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diff --git a/1710.txt b/1710.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0aa2f1f --- /dev/null +++ b/1710.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1250 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of La Grande Breteche, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: La Grande Breteche + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + +Release Date: April, 1999 [Etext #1710] +Posting Date: February 28, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LA GRANDE BRETECHE *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +LA GRANDE BRETECHE + +(Sequel to "Another Study of Woman.") + + +By Honore De Balzac + + +Translated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + + + + + +LA GRANDE BRETECHE + + +"Ah! madame," replied the doctor, "I have some appalling stories in my +collection. But each one has its proper hour in a conversation--you know +the pretty jest recorded by Chamfort, and said to the Duc de Fronsac: +'Between your sally and the present moment lie ten bottles of +champagne.'" + +"But it is two in the morning, and the story of Rosina has prepared us," +said the mistress of the house. + +"Tell us, Monsieur Bianchon!" was the cry on every side. + +The obliging doctor bowed, and silence reigned. + +"At about a hundred paces from Vendome, on the banks of the Loir," said +he, "stands an old brown house, crowned with very high roofs, and so +completely isolated that there is nothing near it, not even a fetid +tannery or a squalid tavern, such as are commonly seen outside small +towns. In front of this house is a garden down to the river, where the +box shrubs, formerly clipped close to edge the walks, now straggle +at their own will. A few willows, rooted in the stream, have grown +up quickly like an enclosing fence, and half hide the house. The +wild plants we call weeds have clothed the bank with their beautiful +luxuriance. The fruit-trees, neglected for these ten years past, +no longer bear a crop, and their suckers have formed a thicket. The +espaliers are like a copse. The paths, once graveled, are overgrown with +purslane; but, to be accurate there is no trace of a path. + +"Looking down from the hilltop, to which cling the ruins of the old +castle of the Dukes of Vendome, the only spot whence the eye can +see into this enclosure, we think that at a time, difficult now to +determine, this spot of earth must have been the joy of some country +gentleman devoted to roses and tulips, in a word, to horticulture, but +above all a lover of choice fruit. An arbor is visible, or rather +the wreck of an arbor, and under it a table still stands not entirely +destroyed by time. At the aspect of this garden that is no more, the +negative joys of the peaceful life of the provinces may be divined as we +divine the history of a worthy tradesman when we read the epitaph on his +tomb. To complete the mournful and tender impressions which seize the +soul, on one of the walls there is a sundial graced with this homely +Christian motto, '_Ultimam cogita_.' + +"The roof of this house is dreadfully dilapidated; the outside shutters +are always closed; the balconies are hung with swallows' nests; the +doors are for ever shut. Straggling grasses have outlined the flagstones +of the steps with green; the ironwork is rusty. Moon and sun, winter, +summer, and snow have eaten into the wood, warped the boards, peeled +off the paint. The dreary silence is broken only by birds and cats, +polecats, rats, and mice, free to scamper round, and fight, and eat each +other. An invisible hand has written over it all: 'Mystery.' + +"If, prompted by curiosity, you go to look at this house from the +street, you will see a large gate, with a round-arched top; the children +have made many holes in it. I learned later that this door had been +blocked for ten years. Through these irregular breaches you will see +that the side towards the courtyard is in perfect harmony with the side +towards the garden. The same ruin prevails. Tufts of weeds outline +the paving-stones; the walls are scored by enormous cracks, and the +blackened coping is laced with a thousand festoons of pellitory. The +stone steps are disjointed; the bell-cord is rotten; the gutter-spouts +broken. What fire from heaven could have fallen there? By what decree +has salt been sown on this dwelling? Has God been mocked here? Or was +France betrayed? These are the questions we ask ourselves. Reptiles +crawl over it, but give no reply. This empty and deserted house is a +vast enigma of which the answer is known to none. + +"It was formerly a little domain, held in fief, and is known as La +Grande Breteche. During my stay at Vendome, where Despleins had left me +in charge of a rich patient, the sight of this strange dwelling became +one of my keenest pleasures. Was it not far better than a ruin? Certain +memories of indisputable authenticity attach themselves to a ruin; but +this house, still standing, though being slowly destroyed by an avenging +hand, contained a secret, an unrevealed thought. At the very least, +it testified to a caprice. More than once in the evening I boarded the +hedge, run wild, which surrounded the enclosure. I braved scratches, I +got into this ownerless garden, this plot which was no longer public or +private; I lingered there for hours gazing at the disorder. I would not, +as the price of the story to which this strange scene no doubt was due, +have asked a single question of any gossiping native. On that spot I +wove delightful romances, and abandoned myself to little debauches of +melancholy which enchanted me. If I had known the reason--perhaps quite +commonplace--of this neglect, I should