, that fever of former days that had made him rise at daybreak +to battle with his rebellious art, seemed to have gone; a reaction of +indifference and laziness had set in, and he vegetated delightfully, +like one who is recovering from some severe illness. + +But Christine lived indeed. All the latent passion of her nature burst +into being. She was indeed an amorosa, a child of nature and of love. + +Thus their days passed by and solitude did not prove irksome to them. +No desire for diversion, of paying or receiving visits, as yet made +them look beyond themselves. Such hours as she did not spend near him, +she employed in household cares, turning the house upside down with +great cleanings, which Melie executed under her supervision, and +falling into fits of reckless activity, which led her to engage in +personal combats with the few saucepans in the kitchen. The garden +especially occupied her; provided with pruning shears, careless of the +thorns which lacerated her hands, she reaped harvests of roses from +the giant rose-bushes; and she gave herself a thorough back-ache in +gathering the apricots, which she sold for two hundred francs to some +of the Englishmen who scoured the district every year. She was very +proud of her bargain, and seriously talked of living upon the garden +produce. Claude cared less for gardening; he had placed his couch in +the large dining-room, transformed into a studio; and he stretched +himself upon it, and through the open window watched her sow and +plant. There was profound peace, the certainty that nobody would come, +that no ring at the bell would disturb them at any moment of the day. +Claude carried this fear of coming into contact with people so far as +to avoid passing Faucheur's inn, for he dreaded lest he might run +against some party of chums from Paris. Not a soul came, however, +throughout the livelong summer. And every night as they went upstairs, +he repeated that, after all, it was deuced lucky. + +There was, however, a secret sore in the depths of his happiness. +After their flight from Paris, Sandoz had learnt their address, and +had written to ask whether he might go to see Claude, but the latter +had not answered the letter, and so coolness had followed, and the old +friendship seemed dead. Christine was grieved at this, for she +realised well enough that he had broken off all intercourse with his +comrades for her sake. She constantly reverted to the subject; she did +not want to estrange him from his friends, and indeed she insisted +that he should invite them. But, though he promised to set matters +right, he did nothing of the kind. It was all over; what was the use +of raking up the past? + +However, money having become scarce towards the latter days of July, +he was obliged to go to Paris to sell Papa Malgras half a dozen of his +old studies, and Christine, on accompanying him to the station, made +him solemnly promise that he would go to see Sandoz. In the evening +she was there again, at the Bonnieres Station, waiting for him. + +'Well, did you see him? did you embrace each other?' + +He began walking by her side in silent embarrassment. Then he answered +in a husky voice: + +'No; I hadn't time.' + +Thereupon, sorely distressed, with two big tears welling to her eyes, +she replied: + +'You grieve me very much indeed.' + +Then, as they were walking under the trees, he kissed her, crying +also, and begging her not to make him sadder still. 'Could people +alter life? Did it not suffice that they were happy together?' + +During the earlier months they only once met some strangers. This +occurred a little above Bennecourt, in the direction of La +Roche-Guyon. They were strolling along a deserted, wooded lane, one of +those delightful dingle paths of the region, when, at a turning, they +came upon three middle-class people out for a walk--father, mother, +and daughter. It precisely happened that, believing themselves to be +quite alone, Claude and Christine had passed their arms round each +other's waists; she, bending towards him, was offering her lips; while +he laughingly protruded his; and their surprise was so sudden that +they did not change their attitude, but, still clasped together, +advanced at the same slow pace. The amazed family remained transfixed +against one of the side banks, the father stout and apoplectic, the +mother as thin as a knife-blade, and the daughter, a mere shadow, +looking like a sick bird moulting--all three of them ugly, moreover, +and but scantily provided with the vitiated blood of their race. They +looked disgraceful amidst the throbbing life of nature, beneath the +glorious sun. And all at once the sorry girl, who with stupefied eyes +thus watched love passing by, was pushed off by her father, dragged +along by her mother, both beside themselves, exasperated by the sight +of that embrace, and asking whether there was no longer any country +police, while, still without hurrying, the lovers went off +triumphantly in their glory. + +Claude, however, was wondering and searching his memory. Where had he +previously seen those heads, so typical of bourgeois degeneracy, those +flattened, crabbed faces reeking of millions earned at the expense of +the poor? It was assuredly in some important circumstance of his life. +And all at once he remembered; they were the Margaillans, the man was +that building contractor whom Dubuche had promenaded through the Salon +of the Rejected, and who had laughed in front of his picture with the +roaring laugh of a fool. A couple of hundred steps further on, as he +and Christine emerged from the lane and found themselves in front of a +large estate, where a big white building stood, girt with fine trees, +they learnt from an old peasant woman that La Richaudiere, as it was +called, had belonged to the Margaillans for three years past. They had +paid fifteen hundred thousand francs for it, and had just spent more +than a million in improvements. + +'That part of the country won't see much of us in future,' said +Claude, as they returned to Bennecourt. 'Those monsters spoil the +landscape.' + +Towards the end of the summer, an important event changed the current +of their lives. Christine was _enceinte_. At first, both she and +Claude felt amazed and worried. Now for the first time they seemed to +dread some terrible complications in their life. Later on, however, +they gradually grew accustomed to the thought of what lay before them +and made all necessary preparations. But the winter proved a terribly +inclement one, and Christine was compelled to remain indoors, whilst +Claude went walking all alone over the frost-bound, clanking roads. +And he, finding himself in solitude during these walks, after months +of constant companionship, wondered at the way his life had turned, +against his own will, as it were. He had never wished for home life +even with her; had he been consulted, he would have expressed his +horror of it; it had come about, however, and could not be undone, +for--without mentioning the child--he was one of those who lack the +courage to break off. This fate had evidently been in store for him, +he felt; he had been destined to succumb to the first woman who did +not feel ashamed of him. The hard ground resounded beneath his +wooden-soled shoes, and the blast froze the current of his reverie, +which lingered on vague thoughts, on his luck of having, at any rate, +met with a good and honest girl, on how cruelly he would have suffered +had it been otherwise. And then his love came back to him; he hurried +home to take Christine in his trembling arms as if he had been in +danger of losing her. + +The child, a boy, was born about the middle of February, and at once +began to revolutionise the home, for Christine, who had shown herself +such an active housewife, proved to be a very awkward nurse. She +failed to become motherly, despite her kind heart and her distress at +the sight of the slightest pimple. She soon grew weary, gave in, and +called for Melie, who only made matters worse by her gaping stupidity. +The father had to come to the rescue, and proved still more awkward +than the two women. The discomfort which needlework had caused +Christine of old, her want of aptitude as regards the usual +occupations of her sex, revived amid the cares that the baby required. +The child was ill-kept, and grew up anyhow in the garden, or in the +large rooms left untidy in sheer despair, amidst broken toys, +uncleanliness and destruction. And when matters became too bad +altogether, Christine could only throw herself upon the neck of the +man she loved. She was pre-eminently an amorosa and would have +sacrificed her son for his father twenty times over. + +It was at this period, however, that Claude resumed work a little. The +winter was drawing to a close; he did not know how to spend the bright +sunny mornings, since Christine could no longer go out before mid-day +on account of Jacques, whom they had named thus after his maternal +grandfather, though they neglected to have him christened. Claude +worked in the garden, at first, in a random way: made a rough sketch +of the lines of apricot trees, roughed out the giant rose-bushes, +composed some bits of 'still life,' out of four apples, a bottle, and +a stoneware jar, disposed on a table-napkin. This was only to pass his +time. But afterwards he warmed to his work; the idea of painting a +figure in the full sunlight ended by haunting him; and from that +moment his wife became his victim, she herself agreeable enough, +offering herself, feeling happy at affording him pleasure, without as +yet understanding what a terrible rival she was giving herself in art. +He painted her a score of times, dressed in white, in red, amidst the +verdure, standing, walking, or reclining on the grass, wearing a +wide-brimmed straw hat, or bare-headed, under a parasol, the +cherry-tinted silk of which steeped her features in a pinky glow. He +never felt wholly satisfied; he scratched out the canvases after two +or three sittings, and at once began them afresh, obstinately sticking +to the same subject. Only a few studies, incomplete, but charmingly +indicated in a vigorous style, were saved from the palette-knife, and +hung against the walls of the dining-room. + +And after Christine it became Jacques' turn to pose. They stripped him +to the skin, like a little St. John the Baptist, on warm days, and +stretched him on a blanket, where he was told not to stir. But devil a +bit could they make him keep still. Getting frisky, in the sunlight, +he crowed and kicked with his tiny pink feet in the air, rolling about +and turning somersaults. The father, after laughing, became angry, and +swore at the tiresome mite, who would not keep quiet for a minute. Who +ever heard of trifling with painting? Then the mother made big eyes at +the little one, and held him while the painter quickly sketched an arm +or a leg. Claude obstinately kept at it for weeks, tempted as he felt +by the pretty tones of that childish skin. It was not as a father, but +as an artist, that he gloated over the boy as the subject for a +masterpiece, blinking his eyes the while, and dreaming of some +wonderful picture he would paint. And he renewed the experiment again +and again, watching the lad for days, and feeling furious when the +little scamp would not go to sleep at times when he, Claude, might so +well have painted him. + +One day, when Jacques was sobbing, refusing to keep still, Christine +gently remarked: + +'My dear, you tire the poor pet.' + +At this Claude burst forth, full of remorse: + +'After all! you are right; I'm a fool with this painting of mine. +Children are not intended for that sort of thing.' + +The spring and summer sped by amidst great quietude. They went out +less often; they had almost given up the boat, which finished rotting +against the bank, for it was quite a job to take the little one with +them among the islets. But they often strolled along the banks of the +Seine, without, however, going farther afield than a thousand yards or +so. Claude, tired of the everlasting views in the garden, now +attempted some sketches by the river-side, and on such days Christine +went to fetch him with the child, sitting down to watch him paint, +until they all three returned home with flagging steps, beneath the +ashen dusk of waning daylight. One afternoon Claude was surprised to +see Christine bring with her the old album which she had used as a +young girl. She joked about it, and explained that to sit behind him +like that had roused in her a wish to work herself. Her voice was a +little unsteady as she spoke; the truth was that she felt a longing to +share his labour, since this labour took him away from her more and +more each day. She drew and ventured to wash in two or three +water-colours in the careful style of a school-girl. Then, discouraged +by his smiles, feeling that no community of ideas would be arrived at +on that ground, she once more put her album aside, making him promise +to give her some lessons in painting whenever he should have time. + +Besides, she thought his more recent pictures very pretty. After that +year of rest in the open country, in the full sunlight, he painted +with fresh and clearer vision, as it were, with a more harmonious and +brighter colouring. He had never before been able to treat reflections +so skilfully, or possessed a more correct perception of men and things +steeped in diffuse light. And henceforth, won over by that feast of +colours, she would have declared it all capital if he would only have +condescended to finish his work a little more, and if she had not +remained nonplussed now and then before a mauve ground or a blue tree, +which upset all her preconceived notions of colour. One day when she +ventured upon a bit of criticism, precisely about an azure-tinted +poplar, he made her go to nature and note for herself the delicate +bluishness of the foliage. It was true enough, the tree was blue; but +in her inmost heart she did not surrender, and condemned reality; +there ought not to be any blue trees in nature. + +She no longer spoke but gravely of the studies hanging in the +dining-room. Art was returning into their lives, and it made her muse. +When she saw him go off with his bag, his portable easel, and his +sunshade, it often happened that she flung herself upon his neck, +asking: + +'You love me, say?' + +'How silly you are! Why shouldn't I love you?' + +'Then kiss me, since you love me, kiss me a great deal, a great deal.' + +Then accompanying him as far as the road, she added: + +'And mind you work; you know that I have never prevented you from +working. Go, go; I am very pleased when you work.' + +Anxiety seemed to seize hold of Claude, when the autumn of the second +year tinged the leaves yellow, and ushered in the cold weather. The +season happened to be abominable; a fortnight of pouring rain kept him +idle at home; and then fog came at every moment, hindering his work. +He sat in front of the fire, out of sorts; he never spoke of Paris, +but the city rose up over yonder, on the horizon, the winter city, +with its gaslamps flaring already at five o'clock, its gatherings of +friends, spurring each other on to emulation, and its life of ardent +production, which even the frosts of December could not slacken. He +went there thrice in one month, on the pretext of seeing Malgras, to +whom he had, again, sold a few small pictures. He no longer avoided +passing in front of Faucheur's inn; he even allowed himself to be +waylaid at times by old Porrette, and to accept a glass of white wine +at the inn, and his glance scoured the room as if, despite the season, +he had been looking for some comrades of yore, who had arrived there, +perchance, that morning. He lingered as if awaiting them; then, in +despair at his solitude, he returned home, stifling with all that was +fermenting within him, ill at having nobody to whom he might shout the +thoughts which made his brain almost burst. + +However, the winter went by, and Claude had the consolation of being +able to paint some lovely snow scenes. A third year was beginning, +when, towards the close of May, an unexpected meeting filled him with +emotion. He had that morning climbed up to the plateau to find a +subject, having at last grown tired of the banks of the Seine; and at +the bend of a road he stopped short in amazement on seeing Dubuche, in +a silk hat, and carefully-buttoned frock coat, coming towards him, +between the double row of elder hedges. + +'What! is it you?' + +The architect stammered from sheer vexation: + +'Yes, I am going to pay a visit. It's confoundedly idiotic in the +country, eh? But it can't be helped. There are certain things one's +obliged to do. And you live near here, eh? I knew--that is to say, I +didn't. I had been told something about it, but I thought it was on +the opposite side, farther down.' + +Claude, very much moved at seeing him, helped him out of his +difficulty. + +'All right, all right, old man, there is no need to apologise. I am +the most guilty party. Ah! it's a long while since we saw one another! +If you knew what a thump my heart gave when I saw your nose appear +from behind the leaves!' + +Then he took his arm and accompanied him, giggling with pleasure, +while the other, in his constant worry about his future, which always +made him talk about himself, at once began speaking of his prospects. +He had just become a first-class pupil at the School, after securing +the regulation 'honourable mentions,' with infinite trouble. But his +success left him as perplexed as ever. His parents no longer sent him +a penny, they wailed about their poverty so much that he might have to +support them in his turn. He had given up the idea of competing for +the Prix de Rome, feeling certain of being beaten in the effort, and +anxious to earn his living. And he was weary already; sick at scouring +the town, at earning twenty-five sous an hour from ignorant +architects, who treated him like a hodman. What course should he +adopt? How was he to guess at the shortest route? He might leave the +School; he would get a lift from his master, the influential +Dequersonniere, who liked him for his docility and diligence; only +what a deal of trouble and uncertainty there would still be before +him! And he bitterly complained of the Government schools, where one +slaved away for years, and which did not even provide a position for +all those whom they cast upon the pavement. + +Suddenly he stopped in the middle of the path. The elder hedges were +leading to an open plain, and La Richaudiere appeared amid its lofty +trees. + +'Hold hard! of course,' exclaimed Claude, 'I hadn't thought about it +--you're going to that shanty. Oh! the baboons; there's a lot of ugly +mugs, if you like!' + +Dubuche, looking vexed at this outburst of artistic feeling, protested +stiffly. 'All the same, Papa Margaillan, idiot as he seems to you, is +a first-rate man of business. You should see him in his +building-yards, among the houses he runs up, as active as the very +fiend, showing marvellous good management, and a wonderful scent as to +the right streets to build and what materials to buy! Besides, one +does not earn millions without becoming a gentleman. And then, too, it +would be very silly of me not to be polite to a man who can be useful +to me.' + +While talking, he barred the narrow path, preventing his friend from +advancing further--no doubt from a fear of being compromised by being +seen in his company, and in order to make him understand that they +ought to separate there. + +Claude was on the point of inquiring about their comrades in Paris, +but he kept silent. Not even a word was said respecting Christine, and +he was reluctantly deciding to quit Dubuche, holding out his hand to +take leave, when, in spite of himself, this question fell from his +quivering lips: + +'And is Sandoz all right?' + +'Yes, he's pretty well. I seldom see him. He spoke to me about you +last month. He is still grieved at your having shown us the door.' + +'But I didn't show you the door,' exclaimed Claude, beside himself. +'Come and see me, I beg of you. I shall be so glad!' + +'All right, then, we'll come. I'll tell him to come, I give you my +word--good-bye, old man, good-bye; I'm in a hurry.' + +And Dubuche went off towards La Richaudiere, whilst Claude watched his +figure dwindle as he crossed the cultivated plain, until nothing +remained but the shiny silk of his hat and the black spot of his coat. +The young man returned home slowly, his heart bursting with nameless +sadness. However, he said nothing about this meeting to Christine. + +A week later she had gone to Faucheur's to buy a pound of vermicelli, +and was lingering on her way back, gossiping with a neighbour, with +her child on her arm, when a gentleman who alighted from the +ferry-boat approached and asked her: + +'Does not Monsieur Claude Lantier live near here?' + +She was taken aback, and simply answered: + +'Yes, monsieur; if you'll kindly follow me--' + +They walked on side by side for about a hundred yards. The stranger, +who seemed to know her, had glanced at her with a good-natured smile; +but as she hurried on, trying to hide her embarrassment by looking +very grave, he remained silent. She opened the door and showed the +visitor into the studio, exclaiming: + +'Claude, here is somebody for you.' + +Then a loud cry rang out; the two men were already in each other's +arms. + +'Oh, my good old Pierre! how kind of you to come! And Dubuche?' + +'He was prevented at the last moment by some business, and he sent me +a telegram to go without him.' + +'All right, I half expected it; but you are here. By the thunder of +heaven, I am glad!' + +And, turning towards Christine, who was smiling, sharing their +delight: + +'It's true, I didn't tell you. But the other day I met Dubuche, who +was going up yonder, to the place where those monsters live--' + +But he stopped short again, and then with a wild gesture shouted: + +'I'm losing my wits, upon my word. You have never spoken to each +other, and I leave you there like that. My dear, you see this +gentleman? He's my old chum, Pierre Sandoz, whom I love like a +brother. And you, my boy; let me introduce my wife. And you have got +to give each other a kiss.' + +Christine began to laugh outright, and tendered her cheek heartily. +Sandoz had pleased her at once with his good-natured air, his sound +friendship, the fatherly sympathy with which he looked at her. Tears +of emotion came to her eyes as he kept both her hands in his, saying: + +'It is very good of you to love Claude, and you must love each other +always, for love is, after all, the best thing in life.' + +Then, bending to kiss the little one, whom she had on her arm, he +added: 'So there's one already!' + +While Christine, preparing lunch, turned the house up-side down, +Claude retained Sandoz in the studio. In a few words he told him the +whole of the story, who she was, how they had met each other, and what +had led them to start housekeeping together, and he seemed to be +surprised when his friend asked him why they did not get married. In +faith, why? Because they had never even spoken about it, because they +would certainly be neither more nor less happy; in short it was a +matter of no consequence whatever. + +'Well,' said the other, 'it makes no difference to me; but, if she was +a good and honest girl when she came to you, you ought to marry her.' + +'Why, I'll marry her whenever she likes, old man. Surely I don't mean +to leave her in the lurch!' + +Sandoz then began to marvel at the studies hanging on the walls. Ha, +the scamp had turned his time to good account! What accuracy of +colouring! What a dash of real sunlight! And Claude, who listened to +him, delighted, and laughing proudly, was just going to question him +about the comrades in Paris, about what they were all doing, when +Christine reappeared, exclaiming: 'Make haste, the eggs are on the +table.' + +They lunched in the kitchen, and an extraordinary lunch it was; a dish +of fried gudgeons after the boiled eggs; then the beef from the soup +of the night before, arranged in salad fashion, with potatoes, and a +red herring. It was delicious; there was the pungent and appetising +smell of the herring which Melie had upset on the live embers, and the +song of the coffee, as it passed, drop by drop, into the pot standing +on the range; and when the dessert appeared--some strawberries just +gathered, and a cream cheese from a neighbour's dairy--they gossiped +and gossiped with their elbows squarely set on the table. In Paris? +Well, to tell the truth, the comrades were doing nothing very original +in Paris. And yet they were fighting their way, jostling each other in +order to get first to the front. Of course, the absent ones missed +their chance; it was as well to be there if one did not want to be +altogether forgotten. But was not talent always talent? Wasn't a man +always certain to get on with strength and will? Ah! yes, it was a +splendid dream to live in the country, to accumulate masterpieces, and +then, one day, to crush Paris by simply opening one's trunks. + +In the evening, when Claude accompanied Sandoz to the station, the +latter said to him: + +'That reminds me, I wanted to tell you something. I think I am going +to get married.' + +The painter burst out laughing. + +'Ah, you wag, now I understand why you gave me a lecture this +morning.' + +While waiting for the train to arrive, they went on chatting. Sandoz +explained his ideas on marriage, which, in middle-class fashion, he +considered an indispensable condition for good work, substantial +orderly labour, among great modern producers. The theory of woman +being a destructive creature--one who killed an artist, pounded his +heart, and fed upon his brain--was a romantic idea against which facts +protested. Besides, as for himself, he needed an affection that would +prove the guardian of his tranquillity, a loving home, where he might +shut himself up, so as to devote his whole life to the huge work which +he ever dreamt of. And he added that everything depended upon a man's +choice--that he believed he had found what he had been looking for, an +orphan, the daughter of petty tradespeople, without a penny, but +handsome and intelligent. For the last six months, after resigning his +clerkship, he had embraced journalism, by which he gained a larger +income. He had just moved his mother to a small house at Batignolles, +where the three would live together--two women to love him, and he +strong enough to provide for the household. + +'Get married, old man,' said Claude. 'One should act according to +one's feelings. And good-bye, for here's your train. Don't forget your +promise to come and see us again.' + +Sandoz returned very often. He dropped in at odd times whenever his +newspaper work allowed him, for he was still free, as he was not to be +married till the autumn. Those were happy days, whole afternoons of +mutual confidences when all their old determination to secure fame +revived. + +One day, while Sandoz was alone with Claude on an island of the Seine, +both of them lying there with their eyes fixed on the sky, he told the +painter of his vast ambition, confessed himself aloud. + +'Journalism, let me tell you, is only a battle-ground. A man must +live, and he has to fight to do so. Then, again, that wanton, the +Press, despite the unpleasant phases of the profession, is after all a +tremendous power, a resistless weapon in the hands of a fellow with +convictions. But if I am obliged to avail myself of journalism, I +don't mean to grow grey in it! Oh, dear no! And, besides, I've found +what I wanted, a machine that'll crush one with work, something I'm +going to plunge into, perhaps never to come out of it.' + +Silence reigned amid the foliage, motionless in the dense heat. He +resumed speaking more slowly and in jerky phrases: + +'To study man as he is, not man the metaphysical puppet but +physiological man, whose nature is determined by his surroundings, and +to show all his organism in full play. That's my idea! Is it not +farcical that some should constantly and exclusively study the +functions of the brain on the pretext that the brain alone is the +noble part of our organism? Thought, thought, confound it all! thought +is the product of the whole body. Let them try to make a brain think +by itself alone; see what becomes of the nobleness of the brain when +the stomach is ailing! No, no, it's idiotic; there is no philosophy +nor science in it! We are positivists, evolutionists, and yet we are +to stick to the literary lay-figures of classic times, and continue +disentangling the tangled locks of pure reason! He who says +psychologist says traitor to truth. Besides, psychology, physiology, +it all signifies nothing. The one has become blended with the other, +and both are but one nowadays, the mechanism of man leading to the sum +total of his functions. Ah, the formula is there, our modern +revolution has no other basis; it means the certain death of old +society, the birth of a new one, and necessarily the upspringing of a +new art in a new soil. Yes, people will see what literature will +sprout forth for the coming century of science and democracy.' + +His cry uprose and was lost in the immense vault of heaven. Not a +breath stirred; there was nought but the silent ripple of the river +past the willows. And Sandoz turned abruptly towards his companion, +and said to him, face to face: + +'So I have found what I wanted for myself. Oh, it isn't much, a little +corner of study only, but one that should be sufficient for a man's +life, even when his ambition is over-vast. I am going to take a +family, and I shall study its members, one by one, whence they come, +whither they go, how they re-act one upon another--in short, I shall +have mankind in a small compass, the way in which mankind grows and +behaves. On the other hand, I shall set my men and women in some given +period of history, which will provide me with the necessary +surroundings and circumstances,--you understand, eh? a series of +books, fifteen, twenty books, episodes that will cling together, +although each will have a separate framework, a series of novels with +which I shall be able to build myself a house for my old days, if they +don't crush me!' + +He fell on his back again, spread out his arms on the grass, as if he +wanted to sink into the earth, laughing and joking all the while. + +'Oh, beneficent earth, take me unto thee, thou who art our common +mother, our only source of life! thou the eternal, the immortal one, +in whom circulates the soul of the world, the sap that spreads even +into the stones, and makes the trees themselves our big, motionless +brothers! Yes, I wish to lose myself in thee; it is thou that I feel +beneath my limbs, clasping and inflaming me; thou alone shalt appear +in my work as the primary force, the means and the end, the immense +ark in which everything becomes animated with the breath of every +being!' + +Though begun as mere pleasantry, with all the bombast of lyrical +emphasis, the invocation terminated in a cry of ardent conviction, +quivering with profound poetical emotion, and Sandoz's eyes grew +moist; and, to hide how much he felt moved, be added, roughly, with a +sweeping gesture that took in the whole scene around: + +'How idiotic it is! a soul for every one of us, when there is that big +soul there!' + +Claude, who had disappeared amid the grass, had not stirred. After a +fresh spell of silence he summed up everything: + +'That's it, old boy! Run them through, all of them. Only you'll get +trounced.' + +'Oh,' said Sandoz, rising up and stretching himself, 'my bones are too +hard. They'll smash their own wrists. Let's go back; I don't want to +miss the train.' + +Christine had taken a great liking to him, seeing him so robust and +upright in his doings, and she plucked up courage at last to ask a +favour of him: that of standing godfather to Jacques. True, she never +set foot in church now, but why shouldn't the lad be treated according +to custom? What influenced her above all was the idea of giving the +boy a protector in this godfather, whom she found so serious and +sensible, even amidst the exuberance of his strength. Claude expressed +surprise, but gave his consent with a shrug of the shoulders. And the +christening took place; they found a godmother, the daughter of a +neighbour, and they made a feast of it, eating a lobster, which was +brought from Paris. + +That very day, as they were saying good-bye, Christine took Sandoz +aside, and said, in an imploring voice: + +'Do come again soon, won't you? He is bored.' + +In fact, Claude had fits of profound melancholy. He abandoned his +work, went out alone, and prowled in spite of himself about Faucheur's +inn, at the spot where the ferry-boat landed its passengers, as if +ever expecting to see all Paris come ashore there. He had Paris on the +brain; he went there every month and returned desolate, unable to +work. Autumn came, then winter, a very wet and muddy winter, and he +spent it in a state of morose torpidity, bitter even against Sandoz, +who, having married in October, could no longer come to Bennecourt so +often. Claude only seemed to wake up at each of the other's visits; +deriving a week's excitement from them, and never ceasing to comment +feverishly about the news brought from yonder. He, who formerly had +hidden his regret of Paris, nowadays bewildered Christine with the way +in which he chatted to her from morn till night about things she was +quite ignorant of, and people she had never seen. When Jacques fell +asleep, there were endless comments between the parents as they sat by +the fireside. Claude grew passionate, and Christine had to give her +opinion and to pronounce judgment on all sorts of matters. + +Was not Gagniere an idiot for stultifying his brain with music, he who +might have developed so conscientious a talent as a landscape painter? +It was said that he was now taking lessons on the piano from a young +lady--the idea, at his age! What did she, Christine, think of it? And +Jory had been trying to get into the good graces of Irma Becot again, +ever since she had secured that little house in the Rue de Moscou! +Christine knew those two; two jades who well went together, weren't +they? But the most cunning of the whole lot was Fagerolles, to whom +he, Claude, would tell a few plain truths and no mistake, when he met +him. What! the turn-coat had competed for the Prix de Rome, which, of +course, he had managed to miss. To think of it. That fellow did +nothing but jeer at the School, and talked about knocking everything +down, yet took part in official competitions! Ah, there was no doubt +but that the itching to succeed, the wish to pass over one's comrades +and be hailed by idiots, impelled some people to very dirty tricks. +Surely Christine did not mean to stick up for him, eh? She was not +sufficiently a philistine to defend him. And when she had agreed with +everything Claude said, he always came back with nervous laughter to +the same story--which he thought exceedingly comical--the story of +Mahoudeau and Chaine, who, between them, had killed little Jabouille, +the husband of Mathilde, that dreadful herbalist woman. Yes, killed +the poor consumptive fellow with kindness one evening when he had had +a fainting fit, and when, on being called in by the woman, they had +taken to rubbing him with so much vigour that he had remained dead in +their hands. + +And if Christine failed to look amused at all this, Claude rose up +and said, in a churlish voice: 'Oh, you; nothing will make you laugh +--let's go to bed.' + +He still adored her, but she no longer sufficed. Another torment had +invincibly seized hold of him--the passion for art, the thirst for +fame. + +In the spring, Claude, who, with an affectation of disdain, had sworn +he would never again exhibit, began to worry a great deal about the +Salon. Whenever he saw Sandoz he questioned him about what the +comrades were going to send. On the opening day he went to Paris and +came back the same evening, stern and trembling. There was only a bust +by Mahoudeau, said he, good enough, but of no importance. A small +landscape by Gagniere, admitted among the ruck, was also of a pretty +sunny tone. Then there was nothing else, nothing but Fagerolles' +picture--an actress in front of her looking-glass painting her face. +He had not mentioned it at first; but he now spoke of it with +indignant laughter. What a trickster that Fagerolles was! Now that he +had missed his prize he was no longer afraid to exhibit--he threw the +School overboard; but you should have seen how skilfully he managed +it, what compromises he effected, painting in a style which aped the +audacity of truth without possessing one original merit. And it would +be sure to meet with success, the bourgeois were only too fond of +being titillated while the artist pretended to hustle them. Ah! it was +time indeed for a true artist to appear in that mournful desert of a +Salon, amid all the knaves and the fools. And, by heavens, what a +place might be taken there! + +Christine, who listened while he grew angry, ended by faltering: + +'If you liked, we might go back to Paris.' + +'Who was talking of that?' he shouted. 'One can never say a word to +you but you at once jump to false conclusions.' + +Six weeks afterwards he heard some news that occupied his mind for a +week. His friend Dubuche was going to marry Mademoiselle Regine +Margaillan, the daughter of the owner of La Richaudiere. It was an +intricate story, the details of which surprised and amused him +exceedingly. First of all, that cur Dubuche had managed to hook a +medal for a design of a villa in a park, which he had exhibited; that +of itself was already sufficiently amusing, as it was said that the +drawing had been set on its legs by his master, Dequersonniere, who +had quietly obtained this medal for him from the jury over which he +presided. Then the best of it was that this long-awaited reward had +decided the marriage. Ah! it would be nice trafficking if medals were +now awarded to settle needy pupils in rich families! Old Margaillan, +like all parvenus, had set his heart upon having a son-in-law who +could help him, by bringing authentic diplomas and fashionable clothes +into the business; and for some time past he had had his eyes on that +young man, that pupil of the School of Arts, whose notes were +excellent, who was so persevering, and so highly recommended by his +masters. The medal aroused his enthusiasm; he at once gave the young +fellow his daughter and took him as a partner, who would soon increase +his millions now lying idle, since he knew all that was needful in +order to build properly. Besides, by this arrangement poor Regine, +always low-spirited and ailing, would at least have a husband in +perfect health. + +'Well, a man must be fond of money to marry that wretched flayed +kitten,' repeated Claude. + +And as Christine compassionately took the girl's part, he added: + +'But I am not down upon her. So much the better if the marriage does +not finish her off. She is certainly not to be blamed, if her father, +the ex-stonemason, had the stupid ambition to marry a girl of the +middle-classes. Her father, you know, has the vitiated blood of +generations of drunkards in his veins, and her mother comes of a stock +in the last stages of degeneracy. Ah! they may coin money, but that +doesn't prevent them from being excrescences on the face of the +earth!' + +He was growing ferocious, and Christine had to clasp him in her arms +and kiss him, and laugh, to make him once more the good-natured fellow +of earlier days. Then, having calmed down, he professed to understand +things, saying that he approved of the marriages of his old chums. It +was true enough, all three had taken wives unto themselves. How funny +life was! + +Once more the summer drew to an end; it was the fourth spent at +Bennecourt. In reality they could never be happier than now; life was +peaceful and cheap in the depths of that village. Since they had been +there they had never lacked money. Claude's thousand francs a year and +the proceeds of the few pictures he had sold had sufficed for their +wants; they had even put something by, and had bought some house +linen. On the other hand, little Jacques, by now two years and a half +old, got on admirably in the country. From morning till night he +rolled about the garden, ragged and dirt-begrimed, but growing as he +listed in robust ruddy health. His mother often did not know where to +take hold of him when she wished to wash him a bit. However, when she +saw him eat and sleep well she did not trouble much; she reserved her +anxious affection for her big child of an artist, whose despondency +filled her with anguish. The situation grew worse each day, and +although they lived on peacefully without any cause for grief, they, +nevertheless, drifted to melancholy, to a discomfort that showed +itself in constant irritation. + +It was all over with their first delights of country life. Their +rotten boat, staved in, had gone to the bottom of the Seine. Besides, +they did not even think of availing themselves of the skiff that the +Faucheurs had placed at their disposal. The river bored them; they had +grown too lazy to row. They repeated their exclamations of former +times respecting certain delightful nooks in the islets, but without +ever being tempted to return and gaze upon them. Even the walks by the +river-side had lost their charm--one was broiled there in summer, and +one caught cold there in winter. And as for the plateau, the vast +stretch of land planted with apple trees that overlooked the village, +it became like a distant country, something too far off for one to be +silly enough to risk one's legs there. Their house also annoyed them +--that barracks where they had to take their meals amid the greasy +refuse of the kitchen, where their room seemed a meeting-place for the +winds from every point of the compass. As a finishing stroke of bad +luck, the apricots had failed that year, and the finest of the giant +rose-bushes, which were very old, had been smitten with some canker or +other and died. How sorely time and habit wore everything away! How +eternal nature herself seemed to age amidst that satiated weariness. +But the worst was that the painter himself was getting disgusted with +the country, no longer finding a single subject to arouse his +enthusiasm, but scouring the fields with a mournful tramp, as if the +whole place were a void, whose life he had exhausted without leaving +as much as an overlooked tree, an unforeseen effect of light to +interest him. No, it was over, frozen, he should never again be able +to paint anything worth looking at in that confounded country! + +October came with its rain-laden sky. On one of the first wet evenings +Claude flew into a passion because dinner was not ready. He turned +that goose of a Melie out of the house and clouted Jacques, who got +between his legs. Whereupon, Christine, crying, kissed him and said: + +'Let's go, oh, let us go back to Paris.' + +He disengaged himself, and cried in an angry voice: 'What, again! +Never! do you hear me?' + +'Do it for my sake,' she said, warmly. 'It's I who ask it of you, it's +I that you'll please.' + +'Why, are you tired of being here, then?' + +'Yes, I shall die if we stay here much longer; and, besides I want you +to work. I feel quite certain that your place is there. It would be a +crime for you to bury yourself here any longer.' + +'No, leave me!' + +He was quivering. On the horizon Paris was calling him, the Paris of +winter-tide which was being lighted up once more. He thought he could +hear from where he stood the great efforts that his comrades were +making, and, in fancy, he returned thither in order that they might +not triumph without him, in order that he might become their chief +again, since not one of them had strength or pride enough to be such. +And amid this hallucination, amid the desire he felt to hasten to +Paris, he yet persisted in refusing to do so, from a spirit of +involuntary contradiction, which arose, though he could not account +for it, from his very entrails. Was it the fear with which the bravest +quivers, the mute struggle of happiness seeking to resist the fatality +of destiny? + +'Listen,' said Christine, excitedly. 'I shall get our boxes ready, and +take you away.' + +Five days later, after packing and sending their chattels to the +railway, they started for Paris. + +Claude was already on the road with little Jacques, when Christine +fancied that she had forgotten something. She returned alone to the +house; and finding it quite bare and empty, she burst out crying. It +seemed as if something were being torn from her, as if she were +leaving something of herself behind--what, she could not say. How +willingly would she have remained! how ardent was her wish to live +there always--she who had just insisted on that departure, that return +to the city of passion where she scented the presence of a rival. +However, she continued searching for what she lacked, and in front of +the kitchen she ended by plucking a rose, a last rose, which the cold +was turning brown. And then she slowly closed the gate upon the +deserted garden. + + + + VII + +WHEN Claude found himself once more on the pavement of Paris he was +seized with a feverish longing for hubbub and motion, a desire to gad +about, scour the whole city, and see his chums. He was off the moment +he awoke, leaving Christine to get things shipshape by herself in the +studio which they had taken in the Rue de Douai, near the Boulevard de +Clichy. In this way, on the second day of his arrival, he dropped in +at Mahoudeau's at eight o'clock in the morning, in the chill, grey +November dawn which had barely risen. + +However, the shop in the Rue du Cherche-Midi, which the sculptor still +occupied, was open, and Mahoudeau himself, half asleep, with a white +face, was shivering as he took down the shutters. + +Ah! it's you. The devil! you've got into early habits in the country. +So it's settled--you are back for good?' + +'Yes; since the day before yesterday.' + +'That's all right. Then we shall see something of each other. Come in; +it's sharp this morning.' + +But Claude felt colder in the shop than outside. He kept the collar of +his coat turned up, and plunged his hands deep into his pockets; +shivering before the dripping moisture of the bare walls, the muddy +heaps of clay, and the pools of water soddening the floor. A blast of +poverty had swept into the place, emptying the shelves of the casts +from the antique, and smashing stands and buckets, which were now held +together with bits of rope. It was an abode of dirt and disorder, a +mason's cellar going to rack and ruin. On the window of the door, +besmeared with whitewash, there appeared in mockery, as it were, a +large beaming sun, roughly drawn with thumb-strokes, and ornamented in +the centre with a face, the mouth of which, describing a semicircle, +seemed likely to burst with laughter. + +'Just wait,' said Mahoudeau, 'a fire's being lighted. These confounded +workshops get chilly directly, with the water from the covering +cloths.' + +At that moment, Claude, on turning round, noticed Chaine on his knees +near the stove, pulling the straw from the seat of an old stool to +light the coals with. He bade him good-morning, but only elicited a +muttered growl, without succeeding in making him look up. + +'And what are you doing just now, old man?' he asked the sculptor. + +'Oh! nothing of much account. It's been a bad year--worse than the +last one, which wasn't worth a rap. There's a crisis in the +church-statue business. Yes, the market for holy wares is bad, and, +dash it, I've had to tighten my belt! Look, in the meanwhile, I'm +reduced to this.' + +He thereupon took the linen wraps off a bust, showing a long face +still further elongated by whiskers, a face full of conceit and +infinite imbecility. + +'It's an advocate who lives near by. Doesn't he look repugnant, eh? +And the way he worries me about being very careful with his mouth. +However, a fellow must eat, mustn't he?' + +He certainly had an idea for the Salon; an upright figure, a girl +about to bathe, dipping her foot in the water, and shivering at its +freshness with that slight shiver that renders a woman so adorable. He +showed Claude a little model of it, which was already cracking, and +the painter looked at it in silence, surprised and displeased at +certain concessions he noticed in it: a sprouting of prettiness from +beneath a persistent exaggeration of form, a natural desire to please, +blended with a lingering tendency to the colossal. However, Mahoudeau +began lamenting; an upright figure was no end of a job. He would want +iron braces that cost money, and a modelling frame, which he had not +got; in fact, a lot of appliances. So he would, no doubt, decide to +model the figure in a recumbent attitude beside the water. + +'Well, what do you say--what do you think of it?' he asked. + +'Not bad,' answered the painter at last. 'A little bit sentimental, in +spite of the strapping limbs; but it'll all depend upon the execution. +And put her upright, old man; upright, for there would be nothing in +it otherwise.' + +The stove was roaring, and Chaine, still mute, rose up. He prowled +about for a minute, entered the dark back shop, where stood the bed +that he shared with Mahoudeau, and then reappeared, his hat on his +head, but more silent, it seemed, than ever. With his awkward peasant +fingers he leisurely took up a stick of charcoal and then wrote on the +wall: 'I am going to buy some tobacco; put some more coals in the +stove.' And forthwith he went out. + +Claude, who had watched him writing, turned to the other in amazement. + +'What's up?' + +'We no longer speak to one another; we write,' said the sculptor, +quietly. + +'Since when?' + +'Since three months ago.' + +'And you sleep together?' + +'Yes.' + +Claude burst out laughing. Ah! dash it all! they must have hard nuts. +But what was the reason of this falling-out? Then Mahoudeau vented his +rage against that brute of a Chaine! Hadn't he, one night on coming +home unexpectedly, found him treating Mathilde, the herbalist woman, +to a pot of jam? No, he would never forgive him for treating himself +in that dirty fashion to delicacies on the sly, while he, Mahoudeau, +was half starving, and eating dry bread. The deuce! one ought to share +and share alike. + +And the grudge had now lasted for nearly three months without a break, +without an explanation. They had arranged their lives accordingly; +they had reduced their strictly necessary intercourse to a series of +short phrases charcoaled on the walls. As for the rest, they lived as +before, sharing the same bed in the back shop. After all, there was no +need for so much talk in life, people managed to understand one +another all the same. + +While filling the stove, Mahoudeau continued to relieve his mind. + +'Well, you may believe me if you like, but when a fellow's almost +starving it isn't disagreeable to keep quiet. Yes, one gets numb +amidst silence; it's like an inside coating that stills the gnawing of +the stomach a bit. Ah, that Chaine! You haven't a notion of his +peasant nature. When he had spent his last copper without earning the +fortune he expected by painting, he went into trade, a petty trade, +which was to enable him to finish his studies. Isn't the fellow a +sharp 'un, eh? And just listen to his plan. He had some olive oil sent +to him from Saint-Firmin, his village, and then he tramped the streets +and found a market for the oil among well-to-do families from Provence +living in Paris. Unfortunately, it did not last. He is such a +clod-hopper that they showed him the door on all sides. And as there +was a jar of oil left which nobody would buy, well, old man, we live +upon it. Yes, on the days when we happen to have some bread we dip our +bread into it.' + +Thereupon he pointed to the jar standing in a corner of the shop. Some +of the oil having been spilt, the wall and the floor were darkened by +large greasy stains. + +Claude left off laughing. Ah! misery, how discouraging it was! how +could he show himself hard on those whom it crushed? He walked about +the studio, no longer vexed at finding models weakened by concessions +to middle-class taste; he even felt tolerant with regard to that +hideous bust. But, all at once, he came across a copy that Chaine had +made at the Louvre, a Mantegna, which was marvellously exact in its +dryness. + +'Oh, the brute,' he muttered, 'it's almost the original; he's never +done anything better than that. Perhaps his only fault is that he was +born four centuries too late.' + +Then, as the heat became too great, he took off his over-coat, adding: + +'He's a long while fetching his tobacco.' + +'Oh! his tobacco! I know what that means,' said Mahoudeau, who had set +to work at his bust, finishing the whiskers; 'he has simply gone next +door.' + +'Oh! so you still see the herbalist?' + +'Yes, she comes in and out.' + +He spoke of Mathilde and Chaine without the least show of anger, +simply saying that he thought the woman crazy. Since little +Jabouille's death she had become devout again, though this did not +prevent her from scandalising the neighbourhood. Her business was +going to wreck, and bankruptcy seemed impending. One night, the gas +company having cut off the gas in default of payment, she had come to +borrow some of their olive oil, which, after all, would not burn in +the lamps. In short, it was quite a disaster; that mysterious shop, +with its fleeting shadows of priests' gowns, its discreet +confessional-like whispers, and its odour of sacristy incense, was +gliding to the abandonment of ruin. And the wretchedness had reached +such a point that the dried herbs suspended from the ceiling swarmed +with spiders, while defunct leeches, which had already turned green, +floated on the tops of the glass jars. + +'Hallo, here he comes!' resumed the sculptor. 'You'll see her arrive +at his heels.' + +In fact, Chaine came in. He made a great show of drawing a screw of +tobacco from his pocket, then filled his pipe, and began to smoke in +front of the stove, remaining obstinately silent, as if there were +nobody present. And immediately afterwards Mathilde made her +appearance like a neighbour who comes in to say 'Good morning.' Claude +thought that she had grown still thinner, but her eyes were all afire, +and her mouth was seemingly enlarged by the loss of two more teeth. +The smell of aromatic herbs which she always carried in her uncombed +hair seemed to have become rancid. There was no longer the sweetness +of camomile, the freshness of aniseed; she filled the place with a +horrid odour of peppermint that seemed to be her very breath. + +'Already at work!' she exclaimed. 'Good morning.' And, without minding +Claude, she kissed Mahoudeau. Then, after going to shake hands with +the painter in her brazen way, she continued: + +'What do you think? I've found a box of mallow root, and we will treat +ourselves to it for breakfast. Isn't that nice of me now! We'll +share.' + +'Thanks,' said the sculptor, 'it makes my mouth sticky. I prefer to +smoke a pipe.' + +And, seeing that Claude was putting on his overcoat again, he asked: +'Are you going?' + +'Yes. I want to get the rust off, and breathe the air of Paris a bit.' + +All the same, he stopped for another few minutes watching Chaine and +Mathilde, who stuffed themselves with mallow root, each taking a piece +by turns. And though he had been warned, he was again amazed when he +saw Mahoudeau take up the stick of charcoal and write on the wall: +'Give me the tobacco you have shoved into your pocket.' + +Without a word, Chaine took out the screw and handed it to the +sculptor, who filled his pipe. + +'Well, I'll see you again soon,' said Claude. + +'Yes, soon--at any rate, next Thursday, at Sandoz's.' + +Outside, Claude gave an exclamation of surprise on jostling a +gentleman, who stood in front of the herbalist's peering into the +shop. + +'What, Jory! What are you doing there?' + +Jory's big pink nose gave a sniff. + +'I? Nothing. I was passing and looked in,' said he in dismay. + +Then he decided to laugh, and, as if there were any one to overhear +him, lowered his voice to ask: + +'She is next door with our friends, isn't she? All right; let's be +off, quick!' + +And he took the painter with him, telling him all manner of strange +stories of that creature Mathilde. + +'But you used to say that she was frightful,' said Claude, laughing. + +Jory made a careless gesture. Frightful? No, he had not gone as far as +that. Besides, there might be something attractive about a woman even +though she had a plain face. Then he expressed his surprise at seeing +Claude in Paris, and, when he had been fully posted, and learned that +the painter meant to remain there for good, he all at once exclaimed: + +'Listen, I am going to take you with me. You must come to lunch with +me at Irma's.' + +The painter, taken aback, refused energetically, and gave as a reason +that he wasn't even wearing a frock-coat. + +'What does that matter? On the contrary, it makes it more droll. +She'll be delighted. I believe she has a secret partiality for you. +She is always talking about you to us. Come, don't be a fool. I tell +you she expects me this morning, and we shall be received like +princes.' + +He did not relax his hold on Claude's arm, and they both continued +their way towards the Madeleine, talking all the while. As a rule, +Jory kept silent about his many love adventures, just as a drunkard +keeps silent about his potations. But that morning he brimmed over +with revelations, chaffed himself and owned to all sorts of scandalous +things. After all he was delighted with existence, his affairs went +apace. His miserly father had certainly cut off the supplies once +more, cursing him for obstinately pursuing a scandalous career, but he +did not care a rap for that now; he earned between seven and eight +thousand francs a year by journalism, in which he was making his way +as a gossipy leader writer and art critic. The noisy days of 'The +Drummer,' the articles at a louis apiece, had been left far behind. He +was getting steady, wrote for two widely circulated papers, and +although, in his inmost heart he remained a sceptical voluptuary, a +worshipper of success at any price, he was acquiring importance, and +readers began to look upon his opinions as fiats. Swayed by hereditary +meanness, he already invested money every month in petty speculations, +which were only known to himself, for never had his vices cost him +less than nowadays. + +As he and Claude reached the Rue de Moscou, he told the painter that +it was there that Irma Becot now lived. 'Oh! she is rolling in +wealth,' said he, 'paying twenty thousand francs a year rent and +talking of building a house which would cost half a million.' Then +suddenly pulling up he exclaimed: 'Come, here we are! In with you, +quick!' + +But Claude still objected. His wife was waiting for him to lunch; he +really couldn't. And Jory was obliged to ring the bell, and then push +him inside the hall, repeating that his excuse would not do; for they +would send the valet to the Rue de Douai to tell his wife. A door +opened and they found themselves face to face with Irma Becot, who +uttered a cry of surprise as soon as she perceived the painter. + +'What! is it you, savage?' she said. + +She made him feel at home at once by treating him like an old chum, +and, in fact, he saw well enough that she did not even notice his old +clothes. He himself was astonished, for he barely recognised her. In +the course of four years she had become a different being; her head +was 'made up' with all an actress's skill, her brow hidden beneath a +mass of curly hair, and her face elongated, by a sheer effort of will, +no doubt. And from a pale blonde she had become flaringly carrotty; so +that a Titianesque creature seemed to have sprung from the little +urchin-like girl of former days. Her house, with all its show of +luxury, still had its bald spots. What struck the painter were some +good pictures on the walls, a Courbet, and, above all, an unfinished +study by Delacroix. So this wild, wilful creature was not altogether a +fool, although there was a frightful cat in coloured _biscuit_ +standing on a console in the drawing-room. + +When Jory spoke of sending the valet to his friend's place, she +exclaimed in great surprise: + +'What! you are married?' + +'Why, yes,' said Claude, simply. + +She glanced at Jory, who smiled; then she understood, and added: + +'Ah! But why did people tell me that you were a woman-hater? I'm +awfully vexed, you know. I frightened you, don't you remember, eh? You +still think me very ugly, don't you? Well, well, we'll talk about it +all some other day.' + +It was the coachman who went to the Rue de Douai with a note from +Claude, for the valet had opened the door of the dining-room, to +announce that lunch was served. The repast, a very delicate one, was +partaken of in all propriety, under the icy stare of the servant. They +talked about the great building works that were revolutionising Paris; +and then discussed the price of land, like middle-class people with +money to invest. But at dessert, when they were all three alone with +the coffee and liqueurs, which they had decided upon taking there, +without leaving the table, they gradually became animated, and dropped +into their old familiar ways, as if they had met each other at the +Cafe Baudequin. + +'Ah, my lads,' said Irma, 'this is the only real enjoyment, to be +jolly together and to snap one's fingers at other people.' + +She was twisting cigarettes; she had just placed the bottle of +chartreuse near her, and had begun to empty it, looking the while very +flushed, and lapsing once more to her low street drollery. + +'So,' continued Jory, who was apologising for not having sent her that +morning a book she wanted, 'I was going to buy it last night at about +ten o'clock, when I met Fagerolles--' + +'You are telling a lie,' said she, interrupting him in a clear voice. +And to cut short his protestations--'Fagerolles was here,' she added, +'so you see that you are telling a lie.' + +Then, turning to Claude, 'No, it's too disgusting. You can't conceive +what a liar he is. He tells lies like a woman, for the pleasure of it, +for the merest trifle. Now, the whole of his story amounts simply to +this: that he didn't want to spend three francs to buy me that book. +Each time he was to have sent me a bouquet, he had dropped it under +the wheels of a carriage, or there were no flowers to be had in all +Paris. Ah! there's a fellow who only cares for himself, and no +mistake.' + +Jory, without getting in the least angry, tilted back his chair and +sucked his cigar, merely saying with a sneer: + +'Oh! if you see Fagerolles now--' + +'Well, what of it?' she cried, becoming furious. 