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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17376-8.txt b/17376-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..59b62f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/17376-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11808 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume III +(of 8), by Guy de Maupassant + + +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: The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume III (of 8) + The Viaticum -- The Relics -- The Thief -- A Rupture -- A Useful House -- The Accent -- Ghosts -- Crash -- An Honest Ideal -- Stable Perfume -- The Ill-Omened Groom -- An Exotic Prince -- Virtue in the Ballet -- In His Sweetheart's Livery -- Delila -- A Mesalliance -- Bertha -- Abandoned -- A Night in Whitechapel -- Countess Satan -- Kind Girls -- Profitable Business -- Violated -- Jeroboam -- The Log -- Margot's Tapers -- Caught in the Very Act -- The Confession -- Was It a Dream -- The Last Step -- The Will -- A Country Excursion -- The Lancer's Wife -- The Colonel's Ideas -- One Evening -- The Hermaphrodite -- Marroca -- An Artifice -- The Assignation -- An Adventure -- The Double Pins -- Under the Yoke -- The Real One and the Other -- The Upstart -- The Carter's Wench -- The Marquis -- The Bed -- An Adventure in Paris -- Madame Baptiste -- Happiness + + +Author: Guy de Maupassant + + + +Release Date: December 22, 2005 [eBook #17376] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT, +VOLUME III (OF 8)*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT + +VOLUME III + +The Viaticum and Other Stories + + + + + + + +National Library Company New York +Copyright, 1909, by Bigelow, Smith & Co. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + THE VIATICUM + + THE RELICS + + THE THIEF + + A RUPTURE + + A USEFUL HOUSE + + THE ACCENT + + GHOSTS + + CRASH + + AN HONEST IDEAL + + STABLE PERFUME + + THE ILL-OMENED GROOM + + AN EXOTIC PRINCE + + VIRTUE IN THE BALLET + + IN HIS SWEETHEART'S LIVERY + + DELILA + + A MESALLIANCE + + BERTHA + + ABANDONED + + A NIGHT IN WHITECHAPEL + + COUNTESS SATAN + + KIND GIRLS + + PROFITABLE BUSINESS + + VIOLATED + + JEROBOAM + + THE LOG + + MARGOT'S TAPERS + + CAUGHT IN THE VERY ACT + + THE CONFESSION + + WAS IT A DREAM + + THE LAST STEP + + THE WILL + + A COUNTRY EXCURSION + + THE LANCER'S WIFE + + THE COLONEL'S IDEAS + + ONE EVENING + + THE HERMAPHRODITE + + MARROCA + + AN ARTIFICE + + THE ASSIGNATION + + AN ADVENTURE + + THE DOUBLE PINS + + UNDER THE YOKE + + THE REAL ONE AND THE OTHER + + THE UPSTART + + THE CARTER'S WENCH + + THE MARQUIS + + THE BED + + AN ADVENTURE IN PARIS + + MADAME BAPTISTE + + HAPPINESS + + + + +THE VIATICUM + + +"After all," Count d'Avorsy said, stirring his tea with the slow +movements of a prelate, "what truth was there in anything that was said +at Court, almost without any restraint, and did the Empress, whose +beauty has been ruined by some secret grief, who will no longer see +anyone and who soothes her continual mental weariness by some journeys +without an object and without a rest, in foggy and melancholy islands, +and did she really forget Caesar's wife ought not even to be suspected, +did she really give herself to that strange and attractive corrupter, +Ladislas Ferkoz?" + +The bright night seemed to be scattering handfuls of stars into the +placid sea, which was as calm as a blue pond, slumbering in the depths +of a forest. Among the tall climbing roses, which hung a mantle of +yellow flowers to the fretted baluster of the terrace, there stood out +in the distance the illuminated fronts of the hotels and villas, and +occasionally women's laughter was heard above the dull, monotonous sound +of surf and the noise of the fog-horns. + +Then Captain Sigmund Oroshaz, whose sad and pensive face of a soldier +who has seen too much slaughter and too many charnel houses, was marked +by a large scar, raised his head and said in a grave, haughty voice: + +"Nobody has lied in accusing Maria-Gloriosa of adultery, and nobody has +calumniated the Empress and her minister, whom God has damned in the +other world. Ladislas Ferkoz was his sovereign's lover until he died, +and made his august master ridiculous and almost odious, for the man, no +matter who he be, who allows himself to be flouted by a creature who is +unworthy of bearing his name and of sharing his bread; who puts up with +such disgrace, who does not crush the guilty couple with all the weight +of his power, is not worth pity, nor does he deserve to be spared the +mockery. And if I affirm that so harshly, my dear Count--although years +and years have passed since the sponge passed over that old story--the +reason is that I saw the last chapter of it, quite in spite of myself, +however, for I was the officer who was on duty at the palace, and +obliged to obey orders, just as if I had been on the field of +battle--and on that day I was on duty near Maria-Gloriosa." + +Madame de Laumières, who had begun an animated conversation on +crinolines, admist the fragrant odor of Russian cigarettes, and who was +making fun of the striking toilets, with which she had amused herself by +scanning through her opera glass a few hours previously at the races, +stopped, for even when she was talking most volubly she always kept her +ears open to hear what was being said around her, and as her curiosity +was aroused, she interrupted Sigmund Oroshaz. + +"Ah! Monsieur," she said, "you are not going to leave our curiosity +unsatisfied.... A story about the Empress puts all our scandals on the +beach, and all our questions of dress into the shade, and, I am sure," +she added with a smile at the corners of her mouth, "that even our +friend, Madame d'Ormonde will leave off flirting with Monsieur Le +Brassard to listen to you." + +Captain Oroshaz continued, with his large blue eyes full of +recollections: + +"It was in the middle of a grand ball that the Emperor was giving on the +occasion of some family anniversary, though I forget exactly what, and +where Maria-Gloriosa, who was in great grief, as she had heard that her +lover was ill and his life almost despaired of, far from her, was going +about with her face as pale as that of _Our Lady of Sorrows_, seemed to +be a soul in affliction, appeared to be ashamed of her bare shoulders, +as if she were being made a parade of in the light, while he, the adored +of her heart, was lying on a bed of sickness, getting weaker every +moment, longing for her and perhaps calling for her in his distress. +About midnight, when the violins were striking up the quadrille, which +the Emperor was to dance with the wife of the French Ambassador, one of +the ladies of honor, Countess Szegedin, went up to the Empress, and +whispered a few words to her, in a very low voice. Maria-Gloriosa grew +still paler, but mastered her emotion and waited until the end of the +last figure. Then, however, she could not restrain herself any longer, +and even without giving any pretext for running away in such a manner, +and leaning on the arm of her lady of honor, she made her way through +the crowd as if she were in a dream and went to her own apartments. I +told you that I was on duty that evening at the door of her rooms, and +according to etiquette, I was going to salute her respectfully, but she +did not give me time. + +"'Captain,' she said excitedly and vehemently, 'give orders for my own +private coachman, Hans Hildersheim, to get a carriage ready for me +immediately,' but thinking better of it immediately she went on: 'But +no, we should only lose time, and every minute is precious; give me a +cloak quickly, Madame, and a lace veil; we will go out of one of the +small doors in the park, and take the first conveyance we see." + +"She wrapped herself in her furs, hid her face in her mantilla, and I +accompanied her, without at first knowing what this mystery was, and +where we were going to, on this mad expedition. I hailed a cab that was +dawdling by the side of the pavement, and when the Empress gave me the +address of Ladislas Ferkoz, the Minister of State, in a low voice, in +spite of my usual phlegm, I felt a vague shiver of emotion, one of those +movements of hesitation and recoil, from which the bravest are not +exempt at times. But how could I get out of this unpleasant part of +acting as her companion, and how show want of politeness to a sovereign +who had completely lost her head? Accordingly, we started, but the +Empress did not pay any more attention to me than if I had not been +sitting by her side in that narrow conveyance, but stifled her sobs with +her pocket handkerchief, muttered a few incoherent words, and +occasionally trembled from head to foot. Her lover's name rose to her +lips as if it had been a response in a litany, and I thought that she +was praying to the Virgin that she might not arrive too late to see +Ladislas Ferkoz again in the possession of his faculties, and keep him +alive for a few hours. Suddenly, as if in reply to herself, she said: 'I +will not cry any more; he must see me looking beautiful, so that he may +remember me, even in death!' + +"When we arrived, I saw that we were expected, and that they had not +doubted that the Empress would come to close her lover's eyes with a +last kiss. She left me there, and hurried to Ladislas Ferkoz's room, +without even shutting the doors behind her, where his beautiful, +sensual, gipsy head stood out from the whiteness of the pillows; but his +face was quite bloodless, and there was no life left in it, except in +his large, strange eyes, that were striated with gold, like the eyes of +an astrologer or of a bearded vulture. + +"The cold numbness of the death struggle had already laid hold of his +robust body and paralyzed his lips and arms, and he could not reply even +by a sound of tenderness to Maria-Gloriosa's wild lamentations and +amorous cries. Neither reply nor smile, alas! But his eyes dilated, and +glistened like the last flame that shoots up from an expiring fire, and +filled them with a world of dying thoughts, of divine recollections, of +delirious love. They appeared to envelope her in kisses, they spoke to +her, they thanked her, they followed her movements, and seemed delighted +at her grief. And as if she were replying to their mute supplications, +as if she had understood them, Maria-Gloriosa suddenly tore off her +lace, threw aside her fur cloak, stood erect beside the dying man, whose +eyes were radiant, desirable in her supreme beauty with her bare +shoulders, her bust like marble and her fair hair, in which diamonds +glistened, surrounding her proud head, like that of the Goddess Diana, +the huntress, and with her arms stretched out towards him in an attitude +of love, of embrace and of blessing. He looked at her in ecstacy, he +feasted on her beauty, and seemed to be having a terrible struggle with +death, in order that he might gaze at her, that apparition of love, a +little longer, see her beyond eternal sleep and prolong this unexpected +dream. And when he felt that it was all over with him, and that even his +eyes were growing dim, two great tears rolled down his cheeks.... + +"When Maria-Gloriosa saw that he was dead, she piously and devoutly +kissed his lips and closed his eyes, like a priest who closes the gold +tabernacle after service, on an evening after benediction, and then, +without exchanging a word, we returned through the darkness to the +palace where the ball was still going on." + + * * * * * + +There was a minute's silence, and while Madame de Laumières, who was +very much touched by this story and whose nerves were rather highly +strung, was drying her tears behind her open fan, suddenly the harsh and +shrill voices of the fast women who were returning from the Casino, by +the strange irony of fate, struck up an idiotic song which was then in +vogue: "_Oh! the poor, oh! the poor, oh! the poor, dear girl!_" + + + + +THE RELICS + + +They had given him a grand public funeral, like they do victorious +soldiers who have added some dazzling pages to the glorious annals of +their country, who have restored courage to desponding heads and cast +over other nations the proud shadow of their country's flag, like a yoke +under which those went who were no longer to have a country, or liberty. + +During a whole bright and calm night, when falling stars made people +think of unknown metamorphoses and the transmigration of souls, who +knows whether tall cavalry soldiers in their cuirasses and sitting as +motionless as statues on their horses, had watched by the dead man's +coffin, which was resting, covered with wreaths, under the porch of the +heroes, every stone of which is engraved with the name of a brave man, +and of a battle. + +The whole town was in mourning, as if it had lost the only object that +had possession of its heart, and which it loved. The crowd went silently +and thoughtfully down the avenue of the _Champs Elysées_, and they +almost fought for the commemorative medals and the common portraits +which hawkers were selling, or climbed upon the stands which street boys +had erected here and there, and whence they could see over the heads of +the crowd. The _Place de la Concorde_ had something solemn about it, +with its circle of statues hung from head to foot with long crape +coverings, which looked in the distance like widows, weeping and +praying. + +According to his last wish, Jean Ramel had been conveyed to the Pantheon +in the wretched paupers' hearse, which conveys them to the common grave +at the shambling trot of some thin and broken-winded horse. + +That dreadful, black conveyance without any drapery, without plumes and +without flowers, which was followed by Ministers and deputies, by +several regiments with their bands, and their flags flying above the +helmets and the sabers, by children from the national schools, by +delegates from the provinces, and an innumerable crowd of men in +blouses, of women, of shop-keepers from every quarter, had a most +theatrical effect, and while standing on the steps of the Pantheon, at +the foot of the massive columns of the portico, the orators successively +discanted on his apotheosis, tried to make their voices predominate over +the noise, emphasized their pompous periods, and finished the +performance by a poor third act, which makes people yawn and gradually +empties the theater, people remembered who that man had been, on whom +such posthumous honors were being bestowed, and who was having such a +funeral: it was Jean Ramel. + +Those three sonorous syllables called up a lionine head, with white hair +thrown back in disorder, like a mane, with features that looked as if +they had been cut out with a bill-hook, but which were so powerful, and +in which there lay such a flame of life, that one forgot their vulgarity +and ugliness; with black eyes under bushy eyebrows, which dilated and +flashed like lightning, now were veiled as if in tears and then were +filled with serene mildness, with a voice which now growled so as almost +to terrify its hearers, and which would have filled the hall of some +working men's club, full of the thick smoke from strong pipes without +being affected by it, and then would be soft, coaxing, persuasive and +unctuous like that of a priest who is holding out promises of Paradise, +or giving absolution for our sins. + +He had had the good luck to be persecuted, to be in the eyes of the +people, the incarnation of that lying formula which appears on every +public edifice, of those three words of the _Golden Age_, which make +those who think, those who suffer and those who govern, smile somewhat +sadly, _Liberty, Fraternity, Equality_. Luck had been kind to him, had +sustained, had pushed him on by the shoulders, and had set him up on his +pedestal again when he had fallen down, like all idols do. + +He spoke and he wrote, and always in order to announce the good news to +all the multitudes who suffered--no matter to what grade of society they +might belong--to hold out his hand to them and to defend them, to attack +the abuses of the _Code_--that book of injustice and severity--to speak +the truth boldly, even when it lashed his enemies as if it had been a +whip. + +His books were like Gospels, which are read chapter by chapter, and +warmed the most despairing and the most sorrowing hearts, and brought +comfort, hope and dreams to each. + +He had lived very modestly until the end, and appeared to spend nothing; +and he only kept one old servant, who spoke to him in the Basque +dialect. + +That chaste philosopher, who had all his life long feared women's snares +and wiles, who had looked upon love as a luxury made only for the rich +and idle, which unsettles the brain and interferes with acuteness of +thought, had allowed himself to be caught like an ordinary man, late in +life, when his hair was white and his forehead deeply wrinkled. + +It was not, however, as happens in the visions of solitary ascetics, +some strange queen or female magician, with stars in her eyes and +witchery in her voice, some loose woman who held up the symbolical lamp +immodestly, to light up her radiant nudity, and the pink and white +bouquet of her sweet-smelling skin, some woman in search of voluptuous +pleasures, whose lascivious appeals it is impossible for any man to +listen to, without being excited to the very depths of his being. +Neither a princess out of some fairy tale, nor a frail beauty who was an +expert in the art of reviving the ardor of old men, and of leading them +astray, nor a woman who was disgusted with her ideals, that always +turned out to be alike, and who dreamt of awakening the heart of one of +those men who suffer, who have afforded so much alleviation to human +misery, who seemed to be surrounded by a halo, and who never knew +anything but the true, the beautiful and the good. + +It was only a little girl of twenty, who was as pretty as a wild flower, +who had a ringing laugh, white teeth, and a mind that was as spotless as +a new mirror, in which no figure has been reflected as yet. + +He was in exile at the time for having given public expression to what +he thought, and he was living in an Italian village which was buried in +chestnut trees and situated on the shores of a lake that was narrow and +so transparent that it might have been taken for some nobleman's fish +pond that was like an emerald in a large park. The village consisted of +about twenty red-tiled houses. Several paths paved with flint led up the +side of the hill among the vines where the Madonna, full of grace and +goodness extended her indulgence. + +For the first time in his life Ramel remarked that there were some lips +that were more desirable, more smiling than others, that there was hair +in which it must be delicious to bury the fingers like in fine silk, and +which it must be delightful to kiss, and that there were eyes which +contained an infinitude of caresses, and he had spelled right through +the eclogue, which at length revealed true happiness to him, and he had +had a child, a son, by her. + +This was the only secret that Ramel jealously concealed, and which no +more than two or three of his oldest friends knew anything about, and +while he hesitated about spending twopence on himself, and went to the +Institute and to the Chamber of Deputies outside an omnibus, Pepa led +the happy life of a millionaire who is not frightened of the to-morrow, +and brought up her son like a little prince, with a tutor and three +servants, who had nothing to do but to look after him. + +All that Ramel made went into his mistress's hands, and when he felt +that his last hour was approaching, and that there was no hope of his +recovery--in full possession of his faculties and joy in his dull +eyes--he gave his name to Pepa, and made her his lawful widow, in the +presence of all his friends. She inherited everything that her former +lover left behind, a considerable income from his share of the annual +profits on his books, and also his pension, which the State continued to +pay to her. + +Little Ramel throve wonderfully amidst all this luxury, and gave free +scope to his instincts and his caprices, without his mother ever having +the courage to reprove him in the least, and he did not bear the +slightest resemblance to Jean Ramel. + +Full of pranks, effeminate, a superfine dandy, and precociously vicious, +he suggested the idea of those pages at the Court of Florence, whom we +frequently meet with in _The Decameron_, and who were the playthings for +the idle hands and tips of the patrician ladies. + +He was very ignorant and lived at a great rate, bet on races, and played +cards for heavy stakes with seasoned gamblers, old enough to be his +father. And it was distressing to hear this lad joke about the memory of +him whom he called _the old man_, and persecute his mother because of +the worship and adoration which she felt for Jean Ramel, whom she spoke +of as if he had become a demigod when he died, like in Roman theogony. + +He would have liked altogether to have altered the arrangement of that +kind of sanctuary, the drawing-room, where Pepa kept some of her +husband's manuscripts, the furniture that he had most frequently used, +the bed on which he had died, his pens, his clothes and his weapons. And +one evening, not knowing how to dress himself up more originally than +the rest for a masked ball that stout Toinette Danicheff was going to +give as her house-warming, without saying a word to his mother, he took +down the Academician's dress, the sword and cocked hat that had belonged +to Jean Ramel, and put it on as if it had been a disguise on Shrove +Tuesday. + +Slightly built and with thin arms and legs, the wide clothes hung on +him, and he was a comical sight with the embroidered skirt of his coat +sweeping the carpet, and his sword knocking against his heels. The +elbows and the collar were shiny and greasy from wear, for the _Master_ +had worn it until it was threadbare, to avoid having to buy another, and +had never thought of replacing it. + +He made a tremendous hit, and fair Liline Ablette laughed so at his +grimaces and his disguise, that that night she threw over Prince +Noureddin for him, although he had paid for her house, her horses and +everything else, and allowed her six thousand francs a month--£240--for +extras and pocket money. + + + + +THE THIEF + + +"Certainly," Dr. Sorbier exclaimed, who, while appearing to be thinking +of something else, had been listening quietly to those surprising +accounts of burglaries and of daring acts which might have been borrowed +from the trial of Cartouche; "certainly, I do not know any viler fault, +nor any meaner action than to attack a girl's innocence, to corrupt her, +to profit by a moment of unconscious weakness and of madness, when her +heart is beating like that of a frightened fawn, when her body, which +has been unpolluted up till then, is palpitating with mad desire and her +pure lips seek those of her seducer; when her whole being is feverish +and vanquished, and she abandons herself without thinking of the +irremediable stain, nor of her fall nor of the painful awakening on the +morrow. + +"The man who has brought this about slowly, viciously, and who can tell +with what science of evil, and who, in such a case, has not steadiness +and self-restraint enough to quench that flame by some icy words, who +has not sense enough for two, who cannot recover his self-possession and +master the runaway brute within him, and who loses his head on the edge +of the precipice over which she is going to fall, is as contemptible as +any man who breaks open a lock, or as any rascal on the look-out for a +house left defenseless and without protection, or for some easy and +profitable stroke of business, or as that thief whose various exploits +you have just related to us. + +"I, for my part, utterly, refuse to absolve him even when extenuating +circumstances plead in his favor, even when he is carrying on a +dangerous flirtation, in which a man tries in vain to keep his balance, +not to exceed the limits of the game, any more than at lawn tennis; even +when the parts are inverted and a man's adversary is some precocious, +curious, seductive girl, who shows you immediately that she has nothing +to learn and nothing to experience, except the last chapter of love, one +of those girls from whom may fate always preserve our sons, and whom a +psychological novel writer has christened _The Semi-Virgins_. + +"It is, of course, difficult and painful for that coarse and +unfathomable vanity which is characteristic of every man, and which +might be called _malism_, not to stir such a charming fire, to act the +Joseph and the fool, to turn away his eyes, and, as it were, to put wax +into his ears, like the companions of Ulysses did when they were +attracted by the divine, seductive songs of the sirens, just to touch +that pretty table, covered with a perfectly new cloth, at which you are +invited to take a seat before any one else, in such a suggestive voice, +and are requested to quench your thirst and to taste that new wine, +whose fresh and strange flavor you will never forget. But who would +hesitate to exercise such self-restraint if, when he rapidly examined +his conscience, in one of those instinctive returns to his sober self, +in which a man thinks clearly and recovers his head; if he were to +measure the gravity of his fault, think of his fault, think of its +consequences, of the reprisals, of the uneasiness which he would always +feel in the future, and which would destroy the repose and the happiness +of his life? + +"You may guess that behind all these moral reflections, such as a +gray-beard like myself may indulge in, there is a story hidden, and sad +as it is, I am sure it will interest you on account of the strange +heroism that it shows." + +He was silent for a few moments as if to classify recollections, and +with his elbows resting on the arms of his easy chair, and his eyes +looking into space, he continued in the slow voice of a hospital +professor, who is explaining a case to his class of medical students, at +a bedside: + +"He was one of those men who, as our grandfathers used to say, never met +with a cruel woman, the type of the adventurous knight who was always +foraging, who had something of the scamp about him, but who despised +danger and was bold even to rashness. He was ardent in the pursuit of +pleasure, and a man who had an irresistible charm about him, one of +those men in whom we excuse the greatest excesses, as the most natural +things in the world. He had run through all his money at gambling and +with pretty girls, and so became, as it were, a soldier of fortune, who +amused himself whenever and however he could, and was at that time +quartered at Versailles. + +"I knew him to the very depths of his childish heart, which was only too +easily penetrated and sounded, and I loved him like some old bachelor +uncle loves a nephew who plays him some tricks, but who knows how to +make him indulgent towards him, and how to wheedle him. He had made me +his confidant far more than his adviser, kept me informed of his +slightest tricks, though he always pretended to be speaking about one of +his friends, and not about himself, and I must confess that his youthful +impetuosity, his careless gaiety and his amorous ardor sometimes +distracted my thoughts and made me envy the handsome, vigorous young +fellow who was so happy at being alive, so that I had not the courage to +check him, to show him his right road, and to call out to him, 'Take +care!' as children do at blind man's buff. + +"And one day, after one of those interminable _cotillons_, where the +couples do not leave each other for hours, but have the bridle on their +neck and can disappear together without anybody thinking of taking +notice of it, the poor fellow at last discovered what love was, that +real love which takes up its abode in the very center of the heart and +in the brain, and is proud of being there, and which rules like a +sovereign and tyrannous master, and so he grew desperately enamored of a +pretty, but badly brought up girl, who was as disquieting and as wayward +as she was pretty. + +"She loved him, however, or rather she idolized him despotically, madly, +with all her enraptured soul, and all her excited person. Left to do as +she pleased by imprudent and frivolous parents, suffering from neurosis, +in consequence of the unwholesome friendships which she contracted at +the convent-school, instructed by what she saw and heard and knew was +going on around her, in spite of her deceitful and artificial conduct, +knowing that neither her father nor her mother, who were very proud of +their race, as well as avaricious, would ever agree to let her marry the +man whom she had taken a liking to, that handsome fellow who had little +besides visionary ideas and debts, and who belonged to the middle +classes, she laid aside all scruples, thought of nothing but of +belonging to him altogether, of taking him for her lover, and of +triumphing over his desperate resistance as an honorable man. + +"By degrees, the unfortunate man's strength gave way, his heart grew +softened, his nerves became excited, and he allowed himself to be +carried away by that current which buffeted him, surrounded him and left +him on the shore like a waif and a stray. + +"They wrote letters full of temptation and of madness to each other, and +not a day passed without their meeting, either accidentally, as it +seemed, or at parties and balls. She had given him her lips in long, +ardent caresses, and she had sealed their compact of mutual passion with +kisses of desire and of hope. And at last she brought him to her room, +almost in spite of himself." + +The doctor stopped, and his eyes suddenly filled with tears, as these +former troubles came back to his mind, and then in a hoarse voice, he +went on, full of horror of what he was going to relate: + +"For months he scaled the garden wall, and holding his breath and +listening for the slightest noise, like a burglar who is going to break +into a house, he went in by the servants' entrance, which she had left +open, went barefoot down a long passage and up the broad staircase, +which creaked occasionally, to the second story, where his mistress's +room was, and stopped there nearly the whole night. + +"One night, when it was darker than usual, and he was making haste lest +he should be later than the time agreed on, the officer knocked up +against a piece of furniture in the ante-room and upset it. It so +happened that the girl's mother had not gone to sleep yet, either +because she had a sick headache, or else because she had sat up late +over some novel, and frightened at that unusual noise which disturbed +the silence of the house, she jumped out of bed, opened the door, saw +some one, indistinctly, running away and keeping close to the wall, and, +immediately thinking that there were burglars in the house, she aroused +her husband and the servants by her frantic screams. The unfortunate man +knew what he was about, and seeing into what a terrible fix he had got, +and preferring to be taken for a common thief to dishonoring his adored +mistress and to betraying the secret of their guilty love, he ran into +the drawing-room, felt en the tables and what-nots, filled his pockets +at random with valuable gew-gaws, and then cowered down behind the grand +piano, which barred up a corner of a large room. + +"The servants who had run in with lighted candles, found him, and +overwhelming him with abuse, seized him by the collar and dragged him, +panting and appearing half dead with shame and terror, to the nearest +police station. He defended himself with intentional awkwardness when he +was brought up for trial, kept up his part with the most perfect +self-possession, and without any signs of the despair and anguish that +he felt in his heart, and condemned and degraded and made to suffer +martyrdom in his honor as a man and as a soldier, he did not protest, +but went to prison as one of those criminals whom society gets rid of, +like noxious vermin. + +"He died there of misery and of bitterness of spirit, with the name of +the fair-haired idol, for whom he had sacrificed himself, on his lips, +as if it had been an ecstatic prayer, and he entrusted his will to the +priest who administered extreme unction to him, and requested him to +give it to me. In it, without mentioning anybody, and without in the +least lifting the veil, he at last explained the enigma, and cleared +himself of those accusations, the terrible burden of which he had borne +until his last breath. + +"I have always thought myself, though I do not know why, that the girl +married and had several charming children, whom she brought up writh the +austere strictness, and in the serious piety of former days!" + + + + +A RUPTURE + + +"It is just as I tell you, my dear fellow, those two poor things whom we +all of us envied, who looked like a couple of pigeons when they are +billing and cooing, and were always spooning until they made themselves +ridiculous, now hate each other just as much as they used to adore each +other. It is a complete break, and one of those which cannot be mended +like you can an old plate! And all for a bit of nonsense, for something +so funny that it ought to have brought them closer together and have +made them amuse themselves together until they were ill. But how can a +man explain himself when he is dying of jealousy, and when he keeps +repeating to his terrified mistress, 'You are lying! you are lying!' +When he shakes her, interrupts her while she is speaking, and says such +hard things to her that at last she flies into a rage, has enough of it, +becomes hard and mad, and thinks of nothing but of giving him tit for +tat and of paying him out in his own coin; does not care a straw about +destroying his happiness, sends everything to the devil, and talks a lot +of bosh which she certainly does not believe. And then, because there is +nothing so stupid and so obstinate in the whole world as lovers, neither +he nor she will take the first steps, and own to having been in the +wrong, and regret having gone too far; but both wait and watch and do +not even write a few lines about nothing, which would restore peace. No, +they let day succeed day, and there are feverish and sleepless nights +when the bed seems so hard, so cheerless and so large, and habits get +weakened and the fire of love that was still smoldering at the bottom of +the heart evaporates in smoke. By degrees both find some reason for what +they wished to do, they think themselves idiots to lose the time which +will never return in that fashion, and so good-bye, and there you are! +That is how Josine Cadenette and that great idiot Servance separated." + +Lalie Spring had lighted a cigarette, and the blue smoke played about +her fine, fair hair, and made one think of those last rays of the +setting sun which pierce through the clouds at sunset, and resting her +elbows on her knees, and with her chin in her hand in a dreamy attitude, +she murmured: + +"Sad, isn't it?" + +"Bah!" I replied, "at their age people easily console themselves, and +everything begins over again, even love!" + +"Well, Josine had already found somebody else...." + +"And did she tell you her story?" + +"Of course she did, and it is such a joke!... You must know that +Servance is one of those fellows like one would wish to have when one +has time to amuse oneself, and so self-possessed that he would be +capable of ruining all the older ones in a girls' school, and given to +trifling as much as most men, so that Josine calls him 'perpetual +motion.' He would have liked to have gone on with his fun until the Day +of Judgment, and seemed to fancy that beds were not made to sleep in at +all, but she could not get used to being deprived of nearly all her +rest, and it really made her ill. But as she wished to be as +conciliatory as possible, and to love and to be loved as ardently as in +the past, and also to sleep off the effects of her happiness peacefully, +she rented a small room in a distant quarter, in a quiet, shady street +giving out that she had just come from the country, and put hardly any +furniture into it except a good bed and a dressing table. Then she +invented an old aunt for the occasion, who was ill and always grumbling, +and who suffered from heart disease and lived in one of the suburbs, and +so several times a week Josine took refuge in her sleeping place, and +used to sleep late there as if it had been some delicious abode where +one forgets the whole world. Sometimes they forgot to call her at the +proper time; she got back late, tired, with red and swollen eyelids, +involved herself in lies, contradicted herself and looked so much as if +she had just come from the confessional, feeling horribly ashamed of +herself, or, as if she had hurried home from some assignation, that at +last Servance worried himself about it, thought that he was being made a +fool of like so many of his comrades were, got into a rage and made up +his mind to set the matter straight, and so discover who this aunt of +his mistress's was, who had so suddenly fallen from the skies. + +"He necessarily applied to an obliging agency, where they excited his +jealousy, exasperated him day after day by making him believe that +Josine Cadenette was making an absolute fool of him, had no more a sick +aunt than she had any virtue, but that during the day she continued the +little debaucheries which she committed with him at night, and that she +shamelessly frequented some discreet bachelor's lodgings, where more +than probably one of his own best friends was amusing himself at his +expense, and having his share of the cake. He was fool enough to +believe these fellows, instead of going and watching Josine himself, +putting his nose into the business and going and knocking at the door of +her room. He wanted to hear no more, and would not listen to her. For a +trifle, in spite of her tears, he would have turned the poor thing into +the streets, as if she had been a bundle of dirty linen. You may guess +how she flew out at him and told him all sorts of things to annoy him; +she let him believe he was not mistaken, that she had had enough of his +affection, and that she was madly in love with another man. He grew very +pale when she said that, looked at her furiously, clenched his teeth and +said in a hoarse voice: + +"'Tell me his name, tell me his name!' + +"'Oh!' she said, chaffingly, 'you know him very well!' and if I had not +happened to have gone in I think there would have been a tragedy.... How +stupid they are, and they were so happy and loved each other so.... And +now Josine is living with fat Schweinsshon, a low scoundrel who will +live upon her and Servance has taken up with Sophie Labisque, who might +easily be his mother; you know her, that bundle of red and yellow, who +has been at that kind of thing for eighteen years, and whom Laglandee +has christened, '_Saecula saeculorum_!'" + +"By Jove! I should rather think I did!" + + + + +A USEFUL HOUSE + + +Royamount's fat sides shook with laughter at the mere recollection of +the funny story that he had promised to his friends, and throwing +himself back in the great arm-chair, which he completely filled, _that +picker up of bits of pinchbeck_, as they called him at the club, at last +said: + +"It is perfectly true, Bordenave does not owe anyone a penny and can go +through any street he likes and publish those famous memoirs of +sheriff's officers, which he has been writing for the last ten years, +when he did not dare to go out, and in which he carefully brought out +the characters and peculiarities of all those generous distributors of +stamped paper with whom he had had dealings, their tricks and wiles, +their weaknesses, their jokes, their manner of performing their duties, +sometimes with brutal rudeness and at others with cunning good nature, +now embarrassed and almost ashamed of their work, and again ironically +jovial, as well the artifices of their clerks to get a few crumbs from +their employer's cake. The book will soon be published and Machin, the +Vaudeville writer, has promised him a preface, so that it will be a most +amusing work. You are surprised, eh? Confess that you are absolutely +surprised, and I will lay you any bet you like that you will not guess +how our excellent friend, whose existence is an inexplicable problem, +has been able to settle with his creditors, and suddenly produce the +requisite amount." + +"Do get to the facts, confound it," Captain Hardeur said, who was +growing tired of all this verbiage. + +"All right, I will get to them as quickly as possible," Royaumont +replied, throwing the stump of his cigar into the fire. "I will clear my +throat and begin. I suppose all of you know that two better friends than +Bordenave and Quillanet do not exist; neither of them could do without +the other, and they have ended by dressing alike, by having the same +gestures, the same laugh, the same walk and the same inflections of +voice, so that one would think that some close bond united them, and +that they had been brought up together from childhood. There is, +however, this great difference between them, that Bordenave is +completely ruined and that all that he possesses are bundles of +mortgages, laughable parchments which attest his ancient race, and +chimerical hopes of inheriting money some day, though these expectations +are already heavily hypothecated. Consequently, he is always on the +look-out for some fresh expedients for raising money, though he is +superbly indifferent about everything, while Sebastien Quillanet, of the +banking house of Quillanet Brothers, must have an income of eight +thousand francs a year, but is descended from an obscure laborer who +managed to secure some of the national property, then he became an army +contractor, speculated on defeat as well as victory, and does not know +now what to do with his money. But the millionaire is timid, dull and +always bored, the ruined spendthrift amuses him by his impertinent ways, +and his libertine jokes; he prompts him when he is at a loss for an +answer, extricates him out of his difficulties, serves as his guide in +the great forests of Paris which is strewn with so many pit-falls, and +helps him to avoid those vulgar adventures which socially ruins a man, +no matter how well ballasted he may be. Then he points out to him what +women would make suitable mistresses for him, who make a man noted, and +have the effect of some rare and beautiful flower pinned into his +buttonhole. He is the confidant of his intrigues, his guest when he +gives small, special entertainments, his daily familiar table companion, +and the buffoon whose sly humor one stimulates, and whose worst +witticisms one tolerates." + +"Really, really," the captain interrupted him, "you have been going on +for more than a quarter of an hour without saying anything." + +So Royaumont shrugged his shoulders and continued: "Oh you can be very +tiresome when you please, my dear fellow!... Last year, when he was at +daggers drawn with his people, who were deafening him with their +recriminations, were worrying him and threatening him with a lot of +annoyance, Quillanet got married. A marriage of reason, and which +apparently changed his habits and his tastes, more especially as the +banker was at that time keeping a perfect little marvel of a woman, a +Parisian jewel of unspeakable attractions and of bewitching delicacy, +that adorable Suzette Marly who is just like a pocket Venus, and who in +some prior stage of her existence must have been Phryne or Lesbia. Of +course he did not get rid of her, but as he was bound to take some +judicious precautions, which are necessary for a man who is deceiving +his wife, he rented a furnished house with a courtyard in front, and a +garden at the back, which one might think had been built to shelter some +amorous folly. It was the nest that he had dreamt of, warm, snug, +elegant, the walls covered with silk hangings of subdued tints, large +pier-glasses, allegorical pictures, and filled with luxurious, low +furniture that seemed to invite caresses and embraces. Bordenave +occupied the ground floor, and the first floor served as a shrine for +the banker and his mistress. Well, just a week ago, in order to hide the +situation better, Bordenave asked Quillanet and some other friends to +one of those luncheons which he understands so well how to order, such a +delicious luncheon, that before it was quite over, every man had a woman +on his knees already, and was asking himself whether a kiss from coaxing +and naughty lips, was not a thousand times more intoxicating than the +finest old brandy or the choicest vintage wines, and was looking at the +bedroom door wishing to escape to it, although the Faculty altogether +forbids that fashion of digesting a dainty repast, when the butler came +in with an embarrassed look, and whispered something to him. + +"Tell the gentleman that he has made a mistake, and ask him to leave me +in peace," Bordenave replied to him in an angry voice. The servant went +out and returned immediately to say that the intruder was using threats, +that he refused to leave the house, and even spoke of having recourse to +the commissary of police. Bordenave frowned, threw his table napkin +down, upset two glasses and staggered out with a red face, swearing and +stammering out: + +"This is rather too much, and the fellow shall find out what going out +of the window means, if he will not leave by the door." But in the +ante-room he found himself face to face with a very cool, polite, +impassive gentleman, who said very quietly to him: + +"You are Count Robert de Bordenave, I believe. Monsieur?" + +"Yes, Monsieur." + +"And the lease that you signed at the lawyer's, Monsieur Albin Calvert, +in the _Rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière_, is in your name, I believe?" + +"Certainly, Monsieur." + +"Then I regret extremely to have to tell you that if you are not in a +position to pay the various accounts which different people have +intrusted to me for collection here, I shall be obliged to seize all the +furniture, pictures, plate, clothes etc., which are here, in the +presence of two witnesses who are waiting for me downstairs in the +street." + +"I suppose this is some joke, Monsieur?" + +"It would be a very poor joke, Monsieur le Comte, and one which I should +certainly not allow myself towards you!" + +The situation was absolutely critical and ridiculous, the more so, that +in the dining-room the women who were slightly _elevated_, were tapping +the wine glasses with their spoons, and calling for him. What could he +do except to explain his misadventure to Quillanet, who became sobered +immediately, and rather than see his shrine of love violated, his secret +sin disclosed and his pictures, ornaments and furniture sold, gave a +check in due form for the claim there and then, though with a very wry +face. And in spite of this, some people will deny that men who are +utterly cleared out, often have a stroke of luck. + + + + +THE ACCENT + + +It was a large, upholstered house, with long white terraces shaded by +vines, from which one could see the sea. Large pines stretched a dark +dome over the sacked facade, and there was a look of neglect, of want +and wretchedness about it all, such as irreparable losses, departures to +other countries, and death leave behind them. + +The interior wore a strange look, with half unpacked boxes serving for +wardrobes, piles of band boxes, and for seats there was an array of +worm-eaten armchairs, into which bits of velvet and silk, which had been +cut from old dresses, had been festooned anyhow, and along the walls +there were rows of rusty nails which made one think of old portraits and +of pictures full of associations, which had one by one been bought for a +low price by some second-hand furniture broker. + +The rooms were in disorder and furnished no matter how, while velvets +were hanging from the ceilings and in the corners, and seemed to show +that as the servants were no longer paid except by hopes, they no longer +did more than give them an accidental, careless touch with the broom +occasionally. The drawing-room, which was extremely large, was full of +useless knick-knacks, rubbish which is put up for sale at stalls at +watering places, daubs, they could not be called paintings of portraits +and of flowers, and an old piano with yellow keys. + +Such is the home where she, who had been called the handsome Madame de +Maurillac, was spending her monotonous existence, like some unfortunate +doll which inconstant, childish hands have thrown into a corner in a +loft, she who, almost passed for a professional seductress, and whose +coquetries, at least so the Faithful ones of the Party said, had been +able to excite a passing and last spark of desire in the dull eyes of +the Emperor. + +Like so many others, she and her husband had waited for his return from +Elba, had discounted a fresh, immediate chance, had kept up boldly and +spent the remains of his fortune at that game of luxury. + +On the day when the illusion vanished, and he was forced to awake from +his dream, Monsieur de Maurillac, without considering that he was +leaving his wife and daughter behind him almost penniless, but not being +able to make up his mind to come down in the world, to vegetate, to +fight against his creditors, to accept the derisive alms of some +sinecure, poisoned himself, like a shop girl who is forsaken by her +lover. + +Madame de Maurillac did not mourn for him, and as this lamentable +disaster had made her interesting, and as she was assisted and supported +by unexpected acts of kindness, and had a good adviser in one of those +old Parisian lawyers who would get anybody out of the most inextricable +difficulties, she managed to save something from the wreck, and to keep +a small income. Then reassured and emboldened, and resting her ultimate +illusions and her chimerical hopes on her daughter's radiant beauty, and +preparing for that last game in which they would risk everything, and +perhaps also hoping that she might herself marry again, the ancient +flirt arranged a double existence. + +For months and months she disappeared from the world, and as a pretext +for her isolation and for hiding herself in the country, she alleged her +daughter's delicate health, and also the important interests she had to +look after in the South of France. + +Her frivolous friends looked upon that as a great act of heroism, as +something almost super-human, and so courageous, that they tried to +distract her by their incessant letters, religiously kept her up in all +the scandal, and love adventures, in the falls, as well as in the +apotheosis of the capital. + +The difficult struggle which Madame de Maurillac had to keep up in order +to maintain her rank, was really as fine as any of those campaigns in +the twilight of glory, as those slow retreats where men only give way +inch by inch and fight until the last cartridge is expended, until at +last fresh troops arrive, reinforcement which bar the way to the enemy, +and save the threatened flag. + +Broken in by the same discipline, and haunted by the same dream, mother +and daughter lived on almost nothing in the dull, dilapidated house +which the peasants called the _château_, and economized like poor people +who only have a few hundred francs a year to live on. But Fabienne de +Maurillac developed well in spite of everything, and grew up into a +woman like some rare flower which is preserved from all contact with the +outer air and is reared in a hot-house. + +In order that she might not lose her Parisian accent by speaking too +much with the servants, who had remained peasants under their livery, +Madame de Maurillac, who had not been able to bring a lady's maid with +her, on account of the extra cost which her traveling expenses and wages +would have entailed, and who, moreover, was afraid that some +indiscretion might betray her maneuvers and cover her with ridicule, +made up her mind to wait on her daughter herself. And Fabienne talked +with nobody but her, saw nobody but her, and was like a little novice in +a convent. Nobody was allowed to speak to her, or to interfere with her +walks in the large garden, or on the white terraces that were reflected +in the blue water. + +As soon as the season for the country and the seaside came, however, +they packed up their trunks, and locked the doors of their house of +exile. As they were not known, and taking those terrible trains which +stop at every station, and by which travelers arrive at their +destination in the middle of the night, with the certainty that nobody +will be waiting for you, and see you get out of the carriage, they +traveled third class, so that they might have a few bank notes the more, +with which to make a show. + +A fortnight in Paris in the family house at Auteuil, a fortnight in +which to try on dresses and bonnets and to show themselves, and then +Trouville, Aix or Biarritz, the whole show complete, with parties +succeeding parties, money was spent as if they did not know its value, +balls at the Casinos, constant flirtations, compromising intimacies, and +those kind of admirers who immediately surround two pretty women, one in +the radiant beauty of her eighteen years, and the other in the +brightness of that maturity, which beautiful September days bring with +them. + +Unfortunately, however, they had to do the same thing over again every +year, and as if bad luck were continuing to follow them implacably, +Madame de Maurillac and her daughter did not succeed in their endeavors, +and did not manage during her usual absence from home, to pick up some +nice fellow who fell in love immediately, who took them seriously, and +asked for Fabienne's hand, consequently, they were very unhappy. Their +energies flagged, and their courage left them like water that escapes, +drop by drop, through a crack in a jug. They grew low-spirited and no +longer dared to be open towards each other and to exchange confidences +and projects. + +Fabienne, with her pale cheeks, her large eyes with blue circles round +them and her tight lips, looked like some captive princess who is +tormented by constant ennui, and troubled by evil suggestions; who +dreams of flight, and of escape from that prison where fate holds her +captive. + +One night, when the sky was covered with heavy thunderclouds and the +heat was most oppressive, Madame de Maurillac called her daughter whose +room was next to hers. After calling her loudly for some time in vain, +she sprang out of bed in terror and almost broke open the door with her +trembling hands. The room was empty, and the pillows untouched. + +Then, nearly mad and foreseeing some irreparable misfortune, the poor +woman ran all over the large house, and then rushed out into the garden, +where the air was heavy with the scent of flowers. She had the +appearance of some wild animal that is being pursued by a pack of +hounds, tried to penetrate the darkness with her anxious looks, and +gasped as if some one were holding her by the throat; but suddenly she +staggered, uttered a painful cry and fell down in a fit. + +There before her, in the shadow of the myrtle trees, Fabienne was +sitting on the knees of a man--of the gardener--with both her arms round +his neck and kissing him ardently, and as if to defy her, and to show +her how vain all her precautions and her vigilance had been, the girl +was telling her lover in the country dialect, and in a cooing and +delightful voice, how she adored him and that she belonged to him.... + +Madame de Maurillac is in a lunatic asylum, and Fabienne has married the +gardener. + +What could she have done better? + + + + +GHOSTS + + +Just at the time when the _Concordat_ was in its most flourishing +condition, a young man belonging to a wealthy and highly respected +middle class family went to the office of the head of the police at +P----, and begged for his help and advice, which was immediately +promised him. + +"My father threatens to disinherit me," the young man then began, +"although I have never offended against the laws of the State, of +morality or of his paternal authority, merely because I do not share his +blind reverence for the Catholic Church and her Ministers. On that +account he looks upon me, not merely as Latitudinarian, but as a perfect +Atheist, and a faithful old manservant of ours, who is much attached to +me, and who accidentally saw my father's will, told me in confidence +that he had left all his property to the Jesuits. I think this is highly +suspicious, and I fear that the priests have been maligning me to my +father. Until less than a year ago, we used to live very quietly and +happily together, but ever since he has had so much to do with the +clergy, our domestic peace and happiness are at an end." + +"What you have told me," the official replied, "is as likely as it is +regrettable, but I fail to see how I can interfere in the matter. Your +father is in the full possession of all his mental faculties, and can +dispose of all his property exactly as he pleases. I also think that +your protest is premature; you must wait until his will can legally take +effect, and then you can invoke the aid of justice; I am sorry to say +that I can do nothing for you." + +"I think you will be able to," the young man replied; "for I believe +that a very clever piece of deceit is being carried on here." + +"How? Please explain yourself more clearly." + +"When I remonstrated with him, yesterday evening, he referred to my dead +mother, and at last assured me, in a voice of the deepest conviction, +that she had frequently appeared to him, and had threatened him with all +the torments of the damned, if he did not disinherit his son, who had +fallen away from God, and leave all his property to the Church. Now I do +not believe in ghosts." + +"Neither do I," the police director replied; "but I cannot well do +anything on this dangerous ground, if I had nothing but superstitions to +go upon. You know how the Church rules all our affairs since the +_Concordat_ with Rome, and if I investigate this matter, and obtain no +results, I am risking my post. It would be very different if you could +adduce any proofs for your suspicions. I do not deny that I should like +to see the clerical party, which will, I fear, be the ruin of Austria, +receive a staggering blow; try, therefore, to get to the bottom of this +business, and then we will talk it over again." + +About a month passed, without the young Latitudinarian being heard of; +but then he suddenly came one evening, evidently in a great state of +excitement, and told him that he was in a position to expose the +priestly deceit which he had mentioned, if the authorities would assist +him. The police director asked for further information. + +"I have obtained a number of important clues," the young man said. "In +the first place, my father confessed to me, that my mother did not +appear to him in our house, but in the churchyard where she is buried. +My mother was consumptive for many years, and a few weeks before her +death she went to the village of S----, where she died and was buried. +In addition to this, I found out from our footman, that my father has +already left the house twice, late at night, in company of X----, the +Jesuit priest, and that on both occasions he did not return till +morning. Each time he was remarkably uneasy and low-spirited after his +return, and had three masses said for my dead mother. He also told me +just now, that he has to leave home this evening on business, but +immediately he told me that, our footman saw the Jesuit go out of the +house. We may, therefore, assume that he intends this evening to consult +the spirit of my dead mother again, and this would be an excellent +opportunity for getting on the track of the matter, if you do not object +to opposing the most powerful force in the Empire, for the sake of such +an insignificant individual as myself." + +"Every citizen has an equal right to the protection of the State," the +police director replied; "and I think that I have shown often enough, +that I am not wanting in courage to perform my duty, no matter how +serious the consequences may be; but only very young men act without any +prospects of success, as they are carried away by their feelings. When +you came to me the first time, I was obliged to refuse your request for +assistance, but to-day your shares have risen in value. It is now eight +o'clock, and I shall expect you in two hours' time, here in my office. +At present, all you have to do is to hold your tongue; everything else +is my affair." + +As soon as it was dark, four men got into a closed carriage in the yard +of the police office, and were driven in the direction of the village of +S----; their carriage, however, did not enter the village, but stopped +at the edge of a small wood in the immediate neighborhood. Here they all +four alighted; they were the police director, accompanied by the young +Latitudinarian, a police sergeant and an ordinary policeman, who was, +however, dressed in plain clothes. + +"The first thing for us to do is to examine the locality carefully," the +police director said; "it is eleven o'clock and the exorcisers of ghosts +will not arrive before midnight, so we have time to look round us, and +to take our measure." + +The four men went to the churchyard, which lay at the end of the +village, near the little wood. Everything was as still as death, and not +a soul was to be seen. The sexton was evidently sitting in the public +house, for they found the door of his cottage locked, as well as the +door of the little chapel that stood in the middle of the churchyard. + +"Where is your mother's grave?" the police director asked; but as there +were only a few stars visible, it was not easy to find it, but at last +they managed it, and the police director looked about in the +neighborhood of it. + +"The position is not a very favorable one for us," he said at last; +"there is nothing here, not even a shrub, behind which we could hide." + +But just then the policeman said that he had tried to get into the +sexton's hut through the door or the window, and that at last he had +succeeded in doing so by breaking open a square in a window, which had +been mended with paper, and that he had opened it and obtained +possession of the key, which he brought to the police director. + +His plans were very quickly settled. He had the chapel opened and went +in with the young Latitudinarian; then he told the police sergeant to +lock the door behind him and to put the key back where he had found it, +and to shut the window of the sexton's cottage carefully. Lastly, he +made arrangements as to what they were to do, in case anything +unforeseen should occur, whereupon the sergeant and the constable left +the churchyard, and lay down in a ditch at some distance from the gate, +but opposite to it. + +Almost as soon as the clock struck half-past eleven, they heard steps +near the chapel, whereupon the police director and the young +Latitudinarian went to the window, in order to watch the beginning of +the exorcism, and as the chapel was in total darkness, they thought that +they should be able to see, without being seen; but matters turned out +differently from what they expected. + +Suddenly, the key turned in the lock, and they barely had time to +conceal themselves behind the altar, before two men came in, one of whom +was carrying a dark lantern. One was the young man's father, an elderly +man of the middle class, who seemed very unhappy and depressed, the +other the Jesuit father K----, a tall, thin, big-boned man, with a thin, +bilious face, in which two large gray eyes shone restlessly under their +bushy, black eyebrows. He lit the tapers, which were standing on the +altar, and then began to say a _Requiem Mass_; while the old man knelt +on the altar steps and served him. + +When it was over, the Jesuit took the book of the Gospels and the holy +water sprinkler, and went slowly out of the chapel, while the old man +followed him, with the holy water basin in one hand and a taper in the +other. Then the police director left his hiding place, and stooping +down, so as not to be seen, he crept to the chapel window, where he +cowered down carefully, and the young man followed his example. They +were now looking straight on his mother's grave. + +The Jesuit, followed by the superstitious old man, walked three times +round the grave; then he remained standing before it, and by the light +of the taper, he read a few passages from the Gospel; then he dipped the +holy water sprinkler three times into the holy water basin, and +sprinkled the grave three times; then both returned to the chapel, knelt +down outside it with their faces towards the grave, and began to pray +aloud, until at last the Jesuit sprang up, in a species of wild ecstasy, +and cried out three times in a shrill voice: + +"Exsurge! Exsurge! Exsurge!"[1] + +[Footnote 1: Arise!] + +Scarcely had the last word of the exorcism died away, when thick, blue +smoke rose out of the grave, which rapidly grew into a cloud, and began +to assume the outlines of a human body, until at last a tall, white +figure stood behind the grave, and beckoned with its hand. + +"Who art thou?" the Jesuit asked solemnly, while the old man began to +cry. + +"When I was alive, I was called Anna Maria B----," the ghost replied in +a hollow voice. + +"Will you answer all my questions?" the priest continued. + +"As far as I can." + +"Have you not yet been delivered from purgatory by our prayers, and all +the masses for your soul, which we have said for you?" + +"Not yet, but soon, soon I shall be." + +"When?" + +"As soon as that blasphemer, my son, has been punished." + +"Has that not already happened? Has not your husband disinherited his +lost son, and made the Church his heir, in his place?" + +"That is not enough." + +"What must he do besides?" + +"He must deposit his will with the Judicial Authorities, as his last +will and testament, and drive the reprobate out of his house." + +"Consider well what you are saying. Must this really be?" + +"It must, or otherwise I shall have to languish in purgatory much +longer," the sepulchral voice replied with a deep sigh; but the next +moment it yelled out in terror: + +"Oh! Good Lord!" and the ghost began to run away as fast as it could. A +shrill whistle was heard, and then another, and the police director laid +his hand on the shoulder of the exorcisor, accompanied with the remark: + +"You are in custody." + +Meanwhile, the police sergeant and the policeman, who had come into the +churchyard, had caught the ghost, and dragged it forward. It was the +sexton, who had put on a flowing, white dress, and who wore a wax mask, +which bore striking resemblance to his mother, as the son declared. + +When the case was heard, it was proved that the mask had been very +skillfully made from a portrait of the deceased woman. The Government +gave orders that the matter should be investigated as secretly as +possible, and left the punishment of Father K---- to the spiritual +authorities, which was a matter of course, at a time when priests were +outside the jurisdiction of the Civil Authorities; and it is needless to +say that he was very comfortable during his imprisonment, in a monastery +in a part of the country which abounded with game and trout. + +The only valuable result of the amusing ghost story was, that it brought +about a reconciliation between father and son, and the former, as a +matter of fact, felt such deep respect for priests and their ghosts in +consequence of the apparition, that a short time after his wife had left +purgatory for the last time, in order to talk with him, he turned +_Protestant_. + + + + +CRASH + + +Love is stronger than death, and consequently also, than the greatest +crash. + +A young, and by no means bad-looking son of Palestine, and one of the +barons of the Almanac of the _Ghetto_, who had left the field covered +with wounds in the last general engagement on the Stock Exchange, used +to go very frequently to the Universal Exhibition in Vienna in 1873, in +order to divert his thoughts, and to console himself amidst the varied +scenes, and the numerous objects of attraction there. One day he met a +newly married couple in the Russian section, who had a very old coat of +arms, but on the other hand, a very modest income. + +This latter circumstance had frequently emboldened the stockbroker to +make secret overtures to the delightful little lady; overtures which +might have fascinated certain Viennese actresses, but which were sure to +insult a respectable woman. The baroness, whose name appeared in the +_Almanack de Gotha_, therefore felt something very like hatred for the +man from the _Ghetto_, and for a long time her pretty little head had +been full of various plans of revenge. + +The stockbroker, who was really, and even passionately in love with her, +got close to her in the Exhibition buildings, which he could do all the +more easily, since the little woman's husband had taken to flight, +foreseeing mischief, as soon as she went up to the show-case of a +Russian fur dealer, before which she remained standing in rapture. + +"Do look at that lovely fur," the baroness said, while her dark eyes +expressed her pleasure; "I must have it." + +But she looked at the white ticket on which the price was marked. + +"Four thousand roubles," she said in despair; "that is about six +thousand florins." + +"Certainly," he replied, "but what of that? It is a sum not worth +mentioning in the presence of such a charming lady." + +"But my husband is not in a position ..." + +"Be less cruel than usual for once," the man from the _Ghetto_ said to +the young woman in a low voice, "and allow me to lay this sable skin at +your feet." + +"I presume that you are joking." + +"Not I ..." + +"I think you must be joking, as I cannot think that you intend to insult +me." + +"But, Baroness, I love you...." + +"That is one reason more why you should not make me angry." + +"But ..." + +"Oh! I am in such a rage," the energetic little woman said; "I could +flog you like _Venus in the Fur_[2] did her slave." + +[Footnote 2: One of Sacher-Masoch's novels.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"Let me be your slave," the Stock Exchange baron replied ardently, "and +I will gladly put up with everything from you. Really, in this sable +cloak, and with a whip in your hand, you would make a most lovely +picture of the heroine of that story." + +The baroness looked at the man for a moment with a peculiar smile. + +"Then if I were to listen to you favorably, you would let me flog you?" +she said after a pause. + +"With pleasure." + +"Very well," she replied quickly. "You will let me give you twenty-five +cuts with a whip, and I will be yours after the twenty-fifth blow." + +"Are you in earnest?" + +"Fully." + +The man from the _Ghetto_ took her hand, and pressed it ardently to his +lips. + +"When may I come?" + +"To-morrow evening at eight o'clock." + +"And I may bring the sable cloak and the whip with me?" + +"No, I will see about that myself." + +The next evening the enamored stockbroker came to the house of the +charming little Baroness, and found her alone, lying on a couch, wrapped +in a dark fur, while she held a dog whip in her small hand, which the +man from the _Ghetto_ kissed. + +"You know our agreement," she began. + +"Of course I do," the Stock Exchange baron replied. "I am to allow you +to give me twenty-five cuts with the whip, and after the twenty-fifth +you will listen to me." + +"Yes, but I am going to tie your hands first of all." + +The amorous baron quietly allowed this new Delila to tie his hands +behind him, and then at her bidding, he knelt down before her, and she +raised her whip and hit him hard. + +"Oh! That hurts me most confoundedly," he exclaimed. + +"I mean it to hurt you," she said with a mocking laugh, and went on +thrashing him without mercy. At last the poor fool groaned with pain, +but he consoled himself with the thought that each blow brought him +nearer to his happiness. + +At the twenty-fourth cut, she threw the whip down. + +"That only makes twenty-four," the beaten would-be, _Don Juan_, +remarked. + +"I will make you a present of the twenty-fifth," she said with a laugh. + +"And now you are mine, altogether mine," he exclaimed ardently. + +"What are you thinking of?" + +"Have I not let you beat me?" + +"Certainly; but I promised you to grant your wish after the twenty-fifth +blow, and you have only received twenty-four," the cruel little bit of +virtue cried, "and I have witnesses to prove it." + +With these words, she drew back the curtains over the door, and her +husband, followed by two other gentlemen came out of the next room, +smiling. For a moment the stockbroker remained speechless on his knees +before the beautiful woman; then he gave a deep sigh, and sadly uttered +that one, most significant word: + +_"Crash!"_ + + + + +AN HONEST IDEAL + + +Among my numerous friends in Vienna, there is one who is an author, and +who has always amused me by his childish idealism. + +Not by his idealism from an abstract point of view, for in spite of my +Pessimism I am an absurd Idealist, and because I am perfectly well aware +of this, I as a rule never laugh at people's Idealism, but his sort of +Idealism was really too funny. + +He was a serious man of great capabilities who only just fell short of +being learned, with a clear, critical intellect; a man without any +illusions about Society, the State, Literature, or anything else, and +especially not about women; but yet he was the craziest Optimist as soon +as he got upon the subject of actresses, theatrical princesses and +heroines; he was one of those men, who, like Hackländer, cannot discover +the Ideal of Virtue anywhere, except in a ballet girl. + +My friend was always in love with some actress or other; of course only +Platonically, and from preference with some girl of rising talent, whose +literary knight he constituted himself, until the time came when her +admirers laid something much more substantial than laurel wreaths at her +feet; then he withdrew and sought for fresh talent which would allow +itself to be patronized by him. + +He was never without the photograph of his ideal in his breast pocket, +and when he was in a good temper he used to show me one or other of +them, whom I had never seen, with a knowing smile, and once, when we +were sitting in a _café_ in the _Prater_, he took out a portrait without +saying a word, and laid it on the table before me. + +It was the portrait of a beautiful woman, but what struck me in it first +of all was not the almost classic cut of her features, but her white +eyes. + +"If she had not the black hair of a living woman, I should take her for +a statue," I said. + +"Certainly," my friend replied; "for a statue of Venus, perhaps for the +Venus of Milo, herself." + +"Who is she?" + +"A young actress." + +"That is a matter of course in your case; what I meant was, what is her +name?" + +My friend told me, and it was a name which is at present one of the best +known on the German stage, with which a number of terrestrial adventures +are connected, as every Viennese knows, with which those of Venus +herself were only innocent toying, but which I then heard for the first +time. + +My idealist described her as a woman of the highest talent, which I +believed, and as an angel of purity, which I did not believe; on that +particular occasion, however, I at any rate did not believe the +contrary. + +A few days later, I was accidentally turning over the leaves of the +portrait album of another intimate friend of mine, who was a thoroughly +careless, somewhat dissolute Viennese, and I came across that strange +female face with the dead eyes again. + +"How did you come by the picture of this Venus?" I asked him. + +"Well, she certainly is a Venus," he replied, "but one of that cheap +kind who are to be met with in the _Graben_[3], which is their ideal +grove...." + +[Footnote 3: The street where most of the best shops are to be found, +and much frequented by venial beauties.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"Impossible!" + +"I give you my word of honor it is so." + +I could say nothing more after that. So my intellectual friend's new +ideal, that woman of the highest dramatic talent, that wonderful woman +with the white eyes, was a street Venus! + +But my friend was right in one respect. He had not deceived himself with +regard to her wonderful dramatic gifts, and she very soon made a career +for herself; far from being a mute character on a suburban stage, she +rose in two years to be the leading actress at one of the principal +theaters. + +My friend interested himself on her behalf with the manager of it, who +was not blinded by any prejudices. She acted in a rehearsal, and pleased +him; whereupon he sent her to star in the provinces, and my friend +accompanied her, and took care she was well puffed. + +She went on the boards as Schiller's _Marie Stuart_, and achieved the +most brilliant success, and before she had finished her starring tour, +she obtained an engagement at a large theater in a Northern town, where +her appearance was the signal for a triumphant success. + +Her reputation, that is, her reputation as a most gifted actress, grew +very high in less than a year, and the manager of the Court theater +invited her to star at the Court theater. + +She was received with some suspicion at first, but she soon overcame all +prejudices and doubts; the applause grew more and more vehement at every +act, and at the close of the performance, her future was decided. She +obtained a splendid engagement, and soon afterwards became an actress at +the Court theater. + +A well-known author wrote a racy novel, of which she was the heroine; +one of the leading bankers and financiers was at her feet; she was the +most popular personage, and the lioness of the capital; she had splendid +apartments, and all her surroundings were of the most luxurious +character, and she had reached that height in her career at which my +idealistic friend, who had constituted himself her literary knight, +quietly took his leave of her, and went in search of fresh talent. + +But the beautiful woman with the dead eyes and the dead heart seemed to +be destined to be the scourge of the Idealists, quite against her will, +for scarcely had one unfolded his wings and flown away from her, than +another fell out of the nest into her net. + +A very young student, who was neither handsome, nor of good family, and +certainly not rich or even well off, but who was enthusiastic, +intellectual and impressionable, saw her as _Marie Stuart_ in _The Maid +of Orleans, The Lady with the Camelias_, and most of the plays of the +best French play writers, for the manager was making experiments with +her, and she was doing the same with her talents. + +The poor student was enraptured with the celebrated actress, and at the +same time conceived a passion for the woman, which bordered on madness. + +He saved up penny by penny, he nearly starved himself, only in order +that he might be able to pay for a seat in the gallery whenever she +acted, and be able to devour her with his eyes. He always got a seat in +the front row, for he was always outside three hours before the doors +opened, so as to be one of the first to gain his Olympus, the seat of +the theatrical enthusiasts; he grew pale, and his heart beat violently +when she appeared; he laughed when she laughed, shed tears when she +wept, applauded her, as if he had been paid to do it by the highest +favors that a woman can bestow, and yet she did not know him, and was +ignorant of his very existence. + +The regular frequenters of the Court theater noticed him at last, and +spoke about his infatuation for her, until at last she heard about him, +but still did not know him, and although he could not send her any +costly jewelry, and not even a bouquet, yet at last he succeeded in +attracting her attention. + +When she had been acting and the theater had been empty for a long time, +and she left it, wrapped in valuable furs and got into the carriage of +her banker, which was waiting for her at the stage door, he always stood +there, often up to his ankles in snow, or in the pouring rain. + +At first she did not notice him, but when her maid said something to her +in a whisper on one occasion, she looked round in surprise, and he got a +look from those large eyes, which were not dead then, but dark and +bright; a look which recompensed him for all his sufferings and filled +him with proud hopes, which constantly gained more power over the young +Idealist, who was usually so modest. + +At last there was a thorough, silent understanding between the +theatrical princess and the dumb adorer. When she put her foot on the +carriage step, she looked round at him, and every time he stood there, +devouring her with his eyes; she saw it and got contentedly into her +carriage, but she did not see how he ran after the carriage, and how he +reached her house, panting for breath, when she did, nor how he lay down +outside after the door had closed behind her. + +One stormy summer night, when the wind was howling in the chimneys, and +the rain was beating against the windows and on the pavement, the poor +student was again lying on the stone steps outside her house, when the +front door was opened very cautiously and quietly; for it was not the +banker who was leaving the house, but a wealthy young officer whom the +girl was letting out; he kissed the pretty little Cerebus as he put a +gold coin into her hand, and then accidentally trod on the Idealist, who +was lying outside. + +They all three simultaneously uttered a cry; the girl blew out the +candle, the officer instinctively half drew his sword, and the student +ran away. + +Ever since that night, the poor, crazy fellow went about with a dagger, +which he concealed in his belt, and it was his constant companion to the +theater, and the stage door, when the actress's carriage used to wait +for her, and to her house, where he nightly kept his painful watch. + +His first idea was to kill his fortunate rival, then himself, then the +theatrical princess, but at last, he lay down again outside her door, or +stood on the pavement and watched the shadows, that flitted hither and +thither on her window, turned by the magic spell of the lovely actress. + +And then, the most incredible thing happened, something which he could +never have hoped for, and which he scarcely believed when it did occur. + +One evening, when she had been playing a very important part, she kept +the carriage waiting much longer than usual; but at last she appeared, +and got into it; she did not shut the door, however, but beckoned to the +young Idealist to follow her. + +He was almost delirious with joy, just as a moment before he had been +almost mad from despair, and obeyed her immediately, and during the +drive he lay at her feet and covered her hands with kisses. She allowed +it quietly and even merrily, and when the carriage stopped at her door, +she let him lift her out of the carriage, and went upstairs leaning on +his arm. + +There, the lady's maid showed him into a luxuriously furnished +drawing-room, while the actress changed her dress. + +Presently she appeared in her dressing gown, sat down carelessly in an +easy chair, and asked him to sit down beside her. + +"You take a great interest in me?" she said. + +"You are my ideal!" the student cried enthusiastically. + +The theatrical princess smiled, and said: + +"Well, I will at any rate be an honest ideal; I will not deceive you, +and you shall not be able to say that I have misused your youthful +enthusiasm. I will give myself to you...." + +"Oh! Heavens!" the poor Idealist exclaimed, throwing himself at her +feet. + +"Wait a moment! Wait a moment!" she said with a smile. "I have not +finished yet. I can only love a man who is in a position to provide me +with all those luxuries which an actress, or, if you like, which I +cannot do without. As far as I know, you are poor, but I will belong to +you, only for to-night, however, and in return you must promise me not +to rave about me, or to follow me, from to-night. Will you do this?" + +The wretched Idealist was kneeling before her; he was having a terrible +mental struggle. + +"Will you promise me to do this?" she said again. + +"Yes," he said, almost groaning. + +The next morning a man, who had buried his Ideal, tottered downstairs. +He was pale enough; almost as pale as a corpse; but in spite of this, he +is still alive, and if he has any Ideal at all at present, it is +certainly not a theatrical princess. + + + + +STABLE PERFUME + + +Three ladies belonging to that class of society which has nothing useful +to do, and therefore does not know how to employ its time sensibly, were +sitting on a bench in the shade of some pine trees at Ischl, and were +talking incidentally of their preference for all sorts of smells. + +One of the ladies, Princess F----, a slim, handsome brunette, declared +there was nothing like the smell of Russian leather; she wore dull brown +Russian leather boots, a Russian leather dress suspender, to keep her +petticoats out of the dirt and dust, a Russian leather belt which +spanned her wasp-like waist, carried a Russian leather purse, and even +wore a brooch and bracelet of gilt Russian leather; people declared that +her bedroom was papered with Russian leather, and that her lover was +obliged to wear high Russian leather boots and tight breeches, but that +on the other hand, her husband was excused from wearing anything at all +in Russian leather. + +Countess H----, a very stout lady, who had formerly been very beautiful +and of a very loving nature, but loving after the fashion of her time _à +la_ Parthenia and Griseldis, could not get over the vulgar taste of the +young Princess. All she cared for was the smell of hay, and she it was +who brought the scent _New Mown Hay_ into fashion. Her ideal was a +freshly mown field in the moonlight, and when she rolled slowly along, +she looked like a moving haystack, and exhaled an odor of hay all about +her. + +The third lady's taste was even more peculiar than Countess H----'s, and +more vulgar than the Princess's, for the small, delicate, light-haired +Countess W---- lived only for--the smell of stables. Her friends could +absolutely not understand this; the Princess raised her beautiful, full +arm with its broad bracelet to her Grecian nose and inhaled the sweet +smell of the Russian leather, while the sentimental hay-rick exclaimed +over and over again: + +"How dreadful! What dost thou say to it, chaste moon?" + +The delicate little Countess seemed very much embarrassed at the effect +that her confession had had, and tried to justify her taste. + +"Prince T---- told me that that smell had quite bewitched him once," she +said; "it was in a Jewish town in Gallicia, where he was quartered once +with his hussar regiment, and a number of poor, ragged circus riders, +with half-starved horses came from Russia and put up a circus with a few +poles and some rags of canvas, and the Prince went to see them, and +found a woman among them, who was neither young nor beautiful, but bold +and impudent; and the impudent woman wore a faded, bright red jacket, +trimmed with old, shabby, imitation ermine, and that jacket stank of the +stable, as the Prince expressed it, and she bewitched him with that +odor, so that every time that the shameless wretch lay in his arms, and +laughed impudently, and smelled abominably of the stable, he felt as if +he were magnetized. + +"How disgusting!" both the other ladies said, and involuntarily held +their noses. + +"What dost thou say to it, chaste moon?" the haystack said with a +sigh, and the little light-haired Countess was abashed and held her +tongue. + +At the beginning of the winter season the three friends were together +again in the gay, imperial city on the blue Danube. One morning the +Princess accidentally met the enthusiast for the hay at the house of the +little light-haired Countess, and the two ladies were obliged to go +after her to her private riding-school, where she was taking her daily +lesson. As soon as she saw them, she came up, and beckoned her +riding-master to her to help her out of the saddle. He was a young man +of extremely good and athletic build, which was set off by his tight +breeches and his short velvet coat, and he ran up and took his lovely +burden into his arms with visible pleasure, to help her off the quiet, +perfectly broken horse. + +When the ladies looked at the handsome, vigorous man, it was quite +enough to explain their little friend's predilection for the smell of a +stable, but when the latter saw their looks, she blushed up to the roots +of her hair, and her only way out of the difficulty was to order the +riding-master, in a very authoritative manner, to take the horse back to +the stable. He merely bowed, with an indescribable smile, and obeyed +her. + +A few months afterwards, Viennese society was alarmed at the news that +Countess W---- had been divorced from her husband. The event was all the +more unexpected, as they had apparently always lived very happily +together, and nobody was able to mention any man on whom she had +bestowed even the most passing attention, beyond the requirements of +politeness. + +Long afterwards, however, a strange report became current. A chattering +lady's maid declared that the handsome riding-master had once so far +forgotten himself as to strike the Countess with his riding-whip; a +groom had told the Count of the occurrence, and when he was going to +call the insolent fellow to account for it, the Countess covered him +with her own body, and thus gave occasion for the divorce. + +Years had passed since then and the Countess H---- had grow stouter and +more sentimental. Ischl and hayricks were not enough for her any longer; +she spent the winter on lovely _Lago Maggoire_, where she walked among +laurel bushes and cypress trees, and was rowed about on the luke warm, +moonlight nights. + +One evening she was returning home in the company of an English lady who +was also a great lover of nature, from _Isola Bella_, when they met a +beautiful private boat in which a very unusual couple were sitting; a +small, delicate, light-haired woman, wrapped in a white burnoose, and a +handsome, athletic man, in tight, white breeches, a short, black velvet +coat trimmed with sable, a red fez on his head, and a riding whip in his +hand. + +Countess K---- involuntarily uttered a loud exclamation. + +"What is the matter with you?" the English lady asked. "Do you know +those people?" + +"Certainly! She is a Viennese lady," Countess H---- whispered; "Countess +W----." + +"Oh! Indeed you are quite mistaken; it is a Count Savelli and his wife. +They are a handsome couple, don't you think so?" + +When the boat came nearer, she saw that in spite of that, it was little +Countess W---- and that the handsome man was her former riding-master, +whom she had married, and for whom she had bought a title from the Pope; +and as the two boats passed each other, the short sable cloak, which was +thrown carelessly over his shoulders, exhaled, like the old cat's skin +jacket of that impudent female circus rider, a strong _stable perfume_. + + + + +THE ILL-OMENED GROOM + + +An impudent theft, to a very large amount, had been committed in the +Capital. Jewels, a valuable watch set with diamonds, his wife's +miniature in a frame enchased with brilliants, and a considerable sum in +money, the whole amounting in value to a hundred and fifteen thousand +florins, had been stolen. The banker himself went to the Director of +Police[4] to give notice of the robberies, but at the same time he +begged as a special favor that the investigation might be carried on as +quietly and considerately as possible, as he declared that he had not +the slightest ground for suspecting anybody in particular, and did not +wish any innocent person to be accused. + +[Footnote 4: Head of the Criminal Investigation +Department.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"First of all, give me the names of all the persons who regularly go +into your bedroom," the police director said. + +"Nobody, except my wife, my children, and Joseph, my valet, a man for +whom I would answer as I would for myself." + +"Then you think him absolutely incapable of committing such a deed?" + +"Most decidedly I do," the banker replied. + +"Very well; then can you remember whether on the day on which you first +missed the articles that have been stolen, or on any days immediately +preceding it, anybody who was not a member of your household, happened +by chance to go to your bedroom?" + +The banker thought for a moment, and then said with some hesitation: + +"Nobody, absolutely nobody." + +The experienced official, however, was struck by the banker's slight +embarrassment and momentary blush, so he took his hand, and looking him +straight in the face, he said: + +"You are not quite candid with me; somebody was with you, and you wish +to conceal the fact from me. You must tell me everything." + +"No, no; indeed there was nobody here." "Then at present, there is only +one person on whom any suspicion can rest--and that is your valet." + +"I will vouch for his honesty," the banker replied immediately. + +"You may be mistaken, and I shall be obliged to question the man." + +"May I beg you to do it with every possible consideration?" + +"You may rely upon me for that." + +An hour later, the banker's valet was in the police director's private +room, who first of all looked at his man very closely, and then came to +the conclusion that such an honest, unembarrassed face, and such quiet, +steady eyes could not possibly belong to a criminal. + +"Do you know why I have sent for you?" + +"No, your Honor." + +"A large theft has been committed in your master's house," the police +director continued, "from his bedroom. Do you suspect anybody? Who has +been into the room, within the last few days?" + +"Nobody but myself, except my master's family." + +"Do you not see, my good fellow, that by saying that, you throw +suspicion on yourself?" + +"Surely, sir," the valet exclaimed, "you do not believe..." + +"I must not believe anything; my duty is merely to investigate and to +follow up any traces that I may discover," was the reply. "If you have +been the only person to go into the room within the last few days, I +must hold you responsible." + +"My master knows me..." + +The police director shrugged his shoulders: "Your master has vouched for +your honesty, but that is not enough for me. You are the only person on +whom, at present, any suspicion rests, and therefore I must--sorry as I +am to do so--have you arrested." + +"If that is so," the man said, after some hesitation, "I prefer to speak +the truth, for my good name is more to me than my situation. Somebody +was in my master's apartments yesterday." + +"And this somebody was...?" + +"A lady." + +"A lady of his acquaintance?" + +The valet did not reply for some time. + +"It must come out," he said at length. "My master keeps a woman--you +understand, sir, a pretty, fair woman; and he has furnished a house for +her and goes to see her, but secretly of course, for if my mistress were +to find it out, there would be a terrible scene. This person was with +him yesterday." + +"Were they alone?" + +"I showed her in, and she was in his bedroom with him; but I had to call +him out after a short time, as his confidential clerk wanted to speak to +him, and so she was in the room alone for about a quarter of an hour." + +"What is her name?" + +"Cæcelia K----; she is a Hungarian." At the same time the valet gave him +her address. + +Then the director of police sent for the banker, who, on being brought +face to face with his valet, was obliged to acknowledge the truth of the +facts which the latter had alleged, painful as it was for him to do so; +whereupon orders were given to take Cæcelia K---- into custody. + +In less than half an hour, however, the police officer who had been +dispatched for that purpose, returned and said that she had left her +apartments, and most likely the Capital also, the previous evening. The +unfortunate banker was almost in despair. Not only had he been robbed of +a hundred and fifty thousand florins, but at the same time he had lost +the beautiful woman, whom he loved with all the passion of which he was +capable. He could not grasp the idea that a woman whom he had surrounded +with Asiatic luxury, whose strangest whims he had gratified, and whose +tyranny he had borne so patiently, could have deceived him so +shamefully, and now he had a quarrel with his wife, and an end of all +domestic peace, into the bargain. + +The only thing the police could do was to raise the hue and cry after +the lady, who had denounced herself by her flight, but it was all of no +use. In vain did the banker, in whose heart hatred and thirst for +revenge had taken the place of love, implore the Director of Police to +employ every means to bring the beautiful criminal to justice, and in +vain did he undertake to be responsible for all the costs of her +prosecution, no matter how heavy they might be. Special police officers +were told off to try and discover her, but Cæcelia K---- was so rude as +not to allow herself to be caught. + +Three years had passed, and the unpleasant story appeared to have been +forgotten. The banker had obtained his wife's pardon and--what he cared +about a good deal more--he had found another charming mistress, and the +police did not appear to trouble themselves about the beautiful +Hungarian any more. + +We must now change the scene to London. A wealthy lady who created much +sensation in society, and who made many conquests both by her beauty and +her free behavior, was in want of a groom. Among the many applicants for +the situation, there was a young man, whose good looks and manners gave +people the impression that he must have been very well educated. This +was a recommendation in the eyes of the lady's maid, and she took him +immediately to her mistress's boudoir. When he entered, he saw a +beautiful, voluptuous looking woman, at most, twenty-five years of age, +with large, bright eyes and blue-black hair, which seemed to increase +the brilliancy of her fair complexion, lying on a sofa. She looked at +the young man, who also had thick black hair, and who turned his glowing +black eyes to the ground, beneath her searching gaze, with evident +satisfaction, and she seemed particularly taken with his slender, +athletic build, and then she said half lazily and half proudly: + +"What is your name?" + +"Lajos Mariassi." + +"A Hungarian?" + +And there was a strange look in her eyes. + +"Yes." + +"How did you come here?" + +"I am one of the many emigrants who have forfeited their country and +their life; and I, who come of a good family, and who was an officer of +the Honveds, must now ... go into service, and thank God if I find a +mistress who is at the same time beautiful and an aristocrat, as you +are." + +Miss Zoë--that was the lovely woman's name--smiled, and at the same time +showed two rows of pearly teeth. + +"I like your looks," she said, "and I feel inclined to take you into my +service, if you are satisfied with my terms." + +"A lady's whim," her maid said to herself, when she noticed the ardent +looks which Miss Zoë gave her manservant, "which will soon pass away." +But that experienced female was mistaken that time. + +Zoë was really in love, and the respect with which Lajos treated her, +put her into a very bad temper. One evening, when she intended to go to +the Italian Opera, she countermanded her carriage, and refused to see +her noble adorer, who wished to throw himself at her feet, and ordered +her groom to be sent up to her boudoir. + +"Lajos," she began, "I am not at all satisfied with you." + +"Why, Madame?" + +"I do not wish to have you about me any longer; here are your wages for +three months. Leave the house immediately." And she began to walk up and +down the room, impatiently. + +"I will obey you, Madame," the groom replied, "but I shall not take my +wages." + +"Why not?" she asked hastily. + +"Because then I should be under your authority for three months," Lajos +said, "and I intend to be free, this very moment, so that I may be able +to tell you that I entered your service, not for the sake of your money, +but because I love and adore a beautiful woman in you." + +"You love me!" Zoë exclaimed. "Why did you not tell me sooner? I merely +wished to banish you from my presence, because I love you, and did not +think that you loved me. But you shall smart for having tormented me so. +Come to my feet immediately." + +The groom knelt before the lovely girl, whose moist lips sought his at +the same instant. + +From that moment Lajos became her favorite. Of course he was not allowed +to be jealous, as the young lord was still her official lover, who had +the pleasure of paying everything for that licentious beauty, and +besides him, there was a whole army of so-called "good friends," who +were fortunate enough to obtain a smile now and then, and occasionally, +something more, and who, in return, had permission to present her with +rare flowers, a parrot or diamonds. + +The more intimate Zoë became with Lajos, the more uncomfortable she felt +when he looked at her, as he frequently did, with undisguised contempt. +She was wholly under his influence and was afraid of him, and one day, +while he was playing with her dark curls, he said jeeringly: + +"It is usually said that contrasts usually attract each other, and yet +you are as dark as I am." + +She smiled, and then tore off her black curls, and immediately the most +charming, fair-haired woman was sitting by the side of Lajos, who looked +at her attentively, but without any surprise. + +He left his mistress at about midnight, in order to look after the +horses, as he said, and she put on a very pretty nightdress and went to +bed. She remained awake for fully an hour, expecting her lover, and then +she went to sleep, but in two hours' time she was roused from her +slumbers, and saw a police inspector and two constables by the side of +her magnificent bed. + +"Whom do you want?" she cried. + +"Cæcelia K----." + +"I am Miss Zoë." + +"Oh! I know you," the Inspector said with a smile; "be kind enough to +take off your dark locks, and you will be Cæcelia K----. I arrest you in +the name of the law." + +"Good heavens!" she stammered, "Lajos has betrayed me." + +"You are mistaken, Madame," the Inspector replied; "he has merely done +his duty." + +"What? Lajos . . . my lover?" + +"No, Lajos, the detective." + +Cæcelia got out of bed, and the next moment she sank fainting onto the +floor. + + + + +AN EXOTIC PRINCE + + +In the forthcoming reminiscences, a lady will frequently be mentioned +who played a great part in the annals of the police from 1848 to 1866, +and we will call her _Wanda von Chabert_. Born in Galicia of German +parents, and carefully brought up in every way, she married a rich and +handsome officer of noble birth, from love, when she was sixteen. The +young couple, however, lived beyond their means, and when her husband +died suddenly, two years after they were married, she was left anything +but well off. + +As Wanda had grown accustomed to luxury and amusement, the quiet life in +her parents' house did not suit her any longer, and even while she was +still in mourning for her husband, she allowed a Hungarian magnate to +make love to her, and she went off with him at a venture, and continued +the same extravagant life which she had led when her husband was alive, +at her own authority. At the end of two years, however, her lover left +her in a town in North Italy, almost without means, and she was thinking +of going on the stage, when chance provided her with another resource, +which enabled her to reassure her position in society. She became a +secret police agent, and soon was one of their most valuable members. In +addition to the proverbial charms and wit of a Polish woman, she also +possessed high linguistic attainments, and she spoke Polish, Russian, +French, German, English and Italian, almost equally fluently and +correctly; then she had also that encyclopædic polish, which impresses +most people much more than the most profound learning of a specialist. +She was very attractive in appearance, and she knew how to set off her +good looks by all the arts of dress and coquetry. + +In addition to this, she was a woman of the world in the widest sense of +the term; pleasure-loving, faithless, unstable, and therefore never in +any danger of really losing her heart, and consequently her head. She +used to change the place of her abode, according to what she had to do. +Sometimes she lived in Paris among the Polish emigrants, in order to +find out what they were doing, and maintained intimate relations with +the Tuileries and the Palais Royal at the same time; then she went to +London for a short time, or hurried off to Italy, to watch the Hungarian +exiles, only to reappear suddenly in Switzerland, or at one of the +fashionable German watering-places. + +In revolutionary circles, she was looked upon as an active member of the +great _League of Freedom_, and diplomatists regarded her as an +influential friend of Napoleon III. + +She knew every one, but especially those men whose names were to be met +with every day, in the papers, and she reckoned Victor Emmanuel, Rouher, +Gladstone, and Gortschakoff among her friends, as well as Mazzini, +Kossuth, Garibaldi, Mieroslawsky and Bakunin. + +In the spring of 185- she was at Vevey, on the lovely lake of Geneva, +and went into raptures when talking to an old German diplomatist about +the beauties of nature, and about Calame, Stifter and Turgenev, whose +"Diary of a Hunter" had just become fashionable. + +One day a man appeared at the _table d'hôte_, who excited unusual +attention, and hers especially, so that there was nothing strange in her +asking the proprietor of the hotel what his name was; and she was told +that he was a wealthy Brazilian, and that his name was Don Escovedo. + +Whether it was an accident, or whether he responded to the interest +which the young woman felt for him, at any rate she constantly met him +wherever she went, when she was taking a walk, or was on the lake, or +was looking at the newspapers in the reading room; and at last she was +obliged to confess to herself that he was the handsomest man she had +ever seen. Tall, slim, and yet muscular, the young, beardless Brazilian +had a head which any woman might envy him; features which were not only +beautiful and noble, but were also extremely delicate, with dark eyes +which possessed a wonderful charm, and thick, auburn curly hair, which +completed the attractiveness and the strangeness of his appearance. + +They soon became acquainted, through a Prussian officer, whom the +Brazilian had requested to introduce him to the beautiful Polish +lady--for Frau von Chabert was taken for one in Vevey--and she, cold and +designing as she was, blushed slightly when he stood before her for the +first time; and when he gave her his arm he could feel her hand tremble +slightly on it. The same evening they went out riding together, the next +he was lying at her feet, and on the third she was his. For four weeks +the lovely Wanda and the Brazilian lived together as if they had been in +Paradise, but he could not deceive her searching eyes any longer. + +For her sharp and practiced gaze had already discovered in him that +indefinable something which makes a man appear a suspicious character. +Any other woman would have been pained and horrified at such a +discovery, but she found the strange consolation in it, that her +handsome adorer had promised also to become a very interesting object +for her pursuit, and so she began systematically to watch the man who +lay unsuspectingly at her feet. + +She soon found out that he was no conspirator, but she asked herself in +vain whether she was to look for a common swindler, an impudent +adventurer or perhaps even a criminal in him. The day that she had +foreseen soon came; the Brazilian's banker "unaccountably" had omitted +to send him any money, and so he borrowed some of her. "So he is a male +courtesan," she said to herself; and the handsome man soon required +money again, and she lent it to him, until at last he left suddenly, and +nobody knew where he had gone to; only this much, that he had left Vevey +as the companion of an old but wealthy Wallachian lady; and so this +time, clever Wanda was duped. + +A year afterwards she met the Brazilian unexpectedly at Lucca, with an +insipid-looking, light-haired, thin Englishwoman on his arm. Wanda stood +still and looked at him steadily, but he glanced at her quite +indifferently; he did not choose to know her again. + +The next