have lost the unwritten poetry +which intoxicated me. To me this refuge represented the most various +phases of human life, shadowed by misfortune; sometimes the peace of the +graveyard without the dead, who speak in the language of epitaphs; one +day I saw in it the home of lepers; another, the house of the Atridae; +but, above all, I found there provincial life, with its contemplative +ideas, its hour-glass existence. I often wept there, I never laughed. + +"More than once I felt involuntary terrors as I heard overhead the dull +hum of the wings of some hurrying wood-pigeon. The earth is dank; you +must be on the watch for lizards, vipers, and frogs, wandering about +with the wild freedom of nature; above all, you must have no fear +of cold, for in a few moments you feel an icy cloak settle on your +shoulders, like the Commendatore's hand on Don Giovanni's neck. + +"One evening I felt a shudder; the wind had turned an old rusty +weathercock, and the creaking sounded like a cry from the house, at +the very moment when I was finishing a gloomy drama to account for +this monumental embodiment of woe. I returned to my inn, lost in gloomy +thoughts. When I had supped, the hostess came into my room with an air +of mystery, and said, 'Monsieur, here is Monsieur Regnault.' + +"'Who is Monsieur Regnault?' + +"'What, sir, do you not know Monsieur Regnault?--Well, that's odd,' said +she, leaving the room. + +"On a sudden I saw a man appear, tall, slim, dressed in black, hat +in hand, who came in like a ram ready to butt his opponent, showing a +receding forehead, a small pointed head, and a colorless face of the hue +of a glass of dirty water. You would have taken him for an usher. The +stranger wore an old coat, much worn at the seams; but he had a diamond +in his shirt frill, and gold rings in his ears. + +"'Monsieur,' said I, 'whom have I the honor of addressing?'--He took a +chair, placed himself in front of my fire, put his hat on my table, +and answered while he rubbed his hands: 'Dear me, it is very +cold.--Monsieur, I am Monsieur Regnault.' + +"I was encouraging myself by saying to myself, '_Il bondo cani!_ Seek!' + +"'I am,' he went on, 'notary at Vendome.' + +"'I am delighted to hear it, monsieur,' I exclaimed. 'But I am not in a +position to make a will for reasons best known to myself.' + +"'One moment!' said he, holding up his hand as though to gain silence. +'Allow me, monsieur, allow me! I am informed that you sometimes go to +walk in the garden of la Grande Breteche.' + +"'Yes, monsieur.' + +"'One moment!' said he, repeating his gesture. 'That constitutes a +misdemeanor. Monsieur, as executor under the will of the late Comtesse +de Merret, I come in her name to beg you to discontinue the practice. +One moment! I am not a Turk, and do not wish to make a crime of it. And +besides, you are free to be ignorant of the circumstances which +compel me to leave the finest mansion in Vendome to fall into ruin. +Nevertheless, monsieur, you must be a man of education, and you should +know that the laws forbid, under heavy penalties, any trespass on +enclosed property. A hedge is the same as a wall. But, the state in +which the place is left may be an excuse for your curiosity. For my +part, I should be quite content to make you free to come and go in the +house; but being bound to respect the will of the testatrix, I have +the honor, monsieur, to beg that you will go into the garden no more. +I myself, monsieur, since the will was read, have never set foot in the +house, which, as I had the honor of informing you, is part of the estate +of the late Madame de Merret. We have done nothing there but verify the +number of doors and windows to assess the taxes I have to pay annually +out of the funds left for that purpose by the late Madame de Merret. Ah! +my dear sir, her will made a great commotion in the town.' + +"The good man paused to blow his nose. I respected his volubility, +perfectly understanding that the administration of Madame de Merret's +estate had been the most important event of his life, his reputation, +his glory, his Restoration. As I was forced to bid farewell to my +beautiful reveries and romances, I was to reject learning the truth on +official authority. + +"'Monsieur,' said I, 'would it be indiscreet if I were to ask you the +reasons for such eccentricity?' + +"At these words an expression, which revealed all the pleasure which +men feel who are accustomed to ride a hobby, overspread the lawyer's +countenance. He pulled up the collar of his shirt with an air, took out +his snuffbox, opened it, and offered me a pinch; on my refusing, he took +a large one. He was happy! A man who has no hobby does not know all +the good to be got out of life. A hobby is the happy medium between a +passion and a monomania. At this moment I understood the whole bearing +of Sterne's charming passion, and had a perfect idea of the delight with +which my uncle Toby, encouraged by Trim, bestrode his hobby-horse. + +"'Monsieur,' said Monsieur Regnault, 'I was head-clerk in Monsieur +Roguin's office, in Paris. A first-rate house, which you may have heard +mentioned? No! An unfortunate bankruptcy made it famous.--Not having +money enough to purchase a practice in Paris at the price to which they +were run up in 1816, I came here and bought my predecessor's business. +I had relations in Vendome; among others, a wealthy aunt, who allowed +me to marry her daughter.