'It's no business of +yours. I snap my fingers at your Fagerolles, do you hear? He knows +very well that people don't quarrel with me. We know each other; we +sprouted in the same crack between the paving-stones. Look here, +whenever I like, I have only to hold up my finger, and your Fagerolles +will be there on the floor, licking my feet.' + +She was growing animated, and Jory thought it prudent to beat a +retreat. + +'_My_ Fagerolles,' he muttered; '_my_ Fagerolles.' + +'Yes, _your_ Fagerolles. Do you think that I don't see through you +both? He is always patting you on the back, as he hopes to get +articles out of you, and you affect generosity and calculate the +advantage you'll derive if you write up an artist liked by the +public.' + +This time Jory stuttered, feeling very much annoyed on account of +Claude being there. He did not attempt to defend himself, however, +preferring to turn the quarrel into a joke. Wasn't she amusing, eh? +when she blazed up like that, with her lustrous wicked eyes, and her +twitching mouth, eager to indulge in vituperation? + +'But remember, my dear, this sort of thing cracks your Titianesque +"make-up,"' he added. + +She began to laugh, mollified at once. + +Claude, basking in physical comfort, kept on sipping small glasses of +cognac one after another, without noticing it. During the two hours +they had been there a kind of intoxication had stolen over them, the +hallucinatory intoxication produced by liqueurs and tobacco smoke. +They changed the conversation; the high prices that pictures were +fetching came into question. Irma, who no longer spoke, kept a bit of +extinguished cigarette between her lips, and fixed her eyes on the +painter. At last she abruptly began to question him about his wife. + +Her questions did not appear to surprise him; his ideas were going +astray: 'She had just come from the provinces,' he said. 'She was in a +situation with a lady, and was a very good and honest girl.' + +'Pretty?' + +'Why, yes, pretty.' + +For a moment Irma relapsed into her reverie, then she said, smiling: +'Dash it all! How lucky you are!' + +Then she shook herself, and exclaimed, rising from the table: 'Nearly +three o'clock! Ah! my children, I must turn you out of the house. Yes, +I have an appointment with an architect; I am going to see some ground +near the Parc Monceau, you know, in the new quarter which is being +built. I have scented a stroke of business in that direction.' + +They had returned to the drawing-room. She stopped before a +looking-glass, annoyed at seeing herself so flushed. + +'It's about that house, isn't it?' asked Jory. 'You have found the +money, then?' + +She brought her hair down over her brow again, then with her hands +seemed to efface the flush on her cheeks; elongated the oval of her +face, and rearranged her tawny head, which had all the charm of a work +of art; and finally, turning round, she merely threw Jory these words +by way of reply: Look! there's my Titianesque effect back again.' + +She was already, amidst their laughter, edging them towards the hall, +where once more, without speaking, she took Claude's hands in her own, +her glance yet again diving into the depths of his eyes. When he +reached the street he felt uncomfortable. The cold air dissipated his +intoxication; he remorsefully reproached himself for having spoken of +Christine in that house, and swore to himself that he would never set +foot there again. + +Indeed, a kind of shame deterred Claude from going home, and when his +companion, excited by the luncheon and feeling inclined to loaf about, +spoke of going to shake hands with Bongrand, he was delighted with the +idea, and both made their way to the Boulevard de Clichy. + +For the last twenty years Bongrand had there occupied a very large +studio, in which he had in no wise sacrificed to the tastes of the +day, to that magnificence of hangings and nick-nacks with which young +painters were then beginning to surround themselves. It was the bare, +greyish studio of the old style, exclusively ornamented with sketches +by the master, which hung there unframed, and in close array like the +votive offerings in a chapel. The only tokens of elegance consisted of +a cheval glass, of the First Empire style, a large Norman wardrobe, +and two arm-chairs upholstered in Utrecht velvet, and threadbare with +usage. In one corner, too, a bearskin which had lost nearly all its +hair covered a large couch. However, the artist had retained since his +youthful days, which had been spent in the camp of the Romanticists, +the habit of wearing a special costume, and it was in flowing +trousers, in a dressing-gown secured at the waist by a silken cord, +and with his head covered with a priest's skull-cap, that he received +his visitors. + +He came to open the door himself, holding his palette and brushes. + +'So here you are! It was a good idea of yours to come! I was thinking +about you, my dear fellow. Yes, I don't know who it was that told me +of your return, but I said to myself that it wouldn't be long before I +saw you.' + +The hand that he had free grasped Claude's in a burst of sincere +affection. He then shook Jory's, adding: + +'And you, young pontiff; I read your last article, and thank you for +your kind mention of myself. Come in, come in, both of you! You don't +disturb me; I'm taking advantage of the daylight to the very last +minute, for there's hardly time to do anything in this confounded +month of November.' + +He had resumed his work, standing before his easel, on which there was +a small canvas, which showed two women, mother and daughter, sitting +sewing in the embrasure of a sunlit window. The young fellows stood +looking behind him. + +'Exquisite,' murmured Claude, at last. + +Bongrand shrugged his shoulders without turning round. + +'Pooh! A mere nothing at all. A fellow must occupy his time, eh? I did +this from life at a friend's house, and I am cleaning it a bit.' + +'But it's perfect--it is a little gem of truth and light,' replied +Claude, warming up. 'And do you know, what overcomes me is its +simplicity, its very simplicity.' + +On hearing this the painter stepped back and blinked his eyes, looking +very much surprised. + +'You think so? It really pleases you? Well, when you came in I was +just thinking it was a foul bit of work. I give you my word, I was in +the dumps, and felt convinced that I hadn't a scrap of talent left.' + +His hands shook, his stalwart frame trembled as with the agony of +travail. He rid himself of his palette, and came back towards them, +his arms sawing the air, as it were; and this artist, who had grown +old amidst success, who was assured of ranking in the French School, +cried to them: + +'It surprises you, eh? but there are days when I ask myself whether I +shall be able to draw a nose correctly. Yes, with every one of my +pictures I still feel the emotion of a beginner; my heart beats, +anguish parches my mouth--in fact, I funk abominably. Ah! you +youngsters, you think you know what funk means; but you haven't as +much as a notion of it, for if you fail with one work, you get quits +by trying to do something better. Nobody is down upon you; whereas we, +the veterans, who have given our measure, who are obliged to keep up +to the level previously attained, if not to surpass it, we mustn't +weaken under penalty of rolling down into the common grave. And so, +Mr. Celebrity, Mr. Great Artist, wear out your brains, consume +yourself in striving to climb higher, still higher, ever higher, and +if you happen to kick your heels on the summit, think yourself lucky! +Wear your heels out in kicking them up as long as possible, and if you +feel that you are declining, why, make an end of yourself by rolling +down amid the death rattle of your talent, which is no longer suited +to the period; roll down forgetful of such of your works as are +destined to immortality, and in despair at your powerless efforts to +create still further!' + +His full voice had risen to a final outburst like thunder, and his +broad flushed face wore an expression of anguish. He strode about, and +continued, as if carried away, in spite of himself, by a violent +whirlwind: + +'I have told you a score of times that one was for ever beginning +one's career afresh, that joy did not consist in having reached the +summit, but in the climbing, in the gaiety of scaling the heights. +Only, you don't understand, you cannot understand; a man must have +passed through it. Just remember! You hope for everything, you dream +of everything; it is the hour of boundless illusions, and your legs +are so strong that the most fatiguing roads seem short; you are +consumed with such an appetite for glory, that the first petty +successes fill your mouth with a delicious taste. What a feast it will +be when you are able to gratify ambition to satiety! You have nearly +reached that point, and you look right cheerfully on your scratches! +Well, the thing is accomplished; the summit has been gained; it is now +a question of remaining there. Then a life of abomination begins; you +have exhausted intoxication, and you have discovered that it does not +last long enough, that it is not worth the struggle it has cost, and +that the dregs of the cup taste bitter. There is nothing left to be +learnt, no new sensation to be felt; pride has had its allowance of +fame; you know that you have produced your greatest works; and you are +surprised that they did not bring keener enjoyment with them. From +that moment the horizon becomes void; no fresh hope inflames you; +there is nothing left but to die. And yet you still cling on, you +won't admit that it's all up with you, you obstinately persist in +trying to produce--just as old men cling to love with painful, ignoble +efforts. Ah! a man ought to have the courage and the pride to strangle +himself before his last masterpiece!' + +While he spoke he seemed to have increased in stature, reaching to the +elevated ceiling of the studio, and shaken by such keen emotion that +the tears started to his eyes. And he dropped into a chair before his +picture, asking with the anxious look of a beginner who has need of +encouragement: + +'Then this really seems to you all right? I myself no longer dare to +believe anything. My unhappiness springs from the possession of both +too much and not enough critical acumen. The moment I begin a sketch I +exalt it, then, if it's not successful, I torture myself. It would be +better not to know anything at all about it, like that brute +Chambouvard, or else to see very clearly into the business and then +give up painting. . . . Really now, you like this little canvas?' + +Claude and Jory remained motionless, astonished and embarrassed by +those tokens of the intense anguish of art in its travail. Had they +come at a moment of crisis, that this master thus groaned with pain, +and consulted them like comrades? The worst was that they had been +unable to disguise some hesitation when they found themselves under +the gaze of the ardent, dilated eyes with which he implored them--eyes +in which one could read the hidden fear of decline. They knew current +rumours well enough; they agreed with the opinion that since his +'Village Wedding' the painter had produced nothing equal to that +famous picture. Indeed, after maintaining something of that standard +of excellence in a few works, he was now gliding into a more +scientific, drier manner. Brightness of colour was vanishing; each +work seemed to show a decline. However, these were things not to be +said; so Claude, when he had recovered his composure, exclaimed: + +'You never painted anything so powerful!' + +Bongrand looked at him again, straight in the eyes. Then he turned to +his work, in which he became absorbed, making a movement with his +herculean arms, as if he were breaking every bone of them to lift that +little canvas which was so very light. And he muttered to himself: +'Confound it! how heavy it is! Never mind, I'll die at it rather than +show a falling-off.' + +He took up his palette and grew calm at the first stroke of the brush, +while bending his manly shoulders and broad neck, about which one +noticed traces of peasant build remaining amid the bourgeois +refinement contributed by the crossing of classes of which he was the +outcome. + +Silence had ensued, but Jory, his eyes still fixed on the picture, +asked: + +'Is it sold?' + +Bongrand replied leisurely, like the artist who works when he likes +without care of profit: + +'No; I feel paralysed when I've a dealer at my back.' And, without +pausing in his work, he went on talking, growing waggish. + +'Ah! people are beginning to make a trade of painting now. Really and +truly I have never seen such a thing before, old as I am getting. For +instance, you, Mr. Amiable Journalist, what a quantity of flowers you +fling to the young ones in that article in which you mentioned me! +There were two or three youngsters spoken of who were simply geniuses, +nothing less.' + +Jory burst out laughing. + +'Well, when a fellow has a paper, he must make use of it. Besides, the +public likes to have great men discovered for it.' + +'No doubt, public stupidity is boundless, and I am quite willing that +you should trade on it. Only I remember the first starts that we old +fellows had. Dash it! We were not spoiled like that, I can tell you. +We had ten years' labour and struggle before us ere we could impose on +people a picture the size of your hand; whereas nowadays the first +hobbledehoy who can stick a figure on its legs makes all the trumpets +of publicity blare. And what kind of publicity is it? A hullabaloo +from one end of France to the other, sudden reputations that shoot up +of a night, and burst upon one like thunderbolts, amid the gaping of +the throng. And I say nothing of the works themselves, those works +announced with salvoes of artillery, awaited amid a delirium of +impatience, maddening Paris for a week, and then falling into +everlasting oblivion!' + +'This is an indictment against journalism,' said Jory, who had +stretched himself on the couch and lighted another cigar. 'There is a +great deal to be said for and against it, but devil a bit, a man must +keep pace with the times.' + +Bongrand shook his head, and then started off again, amid a tremendous +burst of mirth: + +'No! no! one can no longer throw off the merest daub without being +hailed as a young "master." Well, if you only knew how your young +masters amuse me!' + +But as if these words had led to some other ideas, he cooled down, and +turned towards Claude to ask this question: 'By the way, have you seen +Fagerolles' picture?' + +'Yes,' said the young fellow, quietly. + +They both remained looking at each other: a restless smile had risen +to their lips, and Bongrand eventually added: + +'There's a fellow who pillages you right and left.' + +Jory, becoming embarrassed, had lowered his eyes, asking himself +whether he should defend Fagerolles. He, no doubt, concluded that it +would be profitable to do so, for he began to praise the picture of +the actress in her dressing-room, an engraving of which was then +attracting a great deal of notice in the print-shops. Was not the +subject a really modern one? Was it not well painted, in the bright +clear tone of the new school? A little more vigour might, perhaps, +have been desirable; but every one ought to be left to his own +temperament. And besides, refinement and charm were not so common by +any means, nowadays. + +Bending over his canvas, Bongrand, who, as a rule, had nothing but +paternal praise for the young ones, shook and made a visible effort to +avoid an outburst. The explosion took place, however, in spite of +himself. + +'Just shut up, eh? about your Fagerolles! Do you think us greater +fools than we really are? There! you see the great painter here +present. Yes; I mean the young gentleman in front of you. Well, the +whole trick consists in pilfering his originality, and dishing it up +with the wishy-washy sauce of the School of Arts! Quite so! you select +a modern subject, and you paint in the clear bright style, only you +adhere to correctly commonplace drawing, to all the habitual pleasing +style of composition--in short, to the formula which is taught over +yonder for the pleasure of the middle-classes. And you souse all that +with deftness, that execrable deftness of the fingers which would just +as well carve cocoanuts, the flowing, pleasant deftness that begets +success, and which ought to be punished with penal servitude, do you +hear?' + +He brandished his palette and brushes aloft, in his clenched fists. + +'You are severe,' said Claude, feeling embarrassed. 'Fagerolles shows +delicacy in his work.' + +'I have been told,' muttered Jory, mildly, 'that he has just signed a +very profitable agreement with Naudet.' + +That name, thrown haphazard into the conversation, had the effect of +once more soothing Bongrand, who repeated, shrugging his shoulders: + +'Ah! Naudet--ah! Naudet.' + +And he greatly amused the young fellows by telling them about Naudet, +with whom he was well acquainted. He was a dealer, who, for some few +years, had been revolutionising the picture trade. There was nothing +of the old fashion about his style--the greasy coat and keen taste of +Papa Malgras, the watching for the pictures of beginners, bought at +ten francs, to be resold at fifteen, all the little humdrum comedy of +the connoisseur, turning up his nose at a coveted canvas in order to +depreciate it, worshipping painting in his inmost heart, and earning a +meagre living by quickly and prudently turning over his petty capital. +No, no; the famous Naudet had the appearance of a nobleman, with a +fancy-pattern jacket, a diamond pin in his scarf, and patent-leather +boots; he was well pomaded and brushed, and lived in fine style, with +a livery-stable carriage by the month, a stall at the opera, and his +particular table at Bignon's. And he showed himself wherever it was +the correct thing to be seen. For the rest, he was a speculator, a +Stock Exchange gambler, not caring one single rap about art. But he +unfailingly scented success, he guessed what artist ought to be +properly started, not the one who seemed likely to develop the genius +of a great painter, furnishing food for discussion, but the one whose +deceptive talent, set off by a pretended display of audacity, would +command a premium in the market. And that was the way in which he +revolutionised that market, giving the amateur of taste the cold +shoulder, and only treating with the moneyed amateur, who knew nothing +about art, but who bought a picture as he might buy a share at the +Stock Exchange, either from vanity or with the hope that it would rise +in value. + +At this stage of the conversation Bongrand, very jocular by nature, +and with a good deal of the mummer about him, began to enact the +scene. Enter Naudet in Fagerolles' studio. + +'"You've real genius, my dear fellow. Your last picture is sold, then? +For how much?" + +'"For five hundred francs." + +'"But you must be mad; it was worth twelve hundred. And this one which +you have by you--how much?" + +'"Well, my faith, I don't know. Suppose we say twelve hundred?" + +'"What are you talking about? Twelve hundred francs! You don't +understand me, then, my boy; it's worth two thousand. I take it at two +thousand. And from this day forward you must work for no one but +myself--for me, Naudet. Good-bye, good-bye, my dear fellow; don't +overwork yourself--your fortune is made. I have taken it in hand." +Wherewith he goes off, taking the picture with him in his carriage. He +trots it round among his amateurs, among whom he has spread the rumour +that he has just discovered an extraordinary painter. One of the +amateurs bites at last, and asks the price. + +"'Five thousand." + +'"What, five thousand francs for the picture of a man whose name +hasn't the least notoriety? Are you playing the fool with me?" + +'"Look here, I'll make you a proposal; I'll sell it you for five +thousand francs, and I'll sign an agreement to take it back in a +twelvemonth at six thousand, if you no longer care for it." + +Of course the amateur is tempted. What does he risk after all? In +reality it's a good speculation, and so he buys. After that Naudet +loses no time, but disposes in a similar manner of nine or ten +paintings by the same man during the course of the year. Vanity gets +mingled with the hope of gain, the prices go up, the pictures get +regularly quoted, so that when Naudet returns to see his amateur, the +latter, instead of returning the picture, buys another one for eight +thousand francs. And the prices continue to go up, and painting +degenerates into something shady, a kind of gold mine situated on the +heights of Montmartre, promoted by a number of bankers, and around +which there is a constant battle of bank-notes.' + +Claude was growing indignant, but Jory thought it all very clever, +when there came a knock at the door. Bongrand, who went to open it, +uttered a cry of surprise. + +'Naudet, as I live! We were just talking about you.' + +Naudet, very correctly dressed, without a speck of mud on him, despite +the horrible weather, bowed and came in with the reverential +politeness of a man of society entering a church. + +'Very pleased--feel flattered, indeed, dear master. And you only spoke +well of me, I'm sure of it.' + +'Not at all, Naudet, not at all,' said Bongrand, in a quiet tone. 'We +were saying that your manner of trading was giving us a nice +generation of artists--tricksters crossed with dishonest business +men.' + +Naudet smiled, without losing his composure. + +'The remark is harsh, but so charming! Never mind, never mind, dear +master, nothing that you say offends me.' + +And, dropping into ecstasy before the picture of the two little women +at needlework: + +'Ah! Good heavens, I didn't know this, it's a little marvel! Ah! that +light, that broad substantial treatment! One has to go back to +Rembrandt for anything like it; yes, to Rembrandt! Look here, I only +came in to pay my respects, but I thank my lucky star for having +brought me here. Let us do a little bit of business. Let me have this +gem. Anything you like to ask for it--I'll cover it with gold.' + +One could see Bongrand's back shake, as if his irritation were +increasing at each sentence. He curtly interrupted the dealer. + +'Too late; it's sold.' + +'Sold, you say. And you cannot annul your bargain? Tell me, at any +rate, to whom it's sold? I'll do everything, I'll give anything. Ah! +What a horrible blow! Sold, are you quite sure of it? Suppose you were +offered double the sum?' + +'It's sold, Naudet. That's enough, isn't it?' + +However, the dealer went on lamenting. He remained for a few minutes +longer, going into raptures before other sketches, while making the +tour of the studio with the keen glances of a speculator in search of +luck. When he realised that his time was badly chosen, and that he +would be able to take nothing away with him, he went off, bowing with +an air of gratitude, and repeating remarks of admiration as far as the +landing. + +As soon as he had gone, Jory, who had listened to the conversation +with surprise, ventured to ask a question: + +'But you told us, I thought--It isn't sold, is it?' + +Without immediately answering, Bongrand went back to his picture. +Then, in his thundering voice, resuming in one cry all his hidden +suffering, the whole of the nascent struggle within him which he dared +not avow, he said: + +'He plagues me. He shall never have anything of mine! Let him go and +buy of Fagerolles!' + +A quarter of an hour later, Claude and Jory also said good-bye, +leaving Bongrand struggling with his work in the waning daylight. Once +outside, when the young painter had left his companion, he did not at +once return home to the Rue de Douai, in spite of his long absence. He +still felt the want of walking about, of surrendering himself up to +that great city of Paris, where the meetings of one single day +sufficed to fill his brain; and this need of motion made him wander +about till the black night had fallen, through the frozen mud of the +streets, beneath the gas-lamps, which, lighted up one by one, showed +like nebulous stars amidst the fog. + +Claude impatiently awaited the Thursday when he was to dine at +Sandoz's, for the latter, immutable in his habits, still invited his +cronies to dinner once a week. All those who chose could come, their +covers were laid. His marriage, his change of life, the ardent +literary struggle into which he had thrown himself, made no +difference; he kept to his day 'at home,' that Thursday which dated +from the time he had left college, from the time they had all smoked +their first pipes. As he himself expressed it, alluding to his wife, +there was only one chum more. + +'I say, old man,' he had frankly said to Claude, 'I'm greatly +worried--' + +'What about?' + +'Why, about inviting Madame Christine. There are a lot of idiots, a +lot of philistines watching me, who would say all manner of things--' + +'You are quite right, old man. But Christine herself would decline to +come. Oh! we understand the position very well. I'll come alone, +depend upon it.' + +At six o'clock, Claude started for Sandoz's place in the Rue Nollet, +in the depths of Batignolles, and he had no end of trouble in finding +the small pavilion which his friend had rented. First of all he +entered a large house facing the street, and applied to the +doorkeeper, who made him cross three successive courtyards; then he +went down a passage, between two other buildings, descended some +steps, and tumbled upon the iron gate of a small garden. That was the +spot, the pavilion was there at the end of a path. But it was so dark, +and he had nearly broken his legs coming down the steps, that he dared +not venture any further, the more so as a huge dog was barking +furiously. At last he heard the voice of Sandoz, who was coming +forward and trying to quiet the dog. + +'Ah, it's you! We are quite in the country, aren't we? We are going to +set up a lantern, so that our company may not break their necks. Come +in, come in! Will you hold your noise, you brute of a Bertrand? Don't +you see that it's a friend, fool?' + +Thereupon the dog accompanied them as far as the pavilion, wagging his +tail and barking joyously. A young servant-girl had come out with a +lantern, which she fastened to the gate, in order to light up the +breakneck steps. In the garden there was simply a small central lawn, +on which there stood a large plum tree, diffusing a shade around that +rotted the grass; and just in front of the low house, which showed +only three windows, there stretched an arbour of Virginia creeper, +with a brand-new seat shining there as an ornament amid the winter +showers, pending the advent of the summer sun. + +'Come in,' repeated Sandoz. + +On the right-hand side of the hall he ushered Claude into the parlour, +which he had turned into a study. The dining-room and kitchen were on +the left. Upstairs, his mother, who was now altogether bedridden, +occupied the larger room, while he and his wife contented themselves +with the other one, and a dressing-room that parted the two. That was +the whole place, a real cardboard box, with rooms like little drawers +separated by partitions as thin as paper. Withal, it was the abode of +work and hope, vast in comparison with the ordinary garrets of youth, +and already made bright by a beginning of comfort and luxury. + +'There's room here, eh?' he exclaimed. 'Ah! it's a jolly sight more +comfortable than the Rue d'Enfer. You see that I've a room to myself. +And I have bought myself an oaken writing-table, and my wife made me a +present of that dwarf palm in that pot of old Rouen ware. Isn't it +swell, eh?' + +His wife came in at that very moment. Tall, with a pleasant, tranquil +face and beautiful brown hair, she wore a large white apron over her +plainly made dress of black poplin; for although they had a regular +servant, she saw to the cooking, for she was proud of certain of her +dishes, and she put the household on a footing of middle-class +cleanliness and love of cheer. + +She and Claude became old chums at once. + +'Call him Claude, my darling. And you, old man, call her Henriette. No +madame nor monsieur, or I shall fine you five sous each time.' + +They laughed, and she scampered away, being wanted in the kitchen to +look after a southern dish, a _bouillabaisse_, with which she wished +to surprise the Plassans friend. She had obtained the recipe from her +husband himself, and had become marvellously deft at it, so he said. + +'Your wife is charming,' said Claude, 'and I see she spoils you.' + +But Sandoz, seated at his table, with his elbows among such pages of +the book he was working at as he had written that morning, began to +talk of the first novel of his series, which he had published in +October. Ah! they had treated his poor book nicely! It had been a +throttling, a butchering, all the critics yelling at his heels, a +broadside of imprecations, as if he had murdered people in a wood. He +himself laughed at it, excited rather than otherwise, for he had +sturdy shoulders and the quiet bearing of a toiler who knows what he's +after. Mere surprise remained to him at the profound lack of +intelligence shown by those fellows the critics, whose articles, +knocked off on the corner of some table, bespattered him with mud, +without appearing as much as to guess at the least of his intentions. +Everything was flung into the same slop-pail of abuse: his studies of +physiological man; the important part he assigned to circumstances and +surroundings; his allusions to nature, ever and ever creating; in +short, life--entire, universal life--existent through all the animal +world without there really being either high or low, beauty or +ugliness; he was insulted, too, for his boldness of language for the +conviction he expressed that all things ought to be said, that there +are abominable expressions which become necessary, like branding +irons, and that a language emerges enriched from such strength-giving +baths. He easily granted their anger, but he would at least have liked +them to do him the honour of understanding him and getting angry at +his audacity, not at the idiotic, filthy designs of which he was +accused. + +'Really,' he continued, 'I believe that the world still contains more +idiots than downright spiteful people. They are enraged with me on +account of the form I give to my productions, the written sentences, +the similes, the very life of my style. Yes, the middle-classes fairly +split with hatred of literature!' + +Then he became silent, having grown sad. + +'Never mind,' said Claude, after an interval, 'you are happy, you at +least work, you produce--' + +Sandoz had risen from his seat with a gesture of sudden pain. + +'True, I work. I work out my books to their last pages--But if you +only knew, if I told you amidst what discouragement, amidst what +torture! Won't those idiots take it into their heads to accuse me of +pride! I, whom the imperfection of my work pursues even in my sleep +--I, who never look over the pages of the day before, lest I should +find them so execrable that I might afterwards lack the courage to +continue. Oh, I work, no doubt, I work! I go on working, as I go on +living, because I am born to it, but I am none the gayer on account of +it. I am never satisfied; there is always a great collapse at the +end.' + +He was interrupted by a loud exclamation outside, and Jory appeared, +delighted with life, and relating that he had just touched up an old +article in order to have the evening to himself. Almost immediately +afterwards Gagniere and Mahoudeau, who had met at the door, came in +conversing together. The former, who had been absorbed for some months +in a theory of colours, was explaining his system to the other. + +'I paint my shade in,' he continued, as if in a dream. 'The red of the +flag loses its brightness and becomes yellowish because it stands out +against the blue of the sky, the complementary shade of which--orange +--blends with red--' + +Claude, interested at once, was already questioning him when the +servant brought in a telegram. + +'All right,' said Sandoz, 'it's from Dubuche, who apologises; he +promises to come and surprise us at about eleven o'clock.' + +At this moment Henriette threw the door wide open, and personally +announced that dinner was ready. She had doffed her white apron, and +cordially shook hands, as hostess, with all of them. 'Take your seats! +take your seats!' was her cry. It was half-past seven already, the +_bouillabaisse_ could not wait. Jory, having observed that Fagerolles +had sworn to him that he would come, they would not believe it. +Fagerolles was getting ridiculous with his habit of aping the great +artist overwhelmed with work! + +The dining-room into which they passed was so small that, in order to +make room for a piano, a kind of alcove had been made out of a dark +closet which had formerly served for the accommodation of crockery. +However, on grand occasions half a score of people still gathered +round the table, under the white porcelain hanging lamp, but this was +only accomplished by blocking up the sideboard, so that the servant +could not even pass to take a plate from it. However, it was the +mistress of the house who carved, while the master took his place +facing her, against the blockaded sideboard, in order to hand round +whatever things might be required. + +Henriette had placed Claude on her right hand, Mahoudeau on her left, +while Gagniere and Jory were seated next to Sandoz. + +'Francoise,' she called, 'give me the slices of toast. They are on the +range.' + +And the girl having brought the toast, she distributed two slices to +each of them, and was beginning to ladle the _bouillabaisse_ into the +plates, when the door opened once more. + +'Fagerolles at last!' she said. 'I have given your seat to Mahoudeau. +Sit down there, next to Claude.' + +He apologised with an air of courtly politeness, by alleging a +business appointment. Very elegantly dressed, tightly buttoned up in +clothes of an English cut, he had the carriage of a man about town, +relieved by the retention of a touch of artistic free-and-easiness. +Immediately on sitting down he grasped his neighbour's hand, affecting +great delight. + +'Ah, my old Claude! I have for such a long time wanted to see you. A +score of times I intended going after you into the country; but then, +you know, circumstances--' + +Claude, feeling uncomfortable at these protestations, endeavoured to +meet them with a like cordiality. But Henriette, who was still +serving, saved the situation by growing impatient. + +'Come, Fagerolles, just answer me. Do you wish two slices of toast?' + +'Certainly, madame, two, if you please. I am very fond of +_bouillabaisse_. Besides, yours is delicious, a marvel!' + +In fact, they all went into raptures over it, especially Jory and +Mahoudeau, who declared they had never tasted anything better at +Marseilles; so much so, that the young wife, delighted and still +flushed with the heat of the kitchen, her ladle in her hand, had all +she could do to refill the plates held out to her; and, indeed, she +rose up and ran in person to the kitchen to fetch the remains of the +soup, for the servant-girl was losing her wits. + +'Come, eat something,' said Sandoz to her. 'We'll wait well enough +till you have done.' + +But she was obstinate and remained standing. + +'Never mind me. You had better pass the bread--yes, there, behind you +on the sideboard. Jory prefers crumb, which he can soak in the soup.' + +Sandoz rose in his turn and assisted his wife, while the others +chaffed Jory on his love for sops. And Claude, moved by the pleasant +cordiality of his hosts, and awaking, as it were, from a long sleep, +looked at them all, asking himself whether he had only left them on +the previous night, or whether four years had really elapsed since he +had dined with them one Thursday. They were different, however; he +felt them to be changed: Mahoudeau soured by misery, Jory wrapt up in +his own pleasures, Gagniere more distant, with his thoughts elsewhere. +And it especially seemed to him that Fagerolles was chilly, in spite +of his exaggerated cordiality of manner. No doubt their features had +aged somewhat amid the wear and tear of life; but it was not only that +which he noticed, it seemed to him also as if there was a void between +them; he beheld them isolated and estranged from each other, although +they were seated elbow to elbow in close array round the table. Then +the surroundings were different; nowadays, a woman brought her charm +to bear on them, and calmed them by her presence. Then why did he, +face to face with the irrevocable current of things, which die and are +renewed, experience that sensation of beginning something over again +--why was it that he could have sworn that he had been seated at that +same place only last Thursday? At last he thought he understood. It +was Sandoz who had not changed, who remained as obstinate as regards +his habits of friendship, as regards his habits of work, as radiant at +being able to receive his friends at the board of his new home as he +had formerly been, when sharing his frugal bachelor fare with them. A +dream of eternal friendship made him changeless. Thursdays similar one +to another followed and followed on until the furthest stages of their +lives. All of them were eternally together, all started at the +self-same hour, and participated in the same triumph! + +Sandoz must have guessed the thought that kept Claude mute, for he +said to him across the table, with his frank, youthful smile: + +'Well, old man, here you are again! Ah, confound it! we missed you +sorely. But, you see, nothing is changed; we are all the same--aren't +we, all of you?' + +They answered by nodding their heads--no doubt, no doubt! + +'With this difference,' he went on, beaming--'with this difference, +that the cookery is somewhat better than in the Rue d'Enfer! What a +lot of messes I did make you swallow!' + +After the _bouillabaisse_ there came a _civet_ of hare; and a roast +fowl and salad terminated the dinner. But they sat for a long time at +table, and the dessert proved a protracted affair, although the +conversation lacked the fever and violence of yore. Every one spoke of +himself and ended by relapsing into silence on perceiving that the +others did not listen to him. With the cheese, however, when they had +tasted some burgundy, a sharp little growth, of which the young couple +had ordered a cask out of the profits of Sandoz's first novel, their +voices rose to a higher key, and they all grew animated. + +'So you have made an arrangement with Naudet, eh?' asked Mahoudeau, +whose bony cheeks seemed to have grown yet more hollow. 'Is it true +that he guarantees you fifty thousand francs for the first year?' + +Fagerolles replied, with affected carelessness, 'Yes, fifty thousand +francs. But nothing is settled; I'm thinking it over. It is hard to +engage oneself like that. I am not going to do anything +precipitately.' + +'The deuce!' muttered the sculptor; 'you are hard to please. For +twenty francs a day I'd sign whatever you like.' + +They all now listened to Fagerolles, who posed as being wearied by his +budding success. He still had the same good-looking, disturbing +hussy-like face, but the fashion in which he wore his hair and the cut +of his beard lent him an appearance of gravity. Although he still came +at long intervals to Sandoz's, he was separating from the band; he +showed himself on the boulevards, frequented the cafes and newspaper +offices--all the places where a man can advertise himself and make +useful acquaintances. These were tactics of his own, a determination +to carve his own victory apart from the others; the smart idea that if +he wished to triumph he ought to have nothing more in common with +those revolutionists, neither dealer, nor connections, nor habits. It +was even said that he had interested the female element of two or +three drawing-rooms in his success, not in Jory's style, but like a +vicious fellow who rises superior to his passions, and is content to +adulate superannuated baronesses. + +Just then Jory, in view of lending importance to himself, called +Fagerolles' attention to a recently published article; he pretended +that he had made Fagerolles just as he pretended that he had made +Claude. 'I say, have you read that article of Vernier's about +yourself? There's another fellow who repeats my ideas!' + +'Ah, he does get articles, and no mistake!' sighed Mahoudeau. + +Fagerolles made a careless gesture, but he smiled with secret contempt +for all those poor beggars who were so utterly deficient in shrewdness +that they clung, like simpletons, to their crude style, when it was so +easy to conquer the crowd. Had it not sufficed for him to break with +them, after pillaging them, to make his own fortune? He benefited by +all the hatred that folks had against them; his pictures, of a +softened, attenuated style, were held up in praise, so as to deal the +death-blow to their ever obstinately violent works. + +'Have you read Vernier's article?' asked Jory of Gagniere. 'Doesn't he +say exactly what I said?' + +For the last few moments Gagniere had been absorbed in contemplating +his glass, the wine in which cast a ruddy reflection on the white +tablecloth. He started: + +'Eh, what, Vernier's article?' + +'Why, yes; in fact, all those articles which appear about Fagerolles.' + +Gagniere in amazement turned to the painter. + +'What, are they writing articles about you? I know nothing about them, +I haven't seen them. Ah! they are writing articles about you, but +whatever for?' + +There was a mad roar of laughter. Fagerolles alone grinned with an ill +grace, for he fancied himself the butt of some spiteful joke. But +Gagniere spoke in absolute good faith. He felt surprised at the +success of a painter who did not even observe the laws regulating the +value of tints. Success for that trickster! Never! For in that case +what would become of conscientiousness? + +This boisterous hilarity enlivened the end of the dinner. They all +left off eating, though the mistress of the house still insisted upon +filling their plates. + +'My dear, do attend to them,' she kept saying to Sandoz, who had grown +greatly excited amidst the din. 'Just stretch out your hand; the +biscuits are on the side-board.' + +They all declined anything more, and rose up. As the rest of the +evening was to be spent there, round the table, drinking tea, they +leaned back against the walls and continued chatting while the servant +cleared away. The young couple assisted, Henriette putting the +salt-cellars in a drawer, and Sandoz helping to fold the cloth. + +'You can smoke,' said Henriette. 'You know that it doesn't +inconvenience me in the least.' + +Fagerolles, who had drawn Claude into the window recess, offered him a +cigar, which was declined. + +'True, I forgot; you don't smoke. Ah! I say, I must go to see what you +have brought back with you. Some very interesting things, no doubt. +You know what I think of your talent. You are the cleverest of us +all.' + +He showed himself very humble, sincere at heart, and allowing his +admiration of former days to rise once more to the surface; indeed, he +for ever bore the imprint of another's genius, which he admitted, +despite the complex calculations of his cunning mind. But his humility +was mingled with a certain embarrassment very rare with him--the +concern he felt at the silence which the master of his youth preserved +respecting his last picture. At last he ventured to ask, with +quivering lips: + +'Did you see my actress at the Salon? Do you like it? Tell me +candidly.' + +Claude hesitated for a moment; then, like the good-natured fellow he +was, said: + +'Yes; there are some very good bits in it.' + +Fagerolles already repented having asked that stupid question, and he +ended by altogether floundering; he tried to excuse himself for his +plagiarisms and his compromises. When with great difficulty he had got +out of the mess, enraged with himself for his clumsiness, he for a +moment became the joker of yore again, made even Claude laugh till he +cried, and amused them all. At last he held out his hand to take leave +of Henriette. + +'What, going so soon?' + +'Alas! yes, dear madame. This evening my father is entertaining the +head of a department at one of the ministries, an official whom he's +trying to influence in view of obtaining a decoration; and, as I am +one of his titles to that distinction, I had to promise that I would +look in.' + +When he was gone, Henriette, who had exchanged a few words in a low +voice with Sandoz, disappeared; and her light footfall was heard on +the first floor. Since her marriage it was she who tended the old, +infirm mother, absenting herself in this fashion several times during +the evening, just as the son had done formerly. + +Not one of the guests, however, had noticed her leave the room. +Mahoudeau and Gagniere were now talking about Fagerolles; showing +themselves covertly bitter, without openly attacking him. As yet they +contented themselves with ironical glances and shrugs of the +shoulders--all the silent contempt of fellows who don't wish to slash +a chum. Then they fell back on Claude; they prostrated themselves +before him, overwhelmed him with the hopes they set in him. Ah! it was +high time for him to come back, for he alone, with his great gifts, +his vigorous touch, could become the master, the recognised chief. +Since the Salon of the Rejected the 'school of the open air' had +increased in numbers; a growing influence was making itself felt; but +unfortunately, the efforts were frittered away; the new recruits +contented themselves with producing sketches, impressions thrown off +with a few strokes of the brush; they were awaiting the necessary man +of genius, the one who would incarnate the new formula in +masterpieces. What a position to take! to master the multitude, to +open up a century, to create a new art! Claude listened to them, with +his eyes turned to the floor and his face very pale. Yes, that indeed +was his unavowed dream, the ambition he dared not confess to himself. +Only, with the delight that the flattery caused him, there was mingled +a strange anguish, a dread of the future, as he heard them raising him +to the position of dictator, as if he had already triumphed. + +'Don't,' he exclaimed at last; 'there are others as good as myself. I +am still seeking my real line.' + +Jory, who felt annoyed, was smoking in silence. Suddenly, as the +others obstinately kept at it, he could not refrain from remarking: + +'All this, my boys, is because you are vexed at Fagerolles' success.' + +They energetically denied it; they burst out in protestations. +Fagerolles, the young master! What a good joke! + +'Oh, you are turning your back upon us, we know it,' said Mahoudeau. +'There's no fear of your writing a line about us nowadays.' + +'Well, my dear fellow,' answered Jory, vexed, 'everything I write +about you is cut out. You make yourselves hated everywhere. Ah! if I +had a paper of my own!' + +Henriette came back, and Sandoz's eyes having sought hers, she +answered him with a glance and the same affectionate, quiet smile that +he had shown when leaving his mother's room in former times. Then she +summoned them all. They sat down again round the table while she made +the tea and poured it out. But the gathering grew sad, benumbed, as it +were, with lassitude. Sandoz vainly tried a diversion by admitting +Bertrand, the big dog, who grovelled at sight of the sugar-basin, and +ended by going to sleep near the stove, where he snored like a man. +Since the discussion on Fagerolles there had been intervals of +silence, a kind of bored irritation, which fell heavily upon them +amidst the dense tobacco smoke. And, in fact, Gagniere felt so out of +sorts that he left the table for a moment to seat himself at the +piano, murdering some passages from Wagner in a subdued key, with the +stiff fingers of an amateur who tries his first scale at thirty. + +Towards eleven o'clock Dubuche, arriving at last, contributed the +finishing touch to the general frost. He had made his escape from a +ball to fulfil what he considered a remaining duty towards his old +comrades; and his dress-coat, his white necktie, his fat, pale face, +all proclaimed his vexation at having come, the importance he attached +to the sacrifice, and the fear he felt of compromising his new +position. He avoided mentioning his wife, so that he might not have to +bring her to Sandoz's. When he had shaken hands with Claude, without +showing more emotion than if he had met him the day before, he +declined a cup of tea and spoke slowly--puffing out his cheeks the +while--of his worry in settling in a brand-new house, and of the work +that had overwhelmed him since he had attended to the business of his +father-in-law, who was building a whole street near the Parc Monceau. + +Then Claude distinctly felt that something had snapped. Had life then +already carried away the evenings of former days, those evenings so +fraternal in their very violence, when nothing had as yet separated +them, when not one of them had thought of keeping his part of glory to +himself? Nowadays the battle was beginning. Each hungry one was +eagerly biting. And a fissure was there, a scarcely perceptible crack +that had rent the old, sworn friendships, and some day would make them +crumble into a thousand pieces. + +However, Sandoz, with his craving for perpetuity, had so far noticed +nothing; he still beheld them as they had been in the Rue d'Enfer, all +arm in arm, starting off to victory. Why change what was well? Did not +happiness consist in one pleasure selected from among all, and then +enjoyed for ever afterwards? And when, an hour later, the others made +up their minds to go off, wearied by the dull egotism of Dubuche, who +had not left off talking about his own affairs; when they had dragged +Gagniere, in a trance, away from the piano, Sandoz, followed by his +wife, absolutely insisted, despite the coldness of the night, on +accompanying them all to the gate at the end of the garden. He shook +hands all round, and shouted after them: + +'Till Thursday, Claude; till next Thursday, all of you, eh? Mind you +all come!' + +'Till Thursday!' repeated Henriette, who had taken the lantern and was +holding it aloft so as to light the steps. + +And, amid the laughter, Gagniere and Mahoudeau replied, jokingly: +'Till Thursday, young master! Good-night, young master!' + +Once in the Rue Nollet, Dubuche immediately hailed a cab, in which he +drove away. The other four walked together as far as the outer +boulevards, scarcely exchanging a word, looking dazed, as it were, at +having been in each other's company so long. At last Jory decamped, +pretending that some proofs were waiting for him at the office of his +newspaper. Then Gagniere mechanically stopped Claude in front of the +Cafe Baudequin, the gas of which was still blazing away. Mahoudeau +refused to go in, and went off alone, sadly ruminating, towards the +Rue du Cherche-Midi. + +Without knowing how, Claude found himself seated at their old table, +opposite Gagniere, who was silent. The cafe had not changed. The +friends still met there of a Sunday, showing a deal of fervour, in +fact, since Sandoz had lived in the neighbourhood; but the band was +now lost amid a flood of new-comers; it was slowly being submerged by +the increasing triteness of the young disciples of the 'open air.' At +that hour of night, however, the establishment was getting empty. +Three young painters, whom Claude did not know, came to shake hands +with him as they went off; and then there merely remained a petty +retired tradesman of the neighbourhood, asleep in front of a saucer. + +Gagniere, quite at his ease, as if he had been at home, absolutely +indifferent to the yawns of the solitary waiter, who was stretching +his arms, glanced towards Claude, but without seeing him, for his eyes +were dim. + +'By the way,' said the latter, 'what were you explaining to Mahoudeau +this evening? Yes, about the red of a flag turning yellowish amid the +blue of the sky. That was it, eh? You are studying the theory of +complementary colours.' + +But the other did not answer. He took up his glass of beer, set it +down again without tasting its contents, and with an ecstatic smile +ended by muttering: + +'Haydn has all the gracefulness of a rhetorician--his is a gentle +music, quivering like the voice of a great-grandmother in powdered +hair. Mozart, he's the precursory genius--the first who endowed an +orchestra with an individual voice; and those two will live mostly +because they created Beethoven. Ah, Beethoven! power and strength +amidst serene suffering, Michael Angelo at the tomb of the Medici! A +heroic logician, a kneader of human brains; for the symphony, with +choral accompaniments, was the starting-point of all the great ones of +to-day!' + +The waiter, tired of waiting, began to turn off the gas, wearily +dragging his feet along as he did so. Mournfulness pervaded the +deserted room, dirty with saliva and cigar ends, and reeking of spilt +drink; while from the hushed boulevard the only sound that came was +the distant blubbering of some drunkard. + +Gagniere, still in the clouds, however, continued to ride his +hobby-horse. + +'Weber passes by us amid a romantic landscape, conducting the ballads +of the dead amidst weeping willows and oaks with twisted branches. +Schumann follows him, beneath the pale moonlight, along the shores of +silvery lakes. And behold, here comes Rossini, incarnation of the +musical gift, so gay, so natural, without the least concern for +expression, caring nothing for the public, and who isn't my man by a +long way--ah! certainly not--but then, all the same, he astonishes one +by his wealth of production, and the huge effects he derives from an +accumulation of voices and an ever-swelling repetition of the same +strain. These three led to Meyerbeer, a cunning fellow who profited by +everything, introducing symphony into opera after Weber, and giving +dramatic expression to the unconscious formulas of Rossini. Oh! the +superb bursts of sound, the feudal pomp, the martial mysticism, the +quivering of fantastic legends, the cry of passion ringing out through +history! And such finds!