morning, however, his valet brought her a letter from him, +which contained the amount of his debt in Italian hundred liri notes, +which were accompanied by a very cool excuse. Wanda was satisfied, but +she wished to find out who the lady was, in whose company she constantly +saw Don Escovedo. + +"Don Escovedo." + +An Austrian count, who had a loud and silly laugh, said: + +"Who has saddled you with that yarn? The lady is Lady Nitingsdale, and +his name is Romanesco." + +"Romanesco?" + +"Yes, he is a rich Boyar from Moldavia, where he has extensive estates." + +Romanesco kept a faro bank in his apartments, and he certainly cheated, +for he nearly always won; it was not long, therefore, before other +people in good society at Lucca shared Madame von Chabert's suspicions, +and consequently Romanesco thought it advisable to vanish as suddenly +from Lucca as Escovedo had done from Vevey, and without leaving any more +traces behind him. + +Some time afterwards, Madame von Chabert was on the island of +Heligoland, for the sea-bathing; and one day she saw Escovedo-Romanesco +sitting opposite to her at the _table d'hôte_, in very animated +conversation with a Russian lady; only his hair had turned black since +she had seen him last. Evidently his light hair had become too +compromising for him. + +"The sea water seems to have a very remarkable effect upon your hair," +Wanda said to him spitefully, in a whisper. + +"Do you think so?" he replied, condescendingly. + +"I fancy that at one time your hair was fair." + +"You are mistaking me for somebody else," the Brazilian replied, +quietly. + +"I am not." + +"For whom do you take me, pray?" he said with an insolent smile. + +"For Don Escovedo." + +"I am Count Dembizki from Valkynia," the former Brazilian said with a +bow; "perhaps you would like to see my passport." + +"Well, perhaps...." + +And at last, he had the impudence to show her his false passport. + +A year afterwards, Wanda met Count Dembizki in Baden, near Vienna. His +hair was still black, but he had a magnificent, full, black beard; he +had become a Greek prince, and his name was Anastasio Maurokordatos. She +met him once in one of the side walks in the park, where he could not +avoid her. "If it goes on like this," she called out to him in a mocking +voice, "the next time I see you, you will be king of some negro tribe or +other." + +That time, however, the Brazilian did not deny his identity; on the +contrary, he surrendered at discretion, and implored her not to betray +him, and as she was not revengeful, she pardoned him, after enjoying his +terror for a time, and promised him that she would hold her tongue, as +long as he did nothing contrary to the laws. + +"First of all, I must beg you not to gamble." + +"You have only to command; and we do not know each other in future?" + +"I must certainly insist on that," she said maliciously. + +The Exotic Prince had, however, made the conquest of the charming +daughter of a wealthy Austrian Count, and had cut out an excellent young +officer who was wooing her; and he, in his despair began to make love to +Frau von Chabert, and at last told her he loved her, but she only +laughed at him. + +"You are very cruel," he stammered in confusion. + +"I? What are you thinking about?" Wanda replied, still smiling; "all I +mean is, that you have directed your love to the wrong address, for +Countess...." + +"Do not speak of her; she is engaged to another man." + +"As long as I choose to permit it," she said; "but what will you do, if +I bring her back to your arms? Will you still call me cruel?" + +"Can you do this?" the young officer asked, in great excitement. + +"Well, supposing I can do it, what shall I be then?" + +"An angel, whom I shall thank on my knees." + +A few days later, the rivals met at a coffee house; the Greek prince +began to lie and boast, and the Austrian officer gave him the lie +direct, and in consequence, it was arranged that they should fight a +duel with pistols next morning in a wood close to Baden. But as the +officer was leaving the house with his second the next morning, a Police +Commissary came up to him and begged him not to trouble himself any +further about the matter, but another time to be more careful before +accepting a challenge. + +"What does it mean?" the officer asked, in some surprise. + +"It means that this Maurokordatos is a dangerous swindler and +adventurer, whom we have just taken into custody." + +"He is not a prince?" + +"No; a circus rider." + +An hour later the officer received a letter from the charming Countess, +in which she humbly begged for pardon; the happy lover set off to go and +see her immediately, but on the way a sudden thought struck him, and so +he turned back in order to thank beautiful Wanda, as he had promised, on +his knees. + + + + +VIRTUE IN THE BALLET + + +It is a strange feeling of pleasure that the writer about the stage and +the characters of the theatrical feels, when he occasionally discovers a +good, honest human heart in the twilight behind the scenes. Of all the +witches and semi-witches of that eternal _Walpurgis night_, whose boards +represent the world, the ladies of the ballet have at all times and in +all places been regarded at least like saints, although Hackländer +repeatedly told in vain in his earlier novels, to convince us that true +virtue appears in tights and short petticoats and is only to be found in +ballet girls. I fear that the popular voice is right as a general rule, +but is equally true that here and there one finds a pearl in the dust, +and even in the dirt, and the short story that I am about to relate, +will best illustrate my assertion. + +Whenever a new, youthful dancer appeared at the Vienna Opera House, the +_habitués_ began to go after her, and did not rest, until the fresh +young rose had been plucked by some hand or other, though often it was +old and trembling. For how could those young and pretty, sometimes even +beautiful girls who, with every right to life, love and pleasure, were +poor and had to subsist on a very small salary, resist the seduction of +the smell of flowers and of the flash of diamonds? And if one resisted +it, it was love, some real, strong passion, that gave her the strength +for this, generally, however, only to go after luxury all the more +shamelessly and selfishly, when her lover forsook her. + +At the beginning of the winter season of 185--the pleasing news was +spread among the _habitués_, that a girl of dazzling beauty was going to +appear very shortly in the ballet at the Court Theater. When the evening +came, nobody had yet seen that much discussed phenomenon, but report +spread her name from mouth to mouth; it was Satanella. The moment when +the troop of elastic figures in fluttering petticoats jumped onto the +stage, every opera-glass in the boxes and stalls was directed on the +stage, and at the same instant the new dancer was discovered, although +she timidly kept in the background. + +She was one of those girls who are surrounded by the bright halo of +virginity, but who at the same time present a splendid type of +womanhood; she had the voluptuous form of Rubens' second wife, whom they +called, not untruly, the risen Green Helen, and her head with its +delicate nose, its small full mouth, and its dark inquiring eyes, +reminded people of the celebrated picture of the Flemish Venus in the +_Belvedere_ in Vienna. + +She took the old guard of the Vienna Court Theater by storm, and the +very next morning a perfect shower of _billets doux_, jewels and +bouquets fell into the poor ballet girl's attic. For a moment she was +dazzled by all this splendor and looked at the gold bracelets, the +brooches set with rubies and emeralds, and at the sparkling earrings, +with flushed cheeks, but then an unspeakable terror of being lost and of +sinking into degradation, seized her, and she pushed the jewels away and +was about to send them back. But as is usual in such cases, her mother +intervened in favor of _the generous gentlemen_, and so the jewels were +accepted, but the notes which accompanied them were not answered at +present. A second and a third discharge of Cupid's artillery followed, +without making any impression on that virtuous girl; in consequence a +greater number of her admirers grew quiet, though some continued to send +her presents, and to assail her with love letters, and one had the +courage to go still further. + +He was a wealthy banker, who had just called on the mother of Henrietta, +as we will call the fair-haired ballet girl, and then one evening, quite +unexpectedly, on the girl herself. He by no means met with the reception +which he had expected from the pretty girl in a faded cotton gown; +Henrietta treated him with a certain amount of good humored respect, +which had a much more unpleasant effect on him than that coldness and +prudery, which is so often synonymous with coquetry and selfish +speculation, among a certain class of women. In spite of everything, +however, he soon went to see her daily, and lavished his wealth, without +her asking him for anything, on the beautiful dancer, and he gave her no +chance of refusing, for he relied on the mother for everything. She took +pretty, small apartments for her daughter and herself in the +_Kärntnerstrasse_ and furnished them elegantly, hired a cook and +housemaid, made an arrangement with a fly-driver, and lastly clothed her +daughter's lovely limbs in silk, velvet and valuable lace. + +Henrietta persistently held her tongue at all this; only once she said +to her mother in the presence of the Stock Exchange _Jupiter_: + +"Have you won a prize in the lottery?" + +"Of course, I have," her mother replied with a laugh. + +The girl, however, had given away her heart long before, and quite +contrary to all precedent, to a man whose very name she was ignorant of, +and who sent her no diamonds, and not even any flowers. But he was young +and good-looking, and stood so retiringly, and so evidently in love, at +the small side door of the Opera House every night, when she got out of +her antediluvian rickety fly, and also when she got into it again after +the performance, that she could not help noticing him. Soon, he began to +follow her wherever she went, and once he summoned up courage to speak +to her, when she had been to see a friend in a remote suburb. He was +very nervous, but she thought all that he said very clear and logical, +and she did not hesitate for a moment to confess that she returned his +love. + +"You have made me the happiest, and at the same time the most wretched +of men," he said after a pause. + +"What do you mean?" she said innocently. + +"Do you not belong to another man?" he asked her in a sad voice. + +She shook her abundant, light curls. + +"Up till now, I have belonged to myself alone, and I will prove it to +you, by requesting you to call upon me frequently and without restraint. +Everyone shall know that we are lovers. I am not ashamed of belonging to +an honorable man, but I will not sell myself." + +"But your splendid apartments, and your dresses," her lover interposed +shyly, "you cannot pay for them out of your salary." + +"My mother has won a large prize in the lottery, or made a hit on the +Stock Exchange." And with these words, the determined girl cut short all +further explanations. + +That same evening the young man paid his first visit, to the horror of +the girl's mother, who was so devoted to the Stock Exchange, and he came +again the next day, and nearly every day. Her mother's reproaches were +of no more avail than Jupiter's furious looks, and when the latter one +day asked for an explanation as to _certain visits_, the girl said +proudly: + +"That is very soon explained. He loves me as I love him, and I presume +you can guess the rest." + +And he certainly did guess the rest, and disappeared, and with him the +shower of gold ceased. + +The mother cried and the daughter laughed. "I never gave the worn out +old rake any hopes, and what does it matter to me, what bargain you made +with him? I always thought that you had been lucky on the Stock +Exchange. Now, however, we must seriously consider about giving up our +apartments, and make up our minds to live as we did before." + +"Are you really capable of making such a sacrifice for me, to renounce +luxury and to have my poverty?" her lover said. + +"Certainly I am! Is not that a matter of course when one loves?" the +ballet girl replied in surprise. + +"Then let me inform you, my dear Henrietta," he said, "that I am not so +poor as you think; I only wished to find out, whether I could make +myself loved for my own sake, I have done so. I am Count L----, and +though I am a minor and dependent on my parents, yet I have enough to be +able to retain your pretty rooms for you, and to offer you, if not a +luxurious, at any rate a comfortable existence." + +On hearing this, Mamma dried her tears immediately. Count L---- became +the girl's acknowledged lover, and they passed the happiest hours +together. Unselfish as the girl was, she was yet such a thoroughly +ingenuous Viennese, that, whenever she saw anything that took her fancy, +whether it was a dress, a cloak or one of those pretty little ornaments +for a side table, she used to express her admiration in such terms, as +forced her lover to make her a present of the object in question. In +this way, Count L---- incurred enormous debts, which his father paid +repeatedly; at last, however, he inquired into the cause of all this +extravagance, and when he discovered it, he gave his son the choice of +giving up his connection with the dancer, or of relinquishing all claims +on the paternal money box. + +It was a sorrowful evening, when Count L---- told his mistress of his +father's determination. + +"If I do not give you up, I shall be able to do nothing for you," he +said at last, "and I shall not even know how I should manage to live +myself, for my father is just the man to allow me to want, if I defy +him. That, however, is a very secondary consideration; but as a man of +honor, I cannot bind you, who have every right to luxury and enjoyment, +to myself, from the moment when I cannot even keep you from want, and so +I must set you at liberty." + +"But I will not give you up," Henrietta said proudly. + +The young Count shook his head sadly. + +"Do you love me?" the ballet girl said, quickly. + +"More than my life." + +"Then we will not separate, as long as I have anything," she continued. + +And she would not give up her connection with him, and when his father +actually turned Count L---- into the street, she took her lover into her +own lodgings. He obtained a situation as a copyist clerk in a lawyer's +office, and she sold her valuable dresses and jewels, and so they lived +for more than a year. + +The young man's father did not appear to trouble his head about them, +but nevertheless he knew everything that went on in their small home, +and knew every article that the ballet girl sold; until at last, +softened by such love and strength of character, he himself made the +first advances to a reconciliation with his son. + +At the present time, Henrietta wears the diamonds which formerly +belonged to the old Countess, and it is long since she was a ballet +girl, for now she sits by the side of her husband in a carriage on whose +panels their armorial bearings are painted. + + + + +IN HIS SWEETHEART'S LIVERY + + +At present she is a great lady, an elegant, intellectual woman, a +celebrated actress; but in the year 1847, when our story begins, she was +a beautiful, but not very moral girl, and then it was that the young, +talented Hungarian poet, who was the first to discover her gifts for the +stage, made her acquaintance. + +The slim, ardent girl, with her bright, brown hair and her large blue +eyes, attracted the careless poet, and he loved her, and all that was +good and noble in her nature, put forth fresh buds and blossoms in the +sunshine of his poetic love. + +They lived in an attic in the old Imperial city on the Danube, and she +shared his poverty, his triumphs and his pleasures, and she would have +become his true and faithful wife, if the Hungarian revolution had not +torn him from her arms. + +The poet became the soldier of freedom, and followed the Magyar +tricolor, and the Honved drums, while she was carried away by the +current of the movement in the capital, and she might have been seen +discharging her musket, like a brave Amazon, at the Croats, who were +defending the town against Görgey's assaulting battalions. + +But at last Hungary was subdued, and was governed as if it had been a +conquered country. + +It was said that the young poet had fallen at Temesvar, and his mistress +wept for him, and married another man, which was nothing either new or +extraordinary. Her name was now Frau von Kubinyi, but her married life +was not happy; and one day it occurred to her that her lover had told +her that she had talent for the stage, and whatever he said, had always +proved correct, so she separated from her husband, studied a few parts, +appeared on the stage, and the public, the critics, actors and +literature were lying at her feet. + +She obtained a very profitable engagement, and her reputation increased +with every part she played; and before the end of a year after her first +appearance, she was the lioness of society. Everybody paid homage to +her, and the wealthiest men tried to obtain her favors; but she remained +cold and reserved, until the General commanding the district, who was a +handsome man of noble bearing, and a gentleman in the highest sense of +the word, approached her. + +Whether she was flattered at seeing that powerful man, before whom +millions trembled, and who had to decide over the life and death, the +honor and happiness of so many thousands, fettered by her soft curls, or +whether her enigmatical heart for once really felt what true love was, +suffice it to say, that in a short time she was his acknowledged +mistress, and her princely lover surrounded her with the luxury of an +Eastern queen. + +But just then a miracle occurred--the resurrection of a dead man. Frau +von Kubinyi was driving through the _Corso_ in the General's carriage; +she was lying back negligently in the soft cushions, and looking +carelessly at the crowd on the pavement. Then, she caught sight of a +common Austrian soldier and screamed out aloud. + +Nobody heard that cry, which came from the depths or a woman's heart, +nobody saw how pale and how excited that woman was, who usually seemed +made of marble, not even the soldier who was the cause of it. He was a +Hungarian poet, who, like so many other _Honveds_[5], now wore the +uniform of an Austrian soldier. + +[Footnote 5: A Hungarian word, meaning literally, Defender of the +Fatherland. The term _Honved_ is applied to the Hungarian _Landnehr_, or +Militia.--Translator.] + +Two days later, to his no small surprise he was told to go to the +General in command, as orderly, and when he reported himself to the +adjutant, he told him to go to Frau von Kubinyi's, and to await her +orders. + +Our poet only knew her by report, but he hated and despised the +beautiful woman, who had sold herself to the enemy of the country, most +intensely; he had no choice, however, but to obey. + +When he arrived at her house, he seemed to be expected, for the porter +knew his name, took him into his lodge, and without any further +explanation, told him immediately to put on the livery of his mistress, +which was lying there ready for him. He ground his teeth, but resigned +himself without a word to his wretched, though laughable fate; it was +quite clear that the actress had some purpose in making the poet wear +her livery. He tried to remember whether he could formerly have offended +her by his notices as a theatrical critic, but before he could arrive at +any conclusion, he was told to go and show himself to Frau von Kubinyi. + +She evidently wished to enjoy his humiliation. + +He was shown into a small drawing-room, which was furnished with an +amount of taste and magnificence such as he had never seen before, and +was told to wait. But he had not been alone many minutes, before the +door-curtains were parted and Frau von Kubinyi came in, calm but deadly +pale, in a splendid dressing gown of some Turkish material, and he +recognized his former mistress. + +"Irma!" he exclaimed. + +The cry came from his heart, and it also affected the heart of the +woman, who was surfeited with pleasure, so greatly that the next moment +she was lying on the breast of the man whom she had believed to be dead, +but only for a moment, and then he freed himself from her. + +"We are fated to meet again thus!" she began. + +"Not through any fault of mine," he replied bitterly. + +"And not through mine either," she said quickly; "everybody thought that +you were dead, and I wept for you; that is my justification." + +"You are really too kind," he replied sarcastically. "How can you +condescend to make any excuses to me? I wear your livery, and you have +to order, and I have to obey; our relative positions are clear enough." + +Frau von Kubinyi turned away to hide her tears. + +"I did not intend to hurt your feelings," he continued: "but I must +confess that it would have been better for both of us, if we had not met +again. But what do you mean by making me wear your livery? It is not +enough that I have been robbed of my happiness? Does it afford you any +pleasure to humiliate me as well?" + +"How can you think that?" the actress exclaimed. "Oh! Ever since I have +discovered your unhappy lot, I have thought of nothing but the means of +delivering you from it, and until I succeed in doing this, however, I +can at least make it more bearable for you." + +"I understand," the unhappy poet said with a sneer. "And in order to do +this, you have begged your present worshiper, to turn your former lover +into a footman." + +"What a thing to say to me!" + +"Can you find any other plea?" + +"You wish to punish me for having loved you, idolized you, I suppose?" +the painter continued. "So exactly like a woman! But I can perfectly +well understand that the situation promises to have a fresh charm for +you..." + +Before he could finish what he was saying, the actress quickly left the +room; he could hear her sobbing, but he did not regret his words, and +his contempt and hatred for her only increased, when he saw the +extravagance and the princely luxury with which she was surrounded. But +what was the use of his indignation? He was wearing her livery, he was +obliged to wait upon her and to obey her, for she had the corporal's +cane at her command, and it really seemed as if he incurred the +vengeance of the offended woman; as if the General's insolent mistress +wished to make him feel her whole power; as if he were not to be spared +the deepest humiliation. + +The General and two of Frau von Kubinyi's friends, who were servants of +the Muses like she was, for one was a ballet dancer, and the two others +were actresses, had come to tea, and he was to wait on them. + +While it was getting ready, he heard them laughing in the next room, and +the blood flew to his head, and when the butler opened the door Frau von +Kubinyi appeared on the General's arm; she did not, however, look at her +new footman, her former lover, triumphantly or contemptuously, but she +gave him a glance of the deepest commiseration. + +Could he after all have wronged her? + +Hatred and love, contempt and jealousy were struggling in his breast, +and when he had to fill the glasses, the bottle shook in his hand. + +"Is this the man?" the General said, looking at him closely. + +Frau von Kubinyi nodded. + +"He was evidently not born for a footman," the General added. + +"And still less for a soldier," the actress observed. + +These words fell heavily on the unfortunate poet's heart, but she was +evidently taking his part, and trying to rescue him from his terrible +position. + +Suspicion, however, once more gained the day. + +"She is tired of all pleasures, and satisfied with enjoyment," he said +to himself; "she requires excitement and it amuses her to see the man +whom she formerly loved, and who, as she knows, still loves her, tremble +before her. And when she pleases she can see me tremble; not for my +life, but for fear of the disgrace which she can inflict upon me at the +moment if it should give her any pleasure." + +But suddenly the actress gave him a look which was so sad and so +imploring, that he looked down in confusion. + +From that time he remained in her house without performing any duties, +and without receiving any orders from her; in fact he never saw her, and +did not venture to ask after her, and two months had passed in this way, +when the General unexpectedly sent for him. He waited, with many others, +in the ante-room, and when the General came back from parade, he saw him +and beckoned him to follow, and as soon as they were alone, he said: + +"You are free, as you have been allowed to purchase your discharge." + +"Good heavens!" the poet stammered, "how am I to ..." + +"That is already done," the General replied. "You are free." + +"How is it possible? How can I thank your Excellency!" + +"You owe me no thanks," he replied; "Frau von Kubinyi bought you out." + +The poor poet's heart seemed to stop; he could not speak, nor even +stammer a word; but with a low bow, he rushed out and tore wildly +through the streets, until he reached the mansion of the woman whom he +had so misunderstood, quite out of breath; he must see her again, and +throw himself at her feet. + +"Where are you going to?" the porter asked him. + +"To Frau von Kubinyi's." + +"She is not here." + +"Not here?" + +"She has gone away." + +"Gone away? Where to?" + +"She started for Paris two hours ago." + + + + +DELILA + + +In a former reminiscence,[6] we made the acquaintance of a lady, who had +done the police many services in former years, and whom we called Wanda +von Chabert. It is no exaggeration, if we say that she was at the same +time the cleverest, the most charming and the most selfish woman whom +one could possibly meet. She was certainly not exactly what is called +beautiful, for neither her face nor her figure were symmetrical enough +for that, but if her head was not beautiful in the style of the antique, +neither like the _Venus_ of Milo nor Ludoirsi's _Juno_, it was, on the +other hand, in the highest sense delightful like the ladies whom Wateau +and Mignard painted. Everything in her little face, and in its frame of +soft brown hair was attractive and seductive, her low, Grecian forehead, +her bright, almond shaped eyes, her small nose, and her full, voluptuous +lips, her middling height and her small waist with its, perhaps, almost +too full bust, and above all her walk, that half indolent, half +coquettish swaying of her broad hips, were all maddeningly alluring. + +[Footnote 6: An Exotic Prince.] + +And this woman, who was born for love, was as eager for pleasure and as +amorous as few other women have even been, but for that very reason she +never ran any danger of allowing her victims to escape her from pity; on +the contrary, she soon grew tired of each of her favorites, and her +connection with the police was then extremely useful to her, in order to +get rid of an inconvenient, or jealous lover. + +Before the war between Austria and Italy in 1859, Frau von Chabert was +in London, where she lived alone in a small, one-storied house with her +servants, and was in constant communication with emigrants from all +countries. + +She herself was thought to be a Polish refugee, and the luxury by which +she was surrounded, and a fondness for sport, and above all for horses, +which was remarkable even in England, made people give her the title of +Countess. At that period Count T---- was one of the most prominent +members of the Hungarian propaganda, and Frau von Chabert was +commissioned to pay particular attention to all he said and did; but in +spite of all the trouble she took, she had not hitherto even succeeded +in making his acquaintance. He lived the life of a misanthrope, quite +apart from the great social stream of London, and he was not believed to +be either gallant, or ardent in love. Fellow-countrymen of his, who had +known him formerly, during the Magyar revolution, described him as very +cautious, cold and silent, so that if any man possessed a charm against +the toils, which she set for him, it was he. + +Just then it happened that as Wanda was riding in Hyde Park quite early +one morning before there were many people about, her thoroughbred +English mare took fright, and threatened to throw the plucky rider, who +did not for a moment lose her presence of mind, from the saddle. Before +her groom had time to come to her assistance, a man in a Hungarian +braided coat rushed from the path, and caught hold of the animal's +reins. When the mare had grown quite quiet, he was about to go away with +a slight bow, but Frau von Chabert detained him, so that she might thank +him, and so had leisure to examine him more closely. He was neither +young nor handsome, but was well-made, like all Hungarians are, and had +an interesting and very expressive face. He had a sallow complexion, +which was set off by a short, black full beard, and he looked as if he +were suffering, while he fixed two, great, black fanatical eyes on the +beautiful young woman, who was smiling at him so amiably, and it was the +strange look in those large eyes which aroused in the soul of the woman +who was so excitable, that violent, but passing feeling which she called +_love_. She turned her horse and accompanied the stranger on his side, +and he seemed to be even more charmed by her chatter than by her +appearance, for his grave face grew more and more animated, and at last +he himself became quite friendly and talkative. When he took leave of +her, Wanda gave him her card, on the back of which her address was +written, and he immediately gave her his in return. + +She thanked him and rode off, looking at his name as she did so; it was +Count T----. + +She felt inclined to give a shout of pleasure when she found that the +noble quarry, which she had been hunting so long, had at last come into +her preserves, but she did not even turn her head round to look at him, +such was the command which that woman had over herself and her +movements. + +Count T---- called upon her the very next day, soon he came every day, +and in less than a month after that innocent adventure in Hyde Park, he +was at her feet; for when Frau von Chabert made up her mind to be loved, +nobody was able to withstand her. She became the Count's confidante +almost as speedily as she had become his mistress, and every day, and +almost every hour, she, with the most delicate coquetry, laid fresh +fetters on the Hungarian Samson. Did she love him? + +Certainly she did, after her own fashion, and at first she had not the +remotest idea of betraying him; she even succeeded in completely +concealing her connection with him, not only in London but also in +Vienna. + +Then the war of 1859 broke out, and like most Hungarian and Polish +refugees, Count T---- hurried off to Italy, in order to place himself at +the disposal of that great and patriotic Piedmontese statesman, Cavour. + +Wanda went with him, and took the greatest interest in his revolutionary +intrigues in Turin; for some time she seemed to be his right hand, and +it looked as if she had become unfaithful to her present patrons. +Through his means, she soon became on intimate terms with Piedmontese +government circles, and that was his destruction. + +A young Italian diplomatist, who frequently negotiated with Count T----, +or in his absence, with Wanda, fell madly in love with the charming +Polish woman, and she, who was never cruel, more especially when she +herself had caught fire, allowed herself to be conquered by the +handsome, intellectual, daring man. In measure as her passion for the +Italian increased, so her feelings for Count T---- declined, and at last +she felt that her connection with him was nothing but a hindrance and a +burden, and as soon as Wanda had reached that point, her adorer was as +good as lost. + +Count T---- was not a man whom she could just coolly dismiss, or with +whom she might venture to trifle, and that she knew perfectly well; so +in order to avoid a catastrophe, the consequences of which might be +incalculable for her, she did not let him notice the change in her +feelings towards him at first, and kept the Italian, who belonged to +her, at a proper distance. + +When peace had been concluded, and the great, peaceful revolution, which +found its provisional settlement in the Constitution of February and in +the Hungarian agreement, began in Austria, the Hungarian refugees +determined to send Count T---- to Hungary, that he might assume the +direction of affairs there. But as he was still an outlaw, and as the +death sentence of Arab hung over his head like the sword of Damocles, he +consulted with Wanda about the ways and means of reaching his fatherland +unharmed and of remaining there undiscovered. Although that clever woman +thought of a plan immediately, yet she told Count T---- that she would +think the matter over, and she did not bring forward her proposition for +a few days, which was then, however, received by the Count and his +friends with the highest approval, and was immediately carried into +execution. Frau von Chabert went to Vienna as Marchioness Spinola, and +T---- accompanied her as her footman; he had cut his hair short, and +shaved off his beard; so that in his livery, he was quite +unrecognizable. They passed the frontier in safety, and reached Vienna +without any interference from the authorities; and there they first of +all went to a small hotel, but soon took a small, handsome flat in the +center of the town. Count T---- immediately hunted up some members of his +party, who had been in constant communication with the emigrants, since +Vilagos, and the conspiracy was soon in excellent train, while Wanda +whiled away her time with a hussar officer, without, however, losing +sight of her lover and of his dangerous activity, for a moment, on that +account. + +And at last, when the fruit was ripe for falling into her lap, she was +sitting in the private room of the Minister of Police, opposite to the +man with whom she was going to make the evil compact. + +"The emigrants must be very uneasy and disheartened at an agreement +with, and reconciliation to, Hungary," he began. + +"Do not deceive yourself," Frau von Chabert replied; "nothing is more +dangerous in politics than optimism, and the influence of the +revolutionary propaganda was never greater than it is at present. Do not +hope to conciliate the Magyars by half concessions, and, above all +things, do not underestimate the movement, which is being organized +openly, in broad daylight." + +"You are afraid of a revolution?" + +"I know that they are preparing for one, and that they expect everything +from that alone." + +The skeptical man smiled. + +"Give me something besides views and opinions, and then I will +believe..." + +"I will give you the proof," Wanda said, "but before I do you the +greatest service that lies in my power, I must be sure that I shall be +rewarded for all my skill and trouble." + +"Can you doubt it?" + +"I will be open with you," Wanda continued. + +"During the insurrectionary war in Transylvania, Urban had excellent +spies, but they have not been paid to this day. I want money...." + +"How much?" + +With inimitable ease, the beautiful woman mentioned a very considerable +sum. The skeptical man got up to give a few orders, and a short time +afterwards the money was in Wanda's hands. + +"Well?" + +"The emigrants have sent one of their most influential and talented +members to organize the revolution in Hungary." + +"Have they sent him already?" + +"More than that, for Count T---- is in Vienna at this moment." + +"Do you know where he is hiding?" + +"Yes." + +"And you are sure that you are not mistaken?" + +"I am most assuredly not mistaken," she replied with a frivolous laugh; +"Count T----, who was my admirer in London and Turin, is here in my +house, as my footman." + +An hour later, the Count was arrested. But Wanda only wished to get rid +of her tiresome adorer, and not to destroy him. She had been on the most +intimate terms with him long enough, and had taken part in his political +plans and intrigues, to be able to give the most reliable information +about him personally, as well as about his intentions, and that +information was such that, in spite of the past, and of the Count's +revolutionary standpoint, they thought they had discovered in him the +man who was capable of bringing about a real reconciliation between the +monarch and his people. In consequence of this, T----, who thought that +he had incurred the gallows, stood in the Emperor's presence, and the +manner in which the latter expressed his generous intentions with regard +to Hungary, carried the old rebel away, and he gave him his word of +honor that he would bring the nation back to him, reconciled. And he +kept his word, although, perhaps, not exactly in the sense in which he +gave it. + +He was allowed full liberty in going to Hungary, and Wanda accompanied +him. He had no suspicion that even in his mistress's arms he was under +police supervision, and from the moment when he made his appearance in +his native land officially, as the intermediary between the crown and +the people, she had a fresh interest in binding a man of such +importance, whom everybody regarded as Hungary's future +Minister-President, to herself. + +He began to negotiate, and at first everything went well, but soon the +yielding temper of the government gave rise continually to fresh +demands, and before long, what one side offered and the other side +demanded, was so far apart, that no immediate agreement could be thought +of. The Count's position grew more painful every day; he had pledged +himself too deeply to both sides, and in vain he sought for a way out of +the difficulty. + +Then one day the Minister of Police unexpectedly received a letter from +Wanda, in which she told him that T----, urged on by his +fellow-countrymen, and branded as a traitor by the emigrants, was on the +point of heading a fresh conspiracy. + +Thereupon, the government energetically reminded that thoroughly honest +and noble man of his word of honor, and T----, who saw that he was +unable to keep it, ended his life by a pistol bullet. + +Frau von Chabert left Hungary immediately after the sad catastrophe, and +went to Turin, where new lovers, new splendors and new laurels awaited +her. + +We may, perhaps, hear more of her. + + + + +A MESALLIANCE + + +It is a generally acknowledged truth, that the prerogatives of the +nobility are only maintained at the present time through the weakness of +the middle classes, and many of these who have established themselves +and their families by their intellect, industry and struggles, get into +a state of bliss, which reminds those who see it, of intoxication, as +soon as they are permitted to enter aristocratic circles, or can be seen +in public with barons and counts; and above all, when these treat them +in a friendly manner, no matter from what motive, or when they see a +prospect of a daughter of theirs driving in a carriage with armorial +bearings on the panels, as a countess. + +Many women and girls of the citizen class would not hesitate for a +moment to refuse an honorable, good-looking man of their own class, in +order to go to the altar with the oldest, ugliest and stupidest dotard +among the aristocracy. + +I shall never forget saying in a joke to a young, well-educated girl of +a wealthy, middle-class family, who had the figure and bearing of a +queen, shortly before her marriage, not to forget an ermine cloak in her +trousseau. + +"I know it would suit me capitally," she replied in all seriousness, +"and I should certainly have worn one, if I had married Baron R----, +which I was nearly doing, as you know, but it is not suitable for the +wife of a government official." + +When a girl of the middle classes wanders from the paths of virtue, her +fall may, as a rule, be rightly ascribed to her hankering after the +nobility. + +In a small German town there lived, some years ago, a tailor, whom we +will call Löwenfuss, a man who, like all knights of the shears, was +equally full of aspirations after culture and liberty. After working for +one master for some time as a poor journeyman, he married his daughter, +and after his father-in-law's death, he succeeded to his business, and +as he was industrious, lucky and managed it well, he soon grew very well +off, and was in a position to give his daughters an education, for which +many a nobleman's daughters might have envied them; for they learned, +not only French and music, but had also acquired many more solid +branches of knowledge, and as they were both pretty and charming girls, +they soon became very much thought of and sought after. + +Fanny, the eldest, especially, was her father's pride and the favorite +of society; she was of middle height, slim, with a thoroughly maidenly +figure, and with almost an Italian face, in which two large, dark eyes +seemed to ask for love and submission at the same time; and yet the girl +with the plentiful, black hair was not in the least intended to command, +for she was one of those romantic women who will give themselves, or +even throw themselves, away, but who can never be subjugated. A young +physician fell in love with her, and wished to marry her; Fanny returned +his love, and her parents gladly accepted him as a son-in-law, but she +made it a condition that he should visit her freely and frequently for +two years, before she would consent to become his wife, and she declared +that she would not go to the altar with him, until she was convinced +that not only their hearts, but also that their characters harmonized. +He agreed to her wish, and became a regular visitor at the house of the +educated tailor; they were happy hours for the lovers; they played, sang +and read together, and he told the girl some things from his medical +experiences, which excited and moved her. + +Just then, one day an officer went to the tailor's house, to order some +civilian's clothes. This was not an unusual event in itself, but it was +soon to be the cause of one; for accidentally the daughter of _the +artist in clothes_ came into the shop, just as the officer was leaving +it, and on seeing her, he let go of the door-handle, and asked the +tailor who the young lady was. + +"My daughter," the tailor said, proudly. + +"May I beg you to introduce me to the young lady, Herr Löwenfuss?" the +hussar said. + +"I feel flattered at the honor you are doing me," the tailor replied, +with evident pleasure. + +"Fanny, the Captain wishes to make your acquaintance; this is my +daughter, Fanny, Captain ..." + +"Captain Count Kasimir W----," the hussar interrupted him, as he went up +to the pretty girl, and paid her a compliment or two. They were very +commonplace, stale, everyday phrases, but in spite of this, they +flattered the girl, intelligent as she was, extremely, because it was a +cavalry officer and a Count to boot who addressed them to her. And when, +at last, the Captain, in the most friendly manner, asked the tailor's +permission to be allowed to visit at the house, both father and daughter +granted it to him most readily. + +The very next day Count W---- paid his visit, in full dress uniform, and +when Mamma Löwenfuss made some observations about it, how handsome it +was, and how well it became him, he told them that he should not wear it +much longer, as he intended to quit the service soon, and to look for a +wife, in whom birth and wealth were matters of secondary consideration, +while a good education and a knowledge of domestic matters were of +paramount importance; adding that as soon as he had found one, he meant +to retire to his estates. + +From that moment, Papa and Mamma Löwenfuss looked upon the Count as +their daughter's suitor; it is certain that he was madly in love with +Fanny; he used to go to their house every evening, and made himself so +liked by all of them, that the young doctor soon felt himself to be +superfluous, and so his visits became rarer and rarer. The Count +confessed his love to Fanny on a moonlight night, while they were +sitting in an arbor covered with honeysuckle, which formed nearly the +whole of Herr Löwenfuss' garden; he swore that he loved, that he adored +her, and when at last she lay trembling in his arms he tried to take her +by storm, but that bold cavalry-exploit did not succeed, and the +good-looking hussar found out, for the first time in his life, that a +woman can at the same time be romantic, passionately in love, and yet +virtuous. + +The next morning, the tailor called on the Count, and begged him very +humbly to state what his intentions with regard to Fanny were. The +enamored hussar declared that he was determined to make the tailor's +little daughter, Countess W----. Herr Löwenfuss was so much overcome by +his feelings, that he showed great inclination to embrace his future +son-in-law, The Count, however, laid down certain conditions. The whole +matter must be kept a profound secret, for he had every prospect of +inheriting half a million of florins, on the death of an aunt, who was +already eighty years old, which he should risk by a mesalliance. + +When they heard this, the girl's parents certainly hesitated for a time, +to give their consent to the marriage, but the handsome hussar, whose +ardent passion carried Fanny away, at last gained the victory. The +doctor received a pretty little note from the tailor's daughter, in +which she told him that she gave him back his promise, as she had not +found her ideal in him. Fanny then signed a deed, by which she formerly +renounced all claims to her father's property, in favor of her sister, +and left her home and her father's house with the Count under cover of +the night, in order to accompany him to Poland, where the marriage was +to take place in his castle. + +Of course malicious tongues declared that the hussar had abducted Fanny, +but her parents smiled at such reports, for they knew better, and the +moment when their daughter would return as Countess W---- would amply +recompense them for everything. + +Meanwhile, the Polish Count and the romantic German girl were being +carried by the train through the dreary plains of Masovia.[7] They +stopped in a large town to make some purchases, and the Count, who was +very wealthy and liberal, provided his future wife with everything that +befits a Countess, and which a girl could fancy, and then they continued +their journey. The country grew more picturesque, but more melancholy, +as they went further East; the somber Carpathians rose from the +snow-covered plains and villages, surrounded by white glistening walls, +and stunted willows stood by the side of the roads, ravens sailed +through the white sky, and here and there a small peasant's sledge shot +by, drawn by two thin horses. + +[Footnote 7: A division of Poland, of which Warsaw is the +Capital.--TRANSLATOR.] + +At last they reached the station, where the Count's steward was waiting +for them with a carriage and four, which brought them to their +destination almost as swiftly as the iron steed. + +The numerous servants were drawn up in the yard of the ancient castle to +receive their master and mistress, and they gave loud cheers for her, +for which she thanked them smilingly. When she went into the dim, arched +passages, and the large rooms, for a moment she felt a strange feeling +of fear, but she quickly checked it, for was not her most ardent wish to +be fulfilled in a couple of hours? + +She put on her bridal attire, in which a half comical, half +sinister-looking old woman with a toothless mouth and a nose like an +owl's, assisted her, and just as she was fixing the myrtle wreath onto +her dark curls, the bell began to ring, which summoned her to her +wedding. The Count himself, in full uniform, led her to the chapel of +the castle, where the priest, with the steward and the castellan as +witnesses, and the footmen in grand liveries, were awaiting the handsome +young couple. + +After the wedding, the marriage certificate was signed in the vestry, +and a groom was sent to the station, where he dispatched a telegram to +her parents, to the effect that the hussar had kept his word, and that +Fanny Löwenfuss had become Countess Faniska W----. + +Then the newly-married couple sat down to a beautiful little dinner in +company of the chaplain, the steward and the castellan; the champagne +made them all very cheerful, and at last the Count knelt down before his +young and beautiful wife, boldly took her white satin slipper off her +foot, filled it with wine, and emptied it to her health. + +At length night came, a thorough, Polish wedding night, and Faniska had +just finished dressing and was looking at herself with proud +satisfaction in the great mirror that was fastened into the wall, from +top to bottom. A white satin train flowed down behind her like rays from +the moon, a half-open jacket of bright green velvet, trimmed with +valuable ermine, covered her voluptuous, virgin bust and her classic +arms, only to show them all the more seductively at the slightest +motion, while the wealth of her dark hair, in which diamonds hung here +and there like glittering dew-drops, fell down her neck and mingled with +the white fur. The Count came in a red velvet dressing gown trimmed with +sable; at a sign from him, the old woman who was waiting on his wife's +divinity left the room, and the next moment he was lying like a slave at +the feet of his lovely young wife, who raised him up, and was pressing +him to her heaving bosom, when a noise which she had never heard before, +a wild howling, startled the loving woman in the midst of her highest +bliss. + +"What was that?" she asked, trembling. + +The Count went to the window without speaking, and she followed him, +with her arms round him, and looked half timidly, half curiously out +into the darkness, where large bright spots were moving about in pairs, +in the park at her feet. + +"Are they will-o'-the-wisps?" she whispered. + +"No, my child, they are wolves," the Count replied, fetching his +double-barreled gun, which he loaded, and went out on the snow-covered +balcony, while she drew the fur more closely over her bosom, and +followed him. + +"Will you shoot?" the Count asked her in a whisper, and when she nodded, +he said: "Aim straight at the first pair of bright spots that you see; +they are the eyes of those amiable brutes." + +Then he handed her the gun and pointed it for her. + +"That is the way--are you pointing straight?" + +"Yes." + +"Then fire." + +A flash, a report, which the echo from the hills repeats four times, and +two of the unpleasant-looking lights had vanished. + +Then the Count fired, and by that time their people were all awake; they +drove away the wolves with torches and shouts, and laid the two large +animals, the spoils of a Polish wedding night, at the feet of their +young mistress. + +And the days that followed resembled that night. The Count showed +himself the most attentive husband, as his wife's knight and slave, and +she felt quite at home in that dull castle; she rode, drove, smoked, +read French novels and beat her servants as well as any Polish Countess +could have done. In the course of a few years, she presented the Count +with two children, and although he appeared very happy at that, yet, +like most husbands, he grew continually cooler, more indolent, and +neglectful of her. From time to time he left the castle, to see after +his affairs in the capital, and the intervals between those journeys +became continually shorter. Faniska felt that her husband was tired of +her, and much as it grieved her, she did not let him notice it; she was +always the same. + +But at last the Count remained away altogether; at first he used to +write, but at last the poor, weeping woman did not even receive letters +to comfort her in her unhappy solitude, and his lawyer sent the money +that she and her children required. + +She conjectured, hoped and doubted, suffered and wept for more than a +year; then she suddenly went to the capital and appeared unexpectedly in +his apartments. Painful explanations followed, until at last the Count +told her that he no longer loved her, and could not live with her for +the future, and when she wished to make him do so by legal means, and +entrusted her case to a celebrated lawyer, _the Count denied that she +was his wife_. She produced her marriage certificate, when the most +infamous fraud came to light. A confidential servant of the Count had +acted the part of the priest, and the tailor's beautiful daughter had, +as a matter of fact, merely been the Count's mistress, and her children +were bastards. + +The virtuous woman then saw, when it was too late, that it was _she_ who +had formed a mesalliance. Her parents would have nothing to do with her, +and at last it turned out in the bargain that the Count was married long +before he knew her, but that he did not live with his wife. + +Then Fanny applied to the police magistrates; she wanted to appeal to +justice, but she was dissuaded from taking criminal proceedings; for +although they would certainly lead to the punishment of her daring +seducer, they would also bring about her own total ruin. + +At last, however, her lawyer effected a settlement between them, which +was favorable to Fanny, and which she accepted for the sake of her +children. The Count paid her a considerable sum down, and gave her the +gloomy castle to live in. Thither she returned with a broken heart, and +from that time she lived alone, a sullen misanthrope, a fierce despot. + +From time to time, a stranger wandering through the Carpathians, meets a +pale woman of demonic beauty, wearing a magnificent sable skin jacket +and with a gun over her shoulder, in the forest, or in the winter in a +sledge, driving her foaming horses until they nearly drop from fatigue, +while the sleigh bells utter a melancholy sound, and at last die away in +the distance, like the weeping of a solitary, deserted human heart. + + + + +BERTHA + + +My old friend (one has friends occasionally who are much older than +oneself), my old friend Doctor Bonnet, had often invited me to spend +some time with him at Riom, and as I did not know Auvergne, I made up my +mind to go in the summer of 1876. + +I got there by the morning train, and the first person I saw on the +platform was the doctor. He was dressed in a gray suit, and wore a soft, +black, wide-brimmed, high-crowned felt hat, which was narrow at the top +like a chimney pot, a hat which hardly any one except an Auvergnat would +wear, and which smacked of the charcoal burner. Dressed like that, the +doctor had the appearance of an old young man, with his spare body under +his thin coat, and his large head covered with white hair. + +He embraced me with that evident pleasure which country people feel when +they meet long-expected friends, and stretching out his arm, he said +proudly: + +"This is Auvergne!" I saw nothing except a range of mountains before me, +whose summits, which resembled truncated cones, must have been extinct +volcanoes. + +Then, pointing to the name of the station, he said: + +"_Riom_, the fatherland of magistrates, the pride of the magistracy, and +which ought rather to be the fatherland of doctors." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"Why?" he replied with a laugh. "If you transpose the letters, you have +the Latin word _mori_, to die.... That is the reason why I settled here, +my young friend." + +And delighted at his own joke, he carried me off, rubbing his hands. + +As soon as I had swallowed a cup of coffee, he made me go and see the +town. I admired the chemist's house, and the other celebrated houses, +which were all black, but as pretty as knick-nacks, with façades of +sculptured stone. I admired the statue of the Virgin, the patroness of +butchers, and he told me an amusing story about this, which I will +relate some other time, and then Doctor Bonnet said to me: + +"I must beg you to excuse me for a few minutes while I go and see a +patient, and then I will take you to Chatel-Guyon, so as to show you the +general aspect of the town, and all the mountain chain of the +Puy-de-Dôme, before lunch. You can wait for me outside; I shall only go +upstairs and come down immediately." + +He left me outside one of those old, gloomy, silent, melancholy houses, +which one sees in the provinces, and this one appeared to look +particularly sinister, and I soon discovered the reason. All the large +windows on the first floor were half boarded up with wooden shutters. +The upper part of them alone could be opened, as if one had wished to +prevent the people who were locked up in that huge stone trunk from +looking into the street. + +When the doctor came down again, I told him how it had struck me, and he +replied: + +"You are quite right; the poor creature who is living there must never +see what is going on outside. She is a mad woman, or rather an idiot, +what you Normans would call a _Niente_[8]. It is a miserable story, but +a very singular pathological case at the same time. Shall I tell you?" + +[Footnote 8: A _Nothing_.--TRANSLATOR.] + +I begged him to do so, and he continued: + +"Twenty years ago, the owners of this house, who were my patients, had a +daughter who was like all other girls, but I soon discovered that while +her body became admirably developed, her intellect remained stationary. + +"She began to walk very early, but she could not talk. At first I +thought she was deaf, but I soon discovered that although she heard +perfectly, she did not understand anything that was said to her. Violent +noises made her start and frightened her, without her understanding how +they were caused. + +"She grew up into a superb woman, but she was dumb, from an absolute +want of intellect. I tried all means to introduce a gleam of sense into +her head, but nothing succeeded. I thought that I noticed that she knew +her nurse, though as soon as she was weaned, she failed to recognize her +mother. She could never pronounce that word, which is the first that +children utter, and the last which soldiers murmur when they are dying +on the field of battle. She sometimes tried to talk, but she produced +nothing but incoherent sounds. + +"When the weather was fine, she laughed continually, and emitted some +low cries which might be compared to the twittering of birds; when it +rained she cried and moaned in a mournful, terrifying manner, which +sounded like the howling of a dog when a death occurs in a house. + +"She was fond of rolling on the grass, like young animals do, and of +running about madly, and she used to clap her hands every morning, when +the sun shone into her room, and would jump out of bed and insist by +signs, on being dressed as quickly as possible, so that she might get +out. + +"She did not appear to distinguish between people, between her mother +and her nurse, or between her father and me, or between the coachman and +the cook. I liked her parents, who were very unhappy on her account, +very much, and went to see them nearly every day. I dined with them +tolerably frequently, which enabled me to remark that Bertha (they had +called her Bertha), seemed to recognize the various dishes, and to +prefer some to others. At that time she was twelve years old, but as +fully formed in figure as a girl of eighteen, and taller than I was. +Then, the idea struck me of developing her greediness, and by these +means to try and produce some slight powers of distinguishing into her +mind, and to force her, by the diversity of flavors, if not to reason, +at any rate to arrive at instinctive distinctions, which would of +themselves constitute a species of work that was material to thought. +Later on, by appealing to her passions, and by carefully making use of +those which could serve us, we might hope to obtain a kind of reaction +on her intellect, and by degrees increase the insensible action of her +brain. + +"One day I put two plates before her, one of soup, and the other of very +sweet vanilla cream. I made her taste each of them successively, and +then I let her choose for herself, and she ate the plate of cream. In a +short time I made her very greedy, so greedy that it appeared as if the +only idea she had in her head was the desire for eating. She perfectly +recognized the various dishes, and stretched out her hands towards those +that she liked, and took hold of them eagerly, and she used to cry when +they were taken from her. Then I thought I would try and teach her to +come to the dining room when the dinner bell rang. It took a long time, +but I succeeded in the end. In her vacant intellect, there was a fixed +correlation between the sound and her taste, a correspondence between +two senses, an appeal from one to the other, and consequently a sort of +connection of ideas--if one can call that kind of instinctive hyphen +between two organic functions an idea--and so I carried my experiments +further, and taught her, with much difficulty, to recognize meal times +on the face of the clock. + +"It was impossible for me for a long time to attract her attention to +the hands, but I succeeded in making her remark the clockwork and the +striking apparatus. The means I employed were very simple; I asked them +not to have the bell rung for lunch, and everybody got up and went into +the dining room, when the little brass hammer struck twelve o'clock, but +I found great difficulty in making her learn to count the strokes. She +ran to the door each time she heard the clock strike, but by degrees she +learned that all the strokes had not the same value as far as regarded +meals, and she frequently fixed her eyes, guided by her ears, on the +dial of the clock. + +"When I noticed that, I took care, every day at twelve and at six +o'clock to place my fingers on the figures twelve and six, as soon as +the moment she was waiting for, had arrived, and I soon noticed that she +attentively followed the motion of the small brass hands, which I had +often turned in her presence. + +"She had understood! Perhaps I ought rather to say that she had seized +the idea. I had succeeded in getting the knowledge, or rather the +sensation of the time into her, just as is the case with carp, who +certainly have no clocks, when they are fed every day exactly at the +same time. + +"When once I had obtained that result, all the clocks and watches in the +house occupied her attention almost exclusively. She spent her time in +looking at them, in listening to them and in waiting for meal times, and +once something very funny happened. The striking apparatus of a pretty +little Louis XVI. clock that hung at the head of her bed, having got out +of order, she noticed it. She sat for twenty minutes, with her eyes on +the hands, waiting for it to strike ten, but when the hand passed the +figure, she was astonished at not hearing anything; so stupefied was +she, indeed, that she sat down, no doubt overwhelmed by a feeling of +violent emotion, such as attacks us in the face of some terrible +catastrophe. And she had the wonderful patience to wait until eleven +o'clock, in order to see what would happen, and as she naturally heard +nothing, she was suddenly either seized with a wild fit of rage at +having been deceived, and imposed upon by appearances, or else overcome +by that fear which some frightened creature feels at some terrible +mystery, and by the furious impatience of a passionate individual who +meets with some obstacle, she took up the tongs from the fireplace and +struck the clock so violently that she broke it to pieces in a moment. + +"It was evident, therefore, that her brain did act and calculate, +obscurely it is true, and within very restricted limits, for I could +never succeed in making her distinguish persons as she distinguished the +time; and to stir her intellect, it was necessary to appeal to her +passions, in the material sense of the word, and we soon had another, +and alas! a very terrible proof of this!" + + * * * * * + +"She had grown up into a splendid girl; a perfect type of a race, a sort +of lovely and stupid Venus. She was sixteen, and I have rarely seen such +perfection of form, such suppleness and such regular features. I said +she was a Venus; yes, a fair, stout, vigorous Venus, with large, bright, +vacant eyes, which were as blue as the flowers of the flax plant; she +had a large mouth with full lips, the mouth of a glutton, of a +sensualist, a mouth made for kisses. Well, one morning her father came +into my consulting room, with a strange look on his face, and, sitting +down, without even replying to my greeting, he said: + +"'I want to speak to you about a very serious matter.... Would it be +possible ... would it be possible for Bertha to marry?' + +"'Bertha to marry!... Why, it is quite impossible!' + +"'Yes, I know, I know,' he replied.... 'But reflect, Doctor ... don't +you think ... perhaps ... we hoped ... if she had children ... it would +be a great shock to her, but a great happiness, and ... who knows +whether maternity might not rouse her intellect...?' + +"I was in a state of great perplexity. He was right, and it was possible +that such a new situation, and that wonderful instinct of maternity +which beats in the hearts of the lower animals, as it does in the heart +of a woman, which makes the hen fly at a dog's jaws to defend her +chickens, might bring about a revolution, an utter change in her vacant +mind, and set the motionless mechanism of her thoughts into movement. +And then, moreover, I immediately remembered a personal instance. Some +years previously I had possessed a spaniel bitch who was so stupid that +I could do nothing with her, but when she had had pups she became, if +not exactly intelligent, yet almost like many other dogs who have not +been thoroughly broken. + +"As soon as I foresaw the possibility of this, the wish to get Bertha +married grew in me, not so much out of friendship for her and her poor +parents, as from scientific curiosity. What would happen? It was a +singular problem, and I said to her father: + +"'Perhaps you are right ... You might make the attempt ... but ... but +you will never find a man to consent to marry her.' + +"'I have found somebody,' he said in a low voice. + +"I was dumbfounded, and said: 'Somebody really suitable? ... Some one of +your own rank and position in society?' + +"'Decidedly,' he replied. + +"'Oh! And may I ask his name?' + +"'I came on purpose to tell you, and to consult you. It is Monsieur +Gaston du Boys de Lucelles.' + +"I felt inclined to exclaim: 'What a wretch,' but I held my tongue, and +after a few moments' silence, I said: + +"'Oh! Very good. I see nothing against it.' + +"The poor man shook me heartily by the hand. + +"'She is to be married next month,' he said." + + * * * * * + +"Monsieur Gaston du Boys de Lucelles was a scape-grace of good family, +who, after having spent all that he had inherited from his father, and +having incurred debts by all kinds of doubtful means, had been trying to +discover some other way of obtaining money, and he had discovered this +method. He was a good-looking young fellow, and in capital health, but +fast; one of those odious race of provincial fast men, and he appeared +to me to be a sufficient sort of a husband, who could be got rid of +later, by making him an allowance. He came to the house to pay his +addresses, and to strut about before the idiot girl, who, however, +seemed to please him. He brought her flowers, kissed her hands, sat at +her feet and looked at her with affectionate eyes; but she took no +notice of any of his attentions, and did not make any distinction +between him and the other persons who were about her. + +"However, the marriage took place, and you may guess how excited my +curiosity was. I went to see Bertha the next day, to try and discover +from her looks whether any feelings had been roused in her, but I found +her just the same as she was every day, wholly taken up with the clock +and dinner, while he, on the contrary, appeared really in love, and +tried to rouse his wife's spirits and affections by little endearments, +and such caresses as one bestows on a kitten. He could think of nothing +better. + +"I called upon the married couple pretty frequently, and I soon +perceived that the young woman knew her husband, and gave him those +eager looks which she had hitherto bestowed only on sweet dishes. + +"She followed his movements, knew his step on the stairs or in the +neighboring rooms, clapped her hands when he came in, and her face was +changed, and brightened by the flames of profound happiness, and of +desire. + +"She loved him with her whole body, and with all her soul, to the very +depths of her poor, weak soul, and with all her heart, that poor heart +of some grateful animal. It was really a delightful and innocent picture +of simple passion, of carnal and yet modest passion, such as nature had +implanted into mankind, before man had complicated and disfigured it, by +all the various shades of sentiment. But he soon grew tired of this +ardent, beautiful, dumb creature, and did not spend more than an hour a +day with her, thinking it sufficient to devote his rights to her, and +she began to suffer in consequence. She used to wait for him from +morning till night, with her eyes on the clock; she did not even look +after the meals now, for he took all his away from home, _Clermont, +Chatel-Guyon, Royat_, no matter where, as long as he was not obliged +to come home. + +"She began to grow thin; every other thought, every other wish, every +other expectation and every other confused hope, disappeared from her +mind, and the hours during which she did not see him, became hours of +terrible suffering to her. Soon he used frequently not to come home at +night; he spent them with women at the casino at _Royat_, and did not +come home until daybreak. But she never went to bed before he returned. +She remained sitting motionless in an easy chair, with her eyes fixed on +the clock, which turned so slowly and regularly round the china face, on +which the hours were painted. + +"She heard the trot of his horse in the distance, and sat up with a +start, and when he came into the room, she got up with the movements of +a phantom, and pointed to the clock, as if to say to him: 'Look how late +it is!' + +"And he began to be afraid of this amorous and jealous, half-witted +woman, and flew into a rage, like brutes do; and one night, he even went +so far as to strike her, so they sent for me. When I arrived she was +writhing and screaming, in a terrible crisis of pain, anger, passion, +how do I know what? Can one tell what goes on in such undeveloped +brains? + +"I calmed her by subcutaneous injections of morphine, and forbade her to +see that man again, for I saw clearly that marriage would infallibly +kill her, by degrees." + + * * * * * + +"Then she went mad! Yes, my dear friend, that idiot has gone mad. She is +always thinking of him and waiting for him; she waits for him all day +and night, awake or asleep, at this very moment, ceaselessly. When I saw +her getting thinner and thinner, and as she persisted in never taking +her eyes off the clocks, I had them removed from the house. I thus made +it impossible for her to count the hours, and to try to remember, from +her indistinct reminiscences, at what time he used to come home, +formerly. I hope to destroy the recollection of it in time, and to +extinguish that ray of thought which I kindled with so much difficulty. + +"The other day, I tried an experiment. I offered her my watch; she took +it and looked at it for some time; then she began to scream terribly, as +if the sight of that little object had suddenly aroused her +recollection, which was beginning to grow indistinct. She is pitiably +thin now, with hollow cheeks and brilliant eyes, and she walks up and +down ceaselessly, like a wild beast does in its cage; I have had bars +put to the windows, and have had the seats fixed to the floor, so as to +prevent her from looking to see whether he is coming. + +"Oh! her poor parents! What a life they must lead!" + +We had got to the top of the hill, and the doctor turned round and said +to me: + +"Look at Riom from here." + +The gloomy town looked like some ancient city. Behind it, a green, +wooded plain studded with towns and villages, and bathed in a soft blue +haze, extended, until it was lost in the distance. Far away, on my +right, there was a range of lofty mountains with round summits, or else +cut off flat, as if with a sword, and the doctor began to enumerate the +villages, towns and hills, and to give me the history of all of them. +But I did not listen to him; I was thinking of nothing but the mad +woman, and I only saw her. She seemed to be hovering over that vast +extent of country like a mournful ghost, and I asked him abruptly: + +"What has become of the husband?" + +My friend seemed rather surprised, but after a few moments' hesitation, +he replied: + +"He is living at Royat, on an allowance that they make, and is quite +happy; he leads a very fast life." + +As we were slowly going back, both of us silent and rather low-spirited, +an English dog cart, drawn by a thoroughbred horse, came up behind us, +and passed us rapidly. The doctor took me by the arm. + +"There he is," he said. + +I saw nothing except a gray felt hat, cocked over one ear, above a pair +of broad shoulders, driving off in a cloud of dust. + + + + +ABANDONED + + +"I really think you must be mad, my dear, to go for a country walk in +such weather as this. You have had some very strange ideas for the last +two months. You take me to the sea side in spite of myself, when you +have never once had such a whim during all the forty-four years that we +have been married. You chose Fécamp, which is a very dull town, without +consulting me in the matter, and now you are seized with such a rage for +walking, you who hardly ever stir out on foot, that you want to go into +the country on the hottest day in the year. Ask d'Apreval to go with +you, as he is ready to gratify all your fancies. As for me, I am going +back to have a nap." + +Madame de Cadour turned to her old friend and said: + +"Will you come with me, Monsieur d'Apreval?" + +He bowed with a smile, and with all the gallantry of by-gone years: + +"I will go wherever you go," he replied. + +"Very well, then, go and get a sunstroke," Monsieur de Cadour said; and +he went back to the _Hôtel des Bains_, to lie down on his bed for an +hour or two. + +As soon as they were alone, the old lady and her old companion set off, +and she said to him in a low voice, squeezing his hand: + +"At last! at last!" + +"You are mad," he said in a whisper. "I assure you that you are mad. +Think of the risk you are running. If that man ..." + +She started. + +"Oh! Henri, do not say _that man_, when you are speaking of him." + +"Very well," he said abruptly, "if our son guesses anything, if he has +any suspicions, he will have you, he will have us both in his power. You +have got on without seeing him for the last forty years; what is the +matter with you to-day?" + +They had been going up the long street that leads from the sea to the +town, and now they turned to the right, to go to Etretat. The white road +extended in front of them, under a blaze of brilliant sunshine, so they +went on slowly in the burning heat. She had taken her old friend's arm, +and was looking straight in front of her, with a fixed and haunted gaze, +and at last she said: + +"And so you have not seen him again, either?" + +"No, never." + +"Is it possible?" + +"My dear friend, do not let us begin that discussion again. I have a +wife and children and you have a husband, so we both of us have much to +fear from other people's opinion." + +She did not reply; she was thinking of her long-past youth, and of many +sad things that had occurred. She had been married as girls are married; +she hardly knew her betrothed, who was a diplomatist, and later, she +lived the same life with him that all women of the world live with their +husbands. But Monsieur d'Apreval, who was also married, loved her with a +profound passion, and while Monsieur de Cadour was absent in India, on a +political mission for a long time, she succumbed. Could she possibly +have resisted, have refused to give herself? Could she have had the +strength and courage not to have yielded, as she loved him also? No, +certainly not; it would have been too hard; she would have suffered too +much! How cruel and deceitful life is! Is it possible to avoid certain +attacks of fate, or can one escape from one's destiny? When a solitary, +abandoned woman, without children and with a careless husband, always +escapes from the passion which a man feels for her, as she would escape +from the sun, in order to live in darkness until she dies? + +How well she recalled all the details, his kisses, his smiles, the way +he used to stop, in order to watch her until she was indoors. What happy +days they were; the only really delicious days she had ever enjoyed; and +how quickly they were over! + +And then she discovered that she was pregnant! What anguish! + +Oh! that journey to the South, that long journey, her sufferings, her +constant terror, that secluded life in the small, solitary house on the +shores of the Mediterranean, at the bottom of a garden, which she did +not venture to leave. How well she remembered those long days which she +spent lying under an orange tree, looking up at the round, red fruit, +amidst the green leaves. How she used to long to go out, as far as the +sea, whose fresh breezes came to her over the wall, and whose small +waves she could hear lapping on the beach. She dreamt of its immense +blue expanse sparkling under the sun, with the white sails of the small +vessels, and a mountain on the horizon. But she did not dare to go +outside the gate; suppose anybody had recognized her, unshapely as she +was, and showing her disgrace by her expanded waist! + +And those days of waiting, those last days of misery and expectation! +The impending suffering and then, that terrible night! What misery she +had endured, and what a night it was! How she had groaned and screamed! +She could still see the pale face of her lover, who kissed her hand +every moment, and the clean-shaven face of the doctor, and the nurse's +white cap. + +And what she felt when she heard the child's feeble cries, that mewling, +that first effort of a human voice! + +And the next day! the next day! the only day of her life on which she +had seen and kissed her son, for from that time, she had never even +caught a glimpse of him. + +And what a long, void existence hers had been since then, with the +thought of that child always, always floating before her. She had never +seen her son, that little creature that had been part of herself, even +once since then; they had taken him from her, carried him away and +hidden him. All she knew was, that he had been brought up by some +peasants in Normandy, that he had become a peasant himself, had married +well, and that his father, whose name he did not know, had settled a +handsome sum of money on him. + +How often during the last forty years had she wished to go and see him, +and to embrace him. She could not imagine to herself that he had grown! +She always thought of that small, human _larva_, which she had held in +her arms and pressed to her side for a day. + +How often she had said to her lover: "I cannot bear it any longer; I +must go and see him." + +But he had always stopped her, and kept her from going. She would not be +able to restrain and to master herself; their son would guess it and +take advantage of her, blackmail her; she would be lost. + + * * * * * + +"What is he like?" she said. + +"I do not know; I have not seen him again, either." + +"Is it possible? To have a son, and not to know him; to be afraid of him +and to repulse him as if he were a disgrace! It is horrible." + +They went along the dusty road, overcome by the scorching sun, and +continually ascending that interminable hill. + +"One might take it for a punishment," she continued; "I have never had +another child, and I could no longer resist the longing to see him, +which has possessed me for forty years. You men cannot understand that. +You must remember that I shall not live much longer, and suppose I had +never seen him again! never have seen him!... Is it possible? How could +I wait so long? I have thought about him every day since, and what a +terrible existence mine has been! I have never awakened, never, do you +understand, without my first thoughts being of him, of my child. How is +he? Oh! How guilty I feel towards him! Ought one to fear what the world +may say, in a case like this? I ought to have left everything to go +after him, to bring him up and to show love for him. I should certainly +have been much happier, but I did not dare, I was a coward. How I have +suffered! Oh! How those poor, abandoned children must hate their +mothers!" + +She stopped suddenly, for she was choked by her sobs. The whole valley +was deserted and silent in the dazzling light, and the overwhelming +heat, and only the grasshoppers uttered their shrill, continuous chirp +among the sparse, yellow grass on both sides of the road. + +"Sit down a little," he said. + +She allowed herself to be led to the side of the ditch, and sank down +with her face in her hands. Her white hair, which hung in curls on both +sides of her face, had become all of a lump, and she wept, overcome by +profound grief, while he stood facing her, uneasy and not knowing what +to say, and he merely murmured: "Come, have courage." + +She got up. + +"I will," she said, and wiping her eyes, she began to walk again with +the jerky steps of an old woman. + +Rather farther on, the road passed under a clump of trees, which hid a +few houses, and they could distinguish the vibrating and regular blows +of a blacksmith's hammer on the anvil; and soon they saw a cart drawn +upon the right in front of a low cottage, and two men shoeing a horse +under a shed. + +Monsieur d'Apreval went up to them. + +"Where is Pierre Benedict's farm?" he asked. + +"Take the road on the left, close to the public house, and then go +straight on; it is the third house past Poret's. There is a small +spruce-fir close to the gate; you cannot make a mistake." + +They turned to the left; she was walking very slowly now; her legs +threatened to give way, and her heart was beating so violently that she +felt as if she should be suffocated, while at every step she murmured, +as if in prayer: + +"Oh! good heavens! good heavens!" + +Monsieur d'Apreval, who was also nervous and rather pale, said to her +somewhat gruffly: + +"If you cannot manage to command your feelings better, you will betray +yourself immediately. Do try and restrain yourself." + +"How can I?" she replied. "My child! When I think that I am going to see +my child!" + +They were going along one of those narrow country lanes between +farmyards, that are buried beneath a double row of beech trees, by the +sides of the ditches, and suddenly they found themselves in front of a +gate, over which there hung a young spruce-fir. + +"This is it," he said. + +She stopped suddenly and looked about her. The courtyard, which was +planted with apple-trees, was large and extended as far as the small, +thatched dwelling-house. Opposite to it, were the stable, the barn, the +cow-house and the poultry-house, while the gig, wagon and the manure +cart were under a slated outhouse. Four calves were grazing under the +shade of the trees, and black hens were wandering all about the +enclosure. + +All was perfectly still; the house door was open, but nobody was to be +seen, and so they went in, when immediately a large, black dog came out +of a barrel that was standing under a pear tree, and began to bark +furiously. + +There were four bee-hives on boards against the wall of the house. + +Monsieur d'Apreval stood outside and called out: + +"Is anybody at home?" + +Then a girl appeared, a little girl of about ten, dressed in a chemise +and a linen petticoat, with dirty, bare legs, and a timid and cunning +look. She remained standing in the doorway, as if to prevent any one +going in. + +"What do you want?" she asked. + +"Is your father in?" + +"No." + +"Where is he?" + +"I don't know." + +"And your mother?" + +"Gone after the cows." + +"Will she be back soon?" + +"I don't know." + +But suddenly, the old woman, as if she feared that he might force her to +return, said quickly: + +"I will not go without having seen him." + +"We will wait for him, my dear friend." + +As they turned away, they saw a peasant woman coming towards the house, +carrying two tin pails, which appeared to be heavy, and which glistened +brightly in the sunlight. + +She limped with her right leg, and in her brown, knitted jacket, that +was faded by the sun, and washed out by the rain, she looked like a +poor, wretched, dirty servant. + +"Here is Mamma," the child said. + +When she got close to the house, she looked at the strangers angrily and +suspiciously, and then she went in, as if she had not seen them. She +looked old, and had a hard, yellow, wrinkled face, one of those wooden +faces like country people so often have. + +Monsieur d'Apreval called her back. + +"I beg your pardon, Madame, but we came in to know whether you could +sell us two glasses of milk." + +She was grumbling when she reappeared in the door, after putting down +her pails. + +"I don't sell milk," she replied. + +"We are very thirsty," he said, "and Madame is old and very tired. Can +we not get something to drink?" + +The peasant woman gave them an uneasy and cunning glance, and then she +made up her mind. + +"As you are here, I will give you some," she said, going into the house, +and almost immediately the child came out and brought two chairs, which +she placed under an apple tree, and then the mother in turn brought out +two bowls of foaming milk, which she gave to the visitors. She did not +return to the house, however, but remained standing near them, as if to +watch them and to find out for what purpose they had come there. + +"You have come from Fécamp?" she said. + +"Yes," Monsieur d'Apreval replied, "we are staying at Fécamp for the +summer." + +And then after a short silence he continued: + +"Have you any fowls you could sell us, every week?" + +The woman hesitated for a moment, and then replied: + +"Yes, I think I have. I suppose you want young ones?" + +"Yes, of course." + +"What do you pay for them in the market?" + +D'Apreval, who had not the least idea, turned to his companion: + +"What are you paying for poultry in Fécamp, my dear lady?" + +"Four francs, and four francs, fifty centimes," she said with her eyes +full of tears, and the farmer's wife, who was looking at her askance, in +much surprise, asked: + +"Is the lady ill, as she is crying?" + +He did not know what to say, and replied with some hesitation: + +"No ... no ... but she lost her watch as we came, a very handsome watch, +and that troubles her. If anybody should find it, please let us know." + +Mother Benedict did not reply, as she thought it a very equivocal soft +of answer, but suddenly she exclaimed: + +"Oh! here is my husband!" + +She was the only one who had seen him, as she was facing the gate. +D'Apreval started, and Madame de Cadour nearly fell, as she turned round +suddenly on her chair. + +A man who was bent nearly double and who was panting for breath, was +there, ten yards from them, dragging a cow at the end of a rope; and +without taking any notice of the visitors, he said: + +"Confound it! What a brute!" + +And he went past them, and disappeared in the cow-house. + +Her tears had dried quickly, as she sat there startled, without a word, +and with the one thought in her mind, that this was her son, and +d'Apreval, whom the same thought had struck very unpleasantly, said in +an agitated voice: + +"Is this Monsieur Benedict?" + +"Who told you his name?" the wife asked, still rather suspiciously. + +"The blacksmith at the corner of the highroad," he replied, and then +they were all silent, with their eyes fixed on the door of the +cow-house, which formed a sort of black hole in the wall of the +building. Nothing could be seen inside, but they heard a vague noise, +movements, and footsteps and the sound of hoofs, which were deadened by +the straw on the floor, and soon he reappeared in the door, wiping his +forehead, and went towards the house with long, slow strides. He passed +the strangers without seeming to notice them, and said to his wife: + +"Go and draw me a jug of cider; I am very thirsty." + +Then he went back into the house, while his wife went into the cellar, +and left the two Parisians alone. + +"Let us go, let us go Henri," Madame de Cadour said, nearly distracted +with grief, and so d'Apreval took her by the arm, helped her to rise, +and sustaining her with all his strength, for he felt that she was +nearly falling down, he led her out, after throwing five francs onto one +of the chairs. + +As soon as they were outside the gate, she began to sob, and said, +shaking with grief: + +"Oh! oh! is that what you have made of him?" + +He was very pale, and replied coldly: + +"I did what I could. His farm is worth eighty thousand francs, and that +is more than most of the children of the middle classes have." + +They returned slowly, without speaking a word. She was still crying; the +tears ran down her cheeks continually for a time, but by degrees they +stopped, and they went back to Fécamp, where they found Monsieur de +Cadour waiting dinner for them, and as soon as he saw them, he began to +laugh, and exclaimed: + +"So my wife has had a sunstroke, and I am very glad of it. I really +think she has lost her head for some time past!" + +Neither of them replied, and when the husband asked them rubbing his +hands: + +"Well, I hope that at least you have had a pleasant walk?" + +Monsieur d'Apreval replied: + +"A delightful walk, I assure you; perfectly delightful." + + + + +A NIGHT IN WHITECHAPEL + + +My friend Ledantec and I were twenty-five and we had come to London for +the first time in our lives. It was a Saturday evening in December, cold +and foggy, and I think that all that combined is more than enough to +explain why my friend Ledantec and I were most abominably drunk, though, +to tell the truth, we did not feel any discomfort from it. On the +contrary, we were floating in an atmosphere of perfect bliss. We did not +speak, certainly, for we were incapable of doing so, but then we had no +inclination for conversation. What would be the good of it? We could so +easily read all our thoughts in each others eyes! And all our thoughts +consisted in the sweet and unique knowledge, that we were thinking about +nothing whatever. + +It was not, however, in order to arrive at that state of delicious, +intellectual nihility, thai we had gone to mysterious Whitechapel. We +had gone into the first public-house we saw, with the firm intention of +studying manners and customs,--not to mention morals,--there as +spectators, artists and philosophers, but in the second public-house we +entered, we ourselves became like the objects of our investigations, +that is to say, sponges soaked in alcohol. Between one public-house and +the other, the outer air seemed to squeeze those sponges, which then got +just as dry as before, and thus we rolled from public-house to +public-house, until at last the sponges could not hold any more. + +Consequently, we had for some time bidden farewell to our studies in +morals, and now they were limited to two impressions: _zig-zags_ through +the darkness outside, and a gleam of light outside the public-houses. As +to the inhibition of brandies, whiskies and gins, that was done +mechanically, and our stomachs scarcely noticed it. + +But what strange beings we had elbowed with during our long stoppages! +What a number of faces to be remembered, what clothes, what attitudes, +what talk and what rags! + +At first we tried to note them exactly in our memory, but there were so +many of them, and our brain got mixed so quickly, that at present we had +no very clear recollection of anything or anybody. Even objects that +were immediately before us appeared to us in a vague, dusky +phantasmagoria and got confounded with precious objects in an +inextricable manner. The world became a sort of kaleidoscope to us, seen +in a dream through the penumbra of an aquarium. + +Suddenly we were aroused from this state of somnolence, awakened as if +by a blow in the chest, and imperiously forced to fix our attention on +what we saw, for amidst this whirl of strange sights, one stranger than +all attracted our eyes and seemed to say to us: "Look at me." + +It was at the open door of a public-house. A ray of light streamed into +the street through the half-open door, and that brutal ray fell right +onto the specter that had just risen up there, dumb and motionless. + +For it was indeed a specter, pitiful and terrible, and, above all, most +real, as it stood out boldly against the dark background of the street, +which it made darker still behind it! + +Young, yes; the woman was certainly young; there could be no doubt about +that, when one looked at her smooth skin, her smiling mouth which showed +her white teeth, and firm bust which could be plainly noted under her +thin dress. + +But then, how explain her perfectly white hair, not gray or growing +gray, but absolutely white, as white as any octogenarian's? + +And then her eyes, her eyes beneath her smooth brow, were surely the +eyes of an old woman? Certainly they were, and of a woman one could not +tell how old, for it must have taken years of trouble and sorrow, of +tears and of sleepless nights, and a whole long existence, thus to dull, +to wear out and to roughen those vitreous pupils. + +Vitreous? Not exactly that. For roughened glass still retains a dull and +milky brightness, a recollection, as it were, of its former +transparency. But her eyes seemed rather to have been made of metal, +which had turned rusty, and really if pewter could rust I should have +compared them to pewter covered with rust. They had the dead color of +pewter, and at the same time, they emitted a glance which was the color +of reddish water. + +But it was not until some time later that I tried to define them thus +approximately by retrospective analysis. At that moment, being +altogether incapable of such an effort, I could only establish in my own +mind the idea of extreme decrepitude and horrible old age, which they +produced in my imagination. + +Have I said that they were set in very puffy eyelids, which had no +lashes whatever, and on her forehead without wrinkles there was not a +vestige of eyebrow? When I tell you this, and considering their dull +look beneath the hair of an octogenarian, it is not surprising that +Ledantec and I said in a low voice at the sight of this woman, who was +evidently young: + +"Oh! poor, poor old woman!" + +Her great age was further accentuated by the terrible poverty that was +revealed by her dress. If she had been better dressed, her youthful +looks would, perhaps, have struck us more, but her thin shawl, which was +all that she had over her chemise, her single petticoat which was full +of holes, and almost in rags, and which did not nearly reach to her bare +feet, her straw hat with ragged feathers and with ribbons of no +particular color through age, it all seemed so ancient, so prodigiously +antique! + +From what remote superannuated, abolished period did they all spring? +One did not venture to guess, and by a perfectly natural association of +ideas, one seemed to infer that the unfortunate creature herself, was as +old as her clothes were. Now, by _one_, I mean by Ledantec and myself, +that is to say, by two men who were abominably drunk and who were +arguing with the special logic of intoxication. + +It was also under the softening influence of alcohol that we looked at +the vague smile on those lips with the teeth of a child, without +stopping to reflect on the beauty of those youthful teeth, and seeing +nothing except her fixed and almost idiotic smile, which no longer +contrasted with the dull expression of her looks, but, on the contrary, +strengthened them. For in spite of her teeth, it was the smile of an old +woman in our imagination, and as for me, I was really pleased at the +thought of being so acute when I inferred that this grandmother with +such pale lips, had the set of teeth of a young girl, and still, thanks +to the softening influence of alcohol, I was not angry with her for this +artifice. I even thought it particularly praiseworthy, since, after all, +the poor creature thus carried out her calling conscientiously, which +was to seduce us. For there was no possible doubt about the matter, that +this grandmother was nothing more nor less than a prostitute. + +And then, drunk! Horribly drunk, much more drunk than Ledantec and I +were, for we really could manage to say: "Oh! Pity the poor, poor old +woman!" While she was incapable of articulating a single syllable, of +making a gesture, or even of imparting a gleam of promise, a furtive +flash of allurement to her eyes. With her hands crossed on her stomach, +and resting against the front of the public-house, with her whole body +as stiff as if she had been in a state of catalepsy, she had nothing +alluring about her, except her sad smile, and that inspired us with all +the more pity because she was even more drunk than we were, and so, by +identical, spontaneous movement, we each of us seized her by an arm, to +take her into the public-house with us. + +To our great astonishment she resisted, sprang back, and so was in the +shadow again, out of the ray of light which came through the door, +while, at the same time, she began to walk through the darkness and to +drag us with her, for she was clinging to our arms. We followed her +without speaking and without knowing where we were going, but without +the least uneasiness on that score. Only, when she suddenly burst into +violent sobs as she walked, Ledantec and I began to sob in unison. + +The cold and the fog had suddenly congested our brains again, and we had +again lost all precise consciousness of our acts, of our thoughts and of +our sensations. Our sobs had nothing of grief in them, but we were +floating in an atmosphere of perfect bliss, and I can remember that at +that moment it was no longer the exterior world which seemed to me as if +I were looking at it through the penumbra of an aquarium; it was I +myself, an _I_ composed of three, which was changing into something that +was floating adrift in something, though what it was I did not know, +composed of palpable fog and intangible water, and it was exquisitely +delightful. + +From that moment I remember nothing more until what follows, and which +had the effect of a clap of thunder on me, and made me rise up from the +bottom of the depth to which I had descended. + +Ledantec was standing in front of me, his face convulsed with horror, +his hair standing on end and his eyes staring out of his head, and he +shouted to me:-- + +"Let us escape! Let us escape!" Whereupon I opened my eyes wide, and +found myself lying on the ground, in a room into which daylight was +shining. I saw some rags hanging against the wall, two chairs, a broken +jug lying on the floor by my side, and in a corner a wretched bed on +which a woman was lying, who was no doubt dead, for her head was hanging +over the side, and her long white hair reached almost to my feet. + +With a bound I was up, like Ledantec. + +"What!" I said to him, while my teeth chattered: "Did you kill her?" + +"No, no," he replied. "But that makes no difference; let us be off." + +I felt completely sober by that time, but I did think that he was still +suffering somewhat from the effects of last night's drunk; otherwise, +why should he wish to escape? while the remains of pity for the +unfortunate woman forced me to say:-- + +"What is the matter with her? If she is ill, we must look after her." + +And I went to the wretched bed, in order to put her head back on the +pillow, but I discovered that she was neither dead nor ill, but only +sound asleep, and I also noticed that she was quite young. She still +wore that idiotic smile, but her teeth were her own and those of a girl. +Her smooth skin and her firm bust showed that she was not more than +sixteen; perhaps not so much. + +"There! You see it, you can see it!" Ledantec said. "Let us be off." + +He tried to drag me out, and he was still drunk; I could see it by his +feverish movements, his trembling hands and his nervous looks. Then he +implored me and said:-- + +"I slept beside the old woman; but she is not old. Look at her; look at +her; yes, she is old after all!" + +And he lifted up her long hair by handfuls; it was like handfuls of +white silk, and then he added, evidently in a sort of delirium, which +made me fear an attack of _delirium tremens_: "To think that I have +begotten children, three, four children. Who knows how many children, +all in one night! And they were born immediately, and have grown up +already! Let us be off." + +Decidedly it was an attack of madness. Poor Ledantec! What could I do +for him? I took his arm and tried to calm him, but he thought that I was +going to try and make him go to bed with her again, and he pushed me +away and exclaimed with tears in his voice: "If you do not believe me, +look under the bed; the children are there; they are there, I tell you. +Look here, just look here." + +He threw himself down, flat on his stomach, and actually pulled out one, +two, three, four children, who had hidden under the bed. I do not +exactly know whether they were boys or girls, but all, like the sleeping +woman, had white hair, the hair of an octogenarian. + +Was I still drunk, like Ledantec, or was I mad? What was the meaning of +this strange hallucination? I hesitated for a moment, and shook myself +to be sure that it was I. + +No, no, I had all my wits about me, and I in reality saw that horrible +lot of little brats; they all had their faces in their hands, and were +crying and squalling, and then suddenly one of them jumped onto the bed; +all the others followed his example, and the woman woke up. + +And then we stood, while those five pairs of eyes, without eyebrows or +eyelashes, eyes with the dull color of pewter, and whose pupils had the +color of red water, were steadily fixed on us. + +"Let us be off! let us be off!" Ledantec repeated, leaving go of me, and +at that time I paid attention to what he said, and, after throwing some +small change onto the floor, I followed him, to make him understand, +when he should be quite sober, that he saw before him a poor Albino +prostitute, who had several brothers and sisters. + + + + +COUNTESS SATAN + + +I + +They were discussing dynamite, the social revolution, Nihilism, and even +those who cared least about politics, had something to say. Some were +alarmed, others philosophized, while others again, tried to smile. + +"Bah!" N---- said, "when we are all blown up, we shall see what it is +like. Perhaps, after all, it may be an amusing sensation, provided one +goes high enough." + +"But we shall not be blown up at all," G---- the optimist, said, +interrupting him. "It is all a romance." + +"You are mistaken, my dear fellow," Jules de C---- replied. "It is like a +romance, but with that confounded Nihilism, everything seems like one, +but it would be a mistake to trust to it. Thus, I myself, the manner in +which I made Bakounine's acquaintance ..." + +They knew that he was a good narrator, and it was no secret that his +life had been an adventurous one, so they drew closer to him, and +listened religiously. This is what he told them. + + +II + +"I met Countess Nioska W----, that strange woman who was usually called +Countess Satan, in Naples; I immediately attached myself to her out of +curiosity, and I soon fell in love with her. Not that she was beautiful, +for she was a Russian who had all the bad characteristics of the Russian +type. She was thin and squat, at the same time, while her face was +sallow and puffy, with high cheek bones and a Cossack's nose. But her +conversation bewitched every one. + +"She was many-sided, learned, a philosopher, scientifically depraved, +satanic. Perhaps the word is rather pretentious, but it exactly +expresses what I want to say, for in other words, she loved evil for the +sake of evil. She rejoiced in other people's vices, and liked to sow the +seeds of evil, in order to see it flourish. And that on a fraud, on an +enormous scale. It was not enough for her to corrupt individuals; she +only did that to keep her hand in; what she wished to do, was to corrupt +the masses. By slightly altering it after her own fashion, she might +have adopted the famous saying of Caligula. She also wished that the +whole human race had but one head; but not in order that she might cut +it off, but that she might make the philosophy of _Nihility_ flourish +there. + +"What a temptation to become the lord and master of such a monster! And +I allowed myself to be tempted, and undertook the adventure. The means +came unsought for by me, and the only thing that I had to do, was to +show myself more perverted and satanical that she was herself.--And so I +played the devil. + +"'Yes,' I said, 'we writers are the best workmen for doing evil, as our +books may be bottles of poison. The so-called men of action, only turn +the handle of the mitrailleuse which we have loaded. Formulas will +destroy the world, and it is we who invent them.' + +"'That is true,' she said, 'and that is what is wanting in Bakounine, I +am sorry to say.' + +"That name was constantly in her mouth, and so I asked her for details, +which she gave me, as she knew the man intimately. + +"'After all,' she said, with a contemptuous grimace, 'he is only a kind +of Garibaldi.' + +"She told me, although she made fun of him as she did so, about his +Odyssey of the barricades and of the hulks which made up Bakounine's +legend, and which is, nevertheless, only the exact truth; his part of +chief of the insurgents, at Prague and then at Dresden; his first death +sentence; about his imprisonment at Olmütz and in the casemates of the +fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul; in a subterranean dungeon at +Schüsselburg; about his exile to Siberia and his wonderful escape down +the river Amour, on a Japanese coasting-vessel by way of Yokohama and +San Francisco, and about his final arrival in London, whence he was +directing all the operations of Nihilism. + +"'You see,' she said, 'he is a thorough adventurer, and now all his +adventures are over. He got married at Tobolsk and became a mere +respectable, middle-class man. And then, he has no individual ideas. +Herzen, the phamphleteer of _Kolokol_ inspired him with the only fertile +phrase that he ever uttered: _Land and Liberty!