--Monsieur,' he went on after a little pause, +'three months after being licensed by the Keeper of the Seals, one +evening, as I was going to bed--it was before my marriage--I was sent +for by Madame la Comtesse de Merret, to her Chateau of Merret. Her maid, +a good girl, who is now a servant in this inn, was waiting at my door +with the Countess' own carriage. Ah! one moment! I ought to tell you +that Monsieur le Comte de Merret had gone to Paris to die two months +before I came here. He came to a miserable end, flinging himself into +every kind of dissipation. You understand? + +"'On the day when he left, Madame la Comtesse had quitted la Grand +Breteche, having dismantled it. Some people even say that she had +burnt all the furniture, the hangings--in short, all the chattels and +furniture whatever used in furnishing the premises now let by the +said M.--(Dear, what am I saying? I beg your pardon, I thought I was +dictating a lease.)--In short, that she burnt everything in the meadow +at Merret. Have you been to Merret, monsieur?--No,' said he, answering +himself, 'Ah, it is a very fine place.' + +"'For about three months previously,' he went on, with a jerk of his +head, 'the Count and Countess had lived in a very eccentric way; they +admitted no visitors; Madame lived on the ground-floor, and Monsieur on +the first floor. When the Countess was left alone, she was never seen +excepting at church. Subsequently, at home, at the chateau, she refused +to see the friends, whether gentlemen or ladies, who went to call on +her. She was already very much altered when she left la Grande Breteche +to go to Merret. That dear lady--I say dear lady, for it was she who +gave me this diamond, but indeed I saw her but once--that kind lady was +very ill; she had, no doubt, given up all hope, for she died without +choosing to send for a doctor; indeed, many of our ladies fancied she +was not quite right in her head. Well, sir, my curiosity was strangely +excited by hearing that Madame de Merret had need of my services. Nor +was I the only person who took an interest in the affair. That very +night, though it was already late, all the town knew that I was going to +Merret. + +"'The waiting-woman replied but vaguely to the questions I asked her on +the way; nevertheless, she told me that her mistress had received the +Sacrament in the course of the day at the hands of the Cure of Merret, +and seemed unlikely to live through the night. It was about eleven when +I reached the chateau. I went up the great staircase. After crossing +some large, lofty, dark rooms, diabolically cold and damp, I reached the +state bedroom where the Countess lay. From the rumors that were current +concerning this lady (monsieur, I should never end if I were to repeat +all the tales that were told about her), I had imagined her a coquette. +Imagine, then, that I had great difficulty in seeing her in the great +bed where she was lying. To be sure, to light this enormous room, with +old-fashioned heavy cornices, and so thick with dust that merely to see +it was enough to make you sneeze, she had only an old Argand lamp. Ah! +but you have not been to Merret. Well, the bed is one of those old world +beds, with a high tester hung with flowered chintz. A small table stood +by the bed, on which I saw an "Imitation of Christ," which, by the +way, I bought for my wife, as well as the lamp. There were also a deep +armchair for her confidential maid, and two small chairs. There was no +fire. That was all the furniture, not enough to fill ten lines in an +inventory. + +"'My dear sir, if you had seen, as I then saw, that vast room, papered +and hung with brown, you would have felt yourself transported into a +scene of a romance. It was icy, nay more, funereal,' and he lifted his +hand with a theatrical gesture and paused. + +"'By dint of seeking, as I approached the bed, at last I saw Madame de +Merret, under the glimmer of the lamp, which fell on the pillows. +Her face was as yellow as wax, and as narrow as two folded hands. The +Countess had a lace cap showing her abundant hair, but as white as linen +thread. She was sitting up in bed, and seemed to keep upright with +great difficulty. Her large black eyes, dimmed by fever, no doubt, +and half-dead already, hardly moved under the bony arch of her +eyebrows.--There,' he added, pointing to his own brow. 'Her forehead was +clammy; her fleshless hands were like bones covered with soft skin; +the veins and muscles were perfectly visible. She must have been very +handsome; but at this moment I was startled into an indescribable +emotion at the sight. Never, said those who wrapped her in her shroud, +had any living creature been so emaciated and lived. In short, it was +awful to behold! Sickness so consumed that woman, that she was no more +than a phantom. Her lips, which were pale violet, seemed to me not to +move when she spoke to me. + +"'Though my profession has familiarized me with such spectacles, by +calling me not infrequently to the bedside of the dying to record their +last wishes, I confess that families in tears and the agonies I have +seen were as nothing in comparison with this lonely and silent woman in +her vast chateau. I heard not the least sound, I did not perceive the +movement which the sufferer's breathing ought to have given to the +sheets that covered her, and I stood motionless, absorbed in looking at +her in a sort of stupor. In fancy I am there still. At last her large +eyes moved; she tried to raise her right hand, but it fell back on the +bed, and she uttered these words, which came like a breath, for her +voice was no longer a voice: "I have waited for you with the greatest +impatience." A bright flush rose to her cheeks. It was a great effort to +her to speak. + +"'"Madame," I began. She signed to me to be silent. At that moment +the old housekeeper rose and said in my ear, "Do not speak; Madame la +Comtesse is not in a state to bear the slightest noise, and what you say +might agitate her." + +"'I sat down. A few instants after, Madame