--each instrument endowed with a personality, +the dramatic _recitatives_ accompanied symphoniously by the orchestra +--the typical musical phrase on which an entire work is built! Ah! he +was a great fellow--a very great fellow indeed!' + +'I am going to shut up, sir,' said the waiter, drawing near. + +And, seeing that Gagniere did not as much as look round, he went to +awaken the petty retired tradesman, who was still dozing in front of +his saucer. + +'I am going to shut up, sir.' + +The belated customer rose up, shivering, fumbled in the dark corner +where he was seated for his walking-stick, and when the waiter had +picked it up for him from under the seats he went away. + +And Gagniere rambled on: + +'Berlioz has mingled literature with his work. He is the musical +illustrator of Shakespeare, Virgil, and Goethe. But what a painter! +--the Delacroix of music, who makes sound blaze forth amidst effulgent +contrasts of colour. And withal he has romanticism in his brain, a +religious mysticism that carries him away, an ecstasy that soars +higher than mountain summits. A bad builder of operas, but marvellous +in detached pieces, asking too much at times of the orchestra which he +tortures, having pushed the personality of instruments to its furthest +limits; for each instrument represents a character to him. Ah! that +remark of his about clarionets: "They typify beloved women." Ah! it +has always made a shiver run down my back. And Chopin, so dandified in +his Byronism; the dreamy poet of those who suffer from neurosis! And +Mendelssohn, that faultless chiseller! a Shakespeare in dancing pumps, +whose "songs without words" are gems for women of intellect! And after +that--after that--a man should go down on his knees.' + +There was now only one gas-lamp alight just above his head, and the +waiter standing behind him stood waiting amid the gloomy, chilly void +of the room. Gagniere's voice had come to a reverential _tremolo_. He +was reaching devotional fervour as he approached the inner tabernacle, +the holy of holies. + +'Oh! Schumann, typical of despair, the voluptuousness of despair! Yes, +the end of everything, the last song of saddened purity hovering above +the ruins of the world! Oh! Wagner, the god in whom centuries of music +are incarnated! His work is the immense ark, all the arts blended in +one; the real humanity of the personages at last expressed, the +orchestra itself living apart the life of the drama. And what a +massacre of conventionality, of inept formulas! what a revolutionary +emancipation amid the infinite! The overture of "Tannhauser," ah! +that's the sublime hallelujah of the new era. First of all comes the +chant of the pilgrims, the religious strain, calm, deep and slowly +throbbing; then the voices of the sirens gradually drown it; the +voluptuous pleasures of Venus, full of enervating delight and languor, +grow more and more imperious and disorderly; and soon the sacred air +gradually returns, like the aspiring voice of space, and seizes hold +of all other strains and blends them in one supreme harmony, to waft +them away on the wings of a triumphal hymn!' + +'I am going to shut up, sir,' repeated the waiter. + +Claude, who no longer listened, he also being absorbed in his own +passion, emptied his glass of beer and cried: 'Eh, old man, they are +going to shut up.' + +Then Gagniere trembled. A painful twitch came over his ecstatic face, +and he shivered as if he had dropped from the stars. He gulped down +his beer, and once on the pavement outside, after pressing his +companion's hand in silence, he walked off into the gloom. + +It was nearly two o'clock in the morning when Claude returned to the +Rue de Douai. During the week that he had been scouring Paris anew, he +had each time brought back with him the feverish excitement of the +day. But he had never before returned so late, with his brain so hot +and smoky. Christine, overcome with fatigue, was asleep under the +lamp, which had gone out, her brow resting on the edge of the table. + + + + VIII + +AT last Christine gave a final stroke with her feather-broom, and they +were settled. The studio in the Rue de Douai, small and inconvenient, +had only one little room, and a kitchen, as big as a cupboard, +attached to it. They were obliged to take their meals in the studio; +they had to live in it, with the child always tumbling about their +legs. And Christine had a deal of trouble in making their few sticks +suffice, as she wished to do, in order to save expense. After all, she +was obliged to buy a second-hand bedstead; and yielded to the +temptation of having some white muslin curtains, which cost her seven +sous the metre. The den then seemed charming to her, and she began to +keep it scrupulously clean, resolving to do everything herself, and to +dispense with a servant, as living would be a difficult matter. + +During the first months Claude lived in ever-increasing excitement. +His peregrinations through the noisy streets; his feverish discussions +on the occasion of his visits to friends; all the rage and all the +burning ideas he thus brought home from out of doors, made him hold +forth aloud even in his sleep. Paris had seized hold of him again; and +in the full blaze of that furnace, a second youth, enthusiastic +ambition to see, do, and conquer, had come upon him. Never had he felt +such a passion for work, such hope, as if it sufficed for him to +stretch out his hand in order to create masterpieces that should set +him in the right rank, which was the first. While crossing Paris he +discovered subjects for pictures everywhere; the whole city, with its +streets, squares, bridges, and panoramas of life, suggested immense +frescoes, which he, however, always found too small, for he was +intoxicated with the thought of doing something colossal. Thus he +returned home quivering, his brain seething with projects; and of an +evening threw off sketches on bits of paper, in the lamp-light, +without being able to decide by what he ought to begin the series of +grand productions that he dreamt about. + +One serious obstacle was the smallness of his studio. If he had +only had the old garret of the Quai de Bourbon, or even the huge +dining-room of Bennecourt! But what could he do in that oblong strip +of space, that kind of passage, which the landlord of the house +impudently let to painters for four hundred francs a year, after +roofing it in with glass? The worst was that the sloping glazed roof +looked to the north, between two high walls, and only admitted a +greenish cellar-like light. He was therefore obliged to postpone his +ambitious projects, and he decided to begin with average-sized +canvases, wisely saying to himself that the dimensions of a picture +are not a proper test of an artist's genius. + +The moment seemed to him favourable for the success of a courageous +artist who, amidst the breaking up of the old schools, would at length +bring some originality and sincerity into his work. The formulas of +recent times were already shaken. Delacroix had died without leaving +any disciples. Courbet had barely a few clumsy imitators behind him; +their best pieces would merely become so many museum pictures, +blackened by age, tokens only of the art of a certain period. It +seemed easy to foresee the new formula that would spring from theirs, +that rush of sunshine, that limpid dawn which was rising in new works +under the nascent influence of the 'open air' school. It was +undeniable; those light-toned paintings over which people had laughed +so much at the Salon of the Rejected were secretly influencing many +painters, and gradually brightening every palette. Nobody, as yet, +admitted it, but the first blow had been dealt, and an evolution was +beginning, which became more perceptible at each succeeding Salon. And +what a stroke it would be if, amidst the unconscious copies of +impotent essayists, amidst the timid artful attempts of tricksters, a +master were suddenly to reveal himself, giving body to the new formula +by dint of audacity and power, without compromise, showing it such as +it should be, substantial, entire, so that it might become the truth +of the end of the century! + +In that first hour of passion and hope, Claude, usually so harassed by +doubts, believed in his genius. He no longer experienced any of those +crises, the anguish of which had driven him for days into the streets +in quest of his vanished courage. A fever stiffened him, he worked on +with the blind obstinacy of an artist who dives into his entrails, to +drag therefrom the fruit that tortures him. His long rest in the +country had endowed him with singular freshness of visual perception, +and joyous delight in execution; he seemed to have been born anew to +his art, and endowed with a facility and balance of power he had never +hitherto possessed. He also felt certain of progress, and experienced +great satisfaction at some successful bits of work, in which his +former sterile efforts at last culminated. As he had said at +Bennecourt, he had got hold of his 'open air,' that carolling gaiety +of tints which astonished his comrades when they came to see him. They +all admired, convinced that he would only have to show his work to +take a very high place with it, such was its individuality of style, +for the first time showing nature flooded with real light, amid all +the play of reflections and the constant variations of colours. + +Thus, for three years, Claude struggled on, without weakening, spurred +to further efforts by each rebuff, abandoning nought of his ideas, but +marching straight before him, with all the vigour of faith. + +During the first year he went forth amid the December snows to place +himself for four hours a day behind the heights of Montmartre, at the +corner of a patch of waste land whence as a background he painted some +miserable, low, tumble-down buildings, overtopped by factory chimneys, +whilst in the foreground, amidst the snow, he set a girl and a ragged +street rough devouring stolen apples. His obstinacy in painting from +nature greatly complicated his work, and gave rise to almost +insuperable difficulties. However, he finished this picture out of +doors; he merely cleaned and touched it up a bit in his studio. When +the canvas was placed beneath the wan daylight of the glazed roof, he +himself was startled by its brutality. It showed like a scene beheld +through a doorway open on the street. The snow blinded one. The two +figures, of a muddy grey in tint, stood out, lamentable. He at once +felt that such a picture would not be accepted, but he did not try to +soften it; he sent it to the Salon, all the same. After swearing that +he would never again try to exhibit, he now held the view that one +should always present something to the hanging committee if merely to +accentuate its wrong-doing. Besides, he admitted the utility of the +Salon, the only battlefield on which an artist might come to the fore +at one stroke. The hanging committee refused his picture. + +The second year Claude sought a contrast. He selected a bit of the +public garden of Batignolles in May; in the background were some large +chestnut trees casting their shade around a corner of greensward and +several six-storied houses; while in front, on a seat of a crude green +hue, some nurses and petty cits of the neighbourhood sat in a line +watching three little girls making sand pies. When permission to paint +there had been obtained, he had needed some heroism to bring his work +to a successful issue amid the bantering crowd. At last he made up his +mind to go there at five in the morning, in order to paint in the +background; reserving the figures, he contented himself with making +mere sketches of them from nature, and finishing them in his studio. +This time his picture seemed to him less crude; it had acquired some +of the wan, softened light which descended through the glass roof. He +thought his picture accepted, for all his friends pronounced it to be +a masterpiece, and went about saying that it would revolutionise the +Salon. There was stupefaction and indignation when a fresh refusal of +the hanging committee was rumoured. The committee's intentions could +not be denied: it was a question of systematically strangling an +original artist. He, after his first burst of passion, vented all his +anger upon his work, which he stigmatised as false, dishonest, and +execrable. It was a well-deserved lesson, which he should remember: +ought he to have relapsed into that cellar-like studio light? Was he +going to revert to the filthy cooking of imaginary figures? When the +picture came back, he took a knife and ripped it from top to bottom. + +And so during the third year he obstinately toiled on a work of +revolt. He wanted the blazing sun, that Paris sun which, on certain +days, turns the pavement to a white heat in the dazzling reflection +from the house frontages. Nowhere is it hotter; even people from +burning climes mop their faces; you would say you were in some region +of Africa beneath the heavily raining glow of a sky on fire. The +subject Claude chose was a corner of the Place du Carrousel, at one +o'clock in the afternoon, when the sunrays fall vertically. A cab was +jolting along, its driver half asleep, its horse steaming, with +drooping head, vague amid the throbbing heat. The passers-by seemed, +as it were, intoxicated, with the one exception of a young woman, who, +rosy and gay under her parasol, walked on with an easy queen-like +step, as if the fiery element were her proper sphere. But what +especially rendered this picture terrible was a new interpretation of +the effects of light, a very accurate decomposition of the sunrays, +which ran counter to all the habits of eyesight, by emphasising blues, +yellows and reds, where nobody had been accustomed to see any. In the +background the Tuileries vanished in a golden shimmer; the +paving-stones bled, so to say; the figures were only so many +indications, sombre patches eaten into by the vivid glare. This time +his comrades, while still praising, looked embarrassed, all seized +with the same apprehensions. Such painting could only lead to +martyrdom. He, amidst their praises, understood well enough the +rupture that was taking place, and when the hanging committee had once +more closed the Salon against him, he dolorously exclaimed, in a +moment of lucidity: + +'All right; it's an understood thing--I'll die at the task.' + +However, although his obstinate courage seemed to increase, he now and +then gradually relapsed into his former doubts, consumed by the +struggle he was waging with nature. Every canvas that came back to him +seemed bad to him--above all incomplete, not realising what he had +aimed at. It was this idea of impotence that exasperated him even more +than the refusals of the hanging committee. No doubt he did not +forgive the latter; his works, even in an embryo state, were a hundred +times better than all the trash which was accepted. But what suffering +he felt at being ever unable to show himself in all his strength, in +such a master-piece as he could not bring his genius to yield! There +were always some superb bits in his paintings. He felt satisfied with +this, that, and the other. Why, then, were there sudden voids? Why +were there inferior bits, which he did not perceive while he was at +work, but which afterwards utterly killed the picture like +ineffaceable defects? And he felt quite unable to make any +corrections; at certain moments a wall rose up, an insuperable +obstacle, beyond which he was forbidden to venture. If he touched up +the part that displeased him a score of times, so a score of times did +he aggravate the evil, till everything became quite muddled and messy. + +He grew anxious, and failed to see things clearly; his brush refused +to obey him, and his will was paralysed. Was it his hands or his eyes +that ceased to belong to him amid those progressive attacks of the +hereditary disorder that had already made him anxious? Those attacks +became more frequent; he once more lapsed into horrible weeks, wearing +himself out, oscillating betwixt uncertainty and hope; and his only +support during those terrible hours, which he spent in a desperate +hand-to-hand struggle with his rebellious work, was the consoling +dream of his future masterpiece, the one with which he would at last +be fully satisfied, in painting which his hands would show all the +energy and deftness of true creative skill. By some ever-recurring +phenomenon, his longing to create outstripped the quickness of his +fingers; he never worked at one picture without planning the one that +was to follow. Then all that remained to him was an eager desire to +rid himself of the work on which he was engaged, for it brought him +torture; no doubt it would be good for nothing; he was still making +fatal concessions, having recourse to trickery, to everything that a +true artist should banish from his conscience. But what he meant to do +after that--ah! what he meant to do--he beheld it superb and heroic, +above attack and indestructible. All this was the everlasting mirage +that goads on the condemned disciples of art, a falsehood that comes +in a spirit of tenderness and compassion, and without which production +would become impossible to those who die of their failure to create +life. + +In addition to those constantly renewed struggles with himself, +Claude's material difficulties now increased. Was it not enough that +he could not give birth to what he felt existing within him? Must he +also battle with every-day cares? Though he refused to admit it, +painting from nature in the open air became impossible when a picture +was beyond a certain size. How could he settle himself in the streets +amidst the crowd?--how obtain from each person the necessary number of +sittings? That sort of painting must evidently be confined to certain +determined subjects, landscapes, small corners of the city, in which +the figures would be but so many silhouettes, painted in afterwards. +There were also a thousand and one difficulties connected with the +weather; the wind which threatened to carry off the easel, the rain +which obliged one to interrupt one's work. On such days Claude came +home in a rage, shaking his fist at the sky and accusing nature of +resisting him in order that he might not take and vanquish her. He +also complained bitterly of being poor; for his dream was to have a +movable studio, a vehicle in Paris, a boat on the Seine, in both of +which he would have lived like an artistic gipsy. But nothing came to +his aid, everything conspired against his work. + +And Christine suffered with Claude. She had shared his hopes very +bravely, brightening the studio with her housewifely activity; but now +she sat down, discouraged, when she saw him powerless. At each picture +which was refused she displayed still deeper grief, hurt in her +womanly self-love, taking that pride in success which all women have. +The painter's bitterness soured her also; she entered into his +feelings and passions, identified herself with his tastes, defended +his painting, which had become, as it were, part of herself, the one +great concern of their lives--indeed, the only important one +henceforth, since it was the one whence she expected all her +happiness. She understood well enough that art robbed her more and +more of her lover each day, but the real struggle between herself and +art had not yet begun. For the time she yielded, and let herself be +carried away with Claude, so that they might be but one--one only in +the self-same effort. From that partial abdication of self there +sprang, however, a sadness, a dread of what might be in store for her +later on. Every now and then a shudder chilled her to the very heart. +She felt herself growing old, while intense melancholy upset her, an +unreasoning longing to weep, which she satisfied in the gloomy studio +for hours together, when she was alone there. + +At that period her heart expanded, as it were, and a mother sprang +from the loving woman. That motherly feeling for her big artist child +was made up of all the vague infinite pity which filled her with +tenderness, of the illogical fits of weakness into which she saw him +fall each hour, of the constant pardons which she was obliged to grant +him. He was beginning to make her unhappy, his caresses were few and +far between, a look of weariness constantly overspread his features. +How could she love him then if not with that other affection of every +moment, remaining in adoration before him, and unceasingly sacrificing +herself? In her inmost being insatiable passion still lingered; she +was still the sensuous woman with thick lips set in obstinately +prominent jaws. Yet there was a gentle melancholy, in being merely a +mother to him, in trying to make him happy amid that life of theirs +which now was spoilt. + +Little Jacques was the only one to suffer from that transfer of +tenderness. She neglected him more; the man, his father, became her +child, and the poor little fellow remained as mere testimony of their +great passion of yore. As she saw him grow up, and no longer require +so much care, she began to sacrifice him, without intentional +harshness, but merely because she felt like that. At meal-times she +only gave him the inferior bits; the cosiest nook near the stove was +not for his little chair; if ever the fear of an accident made her +tremble now and then, her first cry, her first protecting movement was +not for her helpless child. She ever relegated him to the background, +suppressed him, as it were: 'Jacques, be quiet; you tire your father. +Jacques, keep still; don't you see that your father is at work?' + +The urchin suffered from being cooped up in Paris. He, who had had the +whole country-side to roll about in, felt stifled in the narrow space +where he now had to keep quiet. His rosy cheeks became pale, he grew +up puny, serious, like a little man, with eyes which stared at things +in wonder. He was five by now, and his head by a singular phenomenon +had become disproportionately large, in such wise as to make his +father say, 'He has a great man's nut!' But the child's intelligence +seemed, on the contrary, to decrease in proportion as his skull became +larger. Very gentle and timid, he became absorbed in thought for +hours, incapable of answering a question. And when he emerged from +that state of immobility he had mad fits of shouting and jumping, like +a young animal giving rein to instinct. At such times warnings 'to +keep quiet' rained upon him, for his mother failed to understand his +sudden outbursts, and became uneasy at seeing the father grow +irritated as he sat before his easel. Getting cross herself, she would +then hastily seat the little fellow in his corner again. Quieted all +at once, giving the startled shudder of one who has been too abruptly +awakened, the child would after a time doze off with his eyes wide +open, so careless of enjoying life that his toys, corks, pictures, and +empty colour-tubes dropped listlessly from his hands. Christine had +already tried to teach him his alphabet, but he had cried and +struggled, so they had decided to wait another year or two before +sending him to school, where his masters would know how to make him +learn. + +Christine at last began to grow frightened at the prospect of +impending misery. In Paris, with that growing child beside them, +living proved expensive, and the end of each month became terrible, +despite her efforts to save in every direction. They had nothing +certain but Claude's thousand francs a year; and how could they live +on fifty francs a month, which was all that was left to them after +deducting four hundred francs for the rent? At first they had got out +of embarrassment, thanks to the sale of a few pictures, Claude having +found Gagniere's old amateur, one of those detested bourgeois who +possess the ardent souls of artists, despite the monomaniacal habits +in which they are confined. This one, M. Hue, a retired chief clerk in +a public department, was unfortunately not rich enough to be always +buying, and he could only bewail the purblindness of the public, which +once more allowed a genius to die of starvation; for he himself, +convinced, struck by grace at the first glance, had selected Claude's +crudest works, which he hung by the side of his Delacroix, predicting +equal fortune for them. The worst was that Papa Malgras had just +retired after making his fortune. It was but a modest competence after +all, an income of about ten thousand francs, upon which he had decided +to live in a little house at Bois Colombes, like the careful man he +was. + +It was highly amusing to hear him speak of the famous Naudet, full of +disdain for the millions turned over by that speculator, 'millions +that would some day fall upon his nose,' said Malgras. Claude, having +casually met him, only succeeded in selling him a last picture, one of +his sketches from the nude made at the Boutin studio, that superb +study of a woman's trunk which the erstwhile dealer had not been able +to see afresh without feeling a revival of his old passion for it. So +misery was imminent; outlets were closing instead of new ones opening; +disquieting rumours were beginning to circulate concerning the young +painter's works, so constantly rejected at the Salon; and besides, +Claude's style of art, so revolutionary and imperfect, in which the +startled eye found nought of admitted conventionality, would of itself +have sufficed to drive away wealthy buyers. One evening, being unable +to settle his bill at his colour shop, the painter had exclaimed that +he would live upon the capital of his income rather than lower himself +to the degrading production of trade pictures. But Christine had +violently opposed such an extreme measure; she would retrench still +further; in short, she preferred anything to such madness, which would +end by throwing them into the streets without even bread to eat. + +After the rejection of Claude's third picture, the summer proved so +wonderfully fine that the painter seemed to derive new strength from +it. There was not a cloud; limpid light streamed day after day upon +the giant activity of Paris. Claude had resumed his peregrinations +through the city, determined to find a masterstroke, as he expressed +it, something huge, something decisive, he did not exactly know what. +September came, and still he had found nothing that satisfied him; he +simply went mad for a week about one or another subject, and then +declared that it was not the thing after all. His life was spent in +constant excitement; he was ever on the watch, on the point of setting +his hand on the realisation of his dream, which always flew away. In +reality, beneath his intractable realism lay the superstition of a +nervous woman; he believed in occult and complex influences; +everything, luck or ill-luck, must depend upon the view selected. + +One afternoon--it was one of the last fine days of the season--Claude +took Christine out with him, leaving little Jacques in the charge of +the doorkeeper, a kind old woman, as was their wont when they wanted +to go out together. That day the young painter was possessed by a +sudden whim to ramble about and revisit in Christine's company the +nooks beloved in other days; and behind this desire of his there +lurked a vague hope that she would bring him luck. And thus they went +as far as the Pont Louis-Philippe, and remained for a quarter of an +hour on the Quai des Ormes, silent, leaning against the parapet, and +looking at the old Hotel du Martoy, across the Seine, where they had +first loved each other. Then, still without saying a word, they went +their former round; they started along the quays, under the plane +trees, seeing the past rise up before them at every step. Everything +spread out again: the bridges with their arches opening upon the +sheeny water; the Cite, enveloped in shade, above which rose the +flavescent towers of Notre-Dame; the great curve of the right bank +flooded with sunlight, and ending in the indistinct silhouette of the +Pavillon de Flore, together with the broad avenues, the monuments and +edifices on both banks, and all the life of the river, the floating +wash-houses, the baths, and the lighters. + +As of old, the orb in its decline followed them, seemingly rolling +along the distant housetops, and assuming a crescent shape, as it +appeared from behind the dome of the Institute. There was a dazzling +sunset, they had never beheld a more magnificent one, such a majestic +descent amidst tiny cloudlets that changed into purple network, +between the meshes of which a shower of gold escaped. But of the past +that thus rose up before their eyes there came to them nought but +invincible sadness--a sensation that things escaped them, and that it +was impossible for them to retrace their way up stream and live their +life over again. All those old stones remained cold. The constant +current beneath the bridges, the water that had ever flowed onward and +onward, seemed to have borne away something of their own selves, the +delight of early desire and the joyfulness of hope. Now that they +belonged to one another, they no longer tasted the simple happiness +born of feeling the warm pressure of their arms as they strolled on +slowly, enveloped by the mighty vitality of Paris. + +On reaching the Pont des Saints-Peres, Claude, in sheer despair, +stopped short. He had relinquished Christine's arm, and had turned his +face towards the point of the Cite. She no doubt felt the severance +that was taking place and became very sad. Seeing that he lingered +there obliviously, she wished to regain her hold upon him. + +'My dear,' said she, 'let us go home; it's time. Jacques will be +waiting for us, you know.' + +But he went half way across the bridge, and she had to follow him. +Then once more he remained motionless, with his eyes still fixed on +the Cite, on that island which ever rode at anchor, the cradle and +heart of Paris, where for centuries all the blood of her arteries had +converged amid the constant growth of faubourgs invading the plain. +And a glow came over Claude's face, his eyes sparkled, and at last he +made a sweeping gesture: + +'Look! Look!' + +In the immediate foreground beneath them was the port of St. Nicolas, +with the low shanties serving as offices for the inspectors of +navigation, and the large paved river-bank sloping down, littered with +piles of sand, barrels, and sacks, and edged with a row of lighters, +still full, in which busy lumpers swarmed beneath the gigantic arm of +an iron crane. Then on the other side of the river, above a cold +swimming-bath, resounding with the shouts of the last bathers of the +season, the strips of grey linen that served as a roofing flapped in +the wind. In the middle, the open stream flowed on in rippling, +greenish wavelets tipped here and there with white, blue, and pink. +And then there came the Pont des Arts, standing back, high above the +water on its iron girders, like black lace-work, and animated by a +ceaseless procession of foot-passengers, who looked like ants +careering over the narrow line of the horizontal plane. Below, the +Seine flowed away to the far distance; you saw the old arches of the +Pont-Neuf, browny with stone-rust; on the left, as far as the Isle of +St. Louis, came a mirror-like gap; and the other arm of the river +curved sharply, the lock gates of the Mint shutting out the view with +a bar of foam. Along the Pont-Neuf passed big yellow omnibuses, motley +vehicles of all kinds, with the mechanical regularity of so many +children's toys. The whole of the background was inframed within the +perspective of the two banks; on the right were houses on the quays, +partly hidden by a cluster of lofty trees, from behind which on the +horizon there emerged a corner of the Hotel de Villa, together with +the square clock tower of St. Gervais, both looking as indistinct as +if they had stood far away in the suburbs. And on the left bank there +was a wing of the Institute, the flat frontage of the Mint, and yet +another enfilade of trees. + +But the centre of the immense picture, that which rose most +prominently from the stream and soared to the sky, was the Cite, +showing like the prow of an antique vessel, ever burnished by the +setting sun. Down below, the poplars on the strip of ground that joins +the two sections of the Pont-Neuf hid the statue of Henri IV. with a +dense mass of green foliage. Higher up, the sun set the two lines of +frontages in contrast, wrapping the grey buildings of the Quai de +l'Horloge in shade, and illumining with a blaze those of the Quai des +Orfevres, rows of irregular houses which stood out so clearly that one +distinguished the smallest details, the shops, the signboards, even +the curtains at the windows. Higher up, amid the jagged outlines of +chimney stacks, behind a slanting chess-board of smaller roofs, the +pepper-caster turrets of the Palais de Justice and the garrets of the +Prefecture of Police displayed sheets of slate, intersected by a +colossal advertisement painted in blue upon a wall, with gigantic +letters which, visible to all Paris, seemed like some efflorescence of +the feverish life of modern times sprouting on the city's brow. +Higher, higher still, betwixt the twin towers of Notre-Dame, of the +colour of old gold, two arrows darted upwards, the spire of the +cathedral itself, and to the left that of the Sainte-Chapelle, both so +elegantly slim that they seemed to quiver in the breeze, as if they +had been the proud topmasts of the ancient vessel rising into the +brightness of the open sky. + +'Are you coming, dear?' asked Christine, gently. + +Claude did not listen to her; this, the heart of Paris, had taken full +possession of him. The splendid evening seemed to widen the horizon. +There were patches of vivid light, and of clearly defined shadow; +there was a brightness in the precision of each detail, a transparency +in the air, which throbbed with gladness. And the river life, the +turmoil of the quays, all the people, streaming along the streets, +rolling over the bridges, arriving from every side of that huge +cauldron, Paris, steamed there in visible billows, with a quiver that +was apparent in the sunlight. There was a light breeze, high aloft a +flight of small cloudlets crossed the paling azure sky, and one could +hear a slow but mighty palpitation, as if the soul of Paris here dwelt +around its cradle. + +But Christine, frightened at seeing Claude so absorbed, and seized +herself with a kind of religious awe, took hold of his arm and dragged +him away, as if she had felt that some great danger was threatening +him. + +'Let us go home. You are doing yourself harm. I want to get back.' + +At her touch he started like a man disturbed in sleep. Then, turning +his head to take a last look, he muttered: 'Ah! heavens! Ah! heavens, +how beautiful!' + +He allowed himself to be led away. But throughout the evening, first +at dinner, afterwards beside the stove, and until he went to bed, he +remained like one dazed, so deep in his cogitations that he did not +utter half a dozen sentences. And Christine, failing to draw from him +any answer to her questions, at last became silent also. She looked at +him anxiously; was it the approach of some serious illness, had he +inhaled some bad air whilst standing midway across the bridge yonder? +His eyes stared vaguely into space, his face flushed as if with some +inner straining. One would have thought it the mute travail of +germination, as if something were springing into life within him. + +The next morning, immediately after breakfast, he set off, and +Christine spent a very sorrowful day, for although she had become more +easy in mind on hearing him whistle some of his old southern tunes as +he got up, she was worried by another matter, which she had not +mentioned to him for fear of damping his spirits again. That day they +would for the first time lack everything; a whole week separated them +from the date when their little income would fall due, and she had +spent her last copper that morning. She had nothing left for the +evening, not even the wherewithal to buy a loaf. To whom could she +apply? How could she manage to hide the truth any longer from him when +he came home hungry? She made up her mind to pledge the black silk +dress which Madame Vanzade had formerly given her, but it was with a +heavy heart; she trembled with fear and shame at the idea of the +pawnshop, that familiar resort of the poor which she had never as yet +entered. And she was tortured by such apprehension about the future, +that from the ten francs which were lent her she only took enough to +make a sorrel soup and a stew of potatoes. On coming out of the +pawn-office, a meeting with somebody she knew had given her the +finishing stroke. + +As it happened, Claude came home very late, gesticulating merrily, and +his eyes very bright, as if he were excited by some secret joy; he was +very hungry, and grumbled because the cloth was not laid. Then, having +sat down between Christine and little Jacques, he swallowed his soup +and devoured a plateful of potatoes. + +'Is that all?' he asked, when he had finished. 'You might as well have +added a scrap of meat. Did you have to buy some boots again?' + +She stammered, not daring to tell him the truth, but hurt at heart by +this injustice. He, however, went on chaffing her about the coppers +she juggled away to buy herself things with; and getting more and more +excited, amid the egotism of feelings which he seemingly wished to +keep to himself, he suddenly flew out at Jacques. + +'Hold your noise, you brat!--you drive one mad.' + +The child, forgetting all about his dinner, had been tapping the edge +of his plate with his spoon, his eyes full of mirthful delight at this +music. + +'Jacques, be quiet,' scoldingly said his mother, in her turn. 'Let +your father have his dinner in peace.' + +Then the little one, abashed, at once became very quiet, and relapsed +into gloomy stillness, with his lustreless eyes fixed on his potatoes, +which, however, he did not eat. + +Claude made a show of stuffing himself with cheese, while Christine, +quite grieved, offered to fetch some cold meat from a ham and beef +shop; but he declined, and prevented her going by words that pained +her still more. Then, the table having been cleared, they all sat +round the lamp for the evening, she sewing, the little one turning +over a picture-book in silence, and Claude drumming on the table with +his fingers, his mind the while wandering back to the spot whence he +had come. Suddenly he rose, sat down again with a sheet of paper and a +pencil, and began sketching rapidly, in the vivid circle of light that +fell from under the lamp-shade. And such was his longing to give +outward expression to the tumultuous ideas beating in his skull, that +soon this sketch did not suffice for his relief. On the contrary, it +goaded him on, and he finished by unburthening his mind in a flood of +words. He would have shouted to the walls; and if he addressed himself +to his wife it was because she happened to be there. + +'Look, that's what we saw yesterday. It's magnificent. I spent three +hours there to-day. I've got hold of what I want--something wonderful, +something that'll knock everything else to pieces. Just look! I +station myself under the bridge; in the immediate foreground I have +the Port of St. Nicolas, with its crane, its lighters which are being +unloaded, and its crowd of labourers. Do you see the idea--it's Paris +at work--all those brawny fellows displaying their bare arms and +chests? Then on the other side I have the swimming-baths--Paris at +play--and some skiff there, no doubt, to occupy the centre of the +composition; but of that I am not as yet certain. I must feel my way. +As a matter of course, the Seine will be in the middle, broad, +immense.' + +While talking, he kept on indicating outlines with his pencil, +thickening his strokes over and over again, and tearing the paper in +his very energy. She, in order to please him, bent over the sketch, +pretending to grow very interested in his explanations. But there was +such a labyrinth of lines, such a confusion of summary details, that +she failed to distinguish anything. + +'You are following me, aren't you?' + +'Yes, yes, very beautiful indeed.' + +'Then I have the background, the two arms of the rivet with their +quays, the Cite, rising up triumphantly in the centre, and standing +out against the sky. Ah! that background, what a marvel! People see it +every day, pass before it without stopping; but it takes hold of one +all the same; one's admiration accumulates, and one fine afternoon it +bursts forth. Nothing in the world can be grander; it is Paris +herself, glorious in the sunlight. Ah! what a fool I was not to think +of it before! How many times I have looked at it without seeing! +However, I stumbled on it after that ramble along the quays! And, do +you remember, there's a dash of shadow on that side; while here the +sunrays fall quite straight. The towers are yonder; the spire of the +Sainte-Chapelle tapers upward, as slim as a needle pointing to the +sky. But no, it's more to the right. Wait, I'll show you.' + +He began again, never wearying, but constantly retouching the sketch, +and adding innumerable little characteristic details which his +painter's eye had noticed; here the red signboard of a distant shop +vibrated in the light; closer by was a greenish bit of the Seine, on +whose surface large patches of oil seemed to be floating; and then +there was the delicate tone of a tree, the gamut of greys supplied by +the house frontages, and the luminous cast of the sky. She +complaisantly approved of all he said and tried to look delighted. + +But Jacques once again forgot what he had been told. After long +remaining silent before his book, absorbed in the contemplation of a +wood-cut depicting a black cat, he began to hum some words of his own +composition: 'Oh, you pretty cat; oh, you ugly cat; oh, you pretty, +ugly cat,' and so on, _ad infinitum_, ever in the same lugubrious +manner. + +Claude, who was made fidgety by the buzzing noise, did not at first +understand what was upsetting him. But after a time the child's +harassing phrase fell clearly upon his ear. + +'Haven't you done worrying us with your cat?' he shouted furiously. + +'Hold your tongue, Jacques, when your father is talking!' repeated +Christine. + +Upon my word, I do believe he is becoming an idiot. Just look at his +head, if it isn't like an idiot's. It's dreadful. Just say; what do +you mean by your pretty and ugly cat?' + +The little fellow, turning pale and wagging his big head, looked +stupid, and replied: 'Don't know.' + +Then, as his father and mother gazed at each other with a discouraged +air, he rested his cheek on the open picture-book, and remained like +that, neither stirring nor speaking, but with his eyes wide open. + +It was getting late; Christine wanted to put him to bed, but Claude +had already resumed his explanations. He now told her that, the very +next morning, he should go and make a sketch on the spot, just in +order to fix his ideas. And, as he rattled on, he began to talk of +buying a small camp easel, a thing upon which he had set his heart for +months. He kept harping on the subject, and spoke of money matters +till she at last became embarrassed, and ended by telling him of +everything--the last copper she had spent that morning, and the silk +dress she had pledged in order to dine that evening. Thereupon he +became very remorseful and affectionate; he kissed her and asked her +forgiveness for having complained about the dinner. She would excuse +him, surely; he would have killed father and mother, as he kept on +repeating, when that confounded painting got hold of him. As for the +pawn-shop, it made him laugh; he defied misery. + +'I tell you that we are all right,' he exclaimed. 'That picture means +success.' + +She kept silent, thinking about her meeting of the morning, which she +wished to hide from him; but without apparent cause or transition, in +the kind of torpor that had come over her, the words she would have +kept back rose invincibly to her lips. + +'Madame Vanzade is dead,' she said. + +He looked surprised. Ah! really? How did she, Christine, know it? + +'I met the old man-servant. Oh, he's a gentleman by now, looking very +sprightly, in spite of his seventy years. I did not know him again. It +was he who spoke to me. Yes, she died six weeks ago. Her millions have +gone to various charities, with the exception of an annuity to the old +servants, upon which they are living snugly like people of the +middle-classes.' + +He looked at her, and at last murmured, in a saddened voice: 'My poor +Christine, you are regretting things now, aren't you? She would have +given you a marriage portion, have found you a husband! I told you so +in days gone by. She would, perhaps, have left you all her money, and +you wouldn't now be starving with a crazy fellow like myself.' + +She then seemed to wake from her dream. She drew her chair to his, +caught hold of one of his arms and nestled against him, as if her +whole being protested against his words: + +'What are you saying? Oh! no; oh! no. It would have been shameful to +have thought of her money. I would confess it to you if it were the +case, and you know that I never tell lies; but I myself don't know +what came over me when I heard the news. I felt upset and saddened, so +sad that I imagined everything was over for me. It was no doubt +remorse; yes, remorse at having deserted her so brutally, poor invalid +that she was, the good old soul who called me her daughter! I behaved +very badly, and it won't bring me luck. Ah! don't say "No," I feel it +well enough; henceforth there's an end to everything for me.' + +Then she wept, choked by those confused regrets, the significance of +which she failed to understand, regrets mingling with the one feeling +that her life was spoilt, and that she now had nothing but unhappiness +before her. + +'Come, wipe your eyes,' said Claude, becoming affectionate once more. +'Is it possible that you, who were never nervous, can conjure up +chimeras and worry yourself in this way? Dash it all, we shall get out +of our difficulties! First of all, you know that it was through you +that I found the subject for my picture. There cannot be much of a +curse upon you, since you bring me luck.' + +He laughed, and she shook her head, seeing well enough that he wanted +to make her smile. She was suffering on account of his picture +already; for on the bridge he had completely forgotten her, as if she +had ceased to belong to him! And, since the previous night, she had +realised that he was farther and farther removed from her, alone in a +world to which she could not ascend. But she allowed him to soothe +her, and they exchanged one of their kisses of yore, before rising +from the table to retire to rest. + +Little Jacques had heard nothing. Benumbed by his stillness, he had +fallen asleep, with his cheek on his picture-book; and his big head, +so heavy at times that it bent his neck, looked pale in the lamplight. +Poor little offspring of genius, which, when it begets at all, so +often begets idiocy or physical imperfection! When his mother put him +to bed Jacques did not even open his eyes. + +It was only at this period that the idea of marrying Christine came to +Claude. Though yielding to the advice of Sandoz, who expressed his +surprise at the prolongation of an irregular situation which no +circumstances justified, he more particularly gave way to a feeling of +pity, to a desire to show himself kind to his mistress, and to win +forgiveness for his delinquencies. He had seen her so sad of late, so +uneasy with respect to the future, that he did not know how to revive +her spirits. He himself was growing soured, and relapsing into his +former fits of anger, treating her, at times, like a servant, to whom +one flings a week's notice. Being his lawful wife, she would, no +doubt, feel herself more in her rightful home, and would suffer less +from his rough behaviour. She herself, for that matter, had never +again spoken of marriage. She seemed to care nothing for earthly +things, but entirely reposed upon him; however, he understood well +enough that it grieved her that she was not able to visit at Sandoz's. +Besides, they no longer lived amid the freedom and solitude of the +country; they were in Paris, with its thousand and one petty spites, +everything that is calculated to wound a woman in an irregular +position. In reality, he had nothing against marriage save his old +prejudices, those of an artist who takes life as he lists. Since he +was never to leave her, why not afford her that pleasure? And, in +fact, when he spoke to her about it, she gave a loud cry and threw her +arms round his neck, surprised at experiencing such great emotion. +During a whole week it made her feel thoroughly happy. But her joy +subsided long before the ceremony. + +Moreover, Claude did not hurry over any of the formalities, and they +had to wait a long while for the necessary papers. He continued +getting the sketches for his picture together, and she, like himself, +did not seem in the least impatient. What was the good? It would +assuredly make no difference in their life. They had decided to be +married merely at the municipal offices, not in view of displaying any +contempt for religion, but to get the affair over quickly and simply. +That would suffice. The question of witnesses embarrassed them for a +moment. As she was absolutely unacquainted with anybody, he selected +Sandoz and Mahoudeau to act for her. For a moment he had thought of +replacing the latter by Dubuche, but he never saw the architect now, +and he feared to compromise him. He, Claude, would be content with +Jory and Gagniere. In that way the affair would pass off among +friends, and nobody would talk of it. + +Several weeks had gone by; they were in December, and the weather +proved terribly cold. On the day before the wedding, although they +barely had thirty-five francs left them, they agreed that they could +not send their witnesses away with a mere shake of the hand; and, +rather than have a lot of trouble in the studio, they decided to offer +them lunch at a small restaurant on the Boulevard de Clichy, after +which they would all go home. + +In the morning, while Christine was tacking a collar to a grey linsey +gown which, with the coquetry of woman, she had made for the occasion, +it occurred to Claude, who was already wearing his frock-coat and +kicking his heels impatiently, to go and fetch Mahoudeau, for the +latter, he asserted, was quite capable of forgetting all about the +appointment. Since autumn, the sculptor had been living at Montmartre, +in a small studio in the Rue des Tilleuls. He had moved thither in +consequence of a series of affairs that had quite upset him. First of +all, he had been turned out of the fruiterer's shop in the Rue du +Cherche-Midi for not paying his rent; then had come a definite rupture +with Chaine, who, despairing of being able to live by his brush, had +rushed into commercial enterprise, betaking himself to all the fairs +around Paris as the manager of a kind of 'fortune's wheel' belonging +to a widow; while last of all had come the sudden flight of Mathilde, +her herbalist's business sold up, and she herself disappearing, it +seemed, with some mysterious admirer. At present Mahoudeau lived all +by himself in greater misery than ever, only eating when he secured a +job at scraping some architectural ornaments, or preparing work for +some more prosperous fellow-sculptor. + +'I am going to fetch him, do you hear?' Claude repeated to Christine. +'We still have a couple of hours before us. And, if the others come, +make them wait. We'll go to the municipal offices all together.' + +Once outside, Claude hurried along in the nipping cold which loaded +his moustache with icicles. Mahoudeau's studio was at the end of a +conglomeration of tenements--'rents,' so to say--and he had to cross a +number of small gardens, white with rime, and showing the bleak, stiff +melancholy of cemeteries. He could distinguish his friend's place from +afar on account of the colossal plaster statue of the 'Vintaging +Girl,' the once successful exhibit of the Salon, for which there had +not been sufficient space in the narrow ground-floor studio. Thus it +was rotting out in the open like so much rubbish shot from a cart, a +lamentable spectacle, weather-bitten, riddled by the rain's big, grimy +tears. The key was in the door, so Claude went in. + +'Hallo! have you come to fetch me?' said Mahoudeau, in surprise. 'I've +only got my hat to put on. But wait a bit, I was asking myself whether +it wouldn't be better to light a little fire. I am uneasy about my +woman there.' + +Some water in a bucket was ice-bound. So cold was the studio that it +froze inside as hard as it did out of doors, for, having been +penniless for a whole week, Mahoudeau had gingerly eked out the little +coal remaining to him, only lighting the stove for an hour or two of a +morning. His studio was a kind of tragic cavern, compared with which +the shop of former days evoked reminiscences of snug comfort, such was +the tomb-like chill that fell on one's shoulders from the creviced +ceiling and the bare walls. In the various corners some statues, of +less bulky dimensions than the 'Vintaging Girl,' plaster figures which +had been modelled with passion and exhibited, and which had then come +back for want of buyers, seemed to be shivering with their noses +turned to the wall, forming a melancholy row of cripples, some already +badly damaged, showing mere stumps of arms, and all dust-begrimed and +clay-bespattered. Under the eyes of their artist creator, who had +given them his heart's blood, those wretched nudities dragged out +years of agony. At first, no doubt, they were preserved with jealous +care, despite the lack of room, but then they lapsed into the +grotesque honor of all lifeless things, until a day came when, taking +up a mallet, he himself finished them off, breaking them into mere +lumps of plaster, so as to be rid of them. + +'You say we have got two hours, eh?' resumed Mahoudeau. 'Well, I'll +just light a bit of fire; it will be the wiser perhaps.' + +Then, while lighting the stove, he began bewailing his fate in an +angry voice. What a dog's life a sculptor's was! The most bungling +stonemason was better off. A figure which the Government bought for +three thousand francs cost well nigh two thousand, what with its +model, clay, marble or bronze, all sorts of expenses, indeed, and for +all that it remained buried in some official cellar on the pretext +that there was no room for it elsewhere. The niches of the public +buildings remained empty, pedestals were awaiting statues in the +public gardens. No matter, there was never any room! And there were no +possible commissions from private people; at best one received an +order for a few busts, and at very rare intervals one for a memorial +statue, subscribed for by the public and hurriedly executed at reduced +terms. Sculpture was the noblest of arts, the most manly, yes, but the +one which led the most surely to death by starvation! + +'Is your machine progressing?' asked Claude. + +'Without this confounded cold, it would be finished,' answered +Mahoudeau. 'I'll show it you.' + +He rose from his knees after listening to the snorting of the stove. +In the middle of the studio, on a packing-case, strengthened by +cross-pieces, stood a statue swathed is linen wraps which were quite +rigid, hard frozen, draping the figure with the whiteness of a shroud. +This statue embodied Mahoudeau's old dream, unrealised until now from +lack of means--it was an upright figure of that bathing girl of whom +more than a dozen small models had been knocking about his place for +years. In a moment of impatient revolt he himself had manufactured +trusses and stays out of broom-handles, dispensing with the necessary +iron work in the hope that the wood would prove sufficiently solid. +From time to time he shook the figure to try it, but as yet it had not +budged. + +'The devil!' he muttered; 'some warmth will do her good. These wraps +seem glued to her--they form quite a breastplate.' + +The linen was crackling between his fingers, and splinters of ice were +breaking off. He was obliged to wait until the heat produced a slight +thaw, and then with great care he stripped the figure, baring the head +first, then the bosom, and then the hips, well pleased at finding +everything intact, and smiling like a lover at a woman fondly adored. + +'Well, what do you think of it?' + +Claude, who had only previously seen a little rough model of the +statue, nodded his head, in order that he might not have to answer +immediately. Decidedly, that good fellow Mahoudeau was turning +traitor, and drifting towards gracefulness, in spite of himself, for +pretty things ever sprang from under his big fingers, former +stonecutter though he was. Since his colossal 'Vintaging Girl,' he had +gone on reducing and reducing the proportions of his figures without +appearing to be aware of it himself, always ready to stick out +ferociously for the gigantic, which agreed with his temperament, but +yielding to the partiality of his eyes for sweetness and gracefulness. +And indeed real nature broke at last through inflated ambition. +Exaggerated still, his 'Bathing Girl' was already possessed of great +charm, with her quivering shoulders and her tightly-crossed arms that +supported her breast. + +'Well, you don't like her?' he asked, looking annoyed. + +'Oh, yes, I do! I think you are right to tone things down a bit, +seeing that you feel like that. You'll have a great success with this. +Yes, it's evident it will please people very much.' + +Mahoudeau, whom such praises would once have thrown into +consternation, seemed delighted. He explained that he wished to +conquer public opinion without relinquishing a tithe of his +convictions. + +'Ah! dash it! it takes a weight off my mind to find you pleased,' said +he, 'for I should have destroyed it if you had told me to do so, I +give you my word! Another fortnight's work, and I'll sell my skin to +no matter whom in order to pay the moulder. I say, I shall have a fine +show at the Salon, perhaps get a medal.' + +He laughed, waved his arms about, and then, breaking off: + +'As we are not in a hurry, sit down a bit. I want to get the wraps +quite thawed.' + +The stove, which was becoming red hot, diffused great heat. The +figure, placed close by, seemed to revive under the warm air that now +crept up her from her shins to her neck. And the two friends, who had +sat down, continued looking the statue full in the face, chatting +about it and noting each detail. The sculptor especially grew excited +in his delight, and indulged in caressing gestures. + +All at once, however, Claude fancied he was the victim of some +hallucination. To him the figure seemed to be moving; a quiver like +the ripple of a wavelet crossed her stomach, and her left hip became +straightened, as if the right leg were about to step out. + +'Have you noticed the smooth surface just about the loins?' Mahoudeau +went on, without noticing anything. 'Ah, my boy, I took great pains +over that!' + +But by degrees the whole statue was becoming animated. The loins +swayed and the bosom swelled, as with a deep sigh, between the parted +arms. And suddenly the head drooped, the thighs bent, and the figure +came forward like a living being, with all the wild anguish, the +grief-inspired spring of a woman who is flinging herself down. + +Claude at last understood things, when Mahoudeau uttered a terrible +cry. 'By heavens, she's breaking to pieces!--she is coming down!' + +The clay, in thawing, had snapped the weak wooden trusses. There came +a cracking noise, as if bones indeed were splitting; and Mahoudeau, +with the same passionate gesture with which he had caressed the figure +from afar, working himself into a fever, opened both arms, at the risk +of being killed by the fall. For a moment the bathing girl swayed to +and fro, and then with one crash came down on her face, broken in +twain at the ankles, and leaving her feet sticking to the boards. + +Claude had jumped up to hold his friend back. + +'Dash it! you'll be smashed!' he cried. + +But dreading to see her finish herself off on the floor, Mahoudeau +remained with hands outstretched. And the girl seemed to fling herself +on his neck. He caught her in his arms, winding them tightly around +her. Her bosom was flattened against his shoulder and her thighs beat +against his own, while her decapitated head rolled upon the floor. The +shock was so violent that Mahoudeau was carried off his legs and +thrown over, as far back as the wall; and there, without relaxing his +hold on the girl's trunk, he remained as if stunned lying beside her. + +'Ah! confound it!' repeated Claude, furiously, believing that his +friend was dead. + +With great difficulty Mahoudeau rose to his knees, and burst into +violent sobs. He had only damaged his face in the fall. Some blood +dribbled down one of his cheeks, mingling with his tears. + +'Ah! curse poverty!' he said. 'It's enough to make a fellow drown +himself not to be able to buy a couple of rods! And there she is, +there she is!' + +His sobs grew louder; they became an agonising wail; the painful +shrieking of a lover before the mutilated corpse of his affections. +With unsteady hands he touched the limbs lying in confusion around +him; the head, the torso, the arms that had snapped in twain; above +aught else the bosom, now caved in. That bosom, flattened, as if it +had been operated upon for some terrible disease, suffocated him, and +he unceasingly returned to it, probing the sore, trying to find the +gash by which life had fled, while his tears, mingled with blood, +flowed freely, and stained the statue's gaping wounds with red. + +'Do help me!' he gasped. 'One can't leave her like this.' + +Claude was overcome also, and his own eyes grew moist from a feeling +of artistic brotherliness. He hastened to his comrade's aide, but the +sculptor, after claiming his assistance, persisted in picking up the +remains by himself, as if dreading the rough handling of anybody else. +He slowly crawled about on his knees, took up the fragments one by +one, and put them together on a board. The figure soon lay there in +its entirety, as if it had been one of those girls who, committing +suicide from love, throw themselves from some monument and are +shattered by their fall, and put together again, looking both +grotesque and lamentable, to be carried to the Morgue. Mahoudeau, +seated on the floor before his statue, did not take his eyes from it, +but became absorbed in heart-rending contemplation. However, his sobs +subsided, and at last he said with a long-drawn sigh: 'I shall have to +model her lying down! There's no other way! Ah, my poor old woman, I +had such trouble to set her on her legs, and I thought her so grand +like that!' + +But all at once Claude grew uneasy. What about his wedding? Mahoudeau +must change his clothes. As he had no other frock-coat than the one he +was wearing, he was obliged to make a jacket do. Then, the figure +having been covered with linen wraps once more, like a corpse over +which a sheet has been pulled, they both started off at a run. The +stove was roaring away, the thaw filled the whole studio with water, +and slush streamed from the old dust-begrimed plaster casts. + +When they reached the Rue de Douai there was no one there except +little Jacques, in charge of the doorkeeper. Christine, tired of +waiting, had just started off with the three others, thinking that +there had been some mistake--that Claude might have told her that he +would go straight to the mayor's offices with Mahoudeau. The pair fell +into a sharp trot, but only overtook Christine and their comrades in +the Rue Drouot in front of the municipal edifice. They all went +upstairs together, and as they were late they met with a very cool +reception from the usher on duty. The wedding was got over in a few +minutes, in a perfectly empty room. The mayor mumbled on, and the +bride and bridegroom curtly uttered the binding 'Yes,' while their +witnesses were marvelling at the bad taste of the appointments of the +apartment. Once outside, Claude took Christine's arm again, and that +was all. + +It was pleasant walking in the clear frosty weather. Thus the party +quietly went back on foot, climbing the Rue des Martyrs to reach the +restaurant on the Boulevard de Clichy. A small private room had been +engaged; the lunch was a very friendly affair, and not a word was said +about the simple formality that had just been gone through; other +subjects were spoken of all the while, as at one of their customary +gatherings. + +It was thus that Christine, who in reality was very affected despite +her pretended indifference, heard her husband and his friends excite +themselves for three mortal hours about Mahoudeau's unfortunate +statue. Since the others had been made acquainted with the story, they +kept harping on every particular of it. Sandoz thought the whole thing +very wonderful; Jory and Gagniere discussed the strength of stays and +trusses; the former mainly concerned about the monetary loss involved, +and the other demonstrating with a chair that the statue might have +been kept up. As for Mahoudeau, still very shaky and growing dazed; he +complained of a stiffness which he had not felt before; his limbs +began to hurt him, he had strained his muscles and bruised his skin as +if he had been caught in the embrace of a stone siren. Christine +washed the scratch on his cheek, which had begun to bleed again, and +it seemed to her as if the mutilated bathing girl had sat down to +table with them, as if she alone was of any importance that day; for +she alone seemed to interest Claude, whose narrative, repeated a score +of times, was full of endless particulars about the emotion he had +felt on seeing that bosom and those hips of clay shattered at his +feet. + +However, at dessert there came a diversion, for Gagniere all at once +remarked to Jory: + +'By the way, I saw you with Mathilde the day before yesterday. Yes, +yes, in the Rue Dauphine.' + +Jory, who had turned very red, tried to deny it; 'Oh, a mere +accidental meeting--honour bright!' he stammered. 'I don't know where +she hangs out, or I would tell you.' + +'What! is it you who are hiding her?' exclaimed Mahoudeau. 'Well, +nobody wants to see her again!' + +The truth was that Jory, throwing to the winds all his habits of +prudence and parsimony, was now secretly providing for Mathilde. She +had gained an ascendency over him by his vices. + +They still lingered at table, and night was falling when they escorted +Mahoudeau to his own door. Claude and Christine, on reaching home, +took Jacques from the doorkeeper, and found the studio quite chilly, +wrapped in such dense gloom that they had to grope about for several +minutes before they were able to light the lamp. They also had to +light the stove again, and it struck seven o'clock before they were +able to draw breath at their ease. They were not hungry, so they +merely finished the remains of some boiled beef, mainly by way of +encouraging the child to eat his soup; and when they had put him to +bed, they settled themselves with the lamp betwixt them, as was their +habit every evening. + +However, Christine had not put out any work, she felt too much moved +to sew. She sat there with her hands resting idly on the table, +looking at Claude, who on his side had at once become absorbed in a +sketch, a bit of his picture, some workmen of the Port Saint Nicolas, +unloading plaster. Invincible dreaminess came over the young woman, +all sorts of recollections and regrets became apparent in the depths +of her dim eyes; and by degrees growing sadness, great mute grief took +absolute possession of her, amid the indifference, the boundless +solitude into which she seemed to be drifting, although she was so +near to Claude. He was, indeed, on the other side of the table, yet +how far away she felt him to be! He was yonder before that point of +the Cite, he was even farther still, in the infinite inaccessible +regions of art; so far, indeed, that she would now never more be able +to join him! She several times tried to start a conversation, but +without eliciting any answer. The hours went by, she grew weary and +numb with doing nothing, and she ended by taking out her purse and +counting her money. + +'Do you know how much we have to begin our married life with?' + +Claude did not even raise his head. + +'We've nine sous. Ah! talk of poverty--' + +He shrugged his shoulders, and finally growled: 'We shall be rich some +day; don't fret.' + +Then the silence fell again, and she did not even attempt to break it, +but gazed at her nine coppers laid in a row upon the table. At last, +as it struck midnight, she shivered, ill with waiting and chilled by +the cold. + +'Let's go to bed, dear,' she murmured; 'I'm dead tired.' + +He, however, was working frantically, and did not even hear her. + +'The fire's gone out,' she began again, 'we shall make ourselves ill; +let's go to bed.' + +Her imploring voice reached him at last, and made him start with +sudden exasperation. + +'Oh! go if you like! You can see very well that I want to finish +something!' + +She remained there for another minute, amazed by his sudden anger, her +face expressive of deep sorrow. Then, feeling that he would rather be +without her, that the very presence of a woman doing nothing upset +him, she rose from the table and went off, leaving the door wide open. +Half an hour, three-quarters went by, nothing stirred, not a sound +came from her room; but she was not asleep, her eyes were staring into +the gloom; and at last she timidly ventured upon a final appeal, from +the depths of the dark alcove. + +An oath was the only reply she received. And nothing stirred after +that. She perhaps dozed off. The cold in the studio grew keener, and +the wick of the lamp began to carbonise and burn red, while Claude, +still bending over his sketch, did not seem conscious of the passing +minutes. + +At two o'clock, however, he rose up, furious to find the lamp going +out for lack of oil. He only had time to take it into the other room, +so that he might not have to undress in the dark. But his displeasure +increased on seeing that Christine's eyes were wide open. He felt +inclined to complain of it. However, after some random remarks, he +suddenly exclaimed: + +'The most surprising thing is that her trunk wasn't hurt!' + +'What do you mean?' asked Christine, in amazement. + +'Why, Mahoudeau's girl,' he answered. + +At this she shook nervously, turned and buried her face in the pillow; +and he was quite surprised on hearing her burst into sobs. + +'What! you are crying?' he exclaimed. + +She was choking, sobbing with heart-rending violence. + +'Come, what's the matter with you?