_ But that is not yet the +definite formula, the general formula; what I will call, the dynamite +formula. At best, Bakounine would become an incendiary, and burn down +cities. And what is that, I ask you? Bah? A second-hand Rostopchin! He +wants a prompter, and I offered to become his but he did not take me +seriously.' ... + +"It would be useless to enter into all the Psychological details which +marked the course of my passion for the Countess, and to explain to you +more fully the attraction of curiosity which she offered me more and +more every day. It was getting exasperating, and the more so, as she +resisted me as stoutly as the shyest of innocents could have done, but +at the end of a month of mad Satanism, I saw what her game was. Do you +know what she had thought of? She meant to make me Bakounine's prompter, +or, at any rate, that is what she said. But no doubt she reserved the +right to herself, and that is how I understood her, to prompt the +prompter, and my passion for her, which she purposely left unsatisfied, +assured her that absolute power over me. + +"All this may appear madness to you, but it is, nevertheless, the exact +truth, and, in short, one morning she bluntly made the offer: 'Become +Bakounine's soul, and you shall have me.' + +"Of course, I accepted, for it was too fantastically strange to refuse; +do you think so? What an adventure! What luck! A number of letters +between the Countess and Bakounine prepared the way; I was introduced to +him at his house, and they discussed me there. I became a sort of +Western prophet, a mystic charmer who was ready to nihilate the Latin +races, the Saint Paul of the new religion of nothingness, and at last a +day was fixed for us to meet in London. He lived in a small, one-storied +house in Pimlico, with a tiny garden in front, and nothing noticeable +about it. + +"We were first of all shown into the commonplace parlor of all English +homes, and then upstairs. The room where the Countess and I were left, +was small, and very badly furnished, with a square table with writing +materials on it, in the middle. That was his sanctuary; the deity soon +appeared, and I saw him in flesh and bone; especially in flesh, for he +was enormously stout. His broad face, with prominent cheek-bones, in +spite of the fat; and with a nose like a double funnel, with small, +sharp eyes, which had a magnetic look, proclaimed the Tartar, the old +Turanian blood, which produced the Attilas, the Gengis-Khams, the +Tamerlanes. The obesity, which is characteristic of the nomad races, who +are always on horseback or driving, added to his Asiatic look. The man +was certainly not a European, a slave, a descendant of the deistic +Aryans, but a descendant of the Atheistic hordes, who had several times +already almost overrun Europe, and who, instead of any ideas of +progress, have the belief in nihility, at the bottom of their hearts. + +"I was astonished, for I had not expected that the majesty of a whole +race, could be thus revived in a man, and my stupefaction increased +after an hour's conversation. I could quite understand why such a +Colossus had not wished for the Countess as his Egeria; she was a mere +silly child to have dreamt of acting such a part to such a thinker. She +had not felt the profoundness of that horrible philosophy which was +hidden under that material activity, nor had she seen the prophet under +that man of the barricades. Or, perhaps, he had not thought it advisable +to reveal himself to her like that; but he revealed himself to me, and +inspired me with terror. + +"A prophet? Oh! yes. He thought himself an Attila, and foresaw the +consequences of his revolution; it was not only from instinct, but also +from theory that he urged a nation on to nihilism. The phrase is not +his, but Tourgueneff's, I believe, but the idea certainly belongs to +him. He got his program of agricultural communism from Herzen, and his +destructive radicalism from Pougatcheff, but he did not stop there. I +mean that he went on to evil for the sake of evil. Herzen wished for the +happiness of the Slav peasant; Pougatcheff wanted to be elected Emperor, +but all that Bakounine wanted, was to overthrow the actual order of +things, no matter by what means, and to replace social concentration by +a universal upheaval. + +"It was the dream of a Tartar; it was true nihilism pushed to extreme +practical conclusions. It was, in a word, the applied philosophy of +chance, the indeterminateism of anarchy. Monstrous it may be, but grand +in its monstrosity. + +"And you must note, that the man of action who was so despised by the +Countess, discovered in Bakounine the gigantic dreamer whom I have just +shown you, and his dream did not remain a dream, but began to be +realized. It was by the care of that organizer that the Nihilistic party +assumed a body; a party in which there is a little of everything, you +know; but on the whole, a formidable party, on account of the advanced +guard in true Nihilism, whose object is nothing less than to destroy the +Western world, to see it blossom from under the ruins of a general +dispersion, which is the last conception of modern Tartarism. + +"I never saw Bakounine again, for the Countess's conquest would have +been too dearly bought by any attempt to act a comedy with this +_Old-Man-of-the-Mountains_. And besides that, after this visit, poor +Countess Satan appeared to me quite silly. Her famous Satanism was +nothing but the flicker of a spirit-lamp, after the general +conflagration of which the other had dreamt, and she had certainly shown +herself very silly, when she could not understand that prodigious +monster. And as she had seduced me, only by her intellect and her +perversity, I was disgusted as soon as she laid aside that mask. I left +her without telling her of my intention, and never saw her again, +either. + +"No doubt they both took me for a spy from the _Third section of the +Imperial Chancellery_. In that case, they must have thought me very +strong to have resisted, and all I have to do is to look out, if any +affiliated members of their society recognize me!..." + + +III + +Then he smiled, and turning to the waiter who had just come in, he said: +"Meanwhile, open us another bottle of champagne, and make the cork pop! +It will, at any rate, somewhat accustom us to the day when we shall all +be blown up with dynamite ourselves." + + + + +KIND GIRLS + + +Every Friday, regularly, at about eleven o'clock in the morning, he came +into the courtyard, put down his soft hat at his feet, struck a few +chords on his guitar and then began a ballad in his full, rich voice. +And soon at every window in the four sides of that dull, barrack-like +building, some girls appeared, one in an elegant dressing gown, another +in a little jacket, most of them with their breasts and arms bare, all +of them just out of bed, with their hair hastily twisted up, their eyes +blinking in the sudden blaze of sunlight, their complexions dull and +their eyes still heavy from want of sleep. + +They swayed themselves backwards and forwards to his slow melody, and +gave themselves up to the enjoyment of it, and coppers, and even silver, +poured into the handsome singer's hat, and more than one of them would +have liked to have followed the penny which she threw to him, and to +have gone with the singer who had the voice of a siren, and who seemed +to say to all these amorous girls; "Come, come to my retreat, where you +will find a palace of crystal and gold, and wreaths which are always +fresh, and happiness and love which never die." + +That was what they seemed to hear, those unhappy girls, when they heard +him sing the songs of the old legends, which they had formerly believed. +That was what they understood by the foolish words of the ballad. Then +and nothing else, for how could any one doubt it, on seeing the fresh +roses on their cheeks, and the tender flame which flickered like a +mystic night-light in their eyes, which had, for the moment, become the +eyes of innocent young girls again? But of young girls, who had grown up +very quickly, alas! who were very precocious, and who very soon became +the women that they were, poor vendors of love, always in search of love +for which they were paid. + +That was why, when he had finished his second ballad, and sometimes even +sooner, concupiscent looks appeared in their eyes. The boatman of their +dreams, the water-sprite of fairy tales, vanished in the mist of their +childish recollections, and the singer re-assumed his real shape, that +of musician and strolling player, whom they wished to pay, to be their +lover. And the coppers and small silver were showered on him again, with +engaging smiles, with the leers of a street-walker, even with: "_p'st, +p'st_," which soon transformed the barrack-like courtyard into an +enormous cage full of twittering birds, while some of them could not +restrain themselves, but said aloud, rolling their eyes with desire: +"How handsome the creature is! Good heavens, how handsome he is!" + +He was really handsome, and nobody could deny it, and even too handsome, +with a regular beauty which almost palled on people. He had large, +almond-shaped, gentle eyes, a Grecian nose, a bow-shaped mouth, hidden +by a heavy moustache, and long, black, curly hair; in short, a head fit +to be put into a hair-dresser's window, or, better still, perhaps, onto +the front page of the ballads which he was singing. But what made him +still handsomer, was that his self-conceit had a look of sovereign +indifference for he was not satisfied with not replying to the smiles, +the ogles, and the _p'st, p'st's_, by taking no notice of them; but +when he had finished he shrugged his shoulders, he winked mischievously, +and turned his lips contemptuously, which said very clearly: "The stove +is not being heated for you, my little kittens!" + +Often, one might have thought that he expressly wished to show his +contempt, and that he tried to make himself thought unpoetical in the +eyes of all those amorous girls, and to check their love, for he cleared +his throat ostentatiously and offensively, more than was necessary, +after singing, as if he would have liked to spit at them. But all that +did not make him unpoetical in their eyes, and many of them, most of +them, who were absolutely mad on him, went so far as to say that _he did +it like a swell_! + +The girl, who in her enthusiasm had been the first to utter that +exclamation of intense passion, and who, after throwing him small +silver, had thrown him a twenty-franc gold piece, at last made up her +mind to have an explanation. Instead of a _p'st, p'st_, she spoke to him +boldly one morning, in the presence of all the others, who religiously +held their tongues. + +"Come up here," she called out to him, and from habit she added: "I will +be very nice, you handsome dark fellow." + +At first they were dumbfounded at her audacity, and then all their +cheeks flushed with jealousy, and the flame of mad desire shot from +their eyes, from every window there came a perfect torrent of: + +"Yes, come up, come up." "Don't go to her! Come to me." + +And, meanwhile, there was a shower of half-pence, of francs, of gold +coins, as well as of cigars and oranges, while lace pocket +handkerchiefs, silk neckties, and scarfs fluttered in the air and fell +round the singer, like a flight of many colored butterflies. + +He picked up the spoil calmly, almost carelessly, stuffed the money into +his pocket, made a bundle of the furbelows, which he tied up as if they +had been soiled linen, and then raising himself up, and putting his felt +hat on his head, he said: + +"Thank you, ladies, but indeed I cannot." + +They thought that he did not know how to satisfy so many demands at +once, and one of them said: "Let him choose." + +"Yes, yes, that is it!" they all exclaimed unanimously. + +But he repeated: "I tell you, I cannot." + +They thought he was excusing himself out of gallantry, and several of +them exclaimed, almost with tears of emotion: "Women are all heart!" And +the same voice that had spoken before, (it was one of the girls who +wished to settle the matter amicably), said: "We must draw lots." + +"Yes, yes, that is it," they all cried. And again there was a religious +silence, more religious than before, for it wras caused by anxiety, and +the beatings of their hearts may have been heard. + +The singer profited by it, to say slowly: "I cannot have that either; +nor all of you at once, nor one after the other; nothing! I tell you +that I cannot." + +"Why? Why?" And now they were almost screaming, for they were angry and +sorry at the same time. Their cheeks had gone from scarlet to livid, +their eyes flashed fire, and some shook their fists menacingly. + +"Silence!" the girl cried, who had spoken first. "Be quiet, you pack of +huzzys! Let him explain himself, and tell us why!" + +"Yes, yes, let us be quiet! Make him explain himself in God's name!" + +Then, in the fierce silence that ensued, the singer said, opening his +arms wide, with a gesture of despairing inability to do what they +wanted: + +"What do you want? It is very amusing, but I cannot do more. I have two +girls of my own already, at home." + + + + +PROFITABLE BUSINESS + + +He certainly did not think himself a saint, nor had he any hypocritical +pretensions to virtue, but, nevertheless, he thought as highly of +himself as much as he did of anybody else, and perhaps, even a trifle +more highly. And that, quite impartially, without any more self love +than was necessary, and without his having to accuse himself of being +self conceited. He did himself justice, that was all, for he had good +moral principles, and he applied them, especially, if the truth must be +told, not only to judging the conduct of others, but also, it must be +allowed, in a measure for regulating his own conduct, as he would have +been very vexed if he had been able to think of himself: + +"On the whole, I am what people call a perfectly honorable man." + +Luckily, he had never (oh! never), been obliged to doubt that excellent +opinion which he had of himself, which he liked to express thus, in his +moments of rhetorical expansion: + +"My whole life gives me the right to shake hands with myself." + +Perhaps a subtle psychologist would have found some flaws in this armor +of integrity, which was sanctimoniously satisfied with itself. It was, +for example, quite certain that our friend had no scruples in making +profit out of the vices or misfortunes of his neighbors, provided that +he was not in his own opinion, the person who was solely, or chiefly +responsible for them. But, on the whole, it was only one manner of +looking at it, nothing more, and there were plenty of materials for +casuistic arguments in it. This kind of discussion is particularly +unpleasant to such simple natures as that of his worthy fellow, who +would have replied to the psychologist. + +"Why go on a wild goose chase? As for me, I am perfectly sincere." + +You must not, however, believe that this perfect sincerity prevented him +from having elevated views. He prided himself on having a weakness for +imagination and the unforeseen, and if he would have been offended at +being called a dishonorable man, he would, perhaps have been still more +hurt if anybody had attributed middle-class tastes to him. + +Accordingly, in love affairs, he expressed a most virtuous horror of +adultery, for if he had committed it, it would not have been able to +bear that testimony to himself, which was so sweet to his conscience: + +"Ah! As for me, I can declare that I never wronged anybody!" + +While, on the other hand, he was not satisfied with pleasure which was +paid for by the hour, and which debases _the noblest desires of the +heart_, to the vulgar satisfaction of a physical requirement. What he +required, so he used to say, while lifting his eyes up to heaven was: + +"Something rather more ideal than that!" + +That search after the ideal did not, indeed, cost him any great effort, +as it was limited to not going to licensed houses of ill-fame, and to +not accosting streetwalkers with the simple words: "How much?" + +It consisted chiefly in wishing to be gallant even with such women, and +in trying to persuade himself that they liked him for his own sake, and +in preferring those whose manner, dress and looks allowed room for +suppositions and romantic illusions, such as: + +"She might be taken for a little work-girl who has not yet lost her +virtue." + +"No, I rather think she is a widow, who has met with misfortunes." + +"What if she be a fashionable lady in disguise!" + +And other nonsense, which he knew to be such, even while imagining it, +but whose imaginary flavor was very pleasant to him, all the same. + +With such tastes, it was only natural that this pilgrim followed and +pushed up against women in the large shops, and whenever there was a +crowd, and that he especially looked out for those ladies of easy +virtue, for nothing is more exciting than those half-closed shutters, +behind which a face is indistinctly seen, and from which one hears a +furtive: _"P'st! P'st!"_ + +He used to say to himself: "Who is she? Is she young and pretty? Is she +some old woman, who is terribly skillful at her business, but who yet +does not venture to show herself any longer? Or is she some new +beginner, who has not yet acquired the boldness of an old hand? In any +case, it is the unknown, perhaps, that is my ideal during the time it +takes me to find my way upstairs;" and always as he went up, his heart +beat, as it does at a first meeting with a beloved mistress. + +But he had never felt such a delicious shiver as he did on the day on +which he penetrated into that old house in the blind alley in +Ménilmontant. He could not have said why, for he had often gone after +so-called love in much stranger places; but now, without any reason, he +had a presentiment that he was going to meet with an adventure, and that +gave him a delightful sensation. + +The woman who had made the sign to him, lived on the third floor, and +all the way upstairs his excitement increased, until his heart was +beating violently when he reached the landing. At the same time, he was +going up, he smelt a peculiar odor, which grew stronger and stronger, +and which he had tried in vain to analyze, though all he could arrive at +was, that it smelt like a chemist's shop. + +The door on the right, at the end of the passage, was opened as soon as +he put his foot on the landing, and the woman said, in a low voice: + +"Come in, my dear." + +A whiff of a very strong smell met his nostrils through the open door, +and suddenly he exclaimed: + +"How stupid I was! I know what it is now; it is carbolic acid, is it +not?" + +"Yes," the woman replied. "Don't you like it, dear? It is very +wholesome, you know." + +The woman was not ugly, although not young; she had very good eyes, +although they were sad and sunken in her head; evidently she had been +crying, very much quite recently, and that imparted a special spice to +the vague smile which she put on, so as to appear more amiable. + +Seized by his romantic ideas once more, and under the influence of the +presentiment which he had had just before, he thought--and the idea +filled him with pleasure: + +"She is some widow, whom poverty has forced to sell herself." + +The room was small, but very clean and tidy, and that confirmed him in +his conjecture, as he was curious to verify its truth, he went into the +three rooms which opened into one another. The bedroom, came first; +next there came a kind of a drawing-room, and then a dining-room, which +evidently served as a kitchen, for a Dutch tiled stove stood in the +middle of it, on which a stew was simmering, but the smell of carbolic +acid was even stronger in that room. He remarked on it, and added with a +laugh: + +"Do you put it with your soup?" + +And as he said this, he laid hold of the handle of the door which led +into the next room, for he wanted to see everything, even that nook, +which was apparently a store cupboard, but the woman seized him by the +arm, and pulled him violently back. + +"No, no," she said, almost in a whisper, and in a hoarse and suppliant +voice, "no, dear, not there, not there, you must not go in there." + +"Why?" he said, for his wish to go in had only become stronger. + +"Because if you go in there, you will have no inclination to remain with +me, and I so want you to stay. If you only knew!" + +"Well, what?" And with a violent movement, he opened the glazed door, +when the smell of carbolic acid seemed almost to strike him in the face, +but what he saw, made him recoil still more, for on a small iron +bedstead, lay the dead body of a woman fantastically illuminated by a +single wax candle, and in horror he turned to make his escape. + +"Stop, my dear," the woman sobbed; and clinging to him, she told him +amidst a flood of tears, that her friend had died two days previously, +and that there was no money to bury her. "Because," she said, "you can +understand that I want it to be a respectable funeral, we were so very +fond of each other! Stop here, my dear, do stop. I only want ten francs +more. Don't go away." + +They had gone back into the bedroom, and she was pushing him towards +the bed: + +"No," he said, "let me go. I will give you the ten francs, but I will +not stay here; I cannot." + +He took his purse out of his pocket, extracted a ten-franc piece, put it +on the table, and then went to the door; but when he had reached it, a +thought suddenly struck him, as if somebody were reasoning with him, +without his knowledge. + +"Why lose these ten francs? Why not profit by this woman's good +intentions. She certainly did her business bravely, and if I had not +known about the matter, I should certainly not have gone away for some +time ... Well then?" + +But other obscurer suggestions whispered to him: + +"She was her friend! ... They were so fond of each other! Was it +friendship or love? Oh! love apparently. Well, it would surely be +avenging morality, if this woman were forced to be faithless to that +monstrous love?" And suddenly the man turned round and said in a low and +trembling voice: "Look here! If I give you twenty francs instead of ten, +I suppose you could buy some flowers for her, as well?" + +The unhappy woman's face brightened with pleasure and gratitude. + +"Will you really give me twenty?" + +"Yes," he replied, "and more perhaps. It quite depends upon yourself." + +And with the quiet conscience of an honorable man who, at the same time, +is not a fool he said gravely: + +"You need only be very complaisant." + +And he added, mentally: "Especially as I deserve it, as in giving you +twenty francs I am performing a good action." + + + + +VIOLATED + + +"Really," Paul repeated, "really!" + +"Yes, I who am here before you have been violated, and violated by!... +But if I were to tell you immediately by whom, there would be no story, +eh? And as you want a story, eh? And as you want a story, I will tell +you all about it from beginning to end, and I shall begin at the +beginning. + +"I had been shooting over the waste land in the heart of Brittany for a +week, which borders on the Black Mountain. It is a desolate and wild +country, but it abounds in game. One can walk for hours without meeting +a human being, and when one meets anybody, it is just the same as if one +had not, for the people are absolutely ignorant of French, and when I +got to an inn at night, I had to employ signs to let the people know +that I wanted supper and bed. + +"As I happened to be in a melancholy frame of mind at the time, that +solitude delighted me, and my dog's companionship was quite enough for +me, and so you may guess my irritation when I perceived one morning that +I was being followed, absolutely followed, by another sportsman who +seemed to wish to enter into conversation with me. The day before, I had +already noticed him obstructing the horizon several times, and I had +attributed it to the chances of sport, which brought us both to the same +likely spots for game, but now I could not be mistaken! The fellow was +evidently following me, and was stretching his little pair of compasses +as much as he could, so as to keep up with my long strides, and took +short cuts, so as to catch me up at the half circle. + +"As he seemed bent upon the matter, I naturally grew obstinate also, and +he spent his whole day in trying to catch me up, while I spent mine in +trying to baffle him, and we seemed to be playing at _hide-and-seek_; +the consequences were, that when it was getting dark, I had completely +lost myself in the most deserted part of the moor. There was no cottage +near, and not even a church spire in the distance. The only land-mark, +was the hateful outline of that cursed man, about five hundred yards +off. + +"Of course he had won the game! I should have to put a good face on the +matter, and allow him to join me, or rather I should have to join him +myself, if I did not wish to sleep in the open air and with an empty +stomach, and so I went up to him, and asked my way in a half-surly +manner. + +"He replied very affably, that there was no inn in the neighborhood, as +the nearest village was five leagues off, but that he lived only about +an hour's walk off, and that he considered himself very fortunate in +being able to offer me hospitality. + +"I was utterly done up, and how could I refuse? So we went off through +the heather and furze; I walking slowly because I was so tired, and he +went tripping along merrily with his legs like a basset hound's, which +seemed untirable. + +"And yet he was an old man, and not strongly built, for I could have +knocked him over by blowing on him; but how he could walk, the beast! + +"But he was not a troublesome companion, as I imagined he would have +been, and he did not at all seem to wish to enter into conversation with +me, as I feared he would. When he had given his invitation, and I had +accepted it and thanked him in a few words, he did not open his lips +again, and we walked on in silence, and only his glances worried me, for +I felt them on me, as if he wished to force me into an intimacy, which +my closed lips refused. But on the whole, his tenacious looks, which I +noticed furtively, appeared sympathetic and even admiring--yes; really +admiring! + +"But I could not give him as good as he brought, for he was certainly +not handsome; his legs were short, and rather bandy and he was thin and +narrow-chested. His face was like a bit of parchment, furrowed and +wrinkled, without a hair on it to hide the folds in his skin. His hair +resembled that of an _Ignorantin_[9] brother, with its gray locks +falling onto his greasy collar; he had a nose like a ferret, and rat's +eyes, but he was able to offer me food and quarters for the night, and +it was not requisite that he should be handsome, in order to do that. + +[Footnote 9: A lay brother in a monastery, who is devoted to the +instruction of the poor.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"Capital food, and very comfortable quarters! A manorial dwelling, a +real old, well-furnished manor-house; and in the large dining-room, in +front of the huge fireplace, where a large fire was blazing, dinner was +laid; I will say no more than that! A hotch-potch, which had been +stewing since morning, no doubt! A _salmis_ of woodcock, in defense of +which angels would have taken up arms; buckwheat cakes, in cream, +flavored with aniseed, and a cheese, which is a rare thing and hardly +ever to be found in Brittany, a cheese to make any one eat a four pound +loaf if he only smelt the rind! The whole washed clown by Chambertin, +and then brandy distilled by cider, which was so good that it made a man +fancy that he had swallowed a deity in velvet breeches; not to mention +the cigars, pure, smuggled havannahs; large, strong, not dry but green, +on the contrary, which made a strong and intoxicating smoke. + +"And how the little old gentleman stuffed, and drank and smoked! He was +an ogre, a choirister, a sapper, and so was I, I must confess, and, upon +my word, I cannot remember what we talked about during our Gargantuan +feed! But we certainly talked, but what about? About shooting, +certainly, and about women most probably. Confound it! Among men, after +drinking! Yes, yes, about women, I am quite sure, and he told some funny +stories, did the little old man! Especially about a portrait which was +hanging over the large fireplace, and which represented his +grandmother, a marchioness of the old régime. She was a woman who had +certainly played some pranks, and they said that she was still frisky +and had good legs and thighs when she was seventy. + +"'It is extraordinary,' I remarked, 'how like you are to that portrait.' + +"'Yes,' the old man replied with a smile; and then he added in his +harsh, tremulous voice: 'I resemble her in everything. I am only sixty, +and I feel as if I should have lusty, hot blood in me until I am +seventy.' + +"And then suddenly, very much moved, and looking at me admiringly, as he +had done once before, he said to the portrait: + +"'I say, marchioness, what a pity that you did not know this handsome +young fellow!' + +"I remembered that apostrophe and that look very well, when I went to +bed about an hour later, nearly drunk, in the large room papered in +white and gold, to which I was shown by a tall, broad-shouldered +footman, who wished me good-night in Breton. + +"_Good-night_, yes! But that implied going to sleep, which was just what +I could not do. The Chambertin, the cider brandy and the cigars had +certainly made me drunk, but not so as to overcome me altogether. On the +contrary, I was excited, my nerves were highly strung, my blood was +heated, and I was in a half-sleep in which I felt that I was very much +alive, and my whole being was in a vibration and expansion, just as if I +had been smoking hashecah. + +"Of course! That was it; I was dreaming while I was awake; but I saw the +door open and the marchioness come in, who had stepped down, out of her +frame. She had taken off her furbelows, and was in her nightgown. Her +high head-dress was replaced by a simple knot of ribbon, which confined +her powdered hair into a small chignon, but I recognized her quite +plainly, by the trembling light of the candle which she was carrying. It +was her face with its piercing eyes, its pointed nose and its smiling +and sensual mouth. She did not look so young to me as she appeared in +her portrait. Bah! Perhaps that was merely caused by the feeble, +flickering light! But I had not even time to account for it, not to +reflect on the strangeness of the sight, nor to discuss the matter with +myself and to say: 'Am I dead drunk, or is it a ghost?' + +"No, I had no time, and that is the fact, for the candle was suddenly +blown out and the marchioness was in my bed and holding me in her arms, +and one fixed idea, the only one that I had, haunted me, which was: + +"'Had the marchioness good limbs, and was she still frisky at seventy?' +And I did not care much if she was seventy and if she was a ghost or +not; I only thought of one thing: 'Has she really good limbs?'" + +"By Jove, yes! She did not speak. Oh, marchioness! marchioness! And +suddenly in spite of myself and to convince myself that it was not a +mere fantastic dream, I exclaimed: + +"'Why, good heavens! I am not dreaming!' + +"'No, you are not dreaming,' two lips replied, trying to press +themselves against mine. + +"But, oh! horror! The mouth smelt of cigars and brandy! The voice was +that of the little old man! + +"With a bound I sent him flying on to the ground, and jumped out of bed, +shouting: + +"'Beast! beast!' + +"Then I heard the door slam, and bare feet pattering on the stairs as he +ran away; so I dressed hastily in the dark and went downstairs, still +shouting. + +"In the hall below, where I could see through the upper windows that the +dawn was breaking, I met the broad-shouldered footman, who was holding a +great cudgel in his hand. He was bawling also, in Breton, and pointed to +the open door, outside where my dog was waiting. What could I say to +this savage who did not speak French? Should I face his cudgel? There +was no reason for doing so; and besides, I was even more ashamed than +furious; so I hastily took up my gun and my game-bag, which were in the +hall, and went off without turning round. + +"Disgusted with sport in that part of the country, I returned to Brest +the same day, and there, timidly and with many precautions, I tried to +find out something about the little old man.... + +"'Oh, I know!' somebody replied at last to my question; 'you are +speaking of the manor-house at Hervénidozse, where the old countess +lives, who dresses like a man and sleeps with her coachman.' + +"And with a deep sigh of relief, and much to the astonishment of my +informant, I replied: + +"'Oh! so much the better!'" + + + + +JEROBOAM + + +Anyone who said, or even insinuated, that the Reverend William +Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, Tottenham, did not make his wife +Anna perfectly happy, would certainly have been very malicious. In their +twelve years of married life, he had honored her with twelve children, +and could anybody decently ask anything more of a saintly man? + +Saintly to heroism in truth! For his wife Anna, who was endowed with +invaluable virtues, which made her a model among wives and a paragon +among mothers, had not been equally endowed physically, for, in one +word, she was hideous. Her hair, which was coarse though it was thin, +was the color of the national _half-and-half_, but of thick +_half-and-half_ which looked as if it had been already swallowed several +times, and her complexion, which was muddy and pimply, looked as if it +were covered with sand mixed with brickdust. Her teeth, which were long +and protruding, seemed as if they were about to start out of their +sockets in order to escape from that mouth with scarcely any lips, whose +sulphurous breath had turned them yellow. They were evidently suffering +from bile. + +Her china-blue eyes looked vaguely, one very much to the right and the +other very much to the left, with a divergent and frightened squint; no +doubt in order that they might not see her nose, of which they felt +ashamed. And they were quite right! Thin, soft, long, pendant, sallow, +and ending in a violet knob, it irresistibly reminded those who saw it +of something which cannot be mentioned except in a medical treatise. Her +body, through the inconceivable irony of nature, was at the same time +thin and flabby, wooden and chubby, without having either the elegance +of slimness or the rounded gracefulness of stoutness. It might have been +taken for a body which had formerly been adipose, but which had now +grown thin, while the covering had remained floating on the framework. + +She was evidently nothing but skin and bones, but then she had too many +bones and too little skin. + +It will be seen that the reverend gentleman had done his duty, his whole +duty, more than his duty, in sacrificing a dozen times on this altar. +Yes, a dozen times bravely and loyally! A dozen times, and his wife +could not deny it nor dispute the number, because the children were +there to prove it. A dozen times, and not one less! + +And alas! not once more; and that was the reason why, in spite of +appearances, Mrs. Anna Greenfield ventured to think, in the depths of +her heart, that the Reverend William Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, +Tottenham, had not made her perfectly happy; and she thought so all the +more as, for four years now, she had been obliged to renounce all hope +of that annual sacrifice, which was so easy and so fugitive formerly, +but which had now fallen into disuse. In fact, at the birth of the +twelfth child, the reverend gentleman had expressly said to her: + +"God has greatly blessed our union, my dear Anna. We have reached the +sacred number of the twelve tribes of Israel, and were we now to +persevere in the works of the flesh, it would be mere debauchery, and I +cannot suppose that you would wish me to end my exemplary life in +lustful practices." + +His wife blushed and looked down, and the holy man, with the legitimate +pride of virtue which is its own reward, audibly thanked Heaven that he +was "not as other men are." + +A model among wives and the paragon of mothers, Anna lived with him for +four years on those terms, without complaining to anyone, and contented +herself by praying fervently to God that He would mercifully inspire her +husband with the desire to begin a second series of the twelve tribes. +At times even, in order to make her prayers more efficacious, she tried +to compass that end by culinary means. She spared no pains, and gorged +the reverend gentleman with highly-seasoned dishes. Hare soup, ox-tails +stewed in sherry, the green fat in turtle soup, stewed mushrooms, +Jerusalem artichokes, celery, and horse-radish; hot sauces, truffles, +hashes with wine and cayenne pepper in them, curried lobsters, pies made +of cocks' combs, oysters, and the soft roe of fish; and all these dishes +were washed down by strong beer and generous wines, Scotch ale, +Burgundy, dry champagne, brandy, whiskey and gin; in a word, by that +numberless array of alcoholic drinks with which the English people love +to heat their blood. + +And, as a matter of fact, the reverend gentleman's blood became very +heated, as was shown by his nose and cheeks, but in spite of this, the +powers above were inexorable, and he remained quite indifferent as +regards his wife, who was unhappy and thoughtful at the sight of that +protruding nasal appendage, which, alas! was alone in its glory. + +She became thinner, and at the same time, flabbier than ever, and almost +began to lose her trust in God, when, suddenly, she had an inspiration. +Was it not, perhaps, the work of devil? + +She did not care to inquire too closely into the matter, as she thought +it a very good idea, and it was this: + +"Go to the Universal Exhibition in Paris, and there, perhaps, you will +discover the secret to make yourself loved." + +Decidedly luck favored her, for her husband immediately gave her +permission to go, and as soon as she got into the _Esplanade des +Invalides_, she saw the Algerian dancers, and she said to herself. + +"Surely this would inspire William with the desire to be the father of +the thirteenth tribe!" + +But how could she manage to get him to be present at such abominable +orgies? For she could not hide from herself that it was an abominable +exhibition, and she knew how scandalized he would be at their voluptuous +movements. She had no doubt that the devil had led her there, but she +could not take her eyes off the scene, and it gave her an idea; and so +for nearly a fortnight you might have seen the poor, unattractive woman +sitting, and attentively and curiously watching the swaying hips of the +Algerian women. She was learning. + +The very evening of her return to London, she rushed into her husband's +bedroom, disrobed herself in an instant, except for a thin gauze +covering, and for the first time in her life appeared before him in all +the ugliness of her semi-nudity. + +"Come, come," the saintly man stammered out, "are you--are you mad, +Anna! What demon has possessed you? Why inflict the disgrace of such a +spectacle on me?" + +But she did not listen to him, and did not reply, but suddenly she also +began to sway her hips about like an almah[10]. The reverend gentleman +could not believe his eyes, and in his stupefaction, he did not think of +covering them with his hands or even of shutting them. He looked at her, +stupefied and dumbfounded, a prey to the hypnotism of ugliness. He +watched her as she came forward and retired, and went up and down, as +she skipped and wriggled, and threw herself into extraordinary +attitudes. For a long time he sat motionless and almost unable to speak. +He only said in a low voice: + +[Footnote 10: Egyptian dancing girl.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"Oh, Lord! To think that twelve times!... twelve times!... a whole +dozen!" + +However, she fell into a chair, panting and worn out, and said to +herself: + +"Thank Heaven! William looks like he used to do formerly on the days +that he honored me. Thank Heaven! There will be a thirteenth tribe, and +then a fresh series of tribes, for William is very methodical in all +that he does!" + +But William merely took a blanket off the bed and threw it over her, +saying in a voice of thunder: + +"Your name is no longer Anna, Mrs. Greenfield; for the future you shall +be called Jezabel. I only regret that I have twelve times mingled my +blood with your impure blood." And then, seized by pity, he added: "If +you were only in a state of inebriety, of intoxication, I could excuse +you." + +"Well, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, repentantly, "yes, I am in that +state ... Forgive me, William--forgive a poor drunken woman!" + +"I will forgive you, Anna," he replied, and he gave her a wash-hand +basin, saying: "Cold water will do you good, and when your head is +clear, remember the lesson which you must learn from this occurrence." + +"What lesson?" she asked, humbly. + +"That people ought never to depart from their usual habits." + +"But why, then, William," she asked, timidly, "have you changed your +habits?" + +"Hold your tongue!" he cried--"hold your tongue, Jezabel! Have you not +got over your intoxication yet? For twelve years I certainly followed +the divine precept: _increase and multiply_, once a year. But since +then, I have grown accustomed to something else, and I do not wish to +alter my habits." + +And the Reverend William Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, Tottenham, +the saintly man whose blood was inflamed by heating food and liquor, +whose ears were like full-blown poppies and who had a nose like a +tomato, left his wife and, as had been his habit for four years, went to +make love to Polly, the servant. + +"Now, Polly," he said, "you are a clever girl, and I mean, through you, +to teach Mrs. Greenfield a lesson she will never forget. I will try and +see what I can do for you." + +And in order to this, he called her his little Jezabel, and said to her, +with an unctuous smile: + +"Call me Jeroboam! You don't understand why? Neither do I, but that does +not matter. Take off all your things, Polly, and show yourself to Mrs. +Greenfield." + +The servant did as she was bidden, and the result was that Mrs. +Greenfield never again hinted to her husband the desirability of laying +the foundation of a thirteenth tribe. + + + + +THE LOG + + +It was a small drawing-room, with thick hangings, and with a faint, +judicious smell of flowers and scents about it. A large fire was burning +in the grate, while one lamp, covered with a shade of old lace, on the +corner of the mantel-piece threw a soft light onto the two persons who +were talking. + +She, the mistress of the house, was an old lady with white hair, but one +of those adorable old ladies whose unwrinkled skin is as smooth as the +finest paper, and scented, impregnated with perfume as the delicate +essences which she had used in her bath for so many years had penetrated +through the epidermis. + +He was a very old friend, who had never married, a constant friend, a +companion in the journey of life, but nothing else. + +They had not spoken for about a minute, and they were both looking at +the fire, dreaming no matter of what, in one of those moments of +friendly silence between people who have no need to be constantly +talking in order to be happy together, when suddenly a large log, a +stump covered with burning roots, fell out. It fell over the fire-dogs +into the drawing-room, and rolled onto the carpet, scattering great +sparks all round. The old lady sprang up with a little scream, as if she +was going to run away, while he kicked the log back onto the hearth and +trod out all the burning sparks with his boots. + +When the disaster was repaired, there was a strong smell of burning, and +sitting down opposite to his friend, the man looked at her with a smile, +and said, as he pointed to the log: + +"That is the reason why I never married." + +She looked at him in astonishment, with the inquisitive gaze of women +who wish to know everything, that eye which women have who are no longer +very young, in which complicated, and often malicious curiosity is +reflected, and she asked: + +"How so?" + +"Oh! that is a long story," he replied; "a rather sad and unpleasant +story." + +"My old friends were often surprised at the coldness which suddenly +sprang up between one of my best friends, whose Christian name was +Julien, and myself. They could not understand how two such intimate and +inseparable friends as we had been could suddenly become almost +strangers to one another, and I will tell you the reason of it. + +"He and I used to live together at one time. We were never apart, and +the friendship that united us seemed so strong that nothing could break +it. + +"One evening when he came home, he told me that he was going to get +married, and it gave me a shock as if he had robbed me or betrayed me. +When a man's friend marries, it is all over between them. The jealous +affection of a woman, that suspicious, uneasy, and carnal affection, +will not tolerate that sturdy and frank attachment, that attachment of +the mind, of the heart, and mutual confidence which exists between two +men. + +"You see, however great the love may be that unites them, a man and a +woman are always strangers in mind and intellect; they remain +belligerants, they belong to different races. There must always be a +conqueror and a conquered, a master and a slave; now the one, now the +other--they are never two equals. They press each other's hands, those +hands trembling with amorous passion; but they never press them with a +long, strong, loyal pressure, with that pressure which seems to open +hearts and to lay them bare in a burst of sincere, strong, manly +affection. Philosophers of old, instead of marrying and pro-creating +children who would abandon them as a consolation for their old age, +sought for a good, reliable friend, and grew old with him in that +communion of thought which can only exist between men. + +"Well, my friend Julien married. His wife was pretty, charming, a +little, light, curly-haired, plump, bright woman, who seemed to worship +him; and at first I went but rarely to their house, as I was afraid of +interfering with their affection, and afraid of being in their way. But +somehow they attracted me to their house; they were constantly inviting +me, and seemed very fond of me. Consequently, by degrees I allowed +myself to be allured by the charm of their life. I often dined with +them, and frequently, when I returned home at night, I thought that I +would do as he had done, and get married, as I now found my empty house +very dull. + +"They seemed very much in love with one another, and were never apart. + +"Well, one evening Julien wrote and asked me to go to dinner, and I +naturally went. + +"'My dear fellow,' he said, 'I must go out directly afterwards on +business, and I shall not be back until eleven o'clock, but I shall be +at eleven precisely, and I reckon you to keep Bertha company.' + +"The young woman smiled. + +"'It was my idea,' she said, 'to send for you.' + +"I held out my hand to her. + +"'You are as nice as ever,' I said, and I felt a long, friendly pressure +of my fingers, but I paid no attention to it; so we sat down to dinner, +and at eight o'clock Julien went out. + +"As soon as he had gone, a kind of strange embarrassment immediately +seemed to arise between his wife and me. We had never been alone +together yet, and in spite of our daily increasing intimacy, this +_tête-à-tête_ placed us in a new position. At first I spoke vaguely of +those indifferent matters with which one fills up an embarrassing +silence, but she did not reply, and remained opposite to me with her +head down in an undecided manner, as if she were thinking over some +difficult subject, and as I was at a loss for commonplace ideas, I held +my tongue. It is surprising how hard it is at times to find anything to +say. + +"And then, again, I felt in the air, I felt in the unseen, something +which is impossible for me to express, that mysterious premonition which +tells you beforehand of the secret intentions, be they good or evil, of +another person with respect to yourself. + +"That painful silence lasted some time, and then Bertha said to me: + +"'Will you kindly put a log on the fire, for it is going out.' + +"So I opened the box where the wood was kept, which was placed just +where yours is, took out the largest log, and put it on the top of the +others, which were three-parts burnt, and then silence reigned in the +room again. + +"In a few minutes the log was burning so brightly that it scorched our +faces, and the young woman raised her eyes to me--eyes that had a +strange look to me. + +"'It is too hot now,' she said; 'let us go and sit on the sofa over +there.' + +"So we went and sat on the sofa, and then she said suddenly, looking me +full in the face: + +"'What should you do if a woman were to tell you that she was in love +with you?' + +"'Upon my word,' I replied, very much at a loss for an answer, 'I cannot +foresee such a case; but it would very much depend upon the woman.' + +"She gave a hard, nervous, vibrating laugh; one of those false laughs +which seem as if they must break thin glasses, and then she added: 'Men +are never either venturesome nor acute.' And after a moment's silence, +she continued: 'Have you ever been in love, Monsieur Paul?' I was +obliged to acknowledge that I certainly had been, and she asked me to +tell her all about it, whereupon I made up some story or other. She +listened to me attentively with frequent sighs of approbation and +contempt, and then suddenly she said: + +"'No, you understand nothing about the subject. It seems to me, that +real love must unsettle the mind, upset the nerves and distract the +head; that it must--how shall I express it?--be dangerous, even +terrible, almost criminal and sacrilegious; that it must be a kind of +treason; I mean to say that it is almost bound to break laws, fraternal +bonds, sacred obstacles; when love is tranquil, easy, lawful and without +dangers, is it really love?' + +"I did not know what answer to give her, and I made this philosophical +reflection to myself: 'Oh! female brain, here indeed you show yourself!' + +"While speaking, she had assumed a demure, saintly air; and resting on +the cushions, she stretched herself out at full length, with her head on +my shoulder and her dress pulled up a little, so as to show her red silk +stockings, which the fire-light made look still brighter. In a minute or +two she continued: + +"'I suppose I have frightened you?' I protested against such a notion, +and she leant against my breast altogether, and without looking at me +she said: 'If I were to tell you that I love you, what would you do?' + +"And before I could think of an answer, she had thrown her arms round my +neck, had quickly drawn my head down and put her lips to mine. + +"Oh! My dear friend, I can tell you that I did not feel at all happy! +What! deceive Julien? become the lover of this little silly, +wrong-headed, cunning woman, who was no doubt terribly sensual, and for +whom her husband was already not sufficient! To betray him continually, +to deceive him, to play at being in love merely because I was attracted +by forbidden fruit, danger incurred and friendship betrayed! No, that +did not suit me, but what was I to do? To imitate Joseph, would be +acting a very stupid, and, moreover, difficult part, for this woman was +maddening in her perfidy, inflamed by audacity, palpitating and excited. +Let the man who has never felt on his lips, the warm kiss of a woman who +is ready to give herself to him, throw the first stone at me ... + +"... Well, a minute more ... you understand what I mean? A minute more +and ... I should have been ... no, she would have been ... I beg your +pardon, he would have been!... when a loud noise made us both jump up. +The log had fallen into the room, knocking over the fire-irons and the +fender, and onto the carpet which it had scorched, and had rolled under +an arm-chair, which it would certainly set alight. + +"I jumped up like a madman, and as I was replacing that log which had +saved me, on the fire, the door opened hastily, and Julien came in. + +"'I have done,' he said, in evident pleasure. 'The business was over two +hours sooner than I expected!' + +"Yes, my dear friend, without that log, I should have been caught in the +very act, and you know what the consequences would have been! + +"You may be sure that I took good care never to be overtaken in a +similar situation again; never, never. Soon afterwards I saw that Julien +was giving me the 'cold shoulder,' as they say. His wife was evidently +undermining our friendship; by degrees he got rid of me, and we have +altogether ceased to meet. + +"I have not got married which ought not to surprise you, I think." + + + + +MARGOT'S TAPERS + + +I + +Margot Fresquyl had allowed herself to be tempted for the first time by +the delicious intoxication of the mortal sin of loving, on the evening +of Midsummer Day. + +While most of the young people were holding each others' hands and +dancing in a circle round the burning logs, the girl had slyly taken the +deserted road which led to the wood, leaning on the arm of her partner, +a tall, vigorous farm servant, whose Christian name was Tiennou, which, +by the way, was the only name he had borne from his birth. For he was +entered on the register of births with this curt note: _Father and +mother unknown_; he having been found on St. Stephen's Day under a shed +on a farm, where some poor, despairing wretch had abandoned him, perhaps +even without turning her head round to look at him. + +For months Tiennou had madly worshiped that fair, pretty girl, who was +now trembling as he clasped her in his arms, under the sweet coolness of +the leaves. He religiously rememberd how she had dazzled him--like some +ecstastic vision, the recollection of which always remains imprinted on +the eyes--the first time that he saw her in her father's mill, where he +had gone to ask for work. She stood out all rosy from the warmth of the +day, amidst the impalpable clouds of flour, which diffused an indistinct +whiteness through the air. With her hair hanging about her in untidy +curls, as if she had just awakened from a profound sleep, she stretched +herself lazily, with her bare arms clasped behind her head, and yawned +so as to show her white teeth, which glistened like those of a young +wolf, and her maiden nudity appeared beneath her unbuttoned bodice with +innocent immodesty. He told her that he thought her adorable, so +stupidly, that she made fun of him and scourged him with her cruel +laughter; and, from that day he spent his life in Margot's shadow. He +might have been taken for one of those wild beasts ardent with desire, +which ceaselessly utter maddened cries to the stars on nights when the +constellations bathe the dark coverts in warm light. Margot met him +wherever she went, and seized with pity, and by degrees agitated by his +sobs, by his dumb entreaties, by the burning looks which flashed from +his large eyes, she had returned his love; she had dreamt restlessly +that during a whole night she had been in his vigorous arms which +pressed her like corn that is being crushed in the mill, that she was +obeying a man who had subdued her, and learning strange things which the +other girls talked about in a low voice when they were drawing water at +the well. + +She had, however, been obliged to wait until Midsummer Day, for the +miller watched over his heiress very carefully. + +The two lovers told each other all this as they were going along the +dark road, and innocently giving utterance to words of happiness, which +rise to the lips like the forgotten refrain of a song. At times they +were silent, not knowing what more to say, and not daring to embrace +each other any more. The night was soft and warm, the warmth of a +half-closed alcove in a bedroom, and which had the effect of a tumbler +of new wine. + +The leaves were sleeping motionless and in supreme peace, and in the +distance they could hear the monotonous sound of the brooks as they +flowed over the stones. Amidst the dull noise of the insects, the +nightingales were answering each other from tree to tree, and everything +seemed alive with hidden life, and the sky was bright with such a shower +of falling stars, that they might have been taken for white forms +wandering among the dark trunks of the trees. + +"Why have we come?" Margot asked, in a panting voice. "Do you not want +me any more, Tiennou?" + +"Alas! I dare not," he replied. "Listen: you know that I was picked up +on the high road, that I have nothing in the world except my two arms, +and that Miller Fresquyl will never let his daughter marry a poor devil +like me." + +She interrupted him with a painful gesture, and putting her lips to his, +she said: + +"What does that matter? I love you, and I want you ... Take me ..." + +And it was thus, on St. John's night, Margot Fresquyl for the first time +yielded to the mortal sin of love. + + +II + +Did the miller guess his daughter's secret, when he heard her singing +merrily from dawn till dusk, and saw her sitting dreaming at her window +instead of sewing as she was in the habit of doing? + +Did he see it when she threw ardent kisses from the tips of her fingers +to her lover at a distance? + +However that might have been, he shut poor Margot in the mill as if it +had been a prison. No more love or pleasure, no more meetings at night +at the verge of the wood. When she chatted with the passers-by, when she +tried furtively to open the gate of the enclosure and to make her +escape, her father beat her as if she had been some disobedient animal, +until she fell on her knees on the floor with clasped hands, scarcely +able to move and her whole body covered with purple bruises. + +She pretended to obey him, but she revolted in her whole being, and the +string of bitter insults which he heaped upon her rang in her head. With +clenched hands, and a gesture of terrible hatred, she cursed him for +standing in the way of her love, and at night, she rolled about on her +bed, bit the sheets, moaned, stretched herself out for imaginary +embraces, maddened by the sensual heat with which her body was still +palpitating. She called out Tiennou's name aloud, she broke the peaceful +stillness of the sleeping house with her heartrending sobs, and her +dejected voice drowned the monotonous sound of the water that was +dripping under the arch of the mill, between the immovable paddles of +the wheel. + + +III + +Then there came that terrible week in October when the unfortunate young +fellows who had drawn bad numbers had to join their regiments.[11] +Tiennou was one of them, and Margot was in despair to think that she +should not see him for five interminable years, that they could not +even, at that hour of sad farewells, be alone and exchange those +consoling words which afterwards alleviate the pain of absence. + +[Footnote 11: Written before universal service was obligatory, and when +soldiers were selected by conscription, a certain amount of those who +drew high numbers, being exempt from service.--TRANSLATOR.] + +Tiennou prowled about the house, like a starving beggar, and one +morning, while the miller was mending the wheel, he managed to see +Margot. + +"I will wait for you in the old place to-night," he whispered, in +terrible grief. "I know it is the last time ... I shall throw myself +into some deep hole in the river if you do not come! ..." + +"I will be there, Tiennou," she replied, in a bewildered manner. "I +swear I will be there ... even if I have to do something terrible to +enable me to come!" + + * * * * * + +The village was burning in the dark night, and the flames, fanned by the +wind, rose up like sinister torches. The thatched roofs, the ricks of +corn, the haystacks, and the barns fell in, and crackled like rockets, +while the sky looked as if they were illuminated by an _aurora +borealis_. Fresquyl's mill was smoking, and its calcined ruins were +reflected on the deep water. The sheep and cows were running about the +fields in terror, the dogs were howling, and the women were sitting on +the broken furniture, and were crying and wringing their hands; while +during all this time Margot was abandoning herself to her lover's ardent +caresses, and with her arms round his neck, she said to him, tenderly: + +"You see that I have kept my promise ... I set fire to the mill so that +I might be able to get out. So much the worse if all have suffered. But +I do not care as long as you are happy in having me, and love me!" + +And pointing to the fire which was still burning fiercely in the +distance, she added with a burst of savage laughter: + +"Tiennou, we shall not have such beautiful tapers at out wedding Mass +when you come back from your regiment!" + +And thus it was that for the second time Margot Fresquyl yielded to the +mortal sin of love. + + + + +CAUGHT IN THE VERY ACT + + +"It is certain," Sulpice de Laurièr said, "that I had absolutely +forgotten the date on which I was to allow myself to be taken in the +very act, with a mistress for the occasion. As neither my wife nor I had +any serious nor plausible reason for a divorce, not even the slightest +incompatibility of temper, and as there is always a risk of not +softening the heart of even the most indulgent judge when he is told +that the parties have agreed to drag their load separately, each for +themselves, that they are too frisky, too fond of pleasure and of +wandering about from place to place to continue the conjugal experiment, +we between us got up the ingenious stage arrangement of, 'a serious +wrong...' + +"This was funnier than all the rest, and under any other circumstances +it would have been repugnant to me to mix up our servants in the affair +like so many others do, or to distress that pretty little, fair and +delicate Parisian woman, even though it were only in appearance and to +pass as a common _Sganarelle_ with the manners of a carter, in the eyes +of some scoundrel of a footman, or of some lady's maid. And so when +Maître Le Chevrier, that kind lawyer who certainly knows more female +secrets than the most fashionable confessor, gave a startled exclamation +on seeing me still in my dressing-gown, and slowly smoking a cigar like +an idler who has no engagements down on his tablets, and who is quietly +waiting for the usual time for dressing and going to dine at his club, +he exclaimed: + +"'Have you forgotten that this is the day, at the _Hôtel de Bade_, +between five and six o'clock? In an hour, Madame de Laurière will be at +the office of the Police Commissary in the Rue de Provence, with her +uncle and Maître Cantenac ...' + +"An hour; I only had an hour, sixty short minutes to dress in, to take a +room, find a woman and persuade her to go with me immediately, and to +excite her feelings, so that this extravagant adventure might not appear +too equivocal to the Commissary of Police. One hour in which to carry +out such a program was enough to make a man lose his head. And there +were no possible means of putting off that obligatory entertainment, to +let Madame Le Laurière know in time, and to gain a few minutes more. + +"'Have you found a woman, at any rate?' Maître de Chevrier continued +anxiously. + +"'No, my dear sir!' + +"I immediately began to think of the whole string of my dear female +friends. Should I choose Liline Ablette, who could refuse me nothing, +Blanch Rebus, who was the best comrade a man ever had, or Lalie Spring, +that luxurious creature, who was constantly in search of something new? +Neither one nor the other of them, for it was ninety-nine chances to one +that all these confounded girls were in the _Bois de Boulogne_, or at +their dressmakers!" + +"'Bah! Just pick up the first girl you meet on the pavement.' + +"And before the hour was up, I was bolting the door of a room, which +looked out onto the boulevard. + +"The woman whom I had picked up, as she was walking past the _cafés_, +from the _Vaudeville_ to _Tortoni's_, was twenty at the most. She had an +impudent, snub nose, as if it had been turned up in fun by a fillip, +large eyes with-deep rims round them; her lips were too red, and she had +the slow, indolent walk of a girl who goes in for debauchery too freely +and who began too soon, but she was pretty, and her linen was very clean +and neat. And she was evidently used to chance love-making, and had a +way of undressing herself in two or three rapid movements, of throwing +her toggery to the right and left, until she was extremely lightly clad, +and of throwing herself onto the bed which astonished me as a sight that +was well worth seeing. + +"She did not talk much, though she began by saying: 'Pay up at once, old +man ... You don't look like a fellow who would bilk a girl, but it puts +me into better trim when I have been paid.' + +"I gave her two napoleons, and she eyed me with gratitude and respect at +the same time, but also with that uneasy look of a girl who asks +herself: 'What does this tool expect for it?' + +"The whole affair began to amuse me, and I must confess that I was +rather taken with her, for she had a beautiful figure and complexion, +and I was hoping that the Commissary would not come directly, when there +was a loud rapping at the door. + +"She sat up with a start, and grew so pale that one would have said she +was about to faint. + +"'What a set of pigs, to come and interrupt people like this!' she +muttered between her teeth; while I affected the most complete calm. + +"'Somebody who has made a mistake in the room, my dear,' I said. + +"But this noise increased, and suddenly I heard a man's voice saying +clearly and authoritatively: + +"'Open the door, in the name of the law!' + +"On hearing that, one would have thought that she had received a shock +from an electric battery, by the nimble manner in which she jumped out +of bed; and quickly putting on her stays and her dress anyhow, she +endeavored to discover a way out in every corner of the room, like a +wild beast, trying to escape from its cage. I thought that she was going +to throw herself out of the window, so I seized hold of her to prevent +her. + +"The unfortunate creature acted like a madwoman, and when she felt my +arm round her waist, she cried in a hoarse voice: + +"'I see it ... You have sold me ... You thought that I should expose +myself.... Oh! you filthy brutes--you filthy brutes!' + +"And suddenly, passing from abuse to entreaties, pale and with +chattering teeth, she threw herself at my feet, and said, in a low +voice: + +"'Listen to me, my dear: you don't look a bad sort of fellow, and you +would not like them to lock me up. I have a kid and the old woman to +keep. Hide me behind the bed, do, and please don't give me up.... I +will make it up to you, and you shall have no cause for grumbling....' + +"At that moment however, the lock which they had unscrewed fell onto the +floor with a metallic sound, and Madame de Laurière and the Police +Commissary, wearing his tricolored scarf, appeared in the door, while +behind them the heads of the uncle and of the lawyer could be seen +indistinctly in the background. + +"The girl had uttered a cry of terror and going up to the Commissary she +said, panting: + +"'I swear to you that I am not guilty, that I was not ... I will tell +you everything if you will promise me not to tell them that I spilt, for +they would pay me out....' + +"The Commissary, who was surprised, but who guessed that there was +something which was not quite clear behind all this, forgot to draw up +his report, and so the lawyer went up to him and said: + +"'Well, monsieur, what are we waiting for?' + +"But he paid no attention to anything but the woman, and looking at her +sharply and suspiciously through his gold-rimmed spectacles, he said to +her in a hard voice: + +"'Your names and surnames?' + +"'Juliette Randal, or as I am generally called, Jujutte Pipehead.' + +"'So you will swear you were not--' + +"She interrupted him eagerly: + +"'I swear it, monsieur, and I know that my little man had nothing to do +with it either. He was only keeping a look-out while the others collared +the swag. ... I will swear that I can account for every moment of my +time that night. Roquin was drunk, and told me everything.... They got +five thousand francs from Daddy Zacharias, and of course Roquin had his +share, but he did not work with his partners. It was Minon Ménilmuche, +whom they call _Drink-without-Thirst_, who held the gardener's hands, +and who bled him with a blow from his knife.' + +"The Commissary let her run on, and when she had finished, he questioned +me, as if I had belonged to Jujutte's band. + +"'Your name, Christian name, and profession?' + +"'Marquis Sulpice de Laurièr, living on my own private income, at 24, +Rue de Galilee.' + +"'De Laurièr? Oh, very well.... Excuse me, monsieur, but at Madame de +Laurière's request, I declare formally before these gentlemen, who will +be able to give evidence, that the girl Juliette Randal, whom they call +_Jujutte Tête-de-Pipe_, is your mistress. You are at liberty to go, +Monsieur le Marquis, and you, girl Randal answer my questions.' + +"Thus, by the most extraordinary chance, our divorce suit created a +sensation which I had certainly never foreseen. I was obliged to appear +in the Assize Court as a witness in the celebrated case of those +burglars, when three of them were condemned to death, and to undergo the +questioning of the idiotic Presiding Judge, who tried by all means in +his power to make me acknowledge that I was Jujutte Tête-de-Pipe's +regular lover; and in consequence, ever since then I have passed as an +ardent seeker after novel sensations, and a man who wallows in the +lowest depths of the Parisian dunghill. + +"I cannot say that this unjust reputation has brought me any pleasant +love affairs. Women are so perverse, so absurd, and so curious!" + + + + +THE CONFESSION + + +Monsieur de Champdelin had no reason to complain of his lot as a married +man; nor could he accuse destiny of having played him in a bad turn, as +it does so many others, for it would have been difficult to find a more +desirable, merrier, prettier little woman, or one who was easier to +amuse and to guide than his wife. To see the large, limpid eyes which +illuminated her fair, girlish face, one would think that her mother must +have spent whole nights before her birth, in looking dreamily at the +stars, and so had become, as it were, impregnated with their magic +brightness. And one did not know which to prefer--her bright, silky +hair, or her slightly _restroussé_ nose, with its vibrating nostrils, +her red lips, which looked as alluring as a ripe peach, her beautiful +shoulders, her delicate ears, which resembled mother-of-pearl, or her +slim waist and rounded figure, which would have delighted and tempted a +sculptor. + +And then she was always merry, overflowing with youth and life, never +dissatisfied, only wishing to enjoy herself, to laugh, to love and be +loved, and putting all the house into a tumult, as if it had been a +great cage full of birds. In spite of all this, however, that worn out +fool, Champdelin, had never cared much about her, but had left that +charming garden lying waste, and almost immediately after their +honeymoon, he had resumed is usual bachelor habits, and had begun to +lead the same fast life that he had done of old. + +It was stronger than he, for his was one of those libertine natures +which are constant targets for love, and which never resign themselves +to domestic peace and happiness. The last woman who came across him, in +a love adventure, was always the one whom he loved best, and the mere +contact with a petticoat inflamed him, and made him commit the most +imprudent actions. + +As he was not hard to please, he fished, as it were, in troubled waters, +went after the ugly ones and the pretty ones alike, was bold even to +impudence, was not to be kept off by mistakes, nor anger, nor modesty, +nor threats, though he sometimes fell into a trap and got a thrashing +from some relative or jealous lover; he withstood all attempts to get +hush-money out of him, and became only all the more enamored of vice and +more ardent in his lures and pursuit of love affairs on that account. + +But the work-girls and the shop-girls and all the tradesmen's wives in +Saint Martéjoux knew him, and made him pay for their whims and their +coquetry, and had to put up with his love-making. Many of them smiled or +blushed when they saw him under the tall plane-trees in the public +garden, or met him in the unfrequented, narrow streets near the +Cathedral, with his thin, sensual face, whose looks had something +satyr-like about them, and some of them used to laugh at him and make +fun of him, though they ran away when he went up to them. And when some +friend or other, who was sorry that he could forget himself so far, used +to say to him, when he was at a loss for any other argument: "And your +wife, Champdelin? Are you not afraid that she will have her revenge and +pay you out in your own coin?" his only reply was a contemptuous and +incredulous shrug of the shoulders. + +She deceive him, indeed; she, who was as devout, as virtuous, and as +ignorant of forbidden things as a nun, who cared no more for love than +she did for an old slipper! She, who did not even venture on any veiled +allusions, who was always laughing, who took life as it came, who +performed her religious duties with edifying assiduity, she to pay him +back, so as to make him look ridiculous, and to gad about at night? +Never! Anyone who could think such a thing must have lost his senses. + +However, one summer day, when the roofs all seemed red-hot, and the +whole town appeared dead, Monsieur de Champdelin had followed two +milliner's girls, with bandboxes in their hands from street to street, +whispering nonsense to them, and promising beforehand to give them +anything they asked him for, and had gone after them as far as the +Cathedral. In their fright, they took refuge there, but he followed them +in, and, emboldened by the solitude of the nave, and by the perfect +silence in the building, he became more enterprising and bolder. They +did not know how to defend themselves, or to escape from him, and were +trembling at his daring attempts, and at his kisses, when he saw a +confessional whose doors were open, in one of the side chapels. "We +should be much more comfortable in there, my little dears," he said, +going into it, as if to get such an unexpected nest ready for them. + +But they were quicker than he, and throwing themselves against the +grated door, they pushed it to before he could turn round, and locked +him in. At first he thought it was only a joke, and it amused him; but +when they began to laugh heartily and putting their tongues at him, as +if he had been a monkey in a cage, and overwhelmed him with insults, he +first of all grew angry, and then humble, offering to pay well for his +ransom, and he implored them to let him out, and tried to escape like a +mouse does out of a trap. They, however, did not appear to hear him, but +naively bowed to him ceremoniously, wished him good night, and ran out +as fast as they could. + +Champdelin was in despair; he did not know what to do, and cursed his +bad luck. What would be the end of it? Who would deliver him from that +species of prison, and was he going to remain there all the afternoon +and night, like a portmanteau that had been forgotten at the lost +luggage office? He could not manage to force the lock, and did not +venture to knock hard against the sides of the confessional, for fear of +attracting the attention of some beadle or sacristan. Oh! those wretched +girls, and how people would make fun of him and write verses about him, +and point their fingers at him, if the joke were discovered and got +noised abroad! + +By and by, he heard the faint sound of prayers in the distance and +through the green serge curtain that concealed him Monsieur Champdelin +heard the rattle of the beads on the chaplets, as the women repeated +their _Ave Maria's_, and the rustle of dresses and the noise of +footsteps on the pavement. + +Suddenly, he felt a tickling in his throat that nearly choked him, and +he could not altogether prevent himself from coughing, and when at last +it passed off, the unfortunate man was horrified at hearing some one +come into the chapel and up to the confessional. Whoever it was, knelt +down, and gave a discreet knock at the grating which separated the +priest from his penitents, so he quickly put on the surplice and stole +which were hanging on a nail, and covering his face with his +handkerchief, and sitting back in the shade, he opened the grating. + +It was a woman, who was already saying her prayers and he gave the +responses as well as he could, from his boyish recollections, and was +somewhat agitated by the delicious scent that emanated from her +half-raised veil and from her bodice; but at her first words he started +so, that he almost fainted. He had recognized his wife's voice, and it +felt to him as if his seat were studded with sharp nails, that the sides +of the confessional were closing in on him, and as if the air were +growing rarified. + +He now collected himself, however, and regaining his self-possession, he +listened to what she had to say with increasing curiosity, and with some +uncertain, and necessary interruptions. The young woman sighed, was +evidently keeping back something, spoke about her unhappiness, her +melancholy life, her husband's neglect, the temptations by which she was +surrounded, and which she found it so difficult to resist; her +conscience seemed to be burdened by an intolerable weight, though she +hesitated to accuse herself directly. And in a low voice, with unctuous +and coaxing tones, and mastering himself, Champdelin said: + +"Courage, my child; tell me everything; the divine mercy is infinite; +tell me all, without hesitation." + +Then, all at once, she told him everything that was troubling her; how +passion and desire had thrown her into the arms of one of her husband's +best friends, the exquisite happiness that they felt when they met every +day, his delightful tenderness, which she could no longer resist, the +sin which was her joy, her only object, her consolation, her dream. She +grew excited, sobbed, seemed enervated and worn out, as if she were +still burning from her lover's kisses, hardly seemed to know what she +was saying, and begged for temporary absolution from her sins; but then +Champdelin, in his exasperation, and unable to restrain himself any +longer, interrupted her in a furious voice: + +"Oh! no! Oh! no; this is not at all funny ... keep such sort of things +to yourself, my dear!" + + * * * * * + +Poor little Madame de Champdelin nearly went out of her mind with fright +and astonishment, and they are now waiting for the decree which will +break their chains and let them part. + + + + +WAS IT A DREAM? + + +"I had loved her madly! Why does one love? Why does one love? How queer +it is to see only one being in the world, to have only one thought in +one's mind, only one desire in the heart, and only one name on the lips; +a name which comes up continually, which rises like the water in a +spring, from the depths of the soul, which rises to the lips, and which +one repeats over and over again which one whispers ceaselessly, +everywhere, like a prayer. + +"I am going to tell you our story, for love only has one, which is +always the same. I met her and loved her; that is all. And for a whole +year I have lived on her tenderness, on her caresses, in her arms, in +her dresses, on her words, so completely wrapped up, bound, imprisoned +in everything which came from her, that I no longer knew whether it was +day or night, if I was dead or alive, on this old earth of ours, or +elsewhere. + +"And then she died. How? I do not know. I no longer know; but one +evening she came home wet, for it was raining heavily, and the next day +she coughed, and she coughed for about a week, and took to her bed. What +happened I do not remember now, but doctors came, wrote and went away. +Medicines were brought, and some women made her drink them. Her hands +were hot, her forehead was burning, and her eyes bright and sad. When I +spoke to her, she answered me, but I do not remember what we said. I +have forgotten everything, everything, everything! She died, and I very +well remember her slight, feeble sigh. The nurse said: 'Ah! and I +understood, I understood!' + +"I knew nothing more, nothing. I saw a priest, who said: 'Your +mistress?' and it seemed to me as if he were insulting her. As she was +dead, nobody had the right to know that any longer, and I turned him +out. Another came who was very kind and tender, and I shed tears when he +spoke to me about her. + +"They consulted me about the funeral, but I do not remember anything +that they said, though I recollected the coffin, and the sound of the +hammer when they nailed her down in it. Oh! God, God! + +"She was buried! Buried! She! In that hole! Some people came--female +friends. I made my escape, and ran away; I ran, and then I walked +through the streets, and went home, and the next day I started on a +journey." + + * * * * * + +"Yesterday I returned to Paris, and when I saw my room again--our room, +our bed, our furniture, everything that remains of the life of a human +being after death, I was seized by such a violent attack of fresh grief, +that I was very near opening the window and throwing myself out into the +street. As I could not remain any longer among these things, between +these walls which had enclosed and sheltered her, and which retained a +thousand atoms of her, of her skin and of her breath in their +imperceptible crevices, I took up my hat to make my escape, and just as +I reached the door, I passed the large glass in the hall, which she had +put there so that she might be able to look at herself every day from +head to foot as she went out, to see if her toilet looked well, and was +correct and pretty, from her little boots to her bonnet. + +"And I stopped short in front of that looking-glass in which she had so +often been reflected. So often, so often, that it also must have +retained her reflection. I was standing there, trembling, with my eyes +fixed on the glass--on that flat, profound, empty glass--which had +contained her entirely, and had possessed her as much as I had, as my +passionate looks had. I felt as if I loved that glass. I touched it, it +was cold. Oh! the recollection! sorrowful mirror, burning mirror, +horrible mirror, which makes us suffer such torments! Happy are the men +whose hearts forget everything that it has contained, everything that +has passed before it, everything that has looked at itself in it, that +has been reflected in its affection, in its love! How I suffer! + +"I went on without knowing it, without wishing it; I went towards the +cemetery. I found her simple grave, a white marble cross, with these few +words: + +"'_She loved, was loved, and died._' + +"She is there, below, decayed! How horrible! I sobbed with my forehead +on the ground, and I stopped there for a long time, a long time. Then I +saw that it was getting dark, and a strange, a mad wish, the wish of a +despairing lover seized me. I wished to pass the night, the last night +in weeping on her grave. But I should be seen and driven out. How was I +to manage? I was cunning, and got up, and began to roam about in that +city of the dead. I walked and walked. How small this city is, in +comparison with the other, the city in which we live: And yet, how much +more numerous the dead are than the living. We want high houses, wide +streets, and much room for the four generations who see the daylight at +the same time, drink water from the spring, and wine from the vines, and +eat the bread from the plains. + +"And for all the generations of the dead, for all that ladder of +humanity that has descended down to us, there is scarcely anything +afield, scarcely anything! The earth takes them back, oblivion effaces +them. Adieu! + +"At the end of the abandoned cemetery, I suddenly perceived that the one +where those who have been dead a long time finish mingling with the +soil, where the crosses themselves decay, where the last comers will be +put to-morrow. It is full of untended roses, of strong and dark cypress +trees, a sad and beautiful garden, nourished on human flesh. + +"I was alone, perfectly alone, and so I crouched in a green tree, and +hid myself there completely among the thick and somber branches, and I +waited, clinging to the stem, like a shipwrecked man does to a plank. + +"When it was quite dark, I left my refuge and began to walk softly, +slowly, inaudibly, through that ground full of dead people, and I +wandered about for a long time, but could not find her again. I went on +with extended arms, knocking against the tombs with my hands, my feet, +my knees, my chest, even with my head, without being able to find her. I +touched and felt about like a blind man groping his way, I felt the +stones, the crosses, the iron railings, the metal wreaths, and the +wreaths of faded flowers! I read the names with my fingers, by passing +them over the letters. What a night! What a night! I could not find her +again! + +"There was no moon. What a night! I am frightened, horribly frightened +in these narrow paths, between two rows of graves. Graves! graves! +graves! nothing but graves! On my right, on my left, in front of me, +around me, everywhere there were graves! I sat down on one of them, for +I could not walk any longer, my knees were so weak. I could hear my +heart beat! And I could hear something else as well. What? A confused, +nameless noise. Was the noise in my head in the impenetrable night, or +beneath the mysterious earth, the earth sown with human corpses? I +looked all around me, but I cannot say how long I remained there; I was +paralyzed with terror, drunk with fright, ready to shout out, ready to +die. + +"Suddenly, it seemed to me as if the slab of marble on which I was +sitting, was moving. Certainly, it was moving, as if it were being +raised. With a bound, I sprang on to the neighboring tomb, and I saw, +yes, I distinctly saw the stone which I had just quitted, rise upright, +and the dead person appeared, a naked skeleton, which was pushing the +stone back with its bent back. I saw it quite clearly, although the +night was so dark. On the cross I could read: + +"'_Here lies Jacques Olivant, who died at the age of fifty-one. He loved +his family, was kind and honorable, and died in the grace of the Lord._' + +"The dead man also read what was inscribed on his tombstone; then he +picked up a stone off the path, a little, pointed stone, and began to +scrape the letters carefully. He slowly effaced them altogether, and +with the hollows of his eyes he looked at the places where they had been +engraved, and, with the tip of the bone, that had been his forefinger, +he wrote in luminous letters, like those lines which one traces on walls +with the tip of a lucifer match: + +"'_Here reposes Jacques Olivant, who died at the age of fifty-one. He +hastened his father's death by his unkindness, as he wished to inherit +his fortune, he tortured his wife, tormented his children, deceived his +neighbors, robbed everyone he could, and died wretched._' + +"When he had finished writing, the dead man stood motionless, looking at +his work, and on turning round I saw that all the graves were open, that +all the dead bodies had emerged from them, and that all had effaced the +lies inscribed on the gravestones by their relations, and had +substituted the truth instead. And I saw that all had been tormentors of +their neighbors--malicious, dishonest, hypocrites, liars, rogues, +calumniators, envious; that they had stolen, deceived, performed every +disgraceful, every abominable action, these good fathers, these faithful +wives, these devoted sons, these chaste daughters, these honest +tradesmen, these men and women who were called irreproachable, and they +were called irreproachable, and they were all writing at the same time, +on the threshold of their eternal abode, the truth, the terrible and the +holy truth which everybody is ignorant of, or pretends to be ignorant +of, while the others are alive. + +"I thought that _she_ also must have written something on her tombstone, +and now, running without any fear among the half-open coffins, among the +corpses and skeletons, I went towards her, sure that I should find her +immediately. I recognized her at once, without seeing her face, which +was covered by the winding-sheet, and on the marble cross, where shortly +before I had read: '_She loved, was loved, and died_,' I now saw: +'_Having gone out one day, in order to deceive her lover, she caught +cold in the rain and died._'" + + * * * * * + +"It appears that they found me at daybreak, lying on the grave +unconscious." + + + + +THE LAST STEP + + +Monsier de Saint-Juéry would not have deceived his old mistress for +anything in the world: perhaps from an instinctive fear that he had +heard of adventures that turn out badly, make a noise, and bring about +hateful family quarrels, crises from which one emerges enervated and +exasperated with destiny, and, as it were, with the weight of a bullet +on one's feet, and also from his requirement for a calm, sheep-like +existence, whose monotony was never disturbed by any shock, and perhaps +from the remains of the love which had so entirely made him, during the +first years of their connection, the slave of the proud, dominating +beauty, and of the enthralling charm of that woman. + +He kept out of the way of temptation almost timidly, and was faithful to +her, and as submissive as a spaniel. He paid her every attention, did +not appear to notice that the outlines of her figure, which had formerly +been so harmonious and supple, were getting too full and puffy, that her +face, which used to remind him of a blush rose, was getting wrinkled, +and that her eyes were getting dull. He admired her in spite of +everything, almost blindly, and clothed her with imaginary charms, with +an autumnal beauty, with the majestic and serene softness of an October +twilight, and with the last blossoms which unfold by the side of the +walks, strewn with dead leaves. + +But although their connection had lasted for many years, though they +were as closely bound to each other as if they had been married, and +although Charlotte Guindal pestered him with entreaties, and upset him +with continual quarrels on the subject, and, in spite of the fact that +he believed her to be absolutely faithful to him, and worthy of his most +perfect confidence and love, yet Monsieur de Saint-Juéry had never been +able to make up his mind to give her his name, and to put their false +position on a legal footing. + +He really suffered from this, but remained firm and defended his +position, quibbled, sought for subterfuges, replied by the eternal and +vague: "What would be the good of it," which nearly sent Charlotte mad, +made her furious and caused her to say angry and ill-tempered things. +But he remained passive and listless, with his back bent like a restive +horse under the whip. + +He asked her whether it was really necessary to their happiness, as they +had no children? Did not everybody think that they were married? Was not +she everywhere called Madame de Saint-Juéry, and had their servants any +doubt that they were in the service of respectable, married people? Was +not the name which had been transmitted to a man from father to son, +intact, honored, and often with a halo of glory round it, a sacred trust +which no one had a right to touch? What would she gain if she bore it +legitimately? Did she for a moment suppose that she would rise higher in +people's estimation, and be more admitted into society, or that people +would forget that she had been his regular mistress before becoming his +wife? Did not everybody know that formerly, before he rescued her from +that Bohemian life in which she had been waiting for her chance in vain, +and was losing her good looks, Charlotte Guindal frequented all the +public balls, and showed her legs liberally at the _Moulin-Rouge_[12]. + +[Footnote 12: A café chantant, and casino.] + +Charlotte knew his crabbed, though also kindly character, which was at +the same time logical and obstinate, too well to hope that she would +ever be able to overcome his opposition and scruples, except by some +clever woman's trick, some well-acted scene in a comedy; so she appeared +to be satisfied with his reasons, and to renounce her bauble, and +outwardly she showed an equable and conciliatory temper, and no longer +worried Monsieur de Saint-Juéry with her recriminations, and thus the +time went by, in calm monotony, without fruitless battles or fierce +assaults. + +Charlotte Guindal's medical man was Doctor Rabatel, one of those clever +men who appear to know everything, but whom a country bone-setter would +reduce to a "why?" by a few questions; one of those men who wish to +impress everybody with their apparent value, and who make use of their +medical knowledge as if it were some productive commercial house, which +carried on a suspicious business; who can scent out those persons whom +they can manage as they please, as if they were a piece of soft wax, who +keep them in a continual state of terror, by keeping the idea of death +constantly before their eyes. + +They soon manage to obtain the mastery over such persons, scrutinize +their consciences as well as the cleverest priest could do, make sure of +being well paid for their complicity as soon as they have obtained a +footing anywhere, and drain their patients of their secrets, in order to +use them as a weapon for extorting money on occasions. He felt sure +immediately that this middle-aged lady wanted something of him, as by +some extraordinary perversion of taste, he was rather fond of the +remains of a good-looking woman, if they were well got up, and offered +to him; of that high flavor which arises from soft lips, which had been +made tender through years of love, from gray hair powdered with gold, +from a body engaged in its last struggle, and which dreams of one more +victory before abdicating power altogether, he did not hesitate to +become his new patient's lover. + +When winter came, however, a thorough change took place in Charlotte's +health, that had hitherto been so good. She had no strength left, she +felt ill after the slightest exertion, complained of internal pains, and +spent whole days lying on the couch, with set eyes and without uttering +a word, so that everybody thought that she was dying of one of those +mysterious maladies which cannot be coped with, but which, by degrees, +undermines the whole system. It was sad to see her rapidly sinking, +lying motionless on her pillows, while a mist seemed to have come over +her eyes, and her hands lay helplessly on the bed and her mouth seemed +sealed by some invisible finger. Monsieur de Saint-Juéry was in despair; +he cried like a child, and he suffered as if somebody had plunged a +knife into him, when the doctor said to him in his unctuous voice: + +"I know that you are a brave man, my dear sir, and I may venture to tell +you the whole truth.... Madame de Saint-Juéry is doomed, irrevocably +doomed.... Nothing but a miracle can save her, and alas! there are no +miracles in these days. The end is only a question of a few hours, and +may come quite suddenly...." + +Monsieur de Saint-Juéry had thrown himself into a chair, and was sobbing +bitterly, covering his face with his hands. + +"My poor dear, my poor darling," he said, through his tears. + +"Pray compose yourself, and be brave," the doctor continued, sitting +down by his side, "for I have to say something serious to you, and to +convey to you our poor patient's last wishes.... A few minutes ago, she +told me the secret of your double life, and of your connection with +her.... And now, in view of death, which she feels approaching so +rapidly, for she is under no delusion, the unhappy woman wishes to die +at peace with heaven, with the consolation of having regulated her +equivocal position, and of having become your wife." + +Monsieur de Saint-Juéry sat upright, with a bewildered look, while he +moved his hands nervously; in his grief he was incapable of manifesting +any will of his own, or of opposing this unexpected attack. + +"Oh! anything that Charlotte wishes, doctor; anything, and I will myself +go and tell her so, on my knees!" + + * * * * * + +The wedding took place discreetly, with something funereal about it, in +the darkened room, where the words which were spoken had a strange +sound, almost of anguish. Charlotte, who was lying in bed, with her eyes +dilated through happiness, had put both trembling hands into those of +Monsieur de Saint-Juéry, and she seemed to expire with the word: "Yes" +on her lips. The doctor looked at the moving scene, grave and impassive, +with his chin buried in his white cravat, and his two arms resting on +the mantel-piece, while his eyes twinkled behind his glasses.... + +The next week, Madame de Saint-Juéry began to get better, and that +wonderful recovery about which Monsieur de Saint-Juéry tells everybody +with effusive gratitude, who will listen to him, has so increased Doctor +Rabatel's reputation, that at the next election he will be made a member +of the Academy of Medicine. + + + + +THE WILL + + +I knew that tall young fellow, René de Bourneval. He was an agreeable +man, though of a rather melancholy turn of mind, who seemed prejudiced +against everything, very skeptical, and able to tear worldly hypocrisies +to pieces. He often used to say: + +"There are no honorable men, or at any rate, they only appear so when +compared to low people." + +He had two brothers, whom he never saw, the Messieurs de Courcils, and I +thought they were by another father, on account of the difference in the +name. I had frequently heard that something strange had happened in the +family, but I did not know the details. + +As I took a great liking to him, we soon became intimate, and one +evening, when I had been dining with him alone, I asked him by chance: +"Are you by your mother's first or second marriage?" He grew rather +pale, and then flushed, and did not speak for a few moments; he was +visibly embarrassed. Then he smiled in a melancholy and gentle manner, +which was peculiar to him, and said: + +"My dear friend, if it will not weary you, I can give you some very +strange particulars about my life. I know that you are a sensible man, +so I do not fear that our friendship will suffer by my revelations, and +should it suffer, I should not care about having you for my friend any +longer. + +"My mother, Madame de Courcils, was a poor little timid woman, whom her +husband had married for the sake of her fortune, and her whole life was +one of martyrdom. Of a loving, delicate mind, she was constantly being +ill-treated by the man who ought to have been my father, one of those +bores called country gentleman. A month after their marriage he was +living with a servant, and besides that, the wives and daughters of his +tenants were his mistresses, which did not prevent him from having three +children by his wife, or three, if you count me in. My mother said +nothing, and lived in that noisy house like a little mouse. Set aside, +disparaged, nervous, she looked at people with her bright, uneasy, +restless eyes, the eyes of some terrified creature which can never shake +off its fear. And yet she was pretty, very pretty and fair, a +gray-blonde, as if her hair had lost its color through her constant +fears. + +"Among Monsieur de Courcil's friends who constantly came to the +_château_, there was an ex-cavalry officer, a widower, a man who was +feared, who was at the same time tender and violent, capable of the most +energetic resolutions, Monsieur de Bourneval, whose name I bear. He was +a tall, thin man, with a heavy black moustache, and I am very like him. +He was a man who had read a great deal, and whose ideas were not like +those of most of his class. His great-grandmother had been a friend of +J.J. Rousseau's, and one might have said that he had inherited something +of this ancestral connection. He knew the _Contrat Social_, and the +_Nouvelle Héloîse_ by heart, and all those philosophical books which +long beforehand prepared the overthrow of our old usages, prejudices, +superannuated laws and imbecile morality. + +"It seems that he loved my mother, and she loved him, but their intrigue +was carried on so secretly, that no one guessed it. The poor, neglected, +unhappy woman, must have clung to him in a despairing manner, and in her +intimacy with him must have imbibed all his ways of thinking, theories +of free thought, audacious ideas of independent love; but as she was so +timid that she never ventured to speak aloud, it was all driven back, +condensed and expressed in her heart, which never opened itself. + +"My two brothers were very hard towards her, like their father was, and +never gave her a caress, and, used to seeing her count for nothing in +the house, they treated her rather like a servant, and so I was the only +one of her sons who really loved her, and whom she loved. + +"When she died, I was seventeen, and I must add, in order that you may +understand what follows, that there had been a law suit between my +father and my mother, and that their property had been separated, to my +mother's advantage, as, thanks to the tricks of the law, and the +intelligent devotion of a lawyer to her interests, she had preserved the +right of making her will in favor of anyone she pleased. + +"We were told that there was a will lying at the lawyer's, and were +invited to be present at the reading of it. I can remember it, as if it +were yesterday. It was a grand, dramatic, burlesque, surprising scene, +brought about by the posthumous revolt of that dead woman, by that cry +for liberty, that claim from the depths of her tomb, of that martyred +woman who had been crushed by our habits during her life, and, who, from +her closed tomb, uttered a despairing appeal for independence. + +"The man who thought that he was my father, a stout, ruddy-faced man, +who gave everyone the idea of a butcher, and my brothers, two great +fellows of twenty and twenty-two, were waiting quietly in their chairs. +Monsieur de Bourneval, who had been invited to be present, came in and +stood behind me. He was very pale, and bit his moustache, which was +turning gray. No doubt he was prepared for what was going to happen, and +the lawyer double-locked the door and began to read the will, after +having opened the envelope, which was sealed with red wax, and whose +contents he was ignorant of, in our presence." + +My friend stopped suddenly and got up, and from his writing-table he +took an old paper, unfolded it, kissed it, and then continued: "This is +the will of my beloved mother: + + "'I, the undersigned, Anne Catherine-Genevieve-Mathilde de + Croixlure, the legitimate wife of Leopold-Joseph Goutran de + Courcils, sound in body and mind, here express my last wishes. + + "'I first of all ask God, and then my dear son René, to pardon me + for the act I am about to commit. I believe that my child's heart + is great enough to understand me, and to forgive me. I have + suffered my whole life long. I was married out of calculation, then + despised, misunderstood, oppressed and constantly deceived by my + husband. + + "'I forgive him, but I owe him nothing. + + "'My eldest sons never loved me, never spoilt me, scarcely treated + me as a mother, but during my whole life I was everything that I + ought to have been, and I owe them nothing more after my death. The + ties of blood cannot exist without daily and constant affection. An + ungrateful son is less than a stranger; he is a culprit, for he has + no right to be indifferent towards his mother. + + "'I have always trembled before men, before their unjust laws, + their inhuman customs, their shameful prejudices. Before God, I + have no longer any fear. Dead, I fling aside disgraceful hypocrisy; + I dare to speak my thoughts, and to avow and to sign the secret of + my heart. + + "'I therefore leave that part of my fortune of which the law allows + me to dispose, as a deposit with my dear lover Pierre-Gennes-Simon + de Bourneval, to revert afterwards to our dear son, René. + + "'(This wish is, moreover, formulated more precisely in a notarial + deed). + + "'And I declare before the Supreme Judge who hears me, that I + should have cursed heaven and my own existence, if I had not met my + lover's deep, devoted, tender, unshaken affection, if I had not + felt in his arms that the Creator made His creatures to love, + sustain and console each other, and to weep together in the hours + of sadness. + + "'Monsieur de Courcils is the father of my two eldest sons; René + alone owes his life to Monsieur de Bourneval. I pray to the Master + of men and of their destinies, to place father and son above social + prejudices, to make them love each other until they die, and to + love me also in my coffin. + + "'These are my last thoughts, and my last wish. + + "'MATHILDE DE CROIXLUCE.'" + + +"'Monsieur de Courcils had arisen and he cried: + +"'It is the will of a mad woman.' + +"Then Monsieur de Bourneval stepped forward and said in a loud and +penetrating voice: 'I, Simon de Bourneval, solemnly declare that this +writing contains nothing but the strict truth, and I am ready to prove +it by letters which I possess.' + +"On hearing that, Monsieur de Courcils went up to him, and I thought +they were going to collar each other. There they stood, both of them +tall, one stout and the other thin, both trembling. My mother's husband +stammered out: 'You are a worthless wretch!' And the other replied in a +loud, dry voice: 'We will meet somewhere else, monsieur. I should have +already slapped your ugly face, and challenged you a long time ago, if I +had not, before everything else, thought of the peace of mind of that +poor woman whom you made suffer so much during her lifetime.' + +"Then, turning to me, he said: 'You are my son; will you come with me? I +have no right to take you away, but I shall assume it, if you will +kindly come with me.' I shook his hand without replying, and we went out +together; I was certainly three parts mad. + +"Two days later Monsieur de Bourneval killed Monsieur de Courcils in a +duel. My brothers, fearing some terrible scandal, held their tongues, +and I offered them, and they accepted, half the fortune which my mother +had left me. I took my real father's name, renouncing that which the law +gave me, but which was not really mine. Monsieur de Bourneval died three +years afterwards, and I have not consoled myself yet." + +He rose from his chair, walked up and down the room, and, standing in +front of me, he said: + +"Well, I say that my mother's will was one of the most beautiful and +loyal, as well as one of the grandest acts that a woman could perform. +Do you not think so?" + +I gave him both my hands: + +"Most certainly I do, my friend." + + + + +A COUNTRY EXCURSION + + +For five months they had been talking of going to lunch at some country +restaurant in the neighborhood of Paris, on Madame Dufour's birthday, +and as they were looking forward very impatiently to the outing, they +had got up very early that morning. Monsieur Dufour had borrowed the +milkman's tilted cart, and drove himself. It was a very tidy, +two-wheeled conveyance, with a hood, and in it the wife, resplendent in +a wonderful, sherry-colored, silk dress, sat by the side of her husband. + +The old grandmother and a girl were accommodated with two chairs, and a +boy with yellow hair was lying at the bottom of the trap, of whom +however, nothing was to be seen except his head. + +When they got to the bridge of Neuilly, Monsieur Dufour said: "Here we +are in the country at last!" and at that signal, his wife had grown +sentimental about the beauties of nature. When they got to the cross +roads at Courbevoie, they were seized with admiration for the distant +horizon down there; on the right, was the spire of Argenteuil church, +and above it rose the hills of Sannois, and the mill of Orgemont, while +on the left, the aqueduct of Marly stood out against the clear morning +sky, and in the distance they could see the terrace of Saint-Germain; +and opposite to them, at the end of a low chain of hills, the new fort +of Cormeilles. Quite in the distance, a very long way off, beyond the +plains and villages, one could see the somber green of the forests. + +The sun was beginning to shine in their faces, the dust got into their +eyes, and on either side of the road there stretched an interminable +tract of bare, ugly country which smelt unpleasantly. One might have +thought that it had been ravaged by the pestilence, which had even +attacked the buildings, for skeletons of dilapidated and deserted +houses, or small cottages, which were left in an unfinished state, as +the contractors had not been paid, reared their four roofless walls on +each side. + +Here and there tall factory chimneys rose up from the barren soil; the +only vegetation on that putrid land, where the spring breezes wafted an +odor of petroleum and shist, which was mingled with another smell, that +was even still less agreeable. At last, however, they crossed the Seine +a second time, and it was delightful on the bridge. The river sparkled +in the sun, and they had a feeling of quiet satisfaction and enjoyment, +in drinking in the purer air, that was not impregnated by the black +smoke of factories, nor by the miasma from the deposits of night soil. A +man whom they met, told them that the name of the place was _Bézons_, +and so Monsieur Dufour pulled up, and read the attractive announcement +outside an eating-house: _Restaurant Poulin, stews and fried fish, +private rooms, arbors and swings._ + +"Well! Madame Dufour, will this suit you? Will you make up your mind at +last?" + +She read the announcement in her turn, and then looked at the house for +a time. + +It was a white, country inn, built by the road side, and through the +open door she could see the bright zinc of the counter, at which two +workmen, out for the day, were sitting. At last she made up her mind, +and said: + +"Yes, this will do; and, besides, there is a view." + +So they drove into a large yard with trees in it, behind the inn, which +was only separated from the river by the towing-path, and got out. The +husband sprang out first, and then held out his arms for his wife, and +as the step was very high, Madame Dufour, in order to reach him, had to +show the lower part of her limbs, whose former slenderness had +disappeared in fat, the Monsieur Dufour, who was already getting excited +by the country air, pinched her calf, and then taking her in his arms, +he set her onto the ground, as if she had been some enormous bundle. She +shook the dust out of the silk dress, and then looked round, to see in +what sort of a place she was. + +She was a stout woman, of about thirty-six, full-blown and delightful to +look at. She could hardly breathe, as her stays were laced too tightly, +and their pressure forced the heaving mass of her superabundant bosom up +to her double chin. Next, the girl put her hand onto her father's +shoulder, and jumped lightly out. The boy with the yellow hair had got +down by stepping on the wheel, and he helped Monsieur Dufour to get his +grandmother out. Then they unharnessed the horse, which they tied up to +a tree, and the carriage fell back, with both shafts in the air. The men +took off their coats, and washed their hands in a pail of water, and +then went and joined their ladies who had already taken possession of +the swings. + +Mademoiselle Dufour was trying to swing herself standing up, but she +could not succeed in getting a start. She was a pretty girl of about +eighteen; one of those women who suddenly excite your desire when you +meet them in the street, and who leave you with a vague feeling of +uneasiness, and of excited senses. She was tall, had a small waist and +large hips, with a dark skin, very large eyes, and very black hair. Her +dress clearly marked the outlines of her firm, full figure, which was +accentuated by the motion of her hips as she tried to swing herself +higher. Her arms were stretched over her head to hold the rope, so that +her bosom rose at every movement she made. Her hat, which a gust of wind +had blown off, was hanging behind her, and as the swing gradually rose +higher and higher, she showed her delicate limbs up to the knees each +time, and the wind from the petticoats, which was more heady than the +fumes of wine, blew into the faces of the two men, who were looking at +her and smiling. + +Sitting in the other swing, Madame Dufour kept saying in a monotonous +voice: + +"Cyprian, come and swing me; do come and swing me, Cyprian!" + +At last he went, and turning up his shirt sleeves as if he intended to +work very hard, he, with much difficulty set his wife in motion. She +clutched the two ropes, and held her legs out straight, so as not to +touch the ground. She enjoyed feeling giddy at the motion of the swing, +and her whole figure shook like a jelly on a dish, but as she went +higher and higher, she grew too giddy and got frightened. Every time she +was coming back she uttered a piercing scream which made all the little +urchins come round, and, down below, beneath the garden hedge, she +vaguely saw a row of mischievous heads, who made various grimaces as +they laughed. + +When a servant girl came out, they ordered lunch. + +"Some fried fish, a stewed rabbit, salad, and dessert," Madame Dufour +said, with an important air. + +"Bring two quarts of beer and a bottle of claret," her husband said. + +"We will have lunch on the grass," the girl added. + +The grandmother, who had an affection for cats, had been running after +one that belonged to the house, and had been bestowing the most +affectionate words on it, for the last ten minutes. The animal, which +was no doubt secretly flattered by her attentions, kept close to the +good woman, but just out of reach of her hand, and quietly walked round +the trees, against which she rubbed herself, with her tail up, and +purring with pleasure. + +"Hulloh!" the young man with the yellow hair, who was ferreting about, +suddenly exclaimed, "here are two swell boats!" They all went to look at +them, and saw two beautiful skiffs in a wooden boat-house, which were as +beautifully finished as if they had been objects of luxury. They were +moored side by side, like two tall, slender girls, in their narrow +shining length, and excited the wish to float in them on warm summer +mornings and evenings, along the bower-covered banks of the river, where +the trees dipped their branches into the water, where the rushes are +continually rustling in the breeze, and where the swift king-fishers +dart about like flashes of blue lightning. + +The whole family looked at them with great respect. + +"Oh! They are indeed two swell boats," Monsieur Dufour repeated gravely, +and he examined them gravely, and he examined them like a connoisseur. +He had been in the habit of rowing in his younger days, he said, and +when he had that in his hands--and he went through the action of pulling +the oars--he did not care a fig for anybody. He had beaten more than one +Englishman formerly at the Joinville regattas. He grew quite excited at +last, and offered to make a bet, that in a boat like that, he could row +six leagues an hour, without exerting himself. + +"Lunch is ready," the waitress said, appearing at the entrance to the +boat-house, so they all hurried off, but two young men were already +lunching at the best place, which Madame Dufour had chosen in her mind +as her seat. No doubt they were the owners of the skiffs, for they were +dressed in boating costume. They were stretched out, almost lying on +chairs, and were sunburnt, and had on flannel trousers and thin cotton +jerseys, with short sleeves, which showed their bare arms, which were as +strong as blackmiths'. They were two strong fellows, who thought a great +deal of their vigor, and who showed in all their movements that +elasticity and grace of the limbs which can only be acquired by +exercise, and which is so different to the deformity with which the same +continual work stamps the mechanic. + +They exchanged a rapid smile when they saw the mother, and then a look +on seeing the daughter. + +"Let us give up our place," one of them said: "it will make us +acquainted with them." + +The other got up immediately, and holding his black and red boating-cap +in his hand, he politely offered the ladies the only shady place in the +garden. With many excuses they accepted, and so that it might be more +rural, they sat on the grass, without either tables or chairs. + +The two young men took their plates, knives, forks, etc., to a table a +little way off, and began to eat again, and their bare arms, which they +showed continually, rather embarrassed the girl. She even pretended to +turn her head aside, and not to see them, while Madame Dufour, who was +rather bolder, tempted by feminine curiosity, looked at them every +moment, and no doubt compared them with the secret unsightliness of her +husband. She had squatted herself on the ground, with her legs tucked +under her, after the manner of tailors, and she kept wriggling about +continually under the pretext that ants were crawling about her +somewhere. Monsieur Dufour, whom the presence of strangers of politeness +had put into rather a bad tempter, was trying to find a comfortable +position, which he did not, however, succeed in doing, and the young man +with the yellow hair was eating as silently as an ogre. + +"It is lovely weather, Monsieur," the stout lady said to one of the +boating-men. She wished to be friendly, because they had given up their +place. + +"It is, indeed, Madame," he replied; "do you often go into the country?" + +"Oh! Only once or twice a year, to get a little fresh air; and you, +monsieur?" + +"I come and sleep here every night." + +"Oh! That must be very nice?" + +"Certainly it is, Madame." And he gave them such a practical account of +his daily life, that it gave rise in the hearts of these shop-keepers, +who were deprived of the meadows, and who longed for country walks, to +that foolish love of nature, which they all feel so strongly the whole +year round, behind the counter in their shop. + +The girl raised her eyes, and looked at the oarsman with emotion, and +Monsieur Dufour spoke for the first time. + +"It is indeed a happy life," he said. And then he added: "A little more +rabbit, my dear?" + +"No, thank you," she replied and turning to the young men again, and +pointing to their arms asked: "Do you never feel cold like that?" + +They both began to laugh, and they frightened the family by the account +of the enormous fatigue they could endure, of their bathing while in a +state of tremendous perspiration, of their rowing in the fog at night, +and they struck their chests violently, to show how they sounded. + +"Ah! You look very strong," the husband said, who did not talk any more +of the time when he used to beat the English. The girl was looking at +them aside now, and the young fellow with the yellow hair was coughing +violently, as he had swallowed some wine the wrong way, and bespattering +Madame Dufour's cherry-colored silk dress, who got angry, and sent for +some water, to wash the spots. + +Meanwhile it had grown unbearably hot, the sparkling river looked like a +blaze of fire, and the fumes of the wine were getting into their heads. +Monsieur Dufour, who had a violent hiccough, had unbuttoned his +waistcoat, and the top of his trousers, while his wife, who felt +choking, was gradually unfastening her dress. The apprentice was shaking +his yellow wig in a happy frame of mind, and kept helping himself to +wine, and as the old grandmother felt drunk, she also felt very stiff +and dignified. As for the girl, she showed nothing, except a peculiar +brightness in her eyes, while the brown skin on the cheeks became more +rosy. + +The coffee finished them off; they spoke of singing, and each of them +sang, or repeated a couplet, which the others repeated frantically. Then +they got up with some difficulty, and while the two women, who were +rather dizzy, were getting the fresh air, the two men, who were +altogether drunk, were performing gymnastic tricks. Heavy, limp, and +with scarlet faces, they hung awkwardly onto the iron rings, without +being able to raise themselves, while their shirts were continually +threatening to leave their trousers, and to flap in the wind like flags. + +Meanwhile, the two boating-men had got their skiffs into the water, and +they came back, and politely asked the ladies whether they would like a +row. + +"Would you like one, Monsieur Dufour?" his wife exclaimed,--"Please +come!" + +He merely gave her a drunken look, without understanding what she said. +Then one of the rowers came up, with two fishing-rods in his hand; and +the hope of catching a gudgeon, that great aim of the Parisian +shop-keeper, made Dufour's dull eyes gleam, and he politely allowed them +to do whatever they liked, while he sat in the shade, under the bridge, +with his feet dangling over the river, by the side of the young man with +the yellow hair, who was sleeping soundly close to him. + +One of the boating men made a martyr of himself and took the mother. + +"Let us go to the little wood on the _Ile aux Anglias_!" he called out, +as he rowed off. The other skiff went slower, for the rower was looking +at his companion so intently, that he thought of nothing else, and his +emotion paralyzed his strength, while the girl, who was sitting on the +steerer's seat, gave herself up to the enjoyment of being on the water. +She felt disinclined to think, felt a lassitude in her limbs, and a +total abandonment of herself, as if she were intoxicated, and she had +become very flushed, and breathed shortly. The effects of the wine, +which were increased by the extreme heat, made all the trees on the bank +seem to bow, as she passed. A vague wish for enjoyment and a +fermentation for her blood, seemed to pervade her whole body, which was +excited by the heat of the day; and she was also agitated by this +_tête-à-tête_ on the water, in a place which seemed depopulated by the +heat, with this young man who thought her pretty, whose looks seemed to +caress her skin, and whose looks were as penetrating and pervading as +the sun's rays. + +Their inability to speak, increased their emotion, and they looked about +them, but at last he made an effort and asked her name. + +"Henriette," she said. + +"Why! My name is Henri," he replied. The sound of their voices had +calmed them, and they looked at the banks. The other skiff had passed +them, and seemed to be waiting for them, and the rower called out: + +"We will meet you in the wood; we are going as far as _Robinson's_[13] +because Madame Dufour is thirsty." Then he bent over his oars again, and +rowed off so quickly that he was soon out of sight. + +[Footnote 13: A well-known restaurant on the banks of the Seine, which +is much frequented by the middle classes.