de Merret collected all her +remaining strength to move her right hand, and slipped it, not without +infinite difficulty, under the bolster; she then paused a moment. With +a last effort she withdrew her hand; and when she brought out a sealed +paper, drops of perspiration rolled from her brow. "I place my will in +your hands--Oh! God! Oh!" and that was all. She clutched a crucifix that +lay on the bed, lifted it hastily to her lips, and died. + +"'The expression of her eyes still makes me shudder as I think of it. +She must have suffered much! There was joy in her last glance, and it +remained stamped on her dead eyes. + +"'I brought away the will, and when it was opened I found that Madame de +Merret had appointed me her executor. She left the whole of her property +to the hospital at Vendome excepting a few legacies. But these were her +instructions as relating to la Grande Breteche: She ordered me to leave +the place, for fifty years counting from the day of her death, in the +state in which it might be at the time of her death, forbidding any one, +whoever he might be, to enter the apartments, prohibiting any repairs +whatever, and even settling a salary to pay watchmen if it were needful +to secure the absolute fulfilment of her intentions. At the expiration +of that term, if the will of the testatrix has been duly carried out, +the house is to become the property of my heirs, for, as you know, a +notary cannot take a bequest. Otherwise la Grande Breteche reverts to +the heirs-at-law, but on condition of fulfilling certain conditions +set forth in a codicil to the will, which is not to be opened till +the expiration of the said term of fifty years. The will has not been +disputed, so----' And without finishing his sentence, the lanky notary +looked at me with an air of triumph; I made him quite happy by offering +him my congratulations. + +"'Monsieur,' I said in conclusion, 'you have so vividly impressed +me that I fancy I see the dying woman whiter than her sheets; her +glittering eyes frighten me; I shall dream of her to-night.--But you +must have formed some idea as to the instructions contained in that +extraordinary will.' + +"'Monsieur,' said he, with comical reticence, 'I never allow myself +to criticise the conduct of a person who honors me with the gift of a +diamond.' + +"However, I soon loosened the tongue of the discreet notary of Vendome, +who communicated to me, not without long digressions, the opinions of +the deep politicians of both sexes whose judgments are law in Vendome. +But these opinions were so contradictory, so diffuse, that I was +near falling asleep in spite of the interest I felt in this authentic +history. The notary's ponderous voice and monotonous accent, accustomed +no doubt to listen to himself and to make himself listened to by his +clients or fellow-townsmen, were too much for my curiosity. Happily, he +soon went away. + +"'Ah, ha, monsieur,' said he on the stairs, 'a good many persons would +be glad to live five-and-forty years longer; but--one moment!' and he +laid the first finger of his right hand to his nostril with a cunning +look, as much as to say, 'Mark my words!--To last as long as that--as +long as that,' said he, 'you must not be past sixty now.' + +"I closed my door, having been roused from my apathy by this last +speech, which the notary thought very funny; then I sat down in my +armchair, with my feet on the fire-dogs. I had lost myself in a romance +_a la_ Radcliffe, constructed on the juridical base given me by Monsieur +Regnault, when the door, opened by a woman's cautious hand, turned on +the hinges. I saw my landlady come in, a buxom, florid dame, always +good-humored, who had missed her calling in life. She was a Fleming, who +ought to have seen the light in a picture by Teniers. + +"'Well, monsieur,' said she, 'Monsieur Regnault has no doubt been giving +you his history of la Grande Breteche?' + +"'Yes, Madame Lepas.' + +"'And what did he tell you?' + +"I repeated in a few words the creepy and sinister story of Madame de +Merret. At each sentence my hostess put her head forward, looking at +me with an innkeeper's keen scrutiny, a happy compromise between the +instinct of a police constable, the astuteness of a spy, and the cunning +of a dealer. + +"'My good Madame Lepas,' said I as I ended, 'you seem to know more about +it. Heh? If not, why have you come up to me?' + +"'On my word, as an honest woman----' + +"'Do not swear; your eyes are big with a secret. You knew Monsieur de +Merret; what sort of man was he?' + +"'Monsieur de Merret--well, you see he was a man you never could see +the top of, he was so tall! A very good gentleman, from Picardy, and who +had, as we say, his head close to his cap. He paid for everything down, +so as never to have difficulties with any one. He was hot-tempered, you +see! All our ladies liked him very much.' + +"'Because he was hot-tempered?' I asked her. + +"'Well, may be,' said she; 'and you may suppose, sir, that a man had to +have something to show for a figurehead before he could marry Madame de +Merret, who, without any reflection on others, was the handsomest and +richest heiress in our parts. She had about twenty thousand francs +a year. All the town was at the wedding; the bride was pretty and +sweet-looking, quite a gem of a woman. Oh, they were a handsome couple +in their day!' + +"'And were they happy together?' + +"'Hm, hm! so-so--so far as can be guessed, for, as you may suppose, we +of the common sort were not hail-fellow-well-met with them.