--I've said nothing to you. Come, +darling, what's the matter?' + +But, while he was speaking, the cause of her great grief dawned upon +him. No doubt, on a day like that, he ought to have shown more +affection; but his neglect was unintentional enough; he had not even +given the matter a thought. She surely knew him, said he; he became a +downright brute when he was at work. Then he bent over and embraced +her. But it was as if something irreparable had taken place, as if +something had for ever snapped, leaving a void between them. The +formality of marriage seemed to have killed love. + + + + IX + +AS Claude could not paint his huge picture in the small studio of the +Rue de Douai, he made up his mind to rent some shed that would be +spacious enough, elsewhere; and strolling one day on the heights of +Montmartre, he found what he wanted half way down the slope of the Rue +Tourlaque, a street that descends abruptly behind the cemetery, and +whence one overlooks Clichy as far as the marshes of Gennevilliers. It +had been a dyer's drying shed, and was nearly fifty feet long and more +than thirty broad, with walls of board and plaster admitting the wind +from every point of the compass. The place was let to him for three +hundred francs. Summer was at hand; he would soon work off his picture +and then quit. + +This settled, feverish with hope, Claude decided to go to all the +necessary expenses; as fortune was certain to come in the end, why +trammel its advent by unnecessary scruples? Taking advantage of his +right, he broke in upon the principal of his income, and soon grew +accustomed to spend money without counting. At first he kept the +matter from Christine, for she had already twice stopped him from +doing so; and when he was at last obliged to tell her, she also, after +a week of reproaches and apprehension, fell in with it, happy at the +comfort in which she lived, and yielding to the pleasure of always +having a little money in her purse. Thus there came a few years of +easy unconcern. + +Claude soon became altogether absorbed in his picture. He had +furnished the huge studio in a very summary style: a few chairs, the +old couch from the Quai de Bourbon, and a deal table bought +second-hand for five francs sufficed him. In the practice of his art +he was entirely devoid of that vanity which delights in luxurious +surroundings. The only real expense to which he went was that of +buying some steps on castors, with a platform and a movable footboard. +Next he busied himself about his canvas, which he wished to be six and +twenty feet in length and sixteen in height. He insisted upon +preparing it himself; ordered a framework and bought the necessary +seamless canvas, which he and a couple of friends had all the work in +the world to stretch properly by the aid of pincers. Then he just +coated the canvas with ceruse, laid on with a palette-knife, refusing +to size it previously, in order that it might remain absorbent, by +which method he declared that the painting would be bright and solid. +An easel was not to be thought of. It would not have been possible to +move a canvas of such dimensions on it. So he invented a system of +ropes and beams, which held it slightly slanting against the wall in a +cheerful light. And backwards and forwards in front of the big white +surface rolled the steps, looking like an edifice, like the +scaffolding by means of which a cathedral is to be reared. + +But when everything was ready, Claude once more experienced +misgivings. An idea that he had perhaps not chosen the proper light in +which to paint his picture fidgeted him. Perhaps an early morning +effect would have been better? Perhaps, too, he ought to have chosen a +dull day, and so he went back to the Pont des Saint-Peres, and lived +there for another three months. + +The Cite rose up before him, between the two arms of the river, at +all hours and in all weather. After a late fall of snow he beheld it +wrapped in ermine, standing above mud-coloured water, against a light +slatey sky. On the first sunshiny days he saw it cleanse itself of +everything that was wintry and put on an aspect of youth, when verdure +sprouted from the lofty trees which rose from the ground below the +bridge. He saw it, too, on a somewhat misty day recede to a distance +and almost evaporate, delicate and quivering, like a fairy palace. +Then, again, there were pelting rains, which submerged it, hid it as +with a huge curtain drawn from the sky to the earth; storms, with +lightning flashes which lent it a tawny hue, the opaque light of +some cut-throat place half destroyed by the fall of the huge +copper-coloured clouds; and there were winds that swept over it +tempestuously, sharpening its angles and making it look hard, bare, +and beaten against the pale blue sky. Then, again, when the sunbeams +broke into dust amidst the vapours of the Seine, it appeared steeped +in diffused brightness, without a shadow about it, lighted up equally +on every side, and looking as charmingly delicate as a cut gem set in +fine gold. He insisted on beholding it when the sun was rising and +transpiercing the morning mists, when the Quai de l'Horloge flushes +and the Quai des Orfevres remains wrapt in gloom; when, up in the pink +sky, it is already full of life, with the bright awakening of its +towers and spires, while night, similar to a falling cloak, slides +slowly from its lower buildings. He beheld it also at noon, when the +sunrays fall on it vertically, when a crude glare bites into it, and +it becomes discoloured and mute like a dead city, retaining nought but +the life of heat, the quiver that darts over its distant housetops. He +beheld it, moreover, beneath the setting sun, surrendering itself to +the night which was slowly rising from the river, with the salient +edges of its buildings still fringed with a glow as of embers, and +with final conflagrations rekindling in its windows, from whose panes +leapt tongue-like flashes. But in presence of those twenty different +aspects of the Cite, no matter what the hour or the weather might be, +he ever came back to the Cite that he had seen the first time, at +about four o'clock one fine September afternoon, a Cite all serenity +under a gentle breeze, a Cite which typified the heart of Paris +beating in the limpid atmosphere, and seemingly enlarged by the vast +stretch of sky which a flight of cloudlets crossed. + +Claude spent his time under the Pont des Saints-Peres, which he had +made his shelter, his home, his roof. The constant din of the vehicles +overhead, similar to the distant rumbling of thunder, no longer +disturbed him. Settling himself against the first abutment, beneath +the huge iron arches, he took sketches and painted studies. The +_employes_ of the river navigation service, whose offices were hard +by, got to know him, and, indeed, the wife of an inspector, who lived +in a sort of tarred cabin with her husband, two children, and a cat, +kept his canvases for him, to save him the trouble of carrying them to +and fro each day. It became his joy to remain in that secluded nook +beneath Paris, which rumbled in the air above him, whose ardent life +he ever felt rolling overhead. He at first became passionately +interested in Port St. Nicolas, with its ceaseless bustle suggesting +that of a distant genuine seaport. The steam crane, _The Sophia_, +worked regularly, hauling up blocks of stone; tumbrels arrived to +fetch loads of sand; men and horses pulled, panting for breath on the +big paving-stones, which sloped down as far as the water, to a granite +margin, alongside which two rows of lighters and barges were moored. +For weeks Claude worked hard at a study of some lightermen unloading a +cargo of plaster, carrying white sacks on their shoulders, leaving a +white pathway behind them, and bepowdered with white themselves, +whilst hard by the coal removed from another barge had stained the +waterside with a huge inky smear. Then he sketched the silhouette of a +swimming-bath on the left bank, together with a floating wash-house +somewhat in the rear, showing the windows open and the washerwomen +kneeling in a row, on a level with the stream, and beating their dirty +linen. In the middle of the river, he studied a boat which a waterman +sculled over the stern; then, farther behind, a steamer of the towing +service straining its chain, and dragging a series of rafts loaded +with barrels and boards up stream. The principal backgrounds had been +sketched a long while ago, still he did several bits over again--the +two arms of the Seine, and a sky all by itself, into which rose only +towers and spires gilded by the sun. And under the hospitable bridge, +in that nook as secluded as some far-off cleft in a rock, he was +rarely disturbed by anybody. Anglers passed by with contemptuous +unconcern. His only companion was virtually the overseer's cat, who +cleaned herself in the sunlight, ever placid beneath the tumult of the +world overhead. + +At last Claude had all his materials ready. In a few days he threw off +an outline sketch of the whole, and the great work was begun. However, +the first battle between himself and his huge canvas raged in the Rue +Tourlaque throughout the summer; for he obstinately insisted upon +personally attending to all the technical calculations of his +composition, and he failed to manage them, getting into constant +muddles about the slightest deviation from mathematical accuracy, of +which he had no experience. It made him indignant with himself. So he +let it go, deciding to make what corrections might be necessary +afterwards. He covered his canvas with a rush--in such a fever as to +live all day on his steps, brandishing huge brushes, and expending as +much muscular force as if he were anxious to move mountains. And when +evening came he reeled about like a drunken man, and fell asleep as +soon as he had swallowed his last mouthful of food. His wife even had +to put him to bed like a child. From those heroic efforts, however, +sprang a masterly first draught in which genius blazed forth amidst +the somewhat chaotic masses of colour. Bongrand, who came to look at +it, caught the painter in his big arms, and stifled him with embraces, +his eyes full of tears. Sandoz, in his enthusiasm, gave a dinner; the +others, Jory, Mahoudeau and Gagniere, again went about announcing a +masterpiece. As for Fagerolles, he remained motionless before the +painting for a moment, then burst into congratulations, pronouncing it +too beautiful. + +And, in fact, subsequently, as if the irony of that successful +trickster had brought him bad luck, Claude only spoilt his original +draught. It was the old story over again. He spent himself in one +effort, one magnificent dash; he failed to bring out all the rest; he +did not know how to finish. He fell into his former impotence; for two +years he lived before that picture only, having no feeling for +anything else. At times he was in a seventh heaven of exuberant joy; +at others flung to earth, so wretched, so distracted by doubt, that +dying men gasping in their beds in a hospital were happier than +himself. Twice already had he failed to be ready for the Salon, for +invariably, at the last moment, when he hoped to have finished in a +few sittings, he found some void, felt his composition crack and +crumble beneath his fingers. When the third Salon drew nigh, there +came a terrible crisis; he remained for a fortnight without going to +his studio in the Rue Tourlaque, and when he did so, it was as to a +house desolated by death. He turned the huge canvas to the wall and +rolled his steps into a corner; he would have smashed and burned +everything if his faltering hands had found strength enough. Nothing +more existed; amid a blast of anger he swept the floor clean, and +spoke of setting to work at little things, since he was incapable of +perfecting paintings of any size. + +In spite of himself, his first idea of a picture on a smaller scale +took him back to the Cite. Why should not he paint a simple view, on a +moderate sized canvas? But a kind of shame, mingled with strange +jealousy, prevented him from settling himself in his old spot under +the Pont des Saints-Peres. It seemed to him as if that spot were +sacred now; that he ought not to offer any outrage to his great work, +dead as it was. So he stationed himself at the end of the bank, above +the bridge. This time, at any rate, he would work directly from +nature; and he felt happy at not having to resort to any trickery, as +was unavoidable with works of a large size. The small picture, very +carefully painted, more highly finished than usual, met, however, with +the same fate as the others before the hanging committee, who were +indignant with this style of painting, executed with a tipsy brush, as +was said at the time in the studios. The slap in the face which Claude +thus received was all the more severe, as a report had spread of +concessions, of advances made by him to the School of Arts, in order +that his work might be received. And when the picture came back to +him, he, deeply wounded, weeping with rage, tore it into narrow +shreds, which he burned in his stove. It was not sufficient that he +should kill that one with a knife-thrust, it must be annihilated. + +Another year went by for Claude in desultory toil. He worked from +force of habit, but finished nothing; he himself saying, with a +dolorous laugh, that he had lost himself, and was trying to find +himself again. In reality, tenacious consciousness of his genius left +him a hope which nothing could destroy, even during his longest crises +of despondency. He suffered like some one damned, for ever rolling the +rock which slipped back and crushed him; but the future remained, with +the certainty of one day seizing that rock in his powerful arms and +flinging it upward to the stars. His friends at last beheld his eyes +light up with passion once more. It was known that he again secluded +himself in the Rue Tourlaque. He who formerly had always been carried +beyond the work on which he was engaged, by some dream of a picture to +come, now stood at bay before that subject of the Cite. It had become +his fixed idea--the bar that closed up his life. And soon he began to +speak freely of it again in a new blaze of enthusiasm, exclaiming, +with childish delight, that he had found his way and that he felt +certain of victory. + +One day Claude, who, so far, had not opened his door to his friends, +condescended to admit Sandoz. The latter tumbled upon a study with a +deal of dash in it, thrown off without a model, and again admirable in +colour. The subject had remained the same--the Port St. Nicolas on the +left, the swimming-baths on the right, the Seine and Cite in the +background. But Sandoz was amazed at perceiving, instead of the boat +sculled by a waterman, another large skiff taking up the whole centre +of the composition--a skiff occupied by three women. One, in a bathing +costume, was rowing; another sat over the edge with her legs dangling +in the water, her costume partially unfastened, showing her bare +shoulder; while the third stood erect and nude at the prow, so bright +in tone that she seemed effulgent, like the sun. + +'Why, what an idea!' muttered Sandoz. 'What are those women doing +there?' + +'Why, they are bathing,' Claude quietly answered. 'Don't you see that +they have come out of the swimming-baths? It supplies me with a motive +for the nude; it's a real find, eh? Does it shock you?' + +His old friend, who knew him well by now, dreaded lest he should give +him cause for discouragement. + +'I? Oh, no! Only I am afraid that the public will again fail to +understand. That nude woman in the very midst of Paris--it's +improbable.' + +Claude looked naively surprised. + +'Ah! you think so? Well, so much the worse. What's the odds, as long +as the woman is well painted? Besides, I need something like that to +get my courage up.' + +On the following occasions, Sandoz gently reverted to the strangeness +of the composition, pleading, as was his nature, the cause of outraged +logic. How could a modern painter who prided himself on painting +merely what was real--how could he so bastardise his work as to +introduce fanciful things into it? It would have been so easy to +choose another subject, in which the nude would have been necessary. +But Claude became obstinate, and resorted to lame and violent +explanations, for he would not avow his real motive: an idea which had +come to him and which he would have been at a loss to express clearly. +It was, however, a longing for some secret symbolism. A recrudescence +of romanticism made him see an incarnation of Paris in that nude +figure; he pictured the city bare and impassioned, resplendent with +the beauty of woman. + +Before the pressing objections of his friend he pretended to be shaken +in his resolutions. + +'Well, I'll see; I'll dress my old woman later on, since she worries +you,' he said. 'But meanwhile I shall do her like that. You +understand, she amuses me.' + +He never reverted to the subject again, remaining silently obstinate, +merely shrugging his shoulders and smiling with embarrassment whenever +any allusion betrayed the general astonishment which was felt at the +sight of that Venus emerging triumphantly from the froth of the Seine +amidst all the omnibuses on the quays and the lightermen working at +the Port of St. Nicolas. + +Spring had come round again, and Claude had once more resolved to work +at his large picture, when in a spirit of prudence he and Christine +modified their daily life. She, at times, could not help feeling +uneasy at seeing all their money so quickly spent. Since the supply +had seemed inexhaustible, they had ceased counting. But, at the end of +four years, they had woke up one morning quite frightened, when, on +asking for accounts, they found that barely three thousand francs were +left out of the twenty thousand. They immediately reverted to severe +economy, stinting themselves as to bread, planning the cutting down of +the most elementary expenses; and it was thus that, in the first +impulse of self-sacrifice, they left the Rue de Douai. What was the +use of paying two rents? There was room enough in the old drying-shed +in the Rue Tourlaque--still stained with the dyes of former days--to +afford accommodation for three people. Settling there was, +nevertheless, a difficult affair; for however big the place was, it +provided them, after all, with but one room. It was like a gipsy's +shed, where everything had to be done in common. As the landlord was +unwilling, the painter himself had to divide it at one end by a +partition of boards, behind which he devised a kitchen and a bedroom. +They were then delighted with the place, despite the chinks through +which the wind blew, and although on rainy days they had to set basins +beneath the broader cracks in the roof. The whole looked mournfully +bare; their few poor sticks seemed to dance alongside the naked walls. +They themselves pretended to be proud at being lodged so spaciously; +they told their friends that Jacques would at least have a little room +to run about. Poor Jacques, in spite of his nine years, did not seem +to be growing; his head alone became larger and larger. They could not +send him to school for more than a week at a stretch, for he came back +absolutely dazed, ill from having tried to learn, in such wise that +they nearly always allowed him to live on all fours around them, +crawling from one corner to another. + +Christine, who for quite a long while had not shared Claude's daily +work, now once more found herself beside him throughout his long hours +of toil. She helped him to scrape and pumice the old canvas of the big +picture, and gave him advice about attaching it more securely to the +wall. But they found that another disaster had befallen them--the +steps had become warped by the water constantly trickling through the +roof, and, for fear of an accident, Claude had to strengthen them with +an oak cross-piece, she handing him the necessary nails one by one. +Then once more, and for the second time, everything was ready. She +watched him again outlining the work, standing behind him the while, +till she felt faint with fatigue, and finally dropping to the floor, +where she remained squatting, and still looking at him. + +Ah! how she would have liked to snatch him from that painting which +had seized hold of him! It was for that purpose that she made herself +his servant, only too happy to lower herself to a labourer's toil. +Since she shared his work again, since the three of them, he, she, and +the canvas, were side by side, her hope revived. If he had escaped her +when she, all alone, cried her eyes out in the Rue de Douai, if he +lingered till late in the Rue Tourlaque, fascinated as by a mistress, +perhaps now that she was present she might regain her hold over him. +Ah, painting, painting! in what jealous hatred she held it! Hers was +no longer the revolt of a girl of the bourgeoisie, who painted neatly +in water-colours, against independent, brutal, magnificent art. No, +little by little she had come to understand it, drawn towards it at +first by her love for the painter, and gained over afterwards by the +feast of light, by the original charm of the bright tints which +Claude's works displayed. And now she had accepted everything, even +lilac-tinted soil and blue trees. Indeed, a kind of respect made her +quiver before those works which had at first seemed so horrid to her. +She recognised their power well enough, and treated them like rivals +about whom one could no longer joke. But her vindictiveness grew in +proportion to her admiration; she revolted at having to stand by and +witness, as it were, a diminution of herself, the blow of another love +beneath her own roof. + +At first there was a silent struggle of every minute. She thrust +herself forward, interposed whatever she could, a hand, a shoulder, +between the painter and his picture. She was always there, +encompassing him with her breath, reminding him that he was hers. Then +her old idea revived--she also would paint; she would seek and join +him in the depths of his art fever. Every day for a whole month she +put on a blouse, and worked like a pupil by the side of a master, +diligently copying one of his sketches, and she only gave in when she +found the effort turn against her object; for, deceived, as it were, +by their joint work, he finished by forgetting that she was a woman, +and lived with her on a footing of mere comradeship as between man and +man. Accordingly she resorted to what was her only strength. + +To perfect some of the small figures of his latter pictures, Claude +had many a time already taken the hint of a head, the pose of an arm, +the attitude of a body from Christine. He threw a cloak over her +shoulders, and caught her in the posture he wanted, shouting to her +not to stir. These were little services which she showed herself only +too pleased to render him, but she had not hitherto cared to go +further, for she was hurt by the idea of being a model now that she +was his wife. However, since Claude had broadly outlined the large +upright female figure which was to occupy the centre of his picture, +Christine had looked at the vague silhouette in a dreamy way, worried +by an ever-pursuing thought before which all scruples vanished. And +so, when he spoke of taking a model, she offered herself, reminding +him that she had posed for the figure in the 'Open Air' subject, long +ago. 'A model,' she added, 'would cost you seven francs a sitting. We +are not so rich, we may as well save the money.' + +The question of economy decided him at once. + +'I'm agreeable, and it's even very good of you to show such courage, +for you know that it is not a bit of pastime to sit for me. Never +mind, you had better confess to it, you big silly, you are afraid of +another woman coming here; you are jealous.' + +Jealous! Yes, indeed she was jealous, so she suffered agony. But she +snapped her fingers at other women; all the models in Paris might have +sat to him for what she cared. She had but one rival, that painting, +that art which robbed her of him. + +Claude, who was delighted, at first made a study, a simple academic +study, in the attitude required for his picture. They waited until +Jacques had gone to school, and the sitting lasted for hours. During +the earlier days Christine suffered a great deal from being obliged to +remain in the same position; then she grew used to it, not daring to +complain, lest she might vex him, and even restraining her tears when +he roughly pushed her about. And he soon acquired the habit of doing +so, treating her like a mere model; more exacting with her, however, +than if he had paid her, never afraid of unduly taxing her strength, +since she was his wife. He employed her for every purpose, at every +minute, for an arm, a foot, the most trifling detail that he stood in +need of. And thus in a way he lowered her to the level of a 'living +lay figure,' which he stuck in front of him and copied as he might +have copied a pitcher or a stew-pan for a bit of still life. + +This time Claude proceeded leisurely, and before roughing in the large +figure he tired Christine for months by making her pose in twenty +different ways. At last, one day, he began the roughing in. It was an +autumnal morning, the north wind was already sharp, and it was by no +means warm even in the big studio, although the stove was roaring. As +little Jacques was poorly again and unable to go to school, they had +decided to lock him up in the room at the back, telling him to be very +good. And then the mother settled herself near the stove, motionless, +in the attitude required. + +During the first hour, the painter, perched upon his steps, kept +glancing at her, but did not speak a word. Unutterable sadness stole +over her, and she felt afraid of fainting, no longer knowing whether +she was suffering from the cold or from a despair that had come from +afar, and the bitterness of which she felt to be rising within her. +Her fatigue became so great that she staggered and hobbled about on +her numbed legs. + +'What, already?' cried Claude. 'Why, you haven't been at it more than +a quarter of an hour. You don't want to earn your seven francs, then?' + +He was joking in a gruff voice, delighted with his work. And she had +scarcely recovered the use of her limbs, beneath the dressing-gown she +had wrapped round her, when he went on shouting: 'Come on, come on, no +idling! It's a grand day to-day is! I must either show some genius or +else kick the bucket.' + +Then, in a weary way, she at last resumed the pose. + +The misfortune was that before long, both by his glances and the +language he used, she fully realised that she herself was as nothing +to him. If ever he praised a limb, a tint, a contour, it was solely +from the artistic point of view. Great enthusiasm and passion he often +showed, but it was not passion for herself as in the old days. She +felt confused and deeply mortified. Ah! this was the end; in her he no +longer loved aught but his art, the example of nature and life! And +then, with her eyes gazing into space, she would remain rigid, like a +statue, keeping back the tears which made her heart swell, lacking +even the wretched consolation of being able to cry. And day by day the +same sorry life began afresh for her. To stand there as his model had +become her profession. She could not refuse, however bitter her grief. +Their once happy life was all over, there now seemed to be three +people in the place; it was as if Claude had introduced a mistress +into it--that woman he was painting. The huge picture rose up between +them, parted them as with a wall, beyond which he lived with the +other. That duplication of herself well nigh drove Christine mad with +jealousy, and yet she was conscious of the pettiness of her +sufferings, and did not dare to confess them lest he should laugh at +her. However, she did not deceive herself; she fully realised that he +preferred her counterfeit to herself, that her image was the +worshipped one, the sole thought, the affection of his every hour. He +almost killed her with long sittings in that cold draughty studio, in +order to enhance the beauty of the other; upon whom depended all his +joys and sorrows according as to whether he beheld her live or +languish beneath his brush. Was not this love? And what suffering to +have to lend herself so that the other might be created, so that she +might be haunted by a nightmare of that rival, so that the latter +might for ever rise between them, more powerful than reality! To think +of it! So much dust, the veriest trifle, a patch of colour on a +canvas, a mere semblance destroying all their happiness!--he, silent, +indifferent, brutal at times, and she, tortured by his desertion, in +despair at being unable to drive away that creature who ever +encroached more and more upon their daily life! + +And it was then that Christine, finding herself altogether beaten in +her efforts to regain Claude's love, felt all the sovereignty of art +weigh down upon her. That painting, which she had already accepted +without restriction, she raised still higher in her estimation, placed +inside an awesome tabernacle before which she remained overcome, as +before those powerful divinities of wrath which one honours from the +very hatred and fear that they inspire. Hers was a holy awe, a +conviction that struggling was henceforth useless, that she would be +crushed like a bit of straw if she persisted in her obstinacy. Each of +her husband's canvases became magnified in her eyes, the smallest +assumed triumphal dimensions, even the worst painted of them +overwhelmed her with victory, and she no longer judged them, but +grovelled, trembling, thinking them all formidable, and invariably +replying to Claude's questions: + +'Oh, yes; very good! Oh, superb! Oh, very, very extraordinary that +one!' + +Nevertheless, she harboured no anger against him; she still worshipped +him with tearful tenderness, as she saw him thus consume himself with +efforts. After a few weeks of successful work, everything got spoilt +again; he could not finish his large female figure. At times he almost +killed his model with fatigue, keeping hard at work for days and days +together, then leaving the picture untouched for a whole month. The +figure was begun anew, relinquished, painted all over again at least a +dozen times. One year, two years went by without the picture reaching +completion. Though sometimes it was almost finished, it was scratched +out the next morning and painted entirely over again. + +Ah! what an effort of creation it was, an effort of blood and tears, +filling Claude with agony in his attempt to beget flesh and instil +life! Ever battling with reality, and ever beaten, it was a struggle +with the Angel. He was wearing himself out with this impossible task +of making a canvas hold all nature; he became exhausted at last with +the pains which racked his muscles without ever being able to bring +his genius to fruition. What others were satisfied with, a more or +less faithful rendering, the various necessary bits of trickery, +filled him with remorse, made him as indignant as if in resorting to +such practices one were guilty of ignoble cowardice; and thus he began +his work over and over again, spoiling what was good through his +craving to do better. He would always be dissatisfied with his women +--so his friends jokingly declared--until they flung their arms round +his neck. What was lacking in his power that he could not endow them +with life? Very little, no doubt. Sometimes he went beyond the right +point, sometimes he stopped short of it. One day the words, 'an +incomplete genius,' which he overheard, both flattered and frightened +him. Yes, it must be that; he jumped too far or not far enough; he +suffered from a want of nervous balance; he was afflicted with some +hereditary derangement which, because there were a few grains the more +or the less of some substance in his brain, was making him a lunatic +instead of a great man. Whenever a fit of despair drove him from his +studio, whenever he fled from his work, he now carried about with him +that idea of fatal impotence, and he heard it beating against his +skull like the obstinate tolling of a funeral bell. + +His life became wretched. Never had doubt of himself pursued him in +that way before. He disappeared for whole days together; he even +stopped out a whole night, coming back the next morning stupefied, +without being able to say where he had gone. It was thought that he +had been tramping through the outskirts of Paris rather than find +himself face to face with his spoilt work. His sole relief was to flee +the moment that work filled him with shame and hatred, and to remain +away until he felt sufficient courage to face it once more. And not +even his wife dared to question him on his return--indeed, she was +only too happy to see him back again after her anxious waiting. At +such times he madly scoured Paris, especially the outlying quarters, +from a longing to debase himself and hob-nob with labourers. He +expressed at each recurring crisis his old regret at not being some +mason's hodman. Did not happiness consist in having solid limbs, and +in performing the work one was built for well and quickly? He had +wrecked his life; he ought to have got himself engaged in the building +line in the old times when he had lunched at the 'Dog of Montargis,' +Gomard's tavern, where he had known a Limousin, a big, strapping, +merry fellow, whose brawny arms he envied. Then, on coming back to the +Rue Tourlaque, with his legs faint and his head empty, he gave his +picture much the same distressful, frightened glance as one casts at a +corpse in a mortuary, until fresh hope of resuscitating it, of +endowing it with life, brought a flush to his face once more. + +One day Christine was posing, and the figure of the woman was again +well nigh finished. For the last hour, however, Claude had been +growing gloomy, losing the childish delight that he had displayed at +the beginning of the sitting. So his wife scarcely dared to breathe, +feeling by her own discomfort that everything must be going wrong once +more, and afraid that she might accelerate the catastrophe if she +moved as much as a finger. And, surely enough, he suddenly gave a cry +of anguish, and launched forth an oath in a thunderous voice. + +'Oh, curse it! curse it!' + +He had flung his handful of brushes from the top of the steps. Then, +blinded with rage, with one blow of his fist he transpierced the +canvas. + +Christine held out her trembling hands. + +'My dear, my dear!' + +But when she had flung a dressing-gown over her shoulders, and +approached the picture, she experienced keen delight, a burst of +satisfied hatred. Claude's fist had struck 'the other one' full in the +bosom, and there was a gaping hole! At last, then, that other one was +killed! + +Motionless, horror-struck by that murder, Claude stared at the +perforated bosom. Poignant grief came upon him at the sight of the +wound whence the blood of his work seemed to flow. Was it possible? +Was it he who had thus murdered what he loved best of all on earth? +His anger changed into stupor; his fingers wandered over the canvas, +drawing the ragged edges of the rent together, as if he had wished to +close the bleeding gash. He was choking; he stammered, distracted with +boundless grief: + +'She is killed, she is killed!' + +Then Christine, in her maternal love for that big child of an artist, +felt moved to her very entrails. She forgave him as usual. She saw +well enough that he now had but one thought--to mend the rent, to +repair the evil at once; and she helped him; it was she who held the +shreds together, whilst he from behind glued a strip of canvas against +them. When she dressed herself, 'the other one' was there again, +immortal, simply retaining near her heart a slight scar, which seemed +to make her doubly dear to the painter. + +As this unhinging of Claude's faculties increased, he drifted into a +sort of superstition, into a devout belief in certain processes and +methods. He banished oil from his colours, and spoke of it as of a +personal enemy. On the other hand, he held that turpentine produced a +solid unpolished surface, and he had some secrets of his own which he +hid from everybody; solutions of amber, liquefied copal, and other +resinous compounds that made colours dry quickly, and prevented them +from cracking. But he experienced some terrible worries, as the +absorbent nature of the canvas at once sucked in the little oil +contained in the paint. Then the question of brushes had always +worried him greatly; he insisted on having them with special handles; +and objecting to sable, he used nothing but oven-dried badger hair. +More important, however, than everything else was the question of +palette-knives, which, like Courbet, he used for his backgrounds. He +had quite a collection of them, some long and flexible, others broad +and squat, and one which was triangular like a glazier's, and which +had been expressly made for him. It was the real Delacroix knife. +Besides, he never made use of the scraper or razor, which he +considered beneath an artist's dignity. But, on the other hand, he +indulged in all sorts of mysterious practices in applying his colours, +concocted recipes and changed them every month, and suddenly fancied +that he had bit on the right system of painting, when, after +repudiating oil and its flow, he began to lay on successive touches +until he arrived at the exact tone he required. One of his fads for a +long while was to paint from right to left; for, without confessing as +much, he felt sure that it brought him luck. But the terrible affair +which unhinged him once more was an all-invading theory respecting the +complementary colours. Gagniere had been the first to speak to him on +the subject, being himself equally inclined to technical speculation. +After which Claude, impelled by the exuberance of his passion, took to +exaggerating the scientific principles whereby, from the three +primitive colours, yellow, red, and blue, one derives the three +secondary ones, orange, green, and violet, and, further, a whole +series of complementary and similar hues, whose composites are +obtained mathematically from one another. Thus science entered into +painting, there was a method for logical observation already. One only +had to take the predominating hue of a picture, and note the +complementary or similar colours, to establish experimentally what +variations would occur; for instance, red would turn yellowish if it +were near blue, and a whole landscape would change in tint by the +refractions and the very decomposition of light, according to the +clouds passing over it. Claude then accurately came to this +conclusion: That objects have no real fixed colour; that they assume +various hues according to ambient circumstances; but the misfortune +was that when he took to direct observation, with his brain throbbing +with scientific formulas, his prejudiced vision lent too much force to +delicate shades, and made him render what was theoretically correct in +too vivid a manner: thus his style, once so bright, so full of the +palpitation of sunlight, ended in a reversal of everything to which +the eye was accustomed, giving, for instance, flesh of a violet tinge +under tricoloured skies. Insanity seemed to be at the end of it all. + +Poverty finished off Claude. It had gradually increased, while the +family spent money without counting; and, when the last copper of the +twenty thousand francs had gone, it swooped down upon them--horrible +and irreparable. Christine, who wanted to look for work, was incapable +of doing anything, even ordinary needlework. She bewailed her lot, +twirling her fingers and inveighing against the idiotic young lady's +education that she had received, since it had given her no profession, +and her only resource would be to enter into domestic service, should +life still go against them. Claude, on his side, had become a subject +of chaff with the Parisians, and no longer sold a picture. An +independent exhibition at which he and some friends had shown some +pictures, had finished him off as regards amateurs--so merry had the +public become at the sight of his canvases, streaked with all the +colours of the rainbow. The dealers fled from him. M. Hue alone now +and then made a pilgrimage to the Rue Tourlaque, and remained in +ecstasy before the exaggerated bits, those which blazed in unexpected +pyrotechnical fashion, in despair at being unable to cover them with +gold. And though the painter wanted to make him a present of them, +implored him to accept them, the old fellow displayed extraordinary +delicacy of feeling. He pinched himself to amass a small sum of money +from time to time, and then religiously took away the seemingly +delirious picture, to hang it beside his masterpieces. Such windfalls +came too seldom, and Claude was obliged to descend to 'trade art,' +repugnant as it was to him. Such, indeed, was his despair at having +fallen into that poison house, where he had sworn never to set foot, +that he would have preferred starving to death, but for the two poor +beings who were dependent on him and who suffered like himself. He +became familiar with 'viae dolorosae' painted at reduced prices, with +male and female saints at so much per gross, even with 'pounced' shop +blinds--in short, all the ignoble jobs that degrade painting and make +it so much idiotic delineation, lacking even the charm of naivete. He +even suffered the humiliation of having portraits at five-and-twenty +francs a-piece refused, because he failed to produce a likeness; and +he reached the lowest degree of distress--he worked according to size +for the petty dealers who sell daubs on the bridges, and export them +to semi-civilised countries. They bought his pictures at two and three +francs a-piece, according to the regulation dimensions. This was like +physical decay, it made him waste away; he rose from such tasks +feeling ill, incapable of serious work, looking at his large picture +in distress, and leaving it sometimes untouched for a week, as if he +had felt his hands befouled and unworthy of working at it. + +They scarcely had bread to eat, and the huge shanty, which Christine +had shown herself so proud of, on settling in it, became uninhabitable +in the winter. She, once such an active housewife, now dragged herself +about the place, without courage even to sweep the floor, and thus +everything lapsed into abandonment. In the disaster little Jacques was +sadly weakened by unwholesome and insufficient food, for their meals +often consisted of a mere crust, eaten standing. With their lives thus +ill-regulated, uncared for, they were drifting to the filth of the +poor who lose even all self-pride. + +At the close of another year, Claude, on one of those days of defeat, +when he fled from his miscarried picture, met an old acquaintance. +This time he had sworn he would never go home again, and he had been +tramping across Paris since noon, as if at his heels he had heard the +wan spectre of the big, nude figure of his picture--ravaged by +constant retouching, and always left incomplete--pursuing him with a +passionate craving for birth. The mist was melting into a yellowish +drizzle, befouling the muddy streets. It was about five o'clock, and +he was crossing the Rue Royale like one walking in his sleep, at the +risk of being run over, his clothes in rags and mud-bespattered up to +his neck, when a brougham suddenly drew up. + +'Claude, eh? Claude!--is that how you pass your friends?' + +It was Irma Becot who spoke, Irma in a charming grey silk dress, +covered with Chantilly lace. She had hastily let down the window, and +she sat smiling, beaming in the frame-work of the carriage door. + +'Where are you going?' + +He, staring at her open-mouthed, replied that he was going nowhere. At +which she merrily expressed surprise in a loud voice, looking at him +with her saucy eyes. + +'Get in, then; it's such a long while since we met,' said she. 'Get +in, or you'll be knocked down.' + +And, in fact, the other drivers were getting impatient, and urging +their horses on, amidst a terrible din, so he did as he was bidden, +feeling quite dazed; and she drove him away, dripping, with the +unmistakable signs of his poverty upon him, in the brougham lined with +blue satin, where he sat partly on the lace of her skirt, while the +cabdrivers jeered at the elopement before falling into line again. + +When Claude came back to the Rue Tourlaque he was in a dazed +condition, and for a couple of days remained musing whether after all +he might not have taken the wrong course in life. He seemed so strange +that Christine questioned him, whereupon he at first stuttered and +stammered, and finally confessed everything. There was a scene; she +wept for a long while, then pardoned him once more, full of infinite +indulgence for him. And, indeed, amidst all her bitter grief there +sprang up a hope that he might yet return to her, for if he could +deceive her thus he could not care as much as she had imagined for +that hateful painted creature who stared down from the big canvas. + +The days went by, and towards the middle of the winter Claude's +courage revived once more. One day, while putting some old frames in +order, he came upon a roll of canvas which had fallen behind the other +pictures. On opening the roll he found on it the nude figure, the +reclining woman of his old painting, 'In the Open Air,' which he had +cut out when the picture had come back to him from the Salon of the +Rejected. And, as he gazed at it, he uttered a cry of admiration: + +'By the gods, how beautiful it is!' + +He at once secured it to the wall with four nails, and remained for +hours in contemplation before it. His hands shook, the blood rushed to +his face. Was it possible that he had painted such a masterly thing? +He had possessed genius in those days then. So his skull, his eyes, +his fingers had been changed. He became so feverishly excited and felt +such a need of unburthening himself to somebody, that at last he +called his wife. + +'Just come and have a look. Isn't her attitude good, eh? How +delicately her muscles are articulated! Just look at that bit there, +full of sunlight. And at the shoulder here. Ah, heavens! it's full of +life; I can feel it throb as I touch it.' + +Christine, standing by, kept looking and answering in monosyllables. +This resurrection of herself, after so many years, had at first +flattered and surprised her. But on seeing him become so excited, she +gradually felt uncomfortable and irritated, without knowing why. + +'Tell me,' he continued, 'don't you think her beautiful enough for one +to go on one's knees to her?' + +'Yes, yes. But she has become rather blackish--' + +Claude protested vehemently. Become blackish, what an idea! That woman +would never grow black; she possessed immortal youth! Veritable +passion had seized hold of him; he spoke of the figure as of a living +being; he had sudden longings to look at her that made him leave +everything else, as if he were hurrying to an appointment. + +Then, one morning, he was taken with a fit of work. + +'But, confound it all, as I did that, I can surely do it again,' he +said. 'Ah, this time, unless I'm a downright brute, we'll see about +it.' + +And Christine had to give him a sitting there and then. For eight +hours a day, indeed, during a whole month he kept her before him, +without compassion for her increasing exhaustion or for the fatigue he +felt himself. He obstinately insisted upon producing a masterpiece; he +was determined that the upright figure of his big picture should equal +that reclining one which he saw on the wall, beaming with life. He +constantly referred to it, compared it with the one he was painting, +distracted by the fear of being unable to equal it. He cast one glance +at it, another at Christine, and a third at his canvas, and burst into +oaths whenever he felt dissatisfied. He ended by abusing his wife. + +She was no longer young. Age had spoilt her figure, and that it was +which spoilt his work. She listened, and staggered in her very grief. +Those sittings, from which she had already suffered so much, were +becoming unbearable torture now. What was this new freak of crushing +her with her own girlhood, of fanning her jealousy by filling her with +regret for vanished beauty? She was becoming her own rival, she could +no longer look at that old picture of herself without being stung at +the heart by hateful envy. Ah, how heavily had that picture, that +study she had sat for long ago, weighed upon her existence! The whole +of her misfortunes sprang from it. It had changed the current of her +existence. And it had come to life again, it rose from the dead, +endowed with greater vitality than herself, to finish killing her, for +there was no longer aught but one woman for Claude--she who was shown +reclining on the old canvas, and who now arose and became the upright +figure of his new picture. + +Then Christine felt herself growing older and older at each successive +sitting. And she experienced the infinite despair which comes upon +passionate women when love, like beauty, abandons them. Was it because +of this that Claude no longer cared for her, that he sought refuge in +an unnatural passion for his work? She soon lost all clear perception +of things; she fell into a state of utter neglect, going about in a +dressing jacket and dirty petticoats, devoid of all coquettish +feeling, discouraged by the idea that it was useless for her to +continue struggling, since she had become old. + +There were occasionally abominable scenes between her and Claude, who +this time, however, obstinately stuck to his work and finished his +picture, swearing that, come what might, he would send it to the +Salon. He lived on his steps, cleaning up his backgrounds until dark. +At last, thoroughly exhausted, he declared that he would touch the +canvas no more; and Sandoz, on coming to see him one day, at four +o'clock, did not find him at home. Christine declared that he had just +gone out to take a breath of air on the height of Montmartre. + +The breach between Claude and his old friends had gradually widened. +With time the latters' visits had become brief and far between, for +they felt uncomfortable when they found themselves face to face with +that disturbing style of painting; and they were more and more upset +by the unhinging of a mind which had been the admiration of their +youth. Now all had fled; none excepting Sandoz ever came. Gagniere had +even left Paris, to settle down in one of the two houses he owned at +Melun, where he lived frugally upon the proceeds of the other one, +after suddenly marrying, to every one's surprise, an old maid, his +music mistress, who played Wagner to him of an evening. As for +Mahoudeau, he alleged work as an excuse for not coming, and indeed he +was beginning to earn some money, thanks to a bronze manufacturer, who +employed him to touch up his models. Matters were different with Jory, +whom no one saw, since Mathilde despotically kept him sequestrated. +She had conquered him, and he had fallen into a kind of domesticity +comparable to that of a faithful dog, yielding up the keys of his +cashbox, and only carrying enough money about him to buy a cigar at a +time. It was even said that Mathilde, like the devotee she had once +been, had thrown him into the arms of the Church, in order to +consolidate her conquest, and that she was constantly talking to him +about death, of which he was horribly afraid. Fagerolles alone +affected a lively, cordial feeling towards his old friend Claude +whenever he happened to meet him. He then always promised to go and +see him, but never did so. He was so busy since his great success, in +such request, advertised, celebrated, on the road to every imaginable +honour and form of fortune! And Claude regretted nobody save Dubuche, +to whom he still felt attached, from a feeling of affection for the +old reminiscences of boyhood, notwithstanding the disagreements which +difference of disposition had provoked later on. But Dubuche, it +appeared, was not very happy either. No doubt he was gorged with +millions, but he led a wretched life, constantly at logger-heads with +his father-in-law (who complained of having been deceived with regard +to his capabilities as an architect), and obliged to pass his life +amidst the medicine bottles of his ailing wife and his two children, +who, having been prematurely born, had to be reared virtually in +cotton wool. + +Of all the old friends, therefore, there only remained Sandoz, who +still found his way to the Rue Tourlaque. He came thither for little +Jacques, his godson, and for the sorrowing woman also, that Christine +whose passionate features amidst all this distress moved him deeply, +like a vision of one of the ardently amorous creatures whom he would +have liked to embody in his books. But, above all, his feeling of +artistic brotherliness had increased since he had seen Claude losing +ground, foundering amidst the heroic folly of art. At first he had +remained utterly astonished at it, for he had believed in his friend +more than in himself. Since their college days, he had always placed +himself second, while setting Claude very high on fame's ladder--on +the same rung, indeed, as the masters who revolutionise a period. Then +he had been grievously affected by that bankruptcy of genius; he had +become full of bitter, heartfelt pity at the sight of the horrible +torture of impotency. Did one ever know who was the madman in art? +Every failure touched him to the quick, and the more a picture or a +book verged upon aberration, sank to the grotesque and lamentable, the +more did Sandoz quiver with compassion, the more did he long to lull +to sleep, in the soothing extravagance of their dreams, those who were +thus blasted by their own work. + +On the day when Sandoz called, and failed to find Claude at home, he +did not go away; but, seeing Christine's eyelids red with crying, he +said: + +'If you think that he'll be in soon, I'll wait for him.' + +'Oh! he surely won't be long.' + +'In that case I'll wait, unless I am in your way.' + +Never had her demeanour, the crushed look of a neglected woman, her +listless movements, her slow speech, her indifference for everything +but the passion that was consuming her, moved him so deeply. For the +last week, perhaps, she had not put a chair in its place, or dusted a +piece of furniture; she left the place to go to wreck and ruin, +scarcely having the strength to drag herself about. And it was enough +to break one's heart to behold that misery ending in filth beneath the +glaring light from the big window; to gaze on that ill-pargetted +shanty, so bare and disorderly, where one shivered with melancholy +although it was a bright February afternoon. + +Christine had slowly sat down beside an iron bedstead, which Sandoz +had not noticed when he came in. + +'Hallo,' he said, 'is Jacques ill?' + +She was covering up the child, who constantly flung off the +bedclothes. + +'Yes, he hasn't been up these three days. We brought his bed in here +so that he might be with us. He was never very strong. But he is +getting worse and worse, it's distracting.' + +She had a fixed stare in her eyes and spoke in a monotonous tone, and +Sandoz felt frightened when he drew up to the bedside. The child's +pale head seemed to have grown bigger still, so heavy that he could no +longer support it. He lay perfectly still, and one might have thought +he was dead, but for the heavy breathing coming from between his +discoloured lips. + +'My poor little Jacques, it's I, your godfather. Won't you say how +d'ye do?' + +The child made a fruitless, painful effort to lift his head; his +eyelids parted, showing his white eyeballs, then closed again. + +'Have you sent for a doctor?' + +Christine shrugged her shoulders. + +'Oh! doctors, what do they know?' she answered. 'We sent for one; he +said that there was nothing to be done. Let us hope that it will pass +over again. He is close upon twelve years old now, and maybe he is +growing too fast.' + +Sandoz, quite chilled, said nothing for fear of increasing her +anxiety, since she did not seem to realise the gravity of the disease. +He walked about in silence and stopped in front of the picture. + +'Ho, ho! it's getting on; it's on the right road this time.' + +'It's finished.' + +'What! finished?' + +And when she told him that the canvas was to be sent to the Salon that +next week, he looked embarrassed, and sat down on the couch, like a +man who wishes to judge the work leisurely. The background, the quays, +the Seine, whence arose the triumphal point of the Cite, still +remained in a sketchy state--masterly, however, but as if the painter +had been afraid of spoiling the Paris of his dream by giving it +greater finish. There was also an excellent group on the left, the +lightermen unloading the sacks of plaster being carefully and +powerfully treated. But the boat full of women in the centre +transpierced the picture, as it were, with a blaze of flesh-tints +which were quite out of place; and the brilliancy and hallucinatory +proportions of the large nude figure which Claude had painted in a +fever seemed strangely, disconcertingly false amidst the reality of +all the rest. + +Sandoz, silent, fell despair steal over him as he sat in front of that +magnificent failure. But he saw Christine's eyes fixed upon him, and +had sufficient strength of mind to say: + +'Astounding!--the woman, astounding!' + +At that moment Claude came in, and on seeing his old chum he uttered a +joyous exclamation and shook his hand vigorously. Then he approached +Christine, and kissed little Jacques, who had once more thrown off the +bedclothes. + +'How is he?' + +'Just the same.' + +'To be sure, to be sure; he is growing too fast. A few days' rest will +set him all right. I told you not to be uneasy.' + +And Claude thereupon sat down beside Sandoz on the couch. They both +took their ease, leaning back, with their eyes surveying the picture; +while Christine, seated by the bed, looked at nothing, and seemingly +thought of nothing, in the everlasting desolation of her heart. Night +was slowly coming on, the vivid light from the window paled already, +losing its sheen amidst the slowly-falling crepuscular dimness. + +'So it's settled; your wife told me that you were going to send it +in.' + +'Yes.' + +'You are right; you had better have done with it once for all. Oh, +there are some magnificent bits in it. The quay in perspective to the +left, the man who shoulders that sack below. But--' + +He hesitated, then finally took the bull by the horns. + +'But, it's odd that you have persisted in leaving those women nude. It +isn't logical, I assure you; and, besides, you promised me you would +dress them--don't you remember? You have set your heart upon them very +much then?' + +'Yes.' + +Claude answered curtly, with the obstinacy of one mastered by a fixed +idea and unwilling to give any explanations. Then he crossed his arms +behind his head, and began talking of other things, without, however, +taking his eyes off his picture, over which the twilight began to cast +a slight shadow. + +'Do you know where I have just come from?' he asked. 