--TRANSLATOR.] + +Meanwhile, a continual roar, which they had heard for some time, came +nearer, and the river itself seemed to shiver, as if the dull noise were +rising from its depths. + +"What is that noise?" she asked. It was the noise of the weir, which cut +the river in two, at the island, and he was explaining it to her, when +above the noise of the waterfall, they heard the song of a bird, which +seemed a long way off. + +"Listen!" he said; "the nightingales are singing during the day, so the +females must be sitting." + +A nightingale! She had never heard one before, and the idea of listening +to one roused visions of poetic tenderness in her heart. A nightingale! +That is to say, the invisible witness of her lovers' interview which +Juliette invoked on her balcony[14]; the celestial music, which is +attuned to human kisses, that eternal inspirer of all those languorous +romances which open an ideal sky to all the poor little tender hearts of +sensitive girls! + +[Footnote 14: Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene V.] + +She was going to hear a nightingale. + +"We must not make a noise," her companion said, "and then we can go into +the wood, and sit down close to it." + +The skiff seemed to glide. They saw the trees on the island, whose banks +were so low, that they could look into the depths of the thickets. They +stopped, he made the boat fast, Henriette took hold of Henri's arm, and +they went beneath the trees. + +"Stop," he said, so she bent down, and they went into an inextricable +thicket of creepers, leaves, and reed-grass, which formed an +inpenetrable asylum, and which the young man laughingly called, "his +private room." + +Just above their heads, perched in one of the trees which hid them, the +bird was still singing. He uttered shakes and roulades, and then long, +vibrating sounds that filled the air, and seemed to lose themselves on +the horizon, across the level country, through that burning silence +which weighed upon the whole country round. They did not speak for fear +of frightening it away. They were sitting close together, and slowly +Henri's arm stole round the girl's waist and squeezed it gently. She +took that daring hand without any anger, and kept removing it whenever +he put it round her; without, however, feeling at all embarrassed by +this caress, just as if it had been something quite natural, which she +was resisting just as naturally. + +She was listening to the bird in ecstasy. She felt an infinite longing +for happiness, for some sudden demonstration of tenderness, for the +revelation of super-human poetry, and she felt such a softening at her +heart, and relaxation of her nerves, that she began to cry, without +knowing why, and now the young man was straining her close to him, and +she did not remove his arm; she did not think of it. Suddenly the +nightingale stopped, and a voice called out in the distance: + +"Henriette!" + +"Do not reply," he said in a low voice; "you will drive the bird away." + +But she had no idea of doing so, and they remained in the same position +for some time. Madame Dufour had sat down somewhere or other, for from +time to time they heard the stout lady break out into little bursts of +laughter. + +The girl was still crying; she was filled with strange sensations. +Henri's head was on her shoulder, and suddenly he kissed her on the +lips. She was surprised and angry, and, to avoid him, she stood up. + +They were both very pale, when they quitted their grassy retreat. The +blue sky looked dull to them, and the ardent sun was clouded over to +their eyes, but they perceived not the solitude and silence. They walked +quickly side by side, without speaking or touching each other, for they +appeared to be irreconcilable enemies, as if disgust had sprung up +between them, and hatred between their souls, and from time to time +Henriette called out: "Mamma!" + +By-and-bye they heard a noise in a thicket, and the stout lady appeared +looking rather confused, and her companion's face was wrinkled with +smiles which he could not check. + +Madame Dufour took his arm, and they returned to the boats, and Henri, +who was going on first, still without speaking, by the girl's side, and +at last they got back to Bézons. Monsieur Dufour, who had got sober, was +waiting for them very impatiently, while the young man with the yellow +hair, was having a mouthful of something to eat, before leaving the inn. +The carriage was in the yard, with the horse in, and the grandmother, +who had already got in, was very frightened at the thought of being +overtaken by night, before they got back to Paris, as the outskirts were +not safe. + +They shook hands, and the Dufour family drove off. + +"Good-bye, until we meet again!" the oarsman cried, and the answer they +got was a sigh and a tear. + + * * * * * + +Two months later, as Henri was going along the _Rue des Martyrs_, he saw +_Dufour, Ironmonger_ over a door, and so he went in, and saw the stout +lady sitting at the counter. They recognized each other immediately, and +after an interchange of polite greetings, he asked after them all. + +"And how is Mademoiselle Henriette?" he inquired, specially. + +"Very well, thank you; she is married." + +"Ah!" ... But mastering his feelings, he added: "Whom was she married +to?" + +"To that young man who went with us, you know, he has joined us in +business." + +"I remember him, perfectly." + +He was going out, feeling very unhappy, though scarcely knowing why, +when Madame called him back. + +"And how is your friend?" she asked, rather shyly. + +"He is very well, thank you." + +"Please give him our compliments, and beg him to come and call, when he +is in the neighborhood." + +She then added: "Tell him it will give me great pleasure." + +"I will be sure to do so. Adieu!" + +"I will not say that; come again, very soon." + + * * * * * + +The next year, one very hot Sunday, all the details of that adventure +which he had never forgotten, suddenly came back to him so clearly, that +he returned to their room in the wood, and he was overwhelmed with +astonishment when he went in. She was sitting on the grass, looking very +sad, while by her side, again in his shirt sleeves the young man with +the yellow hair was sleeping soundly, like some brute. + +She grew so pale when she saw Henri, that at first he thought she was +going to faint, then, however, they began to talk quite naturally. But +when he told her that he was very fond of that spot, and went there very +often on Sundays, she looked into his eyes for a long time. "I, too, +think of it," she replied. + +"Come, my dear," her husband said, with a yawn; "I think it is time for +us to be going." + + + + +THE LANCER'S WIFE + + +I + +It was after Bourbaki's defeat in the East of France. The army, broken +up, decimated and worn out, had been obliged to retreat into +Switzerland, after that terrible campaign, and it was only the short +time that it lasted, which saved a hundred and fifty thousand men from +certain death. Hunger, the terrible cold, forced marches in the snow +without boots, over bad mountainous roads, had caused us +_francs-tireurs_ especially the greatest sufferings, for we were without +tents and almost without food, always in front when we were marching +towards Belfort, and in the rear, when returning by the Jura. Of our +little band that had numbered twelve hundred men on the first of +January, there remained only twenty-two pale, thin, ragged wretches, +when we at length succeeded in reaching Swiss territory. + +There we were safe and could rest. Everybody knows what sympathy was +shown to the unfortunate French army, and how well it was cared for. We +all gained fresh life, and those who had been rich and happy before the +war, declared that they had never experienced a greater feeling of +comfort than they did then. Just think. We actually had something to eat +every day, and could sleep every night. + +Meanwhile, the war continued in the East of France, which had been +excluded from the armistice. Besançon still kept the enemy in check, and +the latter had their revenge by ravaging the _Franché Comte_. Sometimes +we heard that they had approached quite close to the frontier, and we +saw Swiss troops, who were to form a line of observation between us and +them, set out on their march. + +That pained us in the end, and as we regained health and strength the +longing for fighting laid hold of us. It was disgraceful and irritating +to know that within two or three leagues of us, the Germans were +victorious and insolent, to feel that we were protected by our +captivity, and to feel that on that account we were powerless against +them. + +One day, our captain took five or six of us aside, and spoke to us about +it, long and furiously. He was a fine fellow that captain. He had been a +sub-lieutenant in the Zouaves, was tall and thin, and as hard as steel, +and during the whole campaign he had cut out their work for the Germans. +He fretted in inactivity and could not accustom himself to the idea of +being a prisoner and of doing nothing. + +"Confound it!" he said to us, "does it not pain you to know that there +is a number of Uhlans within two hours of us? Does it not almost drive +you mad to know that those beggarly wretches are walking about as +masters in our mountains, where six determined men might kill a whole +spitful any day? I cannot endure it any longer, and I must go there." + +"But how can you manage it, Captain?" + +"How? It is not very difficult! Just as if we had not done a thing or +two within the last six months, and got out of woods that were guarded +by very different men from the Swiss. The day that you wish to cross +over into France, I will undertake to get you there." + +"That may be; but what shall we do in France without any arms?" + +"Without arms? We will get them over yonder, by Jove!" + +"You are forgetting the treaty," another soldier said; "we shall run the +risk of doing the Swiss an injury, if Manteuffel learns that they have +allowed prisoners to return to France." + +"Come," said the captain, "those are all bad reasons. I mean to go and +kill some Prussians; that is all I care about. If you do not wish to do +as I do, well and good; only say so at once. I can quite well go by +myself; I do not require anybody's company." + +Naturally we all protested and as it was quite impossible to make the +captain alter his mind, we felt obliged to promise to go with him. We +liked him too much to leave him in the lurch, as he never failed us in +any extremity; and so the expedition was decided on. + + +II + +The Captain had a plan of his own, that he had been cogitating over for +some time. A man in that part of the country, whom he knew, was going to +lend him a cart, and six suits of peasants' clothes. We could hide under +some straw at the bottom of the wagon, and it would be loaded with +Gruyère cheese, which he was supposed to be going to sell in France. The +captain told the sentinels that he was taking two friends with him, to +protect his goods, in case any one should try to rob him, which did not +seem an extraordinary precaution. A Swiss officer seemed to look at the +wagon in a knowing manner, but that was in order to impress his +soldiers. In a word, neither officers nor men could make it out. + +"Get on," the captain said to the horses, as he cracked his whip, while +our three men quietly smoked their pipes. I was half-suffocated in my +box, which only admitted the air through those holes in front, while at +the same time I was nearly frozen, for it was terribly cold. + +"Get on," the captain said again, and the wagon loaded with Gruyère +cheese entered France. + +The Prussian lines were very badly guarded, as the enemy trusted to the +watchfulness of the Swiss. The sergeant spoke North German, while our +captain spoke the bad German of the _Four Cantons_, and so they could +not understand each other; the sergeant, however, pretended to be very +intelligent, and in order to make us believe that he understood us, they +allowed us to continue our journey, and after traveling for seven hours, +being continually stopped in the same manner, we arrived at a small +village of the Jura, in ruins, at nightfall. + +What were wre going to do? Our only arms were the captain's whip, our +uniforms, our peasants' blouses, and our food our Gruyère cheese. Our +sole riches consisted in our ammunition, packets of cartridges which we +had stowed away inside some of the huge cheeses. We had about a thousand +of them, just two hundred each, but then we wanted rifles, and they must +be Chassepots; luckily, however, the captain was a bold man of an +inventive mind, and this was the plan that he hit upon. + +While three of us remained hidden in a cellar in the abandoned village, +he continued his journey as far as Besançon with the empty wagon and one +man. The town was invested, but one can always make one's way into a +town among the hills by crossing the table-land till within about ten +miles of the walls, and then by following paths and ravines on foot. +They left their wagon at Omans, among the Germans, and escaped out of it +at night on foot, so as to gain the heights which border the river +Doubs; the next day they entered Besançon, where there were plenty of +Chassepots. There were nearly forty thousand of them left in the +arsenal, and General Roland, a brave marine, laughed at the captain's +daring project, but let him have six rifles and wished him "good luck." +There he had also found his wife, who had been through all the war with +us before the campaign in the East, and who had been only prevented by +illness from continuing with Bourbaki's army. She had recovered, +however, in spite of the cold, which was growing more and more intense, +and in spite of the numberless privations that awaited her, she +persisted in accompanying her husband. He was obliged to give way to +her, and they all three, the captain, his wife, and our comrade, started +on their expedition. + +Going was nothing in comparison to returning. They were obliged to +travel by night, so as to avoid meeting anybody, as the possession of +six rifles would have made them liable to suspicion. But in spite of +everything, a week after leaving us, the captain and his _two men_ were +back with us again. The campaign was about to begin. + + +III + +The first night of his arrival, he began it himself, and, under the +pretext of examining the country round, he went along the high road. + +I must tell you, that the little village which served as our fortress +was a small collection of poor, badly built houses, which had been +deserted long before. It lay on a steep slope, which terminated in a +wooded plain. The country people sell the wood; they send it down the +ravines, which are called _coulées_, locally, and which lead down to the +plain, and there they stack it into piles, which they sell thrice a year +to the wood merchants. The spot where this market is held, is indicated +by two small houses by the side of the high road, and which serve for +public-houses. The captain had gone down there by one of these +_coulées_. + +He had been gone about half-an-hour, and we were on the look-out at the +top of the ravine when we heard a shot. The captain had ordered us not +to stir, and only to come to him when we heard him blow his trumpet. It +was made of a goat's horn, and could be heard a league off, but it gave +no sound, and in spite of our cruel anxiety we were obliged to wait in +silence, with out rifles by our side. + +It is nothing to go down these _coulées_; one need only let oneself +glide down, but it is more difficult to get up again; one has to +scramble up by catching hold of the hanging branches of the trees, and +sometimes on all fours, by sheer strength. A whole mortal hour passed +and he did not come, nothing moved in the brushwood. The captain's wife +began to grow impatient; what could he be doing? Why did he not call us? +Did the shot that we had heard proceed from an enemy, and had he killed +or wounded our leader, her husband? They did not know what to think, but +I myself fancied, either that he was dead, or that his enterprise was +successful, and I was merely anxious and curious to know what he had +done. + +Suddenly we heard the sound of his trumpet, and we were much surprised +that instead of coming from below, as we had expected, it came from the +village behind us. What did that mean? It was a mystery to us, but the +same idea struck us all, that he had been killed, and that the Prussians +were blowing the trumpet to draw us into an ambush. We therefore +returned to the cottage, keeping a careful look out, with our fingers on +the trigger, and hiding under the branches, but his wife, in spite of +our entreaties, rushed on, leaping like a tigress. She thought that she +had to avenge her husband, and had fixed the bayonet to her rifle, and +we lost sight of her at the moment that we heard the trumpet again, and +a few moments later we heard her calling out to us: + +"Come on! come on! he is alive! it is he!" + +We hastened on, and saw the captain smoking his pipe at the entrance of +the village, but strangely enough he was on horseback. + +"Ah! Ah!" he said to us, "you see that there is something to be done +here. Here I am on horseback already. I knocked over a uhlan yonder, and +took his horse; I suppose they were guarding the wood, but it was by +drinking and swilling in clover. One of them, the sentry at the door, +had not time to see me before I gave him a sugar plum in his stomach, +and then, before the others could come out, I jumped on to the horse and +was off like a shot. Eight or ten of them followed me, I think, but I +took the cross-roads through the woods; I have got scratched and torn a +bit, but here I am, and now, my good fellows, attention, and take care! +Those brigands will not rest until they have caught us, and we must +receive them with rifle bullets. Come along; let us take up our posts!" + +We set out. One of us took up his position a good way from the village +of the cross-roads; I was posted at the entrance of the main street, +where the road from the level country enters the village, while the two +others, the captain and his wife were in the middle of the village, near +the church, whose tower served for an observatory and citadel. + +We had not been in our places long before we heard a shot followed by +another, and then two, then three. The first was evidently a chassepot; +one recognized it by the sharp report, which sounds like the crack of a +whip, while the other three came from the lancers' carbines. + +The captain was furious. He had given orders to the outpost to let the +enemy pass and merely to follow them at a distance, if they marched +towards the village, and to join me when they had gone well between the +houses. Then they were to appear suddenly, take the patrol between two +fires, and not allow a single man to escape, for posted as we were, the +six of us could have hemmed in ten Prussians, if needful. + +"That confounded Piédelot has roused them," the captain said, "and they +will not venture to come on blindfold any longer. And then I am quite +sure that he has managed to get a shot into himself somewhere or other, +for we hear nothing of him. It serves him right; why did he not obey +orders?" And then, after a moment, he grumbled in his beard: "After all, +I am sorry for the poor fellow, he is so brave and shoots so well!" + +The captain was right in his conjectures. We waited until evening, +without seeing the uhlans: they had retreated after the first attack, +but unfortunately we had not seen Piédelot either. Was he dead or a +prisoner? When night came, the captain proposed that we should go out +and look for him, and so the three of us started. At the cross-roads we +found a broken rifle and some blood, while the ground was trampled down, +but we did not find either a wounded man or a dead body, although we +searched every thicket, and at midnight we returned without having +discovered anything of our unfortunate comrade. + +"It is very strange," the captain growled. "They must have killed him +and thrown him into the bushes somewhere; they cannot possibly have +taken him prisoner, as he would have called out for help. I cannot +understand it all." Just as he said that, bright, red flames shot up in +the direction of the inn on the high road, which illuminated the sky. + +"Scoundrels! cowards!" he shouted. "I will bet they have set fire to the +two houses on the market-place, in order to have their revenge and then +they will scuttle off without saying a word. They will be satisfied with +having killed a man and setting fire to two houses. All right. It shall +not pass over like that. We must go for them; they will not like to +leave their illuminations in order to fight." + +"It would be a great stroke of luck, if we could set Piédelot free at +the same time," some one said. + +The five of us set off, full of rage and hope. In twenty minutes we had +got to the bottom of the _coulée_, and we had not yet seen anyone, when +we had got within a hundred yards of the inn. The fire was behind the +house, and so all that we saw of it was the reflection above the roof. +However, we were walking rather slowly, as we were afraid of a trap, +when suddenly we heard Piédelot's well-known voice. It had a strange +sound, however, for it was at the same time dull and vibrating, stifled +and clear, as if he was calling out as loud as he could with a bit of +rag stuffed into his mouth. He seemed to be hoarse and panting, and the +unlucky fellow kept exclaiming: "Help! Help!" + +We sent all thoughts of prudence to the devil, and in two bounds we were +at the back of the inn, where a terrible sight met our eyes. + + +IV + +Piédelot was being burnt alive. He was writhing in the middle of a heap +of fagots, against a stake to which they had fastened him, and the +flames were licking him with their sharp tongues. When he saw us, his +tongue seemed to stick in his throat, he drooped his head, and seemed as +if he were going to die. It was only the affair of a moment to upset the +burning pile, to scatter the embers, and to cut the ropes that fastened +him. + +Poor fellow! In what a terrible state we found him. The evening before, +he had had his left arm broken, and it seemed as if he had been badly +beaten since then, for his whole body was covered with wounds, bruises, +and blood. The flames had also begun their work on him, and he had two +large burns, one on his loins, and the other on his right thigh, and his +beard and his hair were scorched. Poor Piédelot! + +Nobody knows the terrible rage we felt at this sight! We would have +rushed headlong at a hundred thousand Prussians. Our thirst for +vengeance was intense but the cowards had run away, leaving their crime +behind them. Where could we find them now? Meanwhile, however, the +captain's wife was looking after Piédelot, and dressing his wounds as +best she could, while the captain himself shook hands with him excitedly +and in a few minutes he came to himself. + +"Good morning, captain, good morning, all of you," he said. "Ah! the +scoundrels, the wretches! Why twenty of them came to surprise us." + +"Twenty, do you say?" + +"Yes, there was a whole band of them, and that is why I disobeyed +orders, captain, and fired on them, for they would have killed you all, +so I preferred to stop them. That frightened them, and they did not +venture to go further than the cross-roads. They were such cowards. Four +of them shot at me at twenty yards, as if I had been a target, and then +they slashed me with their swords. My arm was broken so that I could +only use my bayonet with one hand." + +"But why did you not call for help?" + +"I took good care not to do that, for you would all have come, and you +would neither have been able to defend me nor yourselves, being only +five against twenty." + +"You know that we should not have allowed you to have been taken, poor +old fellow." + +"I preferred to die by myself, don't you see! I did not want to bring +you there, for it would have been a mere ambush." + +"Well, we will not talk about it any more. Do you feel rather easier?" + +"No, I am suffocating. I know that I cannot live much longer. The +brutes! They tied me to a tree, and beat me till I felt half dead, and +then they shook my broken arm, but I did not make a sound. I would +rather have bitten my tongue out than have called out before them.... +Now I can say what I am suffering and shed tears; it does one good. +Thank you, my kind friends." + +"Poor Piédelot! But we will avenge you, you may be sure!" + +"Yes, yes, I want you to do that. Especially, there is a woman among +them, who passes as the wife of the lancer whom the captain killed +yesterday. She is dressed like a lancer, and she tortured me the most +yesterday, and suggested burning me, and it was she who set fire to the +wood. Oh! the wretch, the brute.... Ah! how I am suffering! My loins, my +arms!" and he fell back panting and exhausted, writhing in his terrible +agony, while the captain's wife wiped the perspiration from his +forehead, and we all shed tears of grief and rage, as if we had been +children. I will not describe the end to you; he died half-an-hour +later, but before that he told us in which direction the enemy had gone. +When he was dead, we gave ourselves time to bury him, and then we set +out in pursuit of them, with our hearts full of fury and hatred. + +"We will throw ourselves on the whole Prussian army, if it be needful," +the captain said, "but we will avenge Piédelot. We must catch those +scoundrels. Let us swear to die, rather than not to find them, and if I +am killed first, these are my orders: all the prisoners that you make +are to be shot immediately, and as for the lancer's wife, she is to be +violated before she is put to death." + +"She must not be shot, because she is a woman," the captain's wife said. +"If you survive, I am sure that you would not shoot a woman. Outraging +her will be quite sufficient; but if you are killed in this pursuit, I +want one thing, and that is to fight with her; I will kill her with my +own hands, and the others can do what they like with her if she kills +me. + +"We will outrage her! We will burn her! We will tear her to pieces! +Piédelot shall be avenged, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!" + + +V + +The next morning we unexpectedly fell on an outpost of uhlans four +leagues away. Surprised by our sudden attack, they were not able to +mount their horses, nor even to defend themselves, and in a few moments +we had five prisoners, corresponding to our own number. The captain +questioned them, and from their answers we felt certain that they were +the same whom we had encountered the previous day, then a very curious +operation took place. One of us was told off to ascertain their sex, and +nothing can depict our joy when we discovered what we were seeking among +them, the female executioner who had tortured our friend. + +The four others were shot on the spot, with their backs towards us, and +close to the muzzles of our rifles, and then we turned our attention to +the woman; what were we going to do with her? I must acknowledge that we +were all of us in favor of shooting her. Hatred, and the wish to avenge +Piédelot had extinguished all pity in us, and we had forgotten that we +were going to shoot a woman, but a woman reminded us of it, the +captain's wife; at her entreaties, therefore, we determined to keep her +prisoner. + +The captain's poor wife was to be severely punished for this act of +clemency. + +The next day we heard that the armistice had been extended to the +Eastern part of France, and we had to put an end to our little campaign. +Two of us, who belonged to the neighborhood, returned home, so there +were only four of us, all told; the captain, his wife, and two men. We +belonged to Besançon, which was still being besieged in spite of the +armistice. + +"Let us stop here," said the captain. "I cannot believe that the war is +going to end like this. The devil take it. Surely there are men still +left in France, and now is the time to prove what they are made of. The +spring is coming on, and the armistice is only a trap laid for the +Prussians. During the time that it lasts, a new army will be formed, and +some fine morning we shall fall upon them again. We shall be ready, and +we have a hostage--let us remain here." + +We fixed our quarters there. It was terribly cold, and we did not go out +much, and somebody had always to keep the female prisoner in sight. + +She was sullen and never said anything, or else spoke of her husband, +whom the captain had killed. She looked at him continually with fierce +eyes, and we felt that she was tortured by a wild longing for revenge. +That seemed to us to be the most suitable punishment for the terrible +torments that she had made Piédelot suffer, for impotent vengeance is +such intense pain! + +Alas! we who knew how to avenge our comrade, ought to have thought that +this woman would know how to avenge her husband, and have been on our +guard. It is true that one of us kept watch every night, and that at +first we tied her by a long rope to the great oak bench that was +fastened to the wall. But, by and by, as she had never tried to escape, +in spite of her hatred for us, we relaxed our extreme prudence, and +allowed her to sleep somewhere else except on the bench, and without +being tied. What had we to fear? She was at the end of the room, a man +was on guard at the door, and between her and the sentinel the captain's +wife and two other men used to lie. She was alone and unarmed against +four, so there could be no danger. + +One night when we were asleep, and the captain was on guard, the +lancer's wife was lying more quietly in her corner than usual, and she +had even smiled for the first time since she had been our prisoner, +during the evening. Suddenly, however, in the middle of the night, we +were all awakened by a terrible cry. We got up, groping about and +scarcely were we up when we stumbled over a furious couple who were +rolling about and fighting on the ground. It was the captain and the +lancer's wife. We threw ourselves on to them, and separated them in a +moment. She was shouting and laughing, and he seemed to have the death +rattle. All this took place in the dark. Two of us held her, and when a +light was struck, a terrible sight met our eyes. The captain was lying +on the floor in a pool of blood, with an enormous wound in his throat, +and his sword bayonet that had been taken from his rifle, was sticking +in the red, gaping wound. A few minutes afterwards he died, without +having been able to utter a word. + +His wife did not shed a tear. Her eyes were dry, her throat was +contracted, and she looked at the lancer's wife steadfastly, and with a +calm ferocity that inspired fear. + +"This woman belongs to me," she said to us suddenly. "You swore to me +not a week ago, to let me kill her as I chose, if she killed my husband, +and you must keep your oath. You must fasten her securely to the +fireplace, upright against the back of it, and then you can go where you +like, but far from here. I will take my revenge on her to myself. Leave +the captain's body, and we three, he, she, and I, will remain here." + +We obeyed and went away. She promised to write to us to Geneva, as we +were returning there. + + +VI + +Two days later, I received the following letter, dated the day after we +had left, and that had been written at an inn on the high road: + + "MY FRIEND, + + "I am writing to you, according to my promise. For the moment I am + at the inn, where I have just handed my prisoner over to a Prussian + officer. + + "I must tell you, my friend, that this poor woman has left two + children in Germany. She had followed her husband whom she adored, + as she did not wish him to be exposed to the risks of war by + himself, and as her children were with their grandparents. I have + learnt all this since yesterday, and it has turned my ideas of + vengeance into more humane feelings. At the very moment when I felt + pleasure in insulting this woman, and in threatening her with the + most fearful torments, in recalling Piédelot, who had been burnt + alive, and in threatening her with a similar death, she looked at + me coldly, and said: + + "'What have you got to reproach me with, Frenchwoman? You think + that you will do right in avenging your husband's death, is not + that so?' + + "'Yes, I replied.' + + "'Very well then; in killing him, I did what you are going to do in + burning me. I avenged my husband, for your husband killed him.' + + "'Well,' I replied, 'as you approve of this vengeance, prepare to + endure it.' + + "'I do not fear it.' + + "And in fact she did not seem to have lost courage. Her face was + calm, and she looked at me without trembling, while I brought wood + and dried leaves together, and feverishly threw on to them the + powder from some cartridges, which was to make her funeral pile the + more cruel. + + "I hesitated in my thoughts of persecution for a moment. But the + captain was there, pale and covered with blood, and he seemed to be + looking at me with his large, glassy eyes, and I applied myself to + my work again after kissing his pale lips. Suddenly, however, on + raising my head, I saw that she was crying, and I felt rather + surprised. + + "'So you are frightened?' I said to her. + + "'No, but when I saw you kiss your husband, I thought of mine, of + all whom I love." + + "She continued to sob, but stopping suddenly she said to me in + broken words, and in a low voice: + + "'Have you any children?' + + "A shiver ran over me, for I guessed that this poor woman had some. + She asked me to look in a pocketbook which was in her bosom, and in + it I saw two photographs of quite young children, a boy and a girl, + with those kind, gentle, chubby faces that German children have. In + it there were also two locks of light hair and a letter in a large + childish hand, and beginning with German words which meant: 'My + dear little mother.' + + "I could not restrain my tears, my dear friend, and so I untied + her, and without venturing to look at the face of my poor, dead + husband, who was not to be avenged, I went with her as far as the + inn. She is free; I have just left her, and she kissed me with + tears. I am going upstairs to my husband; come as soon as possible, + my dear friend, to look for our two bodies." + +I set off with all speed, and when I arrived, there was a Prussian +patrol at the cottage, and when I asked what it all meant, I was told +that there was a captain of _Franc-tireurs_ and his wife inside, both +dead. I gave their names; they saw that I knew them, and I begged to be +allowed to undertake their funeral. + +"Somebody has already undertaken it," was the reply. "Go in if you wish +to, as you knew them. You can settle about their funeral with their +friend." + +I went in. The captain and his wife were lying side by side on a bed, +and were covered by a sheet. I raised it, and saw that the woman had +inflicted a similar wound in her throat to that from which her husband +had died. + +At the side of the bed there sat, watching and weeping, the woman who +had been mentioned to me as their best friend. It was the lancer's wife. + + + + +THE COLONEL'S IDEAS + + +"Upon my word," Colonel Laporte said, "I am old and gouty, my legs are +as stiff as two pieces of wood, and yet if a pretty woman were to tell +me to go through the eye of a needle, I believe I should take a jump at +it, like a clown through a hoop. I shall die like that; it is in the +blood. I am an old beau, one of the old school, and the sight of a +woman, a pretty woman, stirs me to the tips of my toes. There! + +"And then, we are all very much alike in France; we remain cavaliers, +cavaliers of love and fortune, since God has been abolished, whose +body-guard we really were. But nobody will ever get a woman out of our +hearts; there she is, and there she will remain, and we love her, and +shall continue to love her, and go on committing all kinds of frolics on +her account, as long as there is a France on the map of Europe, and even +if France were to be wiped off the map, there would always be Frenchmen +left. + +"When I am in the presence of a woman, of a pretty woman, I feel capable +of anything. By Jove! When I feel her looks penetrating me, her +confounded looks which set your blood on fire, I should like to do I +don't know what; to fight a duel, to have a row, to smash the furniture, +in order to show that I am the strongest, the bravest, the most daring, +and the most devoted of men. + +"But I am not the only one, certainly not; the whole French army is like +me, that I will swear to you. From the common soldier to the general, we +all go forward, and to the very end, when there is a woman in the case, +a pretty woman. Remember what Joan of Arc made us do formerly! Come, I +will make a bet that if a pretty woman had taken command of the army on +the eve of Sedan, when Marshal Mac-Mahon was wounded, we should have +broken through the Prussian lines, by Jove! and have had a drink out of +their guns. + +"It was not Trochu, but Saint-Geneviève, who was required in Paris, and +I remember a little anecdote of the war which proves that we are capable +of everything in the presence of a woman. + +"I was a captain, a simple captain, at the time, and I was in command of +a detachment of scouts, who were retreating through a district which +swarmed with Prussians. We were surrounded, pursued, tired out, and half +dead with fatigue and hunger, and by the next day we were bound to reach +Bar-sur-Tain, otherwise we should be done for, cut off from the main +body and killed. I do not know how we managed to escape so far. However, +we had ten leagues to go during the night, ten leagues through the snow, +and with empty stomachs, and I thought to myself: + +"'It is all over; my poor devils of fellows will never be able to do +it.' + +"We had eaten nothing since the day before, and the whole day long we +remained hidden in a barn, and huddled close together, so as not to feel +the cold so much; we did not venture to speak or even move, and we slept +by fits and starts, like one sleeps when one is worn out with fatigue. + +"It was dark by five o'clock; that wan darkness caused by the snow, and +I shook my men. Some of them would not get up; they were almost +incapable oí moving or of standing upright, and their joints were stiff +from the cold and want of motion. + +"In front of us, there was a large expanse of flat, bare country; the +snow was still falling like a curtain, in large, white flakes, which +concealed everything under a heavy, thick, frozen mantle, a mattress of +ice. One might have thought that it was the end of the world. + +"'Come, my lads, let us start.' + +"They looked at the thick, white dust which was coming down, and they +seemed to think: 'We have had enough of this; we may just as well die +here!' Then I took out my revolver, and said: + +"'I will shoot the first man who flinches.' And so they set off, but +very slowly, like men whose legs were of very little use to them, and I +sent four of them three hundred yards ahead, to scout, and the others +followed pell-mell, walking at random and without any order. I put the +strongest in the rear, with orders to quicken the pace of the sluggards +with the points of their bayonets... in the back. + +"The snow seemed as if it were going to bury us alive; it powdered our +_kepis_[15] and cloaks without melting, and made phantoms of us, a +species of specters of dead soldiers, who were very tired, and I said to +myself: 'We shall never get out of this, except by a miracle.' + +[Footnote 15: Forage Caps.] + +"Sometimes we had to stop for a few minutes, on account of those who +could not follow us, and then we heard nothing except the falling snow, +that vague, almost indiscernible sound which all those flakes make, as +they come down together. Some of the men shook themselves, but others +did not move, and so I gave the order to set off again; they shouldered +their rifles, and with weary feet we set out, when suddenly the scouts +fell back. Something had alarmed them; they had heard voices in front of +them, and so I sent six men and a sergeant on ahead, and waited. + +"All at once a shrill cry, a woman's cry, pierced through the heavy +silence of the snow, and in a few minutes they brought back two +prisoners, an old man and a girl, and I questioned them in a low voice. +They were escaping from the Prussians, who had occupied their house +during the evening, and who had got drunk, The father had become alarmed +on his daughter's account, and, without even telling their servants, +they had made their escape into the darkness. I saw immediately that +they belonged to the upper classes, and, as I should have done in any +case, I invited them to come with us, and we started off together, and +as the old man knew the road, he acted as our guide. + +"It had ceased snowing; the stars appeared, and the cold became intense. +The girl, who was leaning on her father's arm, walked wrearily, and with +jerks, and several times she murmured: + +"'I have no feeling at all in my feet;' and I suffered more than she +did, I believe, to see that poor little woman dragging herself like that +through the snow. But suddenly she stopped, and said: + +"'Father, I am so tired that I cannot go any further ther,' + +"The old man wanted to carry her, but he could not even lift her up, and +she fell on the ground, with a deep sigh. We all came round her, and as +for me, I stamped on the ground, not knowing what to do, and quite +unable to make up my mind to abandon that man and girl like that, when +suddenly one of the soldiers, a Parisian, whom they had nicknamed +_Pratique_, said: + +"'Come, comrades, we must carry the young lady, otherwise we shall not +show ourselves Frenchmen, confound it!' + +"I really believe that I swore with pleasure, and said: 'That is very +good of you, my children, and I will take my share of the burden.' + +"We could indistinctly see the trees of a little wood on the left, +through the darkness, and several men went into it, and soon came back +with a bundle of branches twisted into a litter. + +"'Who will lend his cloak? It is for a pretty girl, comrades,' Pratique +said, and ten cloaks were thrown to him. In a moment, the girl was +lying, warm and comfortable, among them, and was raised upon six +shoulders. I placed myself at their head, on the right, and very pleased +I was with my charge. + +"We started off much more briskly, as if we had been having a drink of +wine, and I even heard a few jokes. A woman is quite enough to electrify +Frenchmen, you see. The soldiers, who were reanimated and warm, had +almost reformed their ranks, and an old _franc-tireur_[16] I who was +following the litter, waiting for his turn to replace the first of his +comrades who might give in, said to one of his neighbors, loud enough +for me to hear: + +[Footnote 16: Self-constituted volunteers, in the Franco-German war of +1870-71, whom the Germans often made short work of, when +caught.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"'I am not a young man, now; but by ----, there is nothing like the +women to make you feel queer from head to foot!'" + +"We went on, almost without stopping, until three o'clock in the +morning, when suddenly our scouts fell back again, and soon the whole +detachment showed nothing but a vague shadow on the ground, as the men +lay on the snow, and I gave my orders in a low voice, and heard the +harsh, metallic sound of the cocking of rifles. For there, in the middle +of the plain, some strange object was moving about. It might have been +taken for some enormous animal running about, which unfolded itself like +a serpent, or came together into a coil, suddenly went quickly to the +right or left, stopped, and then went on again. But presently that +wandering shape came near, and I saw a dozen lancers, one behind the +other, who were trying to find their way, which they had lost." + +"They were so near by that time, that I could hear the panting of the +horses, the clink of their swords, and the creaking of their saddles, +and so cried: 'Fire!'" + +"Fifty rifle shots broke the stillness of the night, then there were +four or five reports, and at last one single shot was heard, and when +the smoke had cleared away, we saw that the twelve men and nine horses +had fallen. Three of the animals were galloping away at a furious pace, +and one of them was dragging the body of its rider, which rebounded from +the ground in a terrible manner, whose foot had caught in the stirrup +behind it." + +"One of the soldiers behind me gave a terrible laugh, and said: 'There +are a number of widows there!'" + +"Perhaps he was married. And a third added: 'It did not take long!'" + +"A head was put out of the litter: + +"'What is the matter?' she asked; 'you are fighting?'" + +"'It is nothing, Mademoiselle,' I replied; 'we have got rid of a dozen +Prussians!'" + +"'Poor fellows!' she said. But as she was cold, she quickly disappeared +beneath the cloaks again, and we started off once more. We marched on +for a long time, and at last the sky began to grow pale. The snow became +quite clear, luminous and bright, and a rosy tint appeared in the East, +and suddenly a voice in the distance cried: + +"'Who goes there?'" + +"The whole detachment halted, and I advanced to say who we were. We had +reached the French lines, and as my men defiled before the outpost, a +commandant on horseback, whom I had informed of what had taken place, +asked in a sonorous voice, as he saw the litter pass him: 'What have you +there?'" + +"And immediately, a small head, covered with light hair, appeared, +disheveled and smiling, and replied:" + +"'It is I, Monsieur.'" + +"At this, the men raised a hearty laugh, and we felt quite +light-hearted, while Pratique, who was walking by the side of the +litter, waved his kepi, and shouted:" + +"'Vive la France!' And I felt really moved. I do not know why, except +that I thought it a pretty and gallant thing to say." + +"It seemed to me as if we had just saved the whole of France, and had +done something that other men could not have done, something simple and +really patriotic. I shall never forget that little face, you may be +sure, and if I had to give my opinion about abolishing drums, trumpets, +and bugles, I should propose to replace them in every regiment by a +pretty girl, and that would be even better than playing the +_Marseillaise_. By Jove! It would put some spirit into a trooper to have +a Madonna like that, a living Madonna, by the colonel's side." + +He was silent for a few moments, and then continued, with an air of +conviction, and jerking his head: + +"All the same, we are very fond of women, we Frenchmen!" + + + + +ONE EVENING + + +The steamboat _Kleber_ had stopped, and I was admiring the beautiful bay +of Bougie, that was opened out before us. The high hills were covered +with forests, and in the distance the yellow sands formed a beach of +powdered gold, while the sun shed its fiery rays on the white houses of +the town. + +The warm African breeze blew the odor of that great, mysterious +continent into which men of the Northern races but rarely penetrate, +into my face. For three months I had been wandering on the borders of +that great, unknown world, on the outskirts of that strange world of the +ostrich, the camel, the gazelle, the hippopotamus, the gorilla, the lion +and the tiger, and the negro. I had seen the Arab galloping like the +wind, and passing like a floating standard, and I had slept under those +brown tents, the moving habitation of those white birds of the desert, +and I felt, as it were, intoxicated with light, with fancy, and with +space. + +But now, after this final excursion, I should have to start, to return +to France and to Paris, that city of useless chatter, of commonplace +cares, and of continual hand-shaking, and I should bid adieu to all that +I had got to like so much, which was so new to me, which I had scarcely +had time to see thoroughly, and which I so much regretted to leave. + +A fleet of small boats surrounded the steamer, and, jumping into one +rowed by a negro lad, I soon reached the quay near the old Saracen gate, +whose gray ruins at the entrance of the Kabyle town, looked like an old +escutcheon of nobility. While I was standing by the side of my +portmanteau, looking at the great steamer lying at anchor in the roads, +and filled with admiration at that unique shore, and that semi-circle of +hills, bathed in blue light, which were more beautiful than those of +Ajaccio, or of Porto, in Corsica, a heavy hand was laid on my shoulder, +and on turning round I saw a tall man with a long beard, dressed in +white flannel, and wearing a straw hat, standing by my side, and looking +at me with his blue eyes. + +"Are you not an old school-fellow of mine?" he said. + +"It is very possible. What is your name?" + +"Trémoulin." + +"By Jove! You were in the same class as I was." + +"Ah! Old fellow, I recognized you immediately." + +He seemed so pleased, so happy at seeing me, that in an outburst of +friendly selfishness, I shook both the hands of my former school-fellow +heartily, and felt very pleased at meeting him thus. + +For four years Trémoulin had been one of the best and most intimate +school friends, one of those whom we are too apt to forget as soon as we +leave. In those days he had been a tall, thin fellow, whose head seemed +to be too heavy for his body; it was a large, round head, and hung +sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, onto his chest. +Trémoulin was very clever, however, and had a marvelous aptitude for +learning, and had an instinctive intuition for all literary studies, and +gained nearly all the prizes in our class. + +We were fully convinced at school, that he would turn out a celebrated +man, a poet, no doubt, for he wrote verses, and was full of ingeniously +sentimental ideas. His father, who kept a chemist's shop near the +_Panthéon_, was not supposed to be very well off, and I had lost sight +of him as soon as he had taken his bachelor's degree, and now I +naturally asked him what he was doing there. + +"I am a planter," he replied. + +"Bah! You really plant?" + +"And I have my harvest." + +"What is it?" + +"Grapes, from which I make wine." + +"Is your wine-growing a success?" + +"A great success." + +"So much the better, old fellow." + +"Were you going to the hotel?" + +"Of course I was." + +"Well, then, you must just come home with me, instead!" + +"But! ..." + +"The matter is settled." + +And he said to the young negro who was watching our movements: "Take +that home, Al." + +And the lad put my portmanteau on his shoulder, and set off, raising the +dust with his black feet, while Trémoulin took my arm and led me off. +First of all, he asked me about my journey, and what impressions it had +had on me, and seeing how enthusiastic I was about it, he seemed to like +me better than ever. He lived in an old Moorish house, with an interior +courtyard, without any windows looking into the street, and commanded by +a terrace, which, in its turn, commanded those of the neighboring +houses, as well as the bay, and the forests, the hill, and the open sea, +and I could not help exclaiming: + +"Ah! That is what I like; the whole of the East lays hold of me in this +place. You are indeed lucky to be living here! What nights you must +spend upon that terrace! Do you sleep there?" + +"Yes, in the summer. We will go onto it this evening. Are you fond of +fishing?" + +"What kind of fishing?" + +"Fishing by torchlight." + +"Yes, I am particularly fond of it." + +"Very well, then, we will go after dinner, and we will come back and +drink sherbet on my roof." + +After I had had a bath, he took me to see the charming Kabyle town, a +veritable cascade of white houses toppling down to the sea, and then, +when it was getting dusk, we went in, and after an excellent dinner, we +went down to the quay, and we saw nothing except the fires and the +stars, those large, bright, scintillating African stars. A boat was +waiting for us, and as soon as we had got in, a man whose face I could +not distinguish, began to row, while my friend was getting ready the +brazier which he would light later, and he said to me: "You know I have +a mania for a fish-spear, and nobody can handle it better than I can." + +"Allow me to compliment you on your skill." We had rowed round a kind of +mole, and now we were in a small bay full of high rocks, whose shadows +looked like towers built in the water, and I suddenly perceived that the +sea was phosphorescent, and as the oars moved gently, they seemed to +light up moving flames, that followed in our wake, and then died out, +and I leant over the side of the boat and watched it, as we glided over +that glimmer in the darkness. + +Where were we going to? I could not see my neighbors; in fact, I could +see nothing but the luminous ripple, and the sparks of water dropping +from the oars; it was hot, very hot, and the darkness seemed as hot as a +furnace, and this mysterious motion with these two men in that silent +boat, had a peculiar effect upon me. + +Suddenly the rower stopped. Where were we? I heard a slight scratching +noise close to me, and I saw a hand, nothing but a hand applying a +lighted match to the iron grating which was fastened over the bows of +the boat, which was covered with wood, as if it had been a floating +funeral pile, and which soon was blazing brightly and illuminating the +boat and the two men, an old, thin, pale, wrinkled sailor, with a +pocket-handkerchief tied round his head, instead of a cap, and +Trémoulin, whose fair beard glistened in the light. + +The other began to row again, while Trémoulin kept throwing wood onto +the brazier, which burnt red and brightly. I leant over the side again, +and could see the bottom, and a few feet below us there was that strange +country of the water, which vivifies plants and animals, just like the +air of heaven does. Trémoulin, who was standing in the bows with his +body bent forward, and holding the sharp-pointed trident in his hand, +was on the look-out with the ardent gaze of a beast of prey watching for +its spoil, and, suddenly, with a swift movement, he darted his forked +weapon into the sea so vigorously that it secured a large fish swimming +near the bottom. It was a conger eel, which managed to wriggle, half +dead as it was, into a puddle of the brackish water. + +Trémoulin again threw his spear, and when he pulled it up, I saw a great +lump of red flesh which palpitated, moved, rolled and unrolled, long, +strong, soft feelers round the handle of the trident. It was an octopus, +and Trémoulin opened his knife, and with a swift movement plunged it +between the eyes, and killed it. And so our fishing continued until the +wood began to run short. When there was not enough left to keep up the +fire, Trémoulin dipped the braziers into the sea, and we were again +buried in darkness. + +The old sailor began to row again, slowly and regularly, though I could +not tell where the land or where the port was. By-and-bye, however, I +saw lights. We were nearing the harbor. + +"Are you sleepy?" my friend said to me. + +"Not the slightest." + +"Then we will go and have a chat on the roof." + +"I shall be delighted." + +Just as we got onto the terrace, I saw the crescent moon rising behind +the mountains, and around us, the white houses, with their flat roofs, +descending down towards the sea, while human forms were standing or +lying on them, sleeping or dreaming under the stars; whole families +wrapped in long gowns, and resting in the calm night, after the heat of +the day. + +It suddenly seemed to me as if the Eastern mind were taking possession +of me, the poetical and legendary spirit of a people with simply and +flowery thoughts. My head was full of the Bible and of _The Arabian +Nights_; I could hear the prophets proclaiming miracles, and I could see +princesses wearing silk drawers on the roofs of the palaces, while +delicate perfumes, whose smoke assumed the forms of genii, were burning +on silver dishes, and I said to Trémoulin: + +"You are very fortunate in living here." + +"I came here quite by accident," he replied. + +"By accident?" + +"Yes, accident and unhappiness brought me here." + +"You have been unhappy?" + +"Very unhappy." + +He was standing in front of me, wrapped in his bournoose, and his voice +had such a painful ring in it that it almost made me shiver; after a +moment's silence, he continued: + +"I will tell you what my troubles have been; perhaps it will do me good +to speak about them." + +"Let me hear them." + +"Do you really wish it?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well, then. You remember what I was at school; a sort of poet, +brought up in a chemist's shop. I dreamt of writing books, and I tried +it, after taking my degree, but I did not succeed. I published a volume +of verse, and then a novel, and neither of them sold, and then I wrote a +play, which was never acted." + +"Next, I lost my heart, but I will not give you an account of my +passion. Next door to my father's shop, there was a tailor's, who had a +daughter, with whom I fell in love. She was very clever, and had +obtained her certificates for higher education, and her mind was bright +and active, quite in keeping indeed with her body. She might have been +taken for fifteen, although she was two-and-twenty. She was very small, +with delicate features, outlines and tints, just like some beautiful +water color. Her nose, her mouth, her blue eyes, her light hair, her +smile, her waist, her hands, all looked as if they were fit for a +stained window, and not for everyday life, but she was lively, supple, +and incredibly active, and I was very much in love with her. I remember +two or three walks in the Luxembourg Garden, near the _Medices_ +fountain, which were certainly the happiest hours of my life. I dare say +you have known that foolish condition of tender madness, which causes us +to think of nothing but of acts of adoration! One really becomes +possessed, haunted by a woman, and nothing exists for us, by the side of +her. + +"We soon became engaged, and I told her my projects of the future, which +she did not approve of. She did not believe that I was either a poet, a +novelist, or a dramatic author, and thought a prosperous business could +afford perfect happiness. So I gave up the idea of writing books, and +resigned myself to selling them, and I bought a bookseller's business at +Marseilles, the owner of which had just died. + +"I had three very prosperous years. We had made our shop into a sort of +literary drawing-room, where all the men of letters in the town used to +come and talk. They came in, as if it had been a club, and exchanged +ideas on books, on poets, and especially on politics. My wife, who took +a very active part in the business, enjoyed quite a reputation in the +town, but, as for me, while they were all talking downstairs, I was +working in my studio upstairs, which communicated with the shop by a +winding staircase. I could hear their voices, their laughter, and their +discussions, and sometimes I left off writing in order to listen. I kept +in my own room to write a novel--which I never finished. + +"The most regular frequenters of the shop were Monsieur Montina, a man +of good private means, a tall, handsome man, like one meets with in the +South of France, with an olive skin, and dark, expressive eyes; Monsieur +Barbet, a magistrate; two merchants, who were partners, Messrs. Faucil +and Labarrègue, and General, the Marquis de la Flèche, the head of the +Royalist party, the principal man in the whole district, an old fellow +of sixty-six. + +"My business prospered, and I was happy, very happy. One day, however, +about three o'clock, when I was out on business, as I was going through +the _Rue Saint Ferréol_, I suddenly saw a woman come out of a house, +whose figure and appearance were so much like my wife's that I should +have said to myself: 'There she is!' if I had not left her in the shop +half an hour before, suffering from a headache. She was walking quickly +on before me, without turning round, and, in spite of myself, I followed +her, as I felt surprised and uneasy. I said to myself: 'It it she; no, +it is quite impossible, as she has a sick headache. And then, what could +she have to do in that house?' However, as I wished to have the matter +cleared up, I made haste after her. I do not know whether she felt or +guessed that I was behind her, or whether she recognized my step, but +she turned round suddenly. It was she! When she saw me, she grew very +red and stopped, and then, with a smile, she said: 'Oh! Here you are!' I +felt choking. + +"'Yes; so you have come out? And how is your headache?' + +"'It is better, and I have been out on an errand.' + +"'Where?' + +"'To Lacaussade's, in the Rue Cassinelli, to order some pencils,' + +"She looked me full in the face. She was not flushed now, but rather +pale, on the contrary. Her clear, limpid eyes--ah! those women's +eyes!--appeared to be full of truth, but I felt vaguely and painfuly +that they were full of lies. I was much more confused and embarrassed +than she was herself, without venturing to suspect, but sure that she +was lying, though I did not know why, and so I merely said: + +"'You were quite right to go out, if you felt better.' + +"'Oh! yes; my head is much better.' + +"'Are you going home?' + +"'Yes, of course I am.' + +"I left her, and wandered about the streets by myself. What was going +on? While I was talking to her, I had an intuitive feeling of her +falseness, but now I could not believe that it was so, and when I +returned home to dinner, I was angry for having suspected her, even for +a moment. + +"Have you ever been jealous? It does not matter whether you have or not, +but the first drop of jealousy had fallen into my heart, and that is +always like a spark of fire. It did not formulate anything, and I did +not think anything; I only knew that she had lied. You must remember +that every night, after the customers and clerks had left, we were +alone, and either strolled as far as the harbor, when it was fine, or +remained talking in my office, if the weather was bad, and I used to +open my heart to her without any reserve, because I loved her. She was +part of my life, the greater part, and all my happiness, and in her +small hands she held my trusting, faithful heart captive. + +"During those first days, those days of doubt, and before my suspicions +increased and assumed a precise shape, I felt as depressed and chilly as +when we are going to be seriously ill. I was continually cold, really +cold, and could neither eat nor sleep. Why had she told me a lie? What +was she doing in that house? I went there, to try and find out +something, but I could discover nothing. The man who rented the first +floor, and who was an upholsterer, had told me all about his neighbors, +but without helping me the least. A midwife had lived on the second +floor, a dressmaker and a manicure and chiropodist on the third, and two +coachmen and their families in the attics. + +"Why had she told me a lie? It would have been so easy for her to have +said that she had been to the dressmaker's or the chiropodist's. Oh! How +I longed to question them, also! I did not say so, for fear that she +might guess my suspicions. One thing, however, was certain; she had been +into that house, and had concealed the fact from me, so there was some +mystery in it. But what? At one moment, I thought there might be some +laudable purpose in it, some charitable deed that she wished to hide, +some information which she wished to obtain, and I found fault with +myself for suspecting her. Have not all of us the right of our little, +innocent secrets, a kind of second, interior life, for which one ought +not to be responsible to anybody? Can a man, because he has taken a girl +to be his companion through life, demand that she shall neither think +nor do anything without telling him, either before or afterwards? Does +the word marriage mean renouncing all liberty and independence? Was it +not quite possible that she was going to the dressmaker's without +telling me, or that she was going to assist the family of one of the +coachmen? Or she might have thought that I might criticize, if not +blame, her visit to the house. She knew me thoroughly, and my slightest +peculiarities, and perhaps she feared a discussion, even if she did not +think that I should find fault with her. She had very pretty hands, and +I ended by supposing that she was having them secretly attended to by +the manicure in the house which I suspected, and that she did not tell +me of it, for fear that I should think her extravagant. She was very +methodical and economical, +and looked after all her household duties +most carefully, and no doubt she thought that she should lower herself +in my eyes, were she to confess that slight piece of feminine +extravagance. Women have very many subtleties and innate tricks in their +soul! + +"But none of my own arguments reassured me. I was jealous, and I felt +that my suspicion was affecting me terribly, that I was being devoured +by it. I felt secret grief and anguish, and a thought which I still +veiled, and I did not dare to lift the veil, for beneath it I should +find a terrible doubt.... A lover! ... Had not she a lover? ... It was +unlikely, impossible.... A mere dream ... and yet? ... + +"I continually saw Montina's face before my eyes. I saw the tall, +silly-looking, handsome man, with his bright hair, smiling into her +face, and I said to myself: 'He is the one!' I concocted a story of +their intrigues. They had talked a book over together, had discussed the +love ventures it contained, had found something in it that resembled +them, and they had turned that analogy into reality. And so I watched +them, a prey to the most terrible sufferings that a man can endure. I +bought shoes with india-rubber soles, so that I might be able to walk +about the house without making any noise, and I spent half my time in +going up and down my little spiral staircase, in the hope of surprising +them, but I always found that the clerk was with them. + +"I lived in a constant state of suffering. I could no longer work, nor +attend to my business. As soon as I went out, as soon as I had walked a +hundred yards along the street, I said to myself: 'He is there!' and +when I found he was not there, I went out again! But almost immediately +I went back again, thinking: 'He has come now!' and that went on every +day. + +"At night it was still worse, for I felt her by my side in bed asleep, +or pretending to be asleep! Was she really sleeping? No, most likely +not. Was that another lie? + +"I remained motionless on my back, hot from the warmth of her body, +panting and tormented. Oh! how intensely I longed to get up, to get a +hammer and to split her head open, so as to be able to see inside it! I +knew that I should have seen nothing except what is to be found in every +head, and I should have discovered nothing, for that would have been +impossible. And her eyes! When she looked at me, I felt furious with +rage. I looked at her ... she looked at me! Her eyes were transparent, +candid ... and false, false! Nobody could tell what she was thinking of, +and I felt inclined to run pins into them, and to destroy those mirrors +of falseness. + +"Ah! how well I could understand the Inquisition! I would have applied +the torture, the boot.... Speak!...Confess!...You will not? ...Then +wait!...And I would have seized her by the throat until I choked her.... +Or else I would have held her fingers into the fire. ...Oh! how I should +have enjoyed doing it! ...Speak!...Speak!...You will not? I would have +held them on the coals, and when the tips were burnt, she would have +confessed... certainly she would have confessed!" + +Trémoulin was sitting up, shouting, with clenched fists. Around us, on +the neighboring roofs, people awoke and sat up, as he was disturbing +their sleep. As for me, I was moved and powerfully interested, and in +the darkness I could see that little woman, that little, fair, lively, +artful woman, as if I had known her personally. I saw her selling her +books, talking with the men whom her childish ways attracted, and in her +delicate, doll-like head, I could see little crafty ideas, silly ideas, +the dreams which a milliner smelling of musk attached to all heroes of +romantic adventures. I suspected her just like he did, I hated and +detested her, and would willingly have burnt her fingers and made her +confess. + +Presently, he continued more calmly: "I do not know why I have told you +all this, for I have never mentioned it to anyone, but then, I have not +seen anybody or spoken to anybody for two years! And it was seething in +my heart like a fermenting wine. I have got rid of it, and so much the +worse for you. Well, I had made a mistake, but it was worse than I +thought, much worse. Just listen. I employed the means which a man +always does under such circumstances, and pretended that I was going to +be away from home for a day, and whenever I did this my wife went out to +lunch. I need not tell you how I bribed a waiter in the restaurant to +which they used to go, so that I might surprise them. + +"He was to open the door of their private room for me and I arrived at +the appointed time, with the fixed determination of killing them both. I +could see the whole scene, just as if it had already occurred! I could +see myself going in. A small table covered with glasses, bottles and +plates separated her from Montina, and they would be so surprised when +they saw me, that they would not even attempt to move, and without a +word, I should bring down the loaded stick which I had in my hand, on +the man's head. Killed by one blow, he would fall with his head on the +table, and then, turning towards her, I should leave her time--a few +moments--to understand it all and to stretch out her arms towards me, +mad with terror, before dying in her turn. Oh! I was ready, strong, +determined, and pleased, madly pleased at the idea. The idea of the +terrified look that she would throw at my raised stick, of her arms that +she would stretch out to me, of her horrified cry, of her livid and +convulsed looks, avenged me beforehand. I would not kill her at one +blow! You will think me cruel, I dare say; but you do not know what a +man suffers. To think that a woman, whether she be wife or mistress, +whom one loves, gives herself to another, yields herself up to him as +she does to you, and receives kisses from his lips, as she does from +yours! It is a terrible, an atrocious thing to think of. When one feels +that torture, one is ready for anything. I only wonder that more women +are not murdered, for every man who has been deceived longs to commit +murder, has dreamt of it in the solitude of his own room, or on a +deserted road, and has been haunted by the one fixed idea of satisfied +vengeance. + +"I arrived at the restaurant, and asked whether they were there. The +waiter whom I had bribed replied: 'Yes, Monsieur,' and taking me +upstairs, he pointed to a door, and said: 'That is the room!' So I +grasped my stick, as if my fingers had been made of iron, and went in. I +had chosen a most appropriate moment, for they were kissing most +lovingly, but it was not Montina; it was General de la Fléche, who was +sixty-six years old, and I had so fully made up my mind that I should +find the other one there, I was motionless from astonishment. + +"And then ... and then, I really do not quite know what I thought; no, I +really do not know. If I had found myself face to face with the other, I +should have been convulsed with rage, but on seeing this old man, with a +fat stomach and pendulous cheeks, I was nearly choked with disgust. She, +who did not look fifteen, small and slim as she was, had given herself +to this fat man, who was nearly paralyzed, because he was a marquis and +a general, the friend and representative of dethroned kings. No, I do +not know what I felt, nor what I thought. I could not have lifted my +hand against this old man; it would have been a disgrace to me, and I no +longer felt inclined to kill my wife, but all women who could be guilty +of such things! I was no longer jealous, but felt distracted, as if I +had seen the horror of horrors! + +"Let people say what they like of men, they are not so vile as that! If a +man is known to have given himself up to an old woman in that fashion, +people point their fingers at him. The husband or lover of an old woman +is more despised than a thief. We men are a decent lot, as a rule, but +many women, especially in Paris, are absolutely bad. They will give +themselves to all men, old or young, from the most contemptible and +different motives, because it is their profession, their vocation, and +their function. They are the eternal, unconscious, and serene +prostitutes, who give up their bodies, because they are the merchandise +of love, which they sell or give, to the old man who frequents the +pavements with money in his pocket, or else for glory, to a lecherous +old king, or to a celebrated and disgusting old man." + +He vociferated like a prophet of old, in a furious voice, under the +starry sky, and with the rage of a man in despair, he repeated all the +glorified disgrace of all the mistresses of old kings, the respectable +shame of all those virgins who marry old husbands, the tolerated +disgrace of all those young women who accept old kisses with a smile. + +I could see them, as he evoked their memory, since the beginning of the +world, surging round us in that Eastern night, girls, beautiful girls, +with vile souls, who, like the lower animals, who know nothing of the +age of the male, are docile to senile desires. They rose up before one, +the handmaids of the patriarchs, who are mentioned in the Bible, Hagar, +Ruth, the daughters of Lot, Abigail, Abishag, the virgin of Shunam, who +reanimated David with her caresses when he was dying, and the others, +young, stout, white, patricians or plebeians, irresponsible females +belonging to a master, and submissive slaves, whether caught by the +attraction of royalty, or bought as slaves! + +"What did you do?" I asked. + +"I went away," he replied simply. And we remained sitting side by side +for a long time without speaking, only dreaming! ... + +I have retained an impression of that evening that I can never forget. +All that I saw, felt, and heard, our fishing excursion, the octopus +also, perhaps that harrowing story, amidst those white figures on the +neighboring roofs, all seemed to concur in producing a unique sensation. +Certain meetings, certain inexplicable combinations of things, decidedly +contain a larger quantity of the secret quintessence of life, than that +which is spread over the ordinary events of our days, without anything +exceptional happening to them. + + + + +THE HERMAPHRODITE + + +"Upon my word, I laughed at it as much as the rest," Navarette +exclaimed; "I laughed at it with that profound, cruel pitilessness which +we all of us, who are well made and vigorous, feel for those whom their +step-mother, Nature, has disfigured in some way or other, for those +laughable, feeble creatures who are, however, more to be pitied than +those poor deformed wretches from whom we turn away in spite of +ourselves. + +"I had been the first to make fun of him at the club, to find those easy +words which are remembered, and to turn that smooth, flabby, pink, ugly +face, like that of an old woman, and of a Levantine eunuch in which the +mouth is like a piece of inert flesh, and where the small eyes glisten +with concentrated cunning, and remind us of the watchful, angry eyes of +a gorilla, at the same time, into ridicule. I knew that he was selfish, +without any affection, unreliable, full of whims, turning like a +weathercock with every wind that blows, and caring for nothing in the +world except gambling and old Dresden china. + +"However, our intercourse was invariably limited to a careless, 'Good +morning,' and to the usual shake of the hands which men exchange when +they meet at the theater or the club, and so I had neither to defend +him, nor to uphold him as a friend. But I can swear to you that now I +reproach myself for all these effusive jeers and bitter things, and they +weigh on my conscience now that I have been told the other side, the +equivocal enigma of that existence." + +"A Punch and Judy secret," Bob Shelley said, throwing the end of his +cigar into the fire. + +"Oh! yes; we were a hundred miles from the truth when we merely supposed +that he was unfit for service. This unhappy Lantosque, a well-born, +clever man, and very rich to boot, might have exhibited himself in some +traveling booth, for he was an hermaphrodite; do you understand? an +hermaphrodite. And his whole life was one of long, incessant torture, of +physical and moral suffering, which was more maddening than that which +Tantalus endured on the banks of the river Acheron. He had nearly +everything of the woman about him; he was a ridiculous caricature of our +sex, with his shrill voice, his large hips, his bust concealed by a +loose, wide coat, his cheeks, his chin, and upper lip without a vestige +of hair, and he had to appear like a man, to restrain and stifle his +instincts, his tastes, desires, and dreams, to fight ceaselessly against +himself, and never to allow anything of that which he endured, nor what +he longed for, nor that which was sapping his very life, to be +discovered. + +"Once only he was on the point of betraying himself, in spite of +himself. He ardently loved a man, as Chloe must have loved Daphnis. He +could not master himself, or calm his feverish passion, and went towards +the abyss as if seized by mental giddiness. He could imagine nothing +handsomer, more desirable, or more charming than that chance friend. He +had sudden transports, fits of surprise, tenderness, curiosity, +jealousy, the ardent longings of an old maid who is afraid of dying a +virgin, who is waiting for love as for her deliverance, who attaches +herself and devotes herself to a lover with her whole being, and who +grows emaciated and dries up, and remains misunderstood and despised. + +"And as they have both disappeared now, the lover dead from a sword +thrust in the middle of the chest, at Milan, on account of some ballet +girl, and as he certainly died without knowing that he had inspired such +a passion, I may tell you his name. + +"He was Count Sebinico, who used to deal at faro with such delicate, +white hands, and who wore rings on nearly every finger, who had such a +musical voice, and who, with his wavy hair, and his delicate profile, +looked like a handsome, Florentine Condottiere. + +"It must be very terrible to be thus ashamed of oneself, to have that +longing for kisses which console the most wretched in their misery, +which satisfy hunger and thirst, and assuage pain; that illusion of +delicious, intoxicating kisses, the delight and the balm of which such a +person can never know; the horror of that dishonor of being pointed at, +made fun of, driven away like unclean creatures that prostitute their +sex, and make love vile by unmentionable rites; oh! the constant +bitterness of seeing that the person we love makes fun of us, ill-uses +us, and does not show us even the slightest friendship!" + +"Poor devil!" Jean d'Orthyse said, in a sad and moved voice. "In his +place, I should have blown my brains out." + +"Everybody says that, my dear fellow, but how few there are who venture +to forestall that intruder, who always come too quickly." + +"Lantosque had splendid health, and declared that he had never put a +penny into a doctor's pocket, and if he had allowed himself to have been +looked after when he was confined to his bed two months before, by an +attack of influenza, we should still be hearing him propose a game of +poker before dinner, in his shrill voice. His death, however, was as +tragic and mysterious as all those tales from beyond the grave are, on +which the Invisible rests." + +"Although he had a cough, which threatened to tear his chest to pieces, +and although he was haunted by the fear of death, of that great depth of +darkness in which we lose ourselves in the abyss of Annihilation and +Oblivion, he obstinately refused to have his chest sounded, and repulsed +Doctor Pertuzés almost furiously, who thought he had gone out of his +mind." + +"He cowered down, and covered himself with the bed-clothes up to his +chin, and found strength enough to tear up the prescriptions, and to +drive everyone, whether friend or relation, who tried to make him listen +to reason, and who could not understand his attacks of rage and neurosis +from his bedside. He seemed to be possessed by some demon, like those +women in hysterical convulsions, whom the bishops used formerly to +exorcise writh much pomp. It was painful to see him." + +"That went on for a week, during which time the pneumonia had ample +opportunities for ravaging and giving the finishing stroke to his body, +which had been so robust and free from ailments hitherto, and he died, +trying to utter some last words which nobody understood, and endeavoring +to point out one particular article of furniture in the room." + +"His nearest relation was a cousin, the Marquis de Territet, a skeptic, +who lived in Burgundy, and whom all this disturbance had upset in his +habits, and whose only desire was to get it all over, the legal +formalities, the funeral, and all the rest of it, as soon as possible. + +"Without reflecting on the strange suggestiveness of that death-bed, and +without looking to see whether there might not be, somehow or other, a +will in which Lantosque expressed his last wishes, he wanted to spare +his corpse the contact of mercenary hands, and to lay him out himself. + +"You may judge of his surprise when, on throwing back the bed-clothes, +he first of all saw that Lantosque was dressed from head to foot in +tights, which accentuated, rather than otherwise, his female form. + +"Much alarmed, feeling that he must have been violating some supreme +order, and comprehending it all, he went to his cousin's writing-table, +opened it, and successively searched every drawer, and soon found an +envelope fastened with five seals, and addressed to him. He broke them +and read as follows, written on a sheet of black-edged paper: + +"'This is my only will. I leave all that I possess to my cousin, Roland +de Territet, on condition that he will undertake my funeral; that in his +own presence, he will have me wrapped up in the sheets of the bed on +which I die, and have me put into the coffin so, without any further +preparations. I wish to be cremated at _Père-Lachaise_, and not to be +subjected to any examination, or _post-mortem_, whatever may happen.'" + +"And how came the marquis to betray the secret?" Bob Shelley asked. + +"The marquis is married to a charming Parisian woman, and was any +married man, who loved his wife, ever known to keep a secret from her?" + + + + +MARROCA + + +You ask me, my dear friend, to send you my impressions of Africa, my +adventures, and especially an account of my love affairs in this country +which has attracted me for so long. You laughed a great deal beforehand +at my dusky sweethearts, as you called them, and declared that you could +see me returning to France, followed by a tall, ebony-colored woman, +with a yellow silk handkerchief round her head, and wearing voluminous +bright-colored trousers. + +No doubt the Moorish women will have their turn, for I have seen several +of them who have made me feel very much inclined to have to fall in love +with them; but by way of making a beginning, I came across something +better, and very original. + +In your last letter to me, you say: "When I know how people love in a +country, I know that country well enough to describe it, although I may +never have seen it." Let me tell you, then, that here they love +furiously. From the very first moment, one feels a sort of trembling +ardor, of constant desire, to the very tips of the fingers, which +over-excites our amorous powers, and all our faculties of physical +sensation, from the simple contact of the hands, down to that unnamable +requirement which makes us commit so many follies. + +Do not misunderstand me. I do not know whether you call love of the +heart, love of the soul, whether sentimental idealism, Platonic love, in +a word, can exist on this earth; I doubt it, myself. But that other +love, sensual love, which has something good, a great deal of good about +it, is really terrible in this climate. The heat, the burning atmosphere +which makes you feverish, those suffocating blasts of wind from the +south, those waves of fire which come from the desert which is so near +us, that oppressive sirocco, which is more destructive and withering +than fire, that perpetual conflagration of an entire continent, that is +burnt even to its stones by a fierce and devouring sun, inflame the +blood, excite the flesh, and make brutes of us. + +But to come to my story, I shall not tell you about the beginning of my +stay in Africa. After going to Bona, Constantine, Biskara and Setif, I +went to Bougie through the defiles of Chabet, by an excellent road +through a large forest, which follows the sea at a height of six hundred +feet above it, as far as that wonderful bay of Bougie, which is as +beautiful as that of Naples, of Ajaccio, or of Douarnenez, which are the +most lovely that I know. + +Far away in the distance, before one goes round the large inlet where +the water is perfectly calm, one sees the Bougie. It is built on the +steep sides of a high hill, which is covered with trees, and forms a +white spot on that green slope; it might almost be taken for the foam of +a cascade, falling into the sea. + +I had no sooner set foot in that delightful, small town, than I knew +that I should stay for a long time. In all directions the eye rests on +rugged, strangely shaped hill-tops, which are so close together that one +can hardly see the open sea, so that the gulf looks like a lake. The +blue water is wonderfully transparent, and the azure sky, a deep azure, +as if it had received two coats of paint, expands its wonderful beauty +above it. They seem to be looking at themselves in a glass, and to be a +reflection of each other. + +Bougie is a town of ruins, and on the quay, when one arrives, one sees +such a magnificent ruin, that one might imagine one was at the opera. It +is the old Saracen Gate, overgrown with ivy, and there are ruins in all +directions on the hills round the town, fragments of Roman walls, bits +of Saracen monuments, the remains of Arabic buildings. + +I had taken a small, Moorish house, in the upper town. You know those +dwellings, which have been described so often. They have no windows on +the outside; but they are lighted from top to bottom, by an inner court. +On the first floor, they have a large, cool room, in which one spends +the days, and a terrace on the roof, on which one spends the nights. + +I at once fell in with the custom of all hot countries, that is to say, +of having a siesta after lunch. That is the hottest time in Africa, the +time when one can scarcely breathe; when the streets, the fields, and +the long, dazzling, white roads are deserted, when everyone is asleep, +or at any rate, trying to sleep, attired as scantily as possible. + +In my drawing-room, which had columns of Arabic architecture, I had +placed a large, soft couch, covered with a carpet from Djebel Amour, +very nearly in the costume of Assan, but I could not sleep, as I was +tortured by my continence. There are two forms of torture on this earth, +which I hope you will never know: the want of water, and the want of +women, and I do not know which is the worst. In the desert, men would +commit any infamy for the sake of a glass of clean, cold water, and what +would one not do in some of the towns of the littoral, for a handsome, +fleshy, healthy girl? For there is no lack of girls in Africa; on the +contrary, they abound, but to continue my comparison, they are as +unwholesome and decayed as the muddy water in the wells of Sahara. + +Well, one day when I was feeling more enervated than usual, I was trying +in vain to close my eyes. My legs twitched as if they were being +pricked, and I tossed about uneasily on my couch, until at last, unable +to bear it any longer, I got up and went out. It was a terribly hot day, +in the middle of July, and the pavement was hot enough to bake bread on. +My shirt, which was soaked with perspiration immediately, clung to my +body, and on the horizon there was a slight, white vapor, which seemed +to be palpable heat. + +I went down to the sea, and going round the port, I went along the shore +of the pretty bay where the baths are. There was nobody about, and +nothing was stirring; not a sound of bird or of beast was to be heard, +the very waves did not lap, and the sea appeared to be asleep in the +sun. + +Suddenly, behind one of the rocks, which were half covered by the silent +water, I heard a slight movement, and on turning round, I saw a tall, +naked girl, sitting up to her breasts in the water, taking a bath; no +doubt she reckoned on being alone, at that hot period of the day. Her +head was turned towards the sea, and she was moving gently up and down, +without seeing me. + +Nothing could be more surprising than that picture of the beautiful +woman in the water, which was as clear as crystal, under a blaze of +light. For she was a marvelously beautiful woman, tall, and modeled like +a statue. She turned round, uttered a cry, and half swimming, half +walking, she went and hid altogether behind her rock; but as she must +necessarily come out, I sat down on the beach and waited. Presently, she +just showed her head, which was covered with thick black plaits. She had +a rather large mouth, with full lips, large, bold eyes, and her skin, +which was rather tanned by the climate, looked like a piece of old, +hard, polished ivory. + +She called out to me: "Go away!" and her full voice, which corresponded +to her strong build, had a guttural accent, and as I did not move, she +added: "It is not right of you to stop there, monsieur." I did not move, +however, and her head disappeared. Ten minutes passed, and then her +hair, then her forehead, and then her eyes reappeared, but slowly and +prudently, as if she were playing at hide-and-seek, and were looking to +see who was near. This time she was furious, and called out: "You will +make me get some illness, and I shall not come out as long as you are +there." Thereupon, I got up and went away, but not without looking round +several times. When she thought I was far enough off, she came out of +the water; bending down and turning her back to me, she disappeared in a +cavity in the rock, behind a petticoat that was hanging up in front of +it. + +I went back the next day. She was bathing again, but she had a bathing +costume, and she began to laugh, and showed her white teeth. A week +later we were friends, and in another week we were eager lovers. Her +name was Marroca, and she pronounced it as if there were a dozen _r's_ +in it. She was the daughter of Spanish colonists, and had married a +Frenchman, whose name was Pontabeze. He was in government employ, though +I never exactly knew what his functions were. I found out that he was +always very busy, and I did not care for anything else. + +She then altered her time for having her bath, and came to my house +every day, to have a siesta there. What a siesta! It could scarcely be +called reposing! She was a splendid girl, of a somewhat animal, but +superb type. Her eyes were always glowing with passion; her half-open +mouth, her sharp teeth, and even her smiles, had something ferociously +loving about them; and her curious, long and straight breasts, which +were as pointed as if they had been pears of flesh, and as elastic as if +they contained steel springs, gave her whole body something of the +animal, made her a sort of inferior and magnificent being, a creature +who was destined for unbridled love, and which roused in me the idea of +those ancient deities, who gave expression to their tenderness on the +grass and under the trees. + +And then, her mind was as simple as two and two are four, and a sonorous +laugh served her instead of thought. + +Instinctively proud of her beauty, she hated the slightest covering, and +ran and frisked about my house with daring and unconscious immodesty. +When she was at last overcome and worn out by her cries and movements, +she used to sleep soundly and peacefully while the overwhelming heat +brought out minute spots of perspiration on her brown skin, and from +under her arms. + +Sometimes she returned in the evening, when her husband was on duty +somewhere, and we used to lie on the terrace, scarcely covered by some +fine, gauzy, Oriental fabric. When the full moon lit up the town and the +gulf, with its surrounding frame of hills, we saw on all the other +terraces what looked like an army of silent phantoms lying, who would +occasionally get up, change their places, and lie down again, in the +languorous warmths of the starry sky. + +But in spite of the brightness of African nights, Marroca would insist +on stripping herself almost naked in the clear rays of the moon; she did +not trouble herself much about anybody who might see us, and often, in +spite of my fears and entreaties, she uttered long, resounding cries, +which made the dogs in the distance howl. + +One night, when I was sleeping under the starry sky, she came and knelt +down on my carpet, and putting her lips, which curled slightly, close to +my face, she said: "You must come and stay at my house." I did not +understand her, and asked: "What do you mean?" "Yes, when my husband has +gone away; you must come and be with me." + +I could not help laughing, and said: "Why, as you come here?" And she +went on almost talking into my mouth, sending her hot breath into my +throat, and moistening my moustache with her lips: "I want it as a +remembrance." Still I did not grasp her meaning; she put her arms round +my neck. "When you are no longer here, I shall think of it." + +I was touched and amused at the same time, and said: "You must be mad. I +would much rather stop here." + +As a matter of fact, I have no liking for assignations under the +conjugal roof; they are mouse-traps, in which the unwary are always +caught. But she begged and prayed, and even cried, and at last said: +"You shall see how I will love you there." Her wish seemed so strange +that I could not explain it to myself; but on thinking it over, I +thought I could discern a profound hatred for her husband, the secret +vengeance of a woman who takes a pleasure in deceiving him, and who, +moreover, wishes to deceive him in his own house. + +"Is your husband very unkind to you?" I asked her. She looked vexed, and +said: "Oh! No, he is very kind." "But you are not fond of him?" She +looked at me with astonishment in her large eyes. "Indeed, I am very +fond of him, very; but not so fond as I am of you." + +I could not understand it all, and while I was trying to get at her +meaning, she pressed one of those kisses, whose power she knew so well, +onto my lips, and whispered: "But you will come, will you not?" I +resisted, however, and so she got up immediately, and went away; nor did +she come back for a week. On the eighth day she came back, stopped +gravely at the door of my room, and said: "Are you coming to my house +to-night? ... If you refuse, I shall go away." Eight days is a very long +time, my friend, and in Africa those eight days are as good as a month. +"Yes," I said, and opened my arms, and she threw herself into them. + +At night she waited for me in a neighboring street, and took me to their +house, which was very small, and near the harbor. I first of all went +through the kitchen, where they had their meals, and then into a very +tidy, whitewashed room, with photographs on the walls, and paper flowers +under a glass case. Marroca seemed beside herself with pleasure, and she +jumped about, and said: "There, you are at home, now." And I certainly +acted as though I had been, though I felt rather embarrassed and +somewhat uneasy. + +Suddenly a loud knocking at the door made us start, and a man's voice +called out: "Marroca, it is I." She started: "My husband! ... Here, hide +under the bed, quickly." I was distractedly looking for my overcoat, but +she gave me a push, and panted out: "Come along, come along." + +I lay down flat on my stomach, and crept under the bed without a word, +while she went into the kitchen. I heard her open a cupboard, and then +shut it again, and she came back into the room, carrying some object +which I could not see, but which she quickly put down; and as her +husband was getting impatient, she said, calmly: "I cannot find the +matches." Then suddenly she added: "Oh! Here they are; I will come and +let you in." + +The man came in, and I could see nothing of him but his feet, which were +enormous. If the rest of him was in proportion, he must have been a +giant. + +I heard kisses, a little pat on her naked flesh, and a laugh, and he +said, in a strong Marseilles accent: "I forgot my purse, so I was +obliged to come back; you were sound asleep, I suppose." He went to the +cupboard, and was a long time in finding what he wanted; and as Marocca +had thrown herself onto a bed, as if she were tired out, he went up to +her, and no doubt tried to caress her, for she flung a volley of angry +_r's_ at him. His feet were so close to me that I felt a stupid, +inexplicable longing to catch hold of them, but I restrained myself, and +when he saw that he could not succeed in his wish, he got angry, and +said: "You are not at all nice, to-night. Good-bye." I heard another +kiss, then the big feet turned, and I saw the nails in the soles of his +shoes as he went into the next room, the front door was shut, and I was +saved! + +I came slowly out of my retreat, feeling rather humiliated, and while +Marroca danced a jig round me, shouting with laughter, and clapping her +hands, I threw myself heavily into a chair. But I jumped up with a +bound, for I had sat down on something cold, and as I was no more +dressed than my accomplice was, the contact made me start, and I looked +round. I had sat down on a small axe, used for cutting wood, and as +sharp as a knife. How had it got there? ... I had certainly not seen it +when I went in; but Marroca seeing me jump up, nearly choked with +laughter, and coughed with both hands on her stomach. + +I thought her amusement rather out of place; we had risked our lives +stupidly, and I still felt a cold shiver down my back, and I was rather +hurt at her foolish laughter. "Supposing your husband had seen me?" I +said. "There was no danger of that," she replied. "What do you mean? ... +No danger? That is a good joke! ... If he had stooped down, he must have +seen me." + +She did not laugh any more; she only looked at me with her large eyes, +which were bright with merriment. "He would not have stooped." "Why?" I +persisted. "Just suppose that he had let his hat fall, he would have +been sure to pick it up, and then... I was well prepared to defend +myself, in this costume!" She put her two strong, round arms about my +neck, and, lowering her voice, as she did when she said: "I _adorre_ +you," she whispered: "Then he would _never_ have got up again." I did +not understand her, and said: "What do you mean?" + +She gave me a cunning wink, and put out her hand to the chair on which I +had sat down, and her outstretched hands, her smile, her half-open lips, +her white, sharp, and ferocious teeth, all drew my attention to the +little axe which was used for cutting wood, whose sharp blade was +glistening in the candle-light, and while she put out her hand as if she +were going to take it, she put her left arm round me, and drawing me to +her, and putting her lips against mine, with her right arm she made a +motion as if she were cutting off the head of a kneeling man! + +This, my friend, is the manner in which people here understand conjugal +duties, love, and hospitality! + + + + +AN ARTIFICE + + +The old doctor and his young patient were talking by the side of the +fire. There was nothing the matter with her, except that she had one of +those little feminine ailments from which pretty women frequently +suffer; slight anaemia, nervous attack, and a suspicion of fatigue, of +that fatigue from which newly married people often suffer at the end of +the first month of their married life, when they have made a love match. + +She was lying on the couch and talking. "No, doctor," she said; "I shall +never be able to understand a woman deceiving her husband. Even allowing +that she does not love him, that she pays no heed to her vows and +promises, how can she give herself to another man? How can she conceal +the intrigue from other people's eyes? How can it be possible to love +amidst lies and treason?" + +The doctor smiled, and replied: "It is perfectly easy, and I can assure +you that a woman does not think of all those little subtle details, when +she has made up her mind to go astray. I even feel certain that no woman +is ripe for true love until she has passed through all the +promiscuousness and all the loathsomeness of married life, which, +according to an illustrious man, is nothing but an exchange of +ill-tempered words by day, and disagreeable odors at night. Nothing is +more true, for no woman can love passionately until after she has +married. + +"As for dissimulation, all women have plenty of it on hand on such +occasions, and the simplest of them are wonderful, and extricate +themselves from the greatest dilemmas in an extraordinary way." + +The young woman, however, seemed incredulous. ... "No, doctor," she +said, "one never thinks until after it has happened, of what one ought +to have done in a dangerous affair, and women are certainly more liable +than men to lose their heads on such occasions." The doctor raised his +hands. "After it has happened, you say! Now, I will tell you something +that happened to one of my female patients, whom I always considered as +an immaculate woman. + +"It happened in a provincial town, and one night when I was sleeping +profoundly, in that deep, first sleep from which it is so difficult to +arouse us, it seemed to me, in my dreams, as if the bells in the town +were sounding a fire alarm, and I woke up with a start. It was my own +bell, which was ringing wildly, and as my footman did not seem to be +answering the door, I, in turn, pulled the bell at the head of my bed, +and soon I heard banging, and steps in the silent house, and then Jean +came into my room, and handed me a letter which said: 'Madame Lelièvre +begs Doctor Simeon to come to her immediately.' + +"I thought for a few moments, and then I said to myself: 'A nervous +attack, vapors, nonsense; I am too tired.' And so I replied: 'As Doctor +Simeon is not at all well, he must beg Madame Lelièvre to be kind enough +to call in his colleague, Monsieur Bonnet.' I put the note into an +envelope, and went to sleep again, but about half an hour later the +street bell rang again, and Jean came to me and said: 'There is somebody +downstairs; I do not quite know whether it is a man or a woman, as the +individual is so wrapped up, who wishes to speak to you immediately. He +says it is a matter of life and death for two people. Whereupon, I sat +up in bed and told him to show the person in. + +"A kind of black phantom appeared, who raised her veil as soon as Jean +had left the room. It was Madame Berthe Lelièvre, quite a young woman, +who had been married for three years to a large shop-keeper in the town, +who was said to have married the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. + +"She was terribly pale, her face was contracted like the faces of mad +people are, occasionally, and her hands trembled violently. Twice she +tried to speak, without being able to utter a sound, but at last she +stammered out: 'Come... quick... quick, Doctor... Come... my... my lover +has just died in my bedroom.' She stopped, half suffocated with emotion, +and then went on: 'My husband will... be coming home from the club very +soon.' + +"I jumped out of bed, without even considering that I was only in my +night-shirt, and dressed myself in a few moments, and then I said: 'Did +you come a short time ago?' 