--Madame de +Merret was a kind woman and very pleasant, who had no doubt sometimes to +put up with her husband's tantrums. But though he was rather haughty, we +were fond of him. After all, it was his place to behave so. When a man +is a born nobleman, you see----' + +"'Still, there must have been some catastrophe for Monsieur and Madame +de Merret to part so violently?' + +"'I did not say there was any catastrophe, sir. I know nothing about +it.' + +"'Indeed. Well, now, I am sure you know everything.' + +"'Well, sir, I will tell you the whole story.--When I saw Monsieur +Regnault go up to see you, it struck me that he would speak to you about +Madame de Merret as having to do with la Grande Breteche. That put it +into my head to ask your advice, sir, seeming to me that you are a +man of good judgment and incapable of playing a poor woman like me +false--for I never did any one a wrong, and yet I am tormented by my +conscience. Up to now I have never dared to say a word to the people of +these parts; they are all chatter-mags, with tongues like knives. And +never till now, sir, have I had any traveler here who stayed so long in +the inn as you have, and to whom I could tell the history of the fifteen +thousand francs----' + +"'My dear Madame Lepas, if there is anything in your story of a nature +to compromise me,' I said, interrupting the flow of her words, 'I would +not hear it for all the world.' + +"'You need have no fears,' said she; 'you will see.' + +"Her eagerness made me suspect that I was not the only person to whom +my worthy landlady had communicated the secret of which I was to be the +sole possessor, but I listened. + +"'Monsieur,' said she, 'when the Emperor sent the Spaniards here, +prisoners of war and others, I was required to lodge at the charge +of the Government a young Spaniard sent to Vendome on parole. +Notwithstanding his parole, he had to show himself every day to the +sub-prefect. He was a Spanish grandee--neither more nor less. He had +a name in _os_ and _dia_, something like Bagos de Feredia. I wrote his +name down in my books, and you may see it if you like. Ah! he was a +handsome young fellow for a Spaniard, who are all ugly they say. He was +not more than five feet two or three in height, but so well made; and he +had little hands that he kept so beautifully! Ah! you should have +seen them. He had as many brushes for his hands as a woman has for her +toilet. He had thick, black hair, a flame in his eye, a somewhat coppery +complexion, but which I admired all the same. He wore the finest linen +I have ever seen, though I have had princesses to lodge here, and, among +others, General Bertrand, the Duc and Duchesse d'Abrantes, Monsieur +Descazes, and the King of Spain. He did not eat much, but he had such +polite and amiable ways that it was impossible to owe him a grudge for +that. Oh! I was very fond of him, though he did not say four words to me +in a day, and it was impossible to have the least bit of talk with him; +if he was spoken to, he did not answer; it is a way, a mania they all +have, it would seem. + +"'He read his breviary like a priest, and went to mass and all the +services quite regularly. And where did he post himself?--we found this +out later.--Within two yards of Madame de Merret's chapel. As he took +that place the very first time he entered the church, no one imagined +that there was any purpose in it. Besides, he never raised his nose +above his book, poor young man! And then, monsieur, of an evening he +went for a walk on the hill among the ruins of the old castle. It was +his only amusement, poor man; it reminded him of his native land. They +say that Spain is all hills! + +"'One evening, a few days after he was sent here, he was out very late. +I was rather uneasy when he did not come in till just on the stroke of +midnight; but we all got used to his whims; he took the key of the door, +and we never sat up for him. He lived in a house belonging to us in the +Rue des Casernes. Well, then, one of our stable-boys told us one evening +that, going down to wash the horses in the river, he fancied he had seen +the Spanish Grandee swimming some little way off, just like a fish. When +he came in, I told him to be careful of the weeds, and he seemed put out +at having been seen in the water. + +"'At last, monsieur, one day, or rather one morning, we did not find +him in his room; he had not come back. By hunting through his things, I +found a written paper in the drawer of his table, with fifty pieces of +Spanish gold of the kind they call doubloons, worth about five thousand +francs; and in a little sealed box ten thousand francs worth of +diamonds. The paper said that in case he should not return, he left us +this money and these diamonds in trust to found masses to thank God for +his escape and for his salvation. + +"'At that time I still had my husband, who ran off in search of him. +And this is the queer part of the story: he brought back the Spaniard's +clothes, which he had found under a big stone on a sort of breakwater +along the river bank, nearly opposite la Grande Breteche. My husband +went so early that no one saw him. After reading the letter, he burnt +the clothes, and, in obedience to Count Feredia's wish, we announced +that he had escaped. + +"'The sub-prefect set all the constabulary at his heels; but, pshaw! he +was never caught. Lepas believed that the Spaniard had drowned himself. +I, sir, have never thought so; I believe, on the contrary, that he had +something to do with the business about Madame de Merret, seeing that +Rosalie told me that the crucifix her mistress was so fond of that she +had it buried with her, was made of ebony and silver; now in the early +days of his stay here, Monsieur Feredia had one of ebony and silver +which I never saw later.--And now, monsieur, do not you say that I need +have no remorse about the Spaniard's fifteen thousand francs? Are they +not really and truly mine?' + +"'Certainly.