'I have been to +Courajod's. You know, the great landscape painter, whose "Pond of +Gagny" is at the Luxembourg. You remember, I thought he was dead, and +we were told that he lived hereabouts, on the other side of the hill, +in the Rue de l'Abreuvoir. Well, old boy, he worried me, did Courajod. +While taking a breath of air now and then up there, I discovered his +shanty, and I could no longer pass in front of it without wanting to +go inside. Just think, a master, a man who invented our modern +landscape school, and who lives there, unknown, done for, like a mole +in its hole! You can have no idea of the street or the caboose: a +village street, full of fowls, and bordered by grassy banks; and a +caboose like a child's toy, with tiny windows, a tiny door, a tiny +garden. Oh! the garden--a mere patch of soil, sloping down abruptly, +with a bed where four pear trees stand, and the rest taken up by a +fowl-house, made out of green boards, old plaster, and wire network, +held together with bits of string.' + +His words came slowly; he blinked while he spoke as if the thought of +his picture had returned to him and was gradually taking possession of +him, to such a degree as to hamper him in his speech about other +matters. + +'Well, as luck would have it, I found Courajod on his doorstep to-day. +An old man of more than eighty, wrinkled and shrunk to the size of a +boy. I should like you to see him, with his clogs, his peasant's +jersey and his coloured handkerchief wound over his head as if he were +an old market-woman. I pluckily went up to him, saying, "Monsieur +Courajod, I know you very well; you have a picture in the Luxembourg +Gallery which is a masterpiece. Allow a painter to shake hands with +you as he would with his master." And then you should have seen him +take fright, draw back and stutter, as if I were going to strike him. +A regular flight! However, I followed him, and gradually he recovered +his composure, and showed me his hens, his ducks, his rabbits and +dogs--an extraordinary collection of birds and beasts; there was even +a raven among them. He lives in the midst of them all; he speaks to no +one but his animals. As for the view, it's simply magnificent; you see +the whole of the St. Denis plain for miles upon miles; rivers and +towns, smoking factory-chimneys, and puffing railway-engines; in +short, the place is a real hermitage on a hill, with its back turned +to Paris and its eyes fixed on the boundless country. As a matter of +course, I came back to his picture. "Oh, Monsieur Courajod," said I, +"what talent you showed! If you only knew how much we all admire you. +You are one of our illustrious men; you'll remain the ancestor of us +all." But his lips began to tremble again; he looked at me with an air +of terror-stricken stupidity; I am sure he would not have waved me +back with a more imploring gesture if I had unearthed under his very +eyes the corpse of some forgotten comrade of his youth. He kept +chewing disconnected words between his toothless gums; it was the +mumbling of an old man who had sunk into second childhood, and whom +it's impossible to understand. "Don't know--so long ago--too old +--don't care a rap." To make a long story short, he showed me the +door; I heard him hurriedly turn the key in lock, barricading himself +and his birds and animals against the admiration of the outside world. +Ah, my good fellow, the idea of it! That great man ending his life +like a retired grocer; that voluntary relapse into "nothingness" even +before death. Ah, the glory, the glory for which we others are ready +to die!' + +Claude's voice, which had sunk lower and lower, died away at last in a +melancholy sigh. Darkness was still coming on; after gradually +collecting in the corners, it rose like a slow, inexorable tide, first +submerging the legs of the chairs and the table, all the confusion of +things that littered the tiled floor. The lower part of the picture +was already growing dim, and Claude, with his eyes still desperately +fixed on it, seemed to be watching the ascent of the darkness as if he +had at last judged his work in the expiring light. And no sound was +heard save the stertorous breathing of the sick child, near whom there +still loomed the dark silhouette of the motionless mother. + +Then Sandoz spoke in his turn, his hands also crossed behind his head, +and his back resting against one of the cushions of the couch. + +'Does one ever know? Would it not be better, perhaps, to live and die +unknown? What a sell it would be if artistic glory existed no more +than the Paradise which is talked about in catechisms and which even +children nowadays make fun of! We, who no longer believe in the +Divinity, still believe in our own immortality. What a farce it all +is!' + +Then, affected to melancholy himself by the mournfulness of the +twilight, and stirred by all the human suffering he beheld around him, +he began to speak of his own torments. + +'Look here, old man, I, whom you envy, perhaps--yes, I, who am +beginning to get on in the world, as middle-class people say--I, who +publish books and earn a little money--well, I am being killed by it +all. I have often already told you this, but you don't believe me, +because, as you only turn out work with a deal of trouble and cannot +bring yourself to public notice, happiness in your eyes could +naturally consist in producing a great deal, in being seen, and +praised or slated. Well, get admitted to the next Salon, get into the +thick of the battle, paint other pictures, and then tell me whether +that suffices, and whether you are happy at last. Listen; work has +taken up the whole of my existence. Little by little, it has robbed me +of my mother, of my wife, of everything I love. It is like a germ +thrown into the cranium, which feeds on the brain, finds its way into +the trunk and limbs, and gnaws up the whole of the body. The moment I +jump out of bed of a morning, work clutches hold of me, rivets me to +my desk without leaving me time to get a breath of fresh air; then it +pursues me at luncheon--I audibly chew my sentences with my bread. +Next it accompanies me when I go out, comes back with me and dines off +the same plate as myself; lies down with me on my pillow, so utterly +pitiless that I am never able to set the book in hand on one side; +indeed, its growth continues even in the depth of my sleep. And +nothing outside of it exists for me. True, I go upstairs to embrace my +mother, but in so absent-minded a way, that ten minutes after leaving +her I ask myself whether I have really been to wish her good-morning. +My poor wife has no husband; I am not with her even when our hands +touch. Sometimes I have an acute feeling that I am making their lives +very sad, and I feel very remorseful, for happiness is solely composed +of kindness, frankness and gaiety in one's home; but how can I escape +from the claws of the monster? I at once relapse into the somnambulism +of my working hours, into the indifference and moroseness of my fixed +idea. If the pages I have written during the morning have been worked +off all right, so much the better; if one of them has remained in +distress, so much the worse. The household will laugh or cry according +to the whim of that all-devouring monster--Work. No, no! I have +nothing that I can call my own. In my days of poverty I dreamt of rest +in the country, of travel in distant lands; and now that I might make +those dreams reality, the work that has been begun keeps me shut up. +There is no chance of a walk in the morning's sun, no chance of +running round to a friend's house, or of a mad bout of idleness! My +strength of will has gone with the rest; all this has become a habit; +I have locked the door of the world behind me, and thrown the key out +of the window. There is no longer anything in my den but work and +myself--and work will devour me, and then there will be nothing left, +nothing at all!' + +He paused, and silence reigned once more in the deepening gloom. Then +he began again with an effort: + +'And if one were only satisfied, if one only got some enjoyment out of +such a nigger's life! Ah! I should like to know how those fellows +manage who smoke cigarettes and complacently stroke their beards while +they are at work. Yes, it appears to me that there are some who find +production an easy pleasure, to be set aside or taken up without the +least excitement. They are delighted, they admire themselves, they +cannot write a couple of lines but they find those lines of a rare, +distinguished, matchless quality. Well, as for myself, I bring forth +in anguish, and my offspring seems a horror to me. How can a man be +sufficiently wanting in self-doubt as to believe in himself? It +absolutely amazes me to see men, who furiously deny talent to +everybody else, lose all critical acumen, all common-sense, when it +becomes a question of their own bastard creations. Why, a book is +always very ugly. To like it one mustn't have had a hand in the +cooking of it. I say nothing of the jugsful of insults that are +showered upon one. Instead of annoying, they rather encourage me. I +see men who are upset by attacks, who feel a humiliating craving to +win sympathy. It is a simple question of temperament; some women would +die if they failed to please. But, to my thinking, insult is a very +good medicine to take; unpopularity is a very manly school to be +brought up in. Nothing keeps one in such good health and strength as +the hooting of a crowd of imbeciles. It suffices that a man can say +that he has given his life's blood to his work; that he expects +neither immediate justice nor serious attention; that he works without +hope of any kind, and simply because the love of work beats beneath +his skin like his heart, irrespective of any will of his own. If he +can do all this, he may die in the effort with the consoling illusion +that he will be appreciated one day or other. Ah! if the others only +knew how jauntily I bear the weight of their anger. Only there is my +own choler, which overwhelms me; I fret that I cannot live for a +moment happy. What hours of misery I spend, great heavens! from the +very day I begin a novel. During the first chapters there isn't so +much trouble. I have plenty of room before me in which to display +genius. But afterwards I become distracted, and am never satisfied +with the daily task; I condemn the book before it is finished, judging +it inferior to its elders; and I torture myself about certain pages, +about certain sentences, certain words, so that at last the very +commas assume an ugly look, from which I suffer. And when it is +finished--ah! when it is finished, what a relief! Not the enjoyment of +the gentleman who exalts himself in the worship of his offspring, but +the curse of the labourer who throws down the burden that has been +breaking his back. Then, later on, with another book, it all begins +afresh; it will always begin afresh, and I shall die under it, furious +with myself, exasperated at not having had more talent, enraged at not +leaving a "work" more complete, of greater dimensions--books upon +books, a pile of mountain height! And at my death I shall feel +horrible doubts about the task I may have accomplished, asking myself +whether I ought not to have gone to the left when I went to the right, +and my last word, my last gasp, will be to recommence the whole over +again--' + +He was thoroughly moved; the words stuck in his throat; he was obliged +to draw breath for a moment before delivering himself of this +passionate cry in which all his impenitent lyricism took wing: + +Ah, life! a second span of life, who shall give it to me, that work +may rob me of it again--that I may die of it once more?' + +It had now become quite dark; the mother's rigid silhouette was no +longer visible; the hoarse breathing of the child sounded amidst the +obscurity like a terrible and distant signal of distress, uprising +from the streets. In the whole studio, which had become lugubriously +black, the big canvas only showed a glimpse of pallidity, a last +vestige of the waning daylight. The nude figure, similar to an +agonising vision, seemed to be floating about, without definite shape, +the legs having already vanished, one arm being already submerged, and +the only part at all distinct being the trunk, which shone like a +silvery moon. + +After a protracted pause, Sandoz inquired: + +'Shall I go with you when you take your picture?' + +Getting no answer from Claude, he fancied he could hear him crying. +Was it with the same infinite sadness, the despair by which he himself +had been stirred just now? He waited for a moment, then repeated his +question, and at last the painter, after choking down a sob, +stammered: + +'Thanks, the picture will remain here; I sha'n't send it.' + +'What? Why, you had made up your mind?' + +'Yes, yes, I had made up my mind; but I had not seen it as I saw it +just now in the waning daylight. I have failed with it, failed with it +again--it struck my eyes like a blow, it went to my very heart.' + +His tears now flowed slow and scalding in the gloom that hid him from +sight. He had been restraining himself, and now the silent anguish +which had consumed him burst forth despite all his efforts. + +'My poor friend,' said Sandoz, quite upset; 'it is hard to tell you +so, but all the same you are right, perhaps, in delaying matters to +finish certain parts rather more. Still I am angry with myself, for I +shall imagine that it was I who discouraged you by my everlasting +stupid discontent with things.' + +Claude simply answered: + +'You! what an idea! I was not even listening to you. No; I was +looking, and I saw everything go helter-skelter in that confounded +canvas. The light was dying away, and all at once, in the greyish +dusk, the scales suddenly dropped from my eyes. The background alone +is pretty; the nude woman is altogether too loud; what's more, she's +out of the perpendicular, and her legs are badly drawn. When I noticed +that, ah! it was enough to kill me there and then; I felt life +departing from me. Then the gloom kept rising and rising, bringing a +whirling sensation, a foundering of everything, the earth rolling into +chaos, the end of the world. And soon I only saw the trunk waning like +a sickly moon. And look, look! there now remains nothing of her, not a +glimpse; she is dead, quite black!' + +In fact, the picture had at last entirely disappeared. But the painter +had risen and could be heard swearing in the dense obscurity. + +'D--n it all, it doesn't matter, I'll set to work at it again--' + +Then Christine, who had also risen from her chair, against which he +stumbled, interrupted him, saying: 'Take care, I'll light the lamp.' + +She lighted it and came back looking very pale, casting a glance of +hatred and fear at the picture. It was not to go then? The abomination +was to begin once more! + +'I'll set to work at it again,' repeated Claude, 'and it shall kill +me, it shall kill my wife, my child, the whole lot; but, by heaven, it +shall be a masterpiece!' + +Christine sat down again; they approached Jacques, who had thrown the +clothes off once more with his feverish little hands. He was still +breathing heavily, lying quite inert, his head buried in the pillow +like a weight, with which the bed seemed to creak. When Sandoz was on +the point of going, he expressed his uneasiness. The mother appeared +stupefied; while the father was already returning to his picture, the +masterpiece which awaited creation, and the thought of which filled +him with such passionate illusions that he gave less heed to the +painful reality of the sufferings of his child, the true living flesh +of his flesh. + +On the following morning, Claude had just finished dressing, when he +heard Christine calling in a frightened voice. She also had just woke +with a start from the heavy sleep which had benumbed her while she sat +watching the sick child. + +'Claude! Claude! Oh, look! He is dead.' + +The painter rushed forward, with heavy eyes, stumbling, and apparently +failing to understand, for he repeated with an air of profound +amazement, 'What do you mean by saying he is dead?' + +For a moment they remained staring wildly at the bed. The poor little +fellow, with his disproportionate head--the head of the progeny of +genius, exaggerated as to verge upon cretinism--did not appear to have +stirred since the previous night; but no breath came from his mouth, +which had widened and become discoloured, and his glassy eyes were +open. His father laid his hands upon him and found him icy cold. + +'It is true, he is dead.' + +And their stupor was such that for yet another moment they remained +with their eyes dry, simply thunderstruck, as it were, by the +abruptness of that death which they considered incredible. + +Then, her knees bending under her, Christine dropped down in front of +the bed, bursting into violent sobs which shook her from head to foot, +and wringing her hands, whilst her forehead remained pressed against +the mattress. In that first moment of horror her despair was +aggravated above all by poignant remorse--the remorse of not having +sufficiently cared for the poor child. Former days started up before +her in a rapid vision, each bringing with it regretfulness for unkind +words, deferred caresses, rough treatment even. And now it was all +over; she would never be able to compensate the lad for the affection +she had withheld from him. He whom she thought so disobedient had +obeyed but too well at last. She had so often told him when at play to +be still, and not to disturb his father at his work, that he was quiet +at last, and for ever. The idea suffocated her; each sob drew from her +a dull moan. + +Claude had begun walking up and down the studio, unable to remain +still. With his features convulsed, he shed a few big tears, which he +brushed away with the back of his hand. And whenever he passed in +front of the little corpse he could not help glancing at it. The +glassy eyes, wide open, seemed to exercise a spell over him. At first +he resisted, but a confused idea assumed shape within him, and would +not be shaken off. He yielded to it at last, took a small canvas, and +began to paint a study of the dead child. For the first few minutes +his tears dimmed his sight, wrapping everything in a mist; but he kept +wiping them away, and persevered with his work, even though his brush +shook. Then the passion for art dried his tears and steadied his hand, +and in a little while it was no longer his icy son that lay there, but +merely a model, a subject, the strange interest of which stirred him. +That huge head, that waxy flesh, those eyes which looked like holes +staring into space--all excited and thrilled him. He stepped back, +seemed to take pleasure in his work, and vaguely smiled at it. + +When Christine rose from her knees, she found him thus occupied. Then, +bursting into tears again, she merely said: + +'Ah! you can paint him now, he'll never stir again.' + +For five hours Claude kept at it, and on the second day, when Sandoz +came back with him from the cemetery, after the funeral, he shuddered +with pity and admiration at the sight of the small canvas. It was one +of the fine bits of former days, a masterpiece of limpidity and power, +to which was added a note of boundless melancholy, the end of +everything--all life ebbing away with the death of that child. + +But Sandoz, who had burst out into exclamations fall of praise, was +quite taken aback on hearing Claude say to him: + +'You are sure you like it? In that case, as the other machine isn't +ready, I'll send this to the Salon.' + + + + X + +ONE morning, as Claude, who had taken 'The Dead Child' to the Palais +de l'Industrie the previous day, was roaming round about the Parc +Monceau, he suddenly came upon Fagerolles. + +'What!' said the latter, cordially, 'is it you, old fellow? What's +becoming of you? What are you doing? We see so little of each other +now.' + +Then, Claude having mentioned what he had sent to the Salon--that +little canvas which his mind was full of--Fagerolles added: + +'Ah! you've sent something; then I'll get it "hung" for you. You know +that I'm a candidate for the hanging committee this year.' + +Indeed, amid the tumult and everlasting discontent of the artists, +after attempts at reform, repeated a score of times and then +abandoned, the authorities had just invested the exhibitors with the +privilege of electing the members of the hanging committee; and this +had quite upset the world of painters and sculptors, a perfect +electoral fever had set in, with all sorts of ambitious cabals and +intrigues--all the low jobbery, indeed, by which politics are +dishonoured. + +'I'm going to take you with me,' continued Fagerolles; you must come +and see how I'm settled in my little house, in which you haven't yet +set foot, in spite of all your promises. It's there, hard by, at the +corner of the Avenue de Villiers.' + +Claude, whose arm he had gaily taken, was obliged to follow him. He +was seized with a fit of cowardice; the idea that his old chum might +get his picture 'hung' for him filled him with mingled shame and +desire. On reaching the avenue, he stopped in front of the house to +look at its frontage, a bit of coquettish, _precioso_ architectural +tracery--the exact copy of a Renaissance house at Bourges, with +lattice windows, a staircase tower, and a roof decked with leaden +ornaments. It looked like the abode of a harlot; and Claude was struck +with surprise when, on turning round, he recognised Irma Becot's regal +mansion just over the way. Huge, substantial, almost severe of aspect, +it had all the importance of a palace compared to its neighbour, the +dwelling of the artist, who was obliged to limit himself to a fanciful +nick-nack. + +'Ah! that Irma, eh?' said Fagerolles with just a shade of respect in +his tone. 'She has got a cathedral and no mistake! But come in.' + +The interior of Fagerolles' house was strangely and magnificently +luxurious. Old tapestry, old weapons, a heap of old furniture, Chinese +and Japanese curios were displayed even in the very hall. On the left +there was a dining-room, panelled with lacquer work and having its +ceiling draped with a design of a red dragon. Then there was a +staircase of carved wood above which banners drooped, whilst tropical +plants rose up like plumes. Overhead, the studio was a marvel, though +rather small and without a picture visible. The walls, indeed, were +entirely covered with Oriental hangings, while at one end rose up a +huge chimney-piece with chimerical monsters supporting the tablet, and +at the other extremity appeared a vast couch under a tent--the latter +quite a monument, with lances upholding the sumptuous drapery, above a +collection of carpets, furs and cushions heaped together almost on a +level with the flooring. + +Claude looked at it all, and there came to his lips a question which +he held back--Was all this paid for? Fagerolles, who had been +decorated with the Legion of Honour the previous year, now asked, it +was said, ten thousand francs for painting a mere portrait. Naudet, +who, after launching him, duly turned his success to profit in a +methodical fashion, never let one of his pictures go for less than +twenty, thirty, forty thousand francs. Orders would have fallen on the +painter's shoulders as thick as hail, if he had not affected the +disdain, the weariness of the man whose slightest sketches are fought +for. And yet all this display of luxury smacked of indebtedness, there +was only so much paid on account to the upholsterers; all the money +--the money won by lucky strokes as on 'Change--slipped through the +artist's fingers, and was spent without trace of it remaining. +Moreover, Fagerolles, still in the full flush of his sudden good +fortune, did not calculate or worry, being confident that he would +always sell his works at higher and higher prices, and feeling +glorious at the high position he was acquiring in contemporary art. + +Eventually, Claude espied a little canvas on an ebony easel, draped +with red plush. Excepting a rosewood tube case and box of crayons, +forgotten on an article of furniture, nothing reminding one of the +artistic profession could be seen lying about. + +'Very finely treated,' said Claude, wishing to be amiable, as he stood +in front of the little canvas. 'And is your picture for the Salon +sent?' + +'Ah! yes, thank heavens! What a number of people I had here! A perfect +procession which kept me on my legs from morning till evening during a +week. I didn't want to exhibit it, as it lowers one to do so, and +Naudet also opposed it. But what would you have done? I was so begged +and prayed; all the young fellows want to set me on the committee, so +that I may defend them. Oh! my picture is simple enough--I call it "A +Picnic." There are a couple of gentlemen and three ladies under some +trees--guests at some chateau, who have brought a collation with them +and are eating it in a glade. You'll see, it's rather original.' + +He spoke in a hesitating manner, and when his eyes met those of +Claude, who was looking at him fixedly, he lost countenance +altogether, and joked about the little canvas on the easel. + +'That's a daub Naudet asked me for. Oh! I'm not ignorant of what I +lack--a little of what you have too much of, old man. You know that +I'm still your friend; why, I defended you only yesterday with some +painters.' + +He tapped Claude on the shoulders, for he had divined his old master's +secret contempt, and wished to win him back by his old-time caresses +--all the wheedling practices of a hussy. Very sincerely and with a +sort of anxious deference he again promised Claude that he would do +everything in his power to further the hanging of his picture, 'The +Dead Child.' + +However, some people arrived; more than fifteen persons came in and +went off in less than an hour--fathers bringing young pupils, +exhibitors anxious to say a good word on their own behalf, friends who +wanted to barter influence, even women who placed their talents under +the protection of their charms. And one should have seen the painter +play his part as a candidate, shaking hands most lavishly, saying to +one visitor: 'Your picture this year is so pretty, it pleases me so +much!' then feigning astonishment with another: 'What! you haven't had +a medal yet?' and repeating to all of them: 'Ah! If I belonged to the +committee, I'd make them walk straight.' He sent every one away +delighted, closed the door behind each visitor with an air of extreme +amiability, through which, however, there pierced the secret sneer of +an ex-lounger on the pavement. + +'You see, eh?' he said to Claude, at a moment when they happened to be +left alone. 'What a lot of time I lose with those idiots!' + +Then he approached the large window, and abruptly opened one of the +casements; and on one of the balconies of the house over the way a +woman clad in a lace dressing-gown could be distinguished waving her +handkerchief. Fagerolles on his side waved his hand three times in +succession. Then both windows were closed again. + +Claude had recognised Irma; and amid the silence which fell Fagerolles +quietly explained matters: + +'It's convenient, you see, one can correspond. We have a complete +system of telegraphy. She wants to speak to me, so I must go--' + +Since he and Irma had resided in the avenue, they met, it was said, +on their old footing. It was even asserted that he, so 'cute,' so +well-acquainted with Parisian humbug, let himself be fleeced by her, +bled at every moment of some good round sum, which she sent her maid +to ask for--now to pay a tradesman, now to satisfy a whim, often for +nothing at all, or rather for the sole pleasure of emptying his +pockets; and this partly explained his embarrassed circumstances, his +indebtedness, which ever increased despite the continuous rise in the +quotations of his canvases. + +Claude had put on his hat again. Fagerolles was shuffling about +impatiently, looking nervously at the house over the way. + +'I don't send you off, but you see she's waiting for me,' he said, +'Well, it's understood, your affair's settled--that is, unless I'm +not elected. Come to the Palais de l'Industrie on the evening the +voting-papers are counted. Oh! there will be a regular crush, quite a +rumpus! Still, you will always learn if you can rely on me.' + +At first, Claude inwardly swore that he would not trouble about it. +Fagerolles' protection weighed heavily upon him; and yet, in his heart +of hearts, he really had but one fear, that the shifty fellow would +not keep his promise, but would ultimately be taken with a fit of +cowardice at the idea of protecting a defeated man. However, on the +day of the vote Claude could not keep still, but went and roamed about +the Champs Elysees under the pretence of taking a long walk. He might +as well go there as elsewhere, for while waiting for the Salon he had +altogether ceased work. He himself could not vote, as to do so it was +necessary to have been 'hung' on at least one occasion. However, he +repeatedly passed before the Palais de l'Industrie,* the foot pavement +in front of which interested him with its bustling aspect, its +procession of artist electors, whom men in dirty blouses caught hold +of, shouting to them the titles of their lists of candidates--lists +some thirty in number emanating from every possible coterie, and +representing every possible opinion. There was the list of the studios +of the School of Arts, the liberal list, the list of the +uncompromising radical painters, the conciliatory list, the young +painters' list, even the ladies' list, and so forth. The scene +suggested all the turmoil at the door of an electoral polling booth on +the morrow of a riot. + + * This palace, for many years the home of the 'Salon,' was built + for the first Paris International Exhibition, that of 1855, + and demolished in connection with that of 1900.--ED. + +At four o'clock in the afternoon, when the voting was over, Claude +could not resist a fit of curiosity to go and have a look. The +staircase was now free, and whoever chose could enter. Upstairs, he +came upon the huge gallery, overlooking the Champs Elysees, which was +set aside for the hanging committee. A table, forty feet long, filled +the centre of this gallery, and entire trees were burning in the +monumental fireplace at one end of it. Some four or five hundred +electors, who had remained to see the votes counted, stood there, +mingled with friends and inquisitive strangers, talking, laughing, and +setting quite a storm loose under the lofty ceiling. Around the table, +parties of people who had volunteered to count the votes were already +settled and at work; there were some fifteen of these parties in all, +each comprising a chairman and two scrutineers. Three or four more +remained to be organised, and nobody else offered assistance; in fact, +every one turned away in fear of the crushing labour which would rivet +the more zealous people to the spot far into the night. + +It precisely happened that Fagerolles, who had been in the thick of it +since the morning, was gesticulating and shouting, trying to make +himself heard above the hubbub. + +'Come, gentlemen, we need one more man here! Come, some willing +person, over here!' + +And at that moment, perceiving Claude, he darted forward and forcibly +dragged him off. + +'Ah! as for you, you will just oblige me by sitting down there and +helping us! It's for the good cause, dash it all!' + +Claude abruptly found himself chairman of one of the counting +committees, and began to perform his functions with all the gravity of +a timid man, secretly experiencing a good deal of emotion, as if the +hanging of his canvas would depend upon the conscientiousness he +showed in his work. He called out the names inscribed upon the +voting-papers, which were passed to him in little packets, while the +scrutineers, on sheets of paper prepared for the purpose, noted each +successive vote that each candidate obtained. And all this went on +amidst a most frightful uproar, twenty and thirty names being called +out at the same time by different voices, above the continuous +rumbling of the crowd. As Claude could never do anything without +throwing passion into it, he waxed excited, became despondent whenever +a voting-paper did not bear Fagerolles' name, and grew happy as soon +as he had to shout out that name once more. Moreover, he often tasted +that delight, for his friend had made himself popular, showing himself +everywhere, frequenting the cafes where influential groups of artists +assembled, even venturing to expound his opinions there, and binding +himself to young artists, without neglecting to bow very low to the +members of the Institute. Thus there was a general current of sympathy +in his favour. Fagerolles was, so to say, everybody's spoilt child. + +Night came on at about six o'clock that rainy March day. The +assistants brought lamps; and some mistrustful artists, who, gloomy +and silent, were watching the counting askance, drew nearer. Others +began to play jokes, imitated the cries of animals, or attempted a +_tyrolienne_. But it was only at eight o'clock, when a collation of +cold meat and wine was served, that the gaiety reached its climax. The +bottles were hastily emptied, the men stuffed themselves with whatever +they were lucky enough to get hold of, and there was a free-and-easy +kind of Kermesse in that huge hall which the logs in the fireplace lit +up with a forge-like glow. Then they all smoked, and the smoke set a +kind of mist around the yellow light from the lamps, whilst on the +floor trailed all the spoilt voting-papers thrown away during the +polling; indeed, quite a layer of dirty paper, together with corks, +breadcrumbs, and a few broken plates. The heels of those seated at the +table disappeared amidst this litter. Reserve was cast aside; a little +sculptor with a pale face climbed upon a chair to harangue the +assembly, and a painter, with stiff moustaches under a hook nose, +bestrode a chair and galloped, bowing, round the table, in mimicry of +the Emperor. + +Little by little, however, a good many grew tired and went off. At +eleven o'clock there were not more than a couple of hundred persons +present. Past midnight, however, some more people arrived, loungers in +dress-coats and white ties, who had come from some theatre or soiree +and wished to learn the result of the voting before all Paris knew it. +Reporters also appeared; and they could be seen darting one by one out +of the room as soon as a partial result was communicated to them. + +Claude, hoarse by now, still went on calling names. The smoke and the +heat became intolerable, a smell like that of a cow-house rose from +the muddy litter on the floor. One o'clock, two o'clock in the +morning struck, and he was still unfolding voting-papers, the +conscientiousness which he displayed delaying him to such a point that +the other parties had long since finished their work, while his was +still a maze of figures. At last all the additions were centralised +and the definite result proclaimed. Fagerolles was elected, coming +fifteenth among forty, or five places ahead of Bongrand, who had been +a candidate on the same list, but whose name must have been frequently +struck out. And daylight was breaking when Claude reached home in the +Rue Tourlaque, feeling both worn out and delighted. + +Then, for a couple of weeks he lived in a state of anxiety. A dozen +times he had the idea of going to Fagerolles' for information, but a +feeling of shame restrained him. Besides, as the committee proceeded +in alphabetical order, nothing perhaps was yet decided. However, one +evening, on the Boulevard de Clichy, he felt his heart thump as he saw +two broad shoulders, with whose lolloping motion he was well +acquainted, coming towards him. + +They were the shoulders of Bongrand, who seemed embarrassed. He was +the first to speak, and said: + +'You know matters aren't progressing very well over yonder with those +brutes. But everything isn't lost. Fagerolles and I are on the watch. +Still, you must rely on Fagerolles; as for me, my dear fellow, I am +awfully afraid of compromising your chances.' + +To tell the truth, there was constant hostility between Bongrand and +the President of the hanging committee, Mazel, a famous master of the +School of Arts, and the last rampart of the elegant, buttery, +conventional style of art. Although they called each other 'dear +colleague' and made a great show of shaking hands, their hostility had +burst forth the very first day; one of them could never ask for the +admission of a picture without the other one voting for its rejection. +Fagerolles, who had been elected secretary, had, on the contrary, made +himself Mazel's amuser, his vice, and Mazel forgave his old pupil's +defection, so skilfully did the renegade flatter him. Moreover, the +young master, a regular turncoat, as his comrades said, showed even +more severity than the members of the Institute towards audacious +beginners. He only became lenient and sociable when he wanted to get a +picture accepted, on those occasions showing himself extremely fertile +in devices, intriguing and carrying the vote with all the supple +deftness of a conjurer. + +The committee work was really a hard task, and even Bongrand's strong +legs grew tired of it. It was cut out every day by the assistants. An +endless row of large pictures rested on the ground against the +handrails, all along the first-floor galleries, right round the +Palace; and every afternoon, at one o'clock precisely, the forty +committee-men, headed by their president, who was equipped with a +bell, started off on a promenade, until all the letters in the +alphabet, serving as exhibitors' initials, had been exhausted. They +gave their decisions standing, and the work was got through as fast as +possible, the worst canvases being rejected without going to the vote. +At times, however, discussions delayed the party, there came a ten +minutes' quarrel, and some picture which caused a dispute was reserved +for the evening revision. Two men, holding a cord some thirty feet +long, kept it stretched at a distance of four paces from the line of +pictures, so as to restrain the committee-men, who kept on pushing +each other in the heat of their dispute, and whose stomachs, despite +everything, were ever pressing against the cord. Behind the committee +marched seventy museum-keepers in white blouses, executing evolutions +under the orders of a brigadier. At each decision communicated to them +by the secretaries, they sorted the pictures, the accepted paintings +being separated from the rejected ones, which were carried off like +corpses after a battle. And the round lasted during two long hours, +without a moment's respite, and without there being a single chair to +sit upon. The committee-men had to remain on their legs, tramping on +in a tired way amid icy draughts, which compelled even the least +chilly among them to bury their noses in the depths of their fur-lined +overcoats. + +Then the three o'clock snack proved very welcome: there was half an +hour's rest at a buffet, where claret, chocolate, and sandwiches could +be obtained. It was there that the market of mutual concessions was +held, that the bartering of influence and votes was carried on. In +order that nobody might be forgotten amid the hailstorm of +applications which fell upon the committee-men, most of them carried +little note-books, which they consulted; and they promised to vote for +certain exhibitors whom a colleague protected on condition that this +colleague voted for the ones in whom they were interested. Others, +however, taking no part in these intrigues, either from austerity or +indifference, finished the interval in smoking a cigarette and gazing +vacantly about them. + +Then the work began again, but more agreeably, in a gallery where +there were chairs, and even tables with pens and paper and ink. All +the pictures whose height did not reach four feet ten inches were +judged there--'passed on the easel,' as the expression goes--being +ranged, ten or twelve together, on a kind of trestle covered with +green baize. A good many committee-men then grew absent-minded, +several wrote their letters, and the president had to get angry to +obtain presentable majorities. Sometimes a gust of passion swept by; +they all jostled each other; the votes, usually given by raising the +hand, took place amid such feverish excitement that hats and +walking-sticks were waved in the air above the tumultuous surging +of heads. + +And it was there, 'on the easel,' that 'The Dead Child' at last made +its appearance. During the previous week Fagerolles, whose pocket-book +was full of memoranda, had resorted to all kinds of complicated +bartering in order to obtain votes in Claude's favour; but it was a +difficult business, it did not tally with his other engagements, and +he only met with refusals as soon as he mentioned his friend's name. +He complained, moreover, that he could get no help from Bongrand, who +did not carry a pocket-book, and who was so clumsy, too, that he +spoilt the best causes by his outbursts of unseasonable frankness. A +score of times already would Fagerolles have forsaken Claude, had it +not been for his obstinate desire to try his power over his colleagues +by asking for the admittance of a work by Lantier, which was a reputed +impossibility. However, people should see if he wasn't yet strong +enough to force the committee into compliance with his wishes. +Moreover, perhaps from the depths of his conscience there came a cry +for justice, an unconfessed feeling of respect for the man whose ideas +he had stolen. + +As it happened, Mazel was in a frightfully bad humour that day. At the +outset of the sitting the brigadier had come to him, saying: 'There +was a mistake yesterday, Monsieur Mazel. A _hors-concours_* picture +was rejected. You know, No. 2520, a nude woman under a tree.' + + * A painting by one of those artists who, from the fact that they + had obtained medals at previous Salons, had the right to go on + exhibiting at long as they lived, the committee being debarred + from rejecting their work however bad it might be.--ED. + +In fact, on the day before, this painting had been consigned to the +grave amid unanimous contempt, nobody having noticed that it was the +work of an old classical painter highly respected by the Institute; +and the brigadier's fright, and the amusing circumstance of a picture +having thus been condemned by mistake, enlivened the younger members +of the committee and made them sneer in a provoking manner. + +Mazel, who detested such mishaps, which he rightly felt were +disastrous for the authority of the School of Arts, made an angry +gesture, and drily said: + +'Well, fish it out again, and put it among the admitted pictures. It +isn't so surprising, there was an intolerable noise yesterday. How can +one judge anything like that at a gallop, when one can't even obtain +silence?' + +He rang his bell furiously, and added: + +'Come, gentlemen, everything is ready--a little good will, if you +please.' + +Unluckily, a fresh misfortune occurred as soon as the first paintings +were set on the trestle. One canvas among others attracted Mazel's +attention, so bad did he consider it, so sharp in tone as to make +one's very teeth grate. As his sight was failing him, he leant forward +to look at the signature, muttering the while: 'Who's the pig--' + +But he quickly drew himself up, quite shocked at having read the name +of one of his friends, an artist who, like himself, was a rampart of +healthy principles. Hoping that he had not been overheard, he +thereupon called out: + +'Superb! No. 1, eh, gentlemen?' + +No. 1 was granted--the formula of admission which entitled the picture +to be hung on the line. Only, some of the committee-men laughed and +nudged each other, at which Mazel felt very hurt, and became very +fierce. + +Moreover, they all made such blunders at times. A great many of them +eased their feelings at the first glance, and then recalled their +words as soon as they had deciphered the signature. This ended by +making them cautious, and so with furtive glances they made sure of +the artist's name before expressing any opinion. Besides, whenever a +colleague's work, some fellow committee-man's suspicious-looking +canvas, was brought forward, they took the precaution to warn each +other by making signs behind the painter's back, as if to say, 'Take +care, no mistake, mind; it's his picture.' + +Fagerolles, despite his colleagues' fidgety nerves, carried the day on +a first occasion. It was a question of admitting a frightful portrait +painted by one of his pupils, whose family, a very wealthy one, +received him on a footing of intimacy. To achieve this he had taken +Mazel on one side in order to try to move him with a sentimental story +about an unfortunate father with three daughters, who were starving. +But the president let himself be entreated for a long while, saying +that a man shouldn't waste his time painting when he was dying for +lack of food, and that he ought to have a little more consideration +for his three daughters! However, in the result, Mazel raised his +hand, alone, with Fagerolles. Some of the others then angrily +protested, and even two members of the Institute seemed disgusted, +whereupon Fagerolles whispered to them in a low key: + +'It's for Mazel! He begged me to vote. The painter's a relative of +his, I think; at all events, he greatly wants the picture to be +accepted.' + +At this the two academicians promptly raised their hands, and a large +majority declared itself in favour of the portrait. + +But all at once laughter, witticisms, and indignant cries rang out: +'The Dead Child' had just been placed on the trestle. Were they to +have the Morgue sent to them now? said some. And while the old men +drew back in alarm, the younger ones scoffed at the child's big head, +which was plainly that of a monkey who had died from trying to swallow +a gourd. + +Fagerolles at once understood that the game was lost. At first he +tried to spirit the vote away by a joke, in accordance with his +skilful tactics: + +'Come, gentlemen, an old combatant--' + +But furious exclamations cut him short. Oh, no! not that one. They +knew him, that old combatant! A madman who had been persevering in his +obstinacy for fifteen years past--a proud, stuck-up fellow who posed +for being a genius, and who had talked about demolishing the Salon, +without even sending a picture that it was possible to accept. All +their hatred of independent originality, of the competition of the +'shop over the way,' which frightened them, of that invincible power +which triumphs even when it is seemingly defeated, resounded in their +voices. No, no; away with it! + +Then Fagerolles himself made the mistake of getting irritated, +yielding to the anger he felt at finding what little real influence he +possessed. + +'You are unjust; at least, be impartial,' he said. + +Thereupon the tumult reached a climax. He was surrounded and jostled, +arms waved about him in threatening fashion, and angry words were shot +out at him like bullets. + +'You dishonour the committee, monsieur!' + +'If you defend that thing, it's simply to get your name in the +newspapers!' + +'You aren't competent to speak on the subject!' + +Then Fagerolles, beside himself, losing even the pliancy of his +bantering disposition, retorted: + +'I'm as competent as you are.' + +'Shut up!' resumed a comrade, a very irascible little painter with a +fair complexion. 'You surely don't want to make us swallow such a +turnip as that?' + +Yes, yes, a turnip! They all repeated the word in tones of conviction +--that word which they usually cast at the very worst smudges, at the +pale, cold, glairy painting of daubers. + +'All right,' at last said Fagerolles, clenching his teeth. 'I demand +the vote.' + +Since the discussion had become envenomed, Mazel had been ringing his +bell, extremely flushed at finding his authority ignored. + +'Gentlemen--come, gentlemen; it's extraordinary that one can't settle +matters without shouting--I beg of you, gentlemen--' + +At last he obtained a little silence. In reality, he was not a +bad-hearted man. Why should not they admit that little picture, +although he himself thought it execrable? They admitted so many +others! + +'Come, gentlemen, the vote is asked for.' + +He himself was, perhaps, about to raise his hand, when Bongrand, who +had hitherto remained silent, with the blood rising to his cheeks in +the anger he was trying to restrain, abruptly went off like a pop-gun, +most unseasonably giving vent to the protestations of his rebellious +conscience. + +'But, curse it all! there are not four among us capable of turning out +such a piece of work!' + +Some grunts sped around; but the sledge-hammer blow had come upon them +with such force that nobody answered. + +'Gentlemen, the vote is asked for,' curtly repeated Mazel, who had +turned pale. + +His tone sufficed to explain everything: it expressed all his latent +hatred of Bongrand, the fierce rivalry that lay hidden under their +seemingly good-natured handshakes. + +Things rarely came to such a pass as this. They almost always arranged +matters. But in the depths of their ravaged pride there were wounds +which always bled; they secretly waged duels which tortured them with +agony, despite the smile upon their lips. + +Bongrand and Fagerolles alone raised their hands, and 'The Dead +Child,' being rejected, could only perhaps be rescued at the general +revision. + +This general revision was the terrible part of the task. Although, +after twenty days' continuous toil, the committee allowed itself +forty-eight hours' rest, so as to enable the keepers to prepare the +final work, it could not help shuddering on the afternoon when it came +upon the assemblage of three thousand rejected paintings, from among +which it had to rescue as many canvases as were necessary for the then +regulation total of two thousand five hundred admitted works to be +complete. Ah! those three thousand pictures, placed one after the +other alongside the walls of all the galleries, including the outer +one, deposited also even on the floors, and lying there like stagnant +pools, between which the attendants devised little paths--they were +like an inundation, a deluge, which rose up, streamed over the whole +Palais de l'Industrie, and submerged it beneath the murky flow of all +the mediocrity and madness to be found in the river of Art. And but a +single afternoon sitting was held, from one till seven o'clock--six +hours of wild galloping through a maze! At first they held out against +fatigue and strove to keep their vision clear; but the forced march +soon made their legs give way, their eyesight was irritated by all the +dancing colours, and yet it was still necessary to march on, to look +and judge, even until they broke down with fatigue. By four o'clock +the march was like a rout--the scattering of a defeated army. Some +committee-men, out of breath, dragged themselves along very far in the +rear; others, isolated, lost amid the frames, followed the narrow +paths, renouncing all prospect of emerging from them, turning round +and round without any hope of ever getting to the end! How could they +be just and impartial, good heavens? What could they select from amid +that heap of horrors? Without clearly distinguishing a landscape from +a portrait, they made up the number they required in pot-luck fashion. +Two hundred, two hundred and forty--another eight, they still wanted +eight more. That one? No, that other. As you like! Seven, eight, it +was over! At last they had got to the end, and they hobbled away, +saved--free! + +In one gallery a fresh scene drew them once more round 'The Dead +Child,' lying on the floor among other waifs. But this time they +jested. A joker pretended to stumble and set his foot in the middle of +the canvas, while others trotted along the surrounding little paths, +as if trying to find out which was the picture's top and which its +bottom, and declaring that it looked much better topsy-turvy. + +Fagerolles himself also began to joke. + +'Come, a little courage, gentlemen; go the round, examine it, you'll +be repaid for your trouble. Really now, gentlemen, be kind, rescue it; +pray do that good action!' + +They all grew merry in listening to him, but with cruel laughter they +refused more harshly than ever. "No, no, never!' + +'Will you take it for your "charity"?' cried a comrade. + +This was a custom; the committee-men had a right to a 'charity'; each +of them could select a canvas among the lot, no matter how execrable +it might be, and it was thereupon admitted without examination. As a +rule, the bounty of this admission was bestowed upon poor artists. The +forty paintings thus rescued at the eleventh hour, were those of the +beggars at the door--those whom one allowed to glide with empty +stomachs to the far end of the table. + +'For my "charity,"' repeated Fagerolles, feeling very much +embarrassed; 'the fact is, I meant to take another painting for my +"charity." Yes, some flowers by a lady--' + +He was interrupted by loud jeers. Was she pretty? In front of the +women's paintings the gentlemen were particularly prone to sneer, +never displaying the least gallantry. And Fagerolles remained +perplexed, for the 'lady' in question was a person whom Irma took an +interest in. He trembled at the idea of the terrible scene which would +ensue should he fail to keep his promise. An expedient occurred to +him. + +'Well, and you, Bongrand? You might very well take this funny little +dead child for your charity.' + +Bongrand, wounded to the heart, indignant at all the bartering, waved +his long arms: + +'What! _I_? _I_ insult a real painter in that fashion? Let him be +prouder, dash it, and never send anything to the Salon!' + +Then, as the others still went on sneering, Fagerolles, desirous that +victory should remain to him, made up his mind, with a proud air, like +a man who is conscious of his strength and does not fear being +compromised. + +'All right, I'll take it for my "charity,"' he said. + +The others shouted bravo, and gave him a bantering ovation, with a +series of profound bows and numerous handshakes. All honour to the +brave fellow who had the courage of his opinions! And an attendant +carried away in his arms the poor derided, jolted, soiled canvas; and +thus it was that a picture by the painter of 'In the Open Air' was at +last accepted by the hanging committee of the Salon. + +On the very next morning a note from Fagerolles apprised Claude, in a +couple of lines, that he had succeeded in getting 'The Dead Child' +admitted, but that it had not been managed without trouble. Claude, +despite the gladness of the tidings, felt a pang at his heart; the +note was so brief, and was written in such a protecting, pitying +style, that all the humiliating features of the business were apparent +to him. For a moment he felt sorry over this victory, so much so that +he would have liked to take his work back and hide it. Then his +delicacy of feeling, his artistic pride again gave way, so much did +protracted waiting for success make his wretched heart bleed. Ah! to +be seen, to make his way despite everything! He had reached the point +when conscience capitulates; he once more began to long for the +opening of the Salon with all the feverish impatience of a beginner, +again living in a state of illusion which showed him a crowd, a press +of moving heads acclaiming his canvas. + +By degrees Paris had made it the fashion to patronise 'varnishing +day'--that day formerly set aside for painters only to come and finish +the toilets of their pictures. Now, however, it was like a feast of +early fruit, one of those solemnities which set the city agog and +attract a tremendous crowd. For a week past the newspaper press, the +streets, and the public had belonged to the artists. They held Paris +in their grasp; the only matters talked of were themselves, their +exhibits, their sayings or doings--in fact, everything connected with +them. It was one of those infatuations which at last draw bands of +country folk, common soldiers, and even nursemaids to the galleries on +days of gratuitous admission, in such wise that fifty thousand +visitors are recorded on some fine Sundays, an entire army, all the +rear battalions of the ignorant lower orders, following society, and +marching, with dilated eyes, through that vast picture shop. + +That famous 'varnishing day' at first frightened Claude, who was +intimidated by the thought of all the fine people whom the newspapers +spoke about, and he resolved to wait for the more democratic day of +the real inauguration. He even refused to accompany Sandoz. But he was +consumed by such a fever, that after all he started off abruptly at +eight o'clock in the morning, barely taking time to eat a bit of bread +and cheese beforehand. Christine, who lacked the courage to go with +him, kissed him again and again, feeling anxious and moved. + +'Mind, my dear, don't worry, whatever happens,' said she. + +Claude felt somewhat oppressed as he entered the Gallery of Honour. +His heart was beating fast from the swiftness with which he had +climbed the grand staircase. There was a limpid May sky out of doors, +and through the linen awnings, stretched under the glazed roof, there +filtered a bright white light, while the open doorways, communicating +with the garden gallery, admitted moist gusts of quivering freshness. +For a moment Claude drew breath in that atmosphere which was already +tainted with a vague smell of varnish and the odour of the musk with +which the women present perfumed themselves. At a glance he took stock +of the pictures on the walls: a huge massacre scene in front of him, +streaming with carmine; a colossal, pallid, religious picture on his +left; a Government order, the commonplace delineation of some official +festivity, on the right; and then a variety of portraits, landscapes, +and indoor scenes, all glaring sharply amid the fresh gilding of their +frames. However, the fear which he retained of the folks usually +present at this solemnity led him to direct his glances upon the +gradually increasing crowd. On a circular settee in the centre of the +gallery, from which sprang a sheaf of tropical foliage, there sat +three ladies, three monstrously fat creatures, attired in an +abominable fashion, who had settled there to indulge in a whole day's +backbiting. Behind him he heard somebody crushing harsh syllables in a +hoarse voice. It was an Englishman in a check-pattern jacket, +explaining the massacre scene to a yellow woman buried in the depths +of a travelling ulster. There were some vacant spaces; groups of +people formed, scattered, and formed again further on; all heads were +raised; the men carried walking-sticks and had overcoats on their +arms, the women strolled about slowly, showing distant profiles as +they stopped before the pictures; and Claude's artistic eye was caught +by the flowers in their hats and bonnets, which seemed very loud in +tint amid the dark waves of the men's silk hats. He perceived three +priests, two common soldiers who had found their way there no one knew +whence, some endless processions of gentlemen decorated with the +ribbon of the Legion of Honour, and troops of girls and their mothers, +who constantly impeded the circulation. However, a good many of these +people knew each other; there were smiles and bows from afar, at times +a rapid handshake in passing. And conversation was carried on in a +discreet tone of voice, above which rose the continuous tramping of +feet. + +Then Claude began to look for his own picture. He tried to find his +way by means of the initial letters inscribed above the entrances of +the galleries, but made a mistake, and went through those on the left +hand. There was a succession of open entrances, a perspective of old +tapestry door-hangings, with glimpses of the distant pictures. He went +as far as the great western gallery, and came back by the parallel +suite of smaller galleries without finding that allotted to the letter +L. And when he reached the Gallery of Honour again, the crowd had +greatly increased. In fact, it was now scarcely possible for one to +move about there. Being unable to advance, he looked around, and +recognised a number of painters, that nation of painters which was at +home there that day, and was therefore doing the honours of its abode. +Claude particularly remarked an old friend of the Boutin Studio--a +young fellow consumed with the desire to advertise himself, who had +been working for a medal, and who was now pouncing upon all the +visitors possessed of any influence and forcibly taking them to see +his pictures. Then there was a celebrated and wealthy painter who +received his visitors in front of his work with a smile of triumph on +his lips, showing himself compromisingly gallant with the ladies, who +formed quite a court around him. And there were all the others: the +rivals who execrated one another, although they shouted words of +praise in full voices; the savage fellows who covertly watched their +comrades' success from the corner of a doorway; the timid ones whom +one could not for an empire induce to pass through the gallery where +their pictures were hung; the jokers who hid the bitter mortification +of their defeat under an amusing witticism; the sincere ones who were +absorbed in contemplation, trying to understand the various works, and +already in fancy distributing the medals. And the painters' families +were also there. One charming young woman was accompanied by a +coquettishly bedecked child; a sour-looking, skinny matron of +middle-class birth was flanked by two ugly urchins in black; a fat +mother had foundered on a bench amid quite a tribe of dirty brats; and +a lady of mature charms, still very good-looking, stood beside her +grown-up daughter, quietly watching a hussy pass--this hussy being the +father's mistress. And then there were also the models--women who +pulled one another by the sleeve, who showed one another their own +forms in the various pictorial nudities, talking very loudly the while +and dressed without taste, spoiling their superb figures by such +wretched gowns that they seemed to be hump-backed beside the +well-dressed dolls--those Parisiennes who owed their figures entirely +to their dressmakers. + +When Claude got free of the crowd, he enfiladed the line of doorways +on the right hand. His letter was on that side; but he searched the +galleries marked with an L without finding anything. Perhaps his +canvas had gone astray and served to fill up a vacancy elsewhere. So +when he had reached the large eastern gallery, he set off along a +number of other little ones, a secluded suite visited by very few +people, where the pictures seemed to frown with boredom. And there +again he found nothing. Bewildered, distracted, he roamed about, went +on to the garden gallery, searching among the superabundant exhibits +which overflowed there, pallid and shivering in the crude light; and +eventually, after other distant excursions, he tumbled into the +Gallery of Honour for the third time. + +There was now quite a crush there. All those who in any way create a +stir in Paris were assembled together--the celebrities, the wealthy, +the adored, talent, money and grace, the masters of romance, of the +drama and of journalism, clubmen, racing men and speculators, women of +every category, hussies, actresses and society belles. And Claude, +angered by his vain search, grew amazed at the vulgarity of the faces +thus massed together, at the incongruity of the toilets--but a few of +which were elegant, while so many were common looking--at the lack of +majesty which that vaunted 'society' displayed, to such a point, +indeed, that the fear which had made him tremble was changed into +contempt. Were these the people, then, who were going to jeer at his +picture, provided it were found again? Two little reporters with fair +complexions were completing a list