'No,' she said, standing like a statue +petrified with horror. 'It was my servant... she knows.' And then, after +a short silence, she went on: 'I was there... by his side.' And she +uttered a sort of cry of horror, and after a fit of choking, which made +her gasp, she wept violently, and shook with spasmodic sobs for a minute +or two. Then her tears suddenly ceased, as if by an internal fire, and +with an air of tragic calmness, she said: 'Let us make haste.' + +"I was ready, but I exclaimed: 'I quite forgot to order my carriage.' 'I +have one,' she said; 'it is his, which was waiting for him!' She wrapped +herself up, so as to completely conceal her face, and we started." + +"When she was by my side in the darkness of the carriage, she suddenly +seized my hand, and crushing it in her delicate fingers, she said, with +a shaking voice, that proceeded from a distracted heart: 'Oh! If you +only knew, if you only knew what I am suffering! I loved him, I have +loved him distractedly, like a mad woman, for the last six months.' 'Is +anyone up in your house?' I asked. 'No, nobody except Rose, who knows +everything.' + +"We stopped at the door, and evidently everybody was asleep, and we went +in without making any noise, by means of her latch-key, and walked +upstairs on tip-toe. The frightened servant was sitting on the top of +the stairs, with a lighted candle by her side, as she was afraid to stop +by the dead man, and I went into the room, which was turned upside down, +as if there had been a struggle in it. The bed, which was tumbled and +open, seemed to be waiting for somebody; one of the sheets was hanging +onto the floor, and wet napkins, with which they had bathed the young +man's temples, were lying on the floor, by the side of a wash-hand basin +and a glass, while a strong smell of vinegar pervaded the room." + +"The dead man's body was lying at full length in the middle of the room, +and I went up to it, looked at it, and touched it. I opened the eyes, +and felt the hands, and then, turning to the two women, who were shaking +as if they were frozen, I said to them: 'Help me to carry him onto the +bed.' When we had laid him gently onto it, I listened to his heart, and +put a looking-glass to his lips, and then said: 'It is all over; let us +make haste and dress him.' It was a terrible sight! + +"I took his limbs one by one, as if they had belonged to some enormous +doll, and held them out to the clothes which the women brought, and they +put on his socks, drawers, trousers, waistcoat, and lastly the coat, but +it was a difficult matter to get the arms into the sleeves. + +"When it came to buttoning his boots, the two women knelt down, while I +held the light, but as his feet were rather swollen, it was very +difficult, and as they could not find a button-hook, they had to use +their hairpins. When the terrible toilet was over, I looked at our work, +and said: 'You ought to arrange his hair a little.' The girl went and +brought her mistress's large-toothed comb and brush, but as she was +trembling, and pulling out his long, matted hair in doing it, Madame +Lelièvre took the comb out of her hand, and arranged his hair as if she +were caressing him. She parted it, brushed his beard, rolled his +moustachios gently round her fingers, as she had no doubt been in the +habit of doing, in the familiarities of their intrigue. + +"Suddenly, however, letting go of his hair, she took her dead lover's +inert head in her hands, and looked for a long time in despair at the +dead face, which no longer could smile at her, and then, throwing +herself onto him, she took him into her arms and kissed him ardently. +Her kisses fell like blows onto his closed mouth and eyes, onto his +forehead and temples, and then, putting her lips to his ear, as if he +could still hear her, and as if she were about to whisper something to +him, to make their embraces still more ardent, she said several times, +in a heartrending voice: 'Adieu, my darling!' + +"Just then the clock struck twelve, and I started up. 'Twelve o'clock!' +I exclaimed. 'That is the time when the club closes. Come, Madame, we +have not a moment to lose!' She started up, and I said: 'We must carry +him into the drawing-room.' And when we had done this, I placed him on a +sofa, and lit the chandeliers, and just then the front door was opened +and shut noisily. He had come back, and I said: Rose, bring me the basin +and the towels, and make the room look tidy. Make haste, for heaven's +sake! Monsieur Lelièvre is coming in.' + +"I heard his steps on the stairs, and then his hands feeling along the +walls. 'Come here, my dear fellow,' I said, 'we have had an accident.' + +"And the astonished husband appeared in the door with a cigar in his +mouth, and said: 'What is the matter? What is the meaning of this?' 'My +dear friend,' I said, going up to him; 'you find us in great +embarrassment. I had remained late, chatting with your wife and our +friend, who had brought me in his carriage, when he suddenly fainted, +and in spite of all we have done, he has remained unconscious for two +hours. I did not like to call in strangers, and if you will now help me +downstairs with him, I shall be able to attend to him better at his own +house.' + +"The husband, who was surprised, but quite unsuspicious, took off his +hat, and then he took his rival, who would be quite inoffensive for the +future, under his arms. I got between his two legs, as if I had been a +horse between the shafts, and we went downstairs, while his wife lighted +us. When we got outside, I held the body up, so as to deceive the +coachman, and said: 'Come, my friend; it is nothing; you feel better +already, I expect. Pluck up your courage, and make an attempt. It will +soon be over.' But as I felt that he was slipping out of my hands, I +gave him a slap on the shoulder, which sent him forward and made him +fall into the carriage, and then I got in after him. Monsieur Lelièvre, +who was rather alarmed, said to me: 'Do you think it is anything +serious?' To which I replied, '_No_,' with a smile, as I looked at his +wife, who had put her arm into that of her legitimate husband, and was +trying to see into the carriage. + +"I shook hands with them, and told my coachman to start, and during the +whole drive the dead man kept falling against me. When we got to his +house, I said that he had become unconscious on the way home, and helped +to carry him upstairs, where I certified that he was dead, and acted +another comedy to his distracted family, and at last I got back to bed, +not without swearing at lovers." + +The doctor ceased, though he was still smiling, and the young woman, who +was in a very nervous state, said: "Why have you told me that terrible +story?" + +He gave her a gallant bow, and replied: + +"So that I may offer you my services, if necessary." + + + + +THE ASSIGNATION + + +Although she had her bonnet and jacket on, with a black veil over her +face, and another in her pocket, which she would put on over the +other +as soon as she had got into the cab, she was beating +the top of her +little boot with the point of her parasol, and remained sitting in her +room, without being able to make up her mind to keep this appointment. + +And yet, how many times within the last two years had she dressed +herself thus, when she knew that her husband would be on the Stock +Exchange, in order to go to the bachelor chambers of her lover, the +handsome Viscount de Martelet. + +The clock behind her was ticking loudly, a book which she had half read +through was lying open on a little rosewood writing-table between the +windows, and a strong, sweet smell of violets from two bunches which +were in a couple of Dresden china vases, mingled with a vague smell of +verbena which came through the half-open door of her dressing-room. + +The clock struck three, she rose up from her chair, she turned round to +look at herself in the glass and smiled. "He is already waiting for me, +and will be getting tired." + +Then she left the room, told her footman that she would be back in an +hour, at the latest--which was a lie; went downstairs and ventured into +the street on foot. + +It was towards the end of May, that delightful time of the year, when +the spring seems to be besieging Paris, and to conquer it over its +roofs, invading the houses through their walls, and making it look gay, +shedding brightness over its stone façades, the asphalt of its +pavements, the stones on the roads, bathing it and intoxicating it with +sap, like a forest putting on its spring verdure. + +Madame Haggan went a few steps to the right, intending, as usual, to go +along the Parade Provence, where she would hail a cab; but the soft air, +that feeling of summer which penetrates our breast on some days, now +took possession of her so suddenly that she changed her mind, and went +down the Rue de la Chausée d'Antin, without knowing why, but vaguely +attracted by a desire to see the trees in the _Square de la Trinité_. + +"He may just wait ten minutes longer for me," she said to herself. And +that idea pleased her also as she walked slowly through the crowd. She +fancied that she saw him growing impatient, looking at the clock, +opening the window, listening at the door, sitting down for a few +moments, getting up again, and not daring to smoke, as she had forbidden +him to do so when she was coming to him, and throwing despairing looks +at his box of cigarettes. + +She walked slowly, interested in what she saw, the shops and the people +she met, walking slower and slower, and so little eager to get to her +destination that she only sought for some pretext for stopping, and at +the end of the street, in the little square, the verdure attracted her +so much, that she went in, took a chair, and, sitting down, watched the +hands of the clock as they moved. + +Just then, the half hour struck, and her heart beat with pleasure when +she heard the chimes. She had gained half-an-hour; then it would take +her a quarter of an hour to reach the Rue Miromesnil, and a few minutes +more in strolling along--an hour! a whole hour saved from her +_rendez-vous_! She would not stop three-quarters of an hour, and that +business would be finished once more. + +Oh! she disliked going there! Just like a patient going to the dentist, +so she had the intolerable recollection of all their past meetings, one +a week on an average, for the last two years; and the thought that +another was going to take place immediately made her shiver with misery +from head to foot. Not that it was exactly painful, like a visit to the +dentist, but it was wearisome, so wearisome, so complicated, so long, so +unpleasant, that anything, even a visit to the dentist would have seemed +preferable to her. She went on, however, but very slowly, stopping, +sitting down, going hither and thither, but she went. Oh! how she would +have liked to miss this meeting, but she had left the unhappy viscount +in the lurch, twice following, during the last month, and she did not +dare to do it again so soon. Why did she go to see him? Oh! why? Because +she had acquired the habit of doing it, and had no reason to give poor +Martelet when he wanted to know _the why_! Why had she begun it? Why? +She did not know herself, any longer. Had she been in love with him? +Very possibly! Not very much, but a little, a long time ago! He was very +nice, sought after, perfectly dressed, most courteous, and after the +first glance, he was a perfect lover for a fashionable woman. He had +courted her for three months--the normal period, an honorable strife and +sufficient resistances--and then she had consented, and with what +emotion, what nervousness, what terrible, delightful fear, and that +first meeting in his small, ground-floor bachelor rooms, in the Rue de +Miromesnil. Her heart? What did her little heart of a woman who had been +seduced, vanquished, conquered, feel when she for the first time entered +the door of that house which was her nightmare? She really did not know! +She had quite forgotten. One remembers a fact, a date, a thing, but one +hardly remembers, after the lapse of two years, what an emotion, which +soon vanished, because it was very slight, was like. But, oh! she had +certainly not forgotten the others, that rosary of meetings, that road +to the cross of love, and those stations, which were so monotonous, so +fatiguing, so similar to each other, that she felt a nauseating taste in +her mouth at what was going to happen so soon. + +And the very cabs were not like the other cabs which one makes use of +for ordinary purposes! Certainly, the cabmen guessed. She felt sure of +it, by the very way they looked at her, and the eyes of these Paris +cabmen are terrible! When one remembers they are constantly remembering, +in the Courts of Justices, after a lapse of several years, faces of +criminals whom they have only driven once, in the middle of the night, +from some street or other to a railway station, and that they have to do +with almost as many passengers as there are hours in the day, and that +their memory is good enough for them to declare: "That is the man whom I +took up in the Rues des Martyrs, and put down at the Lyons Railway +Station, at 12 o'clock at night, on July 10, last year!" Is it not +terrible when one risks what a young woman risks when she is going to +meet her lover, and has to trust her reputation to the first cabman she +meets? In two years she had employed at least a hundred to a hundred and +twenty in that drive to the Rue Miromesnil, reckoning only one a week, +and they were so many witnesses, who might appear against her at a +critical moment. + +As soon as she was in the cab, she took another veil, which was as thick +and dark as a domino mask, out of her pocket, and put it on. That hid +her face, but what about the rest, her dress, her bonnet, and her +parasol? They might be remarked; they might, in fact, have been seen +already. Oh! I What misery she endured in this Rue de Miromesnil! She +thought that she recognized all the foot-passengers, the servants, +everybody, and almost before the cab had stopped, she jumped out and ran +past the porter who was standing outside his lodge. He must know +everything, everything!--her address, her name, her husband's +profession--everything, for those porters are the most cunning of +policemen! For two years she had intended to bribe him, to give him (to +throw at him one day as she passed him) a hundred-franc bank-note, but +she had never once dared to do it. She was frightened! What of? She did +not know! Of his calling her back, if he did not understand? Of a +scandal? Of a crowd on the stairs? Of being arrested, perhaps? To reach +the Viscount's door, she had only to ascend a half a flight of stairs, +and it seemed to her as high as the tower of Saint Jacques' Church. + +As soon as she had reached the vestibule, she felt as if she were caught +in a trap, and the slightest noise before or behind her, nearly made her +faint. It was impossible for her to go back, because of that porter who +barred her retreat; and if anyone came down at that moment she would not +dare to ring at Martelet's door, but would pass it as if she had been +going elsewhere! She would have gone up, and up, and up! She would have +mounted forty flights of stairs! Then, when everything would seem quiet +again down below, she would run down, feeling terribly frightened, lest +she would not recognize the lobby. + +He was there in a velvet coat lined with silk, very stylish, but rather +ridiculous, and for two years he had never altered his manner of +receiving her, not in a single movement! As soon as he had shut the +door, he used to say this: "Let me kiss your hands, my dear, dear +friend!" Then he followed her into the room, when with closed shutters +and lighted candles, out of refinement, no doubt, he knelt down before +her and looked at her from head to foot with an air of adoration. On the +first occasion that had been very nice and very successful; but now it +seemed to her as if she saw Monsieur Delauney acting the last scene of a +successful piece for the hundred and twentieth time. He might really +change his manner of acting. But no, he never altered his manner of +acting, poor fellow. What a good fellow he was, but very commonplace! + +And how difficult it was to undress and dress without a lady's maid! +Perhaps that was the moment when she began to take a dislike to him. +When he said: "Do you want me to help you?" she could have killed him. +Certainly there were not many men as awkward as he was, or as +uninteresting. Certainly, little Baron de Isombal would never have asked +her in such a manner: "Do you want me to help you?" He would have helped +her, he was so witty, so funny, so active. But there! He was a +diplomatist, he had been about in the world, and had roamed everywhere, +and, no doubt, dressed and undressed women who were arrayed in every +possible fashion! ... + +The church clock struck the three-quarters, and she looked at the dial, +and said: "Oh, how agitated he will be!" and then she quickly left the +square; but she had not taken a dozen steps outside, when she found +herself face to face with a gentleman who bowed profoundly to her. + +"Why! Is that you, Baron?" she said, in surprise. She had just been +thinking of him. + +"Yes, Madame." And then, after asking how she was, and a few vague +words, he continued: "Do you know that you are the only one--you will +allow me to say of my lady friends, I hope? who has not yet seen my +Japanese collection." + +"But my dear Baron, a lady cannot go to a bachelor's room like this." + +"What do you mean? That is a great mistake, when it is a question of +seeing a rare collection!" + +"At any rate, she cannot go alone." + +"And why not? I have received a number of ladies alone, only for the +sake of seeing my collection! They come every day. Shall I tell you +their names? No--I will not do that; one must be discreet, even when one +it not guilty; as a matter of fact, there is nothing improper in going +to the house of a well-known serious man who holds a certain position, +unless one goes for an unavoidable reason!" + +"Well, what you have said is certainly correct, at bottom." + +"So you will come and see my collection?" + +"When?" + +"Well, now, immediately." + +"Impossible; I am in a hurry." + +"Nonsense, you have been sitting in the square for this last half hour." + +"You were watching me?" + +"I was looking at you." + +"But I am sadly in a hurry." + +"_I_ am sure you are not. Confess that you are in no particular hurry." + +Madame Haggan began to laugh, and said: "Well, ... no ... not ... +very...." + +A cab passed close to them, and the little Baron called out: "Cabman!" +and the vehicle stopped, and opening the door, he said: "Get in, +Madame." + +"But, Baron! no, it is impossible to-day; I really cannot." + +"Madame, you are acting very imprudently; get in! people are beginning +to look at us, and you will collect a crowd; they will think I am trying +to carry you off, and we shall both be arrested; please get in!" + +She got in, frightened and bewildered, and he sat down by her side, +saying to the cabman: "Rue de Provence." + +But suddenly she exclaimed: "Good heavens! I have forgotten a very +important telegram; please drive to the nearest telegraph office first +of all." + +The cab stopped a little farther on, in the Rue de Châteaudun, and she +said to the Baron: "Would you kindly get me a fifty centimes telegraph +form? I promised my husband to invite Martelet to dinner to-morrow, and +had quite forgotten it." + +When the Baron returned and gave her the blue telegraph form, she wrote +in pencil: + + "My Dear Friend: I am not at all well. I am suffering terribly from + neuralgia, which keeps me in bed. Impossible to go out. Come and + dine to-morrow night, so that I may obtain my pardon. + + "JEANNE." + +She wetted the gum, fastened it carefully, and addressed it to: +"Viscount de Martelet, 240 Rue Miromesnil," and then, giving it back to +the Baron, she said: "Now, will you be kind enough to throw this into +the telegram box." + + + + +AN ADVENTURE + + +"Come! Come!" Pierre Dufaille said, shrugging his shoulders. "What are +you talking about, when you say that there are no more adventures? Say +that there are no more adventurous men, and you will be right! Yes, +nobody ventures to trust to chance, in these days, for as soon as there +is any slight mystery, or a spice of danger, they draw back. If, +however, a man is willing to go into them blindly, and to run the risk +of anything that may happen, he can still meet with adventures, and even +I, who never look for them, met with one in my life, and a very +startling one; let me tell you. + +"I was staying in Florence, and was living very quietly, and all I +indulged in, in the way of adventures, was to listen occasionally to the +immoral proposals with which every stranger is beset at night on the +_Piazzo de la Signoria_, by some worthy Pandarus or other, with a head +like that of a venerable priest. These excellent fellows generally +introduce you to their families, where debauchery is carried on in a +very simple, and almost patriarchal fashion, and where one does not run +the slightest risk. + +"One day as I was admiring Benvenuto Cellini's wonderful Perseus, in +front of the _Loggia del Lanzi_, I suddenly felt my sleeve pulled +somewhat roughly, and on turning round, I found myself face to face with +a woman of about fifty, who said to me with a strong German accent: +'You are French, Monsieur, are you not?' 'Certainly, I am,' I replied. +'And would you like to go home with a very pretty woman?' + +"'Most certainly I should,' I replied, with a laugh. + +"Nothing could have been funnier than the looks and the serious air of +the procuress, or than the strangeness of the proposal, made to broad +daylight, and in very bad French, but it was even worse when she added: +'Do you know everything they do in Paris?' 'What do you mean, my good +woman?' I asked her, rather startled. 'What is done in Paris, that is +not done everywhere else?' + +"However, when she explained her meaning, I replied that I certainly +could not, and as I was not quite so immodest as the lady, I blushed a +little. But not for long, for almost immediately afterwards I grew pale, +when she said: 'I want to assure myself of it, personally.' And she said +this in the same phlegmatic manner, which did not seem so funny to me +now, but, on the contrary, rather frightened me. 'What!' I said. +'Personally! You! Explain yourself!' + +"If I had been rather surprised before, I was altogether astonished at +her explanation. It was indeed an adventure, and was almost like a +romance. I could scarcely believe my ears, but this is what she told me. + +"She was the confidential attendant on a lady moving in high society, +who wished to be initiated into the most secret refinements of Parisian +high life, and who had done me the honor of choosing me for her +companion. But then, this preliminary test! 'By Jove!' I said to myself, +'this old German hag is not so stupid as she looks!' And I laughed in my +sleeve, as I listened inattentively to what she was saying to persuade +me. + +"'My mistress is the prettiest woman you can dream of; a real beauty; +springtime! A flower!' 'You must excuse me, but if your mistress is +really like springtime and a flower, you (pray excuse me for being so +blunt) are not exactly that, and perhaps I should not exactly be in a +mood to humor you, my dear lady, in the same way that I might her.' + +"She jumped back, astonished in turn: 'Why, I only want to satisfy +myself with my own eyes; not by injuring you.' And she finished her +explanation, which had been incomplete before. All she had to do was to +go with me to _Mother Patata's_ well-known establishment, and there to +be present while I conversed with one of its fair and frail inhabitants. + +"'Oh!' I said to myself, 'I was mistaken in her tastes. She is, of +course, an old, shriveled up woman, as I guessed, but she is a +specialist. This is interesting, upon my word! I never met with such a +one before!' + +"Here, gentlemen, I must beg you to allow me to hide my face for a +moment. What I said was evidently not strictly correct, and I am rather +ashamed of it; my excuse must be that I was young, that _Patata's_ was a +celebrated place, of which I had heard wonderful things said, but the +entry to which was barred me, on account of my small means. Five +napoleons was the price! Fancy! I could not treat myself to it, and so I +accepted the good lady's offer. I do not say that it was not +disagreeable, but what was I to do? And then, the old woman was a +German, and so her five napoleons were a slight return for our five +milliards, which we paid them as our war indemnity. + +"Well, _Patata's_ boarder was charming, the old woman was not too +troublesome, and your humble servant did his best to sustain the ancient +glory of Frenchmen. + +"Let me drink my disgrace to the dregs! On the next day but one after, I +was waiting at the statue of Perseus. It was shameful, I confess, but I +enjoyed the partial restitution of the five milliards, and it is +surprising how a Frenchman loses his dignity, when he is traveling. + +"The good lady made her appearance at the appointed time. It was quite +dark, and I followed her without a word, for, after all, I was not very +proud of the part I was playing. But if you only knew how fair that +little girl at _Patata's_ was! As I went along, I thought only of her, +and did not pay any attention to where we were going, and I was only +roused from my reverie by hearing the old woman say: 'Here we are. Try +and be as entertaining as you were the day before yesterday.' + +"We were not outside _Patata's_ house, but in a narrow street running by +the side of a palace with high walls, and in front of us was a small +door, which the old woman opened gently. + +"For a moment I felt inclined to draw back. Apparently the old hag was +also ardent on her own account! She had me in a trap! No doubt she +wanted in her turn to make use of my small talents! But, no! That was +impossible! + +"'Go in! Go in!' she said. 'What are you afraid of? My mistress is so +pretty, so pretty, much prettier than the little girl of the other day.' +So it was really true, this story out of _The Arabian Nights_? Why not? +And after all, what was I risking? The good woman would certainly not +injure me, and so I went in, though somewhat nervously. + +"Oh! My friend, what an hour I spent then! Paradise! and it would be +useless, impossible to describe it to you! Apartments fit for a +princess, and one of those princesses out of fairy tales, a fairy +herself. An exquisite German woman, exquisite as German women can be, +when they try. An Undine of Heinrich Heine's, with hair like the Virgin +Mary's, innocent blue eyes, and a skin like strawberries and cream. + +"Suddenly, however, my Undine got up, and her face convulsed with fury +and pride. Then, she rushed behind some hangings, where she began to +give vent to a flood of German words, which I did not understand, while +I remained standing, dumbfounded. But just then, the old woman came in, +and said, shaking with fear: 'Quick, quick; dress yourself and go, if +you do not wish to be killed.' + +"I asked no questions, for what was the good of trying to understand? +Besides, the old woman, who grew more and more terrified, could not find +any French words, and chattered wildly. I jumped up and got into my +shoes and overcoat and ran down the stairs, and in the street. + +"Ten minutes later, I recovered my breath and my senses, without knowing +what streets I had been through, nor where I had come from, and I stole +furtively into my hotel, as if I had been a malefactor. + +"In the _cafés_ the next morning, nothing was talked of except a crime +that had been committed during the night. A German baron had killed his +wife with a revolver, but he had been liberated on bail, as he had +appealed to his counsel, to whom he had given the following explanation, +to the truth of which the lady companion of the baroness had certified. + +"She had been married to her husband almost by force, and detested him, +and she had some particular reasons (which were not specified) for her +hatred of him. In order to have her revenge on him, she had had him +seized, bound and gagged by four hired ruffians, who had been caught, +and who had confessed everything. Thus, reduced to immobility, and +unable to help himself, the baron had been obliged to witness a +degrading scene, where his wife caressed a Frenchman, and thus outraged +conjugal fidelity and German honor at the same time. As soon as he was +set at liberty, the baron had punished his faithless wife, and was now +seeking her accomplice." + +"And what did you do?" someone asked Pierre Dufaille. + +"The only thing I could do, by George!" he replied. "I put myself at the +poor devil's disposal; it was his right, and so we fought a duel. Alas! +It was with swords, and he ran me right through the body. That was also +his right, but he exceeded his right when he called me her _ponce_. Then +I gave him his chance, and as I fell, I called out with all the strength +that remained to me: 'A Frenchman! A Frenchman! Long live France!'" + + + + +THE DOUBLE PINS + + +"Ah; my-dear fellow, what jades women are!" + +"What makes you say that?" + +"Because they have played me an abominable trick." + +"You?" + +"Yes, me." + +"Women, or a woman?" + +"Two women." + +"Two women at once?" + +"Yes." + +"What was the trick?" + +The two young men were sitting outside a _café_ on the Boulevards, and +drinking liquors mixed with water, those aperients which look like +infusions of all the shades in a box of water-colors. They were nearly +the same age, twenty-five to thirty. One was dark and the other fair, +and they had the same semi-elegant look of stock-jobbers, of men who go +to the Stock Exchange, and into drawing-rooms, who are to be seen +everywhere, who live everywhere, and love everywhere. The dark one +continued. + +"I have told you of my connection with that little woman, a tradesman's +wife, whom I met on the beach at Dieppe?" + +"Yes." + +"My dear fellow, you know what it is. I had a mistress in Paris, whom I +loved dearly; an old friend, a good friend, and it has grown into a +habit, in fact, and I value it very much." + +"Your habit." + +"Yes, my habit, and hers also. She is married to an excellent man, whom +I also value very much, a very cordial fellow. A capital companion! I +may say, I think that my life is bound up with that house." + +"Well?" + +"Well! they could not manage to leave Paris, and I found myself a +widower at Dieppe." + +"Why did you go to Dieppe?" + +"For change of air. One cannot remain on the Boulevards the whole time." + +"And then?" + +"Then I met the little woman I mentioned to you on the beach there." + +"The wife of that head of the public office?" + +"Yes; she was dreadfully dull; her husband only came every Sunday, and +he is horrible! I understand her perfectly, and we laughed and danced +together." + +"And the rest?" + +"Yes, but that came later. However, we met, we liked each other. I told +her I liked her, and she made me repeat it, so that she might understand +it better, and she put no obstacles in my way." + +"Did you love her?" + +"Yes, a little; she is very nice." + +"And what about the other?" + +"The other was in Paris! Well, for six weeks it was very pleasant, and +wre returned here on the best of terms. Do you know how to break with a +woman, when that woman has not wronged you in any way?" + +"Yes, perfectly well." + +"How do you manage it?" + +"I give her up." + +"How do you do it?" + +"I do not see her any longer." + +"But supposing she comes to you?" + +"I am ... not at home." + +"And if she comes again?" + +"I say I am not well." + +"If she looks after you?" + +"I play her some dirty trick." + +"And if she puts up with it?" + +"I write to her husband anonymous letters, so that he may look after her +on the days that I expect her." + +"That is serious! I cannot resist, and do not know how to bring about a +rupture, and so I have a collection of mistresses. There are some whom I +do not see more than once a year, others every ten months, others on +those days when they want to dine at a restaurant, those whom I have put +at regular intervals do not worry me, but I often have great difficulty +with the fresh ones, so as to keep them at proper intervals." + +"And then...." + +"And then ... Then, this little woman was all fire and flame, without +any fault of mine, as I told you! As her husband spends all the whole +day at his office, she began to come to me unexpectedly, and twice she +nearly met my regular one on, the stairs." + +"The devil!" + +"Yes; so I gave each of them her days, regular days, to avoid confusion; +Saturday and Monday for the old one, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday for the +new one." + +"Why did you show her the preference?" + +"Ah! My dear friend, she is younger." + +"The devil!" + +"Yes; so I gave each of them her days, regular days, to avoid confusion; +Saturday and Monday for the old one, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday for the +new one." + +"Why did you show her the preference?" + +"Ah! My dear friend, she is younger." + +"So that only gave you two days to yourself in a week." + +"That is enough for one." + +"Allow me to compliment you on that." + +"Well, just fancy that the most ridiculous and most annoying thing in +the world happened to me. For four months everything had been going on +perfectly; I felt perfectly safe, and I was really very happy, when +suddenly, last Monday, the crash came. + +"I was expecting my regular one at the usual time, a quarter past one, +and was smoking a good cigar, and dreaming, very well satisfied with +myself, when I suddenly saw that it was past the time, at which I was +much surprised, for she is very punctual, but I thought that something +might have accidentally delayed her. However, half-an-hour passed, then +an hour, an hour and a half, and then I knew that something must have +detained her; a sick headache, perhaps, or some annoying visitor. That +sort of waiting is very vexatious, that ... useless waiting ... very +annoying and enervating. At last, I made up my mind to go out, and not +knowing what to do, I went to her and found her reading a novel." + +"Well!" I said to her. And she replied quite calmly: + +"My dear I could not come; I was hindered." + +"How?" + +"My ... something else." + +"What was it? + +"A very annoying visit." + +"I saw that she would not tell me the true reason, and as she was very +calm, I did not trouble myself any more about it, and hoped to make up +for lost time with the other, the next day, and on the Tuesday, I was +very ... very excited, and amorous in expectation of the public +official's little wife, and I was surprised that she had not come before +the appointed time, and I looked at the clock every moment, and watched +the hands impatiently, but the quarter past, then the half-hour, then +two o'clock. I could not sit still any longer, and walked up and down +very soon in great strides, putting my face against the window, and my +ears to the door, to listen whether she was not coming upstairs." + +"Half-past two, three o'clock! I seized my hat, and rushed to her house. +She was reading a novel my dear fellow! 'Well!' I said, anxiously, and +she replied as calmly as usual: 'I was hindered, and could not come.' + +"'By what?' + +"'An annoying visit.' + +"Of course, I immediately thought that they both knew everything, but +she seemed so calm and quiet, that I set aside my suspicions, and +thought it was only some strange coincidence, as I could not believe in +such dissimulation on her part, and so, after half-an-hour's friendly +talk, which was, however, interrupted a dozen times by her little girl +coming in and out of the room. I went away, very much annoyed. Just +imagine the next day...." + +"The same thing happened?" + +"Yes, and the next also. And that went on for three weeks without any +explanation, without anything explaining that strange conduct to me, the +secret of which I suspected, however." + +"They knew everything?" + +"I should think so, by George. But how? Ah! I had a great deal of +anxiety before I found it out." + +"How did you manage it at last?" + +"From their letters, for on the same day they both gave me their +dismissal in identical terms." + +"Well?" + +"This is how it was.... You know that women always have an array of pins +about them. I know hairpins, I doubt them, and look after them, but the +others are much more treacherous; those confounded little black-headed +pins which look all alike to us, great fools that we are, but which they +can distinguish, just as we can distinguish a horse from a dog. + +"Well, it appears that one day my minister's little wife left one of +those tell-tale instruments pinned to the paper, close to my +looking-glass. My usual one had immediately seen this little black +speck, no bigger than a flea, and had taken it out without saying a +word, and then had left one of her pins, which was also black, but of a +different pattern, in the same place. + +"The next day, the minister's wife wished to recover her property, and +immediately recognized the substitution. Then her suspicions were +aroused, and she put in two and crossed them, and my original one +replied to this telegraphic signal by three black pellets, one on the +top of the other, and as soon as this method had begun, they continued +to communicate with one another, without saying a word, only to spy on +each other. Then it appears that the regular one, being bolder, wrapped +a tiny piece of paper round the little wire point, and wrote upon it: +_C. D., Poste Restante, Boulevards, Malherbes_. + +"Then they wrote to each other. You understand that was not everything +that passed between them. They set to work with precaution, with a +thousand stratagems, with all the prudence that is necessary in such +cases, but the regular one did a bold stroke, and made an appointment +with the other. I do not know what they said to each other; all that I +know is, that I had to pay the costs of their interview. There you have +it all!" + +"Is that all?" + +"Yes." + +"And you do not see them any more?" + +"I beg your pardon. I see them as friends, for we have not quarreled +altogether." + +"And have they met again?" + +"Yes, my dear fellow, they have become intimate friends." + +"And has not that given you an idea?" + +"No, what idea?" + +"You great booby! The idea of making them put back the pins where they +found them." + + + + +UNDER THE YOKE + + +As he was a man of quiet and regular habits, and of a simple and +affectionate disposition, and had nothing to disturb the even tenor of +his life, Monsieur de Loubancourt suffered more than most men do from +his widowerhood. He regretted his lost happiness, was angry with fate, +which separated united couples so brutally, and which made choice of a +tranquil existence, whose sleepy quietude had not hitherto been troubled +by any cares or chimeras, in order to rob it of its happiness. + +Had he been younger, he might, perhaps, have been tempted to form a new +line, to fill up the vacant place, and to marry again. But when a man is +nearly sixty, such ideas make people laugh, for they have something +ridiculous and insane about them; and so he dragged on his dull and +weary existence, escaped from all those familiar objects which +constantly recalled the past to him, and went from hotel to hotel +without taking an interest in anything, without becoming intimate with +anyone, even temporarily; inconsolable, silent, almost enigmatical, and +looking funereal in his eternal black clothes. + +He was generally alone, though on rare occasions he was accompanied by +his only son, who used to yawn by stealth, and who seemed to be mentally +counting the hours, as if he were performing some hateful, enforced duty +in spite of himself. + +Two years of this crystallization went past, and one was as monotonous, +and as void of incident, as the other. + +One evening, however, in a boarding-house at Cannes, where he was +staying on his wanderings, there was a young woman dressed in mourning, +among the new arrivals, who sat next to him at dinner. She had a sad, +pale face, that told of suffering, a beautiful figure, and large, blue +eyes with deep rings round them, but which, nevertheless, looked like +the first star which shines in the twilight. + +All remarked her, although he usually took no notice of women, no matter +whatever they were, ugly or pretty; he looked at her and listened to +her. He felt less lonely by her side, though he did not know why. He +trembled with instinctive and confused happiness, just as if in some +distant country he had found some female friend or relative, who at last +would understand him, tell him some news, and talk to him in his dear +native language about everything that a man leaves behind him when he +exiles himself from home. + +What strange affinity had thrown them together thus? What secret forces +had brought their grief in contact? What made him so sanguine and so +calm, and incited him to take her suddenly into his confidences, and +urged him on to resistless curiosity? + +She was an experienced traveler, who had no illusions, and was in search +of adventures; one of those women who frequently change their name, and +who, as they have made up their minds to swindle if luck is not on their +side, act a continual part, an adventuress, who could put on every +accent; who for the sake of her course, transformed herself into a Slav, +or into an American, or simply into a provincial; who was ready to take +part in any comedy in order to make money, and not to be obliged to +waste her strength and her brains on fruitless struggles or on wretched +expedients. Thus she immediately guessed the state of this melancholy +sexagenarian's mind, and the illusions which attracted him to her, and +scented the spoils which offered themselves to her cupidity of their own +accord, and divined under what guise she ought to show herself, to make +herself accepted and loved. + +She initiated him into depths of grief which were unknown to him, by +phrases which were cut short by sighs, by fragments of her story, which +she finished by a disgusted shrug of the shoulders, and a heartrending +smile, and by insensibly exciting his feelings. In a word, she triumphed +over the last remaining doubts, which might still have mingled with the +affectionate pity with which that poor, solitary heart, which, so full +of bitterness, overflowed. + +And so, for the first time since he had become a widower, the old man +confided in another person, poured out his old heart into that soul +which seemed to be so like his own, which seemed to offer him a refuge +where he could be cheered up, and where the wounds of his heart could be +healed, and he longed to throw himself into those sisterly arms, to dry +his tears and to exercise his grief there. + + * * * * * + +Monsieur de Loubancourt, who had married at twenty-five, as much from +love as from judgment, had lived quietly and peacefully in the country, +much more than in Paris. He was ignorant of the female wiles of +temptations, offered to creatures like Wanda Pulska, who was made up of +lies, and only cared for pleasure, a virgin soil on which any seed will +grow. + +She attached herself to him, became his shadow, and by degrees, part of +his life. She showed herself to be a charitable woman who devoted +herself to an unhappy man, who endeavored to console him, and who, in +spite of her youth, was willing to be the inseparable companion of the +old man in his slow, daily walks. She never appeared to tire of his +anecdotes and reminiscences, and she played cards with him. She waited +on him carefully when he was confined to his bed, appeared to have no +sex, and transformed herself; and though she handled him skillfully, she +seemed ingenuous and ignorant of evil. She acted like an innocent young +girl, who had just been confirmed; but for all that, she chose dangerous +hours and certain spots in which to be sentimental and to ask questions +which agitated and disconcerted him, and abandoned her slender fingers +to his feverish hands, which pressed and held them in a tender clasp. + +And then, there were wild declarations of love, prayers and sobs which +frightened her; wild _adieux_, which were not followed by his departure, +but which brought about a touching reconciliation and the first kiss, +and then, one night, while they were traveling together, he forced open +the door of her bedroom at the hotel, which she had locked, and came in +like a mad man. There was the phantom of violence, and the fallacious +submission of a woman, who was overcome by so much tenderness, who +rebelled no longer, but who accepted the yoke of her master and lover. +And then, the conquest of the body after the conquest of the heart, +which forged his chain link by link, pleasures which besot and corrupt +old men, and dry up their brains, until at last he allowed himself to be +induced, almost unconsciously, to make an odious and stupid will. + +Informed, perhaps, by anonymous letters, or astonished because his +father kept him altogether at a distance from him, and gave no signs of +life, Monsieur de Loubancourt's son joined them in Provence. But Wanda +Pulska, who had been preparing for that attack for a long time, waited +for it fearlessly. + +She did not seem disconcerted at that sudden visit, but was very +charming and affable towards the new comer, reassured him by her +careless airs of a girl, who took life as it came, and who was suffering +from the consequences of a fault, and did not trouble her head about the +future. + +He envied his father, and grudged him such a treasure. Although he had +come to combat her dangerous influence, and to treat the woman, who had +assumed the place of death, and who governed her lover as his sovereign +mistress, as an enemy, he shrunk from his task, panted with desire, lost +his head, and thought of nothing but treason and of an odious +partnership. + +She managed him even more easily than she had managed Monsieur de +Loubancourt, molded him just as she chose; made him her tool, without +even giving him the tips of her fingers, or granting him the slightest +favor, induced him to be so imprudent, that the old man grew jealous, +watched them, discovered the intrigue, and found mad letters in which +his son was angry, begged, threatened and implored. + +One evening, when she knew that her lover had come in, and was hiding in +a dark cupboard in order to watch them, Wanda happened to be alone in +the drawing-room, which was full of light, of beautiful flowers, with +this young fellow, five-and-twenty. He threw himself at her feet and +declared his love, and besought her to run away with him, and when she +tried to bring him to reason and repulsed him, and told him in a loud +and very distinct voice, how she loved Monsieur de Loubancourt, he +seized her wrists with brutal violence, and maddened with passion and +stammering words of love and lust, he pushed her towards one of the +couches. + +"Let me go," she said, "let me go immediately,... You are a brute to +take advantage of a woman like that.... Please let me go, or I shall +call the servants to my assistance." + +The next moment, the old man, terrible in his rage, rushed out of his +hiding place with clenched fists and a slobbering mouth, threw himself +on the startled son, and pointing to the door with a superb gesture, he +said: + +"You are a dirty scoundrel, sir. Get out of my house immediately, and +never let me see you again!" + + * * * * * + +The comedy was over. Grateful for such fidelity and real affection, +Monsieur de Loubancourt married Wanda Pulska, whose name appeared on the +civil register--which was a detail of no importance to a man who was in +love--as Frida Krubstein; she came from Saxony, and had been a servant +at an inn. Then he disinherited his son, as far as he could.[17] + +[Footnote 17: According to French law, nobody can altogether disinherit +a child, and no son or daughter can be "cut off" with a "proverbial +shilling."] + +And now that she is a respectable and respected widow, Madame de +Loubancourt is received everywhere by society in those places of winter +resort where people's by-gone history is so rarely gone into, and where +women bear a name, who are pretty, and who can waltz--like the Germans +can, are always well received. + + + + +THE READ ONE AND THE OTHER + + +"Well, really," Chasseval said, standing with his back to the fire, +"could any of those respectable shop-keepers and wine growers have +possibly believed that that pretty little Parisian woman, with her soft +innocent eyes, like those of a Madonna, with such smiling lips and +golden hair, and who always dressed so simple, was their candidate's +mistress?" + +She was a wonderful help to him, and accompanied him even to the most +outlying farms; went to the meetings in the small village _cafés_ and +had a pleasant and suitable word for every one, and did not recoil at a +glass of mulled wine or a grip of the hand, and was always ready to join +in _farandole_.[18] She seemed to be so in love with Eliénne Rulhiére, +to trust him so entirely, to be so proud of forming half of his life, +and of belonging to him, gave him such looks full of pleasure and of +hope, and listened to all he said so intently, that voters who might +have hesitated, allowed themselves by degrees to be talked over and +persuaded; and promised their votes to the young doctor, whose name they +never heard mentioned in the district before. + +[Footnote 18: A dance in Provence in which the dancers form a chain, and +the movements are directed by the leader.--TRANSLATOR.] + +That electoral campaign had been like a truant's escapade for Jane +Dardenne; it was a delightful and unexpected holiday, and as she was an +actress at heart, she played her part seriously, and threw herself into +her character, and enjoyed herself more than she ever enjoyed herself in +her most adventurous outings. + +And then there came in the pleasure of being taken for a woman of the +world, of being flattered, respected and envied, and of getting out of +the usual groove for a time, and also the dream that this journey of a +few weeks would have the sequence, that her lover would not separate +from her on their return, but would sacrifice the woman whom he no +longer loved, and whom he ironically used to call his _Cinderella_, to +her. + +At night, when they had laid aside all pretense, and when they were +alone in their room in the hotel, she coaxed him and flattered him, +spurred his ambition on, threw her quivering arms around him, and amidst +her kisses, whispered those words to him, which make a man proud and +warm his heart, and give him strength, like a stout dram of alcohol. + +The two between them captured the district, and won the election easily, +and in spite of his youth, Eliénne Rulhiére was chosen by a majority of +five thousand. Then, of course, there were more fetes and banquets, at +which Jane was present, and where she was received with enthusiastic +shouts; there were fireworks, when she was obliged to set light to the +first rocket, and balls at which she astonished those worthy people by +her affability. And when they left, three little girls dressed in white, +as if they were going to be confirmed, came onto the platform and +recited some complimentary verses to her while the band played the +_Marseillaise_, the women waved their pocket-handkerchiefs, and the men +their hats, and leaning out of the carriage window, looking charming in +her traveling costume, with a smile on her lips, and with moist eyes, as +was fitting at such a pathetic leave-taking, actress as she was, with a +sudden and childlike gesture, she blew kisses to them from the tips of +her fingers, and said: + +"Good-bye, my friends, good-bye, only for the present; I shall never +forget you!" + +The deputy, who was also very effusive, had invited his principal +supporters to come and see him in Paris as there were plenty of +excursion trains. They all took him at his word, and Rulhière was +obliged to invite them all to dinner. + +In order to avoid any possible mishaps, he gave his wife a foretaste of +their guests. He told her that they were rather noisy, talkative, and +unpolished, and that they would, no doubt, astonish her by their manners +and their accent, but that, as they had great influence, and were +excellent men, they deserved a good reception. It was a very useful +precaution, for when they came into the drawing-room in their new +clothes, expanding with pleasure, and with their hair pomatumed as if +they had been going to a country wedding, they felt inclined to fall +down before the new Madame Rulhière to whom the deputy introduced them, +and who seemed to be perfectly at home there. + +At first they were embarrassed, felt uncomfortable and out of place, did +not know what to say, and had to seek their words; they buttoned and +unbuttoned their gloves, answered her questions at random, and racked +their brains to discover the solution of the enigma. Captain Mouredus +looked at the fire, with the fixed gaze of a somnambulist, Marius +Barbaste scratched his fingers mechanically, while the three others, the +factory manager, Casemajel, Roquetton, the lawyer, and Dustugue, the +hotel proprietor, looked at Rulhière anxiously. + +The lawyer was the first to recover himself. He got up from his arm +chair laughing heartily, dug the deputy in the ribs with his elbow, and +said: + +"I understand it all, I understand it; you thought that people do not +come to Paris to be bored, eh? Madame is delightful, and I congratulate +you, Monsieur." + +He gave a wink, and made signs behind his back to his friends, and then +the captain had his turn. + +"We are not boobies, and that fellow Roquetton is the most knowing of +the lot of us.... Ah! Monsieur Rulhière, without any exaggeration, you +are the cream of good fellows." + +And with a flushed face, and expanding his chest, he said sonorously: + +"They certainly turn them out very pretty in your part of the country, +my little lady!" + +Madame Rulhière, who did not know what to say, had gone up to her +husband for protection; but she felt much inclined to go to her own room +under some pretext or other, in order to escape from her intolerable +task. She kept her ground, however, during the whole of dinner, which +was a noisy, jovial meal, during which the five electors, with their +elbows on the table, and their waistcoats unbuttoned, and half drunk, +told coarse stories, and swore like troopers. But as the coffee and the +liquors were served in the smoking room, she took leave of her guests in +an impatient voice, and went to her own room with the hasty step of an +escaped prisoner, who is afraid of being retaken. + +The electors sat staring after her with gaping mouths, and Mouredus lit +a cigar, and said: + +"Just listen to me, Monsieur Rulhiére; it was very kind of you to invite +us here, to your little quiet establishment, but to speak to you +frankly, I should not, in your place, wrong my lawful wife for such a +stuck-up piece of goods as this one is." + +"The captain is quite right," Roquetton the notary opined; "Madame +Rulhiére, the lawful Madame Rulhiére, is much more amiable, and +altogether nicer. You are a scoundrel to deceive her; but when may we +hope to see her?" + +And with a paternal grimace, he added: + +"But do not be uneasy; we will all hold our tongue; it would be too sad +if she were to find it out." + + + + +THE UPSTART + + +You know good-natured, stout Dupontel, who looks like the type of a +happy man, with his fat cheeks that are the color of ripe apples, his +small, reddish moustache, turned up over his thick lips, with his +prominent eyes, which never know any emotion or sorrow, which remind one +of the calm eyes of cows and oxen, and his long back fixed onto two +little wriggling, crooked legs, which obtained for him the nickname of +corkscrew from some nymph of the ballet. + +Dupontel, who had taken the trouble to be born, but not like the grand +seigneurs whom Beaumarchais made fun of once upon a time, was ballasted +with a respectable number of millions, as is becoming in the sole heir +of a house that had sold household utensils and appliances for over a +century. + +Naturally, like every other upstart who respects himself, he wished to +appear something, to play at being a clubman, and also to play to the +gallery, because he had been educated at Vangirard and knew a little +English; because he had gone through his voluntary service in the army +for twelve months[19] at Rouen; because he was a tolerable singer, could +drive four-in-hands, and play lawn-tennis. + +[Footnote 19: Although, in France, as in Germany, military service is +compulsory, men are allowed to serve in both countries as _one-year +volunteers_; they enjoy certain privileges, find their own uniform, &c., +and it, of course, entails considerable expense.--TRANSLATOR.] + +Always studiedly well-dressed, too correct in every way, copying his way +of speaking, his hats and his trousers from the three or four snobs who +set the fashion, reproducing other people's witticisms, learning +anecdotes and jokes by heart, like a lesson, to use them again at small +parties, constantly laughing, without knowing why his friends burst into +roars of merriment, and was in the habit of keeping pretty girls for the +pleasure of his best friends. Of course he was a perfect fool, but after +all, a capital fellow, to whom it was only right to extend a good deal +of indulgence. + +When he had taken his thirty-first mistress, and had made the discovery +that in love, money does not create happiness two-thirds of the time, +that they had all deceived him, and made him perfectly ridiculous at the +end of the week, Charles Dupontel made up his mind to settle down as a +respectable married man, and to marry, not from calculation or from +reason, but for love. + +One autumn afternoon at Auteuil, he noticed in front of the club stand, +among the number of pretty women who were standing round the braziers, a +girl with such lovely delicate complexion that it looked like an apple +blossom; her hair was like threads of gold, and she was so slight and +supple that she reminded him of those outlines of saints which one sees +in old stained-glass church windows. There was also something +enigmatical about her, for she had at the same time the delightfully +ingenuous look of a school girl during the holidays, and also of some +enlightened young lady, who already knew the how and the why of +everything, who is exuberant with youth and life, and who is eagerly +waiting for the moment when marriage will at length allow her to say and +to do everything that comes into her head, and to amuse herself to +satiety. + +Then she had such small feet that they would have gone into a woman's +hand, a waist that could have been clasped by a bracelet, turned up +eyelashes, which fluttered like the wings of a butterfly, close on an +impudent and sensual nose, and a vague, mocking smile that made folds in +her lips, like the petals of a rose. + +Her father was a member of the Jockey Club, who was generally _cleared +out_, as they call it, in the great races, but who yet defended his +position bravely, and continued that, and who kept himself afloat by +prodigies of coolness and skill. He belonged to a race which could prove +that his ancestors had been at the court of Charlemagne, and not as +musicians or cooks, as some people declared. + +Her youth and beauty and her father's pedigree dazzled Dupontel, upset +his brain, and altogether turned him upside down, and combined they +seemed to him to be a mirage of happiness and of pride of family. + +He got introduced to her father, at the end of a game of baccarat, +invited him to shoot with him, and a month later, as if it were an +affair to be hurried over, he asked for and obtained the hand of +Mademoiselle Therése de Montsaigne, and felt as happy as a miner who has +discovered a vein of precious metal. + +The young woman did not require more than twenty-four hours to discover +that her husband was nothing but a ridiculous puppet, and immediately +set about to consider how she might best escape from her cage, and +befool the poor fellow, who loved her with all his heart. + +And she deceived him without the least pity or the slightest scruple; +she did it as if it were from instinctive hatred, as if it were a +necessity for her not only to make him ridiculous, but also to forget +that she ought to sacrifice her virgin dreams to him, to belong to him, +and to submit to his hateful caresses without being able to defend +himself and to repel him. + +She was cruel, as all women are when they do not love, delighted in +doing audacious and absurd things, and in visiting everything, and in +braving danger. She seemed like a young colt, that is intoxicated with +the sun, the air and its liberty, and which gallops wildly across the +meadows, jumps hedges and ditches, kicks, and whinnies joyously, and +rolls about in the long, sweet grass. + +But Dupontel remained quite imperturbable; he had not the slightest +suspicion, and was the first to laugh when anybody told him some good +story of a husband who had been cuckolded, although his wife repelled +him, quarreled with him, and constantly pretended to be out of sorts or +tired out, in order to escape from him. She seemed to take a malicious +pleasure in checkmating him by her personal remarks, her disenchanting +answers, and her apparent listlessness. + +They saw a great deal of company, and he called himself Du Pontel now, +and he even had thoughts of buying a title from the Pope; he only read +certain newspapers, kept up a regular correspondence with the Orleans +Princes, was thinking of starting a racing stable, and finished up by +believing that he really was a fashionable man, and strutted about, and +was puffed out with conceit, as he had probably never read La Fontaine's +fable, in which he tells the story of the ass that is laden with relics +which people salute, and so takes their bows to himself. + +Suddenly, however, anonymous letters disturbed his quietude, and tore +the bandage from his eyes. + +At first he tore them up without reading them, and shrugged his +shoulders disdainfully; but he received so many of them, and the writer +seemed so determined to dot his _i's_ and cross his _t's_ and to clear +his brain for him, that the unhappy man began to grow disturbed, and to +watch and to ferret about. He instituted minute inquiries, and arrived +at the conclusion that he no longer had the right to make fun of other +husbands, and that he was the perfect counterpart of _Sganarelle_.[20] + +[Footnote 20: The _Cocu Imaginaire_ (The Imaginary Cuckold), in +Molière's play of that name.] + +Furious at having been duped, he set a whole private inquiry agency to +work, continually acted a part, and one evening appeared unexpectedly +with a commissary of police in the snug little bachelor's quarters which +concealed his wife's escapades. + +Therése, who was terribly frightened, and at her wits' end at being thus +surprised in all the disorder of her lover's apartments, and pale with +shame and terror, hid herself behind the bed curtains, while he, who was +an officer of dragoons, very much vexed at being mixed up in such a +pinchbeck scandal, and at being caught in a silk shirt by these men who +were so correctly dressed in frock coats, frowned angrily, and had to +restrain himself so as not to fling his victim out of a window. + +The police commissary, who was calmly looking at this little scene with +the coolness of an amateur, prepared to verify the fact that they were +caught _flagrante delicto_, and in an ironical voice said to her +husband, who had claimed his services: + +"I must ask for your name in full, Monsieur?" + +"Charles Joseph Edward Dupontel," was the answer. And as the commissary +was writing it down from his dictation, he added suddenly: "Du Pontel in +two words, if you please, Monsieur le Commissionaire!" + + + + +THE CARTER'S WENCH + + +The driver, who had jumped from his box, and was now walking slowly by +the side of his thin horses, waking them up every moment by a cut of the +whip, or a coarse oath, pointed to the top of the hill, where the +windows of a solitary house, in which the inhabitants were still up, +although it was very late and quite dark, were shining like yellow +lamps, and said to me: + +"One gets a good drop there, Monsieur, and well served, by George." + +And his eyes flashed in his thin, sunburnt face, which was of a deep +brickdust color, while he smacked his lips like a drunkard, who +remembers a bottle of good liquor that he has lately drunk, and drawing +himself up in a blouse like a vulgar swell, he shivered like the back of +an ox, when it is sharply pricked with the goad. + +"Yes, and well served by a wench who will turn your head for you before +you have tilted your elbow and drank a glass!" + +The moon was rising behind the snow-covered mountain peaks, which looked +almost like blood under its rays, and which were crowned by dark, broken +clouds, which whirled about and floated, and reminded the passenger of +some terrible Medusa's head. The gloomy plains of Capsir, which were +traversed by torrents, extensive meadows in which undefined forms were +moving about, fields of rye, like huge golden table-covers, and here and +there wretched villagers, and broad sheets of water, into which the +stars seemed to look in a melancholy manner, opened out to the view. +Damp gusts of winds swept along the road, bringing a strong smell of +hay, of resin of unknown flowers, with them, and erratic pieces of rock, +which were scattered on the surface like huge boundary stones, had +spectral outlines. + +The driver pulled his broad-brimmed felt hat over his eyes, twirled his +large moustache, and said in an obsequious voice: + +"Does Monsieur wish to stop here? This is the place!" + +It was a wretched wayside public-house, with a reddish slate roof, that +looked as if it were suffering from leprosy, and before the door there +stood three wagons drawn by mules, and loaded with huge stems of trees, +and which took up nearly the whole of the road; the animals, which were +used to halting there, were dozing, and their heavy loads exhaled a +smell of a pillaged forest. + +Inside, three wagoners, one of whom was an old man, while the other two +were young, were sitting in front of the fire, which cackled loudly, +with bottles and glasses on a large round-table by their side, and were +singing and laughing boisterously. A woman with large round hips, and +with a lace cap pinned onto her hair, in the Catalan fashion, who looked +strong and bold, and who had a certain amount of gracefulness about her, +and with a pretty, but untidy head, was urging them to undo the strings +of their great leather purses, and replied to their somewhat indelicate +jokes in a shrill voice, as she sat on the knee of the youngest, and +allowed him to kiss her and to fumble in her bodice, without any signs +of shame. + +The coachman pushed open the door, like a man who knows that he is at +home. + +"Good evening, Glaizette, and everybody; there is room for two more, I +suppose?" + +The wagoners did not speak, but looked at us cunningly and angrily, like +dogs whose food had been taken from them, and who showed their teeth, +ready to bite, while the girl shrugged her shoulders and looked into +their eyes like some female wild beast tamer; and then she asked us with +a strange smile: + +"What am I to get you?" + +"Two glasses of cognac, and the best you have in the cupboard," +Glaizette, the coachman replied, rolling a cigarette. + +While she was uncorking the bottle I noticed how green her eyeballs +were; it was a fascinating, tempting green, like that of the great green +grasshopper; and also how small her hands were, which showed that she +did not use them much; how white her teeth were, and how her voice, +which was rather rough, though cooing, had a cruel, and at the same +time, a coaxing sound. I fancied I saw her, as in a mirage, reclining +triumphantly on a couch, indifferent to the fights which were going on +about her, always waiting--longing for him who would prove himself the +stronger, and who would prove victorious. She was, in short, the +hospitable dispenser of love, by the side of that difficult, stony road, +who opened her arms to poor men, and who made them forget everything in +the profusion of her kisses. She knew dark matters, which nobody in the +world besides herself should know, which her sealed lips would carry +away inviolate to the other world. She had never yet loved, and would +never really love, because she was vowed to passing kisses which were so +soon forgotten. + +I was anxious to escape from her as soon as possible; no longer to see +her pale, green eyes, and her mouth that bestowed caresses from pure +charity; no longer to feel the woman with her beautiful, white hands, so +near one; so I threw her a piece of gold and made my escape without +saying a word to her, without waiting for any change, and without even +wishing her good-night, for I felt the caress of her smile, and the +disdainful restlessness of her looks. + +The carriage started off at a gallop to Formiguéres, amidst a furious +jingling of bells. I could not sleep any more; I wanted to know where +that woman came from, but I was ashamed to ask the driver and to show +any interest in such a creature, and when he began to talk, as we were +going up another hill, as if he had guessed my sweet thoughts, he told +me all he knew about Glaizette. I listened to him with the attention of +a child, to whom somebody is telling some wonderful fairy tale. + +She came from Fontpédrouze, a muleteers' village, where the men spend +their time in drinking and gambling at the inn when they are not +traveling on the high roads with their mules, while the women do all the +field work, carry the heaviest loads on their back, and lead a life of +pain and misery. + +Her father kept an inn; the girl grew up very happy; she was courted +before she was fifteen, and was so coquettish that she was certain to be +almost always found in front of her looking-glass, smiling at her own +beauty, arranging her hair, trying to make herself like a young lady on +the _prado_. And now, as none of the family knew how to keep a +halfpenny, but spent more than they earned, and were like cracked jugs, +from which the water escapes drop by drop, they found themselves ruined +one fine day, just as if they had been at the bottom of a blind alley. +So on the "Feast of Our Lady of Succor," when people go on a pilgrimage +to Font Romea, and the villages are consequently deserted, the +inn-keeper set fire to the house. The crime was discovered through _la +Glaizette_, who could not make up her mind to leave the looking-glass, +with which her room was adorned, behind her, and so had carried it off +under her petticoat. + +The parents were sentenced to many years' imprisonment, and being let +loose to live as best she could, the girl became a servant, passed from +hand to hand, inherited some property from an old farmer, whom she had +caught, as if she had been a thrush on a twig covered with bird-lime, +and with the money she had built this public-house on the new road which +was being built across the Capsir. + +"A regular bad one, Monsieur," the coachman said in conclusion, "a vixen +such as one does not see now in the worst garrison towns, and who would +open the door to the whole fraternity, and not at all avaricious, but +thoroughly honest...." + +I interrupted him in spite of myself, as if his words had pained me, and +I thought of those pale green eyes, those magic eyes, eyes to be dreamt +about, which were the color of grasshoppers, and I looked for them, and +saw them in the darkness; they danced before me like phosphorescent +lights, and I would have given then the whole contents of my purse to +that man if he would only have been silent and urged his horses on to +full speed, so that their mad gallop might carry me off quickly, quickly +and far, and continually further from that girl. + + + + +THE MARQUIS + + +It was quite useless to expostulate when that obstinate little Sonia, +with a Russian name and Russian caprices, had said: "I choose to do it." +She was so delicate and pretty also, with her slightly turned-up nose, +and her rosy and childish cheeks, while every female perversity was +reflected in the depths of her strange eyes, which were the color of the +sea on a stormy evening. Yes, she was very charming, very fantastic, and +above all, so Russian, so deliciously and imperiously Russian, and all +the more Russian, as she came from Montmarte, and in spite of this, not +one of her seven lovers who composed her usual menagerie had laughed +when their enslaver said one day: + +"You know my feudal castle at Pludun-Herlouët, near Saint +Jacut-de-la-Mer, which I bought two years ago, and in which I have not +yet set foot? Very well, then! The day after to-morrow, which is the +first of May, we will have a house-warming there." + +The seven had not asked for any further explanation, but had accompanied +little Sonia, and were now ready to sit down to dinner under her +presidency in the dining-room of the old castle, which was situated ten +hours from Paris. They had arrived there that morning; they were going +to have dinner and supper together, and start off again at daybreak next +morning; such were Sonia's orders, and nobody had made the slightest +objection. + +Two of her admirers, however, who were not yet used to her sudden whims, +had felt some surprise, which was quickly checked by expressions of +enthusiastic pleasure on the part of the others. + +"What a delightful, original idea! Nobody else would have thought of +such things! Positively, nobody else. Oh! these Russians!" But those who +had known her for some time, and who had been consequently educated not +to be surprised at anything, found it all quite natural. + +It was half-past six in the evening, and the gentlemen were going to +dress. Sonia had made up her mind to keep on her morning-gown, or if she +dressed, she would do so later. Just then she was not inclined to move +out of her great rocking-chair, from which she could see the sun setting +over the sea. The sight always delighted her very much. It might have +been taken for a large red billiard ball, rebounding from the green +cloth. How funny it was! And how lucky that she was all alone to look at +it, for those seven would not have understood it at all! Those men never +have any soul, have they? + +Certainly, the sunset was strange at first, but at length it made her +sad, and just now Sonia's heart felt almost heavy, though the very +sadness was sweet. She was congratulating herself more than ever on +being alone, so as to enjoy that languor, which was almost like a gentle +dream, when, in perfect harmony with that melancholy and sweet +sensation, a voice rose from the road, which was overhung by the +terrace; a tremulous, but fresh and pure voice sang the following words +to a slow melody: + + "Walking in Paris, + Having my drink, + A friend of mine whispered: + _What do you think? + If love makes you thirsty, + Then wine makes you lusty_." + +The sound died away, as the singer continued on his way, and Sonia was +afraid that she should not hear the rest; it was really terrible; so she +jumped out of the rocking-chair, ran to the balustrade of terrace, and +leaning over it, she called out: "Sing it again! I insist on it. The +song, the whole song!" + +On hearing this, the singer looked round and then came back, without +hurrying, however, and as if he were prompted by curiosity, rather than +by any desire to comply with her order, and holding his hand over his +eyes, he looked at Sonia attentively, who, on her part, had plenty of +time to look closely at him. + +He was an old man of about sixty-five, and his rags and the wallet over +his shoulder denoted a beggar, but Sonia immediately noticed that there +was a certain amount of affectation in his wretchedness. His hair and +beard were not shaggy and ragged, like such men usually wear them, and +evidently he had his hair cut occasionally, and he had a fine, and even +_distinguished_ face, as Sonia said to herself. But she did not pay much +attention to that, as for some time she had noticed that old men at the +seaside nearly all looked like gentlemen. + +When he got to the foot of the terrace, the beggar stopped, and wagged +his head and said: "Pretty! The little woman is very pretty!" But he did +not obey Sonia's order, who repeated it, almost angrily this time, +beating a violent tattoo on the stone-work. "The song, the whole song!" + +He did not seem to hear, but stood there gaping, with a vacant smile on +his face, and as his head was rather inclined towards his left shoulder, +a thin stream of saliva trickled from his lips onto his beard, and his +looks became more and more ardent. "How stupid I am!" Sonia suddenly +thought. "Of course he is waiting for something." She felt in her +pocket, in which she always carried some gold by way of half-pence, took +out a twenty-franc piece and threw it down to the old man. He, however, +did not take any notice of it, but continued looking at her +ecstatically, and was only roused from his state of bliss by receiving a +handful of gravel which she threw at him, right in his face. + +"Do sing!" she exclaimed. "You must; I will have it; I have paid you." +And then, still smiling, he picked up the napoleon and threw it back +onto the terrace, and then he said proudly, though in a very gentle +voice: "I do not ask for charity, little lady; but if it gives you +pleasure, I will sing you the whole song, the whole of it, as often as +you please." And he began the song again, in his tremulous voice, which +was more tremulous than it had been before, as if he were much touched. + +Sonia was overcome, and without knowing was moved into tears; delighted +because the man had spoken to her so familiarly, and rather ashamed at +having treated him as a beggar; and now her whole being was carried away +by the slow rhythm of the melody, which related an old love story, and +when he had done he again looked at her with a smile, and as she was +crying, he said to her: "I dare say you have a beautiful horse, or a +little dog that you are very fond of, which is ill. Take me to it, and I +will cure it: I understand it thoroughly. I will do it _gratis_, because +you are so pretty." + +She could not help laughing. "You must not laugh," he said. "What are +you laughing at? Because I am poor? But I am not, for I had work +yesterday, and again to-day. I have a bag full. See, look here!" And +from his belt he drew a leather purse in which coppers rattled. He +poured them out into the palm of his hand, and said merrily: "You see, +little one, I have a purse. Forty-seven sous; forty-seven!" "So you will +not take my napoleon?" Sonia said. "Certainly not," he replied. "I do +not want it; and then, I tell you again, I will not accept alms. So you +do not know me?" "No, I do not." "Very well, ask anyone in the +neighborhood. Everybody will tell you that the Marquis does not live on +charity." + +The Marquis! At that name she suddenly remembered that two years ago she +had heard his story. It was at the time that she bought the property, +and the vendor had mentioned the _Marquis_ as one of the curiosities of +the soil. He was said to be half silly, at any rate an original, almost +in his dotage, living by any lucky bits that he could make as +horse-coper and veterinary. The peasants gave him a little work, as they +feared that he might throw spells over anyone who refused to employ him. +They also respected him on account of his former wealth and of his +title, for he had been rich, very rich, and they said that he really was +a marquis, and it was said that he had ruined himself in Paris by +speculating. The reason, of course, _was women_! + +At that moment the dinner bell began to ring, and a wild idea entered +Sonia's head. She ran to the little door that opened onto the terrace, +overtook the musician, and with a ceremonious bow she said to him: "Will +you give me the pleasure and the honor of dining with me, Marquis?" + +The old man left off smiling and grew serious; he put his hand to his +forehead, as if to bring old recollections back, and then with a very +formal, old-fashioned bow, he said: "With pleasure, my dear." And +letting his wallet drop, he offered Sonia his arm. + +When she introduced this new guest to them, all the seven, even to the +best drilled, started. "I see what disturbs you," she said. "It is his +dress. Well! It really leaves much to be desired. But wait a moment; +that can soon be arranged." + +She rang for her lady's maid and whispered something to her, and then +she said: "Marquis, your bath is ready in your dressing-room. If you +will follow Sabina, she will show you to it. These gentlemen and I will +wait dinner for you." And as soon as he had gone out, she said to the +youngest there: "And now, Ernest, go upstairs and undress; I will allow +you to dine in your morning coat, and you will give your dress coat and +the rest to Sabina, for the Marquis." + +Ernest was delighted at having to play a part in the piece, and the six +others clapped their hands. "Nobody else could think of such things; +nobody, nobody!" + +Half an hour later they were sitting at dinner, the Marquis in a dress +coat on Sonia's left, and it was a great deception for the seven. They +had reckoned on having some fun with him, and especially Ernest, who set +up as a wit, had intended to _draw him_. But at the first attempt of +this sort, Sonia had given him a look which they all understood, and +dinner began very ceremoniously for the seven, but merrily and without +restraint between Sonia and the old man. + +They cut very long faces, those seven, but inwardly, if one can say so, +for of course they could not dream of showing how put out they were, and +those inward long faces grew longer still when Sonia said to the old +fellow, quite suddenly: "I say, how stupid these gentlemen are! Suppose +we leave them to themselves?" + +The Marquis rose, offered her his arm again, and said: "Where shall we +go to?" But Sonia's only reply was to sing the couplet of that song +which she had remembered: + + "For three years I passed + The nights with my love, + In a beautiful bed + In a splendid alcove. + Though wine makes me sleepy, + Yet love keeps me frisky." + +And the seven, who were altogether dumbfounded this time, and who could +not conceal their vexation, saw the couple disappear out of the door +which led to Sonia's apartments. "Hum!" Ernest ventured to say, "this is +really rather strong!" "Yes," the eldest of the menagerie replied. "It +certainly is rather strong, but it will do! You know, there is nobody +like her for thinking of such things!" + +The next morning, the _château_ bell woke them up at six o'clock, when +they had agreed to return to Paris, and the seven men asked each other +whether they should go and wish Sonia good-morning, as usual, before she +was out of her room. Ernest hesitated more than any of them about it, +and it was not until Sabina, her maid, came and told them that her +mistress insisted upon it, that they could make up their minds to do so, +and they were surprised to find Sonia in bed by herself. + +"Well!" Ernest asked boldly, "and what about the Marquis?" "He left very +early," Sonia replied. "A queer sort of marquis, I must say!" Ernest +observed contemptuously, and growing bolder. "Why, I should like to +know?" Sonia replied, drawing herself up. "The man has his own habits, I +suppose!" "Do you know, Madame," Sabina observed, "that he came back +half an hour after he left?" "Ah!" Sonia said, getting up and walking +about the room. "He came back? What did he want, I wonder?" "He did not +say, Madame. He merely went upstairs to see you. He was dressed in his +old clothes again." + +And suddenly Sonia uttered a loud cry, and clapped her hands, and the +seven came round to see what had caused her emotion. "Look here! Just +look here!" she cried. "Do look on the mantel-piece! It is really +charming! Do look!" + +And with a smiling, and yet somewhat melancholy expression in her eyes, +with a tender look which they could not understand, she showed them a +small bunch of wild flowers, by the side of a heap of half-pennies. +Mechanically she took them up and counted them, and then began to cry. + +There were forty-seven of them. + + + + +THE BED + + +On a hot afternoon during last summer, the large auction rooms seemed +asleep, and the auctioneers were knocking down the various lots in a +listless manner. In a back room, on the first floor, two or three lots +of old silk, ecclesiastical vestments, were lying in a corner. + +They were copes for solemn occasions, and graceful chasubles on which +embroidered flowers surrounded symbolic letters on a yellowish ground, +which had become cream-colored, although it had originally been white. +Some second-hand dealers were there, two or three men with dirty beards, +and a fat woman with a big stomach, one of those women who deal in +second-hand finery, and who also manage illicit love affairs, who are +brokers in old and young human flesh, just as much as they are in new +and old clothes. + +Presently a beautiful Louis XV. chasuble was put up for sale, which was +as pretty as the dress of a marchioness of that period; it had retained +all its colors, and was embroidered with lilies of the valley round the +cross, and long blue iris, which came up to the foot of the sacred +emblem, and wreaths of roses in the corners. When I had bought it, I +noticed that there was a faint scent about it, as if it were permeated +with the remains of incense, or rather, as if it were still pervaded by +those delicate, sweet scents of by-gone years, which seemed to be only +the memory of perfumes, the soul of evaporated essences. + +When I got it home, I wished to have a small chair of the same period +covered with it; and as I was handling it in order to take the necessary +measures, I felt some paper beneath my fingers, and when I cut the +lining, some letters fell at my feet. They were yellow with age, and the +faint ink was the color of rust, and outside the sheet, which was folded +in the fashion of years long past, it was addressed in a delicate hand: +_To Monsieur l'Abbé d'Argence_ + +The first three lines merely settled places of meeting, but here is the +third: + +"My Friend; I am very unwell, ill in fact, and I cannot leave my bed. +The rain is beating against my windows, and I lie dreaming comfortably +and warmly on my eider-down coverlet. I have a book of which I am very +fond, and which seems as if it really applied to me. Shall I tell you +what it is? No, for you would only scold me. Then, when I have read a +little, I think, and will tell you what about. + +"Having been in bed for three days, I think about my bed, and even in my +sleep I meditate on it still, and I have come to the conclusion that the +bed constitutes our whole life; for we were born in it, we live in it, +and we shall die in it. If, therefore, I had Monsieur de Crébillon's +pen, I should write the history of a bed, and what exciting and +terrible, as well as delightful moving occurrences would not such a book +contain! What lessons and what subjects for moralizing could one not +draw from it, for everyone? + +"You know my bed, my friend, but you will never guess how many things I +have discovered in it within the last three days, and how much more I +love it, in consequence. It seems to me to be inhabited, haunted, if I +may say so, by a number of people I never thought of, who, nevertheless, +have left something of themselves in that couch. + +"Ah! I cannot understand people who buy new beds, beds to which no +memories or cares are attached. Mine, ours, which is so shabby, and so +spacious, must have held many existences in it, from birth to the grave. +Think of that, my friend; think of it all; review all those lives, a +great part of which was spent between these four posts, surrounded by +these hangings embroidered by human figures, which have seen so many +things. What have they seen during the three centuries since they were +first put up? + +"Here is a young woman lying on this bed. From time to time she sighs, +and then she groans and cries out; her mother is with her, and presently +a little creature that makes a noise like a cat mewing, and which is all +shriveled and wrinkled, comes from her. It is a male child to which she +has given birth, and the young mother feels happy in spite of her pain; +she is nearly suffocated with joy at that first cry, and stretches out +her arms, and those around her shed tears of pleasure; for that little +morsel of humanity which has come from her means the continuation of the +family, the perpetuation of the blood, of the heart, and of the soul of +the old people, who are looking on, trembling with excitement. + +"And then, here are two lovers, who for the first time are flesh to +flesh together in that tabernacle of life. They tremble; but transported +with delight, they have the delicious sensation of being close together, +and by degrees their lips meet. That divine kiss makes them one, that +kiss, which is the gate of a terrestrial heaven, that kiss which speaks +of human delights, which continually promises them, announces them, and +precedes them. And their bed is agitated like the tempestuous sea, and +it bends and murmurs, and itself seems to become animated and joyous, +for the maddening mystery of love is being accomplished on it. What is +there sweeter, what more perfect in this world than those embraces, +which make one single being out of two, and which give to both of them +at the same moment the same thought, the same expectation, and the same +maddening pleasure, which descends upon them like a celestial and +devouring fire? + +"Do you remember those lines from some old poet, which you read to me +last year? I do not remember who wrote them, but it may have been +Rousard: + + "When you and I in bed shall lie, + Lascivious we shall be, + Enlaced, playing a thousand tricks, + Of lovers, gamesomely. + +"I should like to have that verse embroidered on the top of my bed, +where Pyramus and Thisbe are continually looking at me out of their +tapestry eyes. + +"And think of death, my friend; of all those who have breathed out their +last sigh to God in this bed. For it is also the tomb of hopes ended, +the door which closes everything, after having been the one which lets +in the world. What cries, what anguish, what sufferings, what groans, +how many arms stretched out towards the past; what appeals to happiness +that has vanished for ever; what convulsions, what death-rattles, what +gaping lips and distorted eyes have there not been in this bed, from +which I am writing to you, during the three centuries that it has +sheltered human beings! + +"The bed, you must remember, is the symbol of life; I have discovered +this within the last three days. There is nothing good except the bed, +and are not some of our best moments spent in sleep? + +"But then again, we suffer in bed! It is the refuge of those who are ill +and suffering; a place of repose and comfort for worn-out bodies, and, +in a word, the bed is part and parcel of humanity. + +"Many other thoughts have struck me, but I have no time to note them +down for you, and then, should I remember them all? Besides that, I am +so tired that I mean to retire to my pillows, stretch myself out at full +length, and sleep a little. But be sure and come to see me at three +o'clock to-morrow; perhaps I may be better, and able to prove it to you. + +"Good-bye, my friend; here are my hands for you to kiss, and I also +offer you my lips." + + + + +AN ADVENTURE IN PARIS + + +Is there any stronger feeling than curiosity in a woman? Oh! Fancy +seeing, knowing, touching what one has dreamt about! What would a woman +not do for that? When once a woman's eager curiosity is aroused, she +will be guilty of any folly, commit any imprudence, venture upon +anything, and recoil from nothing. I am speaking of women who are really +women, who are endowed with that triple-bottomed disposition, which +appears to be reasonable and cold on the surface, but whose three secret +compartments are filled. The first, with female uneasiness, which is +always in a state of flutter; the next, with sly tricks which are +colored in imitation of good faith, with those sophistical and +formidable tricks of apparently devout women; and the last, with all +those charming, improper acts, with that delightful deceit, exquisite +perfidy, and all those wayward qualities, which drive lovers who are +stupidly credulous, to suicide; but which delight others. + +The woman whose adventure I am about to relate, was a little person from +the provinces, who had been insipidly chaste till then. Her life, which +was apparently so calm, was spent at home, with a busy husband and two +children, whom she brought up like an irreproachable woman. But her +heart beat with unsatisfied curiosity, and some unknown longing. She was +continually thinking of Paris, and read the fashionable papers eagerly. +The accounts of parties, of the dresses and various entertainments, +excited her longing; but, above all, she was strangely agitated by those +paragraphs which were full of double meaning, by those veils which were +half raised by clever phrases, and which gave her a glimpse of culpable +and ravishing delights, and from her country home, she saw Paris in an +apotheosis of magnificent and corrupt luxury. + +And during the long nights, when she dreamt, lulled by the regular +snores of her husband, who was sleeping on his back by her side, with a +silk handkerchief tied round his head, she saw in her sleep those +well-known men whose names appeared on the first page of the newspapers +as great stars in the dark skies; and she pictured to herself their life +of continual excitement, of constant debauches, of orgies such as they +indulged in in ancient Rome, which were horridly voluptuous, with +refinements of sensuality which were so complicated that she could not +even picture them to herself. + +The boulevards seemed to her to be a kind of abyss of human passions, +and there could be no doubt that the houses there concealed mysteries of +prodigious love. But she felt that she was growing old, and this, +without having known life, except in those regular, horridly monotonous, +everyday occupations, which constitute the happiness of the home. She +was still pretty, for she was well preserved in her tranquil existence, +like some winter fruit in a closed cupboard; but she was agitated and +devoured by her secret ardor. She used to ask herself whether she should +die without having experienced any of those damning, intoxicating joys, +without having plunged once, just once into that flood of Parisian +voluptuousness. + +By dint of much perseverance, she paved the way for a journey to Paris, +found a pretext, got some relations to invite her, and as her husband +could not go with her, she went alone, and as soon as she arrived, she +invented a reason for remaining for two days, or rather for two nights, +if necessary, as she told him that she had met some friends who lived a +little way out of town. + +And then she set out on a voyage of discovery. She went up and down the +boulevards, without seeing anything except roving and numbered vice. She +looked into the large _cafés_, and read the _Agony Column_ of the +_Figaro_, which every morning seemed to her like a tocsin, a summons to +love. But nothing put her on the track of those orgies of actors and +actresses; nothing revealed to her those temples of debauchery which she +imagined opened at some magic word, like the cave in the _Arabian +Nights_, or those catacombs in Rome, where the mysteries of a persecuted +religion were secretly celebrated. + +Her relations, who were quite middle-class people, could not introduce +her to any of those well-known men with whose names her head was full, +and in despair she was thinking of returning, when chance came to her +aid. One day, as she was going along the _Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin_, +she stopped to look into a shop full of those colored Japanese +knick-knacks, which strike the eye on account of their color. She was +looking at the little ivory buffoons, the tall vases of flaming enamel, +and the curious bronzes, when she heard the shop-keeper dilating, with +many bows, on the value of an enormous, pot-bellied, comical figure, +which was quite unique, he said, to a little, bald-headed, gray-bearded +man. + +Every moment, the shop-keeper repeated his customer's name, which was a +celebrated one, in a voice like a trumpet. The other customers, young +women and well-dressed gentlemen, gave a swift and furtive, but +respectful glance at the celebrated writer, who was looking admiringly +at the china figure. They were both equally ugly, as ugly as two +brothers who had sprung from the same mother. + +"I will let you have it for a thousand francs, Monsieur Varin, and that +is exactly what it cost me. I should ask anybody else fifteen hundred, +but I think a great deal of literary and artistic customers, and have +special prices for them. They all come to me, Monsieur Varin. Yesterday, +Monsieur Busnach bought a large, antique goblet of me, and the other day +I sold two candelabra like this (is it not handsome?) to Monsieur +Alexander Dumas. If Monsieur Zola were to see that Japanese figure, he +would buy it immediately, Monsieur Varin." + +The author hesitated in perplexity, as he wanted to have the figure, but +the price was above him, and he thought no more about her looking at him +than if he had been alone in the desert. She came in trembling, with her +eyes fixed shamelessly upon him, and she did not even ask herself +whether he were good-looking, elegant or young. It was Jean Varin +himself, Jean Varin. After a long struggle, and painful hesitation, he +put the figure down onto the table. "No, it is too dear," he said. The +shop-keeper's eloquence redoubled. "Oh! Monsieur Varin, too dear? It is +worth two thousand francs, if it is worth a son." But the man of letters +replied sadly, still looking at the figure with the enameled eyes: "I do +not say it is not; but it is too dear for me." And thereupon, she, +seized by a kind of mad audacity, came forward and said: "What shall you +charge me for the figure?" The shop-keeper, in surprise, replied: +"Fifteen hundred francs, Madame." "I will take it." + +The writer, who had not even noticed her till that moment, turned round +suddenly; he looked at her from head to foot, with half-closed eyes, +observantly, and then he took in the details, as a connoisseur. She was +charming, suddenly animated by that flame which had hitherto been +dormant in her. And then, a woman who gives fifteen hundred francs for a +knick-knack is not to be met with every day. + +But she was overcome by a feeling of delightful delicacy, and turning to +him, she said in a trembling voice: "Excuse me, Monsieur; no doubt I +have been rather hasty, as perhaps you had not finally made up your +mind." He, however, only bowed, and said: "Indeed, I had, Madame." And +she, filled with emotion, continued: "Well, Monsieur, if either to-day, +or at any other time, you change your mind, you can have this Japanese +figure. I only bought it because you seemed to like it." + +He was visibly flattered, and smiled. "I should much like to find out +how you know who I am?" he said. Then she told him how she admired him, +and became quite eloquent as she quoted his works, and while they were +talking he rested his arms on a table, and fixed his bright eyes upon +her, trying to make out who and what she really was. But the shop-keeper, +who was pleased to have that living puff of his goods, called out, from +the other end of the shop: "Just look at this, Monsieur Varin; is it not +beautiful?" + +And then everyone looked round, and she almost trembled with pleasure at +being seen talking so intimately with such a well-known man. + +At last, however, intoxicated, as it were, by her feelings, she grew +bold, like a general does, who is going to give the order for an +assault. "Monsieur," she said, "will you do me a great, a very great +pleasure? Allow me to offer you this funny Japanese figure, as a +keepsake from a woman who admires you passionately, and whom you have +seen for ten minutes." + +Of course he refused, and she persisted, but still he resisted her +offer, at which he was much amused, and at which he laughed heartily; +but that only made her more obstinate, and she said: "Very well, then, I +shall take it to your house immediately. Where do you live?" + +He refused to give her his address, but she got it from the shop-keeper, +and when she had paid for her purchase, she ran out to take a cab. The +writer went after her, as he did not wish to accept a present for which +he could not possibly account. He reached her just as she was jumping +into the vehicle, and getting in after her, he almost fell onto her, and +then tumbled onto the bottom of the cab as it started. He picked himself +up, however, and sat down by her side, feeling very much annoyed. + +It was no good for him to insist and to beg her; she showed herself +intractable, and when they got to the door, she stated her conditions. +"I will undertake not to leave this with you," she said, "if you will +promise to do all I want to-day." And the whole affair seemed so funny +to him that he agreed. "What do you generally do at this time?" she +asked him; and after hesitating for a few moments, he replied: "I +generally go for a walk." "Very well, then, we will go to the _Bois de +Boulogne_!" she said, in a resolute voice, and they started. + +He was obliged to tell her the names of all the well-known women, pure +or impure, with every detail about them; their life, their habits, their +private affairs, and their vices; and when it was getting dusk, she said +to him: "What do you do every day at this time?" "I have some absinthe," +he replied, with a laugh. "Very well, then, Monsieur," she went on, +seriously, "let us go and have some absinthe." + +They went into a large _café_ on the boulevard which he frequented, and +where he met some of his colleagues, whom he introduced to her. She was +half mad with pleasure, and she kept saying to herself: "At last! At +last!" But time went on, and she observed that she supposed it must be +about his dinner time, and she suggested that they should go and dine. +When they left _Bignon's_, after dinner, she wanted to know what he did +in the evening, and looking at her fixedly, he replied: "That depends; +sometimes I go to the theater." "Very well, then, Monsieur; let us go to +the theater." + +They went to the Vaudeville with an order, thanks to him, and, to her +great pride, the whole house saw her sitting by his side, in the balcony +stalls. + +When the play was over, he gallantly kissed her hand, and said: "It only +remains for me to thank you for this delightful day...." But she +interrupted him: "What do you do at this time, every night?" "Why ... +why ... I go home." She began to laugh, a little tremulous laugh. "Very +well, Monsieur ... let us go to your rooms." + +They did not say anything more. She shivered occasionally, from head to +foot, feeling inclined to stay, and inclined to run away, but with a +fixed determination, after all, to see it out to the end. She was so +excited that she had to hold onto the baluster as she went upstairs, and +he came up behind her, with a wax match in his hand. + +As soon as they were in the room, she undressed herself quickly, and +retired without saying a word, and then she waited for him, cowering +against the wall. But she was as simple as it was possible for a +provincial lawyer's wife to be, and he was more exacting than a pascha +with three tails, and so they did not at all understand each other. At +last, however, he went to sleep, and the night passed, and the silence +was only disturbed by the _tick-tack_ of the clock, and she, lying +motionless, thought of her conjugal nights; and by the light of the +Chinese lantern, she looked, nearly heart-broken, at the little fat man +lying on his back, whose round stomach raised up the bed-clothes like a +balloon filled with gas. He snored with the noise of a wheezy organ +pipe, with prolonged snorts and comic chokings. His few hairs profited +by his sleep, to stand up in a very strange way, as if they were tired +of having been fastened for so long to that pate, whose bareness they +were trying to cover, and a small stream of saliva was running out of +one corner of his half-open mouth. + +At last the daylight appeared through the drawn blinds; so she got up +and dressed herself without making any noise, and she had already half +opened the door, when she made the lock creak, and he woke up and rubbed +his eyes. He was some moments before he quite came to himself, and then, +when he remembered all that had happened, he said: "What! Are you going +already?" She remained standing, in some confusion, and then she said, +in a hesitating voice: "Yes, of course; it is morning..." + +Then he sat up, and said: "Look here, I have something to ask you, in my +turn." And as she did not reply, he went on: "You have surprised me most +confoundedly since yesterday. Be open, and tell me why you did it all, +for upon my word I cannot understand it in the least." She went close up +to him, blushing like as if she had been a virgin, and said: "I wanted +to know ... what ... what vice ... really was, ... and ... well ... +well, it is not at all funny." + +And she ran out of the room, and downstairs into the street. + +A number of sweepers were busy in the streets, brushing the pavements, +the roadway, and sweeping everything on one side. With the same regular +motion, the motion of mowers in a meadow, they pushed the mud in front +of them in a semi-circle, and she met them in every street, like dancing +puppets, walking automatically with their swaying motion. And it seemed +to her as if something had been swept out of her; as if her over-excited +dreams had been pushed into the gutter, or into the drain, and so she +went home, out of breath, and very cold, and all that she could remember +was the sensation of the motion of those brooms sweeping the streets of +Paris in the early morning. + +As soon as she got into her room, she threw herself onto her bed and +cried. + + + + +MADAME BAPTISTE + + +When I went into the waiting-room at the station at Loubain, the first +thing I did was to look at the clock, and I found that I had two hours +and ten minutes to wait for the Paris express. + +I felt suddenly tired, as if I had walked twenty miles, and then I +looked about me as if I could find some means of killing the time on the +station walls, and at last I went out again, and stopped outside the +gates of the station, racking my brains to find something to do. The +street, which was a kind of a boulevard, planted with acacias, between +two rows of houses of unequal shape and different styles of +architecture, houses such as one only sees in a small town, ascended a +slight hill, and at the extreme end of it, there were some trees, as if +it ended in a park. + +From time to time, a cat crossed the street, and jumped over the +gutters, carefully. A cur sniffed at every tree, and hunted for +fragments from the kitchens, but I did not see a single human being, and +I felt listless and disheartened. What could I do with myself? I was +already thinking of the inevitable and interminable visit to the small +_café_ at the railway station, where I should have to sit over a glass +of undrinkable beer and the illegible newspaper, when I saw a funeral +procession coming out of a side street into the one in which I was, and +the sight of the hearse was a relief to me. It would, at any rate, give +me something to do for ten minutes. Suddenly, however, my curiosity was +aroused. The corpse was followed by eight gentlemen, one of whom was +weeping, while the others were chatting together, but there was no +priest, and I thought to myself: + +"This is a non-religious funeral," but then I reflected that a town like +Loubain must contain at least a hundred free-thinkers, who would have +made a point of making a manifestation. What could it be then? The rapid +pace of the procession clearly proved that the body was to be buried +without ceremony, and, consequently, without the intervention of +religion. + +My idle curiosity framed the most complicated suppositions, and as the +hearse passed me, a strange idea struck me, which was to follow it, with +the eight gentlemen. That would take up my time for an hour, at least, +and I, accordingly, walked with the others, with a sad look on my face, +and on seeing this, the two last turned round in surprise, and then +spoke to each other in a low voice. + +No doubt they were asking each other whether I belonged to the town, and +then they consulted the two in front of them, who stared at me in turn. +This close attention which they paid me, annoyed me, and to put an end +to it, I went up to them, and, after bowing, I said: + +"I beg your pardon, gentlemen, for interrupting your conversation, but +seeing a civil funeral, I have followed it, although I did not know the +deceased gentleman whom you are accompanying." + +"It is a woman," one of them said. + +I was much surprised at hearing this, and asked: + +"But it is a civil funeral, is it not?" + +The other gentleman, who evidently wished to tell me all about it, then +said: "Yes and no. The clergy have refused to allow us the use of the +church." + +On hearing that I uttered a prolonged _A--h_! of astonishment. I could +not understand it at all, but my obliging neighbor continued: + +"It is rather a long story. This young woman committed suicide, and that +is the reason why she cannot be buried with any religious ceremony. The +gentleman who is walking first, and who is crying, is her husband." + +I replied with some hesitation: + +"You surprise and interest me very much, Monsieur. Shall I be indiscreet +if I ask you to tell me the facts of the case? If I am troubling you, +think that I have said nothing about the matter." + +The gentleman took my arm familiarly. + +"Not at all, not at all. Let us stop a little behind the others, and I +will tell it you, although it is a very sad story. We have plenty of +time before getting to the cemetery, whose trees you see up yonder, for +it is a stiff pull up this hill." + +And he began: + +"This young woman, Madame Paul Hamot, was the daughter of a wealthy +merchant in the neighborhood, Monsieur Fontanelle. When she was a mere +child of eleven, she had a terrible adventure; a footman violated her. +She nearly died, in consequence, and the wretch's brutality betrayed +him. A terrible criminal case was the result, and it was proved that for +three months the poor young martyr had been the victim of that brute's +disgraceful practices, and he was sentenced to penal servitude for life. + +"The little girl grew up stigmatized by disgrace, isolated without any +companions, and grown-up people would scarcely kiss her, for they +thought that they would soil their lips if they touched her forehead, +and she became a sort of monster, a phenomenon to all the town. People +said to each other in a whisper: 'You know, little Fontanelle,' and +everybody turned away in the streets when she passed. Her parents could +not even get a nurse to take her out for a walk, as the other servants +held aloof from her, as if contact with her would poison everybody who +came near her. + +"It was pitiable to see the poor child. She remained quite by herself, +standing by her maid, and looking at the other children amusing +themselves. Sometimes, yielding to an irresistible desire to mix with +the other children, she advanced, timidly, with nervous gestures, and +mingled with a group, with furtive steps, as if conscious of her own +infamy. And, immediately, the mothers, aunts and nurses used to come +running from every seat, who took the children entrusted to their care +by the hand and dragged them brutally away. + +"Little Fontanelle remained isolated, wretched, without understanding +what it meant, and then she began to cry, nearly heart-broken with +grief, and then she used to run and hide her head in her nurse's lap, +sobbing. + +"As she grew up, it was worse still. They kept the girls from her, as if +she were stricken with the plague. Remember that she had nothing to +learn, nothing; that she no longer had the right to the symbolical +wreath of orange-flowers; that almost before she could read, she had +penetrated that redoubtable mystery, which mothers scarcely allow their +daughters to guess, trembling as they enlighten them, on the night of +their marriage. + +"When she went through the streets, always accompanied by her governess, +as if her parents feared some fresh, terrible adventure, with her eyes +cast down under the load of that mysterious disgrace, which she felt was +always weighing upon her, the other girls, who were not nearly so +innocent as people thought, whispered and giggled as they looked at her +knowingly, and immediately turned their heads absently, if she happened +to look at them. People scarcely greeted her; only a few men bowed to +her, and the mothers pretended not to see her, whilst some young +blackguards called her _Madame Baptiste_, after the name of the footman +who had outraged and ruined her. + +"Nobody knew the secret torture of her mind, for she hardly ever spoke, +and never laughed, and her parents themselves appeared uncomfortable in +her presence, as if they bore her a constant grudge for some irreparable +fault. + +"An honest man would not willingly give his hand to a liberated convict, +would he, even if that convict were his own son? And Monsieur and Madame +Fontanelle looked on their daughter as they would have done on a son who +had just been released from the hulks. She was pretty and pale, tall, +slender, distinguished-looking, and she would have pleased me very much, +Monsieur, but for that unfortunate affair. + +"Well, when a new sub-prefect was appointed here eighteen months ago, he +brought his private secretary with him. He was a queer sort of fellow, +who had lived in the _Latin Quarter_[21], it appears. He saw +Mademoiselle Fontanelle, and fell in love with her, and when told of +what occurred, he merely said: 'Bah! That is just a guarantee for the +future, and I would rather it should have happened before I married her, +than afterwards. I shall sleep tranquilly with that woman.' + +[Footnote 21: The students' quarter in France, where so many of them +lead rackety, fast lives.