--But have you never tried to question Rosalie?' said I. + +"'Oh, to be sure I have, sir. But what is to be done? That girl is like +a wall. She knows something, but it is impossible to make her talk.' + +"After chatting with me for a few minutes, my hostess left me a prey +to vague and sinister thoughts, to romantic curiosity, and a religious +dread, not unlike the deep emotion which comes upon us when we go into a +dark church at night and discern a feeble light glimmering under a lofty +vault--a dim figure glides across--the sweep of a gown or of a priest's +cassock is audible--and we shiver! La Grande Breteche, with its rank +grasses, its shuttered windows, its rusty iron-work, its locked doors, +its deserted rooms, suddenly rose before me in fantastic vividness. I +tried to get into the mysterious dwelling to search out the heart of +this solemn story, this drama which had killed three persons. + +"Rosalie became in my eyes the most interesting being in Vendome. As +I studied her, I detected signs of an inmost thought, in spite of the +blooming health that glowed in her dimpled face. There was in her soul +some element of ruth or of hope; her manner suggested a secret, like +the expression of devout souls who pray in excess, or of a girl who has +killed her child and for ever hears its last cry. Nevertheless, she was +simple and clumsy in her ways; her vacant smile had nothing criminal +in it, and you would have pronounced her innocent only from seeing the +large red and blue checked kerchief that covered her stalwart bust, +tucked into the tight-laced bodice of a lilac- and white-striped gown. +'No,' said I to myself, 'I will not quit Vendome without knowing the +whole history of la Grande Breteche. To achieve this end, I will make +love to Rosalie if it proves necessary.' + +"'Rosalie!' said I one evening. + +"'Your servant, sir?' + +"'You are not married?' She started a little. + +"'Oh! there is no lack of men if ever I take a fancy to be miserable!' +she replied, laughing. She got over her agitation at once; for every +woman, from the highest lady to the inn-servant inclusive, has a native +presence of mind. + +"'Yes; you are fresh and good-looking enough never to lack lovers! But +tell me, Rosalie, why did you become an inn-servant on leaving Madame de +Merret? Did she not leave you some little annuity?' + +"'Oh yes, sir. But my place here is the best in all the town of +Vendome.' + +"This reply was such an one as judges and attorneys call evasive. +Rosalie, as it seemed to me, held in this romantic affair the place of +the middle square of the chess-board: she was at the very centre of the +interest and of the truth; she appeared to me to be tied into the knot +of it. It was not a case for ordinary love-making; this girl contained +the last chapter of a romance, and from that moment all my attentions +were devoted to Rosalie. By dint of studying the girl, I observed in +her, as in every woman whom we make our ruling thought, a variety of +good qualities; she was clean and neat; she was handsome, I need not +say; she soon was possessed of every charm that desire can lend to a +woman in whatever rank of life. A fortnight after the notary's visit, +one evening, or rather one morning, in the small hours, I said to +Rosalie: + +"'Come, tell me all you know about Madame de Merret.' + +"'Oh!' she said, 'I will tell you; but keep the secret carefully.' + +"'All right, my child; I will keep all your secrets with a thief's +honor, which is the most loyal known.' + +"'If it is all the same to you,' said she, 'I would rather it should be +with your own.' + +"Thereupon she set her head-kerchief straight, and settled herself to +tell the tale; for there is no doubt a particular attitude of confidence +and security is necessary to the telling of a narrative. The best tales +are told at a certain hour--just as we are all here at table. No one +ever told a story well standing up, or fasting. + +"If I were to reproduce exactly Rosalie's diffuse eloquence, a whole +volume would scarcely contain it. Now, as the event of which she gave me +a confused account stands exactly midway between the notary's gossip and +that of Madame Lepas, as precisely as the middle term of a rule-of-three +sum stands between the first and third, I have only to relate it in as +few words as may be. I shall therefore be brief. + +"The room at la Grande Breteche in which Madame de Merret slept was on +the ground floor; a little cupboard in the wall, about four feet deep, +served her to hang her dresses in. Three months before the evening of +which I have to relate the events, Madame de Merret had been seriously +ailing, so much so that her husband had left her to herself, and had his +own bedroom on the first floor. By one of those accidents which it is +impossible to foresee, he came in that evening two hours later than +usual from the club, where he went to read the papers and talk politics +with the residents in the neighborhood. His wife supposed him to have +come in, to be in bed and asleep. But the invasion of France had been +the subject of a very animated discussion; the game of billiards had +waxed vehement; he had lost forty francs, an enormous sum at Vendome, +where everybody is thrifty, and where social habits are restrained +within the bounds of a simplicity worthy of all praise, and the +foundation perhaps of a form of true happiness which no Parisian would +care for. + +"For some time past Monsieur de Merret had been satisfied to ask Rosalie +whether his wife was in bed; on the girl's replying always in the +affirmative, he at once went to his own room, with the good faith that +comes of habit and confidence. But this evening, on