of persons whose names they +intended to mention. A critic pretended to take some notes on the +margin of his catalogue; another was holding forth in professor's +style in the centre of a party of beginners; a third, all by himself, +with his hands behind his back, seemed rooted to one spot, crushing +each work beneath his august impassibility. And what especially struck +Claude was the jostling flock-like behaviour of the people, their +banded curiosity in which there was nothing youthful or passionate, +the bitterness of their voices, the weariness to be read on their +faces, their general appearance of suffering. Envy was already at +work; there was the gentleman who makes himself witty with the ladies; +the one who, without a word, looks, gives a terrible shrug of the +shoulders, and then goes off; and there were the two who remain for a +quarter of an hour leaning over the handrail, with their noses close +to a little canvas, whispering very low and exchanging the knowing +glances of conspirators. + +But Fagerolles had just appeared, and amid the continuous ebb and flow +of the groups there seemed to be no one left but him. With his hand +outstretched, he seemed to show himself everywhere at the same time, +lavishly exerting himself to play the double part of a young 'master' +and an influential member of the hanging committee. Overwhelmed with +praise, thanks, and complaints, he had an answer ready for everybody +without losing aught of his affability. Since early morning he had +been resisting the assault of the petty painters of his set who found +their pictures badly hung. It was the usual scamper of the first +moment, everybody looking for everybody else, rushing to see one +another and bursting into recriminations--noisy, interminable fury. +Either the picture was too high up, or the light did not fall upon it +properly, or the paintings near it destroyed its effect; in fact, some +talked of unhooking their works and carrying them off. One tall thin +fellow was especially tenacious, going from gallery to gallery in +pursuit of Fagerolles, who vainly explained that he was innocent in +the matter and could do nothing. Numerical order was followed, the +pictures for each wall were deposited on the floor below and then hung +up without anybody being favoured. He carried his obligingness so far +as to promise his intervention when the galleries were rearranged +after the medals had been awarded; but even then he did not manage to +calm the tall thin fellow, who still continued pursuing him. + +Claude for a moment elbowed his way through the crowd to go and ask +Fagerolles where his picture had been hung. But on seeing his friend +so surrounded, pride restrained him. Was there not something absurd +and painful about this constant need of another's help? Besides, he +suddenly reflected that he must have skipped a whole suite of +galleries on the right-hand side; and, indeed, there were fresh +leagues of painting there. He ended by reaching a gallery where a +stifling crowd was massed in front of a large picture which filled the +central panel of honour. At first he could not see it, there was such +a surging sea of shoulders, such a thick wall of heads, such a rampart +of hats. People rushed forward with gaping admiration. At length, +however, by dint of rising on tiptoe, he perceived the marvel, and +recognised the subject, by what had been told him. + +It was Fagerolles' picture. And in that 'Picnic' he found his own +forgotten work, 'In the Open Air,' the same light key of colour, the +same artistic formula, but softened, trickishly rendered, spoilt by +skin-deep elegance, everything being 'arranged' with infinite skill to +satisfy the low ideal of the public. Fagerolles had not made the +mistake of stripping his three women; but, clad in the audacious +toilets of women of society, they showed no little of their persons. +As for the two gallant gentlemen in summer jackets beside them, they +realised the ideal of everything most _distingue_; while afar off a +footman was pulling a hamper off the box of a landau drawn up behind +the trees. The whole of it, the figures, the drapery, the bits of +still life of the repast, stood out gaily in full sunlight against the +darkened foliage of the background; and the supreme skill of the +painter lay in his pretended audacity, in a mendacious semblance of +forcible treatment which just sufficed to send the multitude into +ecstasies. It was like a storm in a cream-jug! + +Claude, being unable to approach, listened to the remarks around him. +At last there was a man who depicted real truth! He did not press his +points like those fools of the new school; he knew how to convey +everything without showing anything. Ah! the art of knowing where to +draw the line, the art of letting things be guessed, the respect due +to the public, the approval of good society! And withal such delicacy, +such charm and art! He did not unseasonably deliver himself of +passionate things of exuberant design; no, when he had taken three +notes from nature, he gave those three notes, nothing more. A +newspaper man who arrived went into raptures over the 'Picnic,' and +coined the expression 'a very Parisian style of painting.' It was +repeated, and people no longer passed without declaring that the +picture was 'very Parisian' indeed. + +All those bent shoulders, all those admiring remarks rising from a sea +of spines, ended by exasperating Claude; and seized with a longing to +see the faces of the folk who created success, he manoeuvred in such a +way as to lean his back against the handrail hard by. From that point, +he had the public in front of him in the grey light filtering through +the linen awning which kept the centre of the gallery in shade; whilst +the brighter light, gliding from the edges of the blinds, illumined +the paintings on the walls with a white flow, in which the gilding of +the frames acquired a warm sunshiny tint. Claude at once recognised +the people who had formerly derided him--if these were not the same, +they were at least their relatives--serious, however, and enraptured, +their appearance greatly improved by their respectful attention. The +evil look, the weariness, which he had at first remarked on their +faces, as envious bile drew their skin together and dyed it yellow, +disappeared here while they enjoyed the treat of an amiable lie. Two +fat ladies, open-mouthed, were yawning with satisfaction. Some old +gentlemen opened their eyes wide with a knowing air. A husband +explained the subject to his young wife, who jogged her chin with a +pretty motion of the neck. There was every kind of marvelling, +beatifical, astonished, profound, gay, austere, amidst unconscious +smiles and languid postures of the head. The men threw back their +black silk hats, the flowers in the women's bonnets glided to the +napes of their necks. And all the faces, after remaining motionless +for a moment, were then drawn aside and replaced by others exactly +like them. + +Then Claude, stupefied by that triumph, virtually forgot everything +else. The gallery was becoming too small, fresh bands of people +constantly accumulated inside it. There were no more vacant spaces, as +there had been early in the morning; no more cool whiffs rose from the +garden amid the ambient smell of varnish; the atmosphere was now +becoming hot and bitter with the perfumes scattered by the women's +dresses. Before long the predominant odour suggested that of a wet +dog. It must have been raining outside; one of those sudden spring +showers had no doubt fallen, for the last arrivals brought moisture +with them--their clothes hung about them heavily and seemed to steam +as soon as they encountered the heat of the gallery. And, indeed, +patches of darkness had for a moment been passing above the awning of +the roof. Claude, who raised his eyes, guessed that large clouds were +galloping onward lashed by the north wind, that driving rain was +beating upon the glass panes. Moire-like shadows darted along the +walls, all the paintings became dim, the spectators themselves were +blended in obscurity until the cloud was carried away, whereupon the +painter saw the heads again emerge from the twilight, ever agape with +idiotic rapture. + +But there was another cup of bitterness in reserve for Claude. On the +left-hand panel, facing Fagerolles', he perceived Bongrand's picture. +And in front of that painting there was no crush whatever; the +visitors walked by with an air of indifference. Yet it was Bongrand's +supreme effort, the thrust he had been trying to give for years, a +last work conceived in his obstinate craving to prove the virility of +his decline. The hatred he harboured against the 'Village Wedding,' +that first masterpiece which had weighed upon all his toilsome +after-life, had impelled him to select a contrasting but corresponding +subject: the 'Village Funeral'--the funeral of a young girl, with +relatives and friends straggling among fields of rye and oats. +Bongrand had wrestled with himself, saying that people should see if +he were done for, if the experience of his sixty years were not worth +all the lucky dash of his youth; and now experience was defeated, the +picture was destined to be a mournful failure, like the silent fall of +an old man, which does not even stay passers-by in their onward +course. There were still some masterly bits, the choirboy holding the +cross, the group of daughters of the Virgin carrying the bier, whose +white dresses and ruddy flesh furnished a pretty contrast with the +black Sunday toggery of the rustic mourners, among all the green +stuff; only the priest in his alb, the girl carrying the Virgin's +banner, the family following the body, were drily handled; the whole +picture, in fact, was displeasing in its very science and the +obstinate stiffness of its treatment. One found in it a fatal, +unconscious return to the troubled romanticism which had been the +starting-point of the painter's career. And the worst of the business +was that there was justification for the indifference with which the +public treated that art of another period, that cooked and somewhat +dull style of painting, which no longer stopped one on one's way, +since great blazes of light had come into vogue. + +It precisely happened that Bongrand entered the gallery with the +hesitating step of a timid beginner, and Claude felt a pang at his +heart as he saw him give a glance at his neglected picture and then +another at Fagerolles', which was bringing on a riot. At that moment +the old painter must have been acutely conscious of his fall. If he +had so far been devoured by the fear of slow decline, it was because +he still doubted; and now he obtained sudden certainty; he was +surviving his reputation, his talent was dead, he would never more +give birth to living, palpitating works. He became very pale, and was +about to turn and flee, when Chambouvard, the sculptor, entering the +gallery by the other door, followed by his customary train of +disciples, called to him without caring a fig for the people present: + +'Ah! you humbug, I catch you at it--admiring yourself!' + +He, Chambouvard, exhibited that year an execrable 'Reaping Woman,' one +of those stupidly spoilt figures which seemed like hoaxes on his part, +so unworthy they were of his powerful hands; but he was none the less +radiant, feeling certain that he had turned out yet another +masterpiece, and promenading his god-like infallibility through the +crowd which he did not hear laughing at him. + +Bongrand did not answer, but looked at him with eyes scorched by +fever. + +'And my machine downstairs?' continued the sculptor. 'Have you seen +it? The little fellows of nowadays may try it on, but we are the only +masters--we, old France!' + +And thereupon he went off, followed by his court and bowing to the +astonished public. + +'The brute!' muttered Bongrand, suffocating with grief, as indignant +as at the outburst of some low-bred fellow beside a deathbed. + +He perceived Claude, and approached him. Was it not cowardly to flee +from this gallery? And he determined to show his courage, his lofty +soul, into which envy had never entered. + +'Our friend Fagerolles has a success and no mistake,' he said. 'I +should be a hypocrite if I went into ecstasies over his picture, which +I scarcely like; but he himself is really a very nice fellow indeed. +Besides, you know how he exerted himself on your behalf.' + +Claude was trying to find a word of admiration for the 'Village +Funeral.' + +'The little cemetery in the background is so pretty!' he said at last. +'Is it possible that the public--' + +But Bongrand interrupted him in a rough voice: + +'No compliments of condolence, my friend, eh? I see clear enough.' + +At this moment somebody nodded to them in a familiar way, and Claude +recognised Naudet--a Naudet who had grown and expanded, gilded by the +success of his colossal strokes of business. Ambition was turning his +head; he talked about sinking all the other picture dealers; he had +built himself a palace, in which he posed as the king of the market, +centralising masterpieces, and there opening large art shops of the +modern style. One heard a jingle of millions on the very threshold of +his hall; he held exhibitions there, even ran up other galleries +elsewhere; and each time that May came round, he awaited the visits of +the American amateurs whom he charged fifty thousand francs for a +picture which he himself had purchased for ten thousand. Moreover, he +lived in princely style, with a wife and children, a mistress, a +country estate in Picardy, and extensive shooting grounds. His first +large profits had come from the rise in value of works left by +illustrious artists, now defunct, whose talent had been denied while +they lived, such as Courbet, Millet, and Rousseau; and this had ended +by making him disdain any picture signed by a still struggling artist. +However, ominous rumours were already in circulation. As the number of +well-known pictures was limited, and the number of amateurs could +barely be increased, a time seemed to be coming when business would +prove very difficult. There was talk of a syndicate, of an +understanding with certain bankers to keep up the present high prices; +the expedient of simulated sales was resorted to at the Hotel Drouot +--pictures being bought in at a big figure by the dealer himself--and +bankruptcy seemed to be at the end of all that Stock Exchange jobbery, +a perfect tumble head-over-heels after all the excessive, mendacious +_agiotage_. + +'Good-day, dear master,' said Naudet, who had drawn near. 'So you have +come, like everybody else, to see my Fagerolles, eh?' + +He no longer treated Bongrand in the wheedling, respectful manner of +yore. And he spoke of Fagerolles as of a painter belonging to him, of +a workman to whom he paid wages, and whom he often scolded. It was he +who had settled the young artist in the Avenue de Villiers, compelling +him to have a little mansion of his own, furnishing it as he would +have furnished a place for a hussy, running him into debt with +supplies of carpets and nick-nacks, so that he might afterwards hold +him at his mercy; and now he began to accuse him of lacking +orderliness and seriousness, of compromising himself like a +feather-brain. Take that picture, for instance, a serious painter +would never have sent it to the Salon; it made a stir, no doubt, and +people even talked of its obtaining the medal of honour; but nothing +could have a worse effect on high prices. When a man wanted to get +hold of the Yankees, he ought to know how to remain at home, like an +idol in the depths of his tabernacle. + +'You may believe me or not, my dear fellow,' he said to Bongrand, 'but +I would have given twenty thousand francs out of my pocket to prevent +those stupid newspapers from making all this row about my Fagerolles +this year.' + +Bongrand, who, despite his sufferings, was listening bravely, smiled. + +'In point of fact,' he said, 'they are perhaps carrying indiscretion +too far. I read an article yesterday in which I learnt that Fagerolles +ate two boiled eggs every morning.' + +He laughed over the coarse puffery which, after a first article on the +'young master's' picture, as yet seen by nobody, had for a week past +kept all Paris occupied about him. The whole fraternity of reporters +had been campaigning, stripping Fagerolles to the skin, telling their +readers all about his father, the artistic zinc manufacturer, his +education, the house in which he resided, how he lived, even revealing +the colour of his socks, and mentioning a habit he had of pinching his +nose. And he was the passion of the hour, the 'young master' according +to the tastes of the day, one who had been lucky enough to miss the +Prix de Rome, and break off with the School of Arts, whose principles, +however, he retained. After all, the success of that style of painting +which aims merely at approximating reality, not at rendering it in all +its truth, was the fortune of a season which the wind brings and blows +away again, a mere whim on the part of the great lunatic city; the +stir it caused was like that occasioned by some accident, which upsets +the crowd in the morning and is forgotten by night amidst general +indifference. + +However, Naudet noticed the 'Village Funeral.' + +'Hullo! that's your picture, eh?' he said. 'So you wanted to give a +companion to the "Wedding"? Well, I should have tried to dissuade you! +Ah! the "Wedding"! the "Wedding"!' + +Bongrand still listened to him without ceasing to smile. Barely a +twinge of pain passed over his trembling lips. He forgot his +masterpieces, the certainty of leaving an immortal name, he was only +cognisant of the vogue which that youngster, unworthy of cleaning his +palette, had so suddenly and easily acquired, that vogue which seemed +to be pushing him, Bongrand, into oblivion--he who had struggled for +ten years before he had succeeded in making himself known. Ah! when +the new generations bury a man, if they only knew what tears of blood +they make him shed in death! + +However, as he had remained silent, he was seized with the fear that +he might have let his suffering be divined. Was he falling to the +baseness of envy? Anger with himself made him raise his head--a man +should die erect. And instead of giving the violent answer which was +rising to his lips, he said in a familiar way: + +'You are right, Naudet, I should have done better if I had gone to bed +on the day when the idea of that picture occurred to me.' + +'Ah! there he is; excuse me!' cried the dealer, making off. + +It was Fagerolles showing himself at the entrance of the gallery. He +discreetly stood there without entering, carrying his good fortune +with the ease of a man who knows what he is about. Besides, he was +looking for somebody; he made a sign to a young man, and gave him an +answer, a favourable one, no doubt, for the other brimmed over with +gratitude. Then two other persons sprang forward to congratulate him; +a woman detained him, showing him, with a martyr's gesture, a bit of +still life hung in a dark corner. And finally he disappeared, after +casting but one glance at the people in raptures before his picture. + +Claude, who had looked and listened, was overwhelmed with sadness. The +crush was still increasing, he now had nought before him but faces +gaping and sweating in the heat, which had become intolerable. Above +the nearer shoulders rose others, and so on and so on as far as the +door, whence those who could see nothing pointed out the painting to +each other with the tips of their umbrellas, from which dripped the +water left by the showers outside. And Bongrand remained there out of +pride, erect in defeat, firmly planted on his legs, those of an old +combatant, and gazing with limpid eyes upon ungrateful Paris. He +wished to finish like a brave man, whose kindness of heart is +boundless. Claude, who spoke to him without receiving any answer, saw +very well that there was nothing behind that calm, gay face; the mind +was absent, it had flown away in mourning, bleeding with frightful +torture; and thereupon, full of alarm and respect, he did not insist, +but went off. And Bongrand, with his vacant eyes, did not even notice +his departure. + +A new idea had just impelled Claude onward through the crowd. He was +lost in wonderment at not having been able to discover his picture. +But nothing could be more simple. Was there not some gallery where +people grinned, some corner full of noise and banter, some gathering +of jesting spectators, insulting a picture? That picture would +assuredly be his. He could still hear the laughter of the bygone Salon +of the Rejected. And now at the door of each gallery he listened to +ascertain if it were there that he was being hissed. + +However, as he found himself once more in the eastern gallery, that +hall where great art agonises, that depository where vast, cold, and +gloomy historical and religious compositions are accumulated, he +started, and remained motionless with his eyes turned upward. He had +passed through that gallery twice already, and yet that was certainly +his picture up yonder, so high up that he hesitated about recognising +it. It looked, indeed, so little, poised like a swallow at the corner +of a frame--the monumental frame of an immense painting +five-and-thirty feet long, representing the Deluge, a swarming of +yellow figures turning topsy-turvy in water of the hue of wine lees. +On the left, moreover, there was a pitiable ashen portrait of a +general; on the right a colossal nymph in a moonlit landscape, the +bloodless corpse of a murdered woman rotting away on some grass; and +everywhere around there were mournful violet-shaded things, mixed up +with a comic scene of some bibulous monks, and an 'Opening of the +Chamber of Deputies,' with a whole page of writing on a gilded +cartouch, bearing the heads of the better-known deputies, drawn in +outline, together with their names. And high up, high up, amid those +livid neighbours, the little canvas, over-coarse in treatment, glared +ferociously with the painful grimace of a monster. + +Ah! 'The Dead Child.' At that distance the wretched little creature +was but a confused lump of flesh, the lifeless carcase of some +shapeless animal. Was that swollen, whitened head a skull or a +stomach? And those poor hands twisted among the bedclothes, like the +bent claws of a bird killed by cold! And the bed itself, that +pallidity of the sheets, below the pallidity of the limbs, all that +white looking so sad, those tints fading away as if typical of the +supreme end! Afterwards, however, one distinguished the light eyes +staring fixedly, one recognised a child's head, and it all seemed to +suggest some disease of the brain, profoundly and frightfully pitiful. + +Claude approached, and then drew back to see the better. The light was +so bad that refractions darted from all points across the canvas. How +they _had_ hung his little Jacques! no doubt out of disdain, or +perhaps from shame, so as to get rid of the child's lugubrious +ugliness. But Claude evoked the little fellow such as he had once +been, and beheld him again over yonder in the country, so fresh and +pinky, as he rolled about in the grass; then in the Rue de Douai, +growing pale and stupid by degrees, and then in the Rue Tourlaque, no +longer able to carry his head, and dying one night, all alone, while +his mother was asleep; and he beheld her also, that mother, the sad +woman who had stopped at home, to weep there, no doubt, as she was now +in the habit of doing for entire days. No matter, she had done right +in not coming; 'twas too mournful--their little Jacques, already cold +in his bed, cast on one side like a pariah, and so brutalised by the +dancing light that his face seemed to be laughing, distorted by an +abominable grin. + +But Claude suffered still more from the loneliness of his work. +Astonishment and disappointment made him look for the crowd, the rush +which he had anticipated. Why was he not hooted? Ah! the insults of +yore, the mocking, the indignation that had rent his heart, but made +him live! No, nothing more, not even a passing expectoration: this was +death. The visitors filed rapidly through the long gallery, seized +with boredom. There were merely some people in front of the 'Opening +of the Chamber,' where they collected to read the inscriptions, and +show each other the deputies' heads. At last, hearing some laughter +behind him, he turned round; but nobody was jeering, some visitors +were simply making merry over the tipsy monks, the comic success of +the Salon, which some gentlemen explained to some ladies, declaring +that it was brilliantly witty. And all these people passed beneath +little Jacques, and not a head was raised, not a soul even knew that +he was up there. + +However, the painter had a gleam of hope. On the central settee, two +personages, one of them fat and the other thin, and both of them +decorated with the Legion of Honour, sat talking, reclining against +the velvet, and looking at the pictures in front of them. Claude drew +near them and listened. + +'And I followed them,' said the fat fellow. 'They went along the Rue +St. Honore, the Rue St. Roch, the Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin, the Rue +la Fayette--' + +'And you spoke to them?' asked the thin man, who appeared to be deeply +interested. + +'No, I was afraid of getting in a rage.' + +Claude went off and returned on three occasions, his heart beating +fast each time that some visitor stopped short and glanced slowly from +the line to the ceiling. He felt an unhealthy longing to hear one +word, but one. Why exhibit? How fathom public opinion? Anything rather +than such torturing silence! And he almost suffocated when he saw a +young married couple approach, the husband a good-looking fellow with +little fair moustaches, the wife, charming, with the delicate slim +figure of a shepherdess in Dresden china. She had perceived the +picture, and asked what the subject was, stupefied that she could make +nothing out of it; and when her husband, turning over the leaves of +the catalogue, had found the title, 'The Dead Child,' she dragged him +away, shuddering, and raising this cry of affright: + +'Oh, the horror! The police oughtn't to allow such horrors!' + +Then Claude remained there, erect, unconscious and haunted, his eyes +raised on high, amid the continuous flow of the crowd which passed on, +quite indifferent, without one glance for that unique sacred thing, +visible to him alone. And it was there that Sandoz came upon him, amid +the jostling. + +The novelist, who had been strolling about alone--his wife having +remained at home beside his ailing mother--had just stopped short, +heart-rent, below the little canvas, which he had espied by chance. +Ah! how disgusted he felt with life! He abruptly lived the days of his +youth over again. He recalled the college of Plassans, his freaks with +Claude on the banks of the Viorne, their long excursions under the +burning sun, and all the flaming of their early ambition; and, later +on, when they had lived side by side, he remembered their efforts, +their certainty of coming glory, that fine irresistible, immoderate +appetite that had made them talk of swallowing Paris at one bite! How +many times, at that period, had he seen in Claude a great man, whose +unbridled genius would leave the talent of all others far behind in +the rear! First had come the studio of the Impasse des Bourdonnais; +later, the studio of the Quai de Bourbon, with dreams of vast +compositions, projects big enough to make the Louvre burst; and, +meanwhile, the struggle was incessant; the painter laboured ten hours +a day, devoting his whole being to his work. And then what? After +twenty years of that passionate life he ended thus--he finished with +that poor, sinister little thing, which nobody noticed, which looked +so distressfully sad in its leper-like solitude! So much hope and +torture, a lifetime spent in the toil of creating, to come to that, to +that, good God! + +Sandoz recognised Claude standing by, and fraternal emotion made his +voice quake as he said to him: + +'What! so you came? Why did you refuse to call for me, then?' + +The painter did not even apologise. He seemed very tired, overcome +with somniferous stupor. + +'Well, don't stay here,' added Sandoz. 'It's past twelve o'clock, and +you must lunch with me. Some people were to wait for me at Ledoyen's; +but I shall give them the go-by. Let's go down to the buffet; we shall +pick up our spirits there, eh, old fellow?' + +And then Sandoz led him away, holding his arm, pressing it, warming +it, and trying to draw him from his mournful silence. + +'Come, dash it all! you mustn't give way like that. Although they have +hung your picture badly, it is all the same superb, a real bit of +genuine painting. Oh! I know that you dreamt of something else! But +you are not dead yet, it will be for later on. And, just look, you +ought to be proud, for it's you who really triumph at the Salon this +year. Fagerolles isn't the only one who pillages you; they all imitate +you now; you have revolutionised them since your "Open Air," which +they laughed so much about. Look, look! there's an "open air" effect, +and there's another, and here and there--they all do it.' + +He waved his hand towards the pictures as he and Claude passed along +the galleries. In point of fact, the dash of clear light, introduced +by degrees into contemporary painting, had fully burst forth at last. +The dingy Salons of yore, with their pitchy canvases, had made way for +a Salon full of sunshine, gay as spring itself. It was the dawn, the +aurora which had first gleamed at the Salon of the Rejected, and which +was now rising and rejuvenating art with a fine, diffuse light, full +of infinite shades. On all sides you found Claude's famous 'bluey +tinge,' even in the portraits and the _genre_ scenes, which had +acquired the dimensions and the serious character of historical +paintings. The old academical subjects had disappeared with the cooked +juices of tradition, as if the condemned doctrine had carried its +people of shadows away with it; rare were the works of pure +imagination, the cadaverous nudities of mythology and catholicism, the +legendary subjects painted without faith, the anecdotic bits destitute +of life--in fact, all the bric-a-brac of the School of Arts used up by +generations of tricksters and fools; and the influence of the new +principle was evident even among those artists who lingered over the +antique recipes, even among the former masters who had now grown old. +The flash of sunlight had penetrated to their studios. From afar, at +every step you took, you saw a painting transpierce the wall and form, +as it were, a window open upon Nature. Soon the walls themselves would +fall, and Nature would walk in; for the breach was a broad one, and +the assault had driven routine away in that gay battle waged by +audacity and youth. + +'Ah! your lot is a fine one, all the same, old fellow!' continued +Sandoz. 'The art of to-morrow will be yours; you have made them all.' + +Claude thereupon opened his mouth, and, with an air of gloomy +brutality, said in a low voice: + +'What do I care if I _have_ made them all, when I haven't made myself? +See here, it's too big an affair for me, and that's what stifles me.' + +He made a gesture to finish expressing his thought, his consciousness +of his inability to prove the genius of the formula he had brought +with him, the torture he felt at being merely a precursor, the one who +sows the idea without reaping the glory, his grief at seeing himself +pillaged, devoured by men who turned out hasty work, by a whole flight +of fellows who scattered their efforts and lowered the new form of +art, before he or another had found strength enough to produce the +masterpiece which would make the end of the century a date in art. + +But Sandoz protested, the future lay open. Then, to divert Claude, he +stopped him while crossing the Gallery of Honour and said: + +'Just look at that lady in blue before that portrait! What a slap +Nature does give to painting! You remember when we used to look at the +dresses and the animation of the galleries in former times? Not a +painting then withstood the shock. And yet now there are some which +don't suffer overmuch. I even noticed over there a landscape, the +general yellowish tinge of which completely eclipsed all the women who +approached it.' + +Claude was quivering with unutterable suffering. + +'Pray, let's go,' he said. 'Take me away--I can't stand it any +longer.' + +They had all the trouble in the world to find a free table in the +refreshment room. People were pressed together in that big, shady +retreat, girt round with brown serge drapery under the girders of the +lofty iron flooring of the upstairs galleries. In the background, and +but partially visible in the darkness, stood three dressers displaying +dishes of preserved fruit symmetrically ranged on shelves; while, +nearer at hand, at counters placed on the right and left, two ladies, +a dark one and a fair one, watched the crowd with a military air; and +from the dim depths of this seeming cavern rose a sea of little marble +tables, a tide of chairs, serried, entangled, surging, swelling, +overflowing and spreading into the garden, under the broad, pallid +light which fell from the glass roof. + +At last Sandoz saw some people rise. He darted forward and conquered +the vacant table by sheer struggling with the mob. + +'Ah! dash it! we are here at all events. What will you have to eat?' + +Claude made a gesture of indifference. The lunch was execrable; there +was some trout softened by over-boiling, some undercut of beef dried +up in the oven, some asparagus smelling of moist linen, and, in +addition, one had to fight to get served; for the hustled waiters, +losing their heads, remained in distress in the narrow passages which +the chairs were constantly blocking. Behind the hangings on the left, +one could hear a racket of saucepans and crockery; the kitchen being +installed there on the sand, like one of those Kermesse cook-shops set +up by the roadside in the open air. + +Sandoz and Claude had to eat, seated obliquely and half strangled +between two parties of people whose elbows almost ended by getting +into their plates; and each time that a waiter passed he gave their +chairs a shake with his hips. However, the inconvenience, like the +abominable cookery, made one gay. People jested about the dishes, +different tables fraternised together, common misfortune brought about +a kind of pleasure party. Strangers ended by sympathising; friends +kept up conversations, although they were seated three rows distant +from one another, and were obliged to turn their heads and gesticulate +over their neighbours' shoulders. The women particularly became +animated, at first rather anxious as to the crush, and then ungloving +their hands, catching up their skirts, and laughing at the first +thimbleful of neat wine they drank. + +However, Sandoz, who had renounced finishing his meat, raised his +voice amid the terrible hubbub caused by the chatter and the serving: + +'A bit of cheese, eh? And let's try to get some coffee.' + +Claude, whose eyes looked dreamy, did not hear. He was gazing into the +garden. From his seat he could see the central clump of verdure, some +lofty palms which stood in relief against the grey hangings with which +the garden was decorated all round. A circle of statues was set out +there; and you could see the back of a faun; the profile of a young +girl with full cheeks; the face of a bronze Gaul, a colossal bit of +romanticism which irritated one by its stupid assumption of +patriotism; the trunk of a woman hanging by the wrists, some Andromeda +of the Place Pigalle; and others, and others still following the bends +of the pathways; rows of shoulders and hips, heads, breasts, legs, and +arms, all mingling and growing indistinct in the distance. On the left +stretched a line of busts--such delightful ones--furnishing a most +comical and uncommon suite of noses. There was the huge pointed nose +of a priest, the tip-tilted nose of a soubrette, the handsome +classical nose of a fifteenth-century Italian woman, the mere fancy +nose of a sailor--in fact, every kind of nose, both the magistrate's +and the manufacturer's, and the nose of the gentleman decorated with +the Legion of Honour--all of them motionless and ranged in endless +succession! + +However, Claude saw nothing of them; to him they were but grey spots +in the hazy, greenish light. His stupor still lasted, and he was only +conscious of one thing, the luxuriousness of the women's dresses, of +which he had formed a wrong estimate amid the pushing in the +galleries, and which were here freely displayed, as if the wearers had +been promenading over the gravel in the conservatory of some chateau. +All the elegance of Paris passed by, the women who had come to show +themselves, in dresses thoughtfully combined and destined to be +described in the morrow's newspapers. People stared a great deal at an +actress, who walked about with a queen-like tread, on the arm of a +gentleman who assumed the complacent airs of a prince consort. The +women of society looked like so many hussies, and they all of them +took stock of one another with that slow glance which estimates the +value of silk and the length of lace, and which ferrets everywhere, +from the tips of boots to the feathers upon bonnets. This was neutral +ground, so to say; some ladies who were seated had drawn their chairs +together, after the fashion in the garden of the Tuileries, and +occupied themselves exclusively with criticising those of their own +sex who passed by. Two female friends quickened their pace, laughing. +Another woman, all alone, walked up and down, mute, with a black look +in her eyes. Some others, who had lost one another, met again, and +began ejaculating about the adventure. And, meantime, the dark moving +mass of men came to a standstill, then set off again till it stopped +short before a bit of marble, or eddied back to a bit of bronze. And +among the mere bourgeois, who were few in number, though all of them +looked out of their element there, moved men with celebrated names +--all the _illustrations_ of Paris. A name of resounding glory +re-echoed as a fat, ill-clad gentleman passed by; the winged name of a +poet followed as a pale man with a flat, common face approached. A +living wave was rising from this crowd in the even, colourless light +when suddenly a flash of sunshine, from behind the clouds of a final +shower, set the glass panes on high aflame, making the stained window +on the western side resplendent, and raining down in golden particles +through the still atmosphere; and then everything became warm--the +snowy statues amid the shiny green stuff, the soft lawns parted by the +yellow sand of the pathways, the rich dresses with their glossy satin +and bright beads, even the very voices, whose hilarious murmur seemed +to crackle like a bright fire of vine shoots. Some gardeners, +completing the arrangements of the flower-beds, turned on the taps of +the stand-pipes and promenaded about with their pots, the showers +squirting from which came forth again in tepid steam from the drenched +grass. And meanwhile a plucky sparrow, who had descended from the iron +girders, despite the number of people, dipped his beak in the sand in +front of the buffet, eating some crumbs which a young woman threw him +by way of amusement. Of all the tumult, however, Claude only heard the +ocean-like din afar, the rumbling of the people rolling onwards in the +galleries. And a recollection came to him, he remembered that noise +which had burst forth like a hurricane in front of his picture at the +Salon of the Rejected. But nowadays people no longer laughed at him; +upstairs the giant roar of Paris was acclaiming Fagerolles! + +It so happened that Sandoz, who had turned round, said to Claude: +'Hallo! there's Fagerolles!' + +And, indeed, Fagerolles and Jory had just laid hands on a table near +by without noticing their friends, and the journalist, continuing in +his gruff voice a conversation which had previously begun, remarked: + +'Yes, I saw his "Dead Child"! Ah! the poor devil! what an ending!' + +But Fagerolles nudged Jory, and the latter, having caught sight of his +two old comrades, immediately added: + +'Ah! that dear old Claude! How goes it, eh? You know that I haven't +yet seen your picture. But I'm told that it's superb.' + +'Superb!' declared Fagerolles, who then began to express his surprise. +'So you lunched here. What an idea! Everything is so awfully bad. We +two have just come from Ledoyen's. Oh! such a crowd and such hustling, +such mirth! Bring your table nearer and let us chat a bit.' + +They joined the two tables together. But flatterers and petitioners +were already after the triumphant young master. Three friends rose up +and noisily saluted him from afar. A lady became smilingly +contemplative when her husband had whispered his name in her ear. And +the tall, thin fellow, the artist whose picture had been badly hung, +and who had pursued him since the morning, as enraged as ever, left a +table where he was seated at the further end of the buffet, and again +hurried forward to complain, imperatively demanding 'the line' at +once. + +'Oh! go to the deuce!' at last cried Fagerolles, his patience and +amiability exhausted. And he added, when the other had gone off, +mumbling some indistinct threats: 'It's true; a fellow does all he can +to be obliging, but those chaps would drive one mad! All of them on +the "line"! leagues of "line" then! Ah! what a business it is to be a +committee-man! One wears out one's legs, and one only reaps hatred as +reward.' + +Claude, who was looking at him with his oppressed air, seemed to wake +up for a moment, and murmured: + +'I wrote to you; I wanted to go and see you to thank you. Bongrand +told me about all the trouble you had. So thanks again.' + +But Fagerolles hastily broke in: + +'Tut, tut! I certainly owed that much to our old friendship. It's I +who am delighted to have given you any pleasure.' + +He showed the embarrassment which always came upon him in presence of +the acknowledged master of his youth, that kind of humility which +filled him perforce when he was with the man whose mute disdain, even +at this moment, sufficed to spoil all his triumph. + +'Your picture is very good,' slowly added Claude, who wished to be +kind-hearted and generous. + +This simple praise made Fagerolles' heart swell with exaggerated, +irresistible emotion, springing he knew not whence; and this rascal, +who believed in nothing, who was usually so proficient in humbug, +answered in a shaky voice: + +'Ah! my dear fellow, ah! it's very kind of you to tell me that!' + +Sandoz had at last obtained two cups of coffee, and as the waiter had +forgotten to bring any sugar, he had to content himself with some +pieces which a party had left on an adjoining table. A few tables, +indeed, had now become vacant, but the general freedom had increased, +and one woman's laughter rang out so loudly that every head turned +round. The men were smoking, and a bluish cloud slowly rose above the +straggling tablecloths, stained by wine and littered with dirty plates +and dishes. When Fagerolles, on his aide, succeeded in obtaining two +glasses of chartreuse for himself and Jory, he began to talk to +Sandoz, whom he treated with a certain amount of deference, divining +that the novelist might become a power. And Jory thereupon +appropriated Claude, who had again become mournful and silent. + +'You know, my dear fellow,' said the journalist, 'I didn't send you +any announcement of my marriage. On account of our position we managed +it on the quiet without inviting any guests. All the same, I should +have liked to let you know. You will excuse me, won't you?' + +He showed himself expansive, gave particulars, full of the happiness +of life, and egotistically delighted to feel fat and victorious in +front of that poor vanquished fellow. He succeeded with everything, he +said. He had given up leader-writing, feeling the necessity of +settling down seriously, and he had risen to the editorship of a +prominent art review, on which, so it was asserted, he made thirty +thousand francs a year, without mentioning certain profits realised by +shady trafficking in the sale of art collections. The middle-class +rapacity which he had inherited from his mother, the hereditary +passion for profit which had secretly impelled him to embark in petty +speculations as soon as he had gained a few coppers, now openly +displayed itself, and ended by making him a terrible customer, who +bled all the artists and amateurs who came under his clutches. + +It was amidst this good luck of his that Mathilde, now all-powerful, +had brought him to the point of begging her, with tears in his eyes, +to become his wife, a request which she had proudly refused during six +long months. + +'When folks are destined to live together,' he continued, 'the best +course is to set everything square. You experienced it yourself, my +dear fellow; you know something about it, eh? And if I told you that +she wouldn't consent at first--yes, it's a fact--for fear of being +misjudged and of doing me harm. Oh! she has such grandeur, such +delicacy of mind! No, nobody can have an idea of that woman's +qualities. Devoted, taking all possible care of one, economical, and +acute, too, and such a good adviser! Ah! it was a lucky chance that I +met her! I no longer do anything without consulting her; I let her do +as she likes; she manages everything, upon my word.' + +The truth was that Mathilde had finished by reducing him to the +frightened obedience of a little boy. The once dissolute she-ghoul had +become a dictatorial spouse, eager for respect, and consumed with +ambition and love of money. She showed, too, every form of sourish +virtue. It was said that they had been seen taking the Holy Communion +together at Notre Dame de Lorette. They kissed one another before +other people, and called each other by endearing nicknames. Only, of +an evening, he had to relate how he had spent his time during the day, +and if the employment of a single hour remained suspicious, if he did +not bring home all the money he had received, down to the odd coppers, +she led him the most abominable life imaginable. + +This, of course, Jory left unmentioned. By way of conclusion he +exclaimed: 'And so we waited for my father's death, and then I married +her.' + +Claude, whose mind had so far been wandering, and who had merely +nodded without listening, was struck by that last sentence. + +'What! you married her--married Mathilde?' + +That exclamation summed up all the astonishment that the affair caused +him, all the recollections that occurred to him of Mahoudeau's shop. +That Jory, why, he could still hear him talking about Mathilde in an +abominable manner; and yet he had married her! It was really stupid +for a fellow to speak badly of a woman, for he never knew if he might +not end by marrying her some day or other! + +However, Jory was perfectly serene, his memory was dead, he never +allowed himself an allusion to the past, never showed the slightest +embarrassment when his comrades' eyes were turned on him. Besides, +Mathilde seemed to be a new-comer. He introduced her to them as if +they knew nothing whatever about her. + +Sandoz, who had lent an ear to the conversation, greatly interested by +this fine business, called out as soon as Jory and Claude became +silent: + +'Let's be off, eh? My legs are getting numbed.' + +But at that moment Irma Becot appeared, and stopped in front of the +buffet. With her hair freshly gilded, she had put on her best looks +--all the tricky sheen of a tawny hussy, who seemed to have just +stepped out of some old Renaissance frame; and she wore a train of +light blue brocaded silk, with a satin skirt covered with Alencon +lace, of such richness that quite an escort of gentlemen followed her +in admiration. On perceiving Claude among the others, she hesitated +for a moment, seized, as it were, with cowardly shame in front of that +ill-clad, ugly, derided devil. Then, becoming valiant, as it were, it +was his hand that she shook the first amid all those well-dressed men, +who opened their eyes in amazement. She laughed with an affectionate +air, and spoke to him in a friendly, bantering way. + +Fagerolles, however, was already paying for the two chartreuses he had +ordered, and at last he went off with Irma, whom Jory also decided to +follow. Claude watched them walk away together, she between the two +men, moving on in regal fashion, greatly admired, and repeatedly bowed +to by people in the crowd. + +'One can see very well that Mathilde isn't here,' quietly remarked +Sandoz. 'Ah! my friend, what clouts Jory would receive on getting +home!' + +The novelist now asked for the bill. All the tables were becoming +vacant; there only remained a litter of bones and crusts. A couple of +waiters were wiping the marble slabs with sponges, whilst a third +raked up the soiled sand. Behind the brown serge hangings the staff of +the establishment was lunching--one could hear a grinding of jaws and +husky laughter, a rumpus akin to that of a camp of gipsies devouring +the contents of their saucepans. + +Claude and Sandoz went round the garden, where they discovered a +statue by Mahoudeau, very badly placed in a corner near the eastern +vestibule. It was the bathing girl at last, standing erect, but of +diminutive proportions, being scarcely as tall as a girl ten years +old, but charmingly delicate--with slim hips and a tiny bosom, +displaying all the exquisite hesitancy of a sprouting bud. The figure +seemed to exhale a perfume, that grace which nothing can give, but +which flowers where it lists, stubborn, invincible, perennial grace, +springing still and ever from Mahoudeau's thick fingers, which were so +ignorant of their special aptitude that they had long treated this +very grace with derision. + +Sandoz could not help smiling. + +'And to think that this fellow has done everything he could to warp +his talent. If his figure were better placed, it would meet with great +success.' + +'Yes, great success,' repeated Claude. 'It is very pretty.' + +Precisely at that moment they perceived Mahoudeau, already in the +vestibule, and going towards the staircase. They called him, ran after +him, and then all three remained talking together for a few minutes. +The ground-floor gallery stretched away, empty, with its sanded +pavement, and the pale light streaming through its large round +windows. One might have fancied oneself under a railway bridge. Strong +pillars supported the metallic framework, and an icy chillness blew +from above, moistening the sand in which one's feet sank. In the +distance, behind a torn curtain, one could see rows of statues, the +rejected sculptural exhibits, the casts which poor sculptors did not +even remove, gathered together in a livid kind of Morgue, in a state +of lamentable abandonment. But what surprised one, on raising one's +head, was the continuous din, the mighty tramp of the public over the +flooring of the upper galleries. One was deafened by it; it rolled on +without a pause, as if interminable trains, going at full speed, were +ever and ever shaking the iron girders. + +When Mahoudeau had been complimented, he told Claude that he had +searched for his picture in vain. In the depths of what hole could +they have put it? Then, in a fit of affectionate remembrance for the +past, he asked anxiously after Gagniere and Dubuche. Where were the +Salons of yore which they had all reached in a band, the mad +excursions through the galleries as in an enemy's country, the violent +disdain they had felt on going away, the discussions which had made +their tongues swell and emptied their brains? Nobody now saw Dubuche. +Two or three times a month Gagniere came from Melun, in a state of +bewilderment, to attend some concert; and he now took such little +interest in painting that he had not even looked in at the Salon, +although he exhibited his usual landscape, the same view of the banks +of the Seine which he had been sending for the last fifteen years--a +picture of a pretty greyish tint, so conscientious and quiet that the +public had never remarked it. + +'I was going upstairs,' resumed Mahoudeau. 'Will you come with me?' + +Claude, pale with suffering, raised his eyes every second. Ah! that +terrible rumbling, that devouring gallop of the monster overhead, the +shock of which he felt in his very limbs! + +He held out his hand without speaking. + +'What! are you going to leave us?' exclaimed Sandoz. Take just another +turn with us, and we'll go away together.' + +Then, on seeing Claude so weary, a feeling of pity made his heart +contract. He divined that the poor fellow's courage was exhausted, +that he was desirous of solitude, seized with a desire to fly off +alone and hide his wound. + +'Then, good-bye, old man: I'll call and see you to-morrow.' + +Staggering, and as if pursued by the tempest upstairs, Claude +disappeared behind the clumps of shrubbery in the garden. But two +hours later Sandoz, who after losing Mahoudeau had just found him +again with Jory and Fagerolles, perceived the unhappy painter again +standing in front of his picture, at the same spot where he had met +him the first time. At the moment of going off the wretched fellow had +come up there again, harassed and attracted despite himself. + +There was now the usual five o'clock crush. The crowd, weary of +winding round the galleries, became distracted, and pushed and shoved +without ever finding its way out. Since the coolness of the morning, +the heat of all the human bodies, the odour of all the breath exhaled +there had made the atmosphere heavy, and the dust of the floors, +flying about, rose up in a fine mist. People still took each other to +see certain pictures, the subjects of which alone struck and attracted +the crowd. Some went off, came back, and walked about unceasingly. The +women were particularly obstinate in not retiring; they seemed +determined to remain there till the attendants should push them out +when six o'clock began to strike. Some fat ladies had foundered. +Others, who had failed to find even the tiniest place to sit down, +leaned heavily on their parasols, sinking, but still obstinate. Every +eye was turned anxiously and supplicatingly towards the settees laden +with people. And all that those thousands of sight-seers were now +conscious of, was that last fatigue of theirs, which made their legs +totter, drew their features together, and tortured them with headache +--that headache peculiar to fine-art shows, which is caused by the +constant straining of one's neck and the blinding dance of colours. + +Alone on the little settee where at noon already they had been talking +about their private affairs, the two decorated gentlemen were still +chatting quietly, with their minds a hundred leagues away from the +place. Perhaps they had returned thither, perhaps they had not even +stirred from the spot. + +'And so,' said the fat one, 'you went in, pretending not to +understand?' + +'Quite so,' replied the thin one. 'I looked at them and took off my +hat. It was clear, eh?' + +'Astonishing! You really astonish me, my dear friend.' + +Claude, however, only heard the low beating of his heart, and only +beheld the 'Dead Child' up there in the air, near the ceiling. He did +not take his eyes off it, a prey to a fascination which held him +there, quite independent of his will. The crowd turned round him, +people's feet trod on his own, he was pushed and carried away; and, +like some inert object, he abandoned himself, waved about, and +ultimately found himself again on the same spot as before without +having once lowered his head, quite ignorant of what was occurring +below, all his life being concentrated up yonder beside his work, his +little Jacques, swollen in death. Two big tears which stood motionless +between his eyelids prevented him from seeing clearly. And it seemed +to him as if he would never have time to see enough. + +Then Sandoz, in his deep compassion, pretended he did not perceive his +old friend; it was as if he wished to leave him there, beside the tomb +of his wrecked life. Their comrades once more went past in a band. +Fagerolles and Jory darted on ahead, and, Mahoudeau having asked +Sandoz where Claude's picture was hung, the novelist told a lie, drew +him aside and took him off. All of them went away. + +In the evening Christine only managed to draw curt words from Claude; +everything was going on all right, said he; the public showed no +ill-humour; the picture had a good effect, though it was hung perhaps +rather high up. However, despite this semblance of cold tranquillity, +he seemed so strange that she became frightened. + +After dinner, as she returned from carrying the dirty plates into the +kitchen, she no longer found him near the table. He had opened a +window which overlooked some waste ground, and he stood there, leaning +out to such a degree that she could scarcely see him. At this she +sprang forward, terrified, and pulled him violently by his jacket. + +'Claude! Claude! what are you doing?' + +He turned round, with his face as white as a sheet and his eyes +haggard. + +'I'm looking,' he said. + +But she closed the window with trembling hands, and after that +significant incident such anguish clung to her that she no longer +slept at night-time. + + + + XI + +CLAUDE set to work again on the very next day, and months elapsed, +indeed the whole summer went by, in heavy quietude. He had found a +job, some little paintings of flowers for England, the proceeds of +which sufficed for their daily bread. All his available time was again +devoted to his large canvas, and he no longer went into the same fits +of anger over it, but seemed to resign himself to that eternal task, +evincing obstinate, hopeless industry. However, his eyes retained +their crazy expression--one could see the death of light, as it were, +in them, when they gazed upon the failure of his existence. + +About this period Sandoz also experienced great grief. His mother +died, his whole life was upset--that life of three together, so homely +in its character, and shared merely by a few friends. He began to hate +the pavilion of the Rue Nollet, and, moreover, success suddenly +declared itself with respect to his books, which hitherto had sold but +moderately well. So, prompted by the advent of comparative wealth, he +rented in the Rue de Londres a spacious flat, the arrangements of +which occupied him and his wife for several months. Sandoz's grief had +drawn him closer to Claude again, both being disgusted with +everything. After the terrible blow of the Salon, the novelist had +felt very anxious about his old chum, divining that something had +irreparably snapped within him, that there was some wound by which +life ebbed away unseen. Then, however, finding Claude so cold and +quiet, he ended by growing somewhat reassured. + +Sandoz often walked up to the Rue Tourlaque, and whenever he found +only Christine at home, he questioned her, realising that she also +lived in apprehension of a calamity of which she never spoke. Her face +bore a look of worry, and now and again she started nervously, like a +mother who watches over her child and trembles at the slightest sound, +with the fear that death may be entering the chamber. + +One July morning Sandoz asked her: 'Well, are you pleased? Claude's +quiet, he works a deal.' + +She gave the large picture her usual glance, a side glance full of +terror and hatred. + +'Yes, yes, he works,' she said. 'He wants to finish everything else +before taking up the woman again.' And without confessing the fear +that harassed her, she added in a lower tone: 'But his eyes--have you +noticed his eyes? They always have the same wild expression. I know +very well that he lies, despite his pretence of taking things so +easily. Pray, come and see him, and take him out with you, so as to +change the current of his thoughts. He only has you left; help me, do +help me!' + +After that Sandoz diligently devised motives for various walks, +arriving at Claude's early in the morning, and carrying him away from +his work perforce. It was almost always necessary to drag him from his +steps, on which he habitually sat, even when he was not painting. A +feeling of weariness stopped him, a kind of torpor benumbed him for +long minutes, during which he did not give a single stroke with the +brush. In those moments of mute contemplation, his gaze reverted with +pious fervour to the woman's figure which he no longer touched: it was +like a hesitating desire combined with sacred awe, a passion which he +refused to satisfy, as he felt certain that it would cost him his +life. When he set to work again at the other figures and the +background of the picture, he well knew that the woman's figure was +still there, and his glance wavered whenever he espied it; he felt +that he would only remain master of himself as long as he did not +touch it again. + +One evening, Christine, who now visited at Sandoz's and never missed a +single Thursday there, in the hope of seeing her big sick child of an +artist brighten up in the society of his friends, took the novelist +aside and begged him to drop in at their place on the morrow. And on +the next day Sandoz, who, as it happened, wanted to take some notes +for a novel, on the other side of Montmartre, went in search of +Claude, carried him off and kept him idling about until night-time. + +On this occasion they went as far as the gate of Clignancourt, where a +perpetual fair was held, with merry-go-rounds, shooting-galleries, and +taverns, and on reaching the spot they were stupefied to find +themselves face to face with Chaine, who was enthroned in a large and +stylish booth. It was a kind of chapel, highly ornamented. There were +four circular revolving stands set in a row and loaded with articles +in china and glass, all sorts of ornaments and nick-nacks, whose +gilding and polish shone amid an harmonica-like tinkling whenever the +hand of a gamester set the stand in motion. It then spun round, +grating against a feather, which, on the rotatory movement ceasing, +indicated what article, if any, had been won. The big prize was a live +rabbit, adorned with pink favours, which waltzed and revolved +unceasingly, intoxicated with fright. And all this display was set in +red hangings, scalloped at the top; and between the curtains one saw +three pictures hanging at the rear of the booth, as in the sanctuary +of some tabernacle. They were Chaine's three masterpieces, which now +followed him from fair to fair, from one end of Paris to the other. +The 'Woman taken in Adultery' in the centre, the copy of the Mantegna +on the left, and Mahoudeau's stove on the right. Of an evening, when +the petroleum lamps flamed and the revolving stands glowed and +radiated like planets, nothing seemed finer than those pictures +hanging amid the blood-tinged purple of the hangings, and a gaping +crowd often flocked to view them. + +The sight was such that it wrung an exclamation from Claude: 'Ah, good +heavens! But those paintings look very well--they were surely intended +for this.' + +The Mantegna, so naively harsh in treatment, looked like some faded +coloured print nailed there for the delectation of simple-minded folk; +whilst the minutely painted stove, all awry, hanging beside the +gingerbread Christ absolving the adulterous woman, assumed an +unexpectedly gay aspect. + +However, Chaine, who had just perceived the two friends, held out his +hand to them, as if he had left them merely the day before. He was +calm, neither proud nor ashamed of his booth, and he had not aged, +having still a leathery aspect; though, on the other hand, his nose +had completely vanished between his cheeks, whilst his mouth, clammy +with prolonged silence, was buried in his moustache and beard. + +'Hallo! so we meet again!' said Sandoz, gaily. 