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"He paid his addresses to her, asked for her hand, and married her, and +then, not being deficient in boldness, he paid wedding-calls,[22] as if +nothing had happened. Some people returned them, others did not, but, at +last, the affair began to be forgotten, and she took her proper place in +society. + +[Footnote 22: In France and Germany, the newly-married couple pay the +wedding-calls, which is the direct opposite to our custom.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"She adored her husband as if he had been a god, for, you must remember, +he had restored her to honor and to social life, that he had braved +public opinion, faced insults, and, in a word, performed such a +courageous act, as few men would accomplish, and she felt the most +exalted and uneasy love for him. + +"When she became pregnant, and it was known, the most particular people +and the greatest sticklers opened their doors to her, as if she had been +definitely purified by maternity. + +"It is funny, but so it is, and thus everything was going on as well as +possible, when, the other day, was the feast of the patron saint of our +town. The Prefect, surrounded by his staff and the authorities, presided +at the musical competition, and when he had finished his speech, the +distribution of medals began, which Paul Hamot, his private secretary, +handed to those who were entitled to them. + +"As you know, there are always jealousies and rivalries, which make +people forget all propriety. All the ladies of the town were there on +the platform, and, in his proper turn, the bandmaster from the village +of Mourmillon came up. This band was only to receive a second-class +medal, for one cannot give first-class medals to everybody, can one? But +when the private secretary handed him his badge, the man threw it in his +face and exclaimed: + +"'You may keep your medal for Baptiste. You owe him a first-class one, +also, just as you do me.' + +"There were a number of people there who began to laugh. The common herd +are neither charitable nor refined, and every eye was turned towards +that poor lady. Have you ever seen a woman going mad, Monsieur? Well, we +were present at the sight! She got up and fell back on her chair three +times following, as if she had wished to make her escape, but saw that +she could not make her way through the crowd, and then another voice in +the crowd exclaimed: + +"'Oh I Oh! Madame Baptiste!' + +"And a great uproar, partly laughter, and partly indignation, arose. The +word was repeated over and over again; people stood on tip-toe to see +the unhappy woman's face; husbands lifted their wives up in their arms, +so that they might see the unhappy woman's face, and people asked: + +"'Which is she? The one in blue?' + +"The boys crowed like cocks, and laughter was heard all over the place. + +"She did not move now on her state chair, just as if she had been put +there for the crowd to look at. She could not move, nor disappear, nor +hide her face. Her eyelids blinked quickly, as if a vivid light were +shining in her face, and she panted like a horse that is going up a +steep hill, so that it almost broke one's heart to see it. Meanwhile, +however, Monsieur Hamot had seized the ruffian by the throat, and they +were rolling on the ground together, amidst a scene of indescribable +confusion, and the ceremony was interrupted. + +"An hour later, as the Hamots were returning home, the young woman, who +had not uttered a word since the insult, but who was trembling as if all +her nerves had been set in motion by springs, suddenly sprang on the +parapet of the bridge, and threw herself into the river, before her +husband could prevent her. The water is very deep under the arches, and +it was two hours before her body was recovered. Of course, she was +dead." + +The narrator stopped, and then added: + +"It was, perhaps, the best thing she could do in her position. There are +some things which cannot be wiped out, and now you understand why the +clergy refused to have her taken into church. Ah! If it had been a +religious funeral, the whole town would have been present, but you can +understand that her suicide added to the other affair, and made families +abstain from attending her funeral; and then, it is not an easy matter, +here, to attend a funeral which is performed without religious rites." + +We passed through the cemetery gates and I waited, much moved by what I +had heard, until the coffin had been lowered into the grave, before I +went up to the poor fellow who was sobbing violently, to press his hand +vigorously. He looked at me in surprise through his tears, and then +said: + +"Thank you, Monsieur." And I was not sorry that I had followed the +funeral. + + + + +HAPPINESS + + +The sky was blue, with light clouds that looked like swans slowly +sailing on the waters of a lake, and the atmosphere was so warm, so +saturated with the subtle odors of the mimosas, that Madame de +Viellemont ordered coffee to be served on the terrace which overlooked +the sea. + +And while the steam rose from the delicate china cups, one felt an +almost inexpressible pleasure in looking at the sails, which were +gradually becoming lost in the mysterious distance, and at the almost +motionless sea, which had the sheen of jewels, which attracted the eyes +like the looks of a dreamy woman. + +Monsieur de Pardeillac, who had arrived from Paris, fresh from the +remembrance of the last election there, from that Carnival of variegated +posters, which for weeks had imparted the strange aspect of some +Oriental bazaar to the whole city, had just been relating the victory of +_The General_, and went on to say that those who had thought that the +game was lost, were beginning to hope again. + +After listening to him, old Count de Lancolme, who had spent his whole +life in rummaging libraries, and who had certainly compiled more +manuscripts than any Benedectine friar, shook his bald head, and +exclaimed in his shrill, rather mocking voice: + +"Will you allow me to tell you a very old story, which has just come +into my head, while you were speaking, my dear friend, which I read +formerly in an old Italian city, though I forget at this moment where it +was? + +"It happened in the fifteenth century, which is far removed from our +epoch, but you shall judge for yourselves whether it might not have +happened yesterday. + +"Since the day, when mad with rage and rebellion, the town had made a +bonfire of the Ducal palace, and had ignominiously expelled that +patrician who had been their _podestat_[23], as if he had been some +vicious scoundrel, had thrust his lovely daughter into a convent, and +had forced his sons, who might have claimed their parental heritage, and +have again imposed the abhorred yoke upon them, into a monastery, the +town had never known any prosperous times. One after another the shops +closed, and money became as scarce as if there had been an invasion of +barbarian hordes, who had emptied the State treasury, and stolen the +last gold coin. + +[Footnote 23: Venetian and Genoese magistrate.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"The poor people were in abject misery, and in vain held out their hands +to passers-by under the church porches, and in the squares, while only +the watchmen disturbed the silence of the starlit nights, by their +monotonous and melancholy call, which announced the flight of the hours +as they passed. + +"There were no more serenades; no longer did viols and flutes trouble +the slumbers of the lovers' choice; no longer were amorous arms thrown +round women's supple waists, nor were bottles of red wine put to cool in +the fountains under the trees. There were no more love adventures, to +the rhythm of laughter and of kisses; nothing but heavy, monotonous +weariness, and the anxiety as to what the next day might bring forth, +and ceaseless, unbridled ambitions and lusts. + +"The palaces were deserted, one by one, as if the plague were raging, +and the nobility had fled to Florence and to Rome. In the beginning, the +common people, artisans and shop-keepers had installed themselves in +power, as in a conquered city, and had seized posts of honor and +well-paid offices, and had sacked the Treasury with their greedy and +eager hands. After them, came the middle classes, and those solemn +upstarts and hypocrites, like leathern bottles blown out with wind, +acting the tyrant and lying without the least shame, disowned their +former promises, and would soon have given the finishing stroke to the +unfortunate city, which was already at its last shifts. + +"Discontent was increasing, and the _sbirri_[24] could scarcely find +time to tear the seditious placards, which had been posted up by unknown +hands, from the walls. + +[Footnote 24: Italian police officers.--TRANSLATOR] + +"But now that the old _podestat_ had died in exile, worn out with grief, +and that his children, who had been brought up under monastic rules, and +were accustomed to nothing so much as to praying, thought only of their +own salvation, there was nobody who could take his place. + +"And so these kinglets profited by the occasion to strut about at their +ease like great nobles, to cram themselves with luxurious meals, to +increase their property by degrees, to put everything up for sale, and +to get rid of those who, later on, could have called for accounts, and +have nailed them to the pillory by their ears. + +"Their arrogance knew no bounds, and when they were questioned about +their acts, they only replied by menaces or raillery, and this state of +affairs lasted for twenty years, when, as war was imminent with Lucca, +the Council raised troops and enrolled mercenaries. Several battles were +fought in which the enemy was beaten and was obliged to flee, abandoning +their colors, their arms, prisoners, and all the booty in their camp. + +"The man who had led the soldiers from battle, whom they had acclaimed +as triumphant and laurel-crowned Caesar, around their campfires, was a +poor _condottiere_[25], who possessed nothing in the world except his +clothes, his buff jerkin and his heavy sword. + +[Footnote 25: Italian mercenary or free-lance, in the Middle +Ages.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"They called him _Hercules_, on account of his strong muscles, his +imposing build, and his large head, and also _Malavista_, because in +those butcheries he had no pity, no weakness, but seemed, with his great +murderous arms, as if he had the long reach of death itself. He had +neither title, deeds, fortune, nor relations, for he had been born one +night in the tent of a female camp follower; for a long time, an old, +broken drum had been his cradle, and he had grown up anyhow, without +knowing those maternal kisses and endearments that warm the heart, or +the pleasure of not always sleeping on a hard bed, or of always eating +tough beef, or of being obliged to tighten his sword belt when luck had +turned like a weathercock when the wind shifts, and a man would gladly +give all his share of the next booty for a moldy crust of bread and a +glass of water. + +"He was a simple and a brave man, whose heart was as virgin as some +virgin shore, on which no human foot has ever yet left its imprint. + +"The Chiefs of the Council were imprudent enough to summon Hercules +Malavista within the walls of the town, and to celebrate his arrival +with almost imperial splendor, more, however, to deceive the people and +to regain their waning popularity by means of some one else, by a +ceremony copied from those of Pagan Rome, than to honor and recompense +the services of a soldier whom they despised at the bottom of their +hearts. + +"The bells rang a full peal, and the archbishop and clergy and choir +boys went to meet the Captain, singing psalms and hymns of joy, as if it +might have been Easter. The streets and squares were strewn with +branches of box roses and marjoram, while the meanest homes were +decorated with flags, and hung with drapery and rich stuffs. + +"The conqueror came in through Trajan's gate, bare-headed, and with the +symbolical golden laurel wreath on his head; and sitting on his horse, +that was as black as a starless night, he appeared even taller, more +vigorous and more masculine than he really was. He had a joyous and +tranquil smile on his lips, and a hidden fire was burning in his eyes, +and his soldiers bore the flags and the trophies that he had gained, +before him, and behind him there was a noise of clashing partisans and +cross-bows, and of loud voices shouting _vivats_ in his honor. + +"In this fashion he traversed all the quarters of the town, and even the +suburbs. The women thought him handsome and proud, blew kisses to him, +and held up their children so that they might see him, and he might +touch them, and the men cheered him, and looked at him with emotion, and +many of them reflected and dreamt about that bright, unknown man, who +appeared to be surrounded by a halo of glory. + +"The members of the Council began to perceive the extent of the almost +irreparable fault that they had committed, and did not know what to do +in order to ward off the danger by which they were menaced, and to rid +themselves of a guest who was quite ready to become their master. They +saw clearly that their hours were numbered, that they were approaching +that fatal period at which rioting becomes imminent, when the leaders +are carried away with it, like pieces of straw in a swift current. + +"Hercules could not show himself in public without being received with +shouts of acclamation and noisy greetings, and deputations from the +nobility, as well as from the people, came repeatedly and told him that +he had only to make a sign and to say a word, for his name to be in +every mouth, and for his authority to be accepted. They begged him on +their knees to accept the supreme authority, as though he would be +conferring a favor on them, but the free-lance did not seem to +understand them, and repelled their offers with the superb indifference +of a soldier who has nothing to do with the people or a crown. + +"At length, however, his resistance grew weaker; he felt the +intoxication of power, and grew accustomed to the idea of holding the +lives of thousands in his hands, of having a palace, arsenals full of +arms, chests full of gold, ships which he could send on adventurous +cruises wherever he pleased, and of governing that city, with all its +houses and all its churches, and of being a leading figure at all grand +functions in the cathedral. + +"The shop-keepers and merchants were overcome by terror at this, and +bowed before the shadow of that great sword, which might sweep them all +away and upset their false weights and scales. So they assembled +secretly in a monastery of the Carmelite friars outside the gates of the +city, and a short time afterwards the weaver Marconelli, and the +money-changer Rippone brought Giaconda, who was one of the most +beautiful courtesans in Venice, and who knew every secret in the _Art of +Love_, and whose kisses were a foretaste of Paradise, back with them +from that city. She soon managed to touch the soldier with her delicate, +fair skin, to make him inhale its bewitching odor in close proximity, +and to dazzle him with her large, dark eyes, in which the reflection of +stars seemed to shine, and when he had once tasted that feast of love, +and that heavy wine of kisses, when he had clasped that pink and white +body in his arms, and had listened to that voice which sounded as soft +as music, and which promised him eternities of joy, and vowed to him +eternities of pleasures, Hercules lost his head, and forgot his dreams +and his oaths. + +"Why lose precious hours in conspiring, in deluding himself with +chimeras; why risk his life when he loved and was loved, and when the +minutes were all too short, when he would have wished never to detach +his lips from those of the woman he loved? + +"And so he did whatever Gioconda demanded. + +"They fled from the city, without even telling the sentinels who were on +guard before his palace. They went far, far away, as they could not find +any retreat that was sufficiently unknown and hidden, and at last they +stopped at a small, quiet fishing village, where there were gardens full +of lemon trees, where the deserted beach looked as if it were covered +with gold, and where the sea was a deep blue until it was lost in the +distance. And while the captain and the courtesan loved each other and +wore themselves out with pleasure--with the enchantment of the sea close +to them--the irritated citizens, whom he had left were clamoring for +their idol, were indignant at his desertion, and tore up the paving +stones in the streets, to stone the man who had betrayed their +confidence and worship. + +"And they pulled his statue down from its pedestal, amidst spiteful +songs and jokes, and the members of the Council breathed again ... as +they were no longer afraid of the great sword." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT, +VOLUME III (OF 8)*** + + +******* This file should be named 17376-8.txt or 17376-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/7/17376 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume III (of 8)</p> +<p> The Viaticum -- The Relics -- The Thief -- A Rupture -- A Useful House -- The Accent -- Ghosts -- Crash -- An Honest Ideal -- Stable Perfume -- The Ill-Omened Groom -- An Exotic Prince -- Virtue in the Ballet -- In His Sweetheart's Livery -- Delila -- A Mesalliance -- Bertha -- Abandoned -- A Night in Whitechapel -- Countess Satan -- Kind Girls -- Profitable Business -- Violated -- Jeroboam -- The Log -- Margot's Tapers -- Caught in the Very Act -- The Confession -- Was It a Dream -- The Last Step -- The Will -- A Country Excursion -- The Lancer's Wife -- The Colonel's Ideas -- One Evening -- The Hermaphrodite -- Marroca -- An Artifice -- The Assignation -- An Adventure -- The Double Pins -- Under the Yoke -- The Real One and the Other -- The Upstart -- The Carter's Wench -- The Marquis -- The Bed -- An Adventure in Paris -- Madame Baptiste -- Happiness</p> +<p>Author: Guy de Maupassant</p> +<p>Release Date: December 22, 2005 [eBook #17376]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT, VOLUME III (OF 8)***</p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h1>The Works of Guy de Maupassant</h1> + +<h2>VOLUME III</h2> + +<h2>THE VIATICUM AND OTHER STORIES</h2> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>NATIONAL LIBRARY COMPANY <br />NEW YORK<br /><br /> +COPYRIGHT, 1909,<br /> BY BIGELOW, SMITH & CO.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#THE_VIATICUM">THE VIATICUM</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_RELICS">THE RELICS</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_THIEF">THE THIEF</a><br /> +<a href="#A_RUPTURE">A RUPTURE</a><br /> +<a href="#A_USEFUL_HOUSE">A USEFUL HOUSE</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_ACCENT">THE ACCENT</a><br /> +<a href="#GHOSTS">GHOSTS</a><br /> +<a href="#CRASH">CRASH</a><br /> +<a href="#AN_HONEST_IDEAL">AN HONEST IDEAL</a><br /> +<a href="#STABLE_PERFUME">STABLE PERFUME</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_ILL-OMENED_GROOM">THE ILL-OMENED GROOM</a><br /> +<a href="#AN_EXOTIC_PRINCE">AN EXOTIC PRINCE</a><br /> +<a href="#VIRTUE_IN_THE_BALLET">VIRTUE IN THE BALLET</a><br /> +<a href="#IN_HIS_SWEETHEARTS_LIVERY">IN HIS SWEETHEART'S LIVERY</a><br /> +<a href="#DELILA">DELILA</a><br /> +<a href="#A_MESALLIANCE">A MESALLIANCE</a><br /> +<a href="#BERTHA">BERTHA</a><br /> +<a href="#ABANDONED">ABANDONED</a><br /> +<a href="#A_NIGHT_IN_WHITECHAPEL">A NIGHT IN WHITECHAPEL</a><br /> +<a href="#COUNTESS_SATAN">COUNTESS SATAN</a><br /> +<a href="#KIND_GIRLS">KIND GIRLS</a><br /> +<a href="#PROFITABLE_BUSINESS">PROFITABLE BUSINESS</a><br /> +<a href="#VIOLATED">VIOLATED</a><br /> +<a href="#JEROBOAM">JEROBOAM</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_LOG">THE LOG</a><br /> +<a href="#MARGOTS_TAPERS">MARGOT'S TAPERS</a><br /> +<a href="#CAUGHT_IN_THE_VERY_ACT">CAUGHT IN THE VERY ACT</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_CONFESSION">THE CONFESSION</a><br /> +<a href="#WAS_IT_A_DREAM">WAS IT A DREAM?</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_LAST_STEP">THE LAST STEP</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_WILL">THE WILL</a><br /> +<a href="#A_COUNTRY_EXCURSION">A COUNTRY EXCURSION</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_LANCERS_WIFE">THE LANCER'S WIFE</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_COLONELS_IDEAS">THE COLONEL'S IDEAS</a><br /> +<a href="#ONE_EVENING">ONE EVENING</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_HERMAPHRODITE">THE HERMAPHRODITE</a><br /> +<a href="#MARROCA">MARROCA</a><br /> +<a href="#AN_ARTIFICE">AN ARTIFICE</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_ASSIGNATION">THE ASSIGNATION</a><br /> +<a href="#AN_ADVENTURE">AN ADVENTURE</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_DOUBLE_PINS">THE DOUBLE PINS</a><br /> +<a href="#UNDER_THE_YOKE">UNDER THE YOKE</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_READ_ONE_AND_THE_OTHER">THE READ ONE AND THE OTHER</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_UPSTART">THE UPSTART</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_CARTERS_WENCH">THE CARTER'S WENCH</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_MARQUIS">THE MARQUIS</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_BED">THE BED</a><br /> +<a href="#AN_ADVENTURE_IN_PARIS">AN ADVENTURE IN PARIS</a><br /> +<a href="#MADAME_BAPTISTE">MADAME BAPTISTE</a><br /> +<a href="#HAPPINESS">HAPPINESS</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_VIATICUM" id="THE_VIATICUM"></a>THE VIATICUM</h2> + + +<p>"After all," Count d'Avorsy said, stirring his tea with the slow +movements of a prelate, "what truth was there in anything that was said +at Court, almost without any restraint, and did the Empress, whose +beauty has been ruined by some secret grief, who will no longer see +anyone and who soothes her continual mental weariness by some journeys +without an object and without a rest, in foggy and melancholy islands, +and did she really forget Caesar's wife ought not even to be suspected, +did she really give herself to that strange and attractive corrupter, +Ladislas Ferkoz?"</p> + +<p>The bright night seemed to be scattering handfuls of stars into the +placid sea, which was as calm as a blue pond, slumbering in the depths +of a forest. Among the tall climbing roses, which hung a mantle of +yellow flowers to the fretted baluster of the terrace, there stood out +in the distance the illuminated fronts of the hotels and villas, and +occasionally women's laughter was heard above the dull, monotonous sound +of surf and the noise of the fog-horns.</p> + +<p>Then Captain Sigmund Oroshaz, whose sad and pensive face of a soldier +who has seen too much slaughter and too many charnel houses, was marked +by a large scar, raised his head and said in a grave, haughty voice:</p> + +<p>"Nobody has lied in accusing Maria-Gloriosa of adultery, and nobody has +calumniated the Empress and her minister, whom God has damned in the +other world. Ladislas Ferkoz was his sovereign's lover until he died, +and made his august master ridiculous and almost odious, for the man, no +matter who he be, who allows himself to be flouted by a creature who is +unworthy of bearing his name and of sharing his bread; who puts up with +such disgrace, who does not crush the guilty couple with all the weight +of his power, is not worth pity, nor does he deserve to be spared the +mockery. And if I affirm that so harshly, my dear Count—although years +and years have passed since the sponge passed over that old story—the +reason is that I saw the last chapter of it, quite in spite of myself, +however, for I was the officer who was on duty at the palace, and +obliged to obey orders, just as if I had been on the field of +battle—and on that day I was on duty near Maria-Gloriosa."</p> + +<p>Madame de Laumières, who had begun an animated conversation on +crinolines, admist the fragrant odor of Russian cigarettes, and who was +making fun of the striking toilets, with which she had amused herself by +scanning through her opera glass a few hours previously at the races, +stopped, for even when she was talking most volubly she always kept her +ears open to hear what was being said around her, and as her curiosity +was aroused, she interrupted Sigmund Oroshaz.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Monsieur," she said, "you are not going to leave our curiosity +unsatisfied.... A story about the Empress puts all our scandals on the +beach, and all our questions of dress into the shade, and, I am sure," +she added with a smile at the corners of her mouth, "that even our +friend, Madame d'Ormonde will leave off flirting with Monsieur Le +Brassard to listen to you."</p> + +<p>Captain Oroshaz continued, with his large blue eyes full of +recollections:</p> + +<p>"It was in the middle of a grand ball that the Emperor was giving on the +occasion of some family anniversary, though I forget exactly what, and +where Maria-Gloriosa, who was in great grief, as she had heard that her +lover was ill and his life almost despaired of, far from her, was going +about with her face as pale as that of <i>Our Lady of Sorrows</i>, seemed to +be a soul in affliction, appeared to be ashamed of her bare shoulders, +as if she were being made a parade of in the light, while he, the adored +of her heart, was lying on a bed of sickness, getting weaker every +moment, longing for her and perhaps calling for her in his distress. +About midnight, when the violins were striking up the quadrille, which +the Emperor was to dance with the wife of the French Ambassador, one of +the ladies of honor, Countess Szegedin, went up to the Empress, and +whispered a few words to her, in a very low voice. Maria-Gloriosa grew +still paler, but mastered her emotion and waited until the end of the +last figure. Then, however, she could not restrain herself any longer, +and even without giving any pretext for running away in such a manner, +and leaning on the arm of her lady of honor, she made her way through +the crowd as if she were in a dream and went to her own apartments. I +told you that I was on duty that evening at the door of her rooms, and +according to etiquette, I was going to salute her respectfully, but she +did not give me time.</p> + +<p>"'Captain,' she said excitedly and vehemently, 'give orders for my own +private coachman, Hans Hildersheim, to get a carriage ready for me +immediately,' but thinking better of it immediately she went on: 'But +no, we should only lose time, and every minute is precious; give me a +cloak quickly, Madame, and a lace veil; we will go out of one of the +small doors in the park, and take the first conveyance we see."</p> + +<p>"She wrapped herself in her furs, hid her face in her mantilla, and I +accompanied her, without at first knowing what this mystery was, and +where we were going to, on this mad expedition. I hailed a cab that was +dawdling by the side of the pavement, and when the Empress gave me the +address of Ladislas Ferkoz, the Minister of State, in a low voice, in +spite of my usual phlegm, I felt a vague shiver of emotion, one of those +movements of hesitation and recoil, from which the bravest are not +exempt at times. But how could I get out of this unpleasant part of +acting as her companion, and how show want of politeness to a sovereign +who had completely lost her head? Accordingly, we started, but the +Empress did not pay any more attention to me than if I had not been +sitting by her side in that narrow conveyance, but stifled her sobs with +her pocket handkerchief, muttered a few incoherent words, and +occasionally trembled from head to foot. Her lover's name rose to her +lips as if it had been a response in a litany, and I thought that she +was praying to the Virgin that she might not arrive too late to see +Ladislas Ferkoz again in the possession of his faculties, and keep him +alive for a few hours. Suddenly, as if in reply to herself, she said: 'I +will not cry any more; he must see me looking beautiful, so that he may +remember me, even in death!'</p> + +<p>"When we arrived, I saw that we were expected, and that they had not +doubted that the Empress would come to close her lover's eyes with a +last kiss. She left me there, and hurried to Ladislas Ferkoz's room, +without even shutting the doors behind her, where his beautiful, +sensual, gipsy head stood out from the whiteness of the pillows; but his +face was quite bloodless, and there was no life left in it, except in +his large, strange eyes, that were striated with gold, like the eyes of +an astrologer or of a bearded vulture.</p> + +<p>"The cold numbness of the death struggle had already laid hold of his +robust body and paralyzed his lips and arms, and he could not reply even +by a sound of tenderness to Maria-Gloriosa's wild lamentations and +amorous cries. Neither reply nor smile, alas! But his eyes dilated, and +glistened like the last flame that shoots up from an expiring fire, and +filled them with a world of dying thoughts, of divine recollections, of +delirious love. They appeared to envelope her in kisses, they spoke to +her, they thanked her, they followed her movements, and seemed delighted +at her grief. And as if she were replying to their mute supplications, +as if she had understood them, Maria-Gloriosa suddenly tore off her +lace, threw aside her fur cloak, stood erect beside the dying man, whose +eyes were radiant, desirable in her supreme beauty with her bare +shoulders, her bust like marble and her fair hair, in which diamonds +glistened, surrounding her proud head, like that of the Goddess Diana, +the huntress, and with her arms stretched out towards him in an attitude +of love, of embrace and of blessing. He looked at her in ecstacy, he +feasted on her beauty, and seemed to be having a terrible struggle with +death, in order that he might gaze at her, that apparition of love, a +little longer, see her beyond eternal sleep and prolong this unexpected +dream. And when he felt that it was all over with him, and that even his +eyes were growing dim, two great tears rolled down his cheeks....</p> + +<p>"When Maria-Gloriosa saw that he was dead, she piously and devoutly +kissed his lips and closed his eyes, like a priest who closes the gold +tabernacle after service, on an evening after benediction, and then, +without exchanging a word, we returned through the darkness to the +palace where the ball was still going on."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>There was a minute's silence, and while Madame de Laumières, who was +very much touched by this story and whose nerves were rather highly +strung, was drying her tears behind her open fan, suddenly the harsh and +shrill voices of the fast women who were returning from the Casino, by +the strange irony of fate, struck up an idiotic song which was then in +vogue: "<i>Oh! the poor, oh! the poor, oh! the poor, dear girl!</i>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_RELICS" id="THE_RELICS"></a>THE RELICS</h2> + + +<p>They had given him a grand public funeral, like they do victorious +soldiers who have added some dazzling pages to the glorious annals of +their country, who have restored courage to desponding heads and cast +over other nations the proud shadow of their country's flag, like a yoke +under which those went who were no longer to have a country, or liberty.</p> + +<p>During a whole bright and calm night, when falling stars made people +think of unknown metamorphoses and the transmigration of souls, who +knows whether tall cavalry soldiers in their cuirasses and sitting as +motionless as statues on their horses, had watched by the dead man's +coffin, which was resting, covered with wreaths, under the porch of the +heroes, every stone of which is engraved with the name of a brave man, +and of a battle.</p> + +<p>The whole town was in mourning, as if it had lost the only object that +had possession of its heart, and which it loved. The crowd went silently +and thoughtfully down the avenue of the <i>Champs Elysées</i>, and they +almost fought for the commemorative medals and the common portraits +which hawkers were selling, or climbed upon the stands which street boys +had erected here and there, and whence they could see over the heads of +the crowd. The <i>Place de la Concorde</i> had something solemn about it, +with its circle of statues hung from head to foot with long crape +coverings, which looked in the distance like widows, weeping and +praying.</p> + +<p>According to his last wish, Jean Ramel had been conveyed to the Pantheon +in the wretched paupers' hearse, which conveys them to the common grave +at the shambling trot of some thin and broken-winded horse.</p> + +<p>That dreadful, black conveyance without any drapery, without plumes and +without flowers, which was followed by Ministers and deputies, by +several regiments with their bands, and their flags flying above the +helmets and the sabers, by children from the national schools, by +delegates from the provinces, and an innumerable crowd of men in +blouses, of women, of shop-keepers from every quarter, had a most +theatrical effect, and while standing on the steps of the Pantheon, at +the foot of the massive columns of the portico, the orators successively +discanted on his apotheosis, tried to make their voices predominate over +the noise, emphasized their pompous periods, and finished the +performance by a poor third act, which makes people yawn and gradually +empties the theater, people remembered who that man had been, on whom +such posthumous honors were being bestowed, and who was having such a +funeral: it was Jean Ramel.</p> + +<p>Those three sonorous syllables called up a lionine head, with white hair +thrown back in disorder, like a mane, with features that looked as if +they had been cut out with a bill-hook, but which were so powerful, and +in which there lay such a flame of life, that one forgot their vulgarity +and ugliness; with black eyes under bushy eyebrows, which dilated and +flashed like lightning, now were veiled as if in tears and then were +filled with serene mildness, with a voice which now growled so as almost +to terrify its hearers, and which would have filled the hall of some +working men's club, full of the thick smoke from strong pipes without +being affected by it, and then would be soft, coaxing, persuasive and +unctuous like that of a priest who is holding out promises of Paradise, +or giving absolution for our sins.</p> + +<p>He had had the good luck to be persecuted, to be in the eyes of the +people, the incarnation of that lying formula which appears on every +public edifice, of those three words of the <i>Golden Age</i>, which make +those who think, those who suffer and those who govern, smile somewhat +sadly, <i>Liberty, Fraternity, Equality</i>. Luck had been kind to him, had +sustained, had pushed him on by the shoulders, and had set him up on his +pedestal again when he had fallen down, like all idols do.</p> + +<p>He spoke and he wrote, and always in order to announce the good news to +all the multitudes who suffered—no matter to what grade of society they +might belong—to hold out his hand to them and to defend them, to attack +the abuses of the <i>Code</i>—that book of injustice and severity—to speak +the truth boldly, even when it lashed his enemies as if it had been a +whip.</p> + +<p>His books were like Gospels, which are read chapter by chapter, and +warmed the most despairing and the most sorrowing hearts, and brought +comfort, hope and dreams to each.</p> + +<p>He had lived very modestly until the end, and appeared to spend nothing; +and he only kept one old servant, who spoke to him in the Basque +dialect.</p> + +<p>That chaste philosopher, who had all his life long feared women's snares +and wiles, who had looked upon love as a luxury made only for the rich +and idle, which unsettles the brain and interferes with acuteness of +thought, had allowed himself to be caught like an ordinary man, late in +life, when his hair was white and his forehead deeply wrinkled.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, as happens in the visions of solitary ascetics, +some strange queen or female magician, with stars in her eyes and +witchery in her voice, some loose woman who held up the symbolical lamp +immodestly, to light up her radiant nudity, and the pink and white +bouquet of her sweet-smelling skin, some woman in search of voluptuous +pleasures, whose lascivious appeals it is impossible for any man to +listen to, without being excited to the very depths of his being. +Neither a princess out of some fairy tale, nor a frail beauty who was an +expert in the art of reviving the ardor of old men, and of leading them +astray, nor a woman who was disgusted with her ideals, that always +turned out to be alike, and who dreamt of awakening the heart of one of +those men who suffer, who have afforded so much alleviation to human +misery, who seemed to be surrounded by a halo, and who never knew +anything but the true, the beautiful and the good.</p> + +<p>It was only a little girl of twenty, who was as pretty as a wild flower, +who had a ringing laugh, white teeth, and a mind that was as spotless as +a new mirror, in which no figure has been reflected as yet.</p> + +<p>He was in exile at the time for having given public expression to what +he thought, and he was living in an Italian village which was buried in +chestnut trees and situated on the shores of a lake that was narrow and +so transparent that it might have been taken for some nobleman's fish +pond that was like an emerald in a large park. The village consisted of +about twenty red-tiled houses. Several paths paved with flint led up the +side of the hill among the vines where the Madonna, full of grace and +goodness extended her indulgence.</p> + +<p>For the first time in his life Ramel remarked that there were some lips +that were more desirable, more smiling than others, that there was hair +in which it must be delicious to bury the fingers like in fine silk, and +which it must be delightful to kiss, and that there were eyes which +contained an infinitude of caresses, and he had spelled right through +the eclogue, which at length revealed true happiness to him, and he had +had a child, a son, by her.</p> + +<p>This was the only secret that Ramel jealously concealed, and which no +more than two or three of his oldest friends knew anything about, and +while he hesitated about spending twopence on himself, and went to the +Institute and to the Chamber of Deputies outside an omnibus, Pepa led +the happy life of a millionaire who is not frightened of the to-morrow, +and brought up her son like a little prince, with a tutor and three +servants, who had nothing to do but to look after him.</p> + +<p>All that Ramel made went into his mistress's hands, and when he felt +that his last hour was approaching, and that there was no hope of his +recovery—in full possession of his faculties and joy in his dull +eyes—he gave his name to Pepa, and made her his lawful widow, in the +presence of all his friends. She inherited everything that her former +lover left behind, a considerable income from his share of the annual +profits on his books, and also his pension, which the State continued to +pay to her.</p> + +<p>Little Ramel throve wonderfully amidst all this luxury, and gave free +scope to his instincts and his caprices, without his mother ever having +the courage to reprove him in the least, and he did not bear the +slightest resemblance to Jean Ramel.</p> + +<p>Full of pranks, effeminate, a superfine dandy, and precociously vicious, +he suggested the idea of those pages at the Court of Florence, whom we +frequently meet with in <i>The Decameron</i>, and who were the playthings for +the idle hands and tips of the patrician ladies.</p> + +<p>He was very ignorant and lived at a great rate, bet on races, and played +cards for heavy stakes with seasoned gamblers, old enough to be his +father. And it was distressing to hear this lad joke about the memory of +him whom he called <i>the old man</i>, and persecute his mother because of +the worship and adoration which she felt for Jean Ramel, whom she spoke +of as if he had become a demigod when he died, like in Roman theogony.</p> + +<p>He would have liked altogether to have altered the arrangement of that +kind of sanctuary, the drawing-room, where Pepa kept some of her +husband's manuscripts, the furniture that he had most frequently used, +the bed on which he had died, his pens, his clothes and his weapons. And +one evening, not knowing how to dress himself up more originally than +the rest for a masked ball that stout Toinette Danicheff was going to +give as her house-warming, without saying a word to his mother, he took +down the Academician's dress, the sword and cocked hat that had belonged +to Jean Ramel, and put it on as if it had been a disguise on Shrove +Tuesday.</p> + +<p>Slightly built and with thin arms and legs, the wide clothes hung on +him, and he was a comical sight with the embroidered skirt of his coat +sweeping the carpet, and his sword knocking against his heels. The +elbows and the collar were shiny and greasy from wear, for the <i>Master</i> +had worn it until it was threadbare, to avoid having to buy another, and +had never thought of replacing it.</p> + +<p>He made a tremendous hit, and fair Liline Ablette laughed so at his +grimaces and his disguise, that that night she threw over Prince +Noureddin for him, although he had paid for her house, her horses and +everything else, and allowed her six thousand francs a month—£240—for +extras and pocket money.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_THIEF" id="THE_THIEF"></a>THE THIEF</h2> + + +<p>"Certainly," Dr. Sorbier exclaimed, who, while appearing to be thinking +of something else, had been listening quietly to those surprising +accounts of burglaries and of daring acts which might have been borrowed +from the trial of Cartouche; "certainly, I do not know any viler fault, +nor any meaner action than to attack a girl's innocence, to corrupt her, +to profit by a moment of unconscious weakness and of madness, when her +heart is beating like that of a frightened fawn, when her body, which +has been unpolluted up till then, is palpitating with mad desire and her +pure lips seek those of her seducer; when her whole being is feverish +and vanquished, and she abandons herself without thinking of the +irremediable stain, nor of her fall nor of the painful awakening on the +morrow.</p> + +<p>"The man who has brought this about slowly, viciously, and who can tell +with what science of evil, and who, in such a case, has not steadiness +and self-restraint enough to quench that flame by some icy words, who +has not sense enough for two, who cannot recover his self-possession and +master the runaway brute within him, and who loses his head on the edge +of the precipice over which she is going to fall, is as contemptible as +any man who breaks open a lock, or as any rascal on the look-out for a +house left defenseless and without protection, or for some easy and +profitable stroke of business, or as that thief whose various exploits +you have just related to us.</p> + +<p>"I, for my part, utterly, refuse to absolve him even when extenuating +circumstances plead in his favor, even when he is carrying on a +dangerous flirtation, in which a man tries in vain to keep his balance, +not to exceed the limits of the game, any more than at lawn tennis; even +when the parts are inverted and a man's adversary is some precocious, +curious, seductive girl, who shows you immediately that she has nothing +to learn and nothing to experience, except the last chapter of love, one +of those girls from whom may fate always preserve our sons, and whom a +psychological novel writer has christened <i>The Semi-Virgins</i>.</p> + +<p>"It is, of course, difficult and painful for that coarse and +unfathomable vanity which is characteristic of every man, and which +might be called <i>malism</i>, not to stir such a charming fire, to act the +Joseph and the fool, to turn away his eyes, and, as it were, to put wax +into his ears, like the companions of Ulysses did when they were +attracted by the divine, seductive songs of the sirens, just to touch +that pretty table, covered with a perfectly new cloth, at which you are +invited to take a seat before any one else, in such a suggestive voice, +and are requested to quench your thirst and to taste that new wine, +whose fresh and strange flavor you will never forget. But who would +hesitate to exercise such self-restraint if, when he rapidly examined +his conscience, in one of those instinctive returns to his sober self, +in which a man thinks clearly and recovers his head; if he were to +measure the gravity of his fault, think of his fault, think of its +consequences, of the reprisals, of the uneasiness which he would always +feel in the future, and which would destroy the repose and the happiness +of his life?</p> + +<p>"You may guess that behind all these moral reflections, such as a +gray-beard like myself may indulge in, there is a story hidden, and sad +as it is, I am sure it will interest you on account of the strange +heroism that it shows."</p> + +<p>He was silent for a few moments as if to classify recollections, and +with his elbows resting on the arms of his easy chair, and his eyes +looking into space, he continued in the slow voice of a hospital +professor, who is explaining a case to his class of medical students, at +a bedside:</p> + +<p>"He was one of those men who, as our grandfathers used to say, never met +with a cruel woman, the type of the adventurous knight who was always +foraging, who had something of the scamp about him, but who despised +danger and was bold even to rashness. He was ardent in the pursuit of +pleasure, and a man who had an irresistible charm about him, one of +those men in whom we excuse the greatest excesses, as the most natural +things in the world. He had run through all his money at gambling and +with pretty girls, and so became, as it were, a soldier of fortune, who +amused himself whenever and however he could, and was at that time +quartered at Versailles.</p> + +<p>"I knew him to the very depths of his childish heart, which was only too +easily penetrated and sounded, and I loved him like some old bachelor +uncle loves a nephew who plays him some tricks, but who knows how to +make him indulgent towards him, and how to wheedle him. He had made me +his confidant far more than his adviser, kept me informed of his +slightest tricks, though he always pretended to be speaking about one of +his friends, and not about himself, and I must confess that his youthful +impetuosity, his careless gaiety and his amorous ardor sometimes +distracted my thoughts and made me envy the handsome, vigorous young +fellow who was so happy at being alive, so that I had not the courage to +check him, to show him his right road, and to call out to him, 'Take +care!' as children do at blind man's buff.</p> + +<p>"And one day, after one of those interminable <i>cotillons</i>, where the +couples do not leave each other for hours, but have the bridle on their +neck and can disappear together without anybody thinking of taking +notice of it, the poor fellow at last discovered what love was, that +real love which takes up its abode in the very center of the heart and +in the brain, and is proud of being there, and which rules like a +sovereign and tyrannous master, and so he grew desperately enamored of a +pretty, but badly brought up girl, who was as disquieting and as wayward +as she was pretty.</p> + +<p>"She loved him, however, or rather she idolized him despotically, madly, +with all her enraptured soul, and all her excited person. Left to do as +she pleased by imprudent and frivolous parents, suffering from neurosis, +in consequence of the unwholesome friendships which she contracted at +the convent-school, instructed by what she saw and heard and knew was +going on around her, in spite of her deceitful and artificial conduct, +knowing that neither her father nor her mother, who were very proud of +their race, as well as avaricious, would ever agree to let her marry the +man whom she had taken a liking to, that handsome fellow who had little +besides visionary ideas and debts, and who belonged to the middle +classes, she laid aside all scruples, thought of nothing but of +belonging to him altogether, of taking him for her lover, and of +triumphing over his desperate resistance as an honorable man.</p> + +<p>"By degrees, the unfortunate man's strength gave way, his heart grew +softened, his nerves became excited, and he allowed himself to be +carried away by that current which buffeted him, surrounded him and left +him on the shore like a waif and a stray.</p> + +<p>"They wrote letters full of temptation and of madness to each other, and +not a day passed without their meeting, either accidentally, as it +seemed, or at parties and balls. She had given him her lips in long, +ardent caresses, and she had sealed their compact of mutual passion with +kisses of desire and of hope. And at last she brought him to her room, +almost in spite of himself."</p> + +<p>The doctor stopped, and his eyes suddenly filled with tears, as these +former troubles came back to his mind, and then in a hoarse voice, he +went on, full of horror of what he was going to relate:</p> + +<p>"For months he scaled the garden wall, and holding his breath and +listening for the slightest noise, like a burglar who is going to break +into a house, he went in by the servants' entrance, which she had left +open, went barefoot down a long passage and up the broad staircase, +which creaked occasionally, to the second story, where his mistress's +room was, and stopped there nearly the whole night.</p> + +<p>"One night, when it was darker than usual, and he was making haste lest +he should be later than the time agreed on, the officer knocked up +against a piece of furniture in the ante-room and upset it. It so +happened that the girl's mother had not gone to sleep yet, either +because she had a sick headache, or else because she had sat up late +over some novel, and frightened at that unusual noise which disturbed +the silence of the house, she jumped out of bed, opened the door, saw +some one, indistinctly, running away and keeping close to the wall, and, +immediately thinking that there were burglars in the house, she aroused +her husband and the servants by her frantic screams. The unfortunate man +knew what he was about, and seeing into what a terrible fix he had got, +and preferring to be taken for a common thief to dishonoring his adored +mistress and to betraying the secret of their guilty love, he ran into +the drawing-room, felt en the tables and what-nots, filled his pockets +at random with valuable gew-gaws, and then cowered down behind the grand +piano, which barred up a corner of a large room.</p> + +<p>"The servants who had run in with lighted candles, found him, and +overwhelming him with abuse, seized him by the collar and dragged him, +panting and appearing half dead with shame and terror, to the nearest +police station. He defended himself with intentional awkwardness when he +was brought up for trial, kept up his part with the most perfect +self-possession, and without any signs of the despair and anguish that +he felt in his heart, and condemned and degraded and made to suffer +martyrdom in his honor as a man and as a soldier, he did not protest, +but went to prison as one of those criminals whom society gets rid of, +like noxious vermin.</p> + +<p>"He died there of misery and of bitterness of spirit, with the name of +the fair-haired idol, for whom he had sacrificed himself, on his lips, +as if it had been an ecstatic prayer, and he entrusted his will to the +priest who administered extreme unction to him, and requested him to +give it to me. In it, without mentioning anybody, and without in the +least lifting the veil, he at last explained the enigma, and cleared +himself of those accusations, the terrible burden of which he had borne +until his last breath.</p> + +<p>"I have always thought myself, though I do not know why, that the girl +married and had several charming children, whom she brought up writh the +austere strictness, and in the serious piety of former days!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_RUPTURE" id="A_RUPTURE"></a>A RUPTURE</h2> + + +<p>"It is just as I tell you, my dear fellow, those two poor things whom we +all of us envied, who looked like a couple of pigeons when they are +billing and cooing, and were always spooning until they made themselves +ridiculous, now hate each other just as much as they used to adore each +other. It is a complete break, and one of those which cannot be mended +like you can an old plate! And all for a bit of nonsense, for something +so funny that it ought to have brought them closer together and have +made them amuse themselves together until they were ill. But how can a +man explain himself when he is dying of jealousy, and when he keeps +repeating to his terrified mistress, 'You are lying! you are lying!' +When he shakes her, interrupts her while she is speaking, and says such +hard things to her that at last she flies into a rage, has enough of it, +becomes hard and mad, and thinks of nothing but of giving him tit for +tat and of paying him out in his own coin; does not care a straw about +destroying his happiness, sends everything to the devil, and talks a lot +of bosh which she certainly does not believe. And then, because there is +nothing so stupid and so obstinate in the whole world as lovers, neither +he nor she will take the first steps, and own to having been in the +wrong, and regret having gone too far; but both wait and watch and do +not even write a few lines about nothing, which would restore peace. No, +they let day succeed day, and there are feverish and sleepless nights +when the bed seems so hard, so cheerless and so large, and habits get +weakened and the fire of love that was still smoldering at the bottom of +the heart evaporates in smoke. By degrees both find some reason for what +they wished to do, they think themselves idiots to lose the time which +will never return in that fashion, and so good-bye, and there you are! +That is how Josine Cadenette and that great idiot Servance separated."</p> + +<p>Lalie Spring had lighted a cigarette, and the blue smoke played about +her fine, fair hair, and made one think of those last rays of the +setting sun which pierce through the clouds at sunset, and resting her +elbows on her knees, and with her chin in her hand in a dreamy attitude, +she murmured:</p> + +<p>"Sad, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Bah!" I replied, "at their age people easily console themselves, and +everything begins over again, even love!"</p> + +<p>"Well, Josine had already found somebody else...."</p> + +<p>"And did she tell you her story?"</p> + +<p>"Of course she did, and it is such a joke!... You must know that +Servance is one of those fellows like one would wish to have when one +has time to amuse oneself, and so self-possessed that he would be +capable of ruining all the older ones in a girls' school, and given to +trifling as much as most men, so that Josine calls him 'perpetual +motion.' He would have liked to have gone on with his fun until the Day +of Judgment, and seemed to fancy that beds were not made to sleep in at +all, but she could not get used to being deprived of nearly all her +rest, and it really made her ill. But as she wished to be as +conciliatory as possible, and to love and to be loved as ardently as in +the past, and also to sleep off the effects of her happiness peacefully, +she rented a small room in a distant quarter, in a quiet, shady street +giving out that she had just come from the country, and put hardly any +furniture into it except a good bed and a dressing table. Then she +invented an old aunt for the occasion, who was ill and always grumbling, +and who suffered from heart disease and lived in one of the suburbs, and +so several times a week Josine took refuge in her sleeping place, and +used to sleep late there as if it had been some delicious abode where +one forgets the whole world. Sometimes they forgot to call her at the +proper time; she got back late, tired, with red and swollen eyelids, +involved herself in lies, contradicted herself and looked so much as if +she had just come from the confessional, feeling horribly ashamed of +herself, or, as if she had hurried home from some assignation, that at +last Servance worried himself about it, thought that he was being made a +fool of like so many of his comrades were, got into a rage and made up +his mind to set the matter straight, and so discover who this aunt of +his mistress's was, who had so suddenly fallen from the skies.</p> + +<p>"He necessarily applied to an obliging agency, where they excited his +jealousy, exasperated him day after day by making him believe that +Josine Cadenette was making an absolute fool of him, had no more a sick +aunt than she had any virtue, but that during the day she continued the +little debaucheries which she committed with him at night, and that she +shamelessly frequented some discreet bachelor's lodgings, where more +than probably one of his own best friends was amusing himself at his +expense, and having his share of the cake. He was fool enough to +believe these fellows, instead of going and watching Josine himself, +putting his nose into the business and going and knocking at the door of +her room. He wanted to hear no more, and would not listen to her. For a +trifle, in spite of her tears, he would have turned the poor thing into +the streets, as if she had been a bundle of dirty linen. You may guess +how she flew out at him and told him all sorts of things to annoy him; +she let him believe he was not mistaken, that she had had enough of his +affection, and that she was madly in love with another man. He grew very +pale when she said that, looked at her furiously, clenched his teeth and +said in a hoarse voice:</p> + +<p>"'Tell me his name, tell me his name!'</p> + +<p>"'Oh!' she said, chaffingly, 'you know him very well!' and if I had not +happened to have gone in I think there would have been a tragedy.... How +stupid they are, and they were so happy and loved each other so.... And +now Josine is living with fat Schweinsshon, a low scoundrel who will +live upon her and Servance has taken up with Sophie Labisque, who might +easily be his mother; you know her, that bundle of red and yellow, who +has been at that kind of thing for eighteen years, and whom Laglandee +has christened, '<i>Saecula saeculorum</i>!'"</p> + +<p>"By Jove! I should rather think I did!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_USEFUL_HOUSE" id="A_USEFUL_HOUSE"></a>A USEFUL HOUSE</h2> + + +<p>Royamount's fat sides shook with laughter at the mere recollection of +the funny story that he had promised to his friends, and throwing +himself back in the great arm-chair, which he completely filled, <i>that +picker up of bits of pinchbeck</i>, as they called him at the club, at last +said:</p> + +<p>"It is perfectly true, Bordenave does not owe anyone a penny and can go +through any street he likes and publish those famous memoirs of +sheriff's officers, which he has been writing for the last ten years, +when he did not dare to go out, and in which he carefully brought out +the characters and peculiarities of all those generous distributors of +stamped paper with whom he had had dealings, their tricks and wiles, +their weaknesses, their jokes, their manner of performing their duties, +sometimes with brutal rudeness and at others with cunning good nature, +now embarrassed and almost ashamed of their work, and again ironically +jovial, as well the artifices of their clerks to get a few crumbs from +their employer's cake. The book will soon be published and Machin, the +Vaudeville writer, has promised him a preface, so that it will be a most +amusing work. You are surprised, eh? Confess that you are absolutely +surprised, and I will lay you any bet you like that you will not guess +how our excellent friend, whose existence is an inexplicable problem, +has been able to settle with his creditors, and suddenly produce the +requisite amount."</p> + +<p>"Do get to the facts, confound it," Captain Hardeur said, who was +growing tired of all this verbiage.</p> + +<p>"All right, I will get to them as quickly as possible," Royaumont +replied, throwing the stump of his cigar into the fire. "I will clear my +throat and begin. I suppose all of you know that two better friends than +Bordenave and Quillanet do not exist; neither of them could do without +the other, and they have ended by dressing alike, by having the same +gestures, the same laugh, the same walk and the same inflections of +voice, so that one would think that some close bond united them, and +that they had been brought up together from childhood. There is, +however, this great difference between them, that Bordenave is +completely ruined and that all that he possesses are bundles of +mortgages, laughable parchments which attest his ancient race, and +chimerical hopes of inheriting money some day, though these expectations +are already heavily hypothecated. Consequently, he is always on the +look-out for some fresh expedients for raising money, though he is +superbly indifferent about everything, while Sebastien Quillanet, of the +banking house of Quillanet Brothers, must have an income of eight +thousand francs a year, but is descended from an obscure laborer who +managed to secure some of the national property, then he became an army +contractor, speculated on defeat as well as victory, and does not know +now what to do with his money. But the millionaire is timid, dull and +always bored, the ruined spendthrift amuses him by his impertinent ways, +and his libertine jokes; he prompts him when he is at a loss for an +answer, extricates him out of his difficulties, serves as his guide in +the great forests of Paris which is strewn with so many pit-falls, and +helps him to avoid those vulgar adventures which socially ruins a man, +no matter how well ballasted he may be. Then he points out to him what +women would make suitable mistresses for him, who make a man noted, and +have the effect of some rare and beautiful flower pinned into his +buttonhole. He is the confidant of his intrigues, his guest when he +gives small, special entertainments, his daily familiar table companion, +and the buffoon whose sly humor one stimulates, and whose worst +witticisms one tolerates."</p> + +<p>"Really, really," the captain interrupted him, "you have been going on +for more than a quarter of an hour without saying anything."</p> + +<p>So Royaumont shrugged his shoulders and continued: "Oh you can be very +tiresome when you please, my dear fellow!... Last year, when he was at +daggers drawn with his people, who were deafening him with their +recriminations, were worrying him and threatening him with a lot of +annoyance, Quillanet got married. A marriage of reason, and which +apparently changed his habits and his tastes, more especially as the +banker was at that time keeping a perfect little marvel of a woman, a +Parisian jewel of unspeakable attractions and of bewitching delicacy, +that adorable Suzette Marly who is just like a pocket Venus, and who in +some prior stage of her existence must have been Phryne or Lesbia. Of +course he did not get rid of her, but as he was bound to take some +judicious precautions, which are necessary for a man who is deceiving +his wife, he rented a furnished house with a courtyard in front, and a +garden at the back, which one might think had been built to shelter some +amorous folly. It was the nest that he had dreamt of, warm, snug, +elegant, the walls covered with silk hangings of subdued tints, large +pier-glasses, allegorical pictures, and filled with luxurious, low +furniture that seemed to invite caresses and embraces. Bordenave +occupied the ground floor, and the first floor served as a shrine for +the banker and his mistress. Well, just a week ago, in order to hide the +situation better, Bordenave asked Quillanet and some other friends to +one of those luncheons which he understands so well how to order, such a +delicious luncheon, that before it was quite over, every man had a woman +on his knees already, and was asking himself whether a kiss from coaxing +and naughty lips, was not a thousand times more intoxicating than the +finest old brandy or the choicest vintage wines, and was looking at the +bedroom door wishing to escape to it, although the Faculty altogether +forbids that fashion of digesting a dainty repast, when the butler came +in with an embarrassed look, and whispered something to him.</p> + +<p>"Tell the gentleman that he has made a mistake, and ask him to leave me +in peace," Bordenave replied to him in an angry voice. The servant went +out and returned immediately to say that the intruder was using threats, +that he refused to leave the house, and even spoke of having recourse to +the commissary of police. Bordenave frowned, threw his table napkin +down, upset two glasses and staggered out with a red face, swearing and +stammering out:</p> + +<p>"This is rather too much, and the fellow shall find out what going out +of the window means, if he will not leave by the door." But in the +ante-room he found himself face to face with a very cool, polite, +impassive gentleman, who said very quietly to him:</p> + +<p>"You are Count Robert de Bordenave, I believe. Monsieur?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Monsieur."</p> + +<p>"And the lease that you signed at the lawyer's, Monsieur Albin Calvert, +in the <i>Rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière</i>, is in your name, I believe?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Monsieur."</p> + +<p>"Then I regret extremely to have to tell you that if you are not in a +position to pay the various accounts which different people have +intrusted to me for collection here, I shall be obliged to seize all the +furniture, pictures, plate, clothes etc., which are here, in the +presence of two witnesses who are waiting for me downstairs in the +street."</p> + +<p>"I suppose this is some joke, Monsieur?"</p> + +<p>"It would be a very poor joke, Monsieur le Comte, and one which I should +certainly not allow myself towards you!"</p> + +<p>The situation was absolutely critical and ridiculous, the more so, that +in the dining-room the women who were slightly <i>elevated</i>, were tapping +the wine glasses with their spoons, and calling for him. What could he +do except to explain his misadventure to Quillanet, who became sobered +immediately, and rather than see his shrine of love violated, his secret +sin disclosed and his pictures, ornaments and furniture sold, gave a +check in due form for the claim there and then, though with a very wry +face. And in spite of this, some people will deny that men who are +utterly cleared out, often have a stroke of luck.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_ACCENT" id="THE_ACCENT"></a>THE ACCENT</h2> + + +<p>It was a large, upholstered house, with long white terraces shaded by +vines, from which one could see the sea. Large pines stretched a dark +dome over the sacked facade, and there was a look of neglect, of want +and wretchedness about it all, such as irreparable losses, departures to +other countries, and death leave behind them.</p> + +<p>The interior wore a strange look, with half unpacked boxes serving for +wardrobes, piles of band boxes, and for seats there was an array of +worm-eaten armchairs, into which bits of velvet and silk, which had been +cut from old dresses, had been festooned anyhow, and along the walls +there were rows of rusty nails which made one think of old portraits and +of pictures full of associations, which had one by one been bought for a +low price by some second-hand furniture broker.</p> + +<p>The rooms were in disorder and furnished no matter how, while velvets +were hanging from the ceilings and in the corners, and seemed to show +that as the servants were no longer paid except by hopes, they no longer +did more than give them an accidental, careless touch with the broom +occasionally. The drawing-room, which was extremely large, was full of +useless knick-knacks, rubbish which is put up for sale at stalls at +watering places, daubs, they could not be called paintings of portraits +and of flowers, and an old piano with yellow keys.</p> + +<p>Such is the home where she, who had been called the handsome Madame de +Maurillac, was spending her monotonous existence, like some unfortunate +doll which inconstant, childish hands have thrown into a corner in a +loft, she who, almost passed for a professional seductress, and whose +coquetries, at least so the Faithful ones of the Party said, had been +able to excite a passing and last spark of desire in the dull eyes of +the Emperor.</p> + +<p>Like so many others, she and her husband had waited for his return from +Elba, had discounted a fresh, immediate chance, had kept up boldly and +spent the remains of his fortune at that game of luxury.</p> + +<p>On the day when the illusion vanished, and he was forced to awake from +his dream, Monsieur de Maurillac, without considering that he was +leaving his wife and daughter behind him almost penniless, but not being +able to make up his mind to come down in the world, to vegetate, to +fight against his creditors, to accept the derisive alms of some +sinecure, poisoned himself, like a shop girl who is forsaken by her +lover.</p> + +<p>Madame de Maurillac did not mourn for him, and as this lamentable +disaster had made her interesting, and as she was assisted and supported +by unexpected acts of kindness, and had a good adviser in one of those +old Parisian lawyers who would get anybody out of the most inextricable +difficulties, she managed to save something from the wreck, and to keep +a small income. Then reassured and emboldened, and resting her ultimate +illusions and her chimerical hopes on her daughter's radiant beauty, and +preparing for that last game in which they would risk everything, and +perhaps also hoping that she might herself marry again, the ancient +flirt arranged a double existence.</p> + +<p>For months and months she disappeared from the world, and as a pretext +for her isolation and for hiding herself in the country, she alleged her +daughter's delicate health, and also the important interests she had to +look after in the South of France.</p> + +<p>Her frivolous friends looked upon that as a great act of heroism, as +something almost super-human, and so courageous, that they tried to +distract her by their incessant letters, religiously kept her up in all +the scandal, and love adventures, in the falls, as well as in the +apotheosis of the capital.</p> + +<p>The difficult struggle which Madame de Maurillac had to keep up in order +to maintain her rank, was really as fine as any of those campaigns in +the twilight of glory, as those slow retreats where men only give way +inch by inch and fight until the last cartridge is expended, until at +last fresh troops arrive, reinforcement which bar the way to the enemy, +and save the threatened flag.</p> + +<p>Broken in by the same discipline, and haunted by the same dream, mother +and daughter lived on almost nothing in the dull, dilapidated house +which the peasants called the <i>château</i>, and economized like poor people +who only have a few hundred francs a year to live on. But Fabienne de +Maurillac developed well in spite of everything, and grew up into a +woman like some rare flower which is preserved from all contact with the +outer air and is reared in a hot-house.</p> + +<p>In order that she might not lose her Parisian accent by speaking too +much with the servants, who had remained peasants under their livery, +Madame de Maurillac, who had not been able to bring a lady's maid with +her, on account of the extra cost which her traveling expenses and wages +would have entailed, and who, moreover, was afraid that some +indiscretion might betray her maneuvers and cover her with ridicule, +made up her mind to wait on her daughter herself. And Fabienne talked +with nobody but her, saw nobody but her, and was like a little novice in +a convent. Nobody was allowed to speak to her, or to interfere with her +walks in the large garden, or on the white terraces that were reflected +in the blue water.</p> + +<p>As soon as the season for the country and the seaside came, however, +they packed up their trunks, and locked the doors of their house of +exile. As they were not known, and taking those terrible trains which +stop at every station, and by which travelers arrive at their +destination in the middle of the night, with the certainty that nobody +will be waiting for you, and see you get out of the carriage, they +traveled third class, so that they might have a few bank notes the more, +with which to make a show.</p> + +<p>A fortnight in Paris in the family house at Auteuil, a fortnight in +which to try on dresses and bonnets and to show themselves, and then +Trouville, Aix or Biarritz, the whole show complete, with parties +succeeding parties, money was spent as if they did not know its value, +balls at the Casinos, constant flirtations, compromising intimacies, and +those kind of admirers who immediately surround two pretty women, one in +the radiant beauty of her eighteen years, and the other in the +brightness of that maturity, which beautiful September days bring with +them.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, however, they had to do the same thing over again every +year, and as if bad luck were continuing to follow them implacably, +Madame de Maurillac and her daughter did not succeed in their endeavors, +and did not manage during her usual absence from home, to pick up some +nice fellow who fell in love immediately, who took them seriously, and +asked for Fabienne's hand, consequently, they were very unhappy. Their +energies flagged, and their courage left them like water that escapes, +drop by drop, through a crack in a jug. They grew low-spirited and no +longer dared to be open towards each other and to exchange confidences +and projects.</p> + +<p>Fabienne, with her pale cheeks, her large eyes with blue circles round +them and her tight lips, looked like some captive princess who is +tormented by constant ennui, and troubled by evil suggestions; who +dreams of flight, and of escape from that prison where fate holds her +captive.</p> + +<p>One night, when the sky was covered with heavy thunderclouds and the +heat was most oppressive, Madame de Maurillac called her daughter whose +room was next to hers. After calling her loudly for some time in vain, +she sprang out of bed in terror and almost broke open the door with her +trembling hands. The room was empty, and the pillows untouched.</p> + +<p>Then, nearly mad and foreseeing some irreparable misfortune, the poor +woman ran all over the large house, and then rushed out into the garden, +where the air was heavy with the scent of flowers. She had the +appearance of some wild animal that is being pursued by a pack of +hounds, tried to penetrate the darkness with her anxious looks, and +gasped as if some one were holding her by the throat; but suddenly she +staggered, uttered a painful cry and fell down in a fit.</p> + +<p>There before her, in the shadow of the myrtle trees, Fabienne was +sitting on the knees of a man—of the gardener—with both her arms round +his neck and kissing him ardently, and as if to defy her, and to show +her how vain all her precautions and her vigilance had been, the girl +was telling her lover in the country dialect, and in a cooing and +delightful voice, how she adored him and that she belonged to him....</p> + +<p>Madame de Maurillac is in a lunatic asylum, and Fabienne has married the +gardener.</p> + +<p>What could she have done better?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GHOSTS" id="GHOSTS"></a>GHOSTS</h2> + + +<p>Just at the time when the <i>Concordat</i> was in its most flourishing +condition, a young man belonging to a wealthy and highly respected +middle class family went to the office of the head of the police at +P——, and begged for his help and advice, which was immediately +promised him.</p> + +<p>"My father threatens to disinherit me," the young man then began, +"although I have never offended against the laws of the State, of +morality or of his paternal authority, merely because I do not share his +blind reverence for the Catholic Church and her Ministers. On that +account he looks upon me, not merely as Latitudinarian, but as a perfect +Atheist, and a faithful old manservant of ours, who is much attached to +me, and who accidentally saw my father's will, told me in confidence +that he had left all his property to the Jesuits. I think this is highly +suspicious, and I fear that the priests have been maligning me to my +father. Until less than a year ago, we used to live very quietly and +happily together, but ever since he has had so much to do with the +clergy, our domestic peace and happiness are at an end."</p> + +<p>"What you have told me," the official replied, "is as likely as it is +regrettable, but I fail to see how I can interfere in the matter. Your +father is in the full possession of all his mental faculties, and can +dispose of all his property exactly as he pleases. I also think that +your protest is premature; you must wait until his will can legally take +effect, and then you can invoke the aid of justice; I am sorry to say +that I can do nothing for you."</p> + +<p>"I think you will be able to," the young man replied; "for I believe +that a very clever piece of deceit is being carried on here."</p> + +<p>"How? Please explain yourself more clearly."</p> + +<p>"When I remonstrated with him, yesterday evening, he referred to my dead +mother, and at last assured me, in a voice of the deepest conviction, +that she had frequently appeared to him, and had threatened him with all +the torments of the damned, if he did not disinherit his son, who had +fallen away from God, and leave all his property to the Church. Now I do +not believe in ghosts."</p> + +<p>"Neither do I," the police director replied; "but I cannot well do +anything on this dangerous ground, if I had nothing but superstitions to +go upon. You know how the Church rules all our affairs since the +<i>Concordat</i> with Rome, and if I investigate this matter, and obtain no +results, I am risking my post. It would be very different if you could +adduce any proofs for your suspicions. I do not deny that I should like +to see the clerical party, which will, I fear, be the ruin of Austria, +receive a staggering blow; try, therefore, to get to the bottom of this +business, and then we will talk it over again."</p> + +<p>About a month passed, without the young Latitudinarian being heard of; +but then he suddenly came one evening, evidently in a great state of +excitement, and told him that he was in a position to expose the +priestly deceit which he had mentioned, if the authorities would assist +him. The police director asked for further information.</p> + +<p>"I have obtained a number of important clues," the young man said. "In +the first place, my father confessed to me, that my mother did not +appear to him in our house, but in the churchyard where she is buried. +My mother was consumptive for many years, and a few weeks before her +death she went to the village of S——, where she died and was buried. +In addition to this, I found out from our footman, that my father has +already left the house twice, late at night, in company of X——, the +Jesuit priest, and that on both occasions he did not return till +morning. Each time he was remarkably uneasy and low-spirited after his +return, and had three masses said for my dead mother. He also told me +just now, that he has to leave home this evening on business, but +immediately he told me that, our footman saw the Jesuit go out of the +house. We may, therefore, assume that he intends this evening to consult +the spirit of my dead mother again, and this would be an excellent +opportunity for getting on the track of the matter, if you do not object +to opposing the most powerful force in the Empire, for the sake of such +an insignificant individual as myself."</p> + +<p>"Every citizen has an equal right to the protection of the State," the +police director replied; "and I think that I have shown often enough, +that I am not wanting in courage to perform my duty, no matter how +serious the consequences may be; but only very young men act without any +prospects of success, as they are carried away by their feelings. When +you came to me the first time, I was obliged to refuse your request for +assistance, but to-day your shares have risen in value. It is now eight +o'clock, and I shall expect you in two hours' time, here in my office. +At present, all you have to do is to hold your tongue; everything else +is my affair."</p> + +<p>As soon as it was dark, four men got into a closed carriage in the yard +of the police office, and were driven in the direction of the village of +S——; their carriage, however, did not enter the village, but stopped +at the edge of a small wood in the immediate neighborhood. Here they all +four alighted; they were the police director, accompanied by the young +Latitudinarian, a police sergeant and an ordinary policeman, who was, +however, dressed in plain clothes.</p> + +<p>"The first thing for us to do is to examine the locality carefully," the +police director said; "it is eleven o'clock and the exorcisers of ghosts +will not arrive before midnight, so we have time to look round us, and +to take our measure."</p> + +<p>The four men went to the churchyard, which lay at the end of the +village, near the little wood. Everything was as still as death, and not +a soul was to be seen. The sexton was evidently sitting in the public +house, for they found the door of his cottage locked, as well as the +door of the little chapel that stood in the middle of the churchyard.</p> + +<p>"Where is your mother's grave?" the police director asked; but as there +were only a few stars visible, it was not easy to find it, but at last +they managed it, and the police director looked about in the +neighborhood of it.</p> + +<p>"The position is not a very favorable one for us," he said at last; +"there is nothing here, not even a shrub, behind which we could hide."</p> + +<p>But just then the policeman said that he had tried to get into the +sexton's hut through the door or the window, and that at last he had +succeeded in doing so by breaking open a square in a window, which had +been mended with paper, and that he had opened it and obtained +possession of the key, which he brought to the police director.</p> + +<p>His plans were very quickly settled. He had the chapel opened and went +in with the young Latitudinarian; then he told the police sergeant to +lock the door behind him and to put the key back where he had found it, +and to shut the window of the sexton's cottage carefully. Lastly, he +made arrangements as to what they were to do, in case anything +unforeseen should occur, whereupon the sergeant and the constable left +the churchyard, and lay down in a ditch at some distance from the gate, +but opposite to it.</p> + +<p>Almost as soon as the clock struck half-past eleven, they heard steps +near the chapel, whereupon the police director and the young +Latitudinarian went to the window, in order to watch the beginning of +the exorcism, and as the chapel was in total darkness, they thought that +they should be able to see, without being seen; but matters turned out +differently from what they expected.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, the key turned in the lock, and they barely had time to +conceal themselves behind the altar, before two men came in, one of whom +was carrying a dark lantern. One was the young man's father, an elderly +man of the middle class, who seemed very unhappy and depressed, the +other the Jesuit father K——, a tall, thin, big-boned man, with a thin, +bilious face, in which two large gray eyes shone restlessly under their +bushy, black eyebrows. He lit the tapers, which were standing on the +altar, and then began to say a <i>Requiem Mass</i>; while the old man knelt +on the altar steps and served him.</p> + +<p>When it was over, the Jesuit took the book of the Gospels and the holy +water sprinkler, and went slowly out of the chapel, while the old man +followed him, with the holy water basin in one hand and a taper in the +other. Then the police director left his hiding place, and stooping +down, so as not to be seen, he crept to the chapel window, where he +cowered down carefully, and the young man followed his example. They +were now looking straight on his mother's grave.</p> + +<p>The Jesuit, followed by the superstitious old man, walked three times +round the grave; then he remained standing before it, and by the light +of the taper, he read a few passages from the Gospel; then he dipped the +holy water sprinkler three times into the holy water basin, and +sprinkled the grave three times; then both returned to the chapel, knelt +down outside it with their faces towards the grave, and began to pray +aloud, until at last the Jesuit sprang up, in a species of wild ecstasy, +and cried out three times in a shrill voice:</p> + +<p>"Exsurge! Exsurge! Exsurge!"<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>Scarcely had the last word of the exorcism died away, when thick, blue +smoke rose out of the grave, which rapidly grew into a cloud, and began +to assume the outlines of a human body, until at last a tall, white +figure stood behind the grave, and beckoned with its hand.</p> + +<p>"Who art thou?" the Jesuit asked solemnly, while the old man began to +cry.</p> + +<p>"When I was alive, I was called Anna Maria B——," the ghost replied in +a hollow voice.</p> + +<p>"Will you answer all my questions?" the priest continued.</p> + +<p>"As far as I can."</p> + +<p>"Have you not yet been delivered from purgatory by our prayers, and all +the masses for your soul, which we have said for you?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet, but soon, soon I shall be."</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"As soon as that blasphemer, my son, has been punished."</p> + +<p>"Has that not already happened? Has not your husband disinherited his +lost son, and made the Church his heir, in his place?"</p> + +<p>"That is not enough."</p> + +<p>"What must he do besides?"</p> + +<p>"He must deposit his will with the Judicial Authorities, as his last +will and testament, and drive the reprobate out of his house."</p> + +<p>"Consider well what you are saying. Must this really be?"</p> + +<p>"It must, or otherwise I shall have to languish in purgatory much +longer," the sepulchral voice replied with a deep sigh; but the next +moment it yelled out in terror:</p> + +<p>"Oh! Good Lord!" and the ghost began to run away as fast as it could. A +shrill whistle was heard, and then another, and the police director laid +his hand on the shoulder of the exorcisor, accompanied with the remark:</p> + +<p>"You are in custody."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the police sergeant and the policeman, who had come into the +churchyard, had caught the ghost, and dragged it forward. It was the +sexton, who had put on a flowing, white dress, and who wore a wax mask, +which bore striking resemblance to his mother, as the son declared.</p> + +<p>When the case was heard, it was proved that the mask had been very +skillfully made from a portrait of the deceased woman. The Government +gave orders that the matter should be investigated as secretly as +possible, and left the punishment of Father K—— to the spiritual +authorities, which was a matter of course, at a time when priests were +outside the jurisdiction of the Civil Authorities; and it is needless to +say that he was very comfortable during his imprisonment, in a monastery +in a part of the country which abounded with game and trout.</p> + +<p>The only valuable result of the amusing ghost story was, that it brought +about a reconciliation between father and son, and the former, as a +matter of fact, felt such deep respect for priests and their ghosts in +consequence of the apparition, that a short time after his wife had left +purgatory for the last time, in order to talk with him, he turned +<i>Protestant</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CRASH" id="CRASH"></a>CRASH</h2> + + +<p>Love is stronger than death, and consequently also, than the greatest +crash.</p> + +<p>A young, and by no means bad-looking son of Palestine, and one of the +barons of the Almanac of the <i>Ghetto</i>, who had left the field covered +with wounds in the last general engagement on the Stock Exchange, used +to go very frequently to the Universal Exhibition in Vienna in 1873, in +order to divert his thoughts, and to console himself amidst the varied +scenes, and the numerous objects of attraction there. One day he met a +newly married couple in the Russian section, who had a very old coat of +arms, but on the other hand, a very modest income.</p> + +<p>This latter circumstance had frequently emboldened the stockbroker to +make secret overtures to the delightful little lady; overtures which +might have fascinated certain Viennese actresses, but which were sure to +insult a respectable woman. The baroness, whose name appeared in the +<i>Almanack de Gotha</i>, therefore felt something very like hatred for the +man from the <i>Ghetto</i>, and for a long time her pretty little head had +been full of various plans of revenge.</p> + +<p>The stockbroker, who was really, and even passionately in love with her, +got close to her in the Exhibition buildings, which he could do all the +more easily, since the little woman's husband had taken to flight, +foreseeing mischief, as soon as she went up to the show-case of a +Russian fur dealer, before which she remained standing in rapture.</p> + +<p>"Do look at that lovely fur," the baroness said, while her dark eyes +expressed her pleasure; "I must have it."</p> + +<p>But she looked at the white ticket on which the price was marked.</p> + +<p>"Four thousand roubles," she said in despair; "that is about six +thousand florins."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," he replied, "but what of that? It is a sum not worth +mentioning in the presence of such a charming lady."</p> + +<p>"But my husband is not in a position ..."</p> + +<p>"Be less cruel than usual for once," the man from the <i>Ghetto</i> said to +the young woman in a low voice, "and allow me to lay this sable skin at +your feet."</p> + +<p>"I presume that you are joking."</p> + +<p>"Not I ..."</p> + +<p>"I think you must be joking, as I cannot think that you intend to insult +me."</p> + +<p>"But, Baroness, I love you...."</p> + +<p>"That is one reason more why you should not make me angry."</p> + +<p>"But ..."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I am in such a rage," the energetic little woman said; "I could +flog you like <i>Venus in the Fur</i><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> did her slave."</p> + +<p>"Let me be your slave," the Stock Exchange baron replied ardently, "and +I will gladly put up with everything from you. Really, in this sable +cloak, and with a whip in your hand, you would make a most lovely +picture of the heroine of that story."</p> + +<p>The baroness looked at the man for a moment with a peculiar smile.</p> + +<p>"Then if I were to listen to you favorably, you would let me flog you?" +she said after a pause.</p> + +<p>"With pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Very well," she replied quickly. "You will let me give you twenty-five +cuts with a whip, and I will be yours after the twenty-fifth blow."</p> + +<p>"Are you in earnest?"</p> + +<p>"Fully."</p> + +<p>The man from the <i>Ghetto</i> took her hand, and pressed it ardently to his +lips.</p> + +<p>"When may I come?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow evening at eight o'clock."</p> + +<p>"And I may bring the sable cloak and the whip with me?"</p> + +<p>"No, I will see about that myself."</p> + +<p>The next evening the enamored stockbroker came to the house of the +charming little Baroness, and found her alone, lying on a couch, wrapped +in a dark fur, while she held a dog whip in her small hand, which the +man from the <i>Ghetto</i> kissed.</p> + +<p>"You know our agreement," she began.</p> + +<p>"Of course I do," the Stock Exchange baron replied. "I am to allow you +to give me twenty-five cuts with the whip, and after the twenty-fifth +you will listen to me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I am going to tie your hands first of all."</p> + +<p>The amorous baron quietly allowed this new Delila to tie his hands +behind him, and then at her bidding, he knelt down before her, and she +raised her whip and hit him hard.</p> + +<p>"Oh! That hurts me most confoundedly," he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I mean it to hurt you," she said with a mocking laugh, and went on +thrashing him without mercy. At last the poor fool groaned with pain, +but he consoled himself with the thought that each blow brought him +nearer to his happiness.</p> + +<p>At the twenty-fourth cut, she threw the whip down.</p> + +<p>"That only makes twenty-four," the beaten would-be, <i>Don Juan</i>, +remarked.</p> + +<p>"I will make you a present of the twenty-fifth," she said with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"And now you are mine, altogether mine," he exclaimed ardently.</p> + +<p>"What are you thinking of?"</p> + +<p>"Have I not let you beat me?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly; but I promised you to grant your wish after the twenty-fifth +blow, and you have only received twenty-four," the cruel little bit of +virtue cried, "and I have witnesses to prove it."</p> + +<p>With these words, she drew back the curtains over the door, and her +husband, followed by two other gentlemen came out of the next room, +smiling. For a moment the stockbroker remained speechless on his knees +before the beautiful woman; then he gave a deep sigh, and sadly uttered +that one, most significant word:</p> + +<p><i>"Crash!"</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AN_HONEST_IDEAL" id="AN_HONEST_IDEAL"></a>AN HONEST IDEAL</h2> + + +<p>Among my numerous friends in Vienna, there is one who is an author, and +who has always amused me by his childish idealism.