coming in, he took +it into his head to go to see Madame de Merret, to tell her of his +ill-luck, and perhaps to find consolation. During dinner he had observed +that his wife was very becomingly dressed; he reflected as he came +home from the club that his wife was certainly much better, that +convalescence had improved her beauty, discovering it, as husbands +discover everything, a little too late. Instead of calling Rosalie, +who was in the kitchen at the moment watching the cook and the coachman +playing a puzzling hand at cards, Monsieur de Merret made his way to his +wife's room by the light of his lantern, which he set down at the lowest +step of the stairs. His step, easy to recognize, rang under the vaulted +passage. + +"At the instant when the gentleman turned the key to enter his wife's +room, he fancied he heard the door shut of the closet of which I have +spoken; but when he went in, Madame de Merret was alone, standing in +front of the fireplace. The unsuspecting husband fancied that Rosalie +was in the cupboard; nevertheless, a doubt, ringing in his ears like a +peal of bells, put him on his guard; he looked at his wife, and read in +her eyes an indescribably anxious and haunted expression. + +"'You are very late,' said she.--Her voice, usually so clear and sweet, +struck him as being slightly husky. + +"Monsieur de Merret made no reply, for at this moment Rosalie came in. +This was like a thunder-clap. He walked up and down the room, going from +one window to another at a regular pace, his arms folded. + +"'Have you had bad news, or are you ill?' his wife asked him timidly, +while Rosalie helped her to undress. He made no reply. + +"'You can go, Rosalie,' said Madame de Merret to her maid; 'I can put in +my curl-papers myself.'--She scented disaster at the mere aspect of her +husband's face, and wished to be alone with him. As soon as Rosalie +was gone, or supposed to be gone, for she lingered a few minutes in the +passage, Monsieur de Merret came and stood facing his wife, and said +coldly, 'Madame, there is some one in your cupboard!' She looked at her +husband calmly, and replied quite simply, 'No, monsieur.' + +"This 'No' wrung Monsieur de Merret's heart; he did not believe it; and +yet his wife had never appeared purer or more saintly than she seemed +to be at this moment. He rose to go and open the closet door. Madame de +Merret took his hand, stopped him, looked at him sadly, and said in a +voice of strange emotion, 'Remember, if you should find no one there, +everything must be at an end between you and me.' + +"The extraordinary dignity of his wife's attitude filled him with deep +esteem for her, and inspired him with one of those resolves which need +only a grander stage to become immortal. + +"'No, Josephine,' he said, 'I will not open it. In either event we +should be parted for ever. Listen; I know all the purity of your soul, I +know you lead a saintly life, and would not commit a deadly sin to save +your life.'--At these words Madame de Merret looked at her husband with +a haggard stare.--'See, here is your crucifix,' he went on. 'Swear to +me before God that there is no one in there; I will believe you--I will +never open that door.' + +"Madame de Merret took up the crucifix and said, 'I swear it.' + +"'Louder,' said her husband; 'and repeat: "I swear before God that there +is nobody in that closet."' She repeated the words without flinching. + +"'That will do,' said Monsieur de Merret coldly. After a moment's +silence: 'You have there a fine piece of work which I never saw before,' +said he, examining the crucifix of ebony and silver, very artistically +wrought. + +"'I found it at Duvivier's; last year when that troop of Spanish +prisoners came through Vendome, he bought it of a Spanish monk.' + +"'Indeed,' said Monsieur de Merret, hanging the crucifix on its nail; +and he rang the bell. + +"He had to wait for Rosalie. Monsieur de Merret went forward quickly +to meet her, led her into the bay of the window that looked on to the +garden, and said to her in an undertone: + +"'I know that Gorenflot wants to marry you, that poverty alone prevents +your setting up house, and that you told him you would not be his wife +till he found means to become a master mason.--Well, go and fetch him; +tell him to come here with his trowel and tools. Contrive to wake no one +in his house but himself. His reward will be beyond your wishes. Above +all, go out without saying a word--or else!' and he frowned. + +"Rosalie was going, and he called her back. 'Here, take my latch-key,' +said he. + +"'Jean!' Monsieur de Merret called in a voice of thunder down the +passage. Jean, who was both coachman and confidential servant, left his +cards and came. + +"'Go to bed, all of you,' said his master, beckoning him to come close; +and the gentleman added in a whisper, 'When they are all asleep--mind, +_asleep_--you understand?