'Do you know, your +paintings have a lot of effect?' + +'The old humbug!' added Claude. 'Why, he has his little Salon all to +himself. That's very cute indeed.' + +Chaine's face became radiant, and he dropped the remark: 'Of course!' + +Then, as his artistic pride was roused, he, from whom people barely +wrung anything but growls, gave utterance to a whole sentence: + +'Ah! it's quite certain that if I had had any money, like you fellows, +I should have made my way, just as you have done, in spite of +everything.' + +That was his conviction. He had never doubted of his talent, he had +simply forsaken the profession because it did not feed him. When he +visited the Louvre, at sight of the masterpieces hanging there he felt +convinced that time alone was necessary to turn out similar work. + +'Ah, me!' said Claude, who had become gloomy again. 'Don't regret what +you've done; you alone have succeeded. Business is brisk, eh?' + +But Chaine muttered bitter words. No, no, there was nothing doing, not +even in his line. People wouldn't play for prizes; all the money found +its way to the wine-shops. In spite of buying paltry odds and ends, +and striking the table with the palm of one's hand, so that the +feather might not indicate one of the big prizes, a fellow barely had +water to drink nowadays. Then, as some people had drawn near, he +stopped short in his explanation to call out: 'Walk up, walk up, at +every turn you win!' in a gruff voice which the two others had never +known him to possess, and which fairly stupefied them. + +A workman who was carrying a sickly little girl with large covetous +eyes, let her play two turns. The revolving stands grated and the +nick-nacks danced round in dazzling fashion, while the live rabbit, +with his ears lowered, revolved and revolved so rapidly that the +outline of his body vanished and he became nothing but a whitish +circle. There was a moment of great emotion, for the little girl had +narrowly missed winning him. + +Then, after shaking hands with Chaine, who was still trembling with +the fright this had given him, the two friends walked away. + +'He's happy,' said Claude, after they had gone some fifty paces in +silence. + +'He!' cried Sandoz; 'why, he believes he has missed becoming a member +of the Institute, and it's killing him.' + +Shortly after this meeting, and towards the middle of August, Sandoz +devised a real excursion which would take up a whole day. He had met +Dubuche--Dubuche, careworn and mournful, who had shown himself +plaintive and affectionate, raking up the past and inviting his two +old chums to lunch at La Richaudiere, where he should be alone with +his two children for another fortnight. Why shouldn't they go and +surprise him there, since he seemed so desirous of renewing the old +intimacy? But in vain did Sandoz repeat that he had promised Dubuche +on oath to bring Claude with him; the painter obstinately refused to +go, as if he were frightened at the idea of again beholding +Bennecourt, the Seine, the islands, all the stretch of country where +his happy years lay dead and buried. It was necessary for Christine to +interfere, and he finished by giving way, although full of repugnance +to the trip. It precisely happened that on the day prior to the +appointment he had worked at his painting until very late, being taken +with the old fever again. And so the next morning--it was Sunday +--being devoured with a longing to paint, he went off most +reluctantly, tearing himself away from his picture with a pang. What +was the use of returning to Bennecourt? All that was dead, it no +longer existed. Paris alone remained, and even in Paris there was but +one view, the point of the Cite, that vision which haunted him always +and everywhere, that one corner where he ever left his heart. + +Sandoz, finding him nervous in the railway carriage, and seeing that +his eyes remained fixed on the window as if he had been leaving the +city--which had gradually grown smaller and seemed shrouded in mist +--for years, did all he could to divert his mind, telling him, for +instance, what he knew about Dubuche's real position. At the outset, +old Margaillan, glorifying in his bemedalled son-in-law, had trotted +him about and introduced him everywhere as his partner and successor. +There was a fellow who would conduct business briskly, who would build +houses more cheaply and in finer style than ever, for hadn't he grown +pale over books? But Dubuche's first idea proved disastrous; on some +land belonging to his father-in-law in Burgundy he established a +brickyard in so unfavourable a situation, and after so defective a +plan, that the venture resulted in the sheer loss of two hundred +thousand francs. Then he turned his attention to erecting houses, +insisting upon bringing personal ideas into execution, a certain +general scheme of his which would revolutionise the building art. +These ideas were the old theories he held from the revolutionary chums +of his youth, everything that he had promised he would realise when he +was free; but he had not properly reduced the theories to method, and +he applied them unseasonably, with the awkwardness of a pupil lacking +the sacred fire; he experimented with terra-cotta and pottery +ornamentation, large bay windows, and especially with the employment +of iron--iron girders, iron staircases, and iron roofings; and as the +employment of these materials increased the outlay, he again ended +with a catastrophe, which was all the greater as he was a pitiful +manager, and had lost his head since he had become rich, rendered the +more obtuse, it seemed, by money, quite spoilt and at sea, unable even +to revert to his old habits of industry. This time Margaillan grew +angry; he for thirty years had been buying ground, building and +selling again, estimating at a glance the cost and return of house +property; so many yards of building at so much the foot having to +yield so many suites of rooms at so much rent. He wouldn't have +anything more to do with a fellow who blundered about lime, bricks, +millstones, and in fact everything, who employed oak when deal would +have suited, and who could not bring himself to cut up a storey--like +a consecrated wafer--into as many little squares as was necessary. No, +no, none of that! He rebelled against art, after having been ambitious +to introduce a little of it into his routine, in order to satisfy a +long-standing worry about his own ignorance. And after that matters +had gone from bad to worse, terrible quarrels had arisen between the +son-in-law and the father-in-law, the former disdainful, intrenching +himself behind his science, and the latter shouting that the commonest +labourer knew more than an architect did. The millions were in danger, +and one fine day Margaillan turned Dubuche out of his offices, +forbidding him ever to set foot in them again, since he did not even +know how to direct a building-yard where only four men worked. It was +a disaster, a lamentable failure, the School of Arts collapsing, +derided by a mason! + +At this point of Sandoz's story, Claude, who had begun to listen to +his friend, inquired: + +'Then what is Dubuche doing now?' + +'I don't know--nothing probably,' answered Sandoz. 'He told me that he +was anxious about his children's health, and was taking care of them.' + +That pale woman, Madame Margaillan, as slender as the blade of a +knife, had died of tubercular consumption, which was plainly the +hereditary disease, the source of the family's degeneracy, for her +daughter, Regine, had been coughing ever since her marriage. She was +now drinking the waters at Mont-Dore, whither she had not dared to +take her children, as they had been very poorly the year before, after +a season spent in that part, where the air was too keen for them. This +explained the scattering of the family: the mother over yonder with +her maid; the grandfather in Paris, where he had resumed his great +building enterprises, battling amid his four hundred workmen, and +crushing the idle and the incapable beneath his contempt; and the +father in exile at La Richaudiere, set to watch over his son and +daughter, shut up there, after the very first struggle, as if it had +broken him down for life. In a moment of effusion Dubuche had even let +Sandoz understand that as his wife was so extremely delicate he now +lived with her merely on friendly terms. + +'A nice marriage,' said Sandoz, simply, by way of conclusion. + +It was ten o'clock when the two friends rang at the iron gate of La +Richaudiere. The estate, with which they were not acquainted, amazed +them. There was a superb park, a garden laid out in the French style, +with balustrades and steps spreading away in regal fashion; three huge +conservatories and a colossal cascade--quite a piece of folly, with +its rocks brought from afar, and the quantity of cement and the number +of conduits that had been employed in arranging it. Indeed, the owner +had sunk a fortune in it, out of sheer vanity. But what struck the +friends still more was the melancholy, deserted aspect of the domain; +the gravel of the avenues carefully raked, with never a trace of +footsteps; the distant expanses quite deserted, save that now and then +a solitary gardener passed by; and the house looking lifeless, with +all its windows closed, excepting two, which were barely set ajar. + +However, a valet who had decided to show himself began to question +them, and when he learnt that they wished to see 'monsieur,' he became +insolent, and replied that 'monsieur' was behind the house in the +gymnasium, and then went indoors again. + +Sandoz and Claude followed a path which led them towards a lawn, and +what they saw there made them pause. Dubuche, who stood in front of a +trapeze, was raising his arms to support his son, Gaston, a poor +sickly boy who, at ten years of age, still had the slight, soft limbs +of early childhood; while the girl, Alice, sat in a perambulator +awaiting her turn. She was so imperfectly developed that, although she +was six years old, she could not yet walk. The father, absorbed in his +task, continued exercising the slim limbs of his little boy, swinging +him backwards and forwards, and vainly trying to make him raise +himself up by his wrists. Then, as this slight effort sufficed to +bring on perspiration, he removed the little fellow from the trapeze +and rolled him in a rug. And all this was done amid complete silence, +alone under the far expanse of sky, his face wearing a look of +distressful pity as he knelt there in that splendid park. However, as +he rose up he perceived the two friends. + +'What! it's you? On a Sunday, and without warning me!' + +He had made a gesture of annoyance, and at once explained that the +maid, the only woman to whom he could trust the children, went to +Paris on Sundays, and that it was consequently impossible for him to +leave Gaston and Alice for a minute. + +'I'll wager that you came to lunch?' he added. + +As Claude gave Sandoz an imploring glance, the novelist made haste to +answer: + +'No, no. As it happens, we only have time enough to shake hands with +you. Claude had to come down here on a business matter. He lived at +Bennecourt, as you know. And as I accompanied him, we took it into our +heads to walk as far as here. But there are people waiting for us, so +don't disturb yourself in the least.' + +Thereupon, Dubuche, who felt relieved, made a show of detaining them. +They certainly had an hour to spare, dash it all! And they all three +began to talk. Claude looked at Dubuche, astonished to find him so +aged; his flabby face had become wrinkled--it was of a yellowish hue, +and streaked with red, as if bile had splashed his skin; whilst his +hair and his moustaches were already growing grey. In addition, his +figure appeared to have become more compact; a bitter weariness made +each of his gestures seem an effort. Were defeats in money matters as +hard to bear, then, as defeats in art? Everything about this +vanquished man--his voice, his glance--proclaimed the shameful +dependency in which he had to live: the bankruptcy of his future which +was cast in his teeth, with the accusation of having allowed a talent +he did not possess to be set down as an asset in the marriage +contract. Then there was the family money which he nowadays stole, the +money spent on what he ate, the clothes he wore, and the pocket-money +he needed--in fact, the perpetual alms which were bestowed upon him, +just as they might have been bestowed upon some vulgar swindler, whom +one unluckily could not get rid of. + +'Wait a bit,' resumed Dubuche; 'I have to stop here five minutes +longer with one of my poor duckies, and afterwards we'll go indoors.' + +Gently, and with infinite motherly precautions, he removed little +Alice from the perambulator and lifted her to the trapeze. Then, +stammering coaxing words and smiling, he encouraged her, and left her +hanging for a couple of minutes, so as to develop her muscles; but he +remained with open arms, watching each movement with the fear of +seeing her smashed to pieces, should her weak little wax-like hands +relax their hold. She did not say anything, but obeyed him in spite of +the terror that this exercise caused her; and she was so pitifully +light in weight that she did not even fully stretch the ropes, being +like one of those poor scraggy little birds which fall from a young +tree without as much as bending it. + +At this moment, Dubuche, having given Gaston a glance, became +distracted on remarking that the rug had slipped and that the child's +legs were uncovered. + +'Good heavens! good heavens! Why, he'll catch cold on this grass! And +I, who can't move! Gaston, my little dear! It's the same thing every +day; you wait till I'm occupied with your sister. Sandoz, pray cover +him over! Ah, thanks! Pull the rug up more; don't be afraid!' + +So this was the outcome of his splendid marriage--those two poor, weak +little beings, whom the least breath from the sky threatened to kill +like flies. Of the fortune he had married, all that remained to him +was the constant grief of beholding those woeful children stricken by +the final degeneracy of scrofula and phthisis. However, this big, +egotistical fellow showed himself an admirable father. The only energy +that remained to him consisted in a determination to make his children +live, and he struggled on hour after hour, saving them every morning, +and dreading to lose them every night. They alone existed now amid his +finished existence, amid the bitterness of his father-in-law's +insulting reproaches, the coldness of his sorry, ailing wife. And he +kept to his task in desperation; he finished bringing those children +into the world, as it were, by dint of unremitting tenderness. + +'There, my darling, that's enough, isn't it?' he said. 'You'll soon +see how big and pretty you'll become.' + +He then placed Alice in the perambulator again, took Gaston, who was +still wrapped up, on one of his arms; and when his friends wished to +help him, he declined their offer, pushing the little girl's vehicle +along with his right hand, which had remained free. + +'Thanks,' he said, 'I'm accustomed to it. Ah! the poor darlings are +not heavy; and besides, with servants one can never be sure of +anything.' + +On entering the house, Sandoz and Claude again saw the valet who had +been so insolent; and they noticed that Dubuche trembled before him. +The kitchen and the hall shared the contempt of the father-in-law, who +paid for everything, and treated 'madame's' husband like a beggar +whose presence was merely tolerated out of charity. Each time that a +shirt was got ready for him, each time that he asked for some more +bread, the servants' impolite gestures made him feel that he was +receiving alms. + +'Well, good-bye, we must leave you,' said Sandoz, who suffered at the +sight of it all. + +'No, no, wait a bit. The children are going to breakfast, and +afterwards I'll accompany you with them. They must go for their +outing.' + +Each day was regulated hour by hour. Of a morning came the baths and +the gymnastics; then the breakfast, which was quite an affair, as the +children needed special food, which was duly discussed and weighed. +And matters were carried to such a point that even their wine and +water was slightly warmed, for fear that too chilly a drop might give +them a cold. On this occasion they each partook of the yolk of an egg +diluted in some broth, and a mutton cutlet, which the father cut up +into tiny morsels. Then, prior to the siesta, came the promenade. + +Sandoz and Claude found themselves once more out-of-doors, walking +down the broad avenues with Dubuche, who again propelled Alice's +perambulator, whilst Gaston walked beside him. They talked about the +estate as they went towards the gate. The master glanced over the park +with timid, nervous eyes, as if he did not feel at home. Besides he +did not know anything; he did not occupy himself about anything. He +appeared even to have forgotten the profession which he was said to be +ignorant of, and seemed to have gone astray, to be bowed down by sheer +inaction. + +'And your parents, how are they?' asked Sandoz. + +A spark was once more kindled in Dubuche's dim eyes. + +'Oh! my parents are happy,' he said; 'I bought them a little house, +where they live on the annuity which I had specified in my marriage +contract. Well, you see, mamma had advanced enough money for my +education, and I had to return it to her, as I had promised, eh? Yes, +I can at least say that my parents have nothing to reproach me with.' + +Having reached the gate, they tarried there for a few minutes. At +last, still looking crushed, Dubuche shook hands with his old +comrades; and retaining Claude's hand in his, he concluded, as if +making a simple statement of fact quite devoid of anger: + +'Good-bye; try to get out of worry! As for me, I've spoilt my life.' + +And they watched him walk back towards the house, pushing the +perambulator, and supporting Gaston, who was already stumbling with +fatigue--he, Dubuche, himself having his back bent and the heavy tread +of an old man. + +One o'clock was striking, and they both hurried down towards +Bennecourt, saddened and ravenous. But mournfulness awaited them there +as well; a murderous blast had swept over the place, both Faucheurs, +husband and wife, and old Porrette, were all dead; and the inn, having +fallen into the hands of that goose Melie, was becoming repugnant with +its filth and coarseness. An abominable repast was served them, an +omelette with hairs in it, and cutlets smelling of grease, in the +centre of the common room, to which an open window admitted the +pestilential odour of a dung heap, while the place was so full of +flies that they positively blackened the tables. The heat of the +burning afternoon came in with the stench, and Claude and Sandoz did +not even feel the courage to order any coffee; they fled. + +'And you who used to extol old Mother Faucheur's omelettes!' said +Sandoz. 'The place is done for. We are going for a turn, eh?' + +Claude was inclined to refuse. Ever since the morning he had had but +one idea--that of walking on as fast as possible, as if each step +would shorten the disagreeable task and bring him back to Paris. His +heart, his head, his whole being had remained there. He looked neither +to right nor to left, he glided along without distinguishing aught of +the fields or trees, having but one fixed idea in his brain, a prey to +such hallucinations that at certain moments he fancied the point of +the Cite rose up and called to him from amid the vast expanse of +stubble. However, Sandoz's proposal aroused memories in his mind; and, +softening somewhat, he replied: + +'Yes, that's it, we'll have a look.' + +But as they advanced along the river bank, he became indignant and +grieved. He could scarcely recognise the place. A bridge had been +built to connect Bennecourt with Bonnieres: a bridge, good heavens! in +the place of the old ferry-boat, grating against its chain--the old +black boat which, cutting athwart the current, had been so full of +interest to the artistic eye. Moreover, a dam established down-stream +at Port-Villez had raised the level of the river, most of the islands +of yore were now submerged, and the little armlets of the stream had +become broader. There were no more pretty nooks, no more rippling +alleys amid which one could lose oneself; it was a disaster that +inclined one to strangle all the river engineers! + +'Why, that clump of pollards still emerging from the water on the +left,' cried Claude, 'was the Barreux Island, where we used to chat +together, lying on the grass! You remember, don't you? Ah! the +scoundrels!' + +Sandoz, who could never see a tree felled without shaking his fist at +the wood-cutter, turned pale with anger, and felt exasperated that the +authorities had thus dared to mutilate nature. + +Then, as Claude approached his old home, he became silent, and his +teeth clenched. The house had been sold to some middle-class folk, and +now there was an iron gate, against which he pressed his face. The +rose-bushes were all dead, the apricot trees were dead also; the +garden, which looked very trim, with its little pathways and its +square-cut beds of flowers and vegetables, bordered with box, was +reflected in a large ball of plated glass set upon a stand in the very +centre of it; and the house, newly whitewashed and painted at the +corners and round the doors and windows, in a manner to imitate +freestone, suggested some clownish parvenu awkwardly arrayed in his +Sunday toggery. The sight fairly enraged the painter. No, no, nothing +of himself, nothing of Christine, nothing of the great love of their +youth remained there! He wished to look still further; he turned round +behind the house, and sought for the wood of oak trees where they had +left the living quiver of their embraces; but the wood was dead, dead +like all the rest, felled, sold, and burnt! Then he made a gesture of +anathema, in which he cast all his grief to that stretch of country +which was now so changed that he could not find in it one single token +of his past life. And so a few years sufficed to efface the spot where +one had laboured, loved, and suffered! What was the use of man's vain +agitation if the wind behind him swept and carried away all the traces +of his footsteps? He had rightly realised that he ought not to return +thither, for the past is simply the cemetery of our illusions, where +our feet for ever stumble against tombstones! + +'Let us go!' he cried; 'let us go at once! It's stupid to torture +one's heart like this!' + +When they were on the new bridge, Sandoz tried to calm him by showing +him the view which had not formerly existed, the widened bed of the +Seine, full to the brim, as it were, and the water flowing onward, +proudly and slowly. But this water failed to interest Claude, until he +reflected that it was the same water which, as it passed through +Paris, had bathed the old quay walls of the Cite; and then he felt +touched, he leant over the parapet of the bridge for a moment, and +thought that he could distinguish glorious reflections in +it--the towers of Notre-Dame, and the needle-like spire of the +Sainte-Chapelle, carried along by the current towards the sea. + +The two friends missed the three o'clock train, and it was real +torture to have to spend two long hours more in that region, where +everything weighed so heavily on their shoulders. Fortunately, they +had forewarned Christine and Madame Sandoz that they might return by a +night train if they were detained. So they resolved upon a bachelor +dinner at a restaurant on the Place du Havre, hoping to set themselves +all right again by a good chat at dessert as in former times. Eight +o'clock was about to strike when they sat down to table. + +Claude, on leaving the terminus, with his feet once more on the Paris +pavement, had lost his nervous agitation, like a man who at last finds +himself once more at home. And with the cold, absent-minded air which +he now usually displayed, he listened to Sandoz trying to enliven him. +The novelist treated his friend like a mistress whose head he wished +to turn; they partook of delicate, highly spiced dishes and heady +wines. But mirth was rebellious, and Sandoz himself ended by becoming +gloomy. All his hopes of immortality were shaken by his excursion to +that ungrateful country village, that Bennecourt, so loved and so +forgetful, where he and Claude had not found a single stone retaining +any recollection of them. If things which are eternal forget so soon, +can one place any reliance for one hour on the memory of man? + +'Do you know, old fellow,' said the novelist, 'it's that which +sometimes sends me into a cold sweat. Have you ever reflected that +posterity may not be the faultless dispenser of justice that we dream +of? One consoles oneself for being insulted and denied, by relying on +the equity of the centuries to come; just as the faithful endure all +the abominations of this earth in the firm belief of another life, in +which each will be rewarded according to his deserts. But suppose +Paradise exists no more for the artist than it does for the Catholic, +suppose that future generations prolong the misunderstanding and +prefer amiable little trifles to vigorous works! Ah! what a sell it +would be, eh? To have led a convict's life--to have screwed oneself +down to one's work--all for a mere delusion! Please notice that it's +quite possible, after all. There are some consecrated reputations +which I wouldn't give a rap for. Classical education has deformed +everything, and has imposed upon us as geniuses men of correct, facile +talent, who follow the beaten track. To them one may prefer men of +free tendencies, whose work is at times unequal; but these are only +known to a few people of real culture, so that it looks as if +immortality might really go merely to the middle-class "average" +talent, to the men whose names are forced into our brains at school, +when we are not strong enough to defend ourselves. But no, no, one +mustn't say those things; they make me shudder! Should I have the +courage to go on with my task, should I be able to remain erect amid +all the jeering around me if I hadn't the consoling illusion that I +shall some day be appreciated?' + +Claude had listened with his dolorous expression, and he now made a +gesture of indifference tinged with bitterness. + +'Bah! what does it matter? Well, there's nothing hereafter. We are +even madder than the fools who kill themselves for a woman. When the +earth splits to pieces in space like a dry walnut, our works won't add +one atom to its dust.' + +'That's quite true,' summed up Sandoz, who was very pale. 'What's the +use of trying to fill up the void of space? And to think that we know +it, and that our pride still battles all the same!' + +They left the restaurant, roamed about the streets, and foundered +again in the depths of a cafe, where they philosophised. They had come +by degrees to raking up the memories of their childhood, and this +ended by filling their hearts with sadness. One o'clock in the morning +struck when they decided to go home. + +However, Sandoz talked of seeing Claude as far as the Rue Tourlaque. +That August night was a superb one, the air was warm, the sky studded +with stars. And as they went the round by way of the Quartier de +l'Europe, they passed before the old Cafe Baudequin on the Boulevard +des Batignolles. It had changed hands three times. It was no longer +arranged inside in the same manner as formerly; there were now a +couple of billiard tables on the right hand; and several strata of +customers had followed each other thither, one covering the other, so +that the old frequenters had disappeared like buried nations. However, +curiosity, the emotion they had derived from all the past things they +had been raking up together, induced them to cross the boulevard and +to glance into the cafe through the open doorway. They wanted to see +their table of yore, on the left hand, right at the back of the room. + +'Oh, look!' said Sandoz, stupefied. + +'Gagniere!' muttered Claude. + +It was indeed Gagniere, seated all alone at that table at the end of +the empty cafe. He must have come from Melun for one of the Sunday +concerts to which he treated himself; and then, in the evening, while +astray in Paris, an old habit of his legs had led him to the Cafe +Baudequin. Not one of the comrades ever set foot there now, and he, +who had beheld another age, obstinately remained there alone. He had +not yet touched his glass of beer; he was looking at it, so absorbed +in thought that he did not even stir when the waiters began piling the +chairs on the tables, in order that everything might be ready for the +morrow's sweeping. + +The two friends hurried off, upset by the sight of that dim figure, +seized as it were with a childish fear of ghosts. They parted in the +Rue Tourlaque. + +'Ah! that poor devil Dubuche!' said Sandoz as he pressed Claude's +hand, 'he spoilt our day for us.' + +As soon as November had come round, and when all the old friends were +back in Paris again, Sandoz thought of gathering them together at one +of those Thursday dinners which had remained a habit with him. They +were always his greatest delight. The sale of his books was +increasing, and he was growing rich; the flat in the Rue de Londres +was becoming quite luxurious compared with the little house at +Batignolles; but he himself remained immutable. On this occasion, he +was anxious, in his good nature, to procure real enjoyment for Claude +by organising one of the dear evenings of their youth. So he saw to +the invitations; Claude and Christine naturally must come; next Jory +and his wife, the latter of whom it had been necessary to receive +since her marriage, then Dubuche, who always came alone, with +Fagerolles, Mahoudeau, and finally Gagniere. There would be ten of +them--all the men comrades of the old band, without a single outsider, +in order that the good understanding and jollity might be complete. + +Henriette, who was more mistrustful than her husband, hesitated when +this list of guests was decided upon. + +'Oh! Fagerolles? You believe in having Fagerolles with the others? +They hardly like him--nor Claude either; I fancied I noticed a +coolness--' + +But he interrupted her, bent on not admitting it. + +'What! a coolness? It's really funny, but women can't understand that +fellows chaff each other. All that doesn't prevent them from having +their hearts in the right place.' + +Henriette took especial care in preparing the menu for that Thursday +dinner. She now had quite a little staff to overlook, a cook, a +man-servant, and so on; and if she no longer prepared any of the +dishes herself, she still saw that very delicate fare was provided, +out of affection for her husband, whose sole vice was gluttony. She +went to market with the cook, and called in person on the +tradespeople. She and her husband had a taste for gastronomical +curiosities from the four corners of the world. On this occasion they +decided to have some ox-tail soup, grilled mullet, undercut of beef +with mushrooms, _raviolis_ in the Italian fashion, hazel-hens from +Russia, and a salad of truffles, without counting caviare and _kilkis_ +as side-dishes, a _glace pralinee_, and a little emerald-coloured +Hungarian cheese, with fruit and pastry. As wine, some old Bordeaux +claret in decanters, chambertin with the roast, and sparkling moselle +at dessert, in lieu of champagne, which was voted commonplace. + +At seven o'clock Sandoz and Henriette were waiting for their guests, +he simply wearing a jacket, and she looking very elegant in a plain +dress of black satin. People dined at their house in frock-coats, +without any fuss. The drawing-room, the arrangements of which they +were now completing, was becoming crowded with old furniture, old +tapestry, nick-nacks of all countries and all times--a rising and now +overflowing stream of things which had taken source at Batignolles +with an old pot of Rouen ware, which Henriette had given her husband +on one of his fete days. They ran about to the curiosity shops +together; a joyful passion for buying possessed them. Sandoz satisfied +the longings of his youth, the romanticist ambitions which the first +books he had read had given birth to. Thus this writer, so fiercely +modern, lived amid the worm-eaten middle ages which he had dreamt of +when he was a lad of fifteen. As an excuse, he laughingly declared +that handsome modern furniture cost too much, whilst with old things, +even common ones, you immediately obtained something with effect and +colour. There was nothing of the collector about him, he was entirely +concerned as to decoration and broad effects; and to tell the truth, +the drawing-room, lighted by two lamps of old Delft ware, had quite a +soft warm tint with the dull gold of the dalmaticas used for +upholstering the seats, the yellowish incrustations of the Italian +cabinets and Dutch show-cases, the faded hues of the Oriental +door-hangings, the hundred little notes of the ivory, crockery and +enamel work, pale with age, which showed against the dull red hangings +of the room. + +Claude and Christine were the first to arrive. The latter had put on +her only silk dress--an old, worn-out garment which she preserved with +especial care for such occasions. Henriette at once took hold of both +her hands and drew her to a sofa. She was very fond of her, and +questioned her, seeing her so strange, touchingly pale, and with +anxious eyes. What was the matter? Did she feel poorly? No, no, she +answered that she was very gay and very pleased to come; but while she +spoke, she kept on glancing at Claude, as if to study him, and then +looked away. He seemed excited, evincing a feverishness in his words +and gestures which he had not shown for a month past. At intervals, +however, his agitation subsided, and he remained silent, with his eyes +wide open, gazing vacantly into space at something which he fancied +was calling him. + +'Ah! old man,' he said to Sandoz, 'I finished reading your book last +night. It's deucedly clever; you have shut up their mouths this time!' + +They both talked standing in front of the chimney-piece, where some +logs were blazing. Sandoz had indeed just published a new novel, and +although his critics did not disarm, there was at last that stir of +success which establishes a man's reputation despite the persistent +attacks of his adversaries. Besides, he had no illusions; he knew very +well that the battle, even if it were won, would begin again at each +fresh book he wrote. The great work of his life was advancing, that +series of novels which he launched forth in volumes one after another +in stubborn, regular fashion, marching towards the goal he had +selected without letting anything, obstacles, insults, or fatigue, +conquer him. + +'It's true,' he gaily replied, 'they are weakening this time. There's +even one who has been foolish enough to admit that I'm an honest man! +See how everything degenerates! But they'll make up for it, never +fear! I know some of them whose nuts are too much unlike my own to let +them accept my literary formula, my boldness of language, and my +physiological characters acting under the influence of circumstances; +and I refer to brother writers who possess self-respect; I leave the +fools and the scoundrels on one side. For a man to be able to work on +pluckily, it is best for him to expect neither good faith nor justice. +To be in the right he must begin by dying.' + +At this Claude's eyes abruptly turned towards a corner of the +drawing-room, as if to pierce the wall and go far away yonder, whither +something had summoned him. Then they became hazy and returned from +their journey, whilst he exclaimed: + +'Oh! you speak for yourself! I should do wrong to kick the bucket. No +matter, your book sent me into a deuced fever. I wanted to paint +to-day, but I couldn't. Ah! it's lucky that I can't get jealous of +you, else you would make me too unhappy.' + +However, the door had opened, and Mathilde came in, followed by Jory. +She was richly attired in a tunic of nasturtium-hued velvet and a +skirt of straw-coloured satin, with diamonds in her ears and a large +bouquet of roses on her bosom. What astonished Claude the most was +that he did not recognise her, for she had become plump, round, and +fair skinned, instead of thin and sunburnt as he had known her. Her +disturbing ugliness had departed in a swelling of the face; her mouth, +once noted for its black voids, now displayed teeth which looked +over-white whenever she condescended to smile, with a disdainful +curling of the upper lip. You could guess that she had become +immoderately respectable; her five and forty summers gave her weight +beside her husband, who was younger than herself and seemed to be her +nephew. The only thing of yore that clung to her was a violent +perfume; she drenched herself with the strongest essences, as if she +had been anxious to wash from her skin the smell of all the aromatic +simples with which she had been impregnated by her herbalist business; +however, the sharpness of rhubarb, the bitterness of elder-seed, and +the warmth of peppermint clung to her; and as soon as she crossed the +drawing-room, it was filled with an undefinable smell like that of a +chemist's shop, relieved by an acute odour of musk. + +Henriette, who had risen, made her sit down beside Christine, saying: + +'You know each other, don't you? You have already met here.' + +Mathilde gave but a cold glance at the modest attire of that woman who +had lived for a long time with a man, so it was said, before being +married to him. She herself was exceedingly rigid respecting such +matters since the tolerance prevailing in literary and artistic +circles had admitted her to a few drawing-rooms. Henriette hated her, +however, and after the customary exchange of courtesies, not to be +dispensed with, resumed her conversation with Christine. + +Jory had shaken hands with Claude and Sandoz, and, standing near them, +in front of the fireplace, he apologised for an article slashing the +novelist's new book which had appeared that very morning in his +review. + +'As you know very well, my dear fellow, one is never the master in +one's own house. I ought to see to everything, but I have so little +time! I hadn't even read that article, I relied on what had been told +me about it. So you will understand how enraged I was when I read it +this afternoon. I am dreadfully grieved, dreadfully grieved--' + +'Oh, let it be! It's the natural order of things,' replied Sandoz, +quietly. 'Now that my enemies are beginning to praise me, it's only +proper that my friends should attack me.' + +The door again opened, and Gagniere glided in softly, like a +will-o'-the-wisp. He had come straight from Melun, and was quite +alone, for he never showed his wife to anybody. When he thus came to +dinner he brought the country dust with him on his boots, and carried +it back with him the same night on taking the last train. On the other +hand, he did not alter; or, rather, age seemed to rejuvenate him; his +complexion became fairer as he grew old. + +'Hallo! Why, Gagniere's here!' exclaimed Sandoz. + +Then, just as Gagniere was making up his mind to bow to the ladies, +Mahoudeau entered. He had already grown grey, with a sunken, +fierce-looking face and childish, blinking eyes. He still wore +trousers which were a good deal too short for him, and a frock-coat +which creased in the back, in spite of the money which he now earned; +for the bronze manufacturer for whom he worked had brought out some +charming statuettes of his, which one began to see on middle-class +mantel-shelves and consoles. + +Sandoz and Claude had turned round, inquisitive to witness the meeting +between Mahoudeau and Mathilde. However, matters passed off very +quietly. The sculptor bowed to her respectfully, while Jory, the +husband, with his air of serene unconsciousness, thought fit to +introduce her to him, for the twentieth time, perhaps. + +'Eh! It's my wife, old fellow. Shake hands together.' + +Thereupon, both very grave, like people of society who are forced +somewhat over-promptly into familiarity, Mathilde and Mahoudeau shook +hands. Only, as soon as the latter had got rid of the job and had +found Gagniere in a corner of the drawing-room, they both began +sneering and recalling, in terrible language, all the abominations of +yore. + +Dubuche was expected that evening, for he had formally promised to +come. + +'Yes,' explained Henriette, 'there will only be nine of us. Fagerolles +wrote this morning to apologise; he is forced to go to some official +dinner, but he hopes to escape, and will join us at about eleven +o'clock.' + +At that moment, however, a servant came in with a telegram. It was +from Dubuche, who wired: 'Impossible to stir. Alice has an alarming +cough.' + +'Well, we shall only be eight, then,' resumed Henriette, with the +somewhat peevish resignation of a hostess disappointed by her guests. + +And the servant having opened the dining-room door and announced that +dinner was ready, she added: + +'We are all here. Claude, offer me your arm.' + +Sandoz took Mathilde's, Jory charged himself with Christine, while +Mahoudeau and Gagniere brought up the rear, still joking coarsely +about what they called the beautiful herbalist's padding. + +The dining-room which they now entered was very spacious, and the +light was gaily bright after the subdued illumination of the +drawing-room. The walls, covered with specimens of old earthenware, +displayed a gay medley of colours, reminding one of cheap coloured +prints. Two sideboards, one laden with glass and the other with silver +plate, sparkled like jewellers' show-cases. And in the centre of the +room, under the big hanging lamp girt round with tapers, the table +glistened like a _catafalque_ with the whiteness of its cloth, laid in +perfect style, with decorated plates, cut-glass decanters white with +water or ruddy with wine, and symmetrical side-dishes, all set out +around the centre-piece, a silver basket full of purple roses. + +They sat down, Henriette between Claude and Mahoudeau, Sandoz with +Mathilde and Christine beside him, Jory and Gagniere at either end; +and the servant had barely finished serving the soup, when Madame Jory +made a most unfortunate remark. Wishing to show herself amiable, and +not having heard her husband's apologies, she said to the master of +the house: + +'Well, were you pleased with the article in this morning's number? +Edouard personally revised the proofs with the greatest care!' + +On hearing this, Jory became very much confused and stammered: + +'No, no! you are mistaken! It was a very bad article indeed, and you +know very well that it was "passed" the other evening while I was +away.' + +By the silent embarrassment which ensued she guessed her blunder. But +she made matters still worse, for, giving her husband a sharp glance, +she retorted in a very loud voice, so as to crush him, as it were, and +disengage her own responsibility: + +'Another of your lies! I repeat what you told me. I won't allow you to +make me ridiculous, do you hear?' + +This threw a chill over the beginning of the dinner. Henriette +recommended the _kilkis_, but Christine alone found them very nice. +When the grilled mullet appeared, Sandoz, who was amused by Jory's +embarrassment, gaily reminded him of a lunch they had had together at +Marseilles in the old days. Ah! Marseilles, the only city where people +know how to eat! + +Claude, who for a little while had been absorbed in thought, now +seemed to awaken from a dream, and without any transition he asked: + +'Is it decided? Have they selected the artists for the new decorations +of the Hotel de Ville?' + +'No,' said Mahoudeau, 'they are going to do so. I sha'n't get +anything, for I don't know anybody. Fagerolles himself is very +anxious. If he isn't here to-night, it's because matters are not going +smoothly. Ah! he has had his bite at the cherry; all that painting for +millions is cracking to bits!' + +There was a laugh, expressive of spite finally satisfied, and even +Gagniere at the other end of the table joined in the sneering. Then +they eased their feelings in malicious words, and rejoiced over the +sudden fall of prices which had thrown the world of 'young masters' +into consternation. It was inevitable, the predicted time was coming, +the exaggerated rise was about to finish in a catastrophe. Since the +amateurs had been panic-stricken, seized with consternation like that +of speculators when a 'slump' sweeps over a Stock Exchange, prices +were giving way day by day, and nothing more was sold. It was a sight +to see the famous Naudet amid the rout; he had held out at first, he +had invented 'the dodge of the Yankee'--the unique picture hidden deep +in some gallery, in solitude like an idol--the picture of which he +would not name the price, being contemptuously certain that he could +never find a man rich enough to purchase it, but which he finally sold +for two or three hundred thousand francs to some pig-dealer of +Chicago, who felt glorious at carrying off the most expensive canvas +of the year. But those fine strokes of business were not to be renewed +at present, and Naudet, whose expenditure had increased with his +gains, drawn on and swallowed up in the mad craze which was his own +work, could now hear his regal mansion crumbling beneath him, and was +reduced to defend it against the assault of creditors. + +'Won't you take some more mushrooms, Mahoudeau?' obligingly +interrupted Henriette. + +The servant was now handing round the undercut. They ate, and emptied +the decanters; but their bitterness was so great that the best things +were offered without being tasted, which distressed the master and +mistress of the house. + +'Mushrooms, eh?' the sculptor ended by repeating. 'No, thanks.' And he +added: 'The funny part of it all is, that Naudet is suing Fagerolles. +Oh, quite so! he's going to distrain on him. Ah! it makes me laugh! We +shall see a pretty scouring in the Avenue de Villiers among all those +petty painters with mansions of their own. House property will go for +nothing next spring! Well, Naudet, who had compelled Fagerolles to +build a house, and who furnished it for him as he would have furnished +a place for a hussy, wanted to get hold of his nick-nacks and hangings +again. But Fagerolles had borrowed money on them, so it seems. You can +imagine the state of affairs; the dealer accuses the artist of having +spoilt his game by exhibiting with the vanity of a giddy fool; while +the painter replies that he doesn't mean to be robbed any longer; and +they'll end by devouring each other--at least, I hope so.' + +Gagniere raised his voice, the gentle but inexorable voice of a +dreamer just awakened. + +'Fagerolles is done for. Besides, he never had any success.' + +The others protested. Well, what about the hundred thousand francs' +worth of pictures he had sold a year, and his medals and his cross of +the Legion of Honour? But Gagniere, still obstinate, smiled with a +mysterious air, as if facts could not prevail against his inner +conviction. He wagged his head and, full of disdain, replied: + +'Let me be! He never knew anything about chiaroscuro.' + +Jory was about to defend the talent of Fagerolles, whom he considered +to be his own creation, when Henriette solicited a little attention +for the _raviolis_. There was a short slackening of the quarrel amid +the crystalline clinking of the glasses and the light clatter of the +forks. The table, laid with such fine symmetry, was already in +confusion, and seemed to sparkle still more amid the ardent fire of +the quarrel. And Sandoz, growing anxious, felt astonished. What was +the matter with them all that they attacked Fagerolles so harshly? +Hadn't they all begun together, and were they not all to reach the +goal in the same victory? For the first time, a feeling of uneasiness +disturbed his dream of eternity, that delight in his Thursdays, which +he had pictured following one upon another, all alike, all of them +happy ones, into the far distance of the future. But the feeling was +as yet only skin deep, and he laughingly exclaimed: + +'Husband your strength, Claude, here are the hazel-hens. Eh! Claude, +where are you?' + +Since silence had prevailed, Claude had relapsed into his dream, +gazing about him vacantly, and taking a second help of _raviolis_ +without knowing what he was about; Christine, who said nothing, but +sat there looking sad and charming, did not take her eyes off him. He +started when Sandoz spoke, and chose a leg from amid the bits of +hazel-hen now being served, the strong fumes of which filled the room +with a resinous smell. + +'Do you smell that?' exclaimed Sandoz, amused; 'one would think one +were swallowing all the forests of Russia.' + +But Claude returned to the matter which worried him. + +'Then you say that Fagerolles will be entrusted with the paintings for +the Municipal Council's assembly room?' + +And this remark sufficed; Mahoudeau and Gagniere, set on the track, at +once started off again. Ah! a nice wishy-washy smearing it would be if +that assembly room were allotted to him; and he was doing plenty of +dirty things to get it. He, who had formerly pretended to spit on +orders for work, like a great artist surrounded by amateurs, was +basely cringing to the officials, now that his pictures no longer +sold. Could anything more despicable be imagined than a painter +soliciting a functionary, bowing and scraping, showing all kinds of +cowardice and making all kinds of concessions? It was shameful that +art should be dependent upon a Minister's idiotic good pleasure! +Fagerolles, at that official dinner he had gone to, was no doubt +conscientiously licking the boots of some chief clerk, some idiot who +was only fit to be made a guy of. + +'Well,' said Jory, 'he effects his purpose, and he's quite right. +_You_ won't pay his debts.' + +'Debts? Have I any debts, I who have always starved?' answered +Mahoudeau in a roughly arrogant tone. 'Ought a fellow to build himself +a palace and spend money on creatures like that Irma Becot, who's +ruining Fagerolles?' + +At this Jory grew angry, while the others jested, and Irma's name went +flying over the table. But Mathilde, who had so far remained reserved +and silent by way of making a show of good breeding, became intensely +indignant. 'Oh! gentlemen, oh! gentlemen,' she exclaimed, 'to talk +before _us_ about that creature. No, not that creature, I implore you! + +After that Henriette and Sandoz, who were in consternation, witnessed +the rout of their menu. The truffle salad, the ice, the dessert, +everything was swallowed without being at all appreciated amidst the +rising anger of the quarrel; and the chambertin and sparkling moselle +were imbibed as if they had merely been water. In vain did Henriette +smile, while Sandoz good-naturedly tried to calm them by making +allowances for human weakness. Not one of them retreated from his +position; a single word made them spring upon each other. There was +none of the vague boredom, the somniferous satiety which at times had +saddened their old gatherings; at present there was real ferocity in +the struggle, a longing to destroy one another. The tapers of the +hanging lamp flared up, the painted flowers of the earthenware on the +walls bloomed, the table seemed to have caught fire amid the upsetting +of its symmetrical arrangements and the violence of the talk, that +demolishing onslaught of chatter which had filled them with fever for +a couple of hours past. + +And amid the racket, when Henriette made up her mind to rise so as to +silence them, Claude at length remarked: + +'Ah! if I only had the Hotel de Ville work, and if I could! It used to +be my dream to cover all the walls of Paris!' + +They returned to the drawing-room, where the little chandelier and the +bracket-candelabra had just been lighted. It seemed almost cold there +in comparison with the kind of hot-house which had just been left; and +for a moment the coffee calmed the guests. Nobody beyond Fagerolles +was expected. The house was not an open one by any means, the Sandozes +did not recruit literary dependents or muzzle the press by dint of +invitations. The wife detested society, and the husband said with a +laugh that he needed ten years to take a liking to anybody, and then +he must like him always. But was not that real happiness, seldom +realised? A few sound friendships and a nook full of family affection. +No music was ever played there, and nobody had ever read a page of his +composition aloud. + +On that particular Thursday the evening seemed a long one, on account +of the persistent irritation of the men. The ladies had begun to chat +before the smouldering fire; and when the servant, after clearing the +table, reopened the door of the dining-room, they were left alone, the +men repairing to the adjoining apartment to smoke and sip some beer. + +Sandoz and Claude, who were not smokers, soon returned, however, and +sat down, side by side, on a sofa near the doorway. The former, who +was glad to see his old friend excited and talkative, recalled the +memories of Plassans apropos of a bit of news he had learnt the +previous day. Pouillaud, the old jester of their dormitory, who had +become so grave a lawyer, was now in trouble over some adventure with +a woman. Ah! that brute of a Pouillaud! But Claude did not answer, +for, having heard his name mentioned in the dining-room, he listened +attentively, trying to understand. + +Jory, Mahoudeau, and Gagniere, unsatiated and eager for another bite, +had started on the massacre again. Their voices, at first mere +whispers, gradually grew louder, till at last they began to shout. + +'Oh! the man, I abandon the man to you,' said Jory, who was speaking +of Fagerolles. 'He isn't worth much. And he out-generalled you, it's +true. Ah! how he did get the better of you fellows, by breaking off +from you and carving success for himself on your backs! You were +certainly not at all cute.' + +Mahoudeau, waxing furious, replied: + +'Of course! It sufficed for us to be with Claude, to be turned away +everywhere.' + +'It was Claude who did for us!' so Gagniere squarely asserted. + +And thus they went on, relinquishing Fagerolles, whom they reproached +for toadying the newspapers, for allying himself with their enemies +and wheedling sexagenarian baronesses, to fall upon Claude, who now +became the great culprit. Well, after all, the other was only a hussy, +one of the many found in the artistic fraternity, fellows who accost +the public at street corners, leave their comrades in the lurch, and +victimise them so as to get the bourgeois into their studios. But +Claude, that abortive great artist, that impotent fellow who couldn't +set a figure on its legs in spite of all his pride, hadn't he utterly +compromised them, hadn't he let them in altogether? Ah! yes, success +might have been won by breaking off. If they had been able to begin +over again, they wouldn't have been idiots enough to cling obstinately +to impossible principles! And they accused Claude of having paralysed +them, of having traded on them--yes, traded on them, but in so clumsy +and dull-witted a manner that he himself had not derived any benefit +by it. + +'Why, as for me,' resumed Mahoudeau, 'didn't he make me quite idiotic +at one moment? When I think of it, I sound myself, and remain +wondering why I ever joined his band. Am I at all like him? Was there +ever any one thing in common between us, eh? Ah! it's exasperating to +find the truth out so late in the day!' + +'And as for myself,' said Gagniere, 'he robbed me of my originality. +Do you think it has amused me, each time I have exhibited a painting +during the last fifteen years, to hear people saying behind me, +"That's a Claude!" Oh! I've had enough of it, I prefer not to paint +any more. All the same, if I had seen clearly in former times, I +shouldn't have associated with him.' + +It was a stampede, the snapping of the last ties, in their +stupefaction at suddenly finding that they were strangers and enemies, +after a long youth of fraternity together. Life had disbanded them on +the road, and the great dissimilarity of their characters stood +revealed; all that remained in them was the bitterness left by the old +enthusiastic dream, that erstwhile hope of battle and victory to be +won side by side, which now increased their spite. + +'The fact is,' sneered Jory, 'that Fagerolles did not let himself be +pillaged like a simpleton.' + +But Mahoudeau, feeling vexed, became angry. 'You do wrong to laugh,' +he said, 'for you are a nice backslider yourself. Yes, you always told +us that you would give us a lift up when you had a paper of your own.' + +'Ah! allow me, allow me--' + +Gagniere, however, united with Mahoudeau: 'That's quite true!' he +said. 'You can't say any more that what you write about us is cut out, +for you are the master now. And yet, never a word! You didn't even +name us in your articles on the last Salon.' + +Then Jory, embarrassed and stammering, in his turn flew into a rage. + +'Ah! well, it's the fault of that cursed Claude! I don't care to lose +my subscribers simply to please you fellows. It's impossible to do +anything for you! There! do you understand? You, Mahoudeau, may wear +yourself out in producing pretty little things; you, Gagniere, may +even never do anything more; but you each have a label on the back, +and you'll need ten years' efforts before you'll be able to get it +off. In fact, there have been some labels that would never come off! +The public is amused by it, you know; there were only you fellows to +believe in the genius of that big ridiculous lunatic, who will be +locked up in a madhouse one of these fine mornings!' + +Then the dispute became terrible, they all three spoke at once, coming +at last to abominable reproaches, with such outbursts, and such +furious motion of the jaw, that they seemed to be biting one another. + +Sandoz, seated on the sofa, and disturbed in the gay memories he was +recalling, was at last obliged to lend ear to the tumult which reached +him through the open doorway. + +'You hear them?' whispered Claude, with a dolorous smile; 'they are +giving it me nicely! No, no, stay here, I won't let you stop them; I +deserve it, since I have failed to succeed.' + +And Sandoz, turning pale, remained there, listening to that bitter +quarrelling, the outcome of the struggle for life, that grappling of +conflicting personalities, which bore all his chimera of everlasting +friendship away. + +Henriette, fortunately, became anxious on hearing the violent +shouting. She rose and went to shame the smokers for thus forsaking +the ladies to go and quarrel together. They then returned to the +drawing-room, perspiring, breathing hard, and still shaken by their +anger. And as Henriette, with her eyes on the clock, remarked that +they certainly would not see Fagerolles that evening, they, began to +sneer again, exchanging glances. Ah! he had a fine scent, and no +mistake; he wouldn't be caught associating with old friends, who had +become troublesome, and whom he hated. + +In fact, Fagerolles did not come. The evening finished laboriously. +They once more went back to the dining-room, where the tea was served +on a Russian tablecloth embroidered with a stag-hunt in red thread; +and under the tapers a plain cake was displayed, with plates full of +sweetstuff and pastry, and a barbarous collection of liqueurs and +spirits, whisky, hollands, Chio raki, and kummel. The servant also +brought some punch, and bestirred himself round the table, while the +mistress of the house filled the teapot from the samovar boiling in +front of her. But all the comfort, all the feast for the eyes and the +fine perfume of the tea did not move their hearts. The conversation +again turned on the success that some men achieved and the ill-luck +that befell others. For instance, was it not shameful that art should +be dishonoured by all those medals, all those crosses, all those +rewards, which were so badly distributed to boot? Were artists always +to remain like little boys at school? All the universal platitude came +from the docility and cowardice which were shown, as in the presence +of ushers, so as to obtain good marks. + +They had repaired to the drawing-room once more, and Sandoz, who was +greatly distressed, had begun to wish that they would take themselves +off, when he noticed Mathilde and Gagniere seated side by side on a +sofa and talking languishingly of music, while the others remained +exhausted, lacking saliva and power of speech. Gagniere philosophised +and poetised in a state of ecstasy, while Mathilde rolled up her eyes +and went into raptures as if titillated by some invisible wing. They +had caught sight of each other on the previous Sunday at the concert +at the Cirque, and they apprised each other of their enjoyment in +alternate, far-soaring sentences. + +'Ah! that Meyerbeer, monsieur, the overture of "Struensee," that +funereal strain, and then that peasant dance, so full of dash and +colour; and then the mournful burden which returns, the duo of the +violoncellos. Ah! monsieur, the violoncellos, the violoncellos!' + +'And Berlioz, madame, the festival air in "Romeo." Oh! the solo of the +clarionets, the beloved women, with the harp accompaniment! Something +enrapturing, something white as snow which ascends! The festival +bursts upon you, like a picture by Paul Veronese, with the tumultuous +magnificence of the "Marriage of Cana"; and then the love-song begins +again, oh, how softly! Oh! always higher! higher still--' + +'Did you notice, monsieur, in Beethoven's Symphony in A, that knell +which ever and ever comes back and beats upon your heart? Yes, I see +very well, you feel as I do, music is a communion--Beethoven, ah, me! +how sad and sweet it is to be two to understand him and give way--' + +'And Schumann, madame, and Wagner, madame--Schumann's "Reverie," +nothing but the stringed instruments, a warm shower falling on acacia +leaves, a sunray which dries them, barely a tear in space. Wagner! ah, +Wagner! the overture of the "Flying Dutchman," are you not fond of +it?