</p> + +<p>Not by his idealism from an abstract point of view, for in spite of my +Pessimism I am an absurd Idealist, and because I am perfectly well aware +of this, I as a rule never laugh at people's Idealism, but his sort of +Idealism was really too funny.</p> + +<p>He was a serious man of great capabilities who only just fell short of +being learned, with a clear, critical intellect; a man without any +illusions about Society, the State, Literature, or anything else, and +especially not about women; but yet he was the craziest Optimist as soon +as he got upon the subject of actresses, theatrical princesses and +heroines; he was one of those men, who, like Hackländer, cannot discover +the Ideal of Virtue anywhere, except in a ballet girl.</p> + +<p>My friend was always in love with some actress or other; of course only +Platonically, and from preference with some girl of rising talent, whose +literary knight he constituted himself, until the time came when her +admirers laid something much more substantial than laurel wreaths at her +feet; then he withdrew and sought for fresh talent which would allow +itself to be patronized by him.</p> + +<p>He was never without the photograph of his ideal in his breast pocket, +and when he was in a good temper he used to show me one or other of +them, whom I had never seen, with a knowing smile, and once, when we +were sitting in a <i>café</i> in the <i>Prater</i>, he took out a portrait without +saying a word, and laid it on the table before me.</p> + +<p>It was the portrait of a beautiful woman, but what struck me in it first +of all was not the almost classic cut of her features, but her white +eyes.</p> + +<p>"If she had not the black hair of a living woman, I should take her for +a statue," I said.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," my friend replied; "for a statue of Venus, perhaps for the +Venus of Milo, herself."</p> + +<p>"Who is she?"</p> + +<p>"A young actress."</p> + +<p>"That is a matter of course in your case; what I meant was, what is her +name?"</p> + +<p>My friend told me, and it was a name which is at present one of the best +known on the German stage, with which a number of terrestrial adventures +are connected, as every Viennese knows, with which those of Venus +herself were only innocent toying, but which I then heard for the first +time.</p> + +<p>My idealist described her as a woman of the highest talent, which I +believed, and as an angel of purity, which I did not believe; on that +particular occasion, however, I at any rate did not believe the +contrary.</p> + +<p>A few days later, I was accidentally turning over the leaves of the +portrait album of another intimate friend of mine, who was a thoroughly +careless, somewhat dissolute Viennese, and I came across that strange +female face with the dead eyes again.</p> + +<p>"How did you come by the picture of this Venus?" I asked him.</p> + +<p>"Well, she certainly is a Venus," he replied, "but one of that cheap +kind who are to be met with in the <i>Graben</i><a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>, which is their ideal +grove...."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"I give you my word of honor it is so."</p> + +<p>I could say nothing more after that. So my intellectual friend's new +ideal, that woman of the highest dramatic talent, that wonderful woman +with the white eyes, was a street Venus!</p> + +<p>But my friend was right in one respect. He had not deceived himself with +regard to her wonderful dramatic gifts, and she very soon made a career +for herself; far from being a mute character on a suburban stage, she +rose in two years to be the leading actress at one of the principal +theaters.</p> + +<p>My friend interested himself on her behalf with the manager of it, who +was not blinded by any prejudices. She acted in a rehearsal, and pleased +him; whereupon he sent her to star in the provinces, and my friend +accompanied her, and took care she was well puffed.</p> + +<p>She went on the boards as Schiller's <i>Marie Stuart</i>, and achieved the +most brilliant success, and before she had finished her starring tour, +she obtained an engagement at a large theater in a Northern town, where +her appearance was the signal for a triumphant success.</p> + +<p>Her reputation, that is, her reputation as a most gifted actress, grew +very high in less than a year, and the manager of the Court theater +invited her to star at the Court theater.</p> + +<p>She was received with some suspicion at first, but she soon overcame all +prejudices and doubts; the applause grew more and more vehement at every +act, and at the close of the performance, her future was decided. She +obtained a splendid engagement, and soon afterwards became an actress at +the Court theater.</p> + +<p>A well-known author wrote a racy novel, of which she was the heroine; +one of the leading bankers and financiers was at her feet; she was the +most popular personage, and the lioness of the capital; she had splendid +apartments, and all her surroundings were of the most luxurious +character, and she had reached that height in her career at which my +idealistic friend, who had constituted himself her literary knight, +quietly took his leave of her, and went in search of fresh talent.</p> + +<p>But the beautiful woman with the dead eyes and the dead heart seemed to +be destined to be the scourge of the Idealists, quite against her will, +for scarcely had one unfolded his wings and flown away from her, than +another fell out of the nest into her net.</p> + +<p>A very young student, who was neither handsome, nor of good family, and +certainly not rich or even well off, but who was enthusiastic, +intellectual and impressionable, saw her as <i>Marie Stuart</i> in <i>The Maid +of Orleans, The Lady with the Camelias</i>, and most of the plays of the +best French play writers, for the manager was making experiments with +her, and she was doing the same with her talents.</p> + +<p>The poor student was enraptured with the celebrated actress, and at the +same time conceived a passion for the woman, which bordered on madness.</p> + +<p>He saved up penny by penny, he nearly starved himself, only in order +that he might be able to pay for a seat in the gallery whenever she +acted, and be able to devour her with his eyes. He always got a seat in +the front row, for he was always outside three hours before the doors +opened, so as to be one of the first to gain his Olympus, the seat of +the theatrical enthusiasts; he grew pale, and his heart beat violently +when she appeared; he laughed when she laughed, shed tears when she +wept, applauded her, as if he had been paid to do it by the highest +favors that a woman can bestow, and yet she did not know him, and was +ignorant of his very existence.</p> + +<p>The regular frequenters of the Court theater noticed him at last, and +spoke about his infatuation for her, until at last she heard about him, +but still did not know him, and although he could not send her any +costly jewelry, and not even a bouquet, yet at last he succeeded in +attracting her attention.</p> + +<p>When she had been acting and the theater had been empty for a long time, +and she left it, wrapped in valuable furs and got into the carriage of +her banker, which was waiting for her at the stage door, he always stood +there, often up to his ankles in snow, or in the pouring rain.</p> + +<p>At first she did not notice him, but when her maid said something to her +in a whisper on one occasion, she looked round in surprise, and he got a +look from those large eyes, which were not dead then, but dark and +bright; a look which recompensed him for all his sufferings and filled +him with proud hopes, which constantly gained more power over the young +Idealist, who was usually so modest.</p> + +<p>At last there was a thorough, silent understanding between the +theatrical princess and the dumb adorer. When she put her foot on the +carriage step, she looked round at him, and every time he stood there, +devouring her with his eyes; she saw it and got contentedly into her +carriage, but she did not see how he ran after the carriage, and how he +reached her house, panting for breath, when she did, nor how he lay down +outside after the door had closed behind her.</p> + +<p>One stormy summer night, when the wind was howling in the chimneys, and +the rain was beating against the windows and on the pavement, the poor +student was again lying on the stone steps outside her house, when the +front door was opened very cautiously and quietly; for it was not the +banker who was leaving the house, but a wealthy young officer whom the +girl was letting out; he kissed the pretty little Cerebus as he put a +gold coin into her hand, and then accidentally trod on the Idealist, who +was lying outside.</p> + +<p>They all three simultaneously uttered a cry; the girl blew out the +candle, the officer instinctively half drew his sword, and the student +ran away.</p> + +<p>Ever since that night, the poor, crazy fellow went about with a dagger, +which he concealed in his belt, and it was his constant companion to the +theater, and the stage door, when the actress's carriage used to wait +for her, and to her house, where he nightly kept his painful watch.</p> + +<p>His first idea was to kill his fortunate rival, then himself, then the +theatrical princess, but at last, he lay down again outside her door, or +stood on the pavement and watched the shadows, that flitted hither and +thither on her window, turned by the magic spell of the lovely actress.</p> + +<p>And then, the most incredible thing happened, something which he could +never have hoped for, and which he scarcely believed when it did occur.</p> + +<p>One evening, when she had been playing a very important part, she kept +the carriage waiting much longer than usual; but at last she appeared, +and got into it; she did not shut the door, however, but beckoned to the +young Idealist to follow her.</p> + +<p>He was almost delirious with joy, just as a moment before he had been +almost mad from despair, and obeyed her immediately, and during the +drive he lay at her feet and covered her hands with kisses. She allowed +it quietly and even merrily, and when the carriage stopped at her door, +she let him lift her out of the carriage, and went upstairs leaning on +his arm.</p> + +<p>There, the lady's maid showed him into a luxuriously furnished +drawing-room, while the actress changed her dress.</p> + +<p>Presently she appeared in her dressing gown, sat down carelessly in an +easy chair, and asked him to sit down beside her.</p> + +<p>"You take a great interest in me?" she said.</p> + +<p>"You are my ideal!" the student cried enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>The theatrical princess smiled, and said:</p> + +<p>"Well, I will at any rate be an honest ideal; I will not deceive you, +and you shall not be able to say that I have misused your youthful +enthusiasm. I will give myself to you...."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Heavens!" the poor Idealist exclaimed, throwing himself at her +feet.</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment! Wait a moment!" she said with a smile. "I have not +finished yet. I can only love a man who is in a position to provide me +with all those luxuries which an actress, or, if you like, which I +cannot do without. As far as I know, you are poor, but I will belong to +you, only for to-night, however, and in return you must promise me not +to rave about me, or to follow me, from to-night. Will you do this?"</p> + +<p>The wretched Idealist was kneeling before her; he was having a terrible +mental struggle.</p> + +<p>"Will you promise me to do this?" she said again.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, almost groaning.</p> + +<p>The next morning a man, who had buried his Ideal, tottered downstairs. +He was pale enough; almost as pale as a corpse; but in spite of this, he +is still alive, and if he has any Ideal at all at present, it is +certainly not a theatrical princess.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="STABLE_PERFUME" id="STABLE_PERFUME"></a>STABLE PERFUME</h2> + + +<p>Three ladies belonging to that class of society which has nothing useful +to do, and therefore does not know how to employ its time sensibly, were +sitting on a bench in the shade of some pine trees at Ischl, and were +talking incidentally of their preference for all sorts of smells.</p> + +<p>One of the ladies, Princess F——, a slim, handsome brunette, declared +there was nothing like the smell of Russian leather; she wore dull brown +Russian leather boots, a Russian leather dress suspender, to keep her +petticoats out of the dirt and dust, a Russian leather belt which +spanned her wasp-like waist, carried a Russian leather purse, and even +wore a brooch and bracelet of gilt Russian leather; people declared that +her bedroom was papered with Russian leather, and that her lover was +obliged to wear high Russian leather boots and tight breeches, but that +on the other hand, her husband was excused from wearing anything at all +in Russian leather.</p> + +<p>Countess H——, a very stout lady, who had formerly been very beautiful +and of a very loving nature, but loving after the fashion of her time <i>à +la</i> Parthenia and Griseldis, could not get over the vulgar taste of the +young Princess. All she cared for was the smell of hay, and she it was +who brought the scent <i>New Mown Hay</i> into fashion. Her ideal was a +freshly mown field in the moonlight, and when she rolled slowly along, +she looked like a moving haystack, and exhaled an odor of hay all about +her.</p> + +<p>The third lady's taste was even more peculiar than Countess H——'s, and +more vulgar than the Princess's, for the small, delicate, light-haired +Countess W—— lived only for—the smell of stables. Her friends could +absolutely not understand this; the Princess raised her beautiful, full +arm with its broad bracelet to her Grecian nose and inhaled the sweet +smell of the Russian leather, while the sentimental hay-rick exclaimed +over and over again:</p> + +<p>"How dreadful! What dost thou say to it, chaste moon?"</p> + +<p>The delicate little Countess seemed very much embarrassed at the effect +that her confession had had, and tried to justify her taste.</p> + +<p>"Prince T—— told me that that smell had quite bewitched him once," she +said; "it was in a Jewish town in Gallicia, where he was quartered once +with his hussar regiment, and a number of poor, ragged circus riders, +with half-starved horses came from Russia and put up a circus with a few +poles and some rags of canvas, and the Prince went to see them, and +found a woman among them, who was neither young nor beautiful, but bold +and impudent; and the impudent woman wore a faded, bright red jacket, +trimmed with old, shabby, imitation ermine, and that jacket stank of the +stable, as the Prince expressed it, and she bewitched him with that +odor, so that every time that the shameless wretch lay in his arms, and +laughed impudently, and smelled abominably of the stable, he felt as if +he were magnetized.</p> + +<p>"How disgusting!" both the other ladies said, and involuntarily held +their noses.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou say to it, chaste moon?" the haystack said with a +sigh, and the little light-haired Countess was abashed and held her +tongue.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the winter season the three friends were together +again in the gay, imperial city on the blue Danube. One morning the +Princess accidentally met the enthusiast for the hay at the house of the +little light-haired Countess, and the two ladies were obliged to go +after her to her private riding-school, where she was taking her daily +lesson. As soon as she saw them, she came up, and beckoned her +riding-master to her to help her out of the saddle. He was a young man +of extremely good and athletic build, which was set off by his tight +breeches and his short velvet coat, and he ran up and took his lovely +burden into his arms with visible pleasure, to help her off the quiet, +perfectly broken horse.</p> + +<p>When the ladies looked at the handsome, vigorous man, it was quite +enough to explain their little friend's predilection for the smell of a +stable, but when the latter saw their looks, she blushed up to the roots +of her hair, and her only way out of the difficulty was to order the +riding-master, in a very authoritative manner, to take the horse back to +the stable. He merely bowed, with an indescribable smile, and obeyed +her.</p> + +<p>A few months afterwards, Viennese society was alarmed at the news that +Countess W—— had been divorced from her husband. The event was all the +more unexpected, as they had apparently always lived very happily +together, and nobody was able to mention any man on whom she had +bestowed even the most passing attention, beyond the requirements of +politeness.</p> + +<p>Long afterwards, however, a strange report became current. A chattering +lady's maid declared that the handsome riding-master had once so far +forgotten himself as to strike the Countess with his riding-whip; a +groom had told the Count of the occurrence, and when he was going to +call the insolent fellow to account for it, the Countess covered him +with her own body, and thus gave occasion for the divorce.</p> + +<p>Years had passed since then and the Countess H—— had grow stouter and +more sentimental. Ischl and hayricks were not enough for her any longer; +she spent the winter on lovely <i>Lago Maggoire</i>, where she walked among +laurel bushes and cypress trees, and was rowed about on the luke warm, +moonlight nights.</p> + +<p>One evening she was returning home in the company of an English lady who +was also a great lover of nature, from <i>Isola Bella</i>, when they met a +beautiful private boat in which a very unusual couple were sitting; a +small, delicate, light-haired woman, wrapped in a white burnoose, and a +handsome, athletic man, in tight, white breeches, a short, black velvet +coat trimmed with sable, a red fez on his head, and a riding whip in his +hand.</p> + +<p>Countess K—— involuntarily uttered a loud exclamation.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with you?" the English lady asked. "Do you know +those people?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly! She is a Viennese lady," Countess H—— whispered; "Countess +W——."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Indeed you are quite mistaken; it is a Count Savelli and his wife. +They are a handsome couple, don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>When the boat came nearer, she saw that in spite of that, it was little +Countess W—— and that the handsome man was her former riding-master, +whom she had married, and for whom she had bought a title from the Pope; +and as the two boats passed each other, the short sable cloak, which was +thrown carelessly over his shoulders, exhaled, like the old cat's skin +jacket of that impudent female circus rider, a strong <i>stable perfume</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_ILL-OMENED_GROOM" id="THE_ILL-OMENED_GROOM"></a>THE ILL-OMENED GROOM</h2> + + +<p>An impudent theft, to a very large amount, had been committed in the +Capital. Jewels, a valuable watch set with diamonds, his wife's +miniature in a frame enchased with brilliants, and a considerable sum in +money, the whole amounting in value to a hundred and fifteen thousand +florins, had been stolen. The banker himself went to the Director of +Police<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> to give notice of the robberies, but at the same time he +begged as a special favor that the investigation might be carried on as +quietly and considerately as possible, as he declared that he had not +the slightest ground for suspecting anybody in particular, and did not +wish any innocent person to be accused.</p> + +<p>"First of all, give me the names of all the persons who regularly go +into your bedroom," the police director said.</p> + +<p>"Nobody, except my wife, my children, and Joseph, my valet, a man for +whom I would answer as I would for myself."</p> + +<p>"Then you think him absolutely incapable of committing such a deed?"</p> + +<p>"Most decidedly I do," the banker replied.</p> + +<p>"Very well; then can you remember whether on the day on which you first +missed the articles that have been stolen, or on any days immediately +preceding it, anybody who was not a member of your household, happened +by chance to go to your bedroom?"</p> + +<p>The banker thought for a moment, and then said with some hesitation:</p> + +<p>"Nobody, absolutely nobody."</p> + +<p>The experienced official, however, was struck by the banker's slight +embarrassment and momentary blush, so he took his hand, and looking him +straight in the face, he said:</p> + +<p>"You are not quite candid with me; somebody was with you, and you wish +to conceal the fact from me. You must tell me everything."</p> + +<p>"No, no; indeed there was nobody here." "Then at present, there is only +one person on whom any suspicion can rest—and that is your valet."</p> + +<p>"I will vouch for his honesty," the banker replied immediately.</p> + +<p>"You may be mistaken, and I shall be obliged to question the man."</p> + +<p>"May I beg you to do it with every possible consideration?"</p> + +<p>"You may rely upon me for that."</p> + +<p>An hour later, the banker's valet was in the police director's private +room, who first of all looked at his man very closely, and then came to +the conclusion that such an honest, unembarrassed face, and such quiet, +steady eyes could not possibly belong to a criminal.</p> + +<p>"Do you know why I have sent for you?"</p> + +<p>"No, your Honor."</p> + +<p>"A large theft has been committed in your master's house," the police +director continued, "from his bedroom. Do you suspect anybody? Who has +been into the room, within the last few days?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody but myself, except my master's family."</p> + +<p>"Do you not see, my good fellow, that by saying that, you throw +suspicion on yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, sir," the valet exclaimed, "you do not believe..."</p> + +<p>"I must not believe anything; my duty is merely to investigate and to +follow up any traces that I may discover," was the reply. "If you have +been the only person to go into the room within the last few days, I +must hold you responsible."</p> + +<p>"My master knows me..."</p> + +<p>The police director shrugged his shoulders: "Your master has vouched for +your honesty, but that is not enough for me. You are the only person on +whom, at present, any suspicion rests, and therefore I must—sorry as I +am to do so—have you arrested."</p> + +<p>"If that is so," the man said, after some hesitation, "I prefer to speak +the truth, for my good name is more to me than my situation. Somebody +was in my master's apartments yesterday."</p> + +<p>"And this somebody was...?"</p> + +<p>"A lady."</p> + +<p>"A lady of his acquaintance?"</p> + +<p>The valet did not reply for some time.</p> + +<p>"It must come out," he said at length. "My master keeps a woman—you +understand, sir, a pretty, fair woman; and he has furnished a house for +her and goes to see her, but secretly of course, for if my mistress were +to find it out, there would be a terrible scene. This person was with +him yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Were they alone?"</p> + +<p>"I showed her in, and she was in his bedroom with him; but I had to call +him out after a short time, as his confidential clerk wanted to speak to +him, and so she was in the room alone for about a quarter of an hour."</p> + +<p>"What is her name?"</p> + +<p>"Cæcelia K——; she is a Hungarian." At the same time the valet gave him +her address.</p> + +<p>Then the director of police sent for the banker, who, on being brought +face to face with his valet, was obliged to acknowledge the truth of the +facts which the latter had alleged, painful as it was for him to do so; +whereupon orders were given to take Cæcelia K—— into custody.</p> + +<p>In less than half an hour, however, the police officer who had been +dispatched for that purpose, returned and said that she had left her +apartments, and most likely the Capital also, the previous evening. The +unfortunate banker was almost in despair. Not only had he been robbed of +a hundred and fifty thousand florins, but at the same time he had lost +the beautiful woman, whom he loved with all the passion of which he was +capable. He could not grasp the idea that a woman whom he had surrounded +with Asiatic luxury, whose strangest whims he had gratified, and whose +tyranny he had borne so patiently, could have deceived him so +shamefully, and now he had a quarrel with his wife, and an end of all +domestic peace, into the bargain.</p> + +<p>The only thing the police could do was to raise the hue and cry after +the lady, who had denounced herself by her flight, but it was all of no +use. In vain did the banker, in whose heart hatred and thirst for +revenge had taken the place of love, implore the Director of Police to +employ every means to bring the beautiful criminal to justice, and in +vain did he undertake to be responsible for all the costs of her +prosecution, no matter how heavy they might be. Special police officers +were told off to try and discover her, but Cæcelia K—— was so rude as +not to allow herself to be caught.</p> + +<p>Three years had passed, and the unpleasant story appeared to have been +forgotten. The banker had obtained his wife's pardon and—what he cared +about a good deal more—he had found another charming mistress, and the +police did not appear to trouble themselves about the beautiful +Hungarian any more.</p> + +<p>We must now change the scene to London. A wealthy lady who created much +sensation in society, and who made many conquests both by her beauty and +her free behavior, was in want of a groom. Among the many applicants for +the situation, there was a young man, whose good looks and manners gave +people the impression that he must have been very well educated. This +was a recommendation in the eyes of the lady's maid, and she took him +immediately to her mistress's boudoir. When he entered, he saw a +beautiful, voluptuous looking woman, at most, twenty-five years of age, +with large, bright eyes and blue-black hair, which seemed to increase +the brilliancy of her fair complexion, lying on a sofa. She looked at +the young man, who also had thick black hair, and who turned his glowing +black eyes to the ground, beneath her searching gaze, with evident +satisfaction, and she seemed particularly taken with his slender, +athletic build, and then she said half lazily and half proudly:</p> + +<p>"What is your name?"</p> + +<p>"Lajos Mariassi."</p> + +<p>"A Hungarian?"</p> + +<p>And there was a strange look in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"How did you come here?"</p> + +<p>"I am one of the many emigrants who have forfeited their country and +their life; and I, who come of a good family, and who was an officer of +the Honveds, must now ... go into service, and thank God if I find a +mistress who is at the same time beautiful and an aristocrat, as you +are."</p> + +<p>Miss Zoë—that was the lovely woman's name—smiled, and at the same time +showed two rows of pearly teeth.</p> + +<p>"I like your looks," she said, "and I feel inclined to take you into my +service, if you are satisfied with my terms."</p> + +<p>"A lady's whim," her maid said to herself, when she noticed the ardent +looks which Miss Zoë gave her manservant, "which will soon pass away." +But that experienced female was mistaken that time.</p> + +<p>Zoë was really in love, and the respect with which Lajos treated her, +put her into a very bad temper. One evening, when she intended to go to +the Italian Opera, she countermanded her carriage, and refused to see +her noble adorer, who wished to throw himself at her feet, and ordered +her groom to be sent up to her boudoir.</p> + +<p>"Lajos," she began, "I am not at all satisfied with you."</p> + +<p>"Why, Madame?"</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to have you about me any longer; here are your wages for +three months. Leave the house immediately." And she began to walk up and +down the room, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"I will obey you, Madame," the groom replied, "but I shall not take my +wages."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" she asked hastily.</p> + +<p>"Because then I should be under your authority for three months," Lajos +said, "and I intend to be free, this very moment, so that I may be able +to tell you that I entered your service, not for the sake of your money, +but because I love and adore a beautiful woman in you."</p> + +<p>"You love me!" Zoë exclaimed. "Why did you not tell me sooner? I merely +wished to banish you from my presence, because I love you, and did not +think that you loved me. But you shall smart for having tormented me so. +Come to my feet immediately."</p> + +<p>The groom knelt before the lovely girl, whose moist lips sought his at +the same instant.</p> + +<p>From that moment Lajos became her favorite. Of course he was not allowed +to be jealous, as the young lord was still her official lover, who had +the pleasure of paying everything for that licentious beauty, and +besides him, there was a whole army of so-called "good friends," who +were fortunate enough to obtain a smile now and then, and occasionally, +something more, and who, in return, had permission to present her with +rare flowers, a parrot or diamonds.</p> + +<p>The more intimate Zoë became with Lajos, the more uncomfortable she felt +when he looked at her, as he frequently did, with undisguised contempt. +She was wholly under his influence and was afraid of him, and one day, +while he was playing with her dark curls, he said jeeringly:</p> + +<p>"It is usually said that contrasts usually attract each other, and yet +you are as dark as I am."</p> + +<p>She smiled, and then tore off her black curls, and immediately the most +charming, fair-haired woman was sitting by the side of Lajos, who looked +at her attentively, but without any surprise.</p> + +<p>He left his mistress at about midnight, in order to look after the +horses, as he said, and she put on a very pretty nightdress and went to +bed. She remained awake for fully an hour, expecting her lover, and then +she went to sleep, but in two hours' time she was roused from her +slumbers, and saw a police inspector and two constables by the side of +her magnificent bed.</p> + +<p>"Whom do you want?" she cried.</p> + +<p>"Cæcelia K——."</p> + +<p>"I am Miss Zoë."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I know you," the Inspector said with a smile; "be kind enough to +take off your dark locks, and you will be Cæcelia K——. I arrest you in +the name of the law."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" she stammered, "Lajos has betrayed me."</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken, Madame," the Inspector replied; "he has merely done +his duty."</p> + +<p>"What? Lajos . . . my lover?"</p> + +<p>"No, Lajos, the detective."</p> + +<p>Cæcelia got out of bed, and the next moment she sank fainting onto the +floor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AN_EXOTIC_PRINCE" id="AN_EXOTIC_PRINCE"></a>AN EXOTIC PRINCE</h2> + + +<p>In the forthcoming reminiscences, a lady will frequently be mentioned +who played a great part in the annals of the police from 1848 to 1866, +and we will call her <i>Wanda von Chabert</i>. Born in Galicia of German +parents, and carefully brought up in every way, she married a rich and +handsome officer of noble birth, from love, when she was sixteen. The +young couple, however, lived beyond their means, and when her husband +died suddenly, two years after they were married, she was left anything +but well off.</p> + +<p>As Wanda had grown accustomed to luxury and amusement, the quiet life in +her parents' house did not suit her any longer, and even while she was +still in mourning for her husband, she allowed a Hungarian magnate to +make love to her, and she went off with him at a venture, and continued +the same extravagant life which she had led when her husband was alive, +at her own authority. At the end of two years, however, her lover left +her in a town in North Italy, almost without means, and she was thinking +of going on the stage, when chance provided her with another resource, +which enabled her to reassure her position in society. She became a +secret police agent, and soon was one of their most valuable members. In +addition to the proverbial charms and wit of a Polish woman, she also +possessed high linguistic attainments, and she spoke Polish, Russian, +French, German, English and Italian, almost equally fluently and +correctly; then she had also that encyclopædic polish, which impresses +most people much more than the most profound learning of a specialist. +She was very attractive in appearance, and she knew how to set off her +good looks by all the arts of dress and coquetry.</p> + +<p>In addition to this, she was a woman of the world in the widest sense of +the term; pleasure-loving, faithless, unstable, and therefore never in +any danger of really losing her heart, and consequently her head. She +used to change the place of her abode, according to what she had to do. +Sometimes she lived in Paris among the Polish emigrants, in order to +find out what they were doing, and maintained intimate relations with +the Tuileries and the Palais Royal at the same time; then she went to +London for a short time, or hurried off to Italy, to watch the Hungarian +exiles, only to reappear suddenly in Switzerland, or at one of the +fashionable German watering-places.</p> + +<p>In revolutionary circles, she was looked upon as an active member of the +great <i>League of Freedom</i>, and diplomatists regarded her as an +influential friend of Napoleon III.</p> + +<p>She knew every one, but especially those men whose names were to be met +with every day, in the papers, and she reckoned Victor Emmanuel, Rouher, +Gladstone, and Gortschakoff among her friends, as well as Mazzini, +Kossuth, Garibaldi, Mieroslawsky and Bakunin.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 185- she was at Vevey, on the lovely lake of Geneva, +and went into raptures when talking to an old German diplomatist about +the beauties of nature, and about Calame, Stifter and Turgenev, whose +"Diary of a Hunter" had just become fashionable.</p> + +<p>One day a man appeared at the <i>table d'hôte</i>, who excited unusual +attention, and hers especially, so that there was nothing strange in her +asking the proprietor of the hotel what his name was; and she was told +that he was a wealthy Brazilian, and that his name was Don Escovedo.</p> + +<p>Whether it was an accident, or whether he responded to the interest +which the young woman felt for him, at any rate she constantly met him +wherever she went, when she was taking a walk, or was on the lake, or +was looking at the newspapers in the reading room; and at last she was +obliged to confess to herself that he was the handsomest man she had +ever seen. Tall, slim, and yet muscular, the young, beardless Brazilian +had a head which any woman might envy him; features which were not only +beautiful and noble, but were also extremely delicate, with dark eyes +which possessed a wonderful charm, and thick, auburn curly hair, which +completed the attractiveness and the strangeness of his appearance.</p> + +<p>They soon became acquainted, through a Prussian officer, whom the +Brazilian had requested to introduce him to the beautiful Polish +lady—for Frau von Chabert was taken for one in Vevey—and she, cold and +designing as she was, blushed slightly when he stood before her for the +first time; and when he gave her his arm he could feel her hand tremble +slightly on it. The same evening they went out riding together, the next +he was lying at her feet, and on the third she was his. For four weeks +the lovely Wanda and the Brazilian lived together as if they had been in +Paradise, but he could not deceive her searching eyes any longer.</p> + +<p>For her sharp and practiced gaze had already discovered in him that +indefinable something which makes a man appear a suspicious character. +Any other woman would have been pained and horrified at such a +discovery, but she found the strange consolation in it, that her +handsome adorer had promised also to become a very interesting object +for her pursuit, and so she began systematically to watch the man who +lay unsuspectingly at her feet.</p> + +<p>She soon found out that he was no conspirator, but she asked herself in +vain whether she was to look for a common swindler, an impudent +adventurer or perhaps even a criminal in him. The day that she had +foreseen soon came; the Brazilian's banker "unaccountably" had omitted +to send him any money, and so he borrowed some of her. "So he is a male +courtesan," she said to herself; and the handsome man soon required +money again, and she lent it to him, until at last he left suddenly, and +nobody knew where he had gone to; only this much, that he had left Vevey +as the companion of an old but wealthy Wallachian lady; and so this +time, clever Wanda was duped.</p> + +<p>A year afterwards she met the Brazilian unexpectedly at Lucca, with an +insipid-looking, light-haired, thin Englishwoman on his arm. Wanda stood +still and looked at him steadily, but he glanced at her quite +indifferently; he did not choose to know her again.</p> + +<p>The next morning, however, his valet brought her a letter from him, +which contained the amount of his debt in Italian hundred liri notes, +which were accompanied by a very cool excuse. Wanda was satisfied, but +she wished to find out who the lady was, in whose company she constantly +saw Don Escovedo.</p> + +<p>"Don Escovedo."</p> + +<p>An Austrian count, who had a loud and silly laugh, said:</p> + +<p>"Who has saddled you with that yarn? The lady is Lady Nitingsdale, and +his name is Romanesco."</p> + +<p>"Romanesco?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is a rich Boyar from Moldavia, where he has extensive estates."</p> + +<p>Romanesco kept a faro bank in his apartments, and he certainly cheated, +for he nearly always won; it was not long, therefore, before other +people in good society at Lucca shared Madame von Chabert's suspicions, +and consequently Romanesco thought it advisable to vanish as suddenly +from Lucca as Escovedo had done from Vevey, and without leaving any more +traces behind him.</p> + +<p>Some time afterwards, Madame von Chabert was on the island of +Heligoland, for the sea-bathing; and one day she saw Escovedo-Romanesco +sitting opposite to her at the <i>table d'hôte</i>, in very animated +conversation with a Russian lady; only his hair had turned black since +she had seen him last. Evidently his light hair had become too +compromising for him.</p> + +<p>"The sea water seems to have a very remarkable effect upon your hair," +Wanda said to him spitefully, in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?" he replied, condescendingly.</p> + +<p>"I fancy that at one time your hair was fair."</p> + +<p>"You are mistaking me for somebody else," the Brazilian replied, +quietly.</p> + +<p>"I am not."</p> + +<p>"For whom do you take me, pray?" he said with an insolent smile.</p> + +<p>"For Don Escovedo."</p> + +<p>"I am Count Dembizki from Valkynia," the former Brazilian said with a +bow; "perhaps you would like to see my passport."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps...."</p> + +<p>And at last, he had the impudence to show her his false passport.</p> + +<p>A year afterwards, Wanda met Count Dembizki in Baden, near Vienna. His +hair was still black, but he had a magnificent, full, black beard; he +had become a Greek prince, and his name was Anastasio Maurokordatos. She +met him once in one of the side walks in the park, where he could not +avoid her. "If it goes on like this," she called out to him in a mocking +voice, "the next time I see you, you will be king of some negro tribe or +other."</p> + +<p>That time, however, the Brazilian did not deny his identity; on the +contrary, he surrendered at discretion, and implored her not to betray +him, and as she was not revengeful, she pardoned him, after enjoying his +terror for a time, and promised him that she would hold her tongue, as +long as he did nothing contrary to the laws.</p> + +<p>"First of all, I must beg you not to gamble."</p> + +<p>"You have only to command; and we do not know each other in future?"</p> + +<p>"I must certainly insist on that," she said maliciously.</p> + +<p>The Exotic Prince had, however, made the conquest of the charming +daughter of a wealthy Austrian Count, and had cut out an excellent young +officer who was wooing her; and he, in his despair began to make love to +Frau von Chabert, and at last told her he loved her, but she only +laughed at him.</p> + +<p>"You are very cruel," he stammered in confusion.</p> + +<p>"I? What are you thinking about?" Wanda replied, still smiling; "all I +mean is, that you have directed your love to the wrong address, for +Countess...."</p> + +<p>"Do not speak of her; she is engaged to another man."</p> + +<p>"As long as I choose to permit it," she said; "but what will you do, if +I bring her back to your arms? Will you still call me cruel?"</p> + +<p>"Can you do this?" the young officer asked, in great excitement.</p> + +<p>"Well, supposing I can do it, what shall I be then?"</p> + +<p>"An angel, whom I shall thank on my knees."</p> + +<p>A few days later, the rivals met at a coffee house; the Greek prince +began to lie and boast, and the Austrian officer gave him the lie +direct, and in consequence, it was arranged that they should fight a +duel with pistols next morning in a wood close to Baden. But as the +officer was leaving the house with his second the next morning, a Police +Commissary came up to him and begged him not to trouble himself any +further about the matter, but another time to be more careful before +accepting a challenge.</p> + +<p>"What does it mean?" the officer asked, in some surprise.</p> + +<p>"It means that this Maurokordatos is a dangerous swindler and +adventurer, whom we have just taken into custody."</p> + +<p>"He is not a prince?"</p> + +<p>"No; a circus rider."</p> + +<p>An hour later the officer received a letter from the charming Countess, +in which she humbly begged for pardon; the happy lover set off to go and +see her immediately, but on the way a sudden thought struck him, and so +he turned back in order to thank beautiful Wanda, as he had promised, on +his knees.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIRTUE_IN_THE_BALLET" id="VIRTUE_IN_THE_BALLET"></a>VIRTUE IN THE BALLET</h2> + + +<p>It is a strange feeling of pleasure that the writer about the stage and +the characters of the theatrical feels, when he occasionally discovers a +good, honest human heart in the twilight behind the scenes. Of all the +witches and semi-witches of that eternal <i>Walpurgis night</i>, whose boards +represent the world, the ladies of the ballet have at all times and in +all places been regarded at least like saints, although Hackländer +repeatedly told in vain in his earlier novels, to convince us that true +virtue appears in tights and short petticoats and is only to be found in +ballet girls. I fear that the popular voice is right as a general rule, +but is equally true that here and there one finds a pearl in the dust, +and even in the dirt, and the short story that I am about to relate, +will best illustrate my assertion.</p> + +<p>Whenever a new, youthful dancer appeared at the Vienna Opera House, the +<i>habitués</i> began to go after her, and did not rest, until the fresh +young rose had been plucked by some hand or other, though often it was +old and trembling. For how could those young and pretty, sometimes even +beautiful girls who, with every right to life, love and pleasure, were +poor and had to subsist on a very small salary, resist the seduction of +the smell of flowers and of the flash of diamonds? And if one resisted +it, it was love, some real, strong passion, that gave her the strength +for this, generally, however, only to go after luxury all the more +shamelessly and selfishly, when her lover forsook her.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the winter season of 185—the pleasing news was +spread among the <i>habitués</i>, that a girl of dazzling beauty was going to +appear very shortly in the ballet at the Court Theater. When the evening +came, nobody had yet seen that much discussed phenomenon, but report +spread her name from mouth to mouth; it was Satanella. The moment when +the troop of elastic figures in fluttering petticoats jumped onto the +stage, every opera-glass in the boxes and stalls was directed on the +stage, and at the same instant the new dancer was discovered, although +she timidly kept in the background.</p> + +<p>She was one of those girls who are surrounded by the bright halo of +virginity, but who at the same time present a splendid type of +womanhood; she had the voluptuous form of Rubens' second wife, whom they +called, not untruly, the risen Green Helen, and her head with its +delicate nose, its small full mouth, and its dark inquiring eyes, +reminded people of the celebrated picture of the Flemish Venus in the +<i>Belvedere</i> in Vienna.</p> + +<p>She took the old guard of the Vienna Court Theater by storm, and the +very next morning a perfect shower of <i>billets doux</i>, jewels and +bouquets fell into the poor ballet girl's attic. For a moment she was +dazzled by all this splendor and looked at the gold bracelets, the +brooches set with rubies and emeralds, and at the sparkling earrings, +with flushed cheeks, but then an unspeakable terror of being lost and of +sinking into degradation, seized her, and she pushed the jewels away and +was about to send them back. But as is usual in such cases, her mother +intervened in favor of <i>the generous gentlemen</i>, and so the jewels were +accepted, but the notes which accompanied them were not answered at +present. A second and a third discharge of Cupid's artillery followed, +without making any impression on that virtuous girl; in consequence a +greater number of her admirers grew quiet, though some continued to send +her presents, and to assail her with love letters, and one had the +courage to go still further.</p> + +<p>He was a wealthy banker, who had just called on the mother of Henrietta, +as we will call the fair-haired ballet girl, and then one evening, quite +unexpectedly, on the girl herself. He by no means met with the reception +which he had expected from the pretty girl in a faded cotton gown; +Henrietta treated him with a certain amount of good humored respect, +which had a much more unpleasant effect on him than that coldness and +prudery, which is so often synonymous with coquetry and selfish +speculation, among a certain class of women. In spite of everything, +however, he soon went to see her daily, and lavished his wealth, without +her asking him for anything, on the beautiful dancer, and he gave her no +chance of refusing, for he relied on the mother for everything. She took +pretty, small apartments for her daughter and herself in the +<i>Kärntnerstrasse</i> and furnished them elegantly, hired a cook and +housemaid, made an arrangement with a fly-driver, and lastly clothed her +daughter's lovely limbs in silk, velvet and valuable lace.</p> + +<p>Henrietta persistently held her tongue at all this; only once she said +to her mother in the presence of the Stock Exchange <i>Jupiter</i>:</p> + +<p>"Have you won a prize in the lottery?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, I have," her mother replied with a laugh.</p> + +<p>The girl, however, had given away her heart long before, and quite +contrary to all precedent, to a man whose very name she was ignorant of, +and who sent her no diamonds, and not even any flowers. But he was young +and good-looking, and stood so retiringly, and so evidently in love, at +the small side door of the Opera House every night, when she got out of +her antediluvian rickety fly, and also when she got into it again after +the performance, that she could not help noticing him. Soon, he began to +follow her wherever she went, and once he summoned up courage to speak +to her, when she had been to see a friend in a remote suburb. He was +very nervous, but she thought all that he said very clear and logical, +and she did not hesitate for a moment to confess that she returned his +love.</p> + +<p>"You have made me the happiest, and at the same time the most wretched +of men," he said after a pause.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" she said innocently.</p> + +<p>"Do you not belong to another man?" he asked her in a sad voice.</p> + +<p>She shook her abundant, light curls.</p> + +<p>"Up till now, I have belonged to myself alone, and I will prove it to +you, by requesting you to call upon me frequently and without restraint. +Everyone shall know that we are lovers. I am not ashamed of belonging to +an honorable man, but I will not sell myself."</p> + +<p>"But your splendid apartments, and your dresses," her lover interposed +shyly, "you cannot pay for them out of your salary."</p> + +<p>"My mother has won a large prize in the lottery, or made a hit on the +Stock Exchange." And with these words, the determined girl cut short all +further explanations.</p> + +<p>That same evening the young man paid his first visit, to the horror of +the girl's mother, who was so devoted to the Stock Exchange, and he came +again the next day, and nearly every day. Her mother's reproaches were +of no more avail than Jupiter's furious looks, and when the latter one +day asked for an explanation as to <i>certain visits</i>, the girl said +proudly:</p> + +<p>"That is very soon explained. He loves me as I love him, and I presume +you can guess the rest."</p> + +<p>And he certainly did guess the rest, and disappeared, and with him the +shower of gold ceased.</p> + +<p>The mother cried and the daughter laughed. "I never gave the worn out +old rake any hopes, and what does it matter to me, what bargain you made +with him? I always thought that you had been lucky on the Stock +Exchange. Now, however, we must seriously consider about giving up our +apartments, and make up our minds to live as we did before."</p> + +<p>"Are you really capable of making such a sacrifice for me, to renounce +luxury and to have my poverty?" her lover said.</p> + +<p>"Certainly I am! Is not that a matter of course when one loves?" the +ballet girl replied in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Then let me inform you, my dear Henrietta," he said, "that I am not so +poor as you think; I only wished to find out, whether I could make +myself loved for my own sake, I have done so. I am Count L——, and +though I am a minor and dependent on my parents, yet I have enough to be +able to retain your pretty rooms for you, and to offer you, if not a +luxurious, at any rate a comfortable existence."</p> + +<p>On hearing this, Mamma dried her tears immediately. Count L—— became +the girl's acknowledged lover, and they passed the happiest hours +together. Unselfish as the girl was, she was yet such a thoroughly +ingenuous Viennese, that, whenever she saw anything that took her fancy, +whether it was a dress, a cloak or one of those pretty little ornaments +for a side table, she used to express her admiration in such terms, as +forced her lover to make her a present of the object in question. In +this way, Count L—— incurred enormous debts, which his father paid +repeatedly; at last, however, he inquired into the cause of all this +extravagance, and when he discovered it, he gave his son the choice of +giving up his connection with the dancer, or of relinquishing all claims +on the paternal money box.</p> + +<p>It was a sorrowful evening, when Count L—— told his mistress of his +father's determination.</p> + +<p>"If I do not give you up, I shall be able to do nothing for you," he +said at last, "and I shall not even know how I should manage to live +myself, for my father is just the man to allow me to want, if I defy +him. That, however, is a very secondary consideration; but as a man of +honor, I cannot bind you, who have every right to luxury and enjoyment, +to myself, from the moment when I cannot even keep you from want, and so +I must set you at liberty."</p> + +<p>"But I will not give you up," Henrietta said proudly.</p> + +<p>The young Count shook his head sadly.</p> + +<p>"Do you love me?" the ballet girl said, quickly.</p> + +<p>"More than my life."</p> + +<p>"Then we will not separate, as long as I have anything," she continued.</p> + +<p>And she would not give up her connection with him, and when his father +actually turned Count L—— into the street, she took her lover into her +own lodgings. He obtained a situation as a copyist clerk in a lawyer's +office, and she sold her valuable dresses and jewels, and so they lived +for more than a year.</p> + +<p>The young man's father did not appear to trouble his head about them, +but nevertheless he knew everything that went on in their small home, +and knew every article that the ballet girl sold; until at last, +softened by such love and strength of character, he himself made the +first advances to a reconciliation with his son.</p> + +<p>At the present time, Henrietta wears the diamonds which formerly +belonged to the old Countess, and it is long since she was a ballet +girl, for now she sits by the side of her husband in a carriage on whose +panels their armorial bearings are painted.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IN_HIS_SWEETHEARTS_LIVERY" id="IN_HIS_SWEETHEARTS_LIVERY"></a>IN HIS SWEETHEART'S LIVERY</h2> + + +<p>At present she is a great lady, an elegant, intellectual woman, a +celebrated actress; but in the year 1847, when our story begins, she was +a beautiful, but not very moral girl, and then it was that the young, +talented Hungarian poet, who was the first to discover her gifts for the +stage, made her acquaintance.</p> + +<p>The slim, ardent girl, with her bright, brown hair and her large blue +eyes, attracted the careless poet, and he loved her, and all that was +good and noble in her nature, put forth fresh buds and blossoms in the +sunshine of his poetic love.</p> + +<p>They lived in an attic in the old Imperial city on the Danube, and she +shared his poverty, his triumphs and his pleasures, and she would have +become his true and faithful wife, if the Hungarian revolution had not +torn him from her arms.</p> + +<p>The poet became the soldier of freedom, and followed the Magyar +tricolor, and the Honved drums, while she was carried away by the +current of the movement in the capital, and she might have been seen +discharging her musket, like a brave Amazon, at the Croats, who were +defending the town against Görgey's assaulting battalions.</p> + +<p>But at last Hungary was subdued, and was governed as if it had been a +conquered country.</p> + +<p>It was said that the young poet had fallen at Temesvar, and his mistress +wept for him, and married another man, which was nothing either new or +extraordinary. Her name was now Frau von Kubinyi, but her married life +was not happy; and one day it occurred to her that her lover had told +her that she had talent for the stage, and whatever he said, had always +proved correct, so she separated from her husband, studied a few parts, +appeared on the stage, and the public, the critics, actors and +literature were lying at her feet.</p> + +<p>She obtained a very profitable engagement, and her reputation increased +with every part she played; and before the end of a year after her first +appearance, she was the lioness of society. Everybody paid homage to +her, and the wealthiest men tried to obtain her favors; but she remained +cold and reserved, until the General commanding the district, who was a +handsome man of noble bearing, and a gentleman in the highest sense of +the word, approached her.</p> + +<p>Whether she was flattered at seeing that powerful man, before whom +millions trembled, and who had to decide over the life and death, the +honor and happiness of so many thousands, fettered by her soft curls, or +whether her enigmatical heart for once really felt what true love was, +suffice it to say, that in a short time she was his acknowledged +mistress, and her princely lover surrounded her with the luxury of an +Eastern queen.</p> + +<p>But just then a miracle occurred—the resurrection of a dead man. Frau +von Kubinyi was driving through the <i>Corso</i> in the General's carriage; +she was lying back negligently in the soft cushions, and looking +carelessly at the crowd on the pavement. Then, she caught sight of a +common Austrian soldier and screamed out aloud.</p> + +<p>Nobody heard that cry, which came from the depths or a woman's heart, +nobody saw how pale and how excited that woman was, who usually seemed +made of marble, not even the soldier who was the cause of it. He was a +Hungarian poet, who, like so many other <i>Honveds</i><a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>, now wore the +uniform of an Austrian soldier.</p> + +<p>Two days later, to his no small surprise he was told to go to the +General in command, as orderly, and when he reported himself to the +adjutant, he told him to go to Frau von Kubinyi's, and to await her +orders.</p> + +<p>Our poet only knew her by report, but he hated and despised the +beautiful woman, who had sold herself to the enemy of the country, most +intensely; he had no choice, however, but to obey.</p> + +<p>When he arrived at her house, he seemed to be expected, for the porter +knew his name, took him into his lodge, and without any further +explanation, told him immediately to put on the livery of his mistress, +which was lying there ready for him. He ground his teeth, but resigned +himself without a word to his wretched, though laughable fate; it was +quite clear that the actress had some purpose in making the poet wear +her livery. He tried to remember whether he could formerly have offended +her by his notices as a theatrical critic, but before he could arrive at +any conclusion, he was told to go and show himself to Frau von Kubinyi.</p> + +<p>She evidently wished to enjoy his humiliation.</p> + +<p>He was shown into a small drawing-room, which was furnished with an +amount of taste and magnificence such as he had never seen before, and +was told to wait. But he had not been alone many minutes, before the +door-curtains were parted and Frau von Kubinyi came in, calm but deadly +pale, in a splendid dressing gown of some Turkish material, and he +recognized his former mistress.</p> + +<p>"Irma!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>The cry came from his heart, and it also affected the heart of the +woman, who was surfeited with pleasure, so greatly that the next moment +she was lying on the breast of the man whom she had believed to be dead, +but only for a moment, and then he freed himself from her.</p> + +<p>"We are fated to meet again thus!" she began.</p> + +<p>"Not through any fault of mine," he replied bitterly.</p> + +<p>"And not through mine either," she said quickly; "everybody thought that +you were dead, and I wept for you; that is my justification."</p> + +<p>"You are really too kind," he replied sarcastically. "How can you +condescend to make any excuses to me? I wear your livery, and you have +to order, and I have to obey; our relative positions are clear enough."</p> + +<p>Frau von Kubinyi turned away to hide her tears.</p> + +<p>"I did not intend to hurt your feelings," he continued: "but I must +confess that it would have been better for both of us, if we had not met +again. But what do you mean by making me wear your livery? It is not +enough that I have been robbed of my happiness? Does it afford you any +pleasure to humiliate me as well?"</p> + +<p>"How can you think that?" the actress exclaimed. "Oh! Ever since I have +discovered your unhappy lot, I have thought of nothing but the means of +delivering you from it, and until I succeed in doing this, however, I +can at least make it more bearable for you."</p> + +<p>"I understand," the unhappy poet said with a sneer. "And in order to do +this, you have begged your present worshiper, to turn your former lover +into a footman."</p> + +<p>"What a thing to say to me!"</p> + +<p>"Can you find any other plea?"</p> + +<p>"You wish to punish me for having loved you, idolized you, I suppose?" +the painter continued. "So exactly like a woman! But I can perfectly +well understand that the situation promises to have a fresh charm for +you..."</p> + +<p>Before he could finish what he was saying, the actress quickly left the +room; he could hear her sobbing, but he did not regret his words, and +his contempt and hatred for her only increased, when he saw the +extravagance and the princely luxury with which she was surrounded. But +what was the use of his indignation? He was wearing her livery, he was +obliged to wait upon her and to obey her, for she had the corporal's +cane at her command, and it really seemed as if he incurred the +vengeance of the offended woman; as if the General's insolent mistress +wished to make him feel her whole power; as if he were not to be spared +the deepest humiliation.</p> + +<p>The General and two of Frau von Kubinyi's friends, who were servants of +the Muses like she was, for one was a ballet dancer, and the two others +were actresses, had come to tea, and he was to wait on them.</p> + +<p>While it was getting ready, he heard them laughing in the next room, and +the blood flew to his head, and when the butler opened the door Frau von +Kubinyi appeared on the General's arm; she did not, however, look at her +new footman, her former lover, triumphantly or contemptuously, but she +gave him a glance of the deepest commiseration.</p> + +<p>Could he after all have wronged her?</p> + +<p>Hatred and love, contempt and jealousy were struggling in his breast, +and when he had to fill the glasses, the bottle shook in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Is this the man?" the General said, looking at him closely.</p> + +<p>Frau von Kubinyi nodded.</p> + +<p>"He was evidently not born for a footman," the General added.</p> + +<p>"And still less for a soldier," the actress observed.</p> + +<p>These words fell heavily on the unfortunate poet's heart, but she was +evidently taking his part, and trying to rescue him from his terrible +position.</p> + +<p>Suspicion, however, once more gained the day.</p> + +<p>"She is tired of all pleasures, and satisfied with enjoyment," he said +to himself; "she requires excitement and it amuses her to see the man +whom she formerly loved, and who, as she knows, still loves her, tremble +before her. And when she pleases she can see me tremble; not for my +life, but for fear of the disgrace which she can inflict upon me at the +moment if it should give her any pleasure."</p> + +<p>But suddenly the actress gave him a look which was so sad and so +imploring, that he looked down in confusion.</p> + +<p>From that time he remained in her house without performing any duties, +and without receiving any orders from her; in fact he never saw her, and +did not venture to ask after her, and two months had passed in this way, +when the General unexpectedly sent for him. He waited, with many others, +in the ante-room, and when the General came back from parade, he saw him +and beckoned him to follow, and as soon as they were alone, he said:</p> + +<p>"You are free, as you have been allowed to purchase your discharge."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" the poet stammered, "how am I to ..."</p> + +<p>"That is already done," the General replied. "You are free."</p> + +<p>"How is it possible? How can I thank your Excellency!"</p> + +<p>"You owe me no thanks," he replied; "Frau von Kubinyi bought you out."</p> + +<p>The poor poet's heart seemed to stop; he could not speak, nor even +stammer a word; but with a low bow, he rushed out and tore wildly +through the streets, until he reached the mansion of the woman whom he +had so misunderstood, quite out of breath; he must see her again, and +throw himself at her feet.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going to?" the porter asked him.</p> + +<p>"To Frau von Kubinyi's."</p> + +<p>"She is not here."</p> + +<p>"Not here?"</p> + +<p>"She has gone away."</p> + +<p>"Gone away? Where to?"</p> + +<p>"She started for Paris two hours ago."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="DELILA" id="DELILA"></a>DELILA</h2> + + +<p>In a former reminiscence,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> we made the acquaintance of a lady, who had +done the police many services in former years, and whom we called Wanda +von Chabert. It is no exaggeration, if we say that she was at the same +time the cleverest, the most charming and the most selfish woman whom +one could possibly meet. She was certainly not exactly what is called +beautiful, for neither her face nor her figure were symmetrical enough +for that, but if her head was not beautiful in the style of the antique, +neither like the <i>Venus</i> of Milo nor Ludoirsi's <i>Juno</i>, it was, on the +other hand, in the highest sense delightful like the ladies whom Wateau +and Mignard painted. Everything in her little face, and in its frame of +soft brown hair was attractive and seductive, her low, Grecian forehead, +her bright, almond shaped eyes, her small nose, and her full, voluptuous +lips, her middling height and her small waist with its, perhaps, almost +too full bust, and above all her walk, that half indolent, half +coquettish swaying of her broad hips, were all maddeningly alluring.</p> + +<p>And this woman, who was born for love, was as eager for pleasure and as +amorous as few other women have even been, but for that very reason she +never ran any danger of allowing her victims to escape her from pity; on +the contrary, she soon grew tired of each of her favorites, and her +connection with the police was then extremely useful to her, in order to +get rid of an inconvenient, or jealous lover.</p> + +<p>Before the war between Austria and Italy in 1859, Frau von Chabert was +in London, where she lived alone in a small, one-storied house with her +servants, and was in constant communication with emigrants from all +countries.</p> + +<p>She herself was thought to be a Polish refugee, and the luxury by which +she was surrounded, and a fondness for sport, and above all for horses, +which was remarkable even in England, made people give her the title of +Countess. At that period Count T—— was one of the most prominent +members of the Hungarian propaganda, and Frau von Chabert was +commissioned to pay particular attention to all he said and did; but in +spite of all the trouble she took, she had not hitherto even succeeded +in making his acquaintance. He lived the life of a misanthrope, quite +apart from the great social stream of London, and he was not believed to +be either gallant, or ardent in love. Fellow-countrymen of his, who had +known him formerly, during the Magyar revolution, described him as very +cautious, cold and silent, so that if any man possessed a charm against +the toils, which she set for him, it was he.</p> + +<p>Just then it happened that as Wanda was riding in Hyde Park quite early +one morning before there were many people about, her thoroughbred +English mare took fright, and threatened to throw the plucky rider, who +did not for a moment lose her presence of mind, from the saddle. Before +her groom had time to come to her assistance, a man in a Hungarian +braided coat rushed from the path, and caught hold of the animal's +reins. When the mare had grown quite quiet, he was about to go away with +a slight bow, but Frau von Chabert detained him, so that she might thank +him, and so had leisure to examine him more closely. He was neither +young nor handsome, but was well-made, like all Hungarians are, and had +an interesting and very expressive face. He had a sallow complexion, +which was set off by a short, black full beard, and he looked as if he +were suffering, while he fixed two, great, black fanatical eyes on the +beautiful young woman, who was smiling at him so amiably, and it was the +strange look in those large eyes which aroused in the soul of the woman +who was so excitable, that violent, but passing feeling which she called +<i>love</i>. She turned her horse and accompanied the stranger on his side, +and he seemed to be even more charmed by her chatter than by her +appearance, for his grave face grew more and more animated, and at last +he himself became quite friendly and talkative. When he took leave of +her, Wanda gave him her card, on the back of which her address was +written, and he immediately gave her his in return.</p> + +<p>She thanked him and rode off, looking at his name as she did so; it was +Count T——.</p> + +<p>She felt inclined to give a shout of pleasure when she found that the +noble quarry, which she had been hunting so long, had at last come into +her preserves, but she did not even turn her head round to look at him, +such was the command which that woman had over herself and her +movements.</p> + +<p>Count T—— called upon her the very next day, soon he came every day, +and in less than a month after that innocent adventure in Hyde Park, he +was at her feet; for when Frau von Chabert made up her mind to be loved, +nobody was able to withstand her. She became the Count's confidante +almost as speedily as she had become his mistress, and every day, and +almost every hour, she, with the most delicate coquetry, laid fresh +fetters on the Hungarian Samson. Did she love him?</p> + +<p>Certainly she did, after her own fashion, and at first she had not the +remotest idea of betraying him; she even succeeded in completely +concealing her connection with him, not only in London but also in +Vienna.</p> + +<p>Then the war of 1859 broke out, and like most Hungarian and Polish +refugees, Count T—— hurried off to Italy, in order to place himself at +the disposal of that great and patriotic Piedmontese statesman, Cavour.</p> + +<p>Wanda went with him, and took the greatest interest in his revolutionary +intrigues in Turin; for some time she seemed to be his right hand, and +it looked as if she had become unfaithful to her present patrons. +Through his means, she soon became on intimate terms with Piedmontese +government circles, and that was his destruction.</p> + +<p>A young Italian diplomatist, who frequently negotiated with Count T——, +or in his absence, with Wanda, fell madly in love with the charming +Polish woman, and she, who was never cruel, more especially when she +herself had caught fire, allowed herself to be conquered by the +handsome, intellectual, daring man. In measure as her passion for the +Italian increased, so her feelings for Count T—— declined, and at last +she felt that her connection with him was nothing but a hindrance and a +burden, and as soon as Wanda had reached that point, her adorer was as +good as lost.</p> + +<p>Count T—— was not a man whom she could just coolly dismiss, or with +whom she might venture to trifle, and that she knew perfectly well; so +in order to avoid a catastrophe, the consequences of which might be +incalculable for her, she did not let him notice the change in her +feelings towards him at first, and kept the Italian, who belonged to +her, at a proper distance.</p> + +<p>When peace had been concluded, and the great, peaceful revolution, which +found its provisional settlement in the Constitution of February and in +the Hungarian agreement, began in Austria, the Hungarian refugees +determined to send Count T—— to Hungary, that he might assume the +direction of affairs there. But as he was still an outlaw, and as the +death sentence of Arab hung over his head like the sword of Damocles, he +consulted with Wanda about the ways and means of reaching his fatherland +unharmed and of remaining there undiscovered. Although that clever woman +thought of a plan immediately, yet she told Count T—— that she would +think the matter over, and she did not bring forward her proposition for +a few days, which was then, however, received by the Count and his +friends with the highest approval, and was immediately carried into +execution. Frau von Chabert went to Vienna as Marchioness Spinola, and +T—— accompanied her as her footman; he had cut his hair short, and +shaved off his beard; so that in his livery, he was quite +unrecognizable. They passed the frontier in safety, and reached Vienna +without any interference from the authorities; and there they first of +all went to a small hotel, but soon took a small, handsome flat in the +center of the town. Count T—— immediately hunted up some members of his +party, who had been in constant communication with the emigrants, since +Vilagos, and the conspiracy was soon in excellent train, while Wanda +whiled away her time with a hussar officer, without, however, losing +sight of her lover and of his dangerous activity, for a moment, on that +account.</p> + +<p>And at last, when the fruit was ripe for falling into her lap, she was +sitting in the private room of the Minister of Police, opposite to the +man with whom she was going to make the evil compact.</p> + +<p>"The emigrants must be very uneasy and disheartened at an agreement +with, and reconciliation to, Hungary," he began.</p> + +<p>"Do not deceive yourself," Frau von Chabert replied; "nothing is more +dangerous in politics than optimism, and the influence of the +revolutionary propaganda was never greater than it is at present. Do not +hope to conciliate the Magyars by half concessions, and, above all +things, do not underestimate the movement, which is being organized +openly, in broad daylight."</p> + +<p>"You are afraid of a revolution?"</p> + +<p>"I know that they are preparing for one, and that they expect everything +from that alone."</p> + +<p>The skeptical man smiled.</p> + +<p>"Give me something besides views and opinions, and then I will +believe..."</p> + +<p>"I will give you the proof," Wanda said, "but before I do you the +greatest service that lies in my power, I must be sure that I shall be +rewarded for all my skill and trouble."</p> + +<p>"Can you doubt it?"</p> + +<p>"I will be open with you," Wanda continued.</p> + +<p>"During the insurrectionary war in Transylvania, Urban had excellent +spies, but they have not been paid to this day. I want money...."</p> + +<p>"How much?"</p> + +<p>With inimitable ease, the beautiful woman mentioned a very considerable +sum. The skeptical man got up to give a few orders, and a short time +afterwards the money was in Wanda's hands.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"The emigrants have sent one of their most influential and talented +members to organize the revolution in Hungary."</p> + +<p>"Have they sent him already?"</p> + +<p>"More than that, for Count T—— is in Vienna at this moment."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where he is hiding?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And you are sure that you are not mistaken?"</p> + +<p>"I am most assuredly not mistaken," she replied with a frivolous laugh; +"Count T——, who was my admirer in London and Turin, is here in my +house, as my footman."</p> + +<p>An hour later, the Count was arrested. But Wanda only wished to get rid +of her tiresome adorer, and not to destroy him. She had been on the most +intimate terms with him long enough, and had taken part in his political +plans and intrigues, to be able to give the most reliable information +about him personally, as well as about his intentions, and that +information was such that, in spite of the past, and of the Count's +revolutionary standpoint, they thought they had discovered in him the +man who was capable of bringing about a real reconciliation between the +monarch and his people. In consequence of this, T——, who thought that +he had incurred the gallows, stood in the Emperor's presence, and the +manner in which the latter expressed his generous intentions with regard +to Hungary, carried the old rebel away, and he gave him his word of +honor that he would bring the nation back to him, reconciled. And he +kept his word, although, perhaps, not exactly in the sense in which he +gave it.</p> + +<p>He was allowed full liberty in going to Hungary, and Wanda accompanied +him. He had no suspicion that even in his mistress's arms he was under +police supervision, and from the moment when he made his appearance in +his native land officially, as the intermediary between the crown and +the people, she had a fresh interest in binding a man of such +importance, whom everybody regarded as Hungary's future +Minister-President, to herself.</p> + +<p>He began to negotiate, and at first everything went well, but soon the +yielding temper of the government gave rise continually to fresh +demands, and before long, what one side offered and the other side +demanded, was so far apart, that no immediate agreement could be thought +of. The Count's position grew more painful every day; he had pledged +himself too deeply to both sides, and in vain he sought for a way out of +the difficulty.</p> + +<p>Then one day the Minister of Police unexpectedly received a letter from +Wanda, in which she told him that T——, urged on by his +fellow-countrymen, and branded as a traitor by the emigrants, was on the +point of heading a fresh conspiracy.</p> + +<p>Thereupon, the government energetically reminded that thoroughly honest +and noble man of his word of honor, and T——, who saw that he was +unable to keep it, ended his life by a pistol bullet.</p> + +<p>Frau von Chabert left Hungary immediately after the sad catastrophe, and +went to Turin, where new lovers, new splendors and new laurels awaited +her.</p> + +<p>We may, perhaps, hear more of her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_MESALLIANCE" id="A_MESALLIANCE"></a>A MESALLIANCE</h2> + + +<p>It is a generally acknowledged truth, that the prerogatives of the +nobility are only maintained at the present time through the weakness of +the middle classes, and many of these who have established themselves +and their families by their intellect, industry and struggles, get into +a state of bliss, which reminds those who see it, of intoxication, as +soon as they are permitted to enter aristocratic circles, or can be seen +in public with barons and counts; and above all, when these treat them +in a friendly manner, no matter from what motive, or when they see a +prospect of a daughter of theirs driving in a carriage with armorial +bearings on the panels, as a countess.</p> + +<p>Many women and girls of the citizen class would not hesitate for a +moment to refuse an honorable, good-looking man of their own class, in +order to go to the altar with the oldest, ugliest and stupidest dotard +among the aristocracy.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget saying in a joke to a young, well-educated girl of +a wealthy, middle-class family, who had the figure and bearing of a +queen, shortly before her marriage, not to forget an ermine cloak in her +trousseau.</p> + +<p>"I know it would suit me capitally," she replied in all seriousness, +"and I should certainly have worn one, if I had married Baron R——, +which I was nearly doing, as you know, but it is not suitable for the +wife of a government official."</p> + +<p>When a girl of the middle classes wanders from the paths of virtue, her +fall may, as a rule, be rightly ascribed to her hankering after the +nobility.</p> + +<p>In a small German town there lived, some years ago, a tailor, whom we +will call Löwenfuss, a man who, like all knights of the shears, was +equally full of aspirations after culture and liberty. After working for +one master for some time as a poor journeyman, he married his daughter, +and after his father-in-law's death, he succeeded to his business, and +as he was industrious, lucky and managed it well, he soon grew very well +off, and was in a position to give his daughters an education, for which +many a nobleman's daughters might have envied them; for they learned, +not only French and music, but had also acquired many more solid +branches of knowledge, and as they were both pretty and charming girls, +they soon became very much thought of and sought after.</p> + +<p>Fanny, the eldest, especially, was her father's pride and the favorite +of society; she was of middle height, slim, with a thoroughly maidenly +figure, and with almost an Italian face, in which two large, dark eyes +seemed to ask for love and submission at the same time; and yet the girl +with the plentiful, black hair was not in the least intended to command, +for she was one of those romantic women who will give themselves, or +even throw themselves, away, but who can never be subjugated. A young +physician fell in love with her, and wished to marry her; Fanny returned +his love, and her parents gladly accepted him as a son-in-law, but she +made it a condition that he should visit her freely and frequently for +two years, before she would consent to become his wife, and she declared +that she would not go to the altar with him, until she was convinced +that not only their hearts, but also that their characters harmonized. +He agreed to her wish, and became a regular visitor at the house of the +educated tailor; they were happy hours for the lovers; they played, sang +and read together, and he told the girl some things from his medical +experiences, which excited and moved her.</p> + +<p>Just then, one day an officer went to the tailor's house, to order some +civilian's clothes. This was not an unusual event in itself, but it was +soon to be the cause of one; for accidentally the daughter of <i>the +artist in clothes</i> came into the shop, just as the officer was leaving +it, and on seeing her, he let go of the door-handle, and asked the +tailor who the young lady was.</p> + +<p>"My daughter," the tailor said, proudly.</p> + +<p>"May I beg you to introduce me to the young lady, Herr Löwenfuss?" the +hussar said.</p> + +<p>"I feel flattered at the honor you are doing me," the tailor replied, +with evident pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Fanny, the Captain wishes to make your acquaintance; this is my +daughter, Fanny, Captain ..."</p> + +<p>"Captain Count Kasimir W——," the hussar interrupted him, as he went up +to the pretty girl, and paid her a compliment or two. They were very +commonplace, stale, everyday phrases, but in spite of this, they +flattered the girl, intelligent as she was, extremely, because it was a +cavalry officer and a Count to boot who addressed them to her. And when, +at last, the Captain, in the most friendly manner, asked the tailor's +permission to be allowed to visit at the house, both father and daughter +granted it to him most readily.</p> + +<p>The very next day Count W—— paid his visit, in full dress uniform, and +when Mamma Löwenfuss made some observations about it, how handsome it +was, and how well it became him, he told them that he should not wear it +much longer, as he intended to quit the service soon, and to look for a +wife, in whom birth and wealth were matters of secondary consideration, +while a good education and a knowledge of domestic matters were of +paramount importance; adding that as soon as he had found one, he meant +to retire to his estates.</p> + +<p>From that moment, Papa and Mamma Löwenfuss looked upon the Count as +their daughter's suitor; it is certain that he was madly in love with +Fanny; he used to go to their house every evening, and made himself so +liked by all of them, that the young doctor soon felt himself to be +superfluous, and so his visits became rarer and rarer. The Count +confessed his love to Fanny on a moonlight night, while they were +sitting in an arbor covered with honeysuckle, which formed nearly the +whole of Herr Löwenfuss' garden; he swore that he loved, that he adored +her, and when at last she lay trembling in his arms he tried to take her +by storm, but that bold cavalry-exploit did not succeed, and the +good-looking hussar found out, for the first time in his life, that a +woman can at the same time be romantic, passionately in love, and yet +virtuous.</p> + +<p>The next morning, the tailor called on the Count, and begged him very +humbly to state what his intentions with regard to Fanny were. The +enamored hussar declared that he was determined to make the tailor's +little daughter, Countess W——. Herr Löwenfuss was so much overcome by +his feelings, that he showed great inclination to embrace his future +son-in-law, The Count, however, laid down certain conditions. The whole +matter must be kept a profound secret, for he had every prospect of +inheriting half a million of florins, on the death of an aunt, who was +already eighty years old, which he should risk by a mesalliance.</p> + +<p>When they heard this, the girl's parents certainly hesitated for a time, +to give their consent to the marriage, but the handsome hussar, whose +ardent passion carried Fanny away, at last gained the victory. The +doctor received a pretty little note from the tailor's daughter, in +which she told him that she gave him back his promise, as she had not +found her ideal in him. Fanny then signed a deed, by which she formerly +renounced all claims to her father's property, in favor of her sister, +and left her home and her father's house with the Count under cover of +the night, in order to accompany him to Poland, where the marriage was +to take place in his castle.</p> + +<p>Of course malicious tongues declared that the hussar had abducted Fanny, +but her parents smiled at such reports, for they knew better, and the +moment when their daughter would return as Countess W—— would amply +recompense them for everything.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the Polish Count and the romantic German girl were being +carried by the train through the dreary plains of Masovia.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> They +stopped in a large town to make some purchases, and the Count, who was +very wealthy and liberal, provided his future wife with everything that +befits a Countess, and which a girl could fancy, and then they continued +their journey. The country grew more picturesque, but more melancholy, +as they went further East; the somber Carpathians rose from the +snow-covered plains and villages, surrounded by white glistening walls, +and stunted willows stood by the side of the roads, ravens sailed +through the white sky, and here and there a small peasant's sledge shot +by, drawn by two thin horses.</p> + +<p>At last they reached the station, where the Count's steward was waiting +for them with a carriage and four, which brought them to their +destination almost as swiftly as the iron steed.</p> + +<p>The numerous servants were drawn up in the yard of the ancient castle to +receive their master and mistress, and they gave loud cheers for her, +for which she thanked them smilingly. When she went into the dim, arched +passages, and the large rooms, for a moment she felt a strange feeling +of fear, but she quickly checked it, for was not her most ardent wish to +be fulfilled in a couple of hours?</p> + +<p>She put on her bridal attire, in which a half comical, half +sinister-looking old woman with a toothless mouth and a nose like an +owl's, assisted her, and just as she was fixing the myrtle wreath onto +her dark curls, the bell began to ring, which summoned her to her +wedding. The Count himself, in full uniform, led her to the chapel of +the castle, where the priest, with the steward and the castellan as +witnesses, and the footmen in grand liveries, were awaiting the handsome +young couple.</p> + +<p>After the wedding, the marriage certificate was signed in the vestry, +and a groom was sent to the station, where he dispatched a telegram to +her parents, to the effect that the hussar had kept his word, and that +Fanny Löwenfuss had become Countess Faniska W——.</p> + +<p>Then the newly-married couple sat down to a beautiful little dinner in +company of the chaplain, the steward and the castellan; the champagne +made them all very cheerful, and at last the Count knelt down before his +young and beautiful wife, boldly took her white satin slipper off her +foot, filled it with wine, and emptied it to her health.</p> + +<p>At length night came, a thorough, Polish wedding night, and Faniska had +just finished dressing and was looking at herself with proud +satisfaction in the great mirror that was fastened into the wall, from +top to bottom. A white satin train flowed down behind her like rays from +the moon, a half-open jacket of bright green velvet, trimmed with +valuable ermine, covered her voluptuous, virgin bust and her classic +arms, only to show them all the more seductively at the slightest +motion, while the wealth of her dark hair, in which diamonds hung here +and there like glittering dew-drops, fell down her neck and mingled with +the white fur. The Count came in a red velvet dressing gown trimmed with +sable; at a sign from him, the old woman who was waiting on his wife's +divinity left the room, and the next moment he was lying like a slave at +the feet of his lovely young wife, who raised him up, and was pressing +him to her heaving bosom, when a noise which she had never heard before, +a wild howling, startled the loving woman in the midst of her highest +bliss.</p> + +<p>"What was that?" she asked, trembling.</p> + +<p>The Count went to the window without speaking, and she followed him, +with her arms round him, and looked half timidly, half curiously out +into the darkness, where large bright spots were moving about in pairs, +in the park at her feet.</p> + +<p>"Are they will-o'-the-wisps?" she whispered.</p> + +<p>"No, my child, they are wolves," the Count replied, fetching his +double-barreled gun, which he loaded, and went out on the snow-covered +balcony, while she drew the fur more closely over her bosom, and +followed him.</p> + +<p>"Will you shoot?" the Count asked her in a whisper, and when she nodded, +he said: "Aim straight at the first pair of bright spots that you see; +they are the eyes of those amiable brutes."</p> + +<p>Then he handed her the gun and pointed it for her.</p> + +<p>"That is the way—are you pointing straight?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then fire."</p> + +<p>A flash, a report, which the echo from the hills repeats four times, and +two of the unpleasant-looking lights had vanished.</p> + +<p>Then the Count fired, and by that time their people were all awake; they +drove away the wolves with torches and shouts, and laid the two large +animals, the spoils of a Polish wedding night, at the feet of their +young mistress.</p> + +<p>And the days that followed resembled that night. The Count showed +himself the most attentive husband, as his wife's knight and slave, and +she felt quite at home in that dull castle; she rode, drove, smoked, +read French novels and beat her servants as well as any Polish Countess +could have done. In the course of a few years, she presented the Count +with two children, and although he appeared very happy at that, yet, +like most husbands, he grew continually cooler, more indolent, and +neglectful of her. From time to time he left the castle, to see after +his affairs in the capital, and the intervals between those journeys +became continually shorter. Faniska felt that her husband was tired of +her, and much as it grieved her, she did not let him notice it; she was +always the same.</p> + +<p>But at last the Count remained away altogether; at first he used to +write, but at last the poor, weeping woman did not even receive letters +to comfort her in her unhappy solitude, and his lawyer sent the money +that she and her children required.</p> + +<p>She conjectured, hoped and doubted, suffered and wept for more than a +year; then she suddenly went to the capital and appeared unexpectedly in +his apartments. Painful explanations followed, until at last the Count +told her that he no longer loved her, and could not live with her for +the future, and when she wished to make him do so by legal means, and +entrusted her case to a celebrated lawyer, <i>the Count denied that she +was his wife</i>. She produced her marriage certificate, when the most +infamous fraud came to light. A confidential servant of the Count had +acted the part of the priest, and the tailor's beautiful daughter had, +as a matter of fact, merely been the Count's mistress, and her children +were bastards.</p> + +<p>The virtuous woman then saw, when it was too late, that it was <i>she</i> who +had formed a mesalliance. Her parents would have nothing to do with her, +and at last it turned out in the bargain that the Count was married long +before he knew her, but that he did not live with his wife.</p> + +<p>Then Fanny applied to the police magistrates; she wanted to appeal to +justice, but she was dissuaded from taking criminal proceedings; for +although they would certainly lead to the punishment of her daring +seducer, they would also bring about her own total ruin.</p> + +<p>At last, however, her lawyer effected a settlement between them, which +was favorable to Fanny, and which she accepted for the sake of her +children. The Count paid her a considerable sum down, and gave her the +gloomy castle to live in. Thither she returned with a broken heart, and +from that time she lived alone, a sullen misanthrope, a fierce despot.</p> + +<p>From time to time, a stranger wandering through the Carpathians, meets a +pale woman of demonic beauty, wearing a magnificent sable skin jacket +and with a gun over her shoulder, in the forest, or in the winter in a +sledge, driving her foaming horses until they nearly drop from fatigue, +while the sleigh bells utter a melancholy sound, and at last die away in +the distance, like the weeping of a solitary, deserted human heart.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BERTHA" id="BERTHA"></a>BERTHA</h2> + + +<p>My old friend (one has friends occasionally who are much older than +oneself), my old friend Doctor Bonnet, had often invited me to spend +some time with him at Riom, and as I did not know Auvergne, I made up my +mind to go in the summer of 1876.</p> + +<p>I got there by the morning train, and the first person I saw on the +platform was the doctor. He was dressed in a gray suit, and wore a soft, +black, wide-brimmed, high-crowned felt hat, which was narrow at the top +like a chimney pot, a hat which hardly any one except an Auvergnat would +wear, and which smacked of the charcoal burner. Dressed like that, the +doctor had the appearance of an old young man, with his spare body under +his thin coat, and his large head covered with white hair.</p> + +<p>He embraced me with that evident pleasure which country people feel when +they meet long-expected friends, and stretching out his arm, he said +proudly:</p> + +<p>"This is Auvergne!" I saw nothing except a range of mountains before me, +whose summits, which resembled truncated cones, must have been extinct +volcanoes.</p> + +<p>Then, pointing to the name of the station, he said:</p> + +<p>"<i>Riom</i>, the fatherland of magistrates, the pride of the magistracy, and +which ought rather to be the fatherland of doctors."</p> + +<p>"Why?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Why?" he replied with a laugh. "If you transpose the letters, you have +the Latin word <i>mori</i>, to die.... That is the reason why I settled here, +my young friend."</p> + +<p>And delighted at his own joke, he carried me off, rubbing his hands.</p> + +<p>As soon as I had swallowed a cup of coffee, he made me go and see the +town. I admired the chemist's house, and the other celebrated houses, +which were all black, but as pretty as knick-nacks, with façades of +sculptured stone. I admired the statue of the Virgin, the patroness of +butchers, and he told me an amusing story about this, which I will +relate some other time, and then Doctor Bonnet said to me:</p> + +<p>"I must beg you to excuse me for a few minutes while I go and see a +patient, and then I will take you to Chatel-Guyon, so as to show you the +general aspect of the town, and all the mountain chain of the +Puy-de-Dôme, before lunch. You can wait for me outside; I shall only go +upstairs and come down immediately."</p> + +<p>He left me outside one of those old, gloomy, silent, melancholy houses, +which one sees in the provinces, and this one appeared to look +particularly sinister, and I soon discovered the reason. All the large +windows on the first floor were half boarded up with wooden shutters. +The upper part of them alone could be opened, as if one had wished to +prevent the people who were locked up in that huge stone trunk from +looking into the street.</p> + +<p>When the doctor came down again, I told him how it had struck me, and he +replied:</p> + +<p>"You are quite right; the poor creature who is living there must never +see what is going on outside. She is a mad woman, or rather an idiot, +what you Normans would call a <i>Niente</i><a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>. It is a miserable story, but +a very singular pathological case at the same time. Shall I tell you?"</p> + +<p>I begged him to do so, and he continued:</p> + +<p>"Twenty years ago, the owners of this house, who were my patients, had a +daughter who was like all other girls, but I soon discovered that while +her body became admirably developed, her intellect remained stationary.</p> + +<p>"She began to walk very early, but she could not talk. At first I +thought she was deaf, but I soon discovered that although she heard +perfectly, she did not understand anything that was said to her. Violent +noises made her start and frightened her, without her understanding how +they were caused.</p> + +<p>"She grew up into a superb woman, but she was dumb, from an absolute +want of intellect. I tried all means to introduce a gleam of sense into +her head, but nothing succeeded. I thought that I noticed that she knew +her nurse, though as soon as she was weaned, she failed to recognize her +mother. She could never pronounce that word, which is the first that +children utter, and the last which soldiers murmur when they are dying +on the field of battle. She sometimes tried to talk, but she produced +nothing but incoherent sounds.</p> + +<p>"When the weather was fine, she laughed continually, and emitted some +low cries which might be compared to the twittering of birds; when it +rained she cried and moaned in a mournful, terrifying manner, which +sounded like the howling of a dog when a death occurs in a house.</p> + +<p>"She was fond of rolling on the grass, like young animals do, and of +running about madly, and she used to clap her hands every morning, when +the sun shone into her room, and would jump out of bed and insist by +signs, on being dressed as quickly as possible, so that she might get +out.</p> + +<p>"She did not appear to distinguish between people, between her mother +and her nurse, or between her father and me, or between the coachman and +the cook. I liked her parents, who were very unhappy on her account, +very much, and went to see them nearly every day. I dined with them +tolerably frequently, which enabled me to remark that Bertha (they had +called her Bertha), seemed to recognize the various dishes, and to +prefer some to others. At that time she was twelve years old, but as +fully formed in figure as a girl of eighteen, and taller than I was. +Then, the idea struck me of developing her greediness, and by these +means to try and produce some slight powers of distinguishing into her +mind, and to force her, by the diversity of flavors, if not to reason, +at any rate to arrive at instinctive distinctions, which would of +themselves constitute a species of work that was material to thought. +Later on, by appealing to her passions, and by carefully making use of +those which could serve us, we might hope to obtain a kind of reaction +on her intellect, and by degrees increase the insensible action of her +brain.</p> + +<p>"One day I put two plates before her, one of soup, and the other of very +sweet vanilla cream. I made her taste each of them successively, and +then I let her choose for herself, and she ate the plate of cream. In a +short time I made her very greedy, so greedy that it appeared as if the +only idea she had in her head was the desire for eating. She perfectly +recognized the various dishes, and stretched out her hands towards those +that she liked, and took hold of them eagerly, and she used to cry when +they were taken from her. Then I thought I would try and teach her to +come to the dining room when the dinner bell rang. It took a long time, +but I succeeded in the end. In her vacant intellect, there was a fixed +correlation between the sound and her taste, a correspondence between +two senses, an appeal from one to the other, and consequently a sort of +connection of ideas—if one can call that kind of instinctive hyphen +between two organic functions an idea—and so I carried my experiments +further, and taught her, with much difficulty, to recognize meal times +on the face of the clock.</p> + +<p>"It was impossible for me for a long time to attract her attention to +the hands, but I succeeded in making her remark the clockwork and the +striking apparatus. The means I employed were very simple; I asked them +not to have the bell rung for lunch, and everybody got up and went into +the dining room, when the little brass hammer struck twelve o'clock, but +I found great difficulty in making her learn to count the strokes. She +ran to the door each time she heard the clock strike, but by degrees she +learned that all the strokes had not the same value as far as regarded +meals, and she frequently fixed her eyes, guided by her ears, on the +dial of the clock.</p> + +<p>"When I noticed that, I took care, every day at twelve and at six +o'clock to place my fingers on the figures twelve and six, as soon as +the moment she was waiting for, had arrived, and I soon noticed that she +attentively followed the motion of the small brass hands, which I had +often turned in her presence.</p> + +<p>"She had understood! Perhaps I ought rather to say that she had seized +the idea. I had succeeded in getting the knowledge, or rather the +sensation of the time into her, just as is the case with carp, who +certainly have no clocks, when they are fed every day exactly at the +same time.</p> + +<p>"When once I had obtained that result, all the clocks and watches in the +house occupied her attention almost exclusively. She spent her time in +looking at them, in listening to them and in waiting for meal times, and +once something very funny happened. The striking apparatus of a pretty +little Louis XVI. clock that hung at the head of her bed, having got out +of order, she noticed it. She sat for twenty minutes, with her eyes on +the hands, waiting for it to strike ten, but when the hand passed the +figure, she was astonished at not hearing anything; so stupefied was +she, indeed, that she sat down, no doubt overwhelmed by a feeling of +violent emotion, such as attacks us in the face of some terrible +catastrophe. And she had the wonderful patience to wait until eleven +o'clock, in order to see what would happen, and as she naturally heard +nothing, she was suddenly either seized with a wild fit of rage at +having been deceived, and imposed upon by appearances, or else overcome +by that fear which some frightened creature feels at some terrible +mystery, and by the furious impatience of a passionate individual who +meets with some obstacle, she took up the tongs from the fireplace and +struck the clock so violently that she broke it to pieces in a moment.</p> + +<p>"It was evident, therefore, that her brain did act and calculate, +obscurely it is true, and within very restricted limits, for I could +never succeed in making her distinguish persons as she distinguished the +time; and to stir her intellect, it was necessary to appeal to her +passions, in the material sense of the word, and we soon had another, +and alas! a very terrible proof of this!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"She had grown up into a splendid girl; a perfect type of a race, a sort +of lovely and stupid Venus. She was sixteen, and I have rarely seen such +perfection of form, such suppleness and such regular features. I said +she was a Venus; yes, a fair, stout, vigorous Venus, with large, bright, +vacant eyes, which were as blue as the flowers of the flax plant; she +had a large mouth with full lips, the mouth of a glutton, of a +sensualist, a mouth made for kisses. Well, one morning her father came +into my consulting room, with a strange look on his face, and, sitting +down, without even replying to my greeting, he said:</p> + +<p>"'I want to speak to you about a very serious matter.... Would it be +possible ... would it be possible for Bertha to marry?'</p> + +<p>"'Bertha to marry!... Why, it is quite impossible!'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, I know, I know,' he replied.... 'But reflect, Doctor ... don't +you think ... perhaps ... we hoped ... if she had children ... it would +be a great shock to her, but a great happiness, and ... who knows +whether maternity might not rouse her intellect...?'</p> + +<p>"I was in a state of great perplexity. He was right, and it was possible +that such a new situation, and that wonderful instinct of maternity +which beats in the hearts of the lower animals, as it does in the heart +of a woman, which makes the hen fly at a dog's jaws to defend her +chickens, might bring about a revolution, an utter change in her vacant +mind, and set the motionless mechanism of her thoughts into movement. +And then, moreover, I immediately remembered a personal instance. Some +years previously I had possessed a spaniel bitch who was so stupid that +I could do nothing with her, but when she had had pups she became, if +not exactly intelligent, yet almost like many other dogs who have not +been thoroughly broken.</p> + +<p>"As soon as I foresaw the possibility of this, the wish to get Bertha +married grew in me, not so much out of friendship for her and her poor +parents, as from scientific curiosity. What would happen? It was a +singular problem, and I said to her father:</p> + +<p>"'Perhaps you are right ... You might make the attempt ... but ... but +you will never find a man to consent to marry her.'</p> + +<p>"'I have found somebody,' he said in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"I was dumbfounded, and said: 'Somebody really suitable? ... Some one of +your own rank and position in society?'</p> + +<p>"'Decidedly,' he replied.</p> + +<p>"'Oh! And may I ask his name?'</p> + +<p>"'I came on purpose to tell you, and to consult you. It is Monsieur +Gaston du Boys de Lucelles.'</p> + +<p>"I felt inclined to exclaim: 'What a wretch,' but I held my tongue, and +after a few moments' silence, I said:</p> + +<p>"'Oh! Very good. I see nothing against it.'</p> + +<p>"The poor man shook me heartily by the hand.</p> + +<p>"'She is to be married next month,' he said."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Monsieur Gaston du Boys de Lucelles was a scape-grace of good family, +who, after having spent all that he had inherited from his father, and +having incurred debts by all kinds of doubtful means, had been trying to +discover some other way of obtaining money, and he had discovered this +method. He was a good-looking young fellow, and in capital health, but +fast; one of those odious race of provincial fast men, and he appeared +to me to be a sufficient sort of a husband, who could be got rid of +later, by making him an allowance. He came to the house to pay his +addresses, and to strut about before the idiot girl, who, however, +seemed to please him. He brought her flowers, kissed her hands, sat at +her feet and looked at her with affectionate eyes; but she took no +notice of any of his attentions, and did not make any distinction +between him and the other persons who were about her.</p> + +<p>"However, the marriage took place, and you may guess how excited my +curiosity was. I went to see Bertha the next day, to try and discover +from her looks whether any feelings had been roused in her, but I found +her just the same as she was every day, wholly taken up with the clock +and dinner, while he, on the contrary, appeared really in love, and +tried to rouse his wife's spirits and affections by little endearments, +and such caresses as one bestows on a kitten. He could think of nothing +better.</p> + +<p>"I called upon the married couple pretty frequently, and I soon +perceived that the young woman knew her husband, and gave him those +eager looks which she had hitherto bestowed only on sweet dishes.