--come down and tell me.' + +"Monsieur de Merret, who had never lost sight of his wife while giving +his orders, quietly came back to her at the fireside, and began to tell +her the details of the game of billiards and the discussion at the club. +When Rosalie returned she found Monsieur and Madame de Merret conversing +amiably. + +"Not long before this Monsieur de Merret had had new ceilings made to +all the reception-rooms on the ground floor. Plaster is very scarce at +Vendome; the price is enhanced by the cost of carriage; the gentleman +had therefore had a considerable quantity delivered to him, knowing +that he could always find purchasers for what might be left. It was this +circumstance which suggested the plan he carried out. + +"'Gorenflot is here, sir,' said Rosalie in a whisper. + +"'Tell him to come in,' said her master aloud. + +"Madame de Merret turned paler when she saw the mason. + +"'Gorenflot,' said her husband, 'go and fetch some bricks from the +coach-house; bring enough to wall up the door of this cupboard; you can +use the plaster that is left for cement.' Then, dragging Rosalie and the +workman close to him--'Listen, Gorenflot,' said he, in a low voice, +'you are to sleep here to-night; but to-morrow morning you shall have a +passport to take you abroad to a place I will tell you of. I will give +you six thousand francs for your journey. You must live in that town for +ten years; if you find you do not like it, you may settle in another, +but it must be in the same country. Go through Paris and wait there till +I join you. I will there give you an agreement for six thousand francs +more, to be paid to you on your return, provided you have carried out +the conditions of the bargain. For that price you are to keep perfect +silence as to what you have to do this night. To you, Rosalie, I will +secure ten thousand francs, which will not be paid to you till your +wedding day, and on condition of your marrying Gorenflot; but, to get +married, you must hold your tongue. If not, no wedding gift!' + +"'Rosalie,' said Madame de Merret, 'come and brush my hair.' + +"Her husband quietly walked up and down the room, keeping an eye on the +door, on the mason, and on his wife, but without any insulting display +of suspicion. Gorenflot could not help making some noise. Madame de +Merret seized a moment when he was unloading some bricks, and when her +husband was at the other end of the room to say to Rosalie: 'My dear +child, I will give you a thousand francs a year if only you will tell +Gorenflot to leave a crack at the bottom.' Then she added aloud quite +coolly: 'You had better help him.' + +"Monsieur and Madame de Merret were silent all the time while Gorenflot +was walling up the door. This silence was intentional on the husband's +part; he did not wish to give his wife the opportunity of saying +anything with a double meaning. On Madame de Merret's side it was pride +or prudence. When the wall was half built up the cunning mason took +advantage of his master's back being turned to break one of the two +panes in the top of the door with a blow of his pick. By this Madame de +Merret understood that Rosalie had spoken to Gorenflot. They all three +then saw the face of a dark, gloomy-looking man, with black hair and +flaming eyes. + +"Before her husband turned round again the poor woman had nodded to the +stranger, to whom the signal was meant to convey, 'Hope.' + +"At four o'clock, as the day was dawning, for it was the month of +September, the work was done. The mason was placed in charge of Jean, +and Monsieur de Merret slept in his wife's room. + +"Next morning when he got up he said with apparent carelessness, 'Oh, +by the way, I must go to the Maire for the passport.' He put on his hat, +took two or three steps towards the door, paused, and took the crucifix. +His wife was trembling with joy. + +"'He will go to Duvivier's,' thought she. + +"As soon as he had left, Madame de Merret rang for Rosalie, and then in +a terrible voice she cried: 'The pick! Bring the pick! and set to work. +I saw how Gorenflot did it yesterday; we shall have time to make a gap +and build it up again.' + +"In an instant Rosalie had brought her mistress a sort of cleaver; she, +with a vehemence of which no words can give an idea, set to work to +demolish the wall. She had already got out a few bricks, when, turning +to deal a stronger blow than before, she saw behind her Monsieur de +Merret. She fainted away. + +"'Lay madame on her bed,' said he coldly. + +"Foreseeing what would certainly happen in his absence, he had laid +this trap for his wife; he had merely written to the Maire and sent for +Duvivier. The jeweler arrived just as the disorder in the room had been +repaired. + +"'Duvivier,' asked Monsieur de Merret, 'did not you buy some crucifixes +of the Spaniards who passed through the town?' + +"'No, monsieur.' + +"'Very good; thank you,' said he, flashing a tiger's glare at his wife. +'Jean,' he added, turning to his confidential valet, 'you can serve my +meals here in Madame de Merret's room. She is ill, and I shall not leave +her till she recovers.' + +"The cruel man remained in his wife's room for twenty days. During +the earlier time, when there was some little noise in the closet, +and Josephine wanted to intercede for the dying man, he said, without +allowing her to utter a word, 'You swore on the Cross that there was no +one there.'" + + +After this story all the ladies rose from table, and thus the spell +under which Bianchon had held them was broken. But there were some among +them who had almost shivered at the last words. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personage appears in other stories of the Human Comedy. + + Bianchon, Horace + Father Goriot + The Atheist's Mass + Cesar Birotteau + The Commission in Lunacy + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Secrets of a Princess + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Study of Woman + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Magic Skin + A Second Home + A Prince of Bohemia + Letters of Two Brides + The Muse of the Department + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + The Country Parson + + In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of La Grande Breteche, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LA GRANDE BRETECHE *** + +***** This file should be named 1710.txt or 1710.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/1/1710/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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