--tell me you are fond of it! As for myself, it overcomes me. There +is nothing left, nothing left, one expires--' + +Their voices died away; they did not even look at each other, but sat +there elbow to elbow, with their faces turned upward, quite overcome. + +Sandoz, who was surprised, asked himself where Mathilde could have +picked up that jargon. In some article of Jory's, perhaps. Besides, he +had remarked that women talk music very well, even without knowing a +note of it. And he, whom the bitterness of the others had only +grieved, became exasperated at sight of Mathilde's languishing +attitude. No, no, that was quite enough; the men tore each other to +bits; still that might pass, after all; but what an end to the evening +it was, that feminine fraud, cooing and titillating herself with +thoughts of Beethoven's and Schumann's music! Fortunately, Gagniere +suddenly rose. He knew what o'clock it was even in the depths of his +ecstasy, and he had only just time left him to catch his last train. +So, after exchanging nerveless and silent handshakes with the others, +he went off to sleep at Melun. + +'What a failure he is!' muttered Mahoudeau. 'Music has killed +painting; he'll never do anything!' + +He himself had to leave, and the door had scarcely closed behind his +back when Jory declared: + +'Have you seen his last paperweight? He'll end by sculpturing +sleeve-links. There's a fellow who has missed his mark! To think that +he prided himself on being vigorous!' + +But Mathilde was already afoot, taking leave of Christine with a curt +little inclination of the head, affecting social familiarity with +Henriette, and carrying off her husband, who helped her on with her +cloak in the ante-room, humble and terrified at the severe glance she +gave him, for she had an account to settle. + +Then, the door having closed behind them, Sandoz, beside himself, +cried out: 'That's the end! The journalist was bound to call the +others abortions--yes, the journalist who, after patching up articles, +has fallen to trading upon public credulity! Ah! luckily there's +Mathilde the Avengeress!' + +Of the guests Christine and Claude alone were left. The latter, since +the drawing-room had been growing empty, had remained ensconced in the +depths of an arm-chair, no longer speaking, but overcome by that +species of magnetic slumber which stiffened him, and fixed his eyes on +something far away beyond the walls. He protruded his face, a +convulsive kind of attention seemed to carry it forward; he certainly +beheld something invisible, and heard a summons in the silence. + +Christine having risen in her turn, and apologised for being the last +to leave, Henriette took hold of her hands, repeated how fond she was +of her, begged her to come and see her frequently, and to dispose of +her in all things as she would with a sister. But Claude's sorrowful +wife, looking so sadly charming in her black dress, shook her head +with a pale smile. + +'Come,' said Sandoz in her ear, after giving a glance at Claude, 'you +mustn't distress yourself like that. He has talked a great deal, he +has been gayer this evening. He's all right.' + +But in a terrified voice she answered: + +'No, no; look at his eyes--I shall tremble as long as he has his eyes +like that. You have done all you could, thanks. What you haven't done +no one will do. Ah! how I suffer at being unable to hope, at being +unable to do anything!' + +Then in a loud tone she asked: + +'Are you coming, Claude?' + +She had to repeat her question twice, for at first he did not hear +her; he ended by starting, however, and rose to his feet, saying, as +if he had answered the summons from the horizon afar off: + +'Yes, I'm coming, I'm coming.' + +When Sandoz and his wife at last found themselves alone in the +drawing-room, where the atmosphere now was stifling--heated by the +lights and heavy, as it were, with melancholy silence after all the +outbursts of the quarrelling--they looked at one another and let their +arms fall, quite heart-rent by the unfortunate issue of their dinner +party. Henrietta tried to laugh it off, however, murmuring: + +'I warned you, I quite understood--' + +But he interrupted her with a despairing gesture. What! was that, +then, the end of his long illusion, that dream of eternity which had +made him set happiness in a few friendships, formed in childhood, and +shared until extreme old age? Ah! what a wretched band, what a final +rending, what a terrible balance-sheet to weep over after that +bankruptcy of the human heart! And he grew astonished on thinking of +the friends who had fallen off by the roadside, of the great +affections lost on the way, of the others unceasingly changing around +himself, in whom he found no change. His poor Thursdays filled him +with pity, so many memories were in mourning, it was the slow death of +all that one loves! Would his wife and himself have to resign +themselves to live as in a desert, to cloister themselves in utter +hatred of the world? Ought they rather to throw their doors wide open +to a throng of strangers and indifferent folk? By degrees a certainty +dawned in the depths of his grief: everything ended and nothing began +again in life. He seemed to yield to evidence, and, heaving a big +sigh, exclaimed: + +'You were right. We won't invite them to dinner again--they would +devour one another.' + +As soon as Claude and Christine reached the Place de la Trinite on +their way home, the painter let go of his wife's arm; and, stammering +that he had to go somewhere, he begged her to return to the Rue +Tourlaque without him. She had felt him shuddering, and she remained +quite scared with surprise and fear. Somewhere to go at that hour +--past midnight! Where had he to go, and what for? He had turned round +and was making off, when she overtook him, and, pretending that she +was frightened, begged that he would not leave her to climb up to +Montmartre alone at that time of night. This consideration alone +brought him back. He took her arm again; they ascended the Rue Blanche +and the Rue Lepic, and at last found themselves in the Rue Tourlaque. +And on reaching their door, he rang the bell, and then again left her. + +'Here you are,' he said; 'I'm going.' + +He was already hastening away, taking long strides, and gesticulating +like a madman. Without even closing the door which had been opened, +she darted off, bent on following him. In the Rue Lepic she drew near; +but for fear of exciting him still more she contented herself with +keeping him in sight, walking some thirty yards in the rear, without +his knowing that she was behind him. On reaching the end of the Rue +Lepic he went down the Rue Blanche again, and then proceeded by way of +the Rue de la Chaussee-d'Antin and the Rue du Dix Decembre as far as +the Rue de Richelieu. When she saw him turn into the last-named +thoroughfare, a mortal chill came over her: he was going towards the +Seine; it was the realisation of the frightful fear which kept her of +a night awake, full of anguish! And what could she do, good Lord? Go +with him, hang upon his neck over yonder? She was now only able to +stagger along, and as each step brought them nearer to the river, she +felt life ebbing from her limbs. Yes, he was going straight there; he +crossed the Place du Theatre Francais, then the Carrousel, and finally +reached the Pont des Saints-Peres. After taking a few steps along the +bridge, he approached the railing overlooking the water; and at the +thought that he was about to jump over, a loud cry was stifled in her +contracted throat. + +But no; he remained motionless. Was it then only the Cite over yonder +that haunted him, that heart of Paris which pursued him everywhere, +which he conjured up with his fixed eyes, even through walls, and +which, when he was leagues away, cried out the constant summons heard +by him alone? She did not yet dare to hope it; she had stopped short, +in the rear, watching him with giddy anxiety, ever fancying that she +saw him take the terrible leap, but resisting her longing to draw +nearer, for fear lest she might precipitate the catastrophe by showing +herself. Oh, God! to think that she was there with her devouring +passion, her bleeding motherly heart--that she was there beholding +everything, without daring to risk one movement to hold him back! + +He stood erect, looking very tall, quite motionless, and gazing into +the night. + +It was a winter's night, with a misty sky of sooty blackness, and was +rendered extremely cold by a sharp wind blowing from the west. Paris, +lighted up, had gone to sleep, showing no signs of life save such as +attached to the gas-jets, those specks which scintillated and grew +smaller and smaller in the distance till they seemed but so much +starry dust. The quays stretched away showing double rows of those +luminous beads whose reverberation glimmered on the nearer frontages. +On the left were the houses of the Quai du Louvre, on the right the +two wings of the Institute, confused masses of monuments and +buildings, which became lost to view in the darkening gloom, studded +with sparks. Then between those cordons of burners, extending as far +as the eye could reach, the bridges stretched bars of lights, ever +slighter and slighter, each formed of a train of spangles, grouped +together and seemingly hanging in mid-air. And in the Seine there +shone the nocturnal splendour of the animated water of cities; each +gas-jet there cast a reflection of its flame, like the nucleus of a +comet, extending into a tail. The nearer ones, mingling together, set +the current on fire with broad, regular, symmetrical fans of light, +glowing like live embers, while the more distant ones, seen under the +bridges, were but little motionless sparks of fire. But the large +burning tails appeared to be animated, they waggled as they spread +out, all black and gold, with a constant twirling of scales, in which +one divined the flow of the water. The whole Seine was lighted up by +them, as if some fete were being given in its depths--some mysterious, +fairy-like entertainment, at which couples were waltzing beneath the +river's red-flashing window-panes. High above those fires, above the +starry quays, the sky, in which not a planet was visible, showed a +ruddy mass of vapour, that warm, phosphorescent exhalation which every +night, above the sleep of the city, seems to set the crater of a +volcano. + +The wind blew hard, and Christine, shivering, her eyes full of tears, +felt the bridge move under her, as if it were bearing her away amid a +smash up of the whole scene. Had not Claude moved? Was he not climbing +over the rail? No; everything became motionless again, and she saw him +still on the same spot, obstinately stiff, with his eyes turned +towards the point of the Cite, which he could not see. + +It had summoned him, and he had come, and yet he could not see it in +the depths of the darkness. He could only distinguish the bridges, +with their light framework standing out blackly against the sparkling +water. But farther off everything became confused, the island had +disappeared, he could not even have told its exact situation if some +belated cabs had not passed from time to time over the Pont-Neuf, with +their lamps showing like those shooting sparks which dart at times +through embers. A red lantern, on a level with the dam of the Mint, +cast a streamlet of blood, as it were, into the water. Something huge +and lugubrious, some drifting form, no doubt a lighter which had +become unmoored, slowly descended the stream amid the reflections. +Espied for a moment, it was immediately afterwards lost in the +darkness. Where had the triumphal island sunk? In the depths of that +flow of water? Claude still gazed, gradually fascinated by the great +rushing of the river in the night. He leant over its broad bed, chilly +like an abyss, in which the mysterious flames were dancing. And the +loud, sad wail of the current attracted him, and he listened to its +call, despairing, unto death. + +By a shooting pain at her heart, Christine this time realised that the +terrible thought had just occurred to him. She held out her quivering +hands which the wind was lashing. But Claude remained there, +struggling against the sweetness of death; indeed he did not move for +another hour, he lingered there unconscious of the lapse of time, with +his eyes still turned in the direction of the Cite, as if by a miracle +of power they were about to create light, and conjure up the island so +that he might behold it. + +When Claude at last left the bridge, with stumbling steps, Christine +had to pass in front and run in order to be home in the Rue Tourlaque +before him. + + + + XII + +IT was nearly three o'clock when they went to bed that night, with the +bitter cold November wind blowing through their little room and the +big studio. Christine, breathless from her run, had quickly slipped +between the sheets so that he might not know that she had followed +him; and Claude, quite overcome, had taken his clothes off, one +garment after another, without saying a word. For long months they had +been as strangers; until then, however, she had never felt such a +barrier between them, such tomb-like coldness. + +She struggled for nearly a quarter of an hour against the sleepiness +coming over her. She was very tired, and a kind of torpor numbed her; +still she would not give way, feeling anxious at leaving him awake. +She thus waited every night until he dozed off, so that she herself +might afterwards sleep in peace. But he had not extinguished the +candle, he lay there with his eyes open, fixed upon its flame. What +could he be thinking of? Had he remained in fancy over yonder in the +black night, amid the moist atmosphere of the quays, in front of Paris +studded with stars like a frosty sky? And what inner conflict, what +matter that had to be decided, contracted his face like that? Then, +resistance being impossible, she succumbed and glided into the slumber +following upon great weariness. + +An hour later, the consciousness of something missing, the anguish of +uneasiness awoke her with a sudden start. She at once felt the bed +beside her, it was already cold: he was no longer there, she had +already divined it while asleep. And she was growing alarmed, still +but half awake, her head heavy and her ears buzzing, when through the +doorway, left ajar, she perceived a ray of light coming from the +studio. She then felt reassured, she thought that in a fit of +sleeplessness he had gone to fetch some book or other; but at last, as +he did not return, she ended by softly rising so as to take a peep. +What she beheld quite unsettled her, and kept her standing on the +tiled floor, with her feet bare, in such surprise that she did not at +first dare to show herself. + +Claude, who was in his shirt-sleeves, despite the coldness of the +temperature, having merely put on his trousers and slippers in his +haste, was standing on the steps in front of his large picture. His +palette was lying at his feet, and with one hand he held the candle, +while with the other he painted. His eyes were dilated like those of a +somnambulist, his gestures were precise and stiff; he stooped every +minute to take some colour on his brush, and then rose up, casting a +large fantastic shadow on the wall. And there was not a sound; +frightful silence reigned in the big dim room. + +Christine guessed the truth and shuddered. The besetting worry, made +more acute by that hour spent on the Pont des Saints-Peres, had +prevented him from sleeping and had brought him once more before his +canvas, consumed with a longing to look at it again, in spite of the +lateness of the hour. He had, no doubt, only climbed the steps to fill +his eyes the nearer. Then, tortured by the sight of some faulty shade, +upset by some defect, to such a point that he could not wait for +daylight, he had caught up a brush, at first merely wishing to give a +simple touch, and then had been carried on from correction to +correction, until at last, with the candle in his hand, he painted +there like a man in a state of hallucination, amid the pale light +which darted hither and thither as he gesticulated. His powerless +creative rage had seized hold of him again, he was wearing himself +out, oblivious of the hour, oblivious of the world; he wished to +infuse life into his work at once. + +Ah, what a pitiful sight! And with what tear-drenched eyes did +Christine gaze at him! At first she thought of leaving him to that mad +work, as a maniac is left to the pleasures of his craziness. He would +never finish that picture, that was quite certain now. The more +desperately he worked at it, the more incoherent did it become; the +colouring had grown heavy and pasty, the drawing was losing shape and +showing signs of effort. Even the background and the group of +labourers, once so substantial and satisfactory, were getting spoiled; +yet he clung to them, he had obstinately determined to finish +everything else before repainting the central figure, the nude woman, +which remained the dread and the desire of his hours of toil, and +which would finish him off whenever he might again try to invest it +with life. For months he had not touched it, and this had +tranquillised Christine and made her tolerant and compassionate, amid +her jealous spite; for as long as he did not return to that feared and +desired mistress, she thought that he betrayed her less. + +Her feet were freezing on the tiles, and she was turning to get into +bed again when a shock brought her back to the door. She had not +understood at first, but now at last she saw. With broad curved +strokes of his brush, full of colour, Claude was at once wildly and +caressingly modelling flesh. He had a fixed grin on his lips, and did +not feel the burning candle-grease falling on his fingers, while with +silent, passionate see-sawing, his right arm alone moved against the +wall, casting black confusion upon it. He was working at the nude +woman. + +Then Christine opened the door and walked into the studio. An +invincible revolt, the anger of a wife buffeted at home, impelled her +forward. Yes, he was with that other, he was painting her like a +visionary, whom wild craving for truth had brought to the madness of +the unreal; and those limbs were being gilded like the columns of a +tabernacle, that trunk was becoming a star, shimmering with yellow and +red, splendid and unnatural. Such strange nudity--like unto a +monstrance gleaming with precious stones and intended for religious +adoration--brought her anger to a climax. She had suffered too much, +she would not tolerate it. + +And yet at first she simply showed herself despairing and +supplicating. It was but the mother remonstrating with her big mad boy +of an artist that spoke. + +'What are you doing there, Claude? Is it reasonable, Claude, to have +such ideas? Come to bed, I beg of you, don't stay on those steps where +you will catch your death of cold!' + +He did not answer; he stooped again to take some more paint on his +brush, and made the figure flash with two bright strokes of vermilion. + +'Listen to me, Claude, in pity come to me--you know that I love you +--you see how anxious you have made me. Come, oh! come, if you don't +want me to die of cold and waiting for you.' + +With his face haggard, he did not look at her; but while he bedecked a +part of the figure with carmine, he grumbled in a husky voice: + +'Just leave me alone, will you? I'm working.' + +Christine remained silent for a moment. She was drawing herself erect, +her eyes began to gleam with fire, rebellion inflated her gentle, +charming form. Then she burst forth, with the growl of a slave driven +to extremities. + +'Well, no, I won't leave you alone! I've had enough of it. I'll tell +you what's stifling me, what has been killing me ever since I have +known you. Ah! that painting, yes, your painting, she's the murderess +who has poisoned my life! I had a presentiment of it on the first day; +your painting frightened me as if it were a monster. I found it +abominable, execrable; but then, one's cowardly, I loved you too much +not to like it also; I ended by growing accustomed to it! But later +on, how I suffered!--how it tortured me! For ten years I don't +recollect having spent a day without shedding tears. No, leave me! I +am easing my mind, I must speak out, since I have found strength +enough to do so. For ten years I have been abandoned and crushed every +day. Ah! to be nothing more to you, to feel myself cast more and more +on one side, to fall to the rank of a servant; and to see that other +one, that thief, place herself between you and me and clutch hold of +you and triumph and insult me! For dare, yes, dare to say that she +hasn't taken possession of you, limb by limb, glided into your brain, +your heart, your flesh, everywhere! She holds you like a vice, she +feeds on you; in fact, she's your wife, not I. She's the only one you +care for! Ah! the cursed wretch, the hussy!' + +Claude was now listening to her, in his astonishment at that dolorous +outburst; and being but half roused from his exasperated creative +dream, he did not as yet very well understand why she was talking to +him like that. And at sight of his stupor, the shuddering of a man +surprised in a debauch, she flew into a still greater passion; she +mounted the steps, tore the candlestick from his hand, and in her turn +flashed the light in front of the picture. + +'Just look!' she cried, 'just tell me how you have improved matters? +It's hideous, it's lamentable and grotesque; you'll end by seeing so +yourself. Come, isn't it ugly, isn't it idiotic? You see very well +that you are conquered, so why should you persist any longer? There is +no sense in it, that's what upsets me. If you can't be a great +painter, life, at least, remains to us. Ah! life, life!' + +She had placed the candle on the platform of the steps, and as he had +gone down, staggering, she sprang off to join him, and they both found +themselves below, he crouching on the last step, and she pressing his +inert, dangling hands with all her strength. + +'Come, there's life! Drive your nightmare away, and let us live, live +together. Isn't it too stupid, to be we two together, to be growing +old already, and to torture ourselves, and fail in every attempt to +find happiness? Oh! the grave will take us soon enough, never fear. +Let's try to live, and love one another. Remember Bennecourt! Listen +to my dream. I should like to be able to take you away to-morrow. We +would go far from this cursed Paris, we would find a quiet spot +somewhere, and you would see how pleasant I would make your life; how +nice it would be to forget everything together! Of a morning there are +strolls in the sunlight, the breakfast which smells nice, the idle +afternoon, the evening spent side by side under the lamp! And no more +worrying about chimeras, nothing but the delight of living! Doesn't it +suffice that I love you, that I adore you, that I am willing to be +your servant, your slave, to exist solely for your pleasures? Do you +hear, I love you, I love you? there is nothing else, and that is +enough--I love you!' + +He had freed his hands, and making a gesture of refusal, he said, in a +gloomy voice: + +'No, it is not enough! I _won't_ go away with you, I _won't_ be happy, +I _will paint_!' + +'And I shall die of it, eh? And you will die of it, and we shall end +by leaving all our blood and all our tears in it! There's nothing +beyond Art, that is the fierce almighty god who strikes us with his +thunder, and whom you honour! he may crush us, since he is the master, +and you will still bless his name!' + +'Yes, I belong to that god, he may do what he pleases with me. I +should die if I no longer painted, and I prefer to paint and die of +it. Besides, my will is nothing in the matter. Nothing exists beyond +art; let the world burst!' + +She drew herself up in a fresh spurt of anger. Her voice became harsh +and passionate again. + +'But I--I am alive, and the women you love are lifeless! Oh! don't say +no! I know very well that all those painted women of yours are the +only ones you care about! Before I was yours I had already perceived +it. Then, for a short time you appeared to love me. It was at that +period you told me all that nonsense about your fondness for your +creations. You held such shadows in pity when you were with me; but it +didn't last. You returned to them, oh! like a maniac returns to his +mania. I, though living, no longer existed for you; it was they, the +visions, who again became the only realities of your life. What I then +endured you never knew, for you are wonderfully ignorant of women. I +have lived by your side without your ever understanding me. Yes, I was +jealous of those painted creatures. When I posed to you, only one idea +lent me the courage that I needed. I wanted to fight them, I hoped to +win you back; but you granted me nothing, not even a kiss on my +shoulder! Oh, God! how ashamed I sometimes felt! What grief I had to +force back at finding myself thus disdained and thus betrayed!' + +She continued boldly, she spoke out freely--she, so strangely +compounded of passion and modesty. And she was not mistaken in her +jealousy when she accused his art of being responsible for his neglect +of herself. At the bottom of it all, there was the theory which he had +repeated a hundred times in her presence: genius should be chaste, an +artist's only spouse should be his work. + +'You repulse me,' she concluded violently; 'you draw back from me as +if I displeased you! And you love what? A nothing, a mere semblance, a +little dust, some colour spread upon a canvas! But, once more, look at +her, look at your woman up yonder! See what a monster you have made of +her in your madness! Are there any women like that? Have any women +golden limbs, and flowers on their bodies? Wake up, open your eyes, +return to life again!' + +Claude, obeying the imperious gesture with which she pointed to the +picture, had now risen and was looking. The candle, which had remained +upon the platform of the steps, illumined the nude woman like a taper +in front of an altar, whilst the whole room around remained plunged in +darkness. He was at length awakening from his dream, and the woman +thus seen from below, at a distance of a few paces, filled him with +stupefaction. Who had just painted that idol of some unknown religion? +Who had wrought her of metals, marbles, and gems? Was it he who had +unconsciously created that symbol of insatiable passion, that unhuman +presentment of flesh, which had become transformed into gold and +diamonds under his fingers, in his vain effort to make it live? He +gasped and felt afraid of his work, trembling at the thought of that +sudden plunge into the infinite, and understanding at last that it had +become impossible for him even to depict Reality, despite his long +effort to conquer and remould it, making it yet more real with his +human hands. + +'You see! you see!' Christine repeated, victoriously. And he, in a +very low voice, stammered: + +'Oh! what have I done? Is it impossible to create, then? Haven't our +hands the power to create beings?' + +She felt that he was giving way, and she caught him in her arms: + +'But why all this folly?--why think of anyone but me--I who love you? +You took me for your model, but what was the use, say? Are those +paintings of yours worth me? They are frightful, they are as stiff, as +cold as corpses. But I am alive, and I love you!' + +She seemed to be at that moment the very incarnation of passionate +love. He turned and looked at her, and little by little he returned +her embrace; she was softening him and conquering him. + +'Listen!' she continued. 'I know that you had a frightful thought; +yes, I never dared to speak to you about it, because one must never +bring on misfortune; but I no longer sleep of a night, you frighten +me. This evening I followed you to that bridge which I hate, and I +trembled, oh! I thought that it was all over--that I had lost you. Oh, +God! what would become of me? I need you--you surely do not wish to +kill me! Let us live and love one another--yes, love one another!' + +Then, in the emotion caused him by her infinite passion and grief, he +yielded. He pressed her to him, sobbing and stammering: + +'It is true I had that frightful thought--I should have done it, and I +only resisted on thinking of that unfinished picture. But can I still +live if work will have nothing more to do with me? How can I live +after that, after what's there, what I spoilt just now?' + +'I will love you, and you will live.' + +'Ah! you will never love me enough--I know myself. Something which +does not exist would be necessary--something which would make me +forget everything. You were already unable to change me. You cannot +accomplish a miracle!' + +Then, as she protested and kissed him passionately, he went on: 'Well, +yes, save me! Yes, save me, if you don't want me to kill myself! Lull +me, annihilate me, so that I may become your thing, slave enough, +small enough to dwell under your feet, in your slippers. Ah! to live +only on your perfume, to obey you like a dog, to eat and sleep--if I +could, if I only _could_!' + +She raised a cry of victory: 'At last you are mine! There is only I +left, the other is quite dead!' + +And she dragged him from the execrated painting, she carried him off +triumphantly. The candle, now nearly consumed, flared up for a minute +behind them on the steps, before the big painting, and then went out. +It was victory, yes, but could it last? + +Daylight was about to break, and Christine lay asleep beside Claude. +She was breathing softly, and a smile played upon her lips. He had +closed his eyes; and yet, despite himself, he opened them afresh and +gazed into the darkness. Sleep fled from him, and confused ideas again +ascended to his brain. As the dawn appeared, yellowishly dirty, like a +splash of liquid mud on the window-panes, he started, fancying that he +heard a loud voice calling to him from the far end of the studio. +Then, irresistibly, despite a few brief hours' forgetfulness, all his +old thoughts returned, overflowing and torturing him, hollowing his +cheeks and contracting his jaws in the disgust he felt for mankind. +Two wrinkles imparted intense bitterness to the expression of his +face, which looked like the wasted countenance of an old man. And +suddenly the loud voice from the far end of the studio imperiously +summoned him a second time. Then he quite made up his mind: it was all +over, he suffered too much, he could no longer live, since everything +was a lie, since there was nothing left upon earth. Love! what was it? +Nought but a passing illusion. This thought at last mastered him, +possessed him entirely; and soon the craving for nothingness as his +only refuge came on him stronger than ever. At first he let +Christine's head slip down from his shoulder on which it rested. And +then, as a third summons rang out in his mind, he rose and went to the +studio, saying: + +'Yes, yes, I'm coming,' + +The sky did not clear, it still remained dirty and mournful--it was +one of those lugubrious winter dawns; and an hour later Christine +herself awoke with a great chilly shiver. She did not understand at +first. How did it happen that she was alone? Then she remembered: she +had fallen asleep with her cheek against his. How was it then that he +had left her? Where could he be? Suddenly, amid her torpor, she sprang +out of bed and ran into the studio. Good God! had he returned to the +other then? Had the other seized hold of him again, when she herself +fancied that she had conquered him for ever? + +She saw nothing at the first glance she took; in the cold and murky +morning twilight the studio seemed to her to be deserted. But whilst +she was tranquillising herself at seeing nobody there, she raised her +eyes to the canvas, and a terrible cry leapt from her gaping mouth: + +'Claude! oh, Claude!' + +Claude had hanged himself from the steps in front of his spoilt work. +He had simply taken one of the cords which held the frame to the wall, +and had mounted the platform, so as to fasten the rope to an oaken +crosspiece, which he himself had one day nailed to the uprights to +consolidate them. Then from up above he had leapt into space. He was +hanging there in his shirt, with his feet bare, looking horrible, with +his black tongue protruding, and his bloodshot eyes starting from +their orbits; he seemed to have grown frightfully tall in his +motionless stiffness, and his face was turned towards the picture, +close to the nude woman, as if he had wished to infuse his soul into +her with his last gasp, and as if he were still looking at her with +his expressionless eyes. + +Christine, however, remained erect, quite overwhelmed with the grief, +fright, and anger which dilated her body. Only a continuous howl came +from her throat. She opened her arms, stretched them towards the +picture, and clenched both hands. + +'Oh, Claude! oh, Claude!' she gasped at last, 'she has taken you back +--the hussy has killed you, killed you, killed you!' + +Then her legs gave way. She span round and fell all of a heap upon the +tiled flooring. Her excessive suffering had taken all the blood from +her heart, and, fainting away, she lay there, as if she were dead, +like a white rag, miserable, done for, crushed beneath the fierce +sovereignty of Art. Above her the nude woman rose radiant in her +symbolic idol's brightness; painting triumphed, alone immortal and +erect, even when mad. + +At nine o'clock on the Monday morning, when Sandoz, after the +formalities and delay occasioned by the suicide, arrived in the Rue +Tourlaque for the funeral, he found only a score of people on the +footway. Despite his great grief, he had been running about for three +days, compelled to attend to everything. At first, as Christine had +been picked up half dead, he had been obliged to have her carried to +the Hopital de Lariboisiere; then he had gone from the municipal +offices, to the undertaker's and the church, paying everywhere, and +full of indifference so far as that went, since the priests were +willing to pray over that corpse with a black circle round its neck. +Among the people who were waiting he as yet only perceived some +neighbours, together with a few inquisitive folk; while other people +peered out of the house windows and whispered together, excited by the +tragedy. Claude's friends would, no doubt, soon come. He, Sandoz, had +not been able to write to any members of the family, as he did not +know their addresses. However, he retreated into the background on the +arrival of two relatives, whom three lines in the newspapers had +roused from the forgetfulness in which Claude himself, no doubt, had +left them. There was an old female cousin,* with the equivocal air of +a dealer in second-hand goods, and a male cousin, of the second +degree, a wealthy man, decorated with the Legion of Honour, and owning +one of the large Paris drapery shops. He showed himself good-naturedly +condescending in his elegance, and desirous of displaying an +enlightened taste for art. The female cousin at once went upstairs, +turned round the studio, sniffed at all the bare wretchedness, and +then walked down again, with a hard mouth, as if she were irritated at +having taken the trouble to come. The second cousin, on the contrary, +drew himself up and walked first behind the hearse, filling the part +of chief mourner with proud and pleasant fitness. + + * Madame Sidonie, who figures in M. Zola's novel, 'La Curee.' + The male cousin, mentioned immediately afterwards, is Octave + Mouret, the leading character of 'Pot-Bouille' and 'Au Bonheur + des Dames.'--ED. + +As the procession was starting off, Bongrand came up, and, after +shaking hands with Sandoz, remained beside him. He was gloomy, and, +glancing at the fifteen or twenty strangers who followed, he murmured: + +'Ah! poor chap! What! are there only we two?' + +Dubuche was at Cannes with his children. Jory and Fagerolles kept +away, the former hating the deceased and the latter being too busy. +Mahoudeau alone caught the party up at the rise of the Rue Lepic, and +he explained that Gagniere must have missed the train. + +The hearse slowly ascended the steep thoroughfare which winds round +the flanks of the height of Montmartre; and now and then cross +streets, sloping downward, sudden gaps amid the houses, showed one the +immensity of Paris as deep and as broad as a sea. When the party +arrived in front of the Church of St. Pierre, and the coffin was +carried up the steps, it overtopped the great city for a moment. There +was a grey wintry sky overhead, large masses of clouds swept along, +carried away by an icy wind, and in the mist Paris seemed to expand, +to become endless, filling the horizon with threatening billows. The +poor fellow who had wished to conquer it, and had broken his neck in +his fruitless efforts, now passed in front of it, nailed under an +oaken board, returning to the earth like one of the city's muddy +waves. + +On leaving the church the female cousin disappeared, Mahoudeau +likewise; while the second cousin again took his position behind the +hearse. Seven other unknown persons decided to follow, and they +started for the new cemetery of St. Ouen, to which the populace has +given the disquieting and lugubrious name of Cayenne. There were ten +mourners in all. + +'Well, we two shall be the only old friends,' repeated Bongrand as he +walked on beside Sandoz. + +The procession, preceded by the mourning coach in which the priest and +the choirboy were seated, now descended the other side of the height, +along winding streets as precipitous as mountain paths. The horses of +the hearse slipped over the slimy pavement; one could hear the wheels +jolting noisily. Right behind, the ten mourners took short and careful +steps, trying to avoid the puddles, and being so occupied with the +difficulty of the descent that they refrained from speaking. But at +the bottom of the Rue du Ruisseau, when they reached the Porte de +Clignancourt and the vast open spaces, where the boulevard running +round the city, the circular railway, the talus and moat of the +fortifications are displayed to view, there came sighs of relief, a +few words were exchanged, and the party began to straggle. + +Sandoz and Bongrand by degrees found themselves behind all the others, +as if they had wished to isolate themselves from those folk whom they +had never previously seen. Just as the hearse was passing the city +gate, the painter leant towards the novelist. + +'And the little woman, what is going to be done with her?' + +'Ah! how dreadful it is!' replied Sandoz. 'I went to see her yesterday +at the hospital. She has brain fever. The house doctor maintains that +they will save her, but that she will come out of it ten years older +and without any strength. Do you know that she had come to such a +point that she no longer knew how to spell. Such a crushing fall, a +young lady abased to the level of a drudge! Yes, if we don't take care +of her like a cripple, she will end by becoming a scullery-maid +somewhere.' + +'And not a copper, of course?' + +'Not a copper. I thought I should find the studies Claude made from +nature for his large picture, those superb studies which he afterwards +turned to such poor account. But I ferreted everywhere; he gave +everything away; people robbed him. No, nothing to sell, not a canvas +that could be turned to profit, nothing but that huge picture, which I +demolished and burnt with my own hands, and right gladly, I assure +you, even as one avenges oneself.' + +They became silent for a moment. The broad road leading to St. Ouen +stretched out quite straight as far as the eye could reach; and over +the plain went the procession, pitifully small, lost, as it were, on +that highway, along which there flowed a river of mud. A line of +palings bordered it on either side, waste land extended both to right +and left, while afar off one only saw some factory chimneys and a few +lofty white houses, standing alone, obliquely to the road. They passed +through the Clignancourt fete, with booths, circuses, and roundabouts +on either side, all shivering in the abandonment of winter, empty +dancing cribs, mouldy swings, and a kind of stage homestead, 'The +Picardy Farm,' looking dismally sad between its broken fences. + +'Ah! his old canvases,' resumed Bongrand, 'the things he had at the +Quai de Bourbon, do you remember them? There were some extraordinary +bits among them. The landscapes he brought back from the south and the +academy studies he painted at Boutin's--a girl's legs and a woman's +trunk, for instance. Oh, that trunk! Old Malgras must have it. A +magisterial study it was, which not one of our "young masters" could +paint. Yes, yes, the fellow was no fool--simply a great painter.' + +'When I think,' said Sandoz, 'that those little humbugs of the School +and the press accused him of idleness and ignorance, repeating one +after the other that he had always refused to learn his art. Idle! +good heavens! why, I have seen him faint with fatigue after sittings +ten hours long; he gave his whole life to his work, and killed himself +in his passion for toil! And they call him ignorant--how idiotic! They +will never understand that the individual gift which a man brings in +his nature is superior to all acquired knowledge. Delacroix also was +ignorant of his profession in their eyes, simply because he could not +confine himself to hard and fast rules! Ah! the ninnies, the slavish +pupils who are incapable of painting anything incorrectly!' + +He took a few steps in silence, and then he added: + +'A heroic worker, too--a passionate observer whose brain was crammed +with science--the temperament of a great artist endowed with admirable +gifts. And to think that he leaves nothing, nothing!' + +'Absolutely nothing, not a canvas,' declared Bongrand. 'I know nothing +of his but rough drafts, sketches, notes carelessly jotted down, as it +were, all that artistic paraphernalia which can't be submitted to the +public. Yes, indeed, it is really a dead man, dead completely, who is +about to be lowered into the grave.' + +However, the painter and the novelist now had to hasten their steps, +for they had got far behind the others while talking; and the hearse, +after rolling past taverns and shops full of tombstones and crosses, +was turning to the right into the short avenue leading to the +cemetery. They overtook it, and passed through the gateway with the +little procession. The priest in his surplice and the choirboy +carrying the holy water receiver, who had both alighted from the +mourning coach, walked on ahead. + +It was a large flat cemetery, still in its youth, laid out by rule and +line in the suburban waste land, and divided into squares by broad +symmetrical paths. A few raised tombs bordered the principal avenues, +but most of the graves, already very numerous, were on a level with +the soil. They were hastily arranged temporary sepulchres, for +five-year grants were the only ones to be obtained, and families +hesitated to go to any serious expense. Thus, the stones sinking into +the ground for lack of foundations, the scrubby evergreens which had +not yet had time to grow, all the provisional slop kind of mourning +that one saw there, imparted to that vast field of repose a look of +poverty and cold, clean, dismal bareness like that of a barracks or a +hospital. There was not a corner to be found recalling the graveyard +nooks sung of in the ballads of the romantic period, not one leafy +turn quivering with mystery, not a single large tomb speaking of pride +and eternity. You were in the new style of Paris cemetery, where +everything is set out straight and duly numbered--the cemetery of +democratic times, where the dead seem to slumber at the bottom of an +office drawer, after filing past one by one, as people do at a fete +under the eyes of the police, so as to avoid obstruction. + +'Dash it!' muttered Bongrand, 'it isn't lively here.' + +'Why not?' asked Sandoz. 'It's commodious; there is plenty of air. And +even although there is no sun, see what a pretty colour it all has.' + +In fact, under the grey sky of that November morning, in the +penetrating quiver of the wind, the low tombs, laden with garlands and +crowns of beads, assumed soft tints of charming delicacy. There were +some quite white, and others all black, according to the colour of the +beads. But the contrast lost much of its force amid the pale green +foliage of the dwarfish trees. Poor families exhausted their affection +for the dear departed in decking those five-year grants; there were +piles of crowns and blooming flowers--freshly brought there on the +recent Day of the Dead. Only the cut flowers had as yet faded, between +their paper collars. Some crowns of yellow immortelles shone out like +freshly chiselled gold. But the beads predominated to such a degree +that at the first glance there seemed to be nothing else; they gushed +forth everywhere, hiding the inscriptions and covering the stones and +railings. There were beads forming hearts, beads in festoons and +medallions, beads framing either ornamental designs or objects under +glass, such as velvet pansies, wax hands entwined, satin bows, or, at +times, even photographs of women--yellow, faded, cheap photographs, +showing poor, ugly, touching faces that smiled awkwardly. + +As the hearse proceeded along the Avenue du Rond Point, Sandoz, whose +last remark--since it was of an artistic nature--had brought him back +to Claude, resumed the conversation, saying: + +'This is a cemetery which he would have understood, he who was so mad +on modern things. No doubt he suffered physically, wasted away by the +over-severe lesion that is so often akin to genius, "three grains too +little, or three grains too much, of some substance in the brain," as +he himself said when he reproached his parents for his constitution. +However, his disorder was not merely a personal affair, he was the +victim of our period. Yes, our generation has been soaked in +romanticism, and we have remained impregnated with it. It is in vain +that we wash ourselves and take baths of reality, the stain is +obstinate, and all the scrubbing in the world won't take it away.' + +Bongrand smiled. 'Oh! as for romanticism,' said he, 'I'm up to my ears +in it. It has fed my art, and, indeed, I'm impenitent. If it be true +that my final impotence is due to that, well, after all, what does it +matter? I can't deny the religion of my artistic life. However, your +remark is quite correct; you other fellows, you are rebellious sons. +Claude, for instance, with his big nude woman amid the quays, that +extravagant symbol--' + +'Ah, that woman!' interrupted Sandoz, 'it was she who throttled him! +If you knew how he worshipped her! I was never able to cast her out of +him. And how can one possibly have clear perception, a solid, +properly-balanced brain when such phantasmagoria sprouts forth from +your skull? Though coming after yours, our generation is too +imaginative to leave healthy work behind it. Another generation, +perhaps two, will be required before people will be able to paint and +write logically, with the high, pure simplicity of truth. Truth, +nature alone, is the right basis, the necessary guide, outside of +which madness begins; and the toiler needn't be afraid of flattening +his work, his temperament is there, which will always carry him +sufficiently away. Does any one dream of denying personality, the +involuntary thumb-stroke which deforms whatever we touch and +constitutes our poor creativeness?' + +However, he turned his head, and involuntarily added: + +'Hallo! what's burning? Are they lighting bonfires here?' + +The procession had turned on reaching the Rond Point, where the +ossuary was situated--the common vault gradually filled with all the +remnants removed from the graves, and the stone slab of which, in the +centre of a circular lawn, disappeared under a heap of wreaths, +deposited there by the pious relatives of those who no longer had an +individual resting-place. And, as the hearse rolled slowly to the left +in transversal Avenue No. 2, there had come a sound of crackling, and +thick smoke had risen above the little plane trees bordering the path. +Some distance ahead, as the party approached, they could see a large +pile of earthy things beginning to burn, and they ended by +understanding. The fire was lighted at the edge of a large square +patch of ground, which had been dug up in broad parallel furrows, so +as to remove the coffins before allotting the soil to other corpses; +just as the peasant turns the stubble over before sowing afresh. The +long empty furrows seemed to yawn, the mounds of rich soil seemed to +be purifying under the broad grey sky; and the fire thus burning in +that corner was formed of the rotten wood of the coffins that had been +removed--slit, broken boards, eaten into by the earth, often reduced +to a ruddy humus, and gathered together in an enormous pile. They +broke up with faint detonations, and being damp with human mud, they +refused to flame, and merely smoked with growing intensity. Large +columns of the smoke rose into the pale sky, and were beaten down by +the November wind, and torn into ruddy shreds, which flew across the +low tombs of quite one half of the cemetery. + +Sandoz and Bongrand had looked at the scene without saying a word. +Then, having passed the fire, the former resumed: + +'No, he did not prove to be the man of the formula he laid down. I +mean that his genius was not clear enough to enable him to set that +formula erect and impose it upon the world by a definite masterpiece. +And now see how other fellows scatter their efforts around him, after +him! They go no farther than roughing off, they give us mere hasty +impressions, and not one of them seems to have strength enough to +become the master who is awaited. Isn't it irritating, this new notion +of light, this passion for truth carried as far as scientific +analysis, this evolution begun with so much originality, and now +loitering on the way, as it were, falling into the hands of +tricksters, and never coming to a head, simply because the necessary +man isn't born? But pooh! the man will be born; nothing is ever lost, +light must be.' + +'Who knows? not always,' said Bongrand. 'Life miscarries, like +everything else. I listen to you, you know, but I'm a despairer. I am +dying of sadness, and I feel that everything else is dying. Ah! yes, +there is something unhealthy in the atmosphere of the times--this end +of a century is all demolition, a litter of broken monuments, and soil +that has been turned over and over a hundred times, the whole exhaling +a stench of death! Can anybody remain in good health amid all that? +One's nerves become unhinged, the great neurosis is there, art grows +unsettled, there is general bustling, perfect anarchy, all the madness +of self-love at bay. Never have people quarrelled more and seen less +clearly than since it is pretended that one knows everything.' + +Sandoz, who had grown pale, watched the large ruddy coils of smoke +rolling in the wind. + +'It was fated,' he mused in an undertone. 'Our excessive activity and +pride of knowledge were bound to cast us back into doubt. This +century, which has already thrown so much light over the world, was +bound to finish amid the threat of a fresh flow of darkness--yes, our +discomfort comes from that! Too much has been promised, too much has +been hoped for; people have looked forward to the conquest and +explanation of everything, and now they growl impatiently. What! don't +things go quicker than that? What! hasn't science managed to bring us +absolute certainty, perfect happiness, in a hundred years? Then what +is the use of going on, since one will never know everything, and +one's bread will always be as bitter? It is as if the century had +become bankrupt, as if it had failed; pessimism twists people's +bowels, mysticism fogs their brains; for we have vainly swept phantoms +away with the light of analysis, the supernatural has resumed +hostilities, the spirit of the legends rebels and wants to conquer us, +while we are halting with fatigue and anguish. Ah! I certainly don't +affirm anything; I myself am tortured. Only it seems to me that this +last convulsion of the old religious terrors was to be foreseen. We +are not the end, we are but a transition, a beginning of something +else. It calms me and does me good to believe that we are marching +towards reason, and the substantiality of science.' + +His voice had become husky with emotion, and he added: + +'That is, unless madness plunges us, topsy-turvy, into night again, +and we all go off throttled by the ideal, like our old friend who +sleeps there between his four boards.' + +The hearse was leaving transversal Avenue No. 2 to turn, on the right, +into lateral Avenue No. 3, and the painter, without speaking, called +the novelist's attention to a square plot of graves, beside which the +procession was now passing. + +There was here a children's cemetery, nothing but children's tombs, +stretching far away in orderly fashion, separated at regular intervals +by narrow paths, and looking like some infantile city of death. There +were tiny little white crosses, tiny little white railings, +disappearing almost beneath an efflorescence of white and blue +wreaths, on a level with the soil; and that peaceful field of repose, +so soft in colour, with the bluish tint of milk about it, seemed to +have been made flowery by all the childhood lying in the earth. The +crosses recorded various ages, two years, sixteen months, five months. +One poor little cross, destitute of any railing, was out of line, +having been set up slantingly across a path, and it simply bore the +words: 'Eugenie, three days.' Scarcely to exist as yet, and withal to +sleep there already, alone, on one side, like the children who on +festive occasions dine at a little side table! + +However, the hearse had at last stopped, in the middle of the avenue; +and when Sandoz saw the grave ready at the corner of the next +division, in front of the cemetery of the little ones, he murmured +tenderly: + +'Ah! my poor old Claude, with your big child's heart, you will be in +your place beside them.' + +The under-bearers removed the coffin from the hearse. The priest, who +looked surly, stood waiting in the wind; some sextons were there with +their shovels. Three neighbours had fallen off on the road, the ten +had dwindled into seven. The second cousin, who had been holding his +hat in his hand since leaving the church, despite the frightful +weather, now drew nearer. All the others uncovered, and the prayers +were about to begin, when a loud piercing whistle made everybody look +up. + +Beyond this corner of the cemetery as yet untenanted, at the end of +lateral Avenue No. 3, a train was passing along the high embankment of +the circular railway which overlooked the graveyard. The grassy slope +rose up, and a number of geometrical lines, as it were, stood out +blackly against the grey sky; there were telegraph-posts, connected by +thin wires, a superintendent's box, and a red signal plate, the only +bright throbbing speck visible. When the train rolled past, with its +thunder-crash, one plainly distinguished, as on the transparency of a +shadow play, the silhouettes of the carriages, even the heads of the +passengers showing in the light gaps left by the windows. And the line +became clear again, showing like a simple ink stroke across the +horizon; while far away other whistles called and wailed unceasingly, +shrill with anger, hoarse with suffering, or husky with distress. Then +a guard's horn resounded lugubriously. + +'_Revertitur in terram suam unde erat_,' recited the priest, who had +opened a book and was making haste. + +But he was not heard, for a large engine had come up puffing, and was +manoeuvring backwards and forwards near the funeral party. It had a +loud thick voice, a guttural whistle, which was intensely mournful. It +came and went, panting; and seen in profile it looked like a heavy +monster. Suddenly, moreover, it let off steam, with all the furious +blowing of a tempest. + +'_Requiescat in pace_,' said the priest. + +'Amen,' replied the choirboy. + +But the words were again lost amid the lashing, deafening detonation, +which was prolonged with the continuous violence of a fusillade. + +Bongrand, quite exasperated, turned towards the engine. It became +silent, fortunately, and every one felt relieved. Tears had risen to +the eyes of Sandoz, who had already been stirred by the words which +had involuntarily passed his lips, while he walked behind his old +comrade, talking as if they had been having one of their familiar +chats of yore; and now it seemed to him as if his youth were about to +be consigned to the earth. It was part of himself, the best part, his +illusions and his enthusiasm, which the sextons were taking away to +lower into the depths. At that terrible moment an accident occurred +which increased his grief. It had rained so hard during the preceding +days, and the ground was so soft, that a sudden subsidence of soil +took place. One of the sextons had to jump into the grave and empty it +with his shovel with a slow rhythmical movement. There was no end to +the matter, the funeral seemed likely to last for ever amid the +impatience of the priest and the interest of the four neighbours who +had followed on to the end, though nobody could say why. And up above, +on the embankment, the engine had begun manoeuvring again, retreating +and howling at each turn of its wheels, its fire-box open the while, +and lighting up the gloomy scene with a rain of sparks. + +At last the pit was emptied, the coffin lowered, and the aspergillus +passed round. It was all over. The second cousin, standing erect, did +the honours with his correct, pleasant air, shaking hands with all +these people whom he had never previously seen, in memory of the +relative whose name he had not remembered the day before. + +'That linen-draper is a very decent fellow,' said Bongrand, who was +swallowing his tears. + +'Quite so,' replied Sandoz, sobbing. + +All the others were going off, the surplices of the priest and the +choirboy disappeared between the green trees, while the straggling +neighbours loitered reading the inscriptions on the surrounding tombs. + +Then Sandoz, making up his mind to leave the grave, which was now half +filled, resumed: + +'We alone shall have known him. There is nothing left of him, not even +a name!' + +'He is very happy,' said Bongrand; 'he has no picture on hand, in the +earth where he sleeps. It is as well to go off as to toil as we do +merely to turn out infirm children, who always lack something, their +legs or their head, and who don't live.' + +'Yes, one must really be wanting in pride to resign oneself to turning +out merely approximate work and resorting to trickery with life. I, +who bestow every care on my books--I despise myself, for I feel that, +despite all my efforts, they are incomplete and untruthful.' + +With pale faces, they slowly went away, side by side, past the +children's white tombs, the novelist then in all the strength of his +toil and fame, the painter declining but covered with glory. + +'There, at least, lies one who was logical and brave,' continued +Sandoz; 'he confessed his powerlessness and killed himself.' + +'That's true,' said Bongrand; 'if we didn't care so much for our skins +we should all do as he has done, eh?' + +'Well, yes; since we cannot create anything, since we are but feeble +copyists, we might as well put an end to ourselves at once.' + +Again they found themselves before the burning pile of old rotten +coffins, now fully alight, sweating and crackling; but there were +still no flames to be seen, the smoke alone had increased--a thick +acrid smoke, which the wind carried along in whirling coils, so that +it now covered the whole cemetery as with a cloud of mourning. + +'Dash it! Eleven o'clock!' said Bongrand, after pulling out his watch. +'I must get home again.' + +Sandoz gave an exclamation of surprise: + +'What, already eleven?' + +Over the low-lying graves, over the vast bead-flowered field of death, +so formal of aspect and so cold, he cast a long look of despair, his +eyes still bedimmed by his tears. And then he added: + +'Let's go to work.' + + + + THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of His Masterpiece, by Emile Zola + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIS MASTERPIECE *** + +***** This file should be named 15900.txt or 15900.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/0/15900/ + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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