</p> + +<p>"She followed his movements, knew his step on the stairs or in the +neighboring rooms, clapped her hands when he came in, and her face was +changed, and brightened by the flames of profound happiness, and of +desire.</p> + +<p>"She loved him with her whole body, and with all her soul, to the very +depths of her poor, weak soul, and with all her heart, that poor heart +of some grateful animal. It was really a delightful and innocent picture +of simple passion, of carnal and yet modest passion, such as nature had +implanted into mankind, before man had complicated and disfigured it, by +all the various shades of sentiment. But he soon grew tired of this +ardent, beautiful, dumb creature, and did not spend more than an hour a +day with her, thinking it sufficient to devote his rights to her, and +she began to suffer in consequence. She used to wait for him from +morning till night, with her eyes on the clock; she did not even look +after the meals now, for he took all his away from home, <i>Clermont, +Chatel-Guyon, Royat</i>, no matter where, as long as he was not obliged +to come home.</p> + +<p>"She began to grow thin; every other thought, every other wish, every +other expectation and every other confused hope, disappeared from her +mind, and the hours during which she did not see him, became hours of +terrible suffering to her. Soon he used frequently not to come home at +night; he spent them with women at the casino at <i>Royat</i>, and did not +come home until daybreak. But she never went to bed before he returned. +She remained sitting motionless in an easy chair, with her eyes fixed on +the clock, which turned so slowly and regularly round the china face, on +which the hours were painted.</p> + +<p>"She heard the trot of his horse in the distance, and sat up with a +start, and when he came into the room, she got up with the movements of +a phantom, and pointed to the clock, as if to say to him: 'Look how late +it is!'</p> + +<p>"And he began to be afraid of this amorous and jealous, half-witted +woman, and flew into a rage, like brutes do; and one night, he even went +so far as to strike her, so they sent for me. When I arrived she was +writhing and screaming, in a terrible crisis of pain, anger, passion, +how do I know what? Can one tell what goes on in such undeveloped +brains?</p> + +<p>"I calmed her by subcutaneous injections of morphine, and forbade her to +see that man again, for I saw clearly that marriage would infallibly +kill her, by degrees."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Then she went mad! Yes, my dear friend, that idiot has gone mad. She is +always thinking of him and waiting for him; she waits for him all day +and night, awake or asleep, at this very moment, ceaselessly. When I saw +her getting thinner and thinner, and as she persisted in never taking +her eyes off the clocks, I had them removed from the house. I thus made +it impossible for her to count the hours, and to try to remember, from +her indistinct reminiscences, at what time he used to come home, +formerly. I hope to destroy the recollection of it in time, and to +extinguish that ray of thought which I kindled with so much difficulty.</p> + +<p>"The other day, I tried an experiment. I offered her my watch; she took +it and looked at it for some time; then she began to scream terribly, as +if the sight of that little object had suddenly aroused her +recollection, which was beginning to grow indistinct. She is pitiably +thin now, with hollow cheeks and brilliant eyes, and she walks up and +down ceaselessly, like a wild beast does in its cage; I have had bars +put to the windows, and have had the seats fixed to the floor, so as to +prevent her from looking to see whether he is coming.</p> + +<p>"Oh! her poor parents! What a life they must lead!"</p> + +<p>We had got to the top of the hill, and the doctor turned round and said +to me:</p> + +<p>"Look at Riom from here."</p> + +<p>The gloomy town looked like some ancient city. Behind it, a green, +wooded plain studded with towns and villages, and bathed in a soft blue +haze, extended, until it was lost in the distance. Far away, on my +right, there was a range of lofty mountains with round summits, or else +cut off flat, as if with a sword, and the doctor began to enumerate the +villages, towns and hills, and to give me the history of all of them. +But I did not listen to him; I was thinking of nothing but the mad +woman, and I only saw her. She seemed to be hovering over that vast +extent of country like a mournful ghost, and I asked him abruptly:</p> + +<p>"What has become of the husband?"</p> + +<p>My friend seemed rather surprised, but after a few moments' hesitation, +he replied:</p> + +<p>"He is living at Royat, on an allowance that they make, and is quite +happy; he leads a very fast life."</p> + +<p>As we were slowly going back, both of us silent and rather low-spirited, +an English dog cart, drawn by a thoroughbred horse, came up behind us, +and passed us rapidly. The doctor took me by the arm.</p> + +<p>"There he is," he said.</p> + +<p>I saw nothing except a gray felt hat, cocked over one ear, above a pair +of broad shoulders, driving off in a cloud of dust.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ABANDONED" id="ABANDONED"></a>ABANDONED</h2> + + +<p>"I really think you must be mad, my dear, to go for a country walk in +such weather as this. You have had some very strange ideas for the last +two months. You take me to the sea side in spite of myself, when you +have never once had such a whim during all the forty-four years that we +have been married. You chose Fécamp, which is a very dull town, without +consulting me in the matter, and now you are seized with such a rage for +walking, you who hardly ever stir out on foot, that you want to go into +the country on the hottest day in the year. Ask d'Apreval to go with +you, as he is ready to gratify all your fancies. As for me, I am going +back to have a nap."</p> + +<p>Madame de Cadour turned to her old friend and said:</p> + +<p>"Will you come with me, Monsieur d'Apreval?"</p> + +<p>He bowed with a smile, and with all the gallantry of by-gone years:</p> + +<p>"I will go wherever you go," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, go and get a sunstroke," Monsieur de Cadour said; and +he went back to the <i>Hôtel des Bains</i>, to lie down on his bed for an +hour or two.</p> + +<p>As soon as they were alone, the old lady and her old companion set off, +and she said to him in a low voice, squeezing his hand:</p> + +<p>"At last! at last!"</p> + +<p>"You are mad," he said in a whisper. "I assure you that you are mad. +Think of the risk you are running. If that man ..."</p> + +<p>She started.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Henri, do not say <i>that man</i>, when you are speaking of him."</p> + +<p>"Very well," he said abruptly, "if our son guesses anything, if he has +any suspicions, he will have you, he will have us both in his power. You +have got on without seeing him for the last forty years; what is the +matter with you to-day?"</p> + +<p>They had been going up the long street that leads from the sea to the +town, and now they turned to the right, to go to Etretat. The white road +extended in front of them, under a blaze of brilliant sunshine, so they +went on slowly in the burning heat. She had taken her old friend's arm, +and was looking straight in front of her, with a fixed and haunted gaze, +and at last she said:</p> + +<p>"And so you have not seen him again, either?"</p> + +<p>"No, never."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible?"</p> + +<p>"My dear friend, do not let us begin that discussion again. I have a +wife and children and you have a husband, so we both of us have much to +fear from other people's opinion."</p> + +<p>She did not reply; she was thinking of her long-past youth, and of many +sad things that had occurred. She had been married as girls are married; +she hardly knew her betrothed, who was a diplomatist, and later, she +lived the same life with him that all women of the world live with their +husbands. But Monsieur d'Apreval, who was also married, loved her with a +profound passion, and while Monsieur de Cadour was absent in India, on a +political mission for a long time, she succumbed. Could she possibly +have resisted, have refused to give herself? Could she have had the +strength and courage not to have yielded, as she loved him also? No, +certainly not; it would have been too hard; she would have suffered too +much! How cruel and deceitful life is! Is it possible to avoid certain +attacks of fate, or can one escape from one's destiny? When a solitary, +abandoned woman, without children and with a careless husband, always +escapes from the passion which a man feels for her, as she would escape +from the sun, in order to live in darkness until she dies?</p> + +<p>How well she recalled all the details, his kisses, his smiles, the way +he used to stop, in order to watch her until she was indoors. What happy +days they were; the only really delicious days she had ever enjoyed; and +how quickly they were over!</p> + +<p>And then she discovered that she was pregnant! What anguish!</p> + +<p>Oh! that journey to the South, that long journey, her sufferings, her +constant terror, that secluded life in the small, solitary house on the +shores of the Mediterranean, at the bottom of a garden, which she did +not venture to leave. How well she remembered those long days which she +spent lying under an orange tree, looking up at the round, red fruit, +amidst the green leaves. How she used to long to go out, as far as the +sea, whose fresh breezes came to her over the wall, and whose small +waves she could hear lapping on the beach. She dreamt of its immense +blue expanse sparkling under the sun, with the white sails of the small +vessels, and a mountain on the horizon. But she did not dare to go +outside the gate; suppose anybody had recognized her, unshapely as she +was, and showing her disgrace by her expanded waist!</p> + +<p>And those days of waiting, those last days of misery and expectation! +The impending suffering and then, that terrible night! What misery she +had endured, and what a night it was! How she had groaned and screamed! +She could still see the pale face of her lover, who kissed her hand +every moment, and the clean-shaven face of the doctor, and the nurse's +white cap.</p> + +<p>And what she felt when she heard the child's feeble cries, that mewling, +that first effort of a human voice!</p> + +<p>And the next day! the next day! the only day of her life on which she +had seen and kissed her son, for from that time, she had never even +caught a glimpse of him.</p> + +<p>And what a long, void existence hers had been since then, with the +thought of that child always, always floating before her. She had never +seen her son, that little creature that had been part of herself, even +once since then; they had taken him from her, carried him away and +hidden him. All she knew was, that he had been brought up by some +peasants in Normandy, that he had become a peasant himself, had married +well, and that his father, whose name he did not know, had settled a +handsome sum of money on him.</p> + +<p>How often during the last forty years had she wished to go and see him, +and to embrace him. She could not imagine to herself that he had grown! +She always thought of that small, human <i>larva</i>, which she had held in +her arms and pressed to her side for a day.</p> + +<p>How often she had said to her lover: "I cannot bear it any longer; I +must go and see him."</p> + +<p>But he had always stopped her, and kept her from going. She would not be +able to restrain and to master herself; their son would guess it and +take advantage of her, blackmail her; she would be lost.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"What is he like?" she said.</p> + +<p>"I do not know; I have not seen him again, either."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible? To have a son, and not to know him; to be afraid of him +and to repulse him as if he were a disgrace! It is horrible."</p> + +<p>They went along the dusty road, overcome by the scorching sun, and +continually ascending that interminable hill.</p> + +<p>"One might take it for a punishment," she continued; "I have never had +another child, and I could no longer resist the longing to see him, +which has possessed me for forty years. You men cannot understand that. +You must remember that I shall not live much longer, and suppose I had +never seen him again! never have seen him!... Is it possible? How could +I wait so long? I have thought about him every day since, and what a +terrible existence mine has been! I have never awakened, never, do you +understand, without my first thoughts being of him, of my child. How is +he? Oh! How guilty I feel towards him! Ought one to fear what the world +may say, in a case like this? I ought to have left everything to go +after him, to bring him up and to show love for him. I should certainly +have been much happier, but I did not dare, I was a coward. How I have +suffered! Oh! How those poor, abandoned children must hate their +mothers!"</p> + +<p>She stopped suddenly, for she was choked by her sobs. The whole valley +was deserted and silent in the dazzling light, and the overwhelming +heat, and only the grasshoppers uttered their shrill, continuous chirp +among the sparse, yellow grass on both sides of the road.</p> + +<p>"Sit down a little," he said.</p> + +<p>She allowed herself to be led to the side of the ditch, and sank down +with her face in her hands. Her white hair, which hung in curls on both +sides of her face, had become all of a lump, and she wept, overcome by +profound grief, while he stood facing her, uneasy and not knowing what +to say, and he merely murmured: "Come, have courage."</p> + +<p>She got up.</p> + +<p>"I will," she said, and wiping her eyes, she began to walk again with +the jerky steps of an old woman.</p> + +<p>Rather farther on, the road passed under a clump of trees, which hid a +few houses, and they could distinguish the vibrating and regular blows +of a blacksmith's hammer on the anvil; and soon they saw a cart drawn +upon the right in front of a low cottage, and two men shoeing a horse +under a shed.</p> + +<p>Monsieur d'Apreval went up to them.</p> + +<p>"Where is Pierre Benedict's farm?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Take the road on the left, close to the public house, and then go +straight on; it is the third house past Poret's. There is a small +spruce-fir close to the gate; you cannot make a mistake."</p> + +<p>They turned to the left; she was walking very slowly now; her legs +threatened to give way, and her heart was beating so violently that she +felt as if she should be suffocated, while at every step she murmured, +as if in prayer:</p> + +<p>"Oh! good heavens! good heavens!"</p> + +<p>Monsieur d'Apreval, who was also nervous and rather pale, said to her +somewhat gruffly:</p> + +<p>"If you cannot manage to command your feelings better, you will betray +yourself immediately. Do try and restrain yourself."</p> + +<p>"How can I?" she replied. "My child! When I think that I am going to see +my child!"</p> + +<p>They were going along one of those narrow country lanes between +farmyards, that are buried beneath a double row of beech trees, by the +sides of the ditches, and suddenly they found themselves in front of a +gate, over which there hung a young spruce-fir.</p> + +<p>"This is it," he said.</p> + +<p>She stopped suddenly and looked about her. The courtyard, which was +planted with apple-trees, was large and extended as far as the small, +thatched dwelling-house. Opposite to it, were the stable, the barn, the +cow-house and the poultry-house, while the gig, wagon and the manure +cart were under a slated outhouse. Four calves were grazing under the +shade of the trees, and black hens were wandering all about the +enclosure.</p> + +<p>All was perfectly still; the house door was open, but nobody was to be +seen, and so they went in, when immediately a large, black dog came out +of a barrel that was standing under a pear tree, and began to bark +furiously.</p> + +<p>There were four bee-hives on boards against the wall of the house.</p> + +<p>Monsieur d'Apreval stood outside and called out:</p> + +<p>"Is anybody at home?"</p> + +<p>Then a girl appeared, a little girl of about ten, dressed in a chemise +and a linen petticoat, with dirty, bare legs, and a timid and cunning +look. She remained standing in the doorway, as if to prevent any one +going in.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Is your father in?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Where is he?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"And your mother?"</p> + +<p>"Gone after the cows."</p> + +<p>"Will she be back soon?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>But suddenly, the old woman, as if she feared that he might force her to +return, said quickly:</p> + +<p>"I will not go without having seen him."</p> + +<p>"We will wait for him, my dear friend."</p> + +<p>As they turned away, they saw a peasant woman coming towards the house, +carrying two tin pails, which appeared to be heavy, and which glistened +brightly in the sunlight.</p> + +<p>She limped with her right leg, and in her brown, knitted jacket, that +was faded by the sun, and washed out by the rain, she looked like a +poor, wretched, dirty servant.</p> + +<p>"Here is Mamma," the child said.</p> + +<p>When she got close to the house, she looked at the strangers angrily and +suspiciously, and then she went in, as if she had not seen them. She +looked old, and had a hard, yellow, wrinkled face, one of those wooden +faces like country people so often have.</p> + +<p>Monsieur d'Apreval called her back.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Madame, but we came in to know whether you could +sell us two glasses of milk."</p> + +<p>She was grumbling when she reappeared in the door, after putting down +her pails.</p> + +<p>"I don't sell milk," she replied.</p> + +<p>"We are very thirsty," he said, "and Madame is old and very tired. Can +we not get something to drink?"</p> + +<p>The peasant woman gave them an uneasy and cunning glance, and then she +made up her mind.</p> + +<p>"As you are here, I will give you some," she said, going into the house, +and almost immediately the child came out and brought two chairs, which +she placed under an apple tree, and then the mother in turn brought out +two bowls of foaming milk, which she gave to the visitors. She did not +return to the house, however, but remained standing near them, as if to +watch them and to find out for what purpose they had come there.</p> + +<p>"You have come from Fécamp?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Monsieur d'Apreval replied, "we are staying at Fécamp for the +summer."</p> + +<p>And then after a short silence he continued:</p> + +<p>"Have you any fowls you could sell us, every week?"</p> + +<p>The woman hesitated for a moment, and then replied:</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think I have. I suppose you want young ones?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course."</p> + +<p>"What do you pay for them in the market?"</p> + +<p>D'Apreval, who had not the least idea, turned to his companion:</p> + +<p>"What are you paying for poultry in Fécamp, my dear lady?"</p> + +<p>"Four francs, and four francs, fifty centimes," she said with her eyes +full of tears, and the farmer's wife, who was looking at her askance, in +much surprise, asked:</p> + +<p>"Is the lady ill, as she is crying?"</p> + +<p>He did not know what to say, and replied with some hesitation:</p> + +<p>"No ... no ... but she lost her watch as we came, a very handsome watch, +and that troubles her. If anybody should find it, please let us know."</p> + +<p>Mother Benedict did not reply, as she thought it a very equivocal soft +of answer, but suddenly she exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Oh! here is my husband!"</p> + +<p>She was the only one who had seen him, as she was facing the gate. +D'Apreval started, and Madame de Cadour nearly fell, as she turned round +suddenly on her chair.</p> + +<p>A man who was bent nearly double and who was panting for breath, was +there, ten yards from them, dragging a cow at the end of a rope; and +without taking any notice of the visitors, he said:</p> + +<p>"Confound it! What a brute!"</p> + +<p>And he went past them, and disappeared in the cow-house.</p> + +<p>Her tears had dried quickly, as she sat there startled, without a word, +and with the one thought in her mind, that this was her son, and +d'Apreval, whom the same thought had struck very unpleasantly, said in +an agitated voice:</p> + +<p>"Is this Monsieur Benedict?"</p> + +<p>"Who told you his name?" the wife asked, still rather suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"The blacksmith at the corner of the highroad," he replied, and then +they were all silent, with their eyes fixed on the door of the +cow-house, which formed a sort of black hole in the wall of the +building. Nothing could be seen inside, but they heard a vague noise, +movements, and footsteps and the sound of hoofs, which were deadened by +the straw on the floor, and soon he reappeared in the door, wiping his +forehead, and went towards the house with long, slow strides. He passed +the strangers without seeming to notice them, and said to his wife:</p> + +<p>"Go and draw me a jug of cider; I am very thirsty."</p> + +<p>Then he went back into the house, while his wife went into the cellar, +and left the two Parisians alone.</p> + +<p>"Let us go, let us go Henri," Madame de Cadour said, nearly distracted +with grief, and so d'Apreval took her by the arm, helped her to rise, +and sustaining her with all his strength, for he felt that she was +nearly falling down, he led her out, after throwing five francs onto one +of the chairs.</p> + +<p>As soon as they were outside the gate, she began to sob, and said, +shaking with grief:</p> + +<p>"Oh! oh! is that what you have made of him?"</p> + +<p>He was very pale, and replied coldly:</p> + +<p>"I did what I could. His farm is worth eighty thousand francs, and that +is more than most of the children of the middle classes have."</p> + +<p>They returned slowly, without speaking a word. She was still crying; the +tears ran down her cheeks continually for a time, but by degrees they +stopped, and they went back to Fécamp, where they found Monsieur de +Cadour waiting dinner for them, and as soon as he saw them, he began to +laugh, and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"So my wife has had a sunstroke, and I am very glad of it. I really +think she has lost her head for some time past!"</p> + +<p>Neither of them replied, and when the husband asked them rubbing his +hands:</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope that at least you have had a pleasant walk?"</p> + +<p>Monsieur d'Apreval replied:</p> + +<p>"A delightful walk, I assure you; perfectly delightful."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_NIGHT_IN_WHITECHAPEL" id="A_NIGHT_IN_WHITECHAPEL"></a>A NIGHT IN WHITECHAPEL</h2> + + +<p>My friend Ledantec and I were twenty-five and we had come to London for +the first time in our lives. It was a Saturday evening in December, cold +and foggy, and I think that all that combined is more than enough to +explain why my friend Ledantec and I were most abominably drunk, though, +to tell the truth, we did not feel any discomfort from it. On the +contrary, we were floating in an atmosphere of perfect bliss. We did not +speak, certainly, for we were incapable of doing so, but then we had no +inclination for conversation. What would be the good of it? We could so +easily read all our thoughts in each others eyes! And all our thoughts +consisted in the sweet and unique knowledge, that we were thinking about +nothing whatever.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, in order to arrive at that state of delicious, +intellectual nihility, thai we had gone to mysterious Whitechapel. We +had gone into the first public-house we saw, with the firm intention of +studying manners and customs,—not to mention morals,—there as +spectators, artists and philosophers, but in the second public-house we +entered, we ourselves became like the objects of our investigations, +that is to say, sponges soaked in alcohol. Between one public-house and +the other, the outer air seemed to squeeze those sponges, which then got +just as dry as before, and thus we rolled from public-house to +public-house, until at last the sponges could not hold any more.</p> + +<p>Consequently, we had for some time bidden farewell to our studies in +morals, and now they were limited to two impressions: <i>zig-zags</i> through +the darkness outside, and a gleam of light outside the public-houses. As +to the inhibition of brandies, whiskies and gins, that was done +mechanically, and our stomachs scarcely noticed it.</p> + +<p>But what strange beings we had elbowed with during our long stoppages! +What a number of faces to be remembered, what clothes, what attitudes, +what talk and what rags!</p> + +<p>At first we tried to note them exactly in our memory, but there were so +many of them, and our brain got mixed so quickly, that at present we had +no very clear recollection of anything or anybody. Even objects that +were immediately before us appeared to us in a vague, dusky +phantasmagoria and got confounded with precious objects in an +inextricable manner. The world became a sort of kaleidoscope to us, seen +in a dream through the penumbra of an aquarium.</p> + +<p>Suddenly we were aroused from this state of somnolence, awakened as if +by a blow in the chest, and imperiously forced to fix our attention on +what we saw, for amidst this whirl of strange sights, one stranger than +all attracted our eyes and seemed to say to us: "Look at me."</p> + +<p>It was at the open door of a public-house. A ray of light streamed into +the street through the half-open door, and that brutal ray fell right +onto the specter that had just risen up there, dumb and motionless.</p> + +<p>For it was indeed a specter, pitiful and terrible, and, above all, most +real, as it stood out boldly against the dark background of the street, +which it made darker still behind it!</p> + +<p>Young, yes; the woman was certainly young; there could be no doubt about +that, when one looked at her smooth skin, her smiling mouth which showed +her white teeth, and firm bust which could be plainly noted under her +thin dress.</p> + +<p>But then, how explain her perfectly white hair, not gray or growing +gray, but absolutely white, as white as any octogenarian's?</p> + +<p>And then her eyes, her eyes beneath her smooth brow, were surely the +eyes of an old woman? Certainly they were, and of a woman one could not +tell how old, for it must have taken years of trouble and sorrow, of +tears and of sleepless nights, and a whole long existence, thus to dull, +to wear out and to roughen those vitreous pupils.</p> + +<p>Vitreous? Not exactly that. For roughened glass still retains a dull and +milky brightness, a recollection, as it were, of its former +transparency. But her eyes seemed rather to have been made of metal, +which had turned rusty, and really if pewter could rust I should have +compared them to pewter covered with rust. They had the dead color of +pewter, and at the same time, they emitted a glance which was the color +of reddish water.</p> + +<p>But it was not until some time later that I tried to define them thus +approximately by retrospective analysis. At that moment, being +altogether incapable of such an effort, I could only establish in my own +mind the idea of extreme decrepitude and horrible old age, which they +produced in my imagination.</p> + +<p>Have I said that they were set in very puffy eyelids, which had no +lashes whatever, and on her forehead without wrinkles there was not a +vestige of eyebrow? When I tell you this, and considering their dull +look beneath the hair of an octogenarian, it is not surprising that +Ledantec and I said in a low voice at the sight of this woman, who was +evidently young:</p> + +<p>"Oh! poor, poor old woman!"</p> + +<p>Her great age was further accentuated by the terrible poverty that was +revealed by her dress. If she had been better dressed, her youthful +looks would, perhaps, have struck us more, but her thin shawl, which was +all that she had over her chemise, her single petticoat which was full +of holes, and almost in rags, and which did not nearly reach to her bare +feet, her straw hat with ragged feathers and with ribbons of no +particular color through age, it all seemed so ancient, so prodigiously +antique!</p> + +<p>From what remote superannuated, abolished period did they all spring? +One did not venture to guess, and by a perfectly natural association of +ideas, one seemed to infer that the unfortunate creature herself, was as +old as her clothes were. Now, by <i>one</i>, I mean by Ledantec and myself, +that is to say, by two men who were abominably drunk and who were +arguing with the special logic of intoxication.</p> + +<p>It was also under the softening influence of alcohol that we looked at +the vague smile on those lips with the teeth of a child, without +stopping to reflect on the beauty of those youthful teeth, and seeing +nothing except her fixed and almost idiotic smile, which no longer +contrasted with the dull expression of her looks, but, on the contrary, +strengthened them. For in spite of her teeth, it was the smile of an old +woman in our imagination, and as for me, I was really pleased at the +thought of being so acute when I inferred that this grandmother with +such pale lips, had the set of teeth of a young girl, and still, thanks +to the softening influence of alcohol, I was not angry with her for this +artifice. I even thought it particularly praiseworthy, since, after all, +the poor creature thus carried out her calling conscientiously, which +was to seduce us. For there was no possible doubt about the matter, that +this grandmother was nothing more nor less than a prostitute.</p> + +<p>And then, drunk! Horribly drunk, much more drunk than Ledantec and I +were, for we really could manage to say: "Oh! Pity the poor, poor old +woman!" While she was incapable of articulating a single syllable, of +making a gesture, or even of imparting a gleam of promise, a furtive +flash of allurement to her eyes. With her hands crossed on her stomach, +and resting against the front of the public-house, with her whole body +as stiff as if she had been in a state of catalepsy, she had nothing +alluring about her, except her sad smile, and that inspired us with all +the more pity because she was even more drunk than we were, and so, by +identical, spontaneous movement, we each of us seized her by an arm, to +take her into the public-house with us.</p> + +<p>To our great astonishment she resisted, sprang back, and so was in the +shadow again, out of the ray of light which came through the door, +while, at the same time, she began to walk through the darkness and to +drag us with her, for she was clinging to our arms. We followed her +without speaking and without knowing where we were going, but without +the least uneasiness on that score. Only, when she suddenly burst into +violent sobs as she walked, Ledantec and I began to sob in unison.</p> + +<p>The cold and the fog had suddenly congested our brains again, and we had +again lost all precise consciousness of our acts, of our thoughts and of +our sensations. Our sobs had nothing of grief in them, but we were +floating in an atmosphere of perfect bliss, and I can remember that at +that moment it was no longer the exterior world which seemed to me as if +I were looking at it through the penumbra of an aquarium; it was I +myself, an <i>I</i> composed of three, which was changing into something that +was floating adrift in something, though what it was I did not know, +composed of palpable fog and intangible water, and it was exquisitely +delightful.</p> + +<p>From that moment I remember nothing more until what follows, and which +had the effect of a clap of thunder on me, and made me rise up from the +bottom of the depth to which I had descended.</p> + +<p>Ledantec was standing in front of me, his face convulsed with horror, +his hair standing on end and his eyes staring out of his head, and he +shouted to me:—</p> + +<p>"Let us escape! Let us escape!" Whereupon I opened my eyes wide, and +found myself lying on the ground, in a room into which daylight was +shining. I saw some rags hanging against the wall, two chairs, a broken +jug lying on the floor by my side, and in a corner a wretched bed on +which a woman was lying, who was no doubt dead, for her head was hanging +over the side, and her long white hair reached almost to my feet.</p> + +<p>With a bound I was up, like Ledantec.</p> + +<p>"What!" I said to him, while my teeth chattered: "Did you kill her?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," he replied. "But that makes no difference; let us be off."</p> + +<p>I felt completely sober by that time, but I did think that he was still +suffering somewhat from the effects of last night's drunk; otherwise, +why should he wish to escape? while the remains of pity for the +unfortunate woman forced me to say:—</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with her? If she is ill, we must look after her."</p> + +<p>And I went to the wretched bed, in order to put her head back on the +pillow, but I discovered that she was neither dead nor ill, but only +sound asleep, and I also noticed that she was quite young. She still +wore that idiotic smile, but her teeth were her own and those of a girl. +Her smooth skin and her firm bust showed that she was not more than +sixteen; perhaps not so much.</p> + +<p>"There! You see it, you can see it!" Ledantec said. "Let us be off."</p> + +<p>He tried to drag me out, and he was still drunk; I could see it by his +feverish movements, his trembling hands and his nervous looks. Then he +implored me and said:—</p> + +<p>"I slept beside the old woman; but she is not old. Look at her; look at +her; yes, she is old after all!"</p> + +<p>And he lifted up her long hair by handfuls; it was like handfuls of +white silk, and then he added, evidently in a sort of delirium, which +made me fear an attack of <i>delirium tremens</i>: "To think that I have +begotten children, three, four children. Who knows how many children, +all in one night! And they were born immediately, and have grown up +already! Let us be off."</p> + +<p>Decidedly it was an attack of madness. Poor Ledantec! What could I do +for him? I took his arm and tried to calm him, but he thought that I was +going to try and make him go to bed with her again, and he pushed me +away and exclaimed with tears in his voice: "If you do not believe me, +look under the bed; the children are there; they are there, I tell you. +Look here, just look here."</p> + +<p>He threw himself down, flat on his stomach, and actually pulled out one, +two, three, four children, who had hidden under the bed. I do not +exactly know whether they were boys or girls, but all, like the sleeping +woman, had white hair, the hair of an octogenarian.</p> + +<p>Was I still drunk, like Ledantec, or was I mad? What was the meaning of +this strange hallucination? I hesitated for a moment, and shook myself +to be sure that it was I.</p> + +<p>No, no, I had all my wits about me, and I in reality saw that horrible +lot of little brats; they all had their faces in their hands, and were +crying and squalling, and then suddenly one of them jumped onto the bed; +all the others followed his example, and the woman woke up.</p> + +<p>And then we stood, while those five pairs of eyes, without eyebrows or +eyelashes, eyes with the dull color of pewter, and whose pupils had the +color of red water, were steadily fixed on us.</p> + +<p>"Let us be off! let us be off!" Ledantec repeated, leaving go of me, and +at that time I paid attention to what he said, and, after throwing some +small change onto the floor, I followed him, to make him understand, +when he should be quite sober, that he saw before him a poor Albino +prostitute, who had several brothers and sisters.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="COUNTESS_SATAN" id="COUNTESS_SATAN"></a>COUNTESS SATAN</h2> + + +<h3>I</h3> + +<p>They were discussing dynamite, the social revolution, Nihilism, and even +those who cared least about politics, had something to say. Some were +alarmed, others philosophized, while others again, tried to smile.</p> + +<p>"Bah!" N—— said, "when we are all blown up, we shall see what it is +like. Perhaps, after all, it may be an amusing sensation, provided one +goes high enough."</p> + +<p>"But we shall not be blown up at all," G—— the optimist, said, +interrupting him. "It is all a romance."</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken, my dear fellow," Jules de C—— replied. "It is like a +romance, but with that confounded Nihilism, everything seems like one, +but it would be a mistake to trust to it. Thus, I myself, the manner in +which I made Bakounine's acquaintance ..."</p> + +<p>They knew that he was a good narrator, and it was no secret that his +life had been an adventurous one, so they drew closer to him, and +listened religiously. This is what he told them.</p> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>"I met Countess Nioska W——, that strange woman who was usually called +Countess Satan, in Naples; I immediately attached myself to her out of +curiosity, and I soon fell in love with her. Not that she was beautiful, +for she was a Russian who had all the bad characteristics of the Russian +type. She was thin and squat, at the same time, while her face was +sallow and puffy, with high cheek bones and a Cossack's nose. But her +conversation bewitched every one.</p> + +<p>"She was many-sided, learned, a philosopher, scientifically depraved, +satanic. Perhaps the word is rather pretentious, but it exactly +expresses what I want to say, for in other words, she loved evil for the +sake of evil. She rejoiced in other people's vices, and liked to sow the +seeds of evil, in order to see it flourish. And that on a fraud, on an +enormous scale. It was not enough for her to corrupt individuals; she +only did that to keep her hand in; what she wished to do, was to corrupt +the masses. By slightly altering it after her own fashion, she might +have adopted the famous saying of Caligula. She also wished that the +whole human race had but one head; but not in order that she might cut +it off, but that she might make the philosophy of <i>Nihility</i> flourish +there.</p> + +<p>"What a temptation to become the lord and master of such a monster! And +I allowed myself to be tempted, and undertook the adventure. The means +came unsought for by me, and the only thing that I had to do, was to +show myself more perverted and satanical that she was herself.—And so I +played the devil.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' I said, 'we writers are the best workmen for doing evil, as our +books may be bottles of poison. The so-called men of action, only turn +the handle of the mitrailleuse which we have loaded. Formulas will +destroy the world, and it is we who invent them.'</p> + +<p>"'That is true,' she said, 'and that is what is wanting in Bakounine, I +am sorry to say.'</p> + +<p>"That name was constantly in her mouth, and so I asked her for details, +which she gave me, as she knew the man intimately.</p> + +<p>"'After all,' she said, with a contemptuous grimace, 'he is only a kind +of Garibaldi.'</p> + +<p>"She told me, although she made fun of him as she did so, about his +Odyssey of the barricades and of the hulks which made up Bakounine's +legend, and which is, nevertheless, only the exact truth; his part of +chief of the insurgents, at Prague and then at Dresden; his first death +sentence; about his imprisonment at Olmütz and in the casemates of the +fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul; in a subterranean dungeon at +Schüsselburg; about his exile to Siberia and his wonderful escape down +the river Amour, on a Japanese coasting-vessel by way of Yokohama and +San Francisco, and about his final arrival in London, whence he was +directing all the operations of Nihilism.</p> + +<p>"'You see,' she said, 'he is a thorough adventurer, and now all his +adventures are over. He got married at Tobolsk and became a mere +respectable, middle-class man. And then, he has no individual ideas. +Herzen, the phamphleteer of <i>Kolokol</i> inspired him with the only fertile +phrase that he ever uttered: <i>Land and Liberty!</i> But that is not yet the +definite formula, the general formula; what I will call, the dynamite +formula. At best, Bakounine would become an incendiary, and burn down +cities. And what is that, I ask you? Bah? A second-hand Rostopchin! He +wants a prompter, and I offered to become his but he did not take me +seriously.' ...</p> + +<p>"It would be useless to enter into all the Psychological details which +marked the course of my passion for the Countess, and to explain to you +more fully the attraction of curiosity which she offered me more and +more every day. It was getting exasperating, and the more so, as she +resisted me as stoutly as the shyest of innocents could have done, but +at the end of a month of mad Satanism, I saw what her game was. Do you +know what she had thought of? She meant to make me Bakounine's prompter, +or, at any rate, that is what she said. But no doubt she reserved the +right to herself, and that is how I understood her, to prompt the +prompter, and my passion for her, which she purposely left unsatisfied, +assured her that absolute power over me.</p> + +<p>"All this may appear madness to you, but it is, nevertheless, the exact +truth, and, in short, one morning she bluntly made the offer: 'Become +Bakounine's soul, and you shall have me.'</p> + +<p>"Of course, I accepted, for it was too fantastically strange to refuse; +do you think so? What an adventure! What luck! A number of letters +between the Countess and Bakounine prepared the way; I was introduced to +him at his house, and they discussed me there. I became a sort of +Western prophet, a mystic charmer who was ready to nihilate the Latin +races, the Saint Paul of the new religion of nothingness, and at last a +day was fixed for us to meet in London. He lived in a small, one-storied +house in Pimlico, with a tiny garden in front, and nothing noticeable +about it.</p> + +<p>"We were first of all shown into the commonplace parlor of all English +homes, and then upstairs. The room where the Countess and I were left, +was small, and very badly furnished, with a square table with writing +materials on it, in the middle. That was his sanctuary; the deity soon +appeared, and I saw him in flesh and bone; especially in flesh, for he +was enormously stout. His broad face, with prominent cheek-bones, in +spite of the fat; and with a nose like a double funnel, with small, +sharp eyes, which had a magnetic look, proclaimed the Tartar, the old +Turanian blood, which produced the Attilas, the Gengis-Khams, the +Tamerlanes. The obesity, which is characteristic of the nomad races, who +are always on horseback or driving, added to his Asiatic look. The man +was certainly not a European, a slave, a descendant of the deistic +Aryans, but a descendant of the Atheistic hordes, who had several times +already almost overrun Europe, and who, instead of any ideas of +progress, have the belief in nihility, at the bottom of their hearts.</p> + +<p>"I was astonished, for I had not expected that the majesty of a whole +race, could be thus revived in a man, and my stupefaction increased +after an hour's conversation. I could quite understand why such a +Colossus had not wished for the Countess as his Egeria; she was a mere +silly child to have dreamt of acting such a part to such a thinker. She +had not felt the profoundness of that horrible philosophy which was +hidden under that material activity, nor had she seen the prophet under +that man of the barricades. Or, perhaps, he had not thought it advisable +to reveal himself to her like that; but he revealed himself to me, and +inspired me with terror.</p> + +<p>"A prophet? Oh! yes. He thought himself an Attila, and foresaw the +consequences of his revolution; it was not only from instinct, but also +from theory that he urged a nation on to nihilism. The phrase is not +his, but Tourgueneff's, I believe, but the idea certainly belongs to +him. He got his program of agricultural communism from Herzen, and his +destructive radicalism from Pougatcheff, but he did not stop there. I +mean that he went on to evil for the sake of evil. Herzen wished for the +happiness of the Slav peasant; Pougatcheff wanted to be elected Emperor, +but all that Bakounine wanted, was to overthrow the actual order of +things, no matter by what means, and to replace social concentration by +a universal upheaval.</p> + +<p>"It was the dream of a Tartar; it was true nihilism pushed to extreme +practical conclusions. It was, in a word, the applied philosophy of +chance, the indeterminateism of anarchy. Monstrous it may be, but grand +in its monstrosity.</p> + +<p>"And you must note, that the man of action who was so despised by the +Countess, discovered in Bakounine the gigantic dreamer whom I have just +shown you, and his dream did not remain a dream, but began to be +realized. It was by the care of that organizer that the Nihilistic party +assumed a body; a party in which there is a little of everything, you +know; but on the whole, a formidable party, on account of the advanced +guard in true Nihilism, whose object is nothing less than to destroy the +Western world, to see it blossom from under the ruins of a general +dispersion, which is the last conception of modern Tartarism.</p> + +<p>"I never saw Bakounine again, for the Countess's conquest would have +been too dearly bought by any attempt to act a comedy with this +<i>Old-Man-of-the-Mountains</i>. And besides that, after this visit, poor +Countess Satan appeared to me quite silly. Her famous Satanism was +nothing but the flicker of a spirit-lamp, after the general +conflagration of which the other had dreamt, and she had certainly shown +herself very silly, when she could not understand that prodigious +monster. And as she had seduced me, only by her intellect and her +perversity, I was disgusted as soon as she laid aside that mask. I left +her without telling her of my intention, and never saw her again, +either.</p> + +<p>"No doubt they both took me for a spy from the <i>Third section of the +Imperial Chancellery</i>. In that case, they must have thought me very +strong to have resisted, and all I have to do is to look out, if any +affiliated members of their society recognize me!..."</p> + + +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>Then he smiled, and turning to the waiter who had just come in, he said: +"Meanwhile, open us another bottle of champagne, and make the cork pop! +It will, at any rate, somewhat accustom us to the day when we shall all +be blown up with dynamite ourselves."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="KIND_GIRLS" id="KIND_GIRLS"></a>KIND GIRLS</h2> + + +<p>Every Friday, regularly, at about eleven o'clock in the morning, he came +into the courtyard, put down his soft hat at his feet, struck a few +chords on his guitar and then began a ballad in his full, rich voice. +And soon at every window in the four sides of that dull, barrack-like +building, some girls appeared, one in an elegant dressing gown, another +in a little jacket, most of them with their breasts and arms bare, all +of them just out of bed, with their hair hastily twisted up, their eyes +blinking in the sudden blaze of sunlight, their complexions dull and +their eyes still heavy from want of sleep.</p> + +<p>They swayed themselves backwards and forwards to his slow melody, and +gave themselves up to the enjoyment of it, and coppers, and even silver, +poured into the handsome singer's hat, and more than one of them would +have liked to have followed the penny which she threw to him, and to +have gone with the singer who had the voice of a siren, and who seemed +to say to all these amorous girls; "Come, come to my retreat, where you +will find a palace of crystal and gold, and wreaths which are always +fresh, and happiness and love which never die."</p> + +<p>That was what they seemed to hear, those unhappy girls, when they heard +him sing the songs of the old legends, which they had formerly believed. +That was what they understood by the foolish words of the ballad. Then +and nothing else, for how could any one doubt it, on seeing the fresh +roses on their cheeks, and the tender flame which flickered like a +mystic night-light in their eyes, which had, for the moment, become the +eyes of innocent young girls again? But of young girls, who had grown up +very quickly, alas! who were very precocious, and who very soon became +the women that they were, poor vendors of love, always in search of love +for which they were paid.</p> + +<p>That was why, when he had finished his second ballad, and sometimes even +sooner, concupiscent looks appeared in their eyes. The boatman of their +dreams, the water-sprite of fairy tales, vanished in the mist of their +childish recollections, and the singer re-assumed his real shape, that +of musician and strolling player, whom they wished to pay, to be their +lover. And the coppers and small silver were showered on him again, with +engaging smiles, with the leers of a street-walker, even with: "<i>p'st, +p'st</i>," which soon transformed the barrack-like courtyard into an +enormous cage full of twittering birds, while some of them could not +restrain themselves, but said aloud, rolling their eyes with desire: +"How handsome the creature is! Good heavens, how handsome he is!"</p> + +<p>He was really handsome, and nobody could deny it, and even too handsome, +with a regular beauty which almost palled on people. He had large, +almond-shaped, gentle eyes, a Grecian nose, a bow-shaped mouth, hidden +by a heavy moustache, and long, black, curly hair; in short, a head fit +to be put into a hair-dresser's window, or, better still, perhaps, onto +the front page of the ballads which he was singing. But what made him +still handsomer, was that his self-conceit had a look of sovereign +indifference for he was not satisfied with not replying to the smiles, +the ogles, and the <i>p'st, p'st's</i>, by taking no notice of them; but +when he had finished he shrugged his shoulders, he winked mischievously, +and turned his lips contemptuously, which said very clearly: "The stove +is not being heated for you, my little kittens!"</p> + +<p>Often, one might have thought that he expressly wished to show his +contempt, and that he tried to make himself thought unpoetical in the +eyes of all those amorous girls, and to check their love, for he cleared +his throat ostentatiously and offensively, more than was necessary, +after singing, as if he would have liked to spit at them. But all that +did not make him unpoetical in their eyes, and many of them, most of +them, who were absolutely mad on him, went so far as to say that <i>he did +it like a swell</i>!</p> + +<p>The girl, who in her enthusiasm had been the first to utter that +exclamation of intense passion, and who, after throwing him small +silver, had thrown him a twenty-franc gold piece, at last made up her +mind to have an explanation. Instead of a <i>p'st, p'st</i>, she spoke to him +boldly one morning, in the presence of all the others, who religiously +held their tongues.</p> + +<p>"Come up here," she called out to him, and from habit she added: "I will +be very nice, you handsome dark fellow."</p> + +<p>At first they were dumbfounded at her audacity, and then all their +cheeks flushed with jealousy, and the flame of mad desire shot from +their eyes, from every window there came a perfect torrent of:</p> + +<p>"Yes, come up, come up." "Don't go to her! Come to me."</p> + +<p>And, meanwhile, there was a shower of half-pence, of francs, of gold +coins, as well as of cigars and oranges, while lace pocket +handkerchiefs, silk neckties, and scarfs fluttered in the air and fell +round the singer, like a flight of many colored butterflies.</p> + +<p>He picked up the spoil calmly, almost carelessly, stuffed the money into +his pocket, made a bundle of the furbelows, which he tied up as if they +had been soiled linen, and then raising himself up, and putting his felt +hat on his head, he said:</p> + +<p>"Thank you, ladies, but indeed I cannot."</p> + +<p>They thought that he did not know how to satisfy so many demands at +once, and one of them said: "Let him choose."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, that is it!" they all exclaimed unanimously.</p> + +<p>But he repeated: "I tell you, I cannot."</p> + +<p>They thought he was excusing himself out of gallantry, and several of +them exclaimed, almost with tears of emotion: "Women are all heart!" And +the same voice that had spoken before, (it was one of the girls who +wished to settle the matter amicably), said: "We must draw lots."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, that is it," they all cried. And again there was a religious +silence, more religious than before, for it wras caused by anxiety, and +the beatings of their hearts may have been heard.</p> + +<p>The singer profited by it, to say slowly: "I cannot have that either; +nor all of you at once, nor one after the other; nothing! I tell you +that I cannot."</p> + +<p>"Why? Why?" And now they were almost screaming, for they were angry and +sorry at the same time. Their cheeks had gone from scarlet to livid, +their eyes flashed fire, and some shook their fists menacingly.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" the girl cried, who had spoken first. "Be quiet, you pack of +huzzys! Let him explain himself, and tell us why!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, let us be quiet! Make him explain himself in God's name!"</p> + +<p>Then, in the fierce silence that ensued, the singer said, opening his +arms wide, with a gesture of despairing inability to do what they +wanted:</p> + +<p>"What do you want? It is very amusing, but I cannot do more. I have two +girls of my own already, at home."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PROFITABLE_BUSINESS" id="PROFITABLE_BUSINESS"></a>PROFITABLE BUSINESS</h2> + + +<p>He certainly did not think himself a saint, nor had he any hypocritical +pretensions to virtue, but, nevertheless, he thought as highly of +himself as much as he did of anybody else, and perhaps, even a trifle +more highly. And that, quite impartially, without any more self love +than was necessary, and without his having to accuse himself of being +self conceited. He did himself justice, that was all, for he had good +moral principles, and he applied them, especially, if the truth must be +told, not only to judging the conduct of others, but also, it must be +allowed, in a measure for regulating his own conduct, as he would have +been very vexed if he had been able to think of himself:</p> + +<p>"On the whole, I am what people call a perfectly honorable man."</p> + +<p>Luckily, he had never (oh! never), been obliged to doubt that excellent +opinion which he had of himself, which he liked to express thus, in his +moments of rhetorical expansion:</p> + +<p>"My whole life gives me the right to shake hands with myself."</p> + +<p>Perhaps a subtle psychologist would have found some flaws in this armor +of integrity, which was sanctimoniously satisfied with itself. It was, +for example, quite certain that our friend had no scruples in making +profit out of the vices or misfortunes of his neighbors, provided that +he was not in his own opinion, the person who was solely, or chiefly +responsible for them. But, on the whole, it was only one manner of +looking at it, nothing more, and there were plenty of materials for +casuistic arguments in it. This kind of discussion is particularly +unpleasant to such simple natures as that of his worthy fellow, who +would have replied to the psychologist.</p> + +<p>"Why go on a wild goose chase? As for me, I am perfectly sincere."</p> + +<p>You must not, however, believe that this perfect sincerity prevented him +from having elevated views. He prided himself on having a weakness for +imagination and the unforeseen, and if he would have been offended at +being called a dishonorable man, he would, perhaps have been still more +hurt if anybody had attributed middle-class tastes to him.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, in love affairs, he expressed a most virtuous horror of +adultery, for if he had committed it, it would not have been able to +bear that testimony to himself, which was so sweet to his conscience:</p> + +<p>"Ah! As for me, I can declare that I never wronged anybody!"</p> + +<p>While, on the other hand, he was not satisfied with pleasure which was +paid for by the hour, and which debases <i>the noblest desires of the +heart</i>, to the vulgar satisfaction of a physical requirement. What he +required, so he used to say, while lifting his eyes up to heaven was:</p> + +<p>"Something rather more ideal than that!"</p> + +<p>That search after the ideal did not, indeed, cost him any great effort, +as it was limited to not going to licensed houses of ill-fame, and to +not accosting streetwalkers with the simple words: "How much?"</p> + +<p>It consisted chiefly in wishing to be gallant even with such women, and +in trying to persuade himself that they liked him for his own sake, and +in preferring those whose manner, dress and looks allowed room for +suppositions and romantic illusions, such as:</p> + +<p>"She might be taken for a little work-girl who has not yet lost her +virtue."</p> + +<p>"No, I rather think she is a widow, who has met with misfortunes."</p> + +<p>"What if she be a fashionable lady in disguise!"</p> + +<p>And other nonsense, which he knew to be such, even while imagining it, +but whose imaginary flavor was very pleasant to him, all the same.</p> + +<p>With such tastes, it was only natural that this pilgrim followed and +pushed up against women in the large shops, and whenever there was a +crowd, and that he especially looked out for those ladies of easy +virtue, for nothing is more exciting than those half-closed shutters, +behind which a face is indistinctly seen, and from which one hears a +furtive: <i>"P'st! P'st!"</i></p> + +<p>He used to say to himself: "Who is she? Is she young and pretty? Is she +some old woman, who is terribly skillful at her business, but who yet +does not venture to show herself any longer? Or is she some new +beginner, who has not yet acquired the boldness of an old hand? In any +case, it is the unknown, perhaps, that is my ideal during the time it +takes me to find my way upstairs;" and always as he went up, his heart +beat, as it does at a first meeting with a beloved mistress.</p> + +<p>But he had never felt such a delicious shiver as he did on the day on +which he penetrated into that old house in the blind alley in +Ménilmontant. He could not have said why, for he had often gone after +so-called love in much stranger places; but now, without any reason, he +had a presentiment that he was going to meet with an adventure, and that +gave him a delightful sensation.</p> + +<p>The woman who had made the sign to him, lived on the third floor, and +all the way upstairs his excitement increased, until his heart was +beating violently when he reached the landing. At the same time, he was +going up, he smelt a peculiar odor, which grew stronger and stronger, +and which he had tried in vain to analyze, though all he could arrive at +was, that it smelt like a chemist's shop.</p> + +<p>The door on the right, at the end of the passage, was opened as soon as +he put his foot on the landing, and the woman said, in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"Come in, my dear."</p> + +<p>A whiff of a very strong smell met his nostrils through the open door, +and suddenly he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"How stupid I was! I know what it is now; it is carbolic acid, is it +not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," the woman replied. "Don't you like it, dear? It is very +wholesome, you know."</p> + +<p>The woman was not ugly, although not young; she had very good eyes, +although they were sad and sunken in her head; evidently she had been +crying, very much quite recently, and that imparted a special spice to +the vague smile which she put on, so as to appear more amiable.</p> + +<p>Seized by his romantic ideas once more, and under the influence of the +presentiment which he had had just before, he thought—and the idea +filled him with pleasure:</p> + +<p>"She is some widow, whom poverty has forced to sell herself."</p> + +<p>The room was small, but very clean and tidy, and that confirmed him in +his conjecture, as he was curious to verify its truth, he went into the +three rooms which opened into one another. The bedroom, came first; +next there came a kind of a drawing-room, and then a dining-room, which +evidently served as a kitchen, for a Dutch tiled stove stood in the +middle of it, on which a stew was simmering, but the smell of carbolic +acid was even stronger in that room. He remarked on it, and added with a +laugh:</p> + +<p>"Do you put it with your soup?"</p> + +<p>And as he said this, he laid hold of the handle of the door which led +into the next room, for he wanted to see everything, even that nook, +which was apparently a store cupboard, but the woman seized him by the +arm, and pulled him violently back.</p> + +<p>"No, no," she said, almost in a whisper, and in a hoarse and suppliant +voice, "no, dear, not there, not there, you must not go in there."</p> + +<p>"Why?" he said, for his wish to go in had only become stronger.</p> + +<p>"Because if you go in there, you will have no inclination to remain with +me, and I so want you to stay. If you only knew!"</p> + +<p>"Well, what?" And with a violent movement, he opened the glazed door, +when the smell of carbolic acid seemed almost to strike him in the face, +but what he saw, made him recoil still more, for on a small iron +bedstead, lay the dead body of a woman fantastically illuminated by a +single wax candle, and in horror he turned to make his escape.</p> + +<p>"Stop, my dear," the woman sobbed; and clinging to him, she told him +amidst a flood of tears, that her friend had died two days previously, +and that there was no money to bury her. "Because," she said, "you can +understand that I want it to be a respectable funeral, we were so very +fond of each other! Stop here, my dear, do stop. I only want ten francs +more. Don't go away."</p> + +<p>They had gone back into the bedroom, and she was pushing him towards +the bed:</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "let me go. I will give you the ten francs, but I will +not stay here; I cannot."</p> + +<p>He took his purse out of his pocket, extracted a ten-franc piece, put it +on the table, and then went to the door; but when he had reached it, a +thought suddenly struck him, as if somebody were reasoning with him, +without his knowledge.</p> + +<p>"Why lose these ten francs? Why not profit by this woman's good +intentions. She certainly did her business bravely, and if I had not +known about the matter, I should certainly not have gone away for some +time ... Well then?"</p> + +<p>But other obscurer suggestions whispered to him:</p> + +<p>"She was her friend! ... They were so fond of each other! Was it +friendship or love? Oh! love apparently. Well, it would surely be +avenging morality, if this woman were forced to be faithless to that +monstrous love?" And suddenly the man turned round and said in a low and +trembling voice: "Look here! If I give you twenty francs instead of ten, +I suppose you could buy some flowers for her, as well?"</p> + +<p>The unhappy woman's face brightened with pleasure and gratitude.</p> + +<p>"Will you really give me twenty?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, "and more perhaps. It quite depends upon yourself."</p> + +<p>And with the quiet conscience of an honorable man who, at the same time, +is not a fool he said gravely:</p> + +<p>"You need only be very complaisant."</p> + +<p>And he added, mentally: "Especially as I deserve it, as in giving you +twenty francs I am performing a good action."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIOLATED" id="VIOLATED"></a>VIOLATED</h2> + + +<p>"Really," Paul repeated, "really!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I who am here before you have been violated, and violated by!... +But if I were to tell you immediately by whom, there would be no story, +eh? And as you want a story, eh? And as you want a story, I will tell +you all about it from beginning to end, and I shall begin at the +beginning.</p> + +<p>"I had been shooting over the waste land in the heart of Brittany for a +week, which borders on the Black Mountain. It is a desolate and wild +country, but it abounds in game. One can walk for hours without meeting +a human being, and when one meets anybody, it is just the same as if one +had not, for the people are absolutely ignorant of French, and when I +got to an inn at night, I had to employ signs to let the people know +that I wanted supper and bed.</p> + +<p>"As I happened to be in a melancholy frame of mind at the time, that +solitude delighted me, and my dog's companionship was quite enough for +me, and so you may guess my irritation when I perceived one morning that +I was being followed, absolutely followed, by another sportsman who +seemed to wish to enter into conversation with me. The day before, I had +already noticed him obstructing the horizon several times, and I had +attributed it to the chances of sport, which brought us both to the same +likely spots for game, but now I could not be mistaken! The fellow was +evidently following me, and was stretching his little pair of compasses +as much as he could, so as to keep up with my long strides, and took +short cuts, so as to catch me up at the half circle.</p> + +<p>"As he seemed bent upon the matter, I naturally grew obstinate also, and +he spent his whole day in trying to catch me up, while I spent mine in +trying to baffle him, and we seemed to be playing at <i>hide-and-seek</i>; +the consequences were, that when it was getting dark, I had completely +lost myself in the most deserted part of the moor. There was no cottage +near, and not even a church spire in the distance. The only land-mark, +was the hateful outline of that cursed man, about five hundred yards +off.</p> + +<p>"Of course he had won the game! I should have to put a good face on the +matter, and allow him to join me, or rather I should have to join him +myself, if I did not wish to sleep in the open air and with an empty +stomach, and so I went up to him, and asked my way in a half-surly +manner.</p> + +<p>"He replied very affably, that there was no inn in the neighborhood, as +the nearest village was five leagues off, but that he lived only about +an hour's walk off, and that he considered himself very fortunate in +being able to offer me hospitality.</p> + +<p>"I was utterly done up, and how could I refuse? So we went off through +the heather and furze; I walking slowly because I was so tired, and he +went tripping along merrily with his legs like a basset hound's, which +seemed untirable.</p> + +<p>"And yet he was an old man, and not strongly built, for I could have +knocked him over by blowing on him; but how he could walk, the beast!</p> + +<p>"But he was not a troublesome companion, as I imagined he would have +been, and he did not at all seem to wish to enter into conversation with +me, as I feared he would. When he had given his invitation, and I had +accepted it and thanked him in a few words, he did not open his lips +again, and we walked on in silence, and only his glances worried me, for +I felt them on me, as if he wished to force me into an intimacy, which +my closed lips refused. But on the whole, his tenacious looks, which I +noticed furtively, appeared sympathetic and even admiring—yes; really +admiring!</p> + +<p>"But I could not give him as good as he brought, for he was certainly +not handsome; his legs were short, and rather bandy and he was thin and +narrow-chested. His face was like a bit of parchment, furrowed and +wrinkled, without a hair on it to hide the folds in his skin. His hair +resembled that of an <i>Ignorantin</i><a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> brother, with its gray locks +falling onto his greasy collar; he had a nose like a ferret, and rat's +eyes, but he was able to offer me food and quarters for the night, and +it was not requisite that he should be handsome, in order to do that.</p> + +<p>"Capital food, and very comfortable quarters! A manorial dwelling, a +real old, well-furnished manor-house; and in the large dining-room, in +front of the huge fireplace, where a large fire was blazing, dinner was +laid; I will say no more than that! A hotch-potch, which had been +stewing since morning, no doubt! A <i>salmis</i> of woodcock, in defense of +which angels would have taken up arms; buckwheat cakes, in cream, +flavored with aniseed, and a cheese, which is a rare thing and hardly +ever to be found in Brittany, a cheese to make any one eat a four pound +loaf if he only smelt the rind! The whole washed clown by Chambertin, +and then brandy distilled by cider, which was so good that it made a man +fancy that he had swallowed a deity in velvet breeches; not to mention +the cigars, pure, smuggled havannahs; large, strong, not dry but green, +on the contrary, which made a strong and intoxicating smoke.</p> + +<p>"And how the little old gentleman stuffed, and drank and smoked! He was +an ogre, a choirister, a sapper, and so was I, I must confess, and, upon +my word, I cannot remember what we talked about during our Gargantuan +feed! But we certainly talked, but what about? About shooting, +certainly, and about women most probably. Confound it! Among men, after +drinking! Yes, yes, about women, I am quite sure, and he told some funny +stories, did the little old man! Especially about a portrait which was +hanging over the large fireplace, and which represented his +grandmother, a marchioness of the old régime. She was a woman who had +certainly played some pranks, and they said that she was still frisky +and had good legs and thighs when she was seventy.</p> + +<p>"'It is extraordinary,' I remarked, 'how like you are to that portrait.'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' the old man replied with a smile; and then he added in his +harsh, tremulous voice: 'I resemble her in everything. I am only sixty, +and I feel as if I should have lusty, hot blood in me until I am +seventy.'</p> + +<p>"And then suddenly, very much moved, and looking at me admiringly, as he +had done once before, he said to the portrait:</p> + +<p>"'I say, marchioness, what a pity that you did not know this handsome +young fellow!'</p> + +<p>"I remembered that apostrophe and that look very well, when I went to +bed about an hour later, nearly drunk, in the large room papered in +white and gold, to which I was shown by a tall, broad-shouldered +footman, who wished me good-night in Breton.</p> + +<p>"<i>Good-night</i>, yes! But that implied going to sleep, which was just what +I could not do. The Chambertin, the cider brandy and the cigars had +certainly made me drunk, but not so as to overcome me altogether. On the +contrary, I was excited, my nerves were highly strung, my blood was +heated, and I was in a half-sleep in which I felt that I was very much +alive, and my whole being was in a vibration and expansion, just as if I +had been smoking hashecah.</p> + +<p>"Of course! That was it; I was dreaming while I was awake; but I saw the +door open and the marchioness come in, who had stepped down, out of her +frame. She had taken off her furbelows, and was in her nightgown. Her +high head-dress was replaced by a simple knot of ribbon, which confined +her powdered hair into a small chignon, but I recognized her quite +plainly, by the trembling light of the candle which she was carrying. It +was her face with its piercing eyes, its pointed nose and its smiling +and sensual mouth. She did not look so young to me as she appeared in +her portrait. Bah! Perhaps that was merely caused by the feeble, +flickering light! But I had not even time to account for it, not to +reflect on the strangeness of the sight, nor to discuss the matter with +myself and to say: 'Am I dead drunk, or is it a ghost?'</p> + +<p>"No, I had no time, and that is the fact, for the candle was suddenly +blown out and the marchioness was in my bed and holding me in her arms, +and one fixed idea, the only one that I had, haunted me, which was:</p> + +<p>"'Had the marchioness good limbs, and was she still frisky at seventy?' +And I did not care much if she was seventy and if she was a ghost or +not; I only thought of one thing: 'Has she really good limbs?'"</p> + +<p>"By Jove, yes! She did not speak. Oh, marchioness! marchioness! And +suddenly in spite of myself and to convince myself that it was not a +mere fantastic dream, I exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"'Why, good heavens! I am not dreaming!'</p> + +<p>"'No, you are not dreaming,' two lips replied, trying to press +themselves against mine.</p> + +<p>"But, oh! horror! The mouth smelt of cigars and brandy! The voice was +that of the little old man!</p> + +<p>"With a bound I sent him flying on to the ground, and jumped out of bed, +shouting:</p> + +<p>"'Beast! beast!'</p> + +<p>"Then I heard the door slam, and bare feet pattering on the stairs as he +ran away; so I dressed hastily in the dark and went downstairs, still +shouting.</p> + +<p>"In the hall below, where I could see through the upper windows that the +dawn was breaking, I met the broad-shouldered footman, who was holding a +great cudgel in his hand. He was bawling also, in Breton, and pointed to +the open door, outside where my dog was waiting. What could I say to +this savage who did not speak French? Should I face his cudgel? There +was no reason for doing so; and besides, I was even more ashamed than +furious; so I hastily took up my gun and my game-bag, which were in the +hall, and went off without turning round.</p> + +<p>"Disgusted with sport in that part of the country, I returned to Brest +the same day, and there, timidly and with many precautions, I tried to +find out something about the little old man....</p> + +<p>"'Oh, I know!' somebody replied at last to my question; 'you are +speaking of the manor-house at Hervénidozse, where the old countess +lives, who dresses like a man and sleeps with her coachman.'</p> + +<p>"And with a deep sigh of relief, and much to the astonishment of my +informant, I replied:</p> + +<p>"'Oh! so much the better!'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="JEROBOAM" id="JEROBOAM"></a>JEROBOAM</h2> + + +<p>Anyone who said, or even insinuated, that the Reverend William +Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, Tottenham, did not make his wife +Anna perfectly happy, would certainly have been very malicious. In their +twelve years of married life, he had honored her with twelve children, +and could anybody decently ask anything more of a saintly man?</p> + +<p>Saintly to heroism in truth! For his wife Anna, who was endowed with +invaluable virtues, which made her a model among wives and a paragon +among mothers, had not been equally endowed physically, for, in one +word, she was hideous. Her hair, which was coarse though it was thin, +was the color of the national <i>half-and-half</i>, but of thick +<i>half-and-half</i> which looked as if it had been already swallowed several +times, and her complexion, which was muddy and pimply, looked as if it +were covered with sand mixed with brickdust. Her teeth, which were long +and protruding, seemed as if they were about to start out of their +sockets in order to escape from that mouth with scarcely any lips, whose +sulphurous breath had turned them yellow. They were evidently suffering +from bile.</p> + +<p>Her china-blue eyes looked vaguely, one very much to the right and the +other very much to the left, with a divergent and frightened squint; no +doubt in order that they might not see her nose, of which they felt +ashamed. And they were quite right! Thin, soft, long, pendant, sallow, +and ending in a violet knob, it irresistibly reminded those who saw it +of something which cannot be mentioned except in a medical treatise. Her +body, through the inconceivable irony of nature, was at the same time +thin and flabby, wooden and chubby, without having either the elegance +of slimness or the rounded gracefulness of stoutness. It might have been +taken for a body which had formerly been adipose, but which had now +grown thin, while the covering had remained floating on the framework.</p> + +<p>She was evidently nothing but skin and bones, but then she had too many +bones and too little skin.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that the reverend gentleman had done his duty, his whole +duty, more than his duty, in sacrificing a dozen times on this altar. +Yes, a dozen times bravely and loyally! A dozen times, and his wife +could not deny it nor dispute the number, because the children were +there to prove it. A dozen times, and not one less!</p> + +<p>And alas! not once more; and that was the reason why, in spite of +appearances, Mrs. Anna Greenfield ventured to think, in the depths of +her heart, that the Reverend William Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, +Tottenham, had not made her perfectly happy; and she thought so all the +more as, for four years now, she had been obliged to renounce all hope +of that annual sacrifice, which was so easy and so fugitive formerly, +but which had now fallen into disuse. In fact, at the birth of the +twelfth child, the reverend gentleman had expressly said to her:</p> + +<p>"God has greatly blessed our union, my dear Anna. We have reached the +sacred number of the twelve tribes of Israel, and were we now to +persevere in the works of the flesh, it would be mere debauchery, and I +cannot suppose that you would wish me to end my exemplary life in +lustful practices."</p> + +<p>His wife blushed and looked down, and the holy man, with the legitimate +pride of virtue which is its own reward, audibly thanked Heaven that he +was "not as other men are."</p> + +<p>A model among wives and the paragon of mothers, Anna lived with him for +four years on those terms, without complaining to anyone, and contented +herself by praying fervently to God that He would mercifully inspire her +husband with the desire to begin a second series of the twelve tribes. +At times even, in order to make her prayers more efficacious, she tried +to compass that end by culinary means. She spared no pains, and gorged +the reverend gentleman with highly-seasoned dishes. Hare soup, ox-tails +stewed in sherry, the green fat in turtle soup, stewed mushrooms, +Jerusalem artichokes, celery, and horse-radish; hot sauces, truffles, +hashes with wine and cayenne pepper in them, curried lobsters, pies made +of cocks' combs, oysters, and the soft roe of fish; and all these dishes +were washed down by strong beer and generous wines, Scotch ale, +Burgundy, dry champagne, brandy, whiskey and gin; in a word, by that +numberless array of alcoholic drinks with which the English people love +to heat their blood.</p> + +<p>And, as a matter of fact, the reverend gentleman's blood became very +heated, as was shown by his nose and cheeks, but in spite of this, the +powers above were inexorable, and he remained quite indifferent as +regards his wife, who was unhappy and thoughtful at the sight of that +protruding nasal appendage, which, alas! was alone in its glory.</p> + +<p>She became thinner, and at the same time, flabbier than ever, and almost +began to lose her trust in God, when, suddenly, she had an inspiration. +Was it not, perhaps, the work of devil?</p> + +<p>She did not care to inquire too closely into the matter, as she thought +it a very good idea, and it was this:</p> + +<p>"Go to the Universal Exhibition in Paris, and there, perhaps, you will +discover the secret to make yourself loved."</p> + +<p>Decidedly luck favored her, for her husband immediately gave her +permission to go, and as soon as she got into the <i>Esplanade des +Invalides</i>, she saw the Algerian dancers, and she said to herself.</p> + +<p>"Surely this would inspire William with the desire to be the father of +the thirteenth tribe!"</p> + +<p>But how could she manage to get him to be present at such abominable +orgies? For she could not hide from herself that it was an abominable +exhibition, and she knew how scandalized he would be at their voluptuous +movements. She had no doubt that the devil had led her there, but she +could not take her eyes off the scene, and it gave her an idea; and so +for nearly a fortnight you might have seen the poor, unattractive woman +sitting, and attentively and curiously watching the swaying hips of the +Algerian women. She was learning.</p> + +<p>The very evening of her return to London, she rushed into her husband's +bedroom, disrobed herself in an instant, except for a thin gauze +covering, and for the first time in her life appeared before him in all +the ugliness of her semi-nudity.</p> + +<p>"Come, come," the saintly man stammered out, "are you—are you mad, +Anna! What demon has possessed you? Why inflict the disgrace of such a +spectacle on me?"</p> + +<p>But she did not listen to him, and did not reply, but suddenly she also +began to sway her hips about like an almah<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>. The reverend gentleman +could not believe his eyes, and in his stupefaction, he did not think of +covering them with his hands or even of shutting them. He looked at her, +stupefied and dumbfounded, a prey to the hypnotism of ugliness. He +watched her as she came forward and retired, and went up and down, as +she skipped and wriggled, and threw herself into extraordinary +attitudes. For a long time he sat motionless and almost unable to speak. +He only said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lord! To think that twelve times!... twelve times!... a whole +dozen!"</p> + +<p>However, she fell into a chair, panting and worn out, and said to +herself:</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven! William looks like he used to do formerly on the days +that he honored me. Thank Heaven! There will be a thirteenth tribe, and +then a fresh series of tribes, for William is very methodical in all +that he does!"</p> + +<p>But William merely took a blanket off the bed and threw it over her, +saying in a voice of thunder:</p> + +<p>"Your name is no longer Anna, Mrs. Greenfield; for the future you shall +be called Jezabel. I only regret that I have twelve times mingled my +blood with your impure blood." And then, seized by pity, he added: "If +you were only in a state of inebriety, of intoxication, I could excuse +you."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, repentantly, "yes, I am in that +state ... Forgive me, William—forgive a poor drunken woman!"</p> + +<p>"I will forgive you, Anna," he replied, and he gave her a wash-hand +basin, saying: "Cold water will do you good, and when your head is +clear, remember the lesson which you must learn from this occurrence."</p> + +<p>"What lesson?" she asked, humbly.</p> + +<p>"That people ought never to depart from their usual habits."</p> + +<p>"But why, then, William," she asked, timidly, "have you changed your +habits?"</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue!" he cried—"hold your tongue, Jezabel! Have you not +got over your intoxication yet? For twelve years I certainly followed +the divine precept: <i>increase and multiply</i>, once a year. But since +then, I have grown accustomed to something else, and I do not wish to +alter my habits."</p> + +<p>And the Reverend William Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, Tottenham, +the saintly man whose blood was inflamed by heating food and liquor, +whose ears were like full-blown poppies and who had a nose like a +tomato, left his wife and, as had been his habit for four years, went to +make love to Polly, the servant.</p> + +<p>"Now, Polly," he said, "you are a clever girl, and I mean, through you, +to teach Mrs. Greenfield a lesson she will never forget. I will try and +see what I can do for you."</p> + +<p>And in order to this, he called her his little Jezabel, and said to her, +with an unctuous smile:</p> + +<p>"Call me Jeroboam! You don't understand why? Neither do I, but that does +not matter. Take off all your things, Polly, and show yourself to Mrs. +Greenfield."</p> + +<p>The servant did as she was bidden, and the result was that Mrs. +Greenfield never again hinted to her husband the desirability of laying +the foundation of a thirteenth tribe.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_LOG" id="THE_LOG"></a>THE LOG</h2> + + +<p>It was a small drawing-room, with thick hangings, and with a faint, +judicious smell of flowers and scents about it. A large fire was burning +in the grate, while one lamp, covered with a shade of old lace, on the +corner of the mantel-piece threw a soft light onto the two persons who +were talking.</p> + +<p>She, the mistress of the house, was an old lady with white hair, but one +of those adorable old ladies whose unwrinkled skin is as smooth as the +finest paper, and scented, impregnated with perfume as the delicate +essences which she had used in her bath for so many years had penetrated +through the epidermis.</p> + +<p>He was a very old friend, who had never married, a constant friend, a +companion in the journey of life, but nothing else.</p> + +<p>They had not spoken for about a minute, and they were both looking at +the fire, dreaming no matter of what, in one of those moments of +friendly silence between people who have no need to be constantly +talking in order to be happy together, when suddenly a large log, a +stump covered with burning roots, fell out. It fell over the fire-dogs +into the drawing-room, and rolled onto the carpet, scattering great +sparks all round. The old lady sprang up with a little scream, as if she +was going to run away, while he kicked the log back onto the hearth and +trod out all the burning sparks with his boots.</p> + +<p>When the disaster was repaired, there was a strong smell of burning, and +sitting down opposite to his friend, the man looked at her with a smile, +and said, as he pointed to the log:</p> + +<p>"That is the reason why I never married."</p> + +<p>She looked at him in astonishment, with the inquisitive gaze of women +who wish to know everything, that eye which women have who are no longer +very young, in which complicated, and often malicious curiosity is +reflected, and she asked:</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! that is a long story," he replied; "a rather sad and unpleasant +story."</p> + +<p>"My old friends were often surprised at the coldness which suddenly +sprang up between one of my best friends, whose Christian name was +Julien, and myself. They could not understand how two such intimate and +inseparable friends as we had been could suddenly become almost +strangers to one another, and I will tell you the reason of it.</p> + +<p>"He and I used to live together at one time. We were never apart, and +the friendship that united us seemed so strong that nothing could break +it.</p> + +<p>"One evening when he came home, he told me that he was going to get +married, and it gave me a shock as if he had robbed me or betrayed me. +When a man's friend marries, it is all over between them. The jealous +affection of a woman, that suspicious, uneasy, and carnal affection, +will not tolerate that sturdy and frank attachment, that attachment of +the mind, of the heart, and mutual confidence which exists between two +men.</p> + +<p>"You see, however great the love may be that unites them, a man and a +woman are always strangers in mind and intellect; they remain +belligerants, they belong to different races. There must always be a +conqueror and a conquered, a master and a slave; now the one, now the +other—they are never two equals. They press each other's hands, those +hands trembling with amorous passion; but they never press them with a +long, strong, loyal pressure, with that pressure which seems to open +hearts and to lay them bare in a burst of sincere, strong, manly +affection. Philosophers of old, instead of marrying and pro-creating +children who would abandon them as a consolation for their old age, +sought for a good, reliable friend, and grew old with him in that +communion of thought which can only exist between men.</p> + +<p>"Well, my friend Julien married. His wife was pretty, charming, a +little, light, curly-haired, plump, bright woman, who seemed to worship +him; and at first I went but rarely to their house, as I was afraid of +interfering with their affection, and afraid of being in their way. But +somehow they attracted me to their house; they were constantly inviting +me, and seemed very fond of me. Consequently, by degrees I allowed +myself to be allured by the charm of their life. I often dined with +them, and frequently, when I returned home at night, I thought that I +would do as he had done, and get married, as I now found my empty house +very dull.</p> + +<p>"They seemed very much in love with one another, and were never apart.</p> + +<p>"Well, one evening Julien wrote and asked me to go to dinner, and I +naturally went.</p> + +<p>"'My dear fellow,' he said, 'I must go out directly afterwards on +business, and I shall not be back until eleven o'clock, but I shall be +at eleven precisely, and I reckon you to keep Bertha company.'</p> + +<p>"The young woman smiled.</p> + +<p>"'It was my idea,' she said, 'to send for you.'</p> + +<p>"I held out my hand to her.</p> + +<p>"'You are as nice as ever,' I said, and I felt a long, friendly pressure +of my fingers, but I paid no attention to it; so we sat down to dinner, +and at eight o'clock Julien went out.</p> + +<p>"As soon as he had gone, a kind of strange embarrassment immediately +seemed to arise between his wife and me. We had never been alone +together yet, and in spite of our daily increasing intimacy, this +<i>tête-à-tête</i> placed us in a new position. At first I spoke vaguely of +those indifferent matters with which one fills up an embarrassing +silence, but she did not reply, and remained opposite to me with her +head down in an undecided manner, as if she were thinking over some +difficult subject, and as I was at a loss for commonplace ideas, I held +my tongue. It is surprising how hard it is at times to find anything to +say.</p> + +<p>"And then, again, I felt in the air, I felt in the unseen, something +which is impossible for me to express, that mysterious premonition which +tells you beforehand of the secret intentions, be they good or evil, of +another person with respect to yourself.</p> + +<p>"That painful silence lasted some time, and then Bertha said to me:</p> + +<p>"'Will you kindly put a log on the fire, for it is going out.'</p> + +<p>"So I opened the box where the wood was kept, which was placed just +where yours is, took out the largest log, and put it on the top of the +others, which were three-parts burnt, and then silence reigned in the +room again.</p> + +<p>"In a few minutes the log was burning so brightly that it scorched our +faces, and the young woman raised her eyes to me—eyes that had a +strange look to me.</p> + +<p>"'It is too hot now,' she said; 'let us go and sit on the sofa over +there.'</p> + +<p>"So we went and sat on the sofa, and then she said suddenly, looking me +full in the face:</p> + +<p>"'What should you do if a woman were to tell you that she was in love +with you?'</p> + +<p>"'Upon my word,' I replied, very much at a loss for an answer, 'I cannot +foresee such a case; but it would very much depend upon the woman.'</p> + +<p>"She gave a hard, nervous, vibrating laugh; one of those false laughs +which seem as if they must break thin glasses, and then she added: 'Men +are never either venturesome nor acute.' And after a moment's silence, +she continued: 'Have you ever been in love, Monsieur Paul?' I was +obliged to acknowledge that I certainly had been, and she asked me to +tell her all about it, whereupon I made up some story or other. She +listened to me attentively with frequent sighs of approbation and +contempt, and then suddenly she said:</p> + +<p>"'No, you understand nothing about the subject. It seems to me, that +real love must unsettle the mind, upset the nerves and distract the +head; that it must—how shall I express it?—be dangerous, even +terrible, almost criminal and sacrilegious; that it must be a kind of +treason; I mean to say that it is almost bound to break laws, fraternal +bonds, sacred obstacles; when love is tranquil, easy, lawful and without +dangers, is it really love?'</p> + +<p>"I did not know what answer to give her, and I made this philosophical +reflection to myself: 'Oh! female brain, here indeed you show yourself!'</p> + +<p>"While speaking, she had assumed a demure, saintly air; and resting on +the cushions, she stretched herself out at full length, with her head on +my shoulder and her dress pulled up a little, so as to show her red silk +stockings, which the fire-light made look still brighter. In a minute or +two she continued:</p> + +<p>"'I suppose I have frightened you?' I protested against such a notion, +and she leant against my breast altogether, and without looking at me +she said: 'If I were to tell you that I love you, what would you do?'</p> + +<p>"And before I could think of an answer, she had thrown her arms round my +neck, had quickly drawn my head down and put her lips to mine.</p> + +<p>"Oh! My dear friend, I can tell you that I did not feel at all happy! +What! deceive Julien? become the lover of this little silly, +wrong-headed, cunning woman, who was no doubt terribly sensual, and for +whom her husband was already not sufficient! To betray him continually, +to deceive him, to play at being in love merely because I was attracted +by forbidden fruit, danger incurred and friendship betrayed! No, that +did not suit me, but what was I to do? To imitate Joseph, would be +acting a very stupid, and, moreover, difficult part, for this woman was +maddening in her perfidy, inflamed by audacity, palpitating and excited. +Let the man who has never felt on his lips, the warm kiss of a woman who +is ready to give herself to him, throw the first stone at me ...</p> + +<p>"... Well, a minute more ... you understand what I mean? A minute more +and ... I should have been ... no, she would have been ... I beg your +pardon, he would have been!... when a loud noise made us both jump up. +The log had fallen into the room, knocking over the fire-irons and the +fender, and onto the carpet which it had scorched, and had rolled under +an arm-chair, which it would certainly set alight.</p> + +<p>"I jumped up like a madman, and as I was replacing that log which had +saved me, on the fire, the door opened hastily, and Julien came in.</p> + +<p>"'I have done,' he said, in evident pleasure. 'The business was over two +hours sooner than I expected!'</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear friend, without that log, I should have been caught in the +very act, and you know what the consequences would have been!</p> + +<p>"You may be sure that I took good care never to be overtaken in a +similar situation again; never, never. Soon afterwards I saw that Julien +was giving me the 'cold shoulder,' as they say. His wife was evidently +undermining our friendship; by degrees he got rid of me, and we have +altogether ceased to meet.</p> + +<p>"I have not got married which ought not to surprise you, I think."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MARGOTS_TAPERS" id="MARGOTS_TAPERS"></a>MARGOT'S TAPERS</h2> + + +<h3>I</h3> + +<p>Margot Fresquyl had allowed herself to be tempted for the first time by +the delicious intoxication of the mortal sin of loving, on the evening +of Midsummer Day.</p> + +<p>While most of the young people were holding each others' hands and +dancing in a circle round the burning logs, the girl had slyly taken the +deserted road which led to the wood, leaning on the arm of her partner, +a tall, vigorous farm servant, whose Christian name was Tiennou, which, +by the way, was the only name he had borne from his birth. For he was +entered on the register of births with this curt note: <i>Father and +mother unknown</i>; he having been found on St. Stephen's Day under a shed +on a farm, where some poor, despairing wretch had abandoned him, perhaps +even without turning her head round to look at him.</p> + +<p>For months Tiennou had madly worshiped that fair, pretty girl, who was +now trembling as he clasped her in his arms, under the sweet coolness of +the leaves. He religiously rememberd how she had dazzled him—like some +ecstastic vision, the recollection of which always remains imprinted on +the eyes—the first time that he saw her in her father's mill, where he +had gone to ask for work. She stood out all rosy from the warmth of the +day, amidst the impalpable clouds of flour, which diffused an indistinct +whiteness through the air. With her hair hanging about her in untidy +curls, as if she had just awakened from a profound sleep, she stretched +herself lazily, with her bare arms clasped behind her head, and yawned +so as to show her white teeth, which glistened like those of a young +wolf, and her maiden nudity appeared beneath her unbuttoned bodice with +innocent immodesty. He told her that he thought her adorable, so +stupidly, that she made fun of him and scourged him with her cruel +laughter; and, from that day he spent his life in Margot's shadow. He +might have been taken for one of those wild beasts ardent with desire, +which ceaselessly utter maddened cries to the stars on nights when the +constellations bathe the dark coverts in warm light. Margot met him +wherever she went, and seized with pity, and by degrees agitated by his +sobs, by his dumb entreaties, by the burning looks which flashed from +his large eyes, she had returned his love; she had dreamt restlessly +that during a whole night she had been in his vigorous arms which +pressed her like corn that is being crushed in the mill, that she was +obeying a man who had subdued her, and learning strange things which the +other girls talked about in a low voice when they were drawing water at +the well.</p> + +<p>She had, however, been obliged to wait until Midsummer Day, for the +miller watched over his heiress very carefully.</p> + +<p>The two lovers told each other all this as they were going along the +dark road, and innocently giving utterance to words of happiness, which +rise to the lips like the forgotten refrain of a song. At times they +were silent, not knowing what more to say, and not daring to embrace +each other any more. The night was soft and warm, the warmth of a +half-closed alcove in a bedroom, and which had the effect of a tumbler +of new wine.</p> + +<p>The leaves were sleeping motionless and in supreme peace, and in the +distance they could hear the monotonous sound of the brooks as they +flowed over the stones. Amidst the dull noise of the insects, the +nightingales were answering each other from tree to tree, and everything +seemed alive with hidden life, and the sky was bright with such a shower +of falling stars, that they might have been taken for white forms +wandering among the dark trunks of the trees.</p> + +<p>"Why have we come?" Margot asked, in a panting voice. "Do you not want +me any more, Tiennou?"</p> + +<p>"Alas! I dare not," he replied. "Listen: you know that I was picked up +on the high road, that I have nothing in the world except my two arms, +and that Miller Fresquyl will never let his daughter marry a poor devil +like me."</p> + +<p>She interrupted him with a painful gesture, and putting her lips to his, +she said:</p> + +<p>"What does that matter? I love you, and I want you ... Take me ..."</p> + +<p>And it was thus, on St. John's night, Margot Fresquyl for the first time +yielded to the mortal sin of love.</p> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>Did the miller guess his daughter's secret, when he heard her singing +merrily from dawn till dusk, and saw her sitting dreaming at her window +instead of sewing as she was in the habit of doing?</p> + +<p>Did he see it when she threw ardent kisses from the tips of her fingers +to her lover at a distance?</p> + +<p>However that might have been, he shut poor Margot in the mill as if it +had been a prison. No more love or pleasure, no more meetings at night +at the verge of the wood. When she chatted with the passers-by, when she +tried furtively to open the gate of the enclosure and to make her +escape, her father beat her as if she had been some disobedient animal, +until she fell on her knees on the floor with clasped hands, scarcely +able to move and her whole body covered with purple bruises.</p> + +<p>She pretended to obey him, but she revolted in her whole being, and the +string of bitter insults which he heaped upon her rang in her head. With +clenched hands, and a gesture of terrible hatred, she cursed him for +standing in the way of her love, and at night, she rolled about on her +bed, bit the sheets, moaned, stretched herself out for imaginary +embraces, maddened by the sensual heat with which her body was still +palpitating. She called out Tiennou's name aloud, she broke the peaceful +stillness of the sleeping house with her heartrending sobs, and her +dejected voice drowned the monotonous sound of the water that was +dripping under the arch of the mill, between the immovable paddles of +the wheel.</p> + + +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>Then there came that terrible week in October when the unfortunate young +fellows who had drawn bad numbers had to join their regiments.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +Tiennou was one of them, and Margot was in despair to think that she +should not see him for five interminable years, that they could not +even, at that hour of sad farewells, be alone and exchange those +consoling words which afterwards alleviate the pain of absence.</p> + +<p>Tiennou prowled about the house, like a starving beggar, and one +morning, while the miller was mending the wheel, he managed to see +Margot.</p> + +<p>"I will wait for you in the old place to-night," he whispered, in +terrible grief. "I know it is the last time ... I shall throw myself +into some deep hole in the river if you do not come! ..."</p> + +<p>"I will be there, Tiennou," she replied, in a bewildered manner. "I +swear I will be there ... even if I have to do something terrible to +enable me to come!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The village was burning in the dark night, and the flames, fanned by the +wind, rose up like sinister torches. The thatched roofs, the ricks of +corn, the haystacks, and the barns fell in, and crackled like rockets, +while the sky looked as if they were illuminated by an <i>aurora +borealis</i>. Fresquyl's mill was smoking, and its calcined ruins were +reflected on the deep water. The sheep and cows were running about the +fields in terror, the dogs were howling, and the women were sitting on +the broken furniture, and were crying and wringing their hands; while +during all this time Margot was abandoning herself to her lover's ardent +caresses, and with her arms round his neck, she said to him, tenderly:</p> + +<p>"You see that I have kept my promise ... I set fire to the mill so that +I might be able to get out. So much the worse if all have suffered. But +I do not care as long as you are happy in having me, and love me!"</p> + +<p>And pointing to the fire which was still burning fiercely in the +distance, she added with a burst of savage laughter:</p> + +<p>"Tiennou, we shall not have such beautiful tapers at out wedding Mass +when you come back from your regiment!"</p> + +<p>And thus it was that for the second time Margot Fresquyl yielded to the +mortal sin of love.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CAUGHT_IN_THE_VERY_ACT" id="CAUGHT_IN_THE_VERY_ACT"></a>CAUGHT IN THE VERY ACT</h2> + + +<p>"It is certain," Sulpice de Laurièr said, "that I had absolutely +forgotten the date on which I was to allow myself to be taken in the +very act, with a mistress for the occasion. As neither my wife nor I had +any serious nor plausible reason for a divorce, not even the slightest +incompatibility of temper, and as there is always a risk of not +softening the heart of even the most indulgent judge when he is told +that the parties have agreed to drag their load separately, each for +themselves, that they are too frisky, too fond of pleasure and of +wandering about from place to place to continue the conjugal experiment, +we between us got up the ingenious stage arrangement of, 'a serious +wrong...'</p> + +<p>"This was funnier than all the rest, and under any other circumstances +it would have been repugnant to me to mix up our servants in the affair +like so many others do, or to distress that pretty little, fair and +delicate Parisian woman, even though it were only in appearance and to +pass as a common <i>Sganarelle</i> with the manners of a carter, in the eyes +of some scoundrel of a footman, or of some lady's maid. And so when +Maître Le Chevrier, that kind lawyer who certainly knows more female +secrets than the most fashionable confessor, gave a startled exclamation +on seeing me still in my dressing-gown, and slowly smoking a cigar like +an idler who has no engagements down on his tablets, and who is quietly +waiting for the usual time for dressing and going to dine at his club, +he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"'Have you forgotten that this is the day, at the <i>Hôtel de Bade</i>, +between five and six o'clock? In an hour, Madame de Laurière will be at +the office of the Police Commissary in the Rue de Provence, with her +uncle and Maître Cantenac ...'</p> + +<p>"An hour; I only had an hour, sixty short minutes to dress in, to take a +room, find a woman and persuade her to go with me immediately, and to +excite her feelings, so that this extravagant adventure might not appear +too equivocal to the Commissary of Police. One hour in which to carry +out such a program was enough to make a man lose his head. And there +were no possible means of putting off that obligatory entertainment, to +let Madame Le Laurière know in time, and to gain a few minutes more.</p> + +<p>"'Have you found a woman, at any rate?' Maître de Chevrier continued +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"'No, my dear sir!'</p> + +<p>"I immediately began to think of the whole string of my dear female +friends. Should I choose Liline Ablette, who could refuse me nothing, +Blanch Rebus, who was the best comrade a man ever had, or Lalie Spring, +that luxurious creature, who was constantly in search of something new? +Neither one nor the other of them, for it was ninety-nine chances to one +that all these confounded girls were in the <i>Bois de Boulogne</i>, or at +their dressmakers!"</p> + +<p>"'Bah! Just pick up the first girl you meet on the pavement.'</p> + +<p>"And before the hour was up, I was bolting the door of a room, which +looked out onto the boulevard.</p> + +<p>"The woman whom I had picked up, as she was walking past the <i>cafés</i>, +from the <i>Vaudeville</i> to <i>Tortoni's</i>, was twenty at the most. She had an +impudent, snub nose, as if it had been turned up in fun by a fillip, +large eyes with-deep rims round them; her lips were too red, and she had +the slow, indolent walk of a girl who goes in for debauchery too freely +and who began too soon, but she was pretty, and her linen was very clean +and neat. And she was evidently used to chance love-making, and had a +way of undressing herself in two or three rapid movements, of throwing +her toggery to the right and left, until she was extremely lightly clad, +and of throwing herself onto the bed which astonished me as a sight that +was well worth seeing.</p> + +<p>"She did not talk much, though she began by saying: 'Pay up at once, old +man ... You don't look like a fellow who would bilk a girl, but it puts +me into better trim when I have been paid.'</p> + +<p>"I gave her two napoleons, and she eyed me with gratitude and respect at +the same time, but also with that uneasy look of a girl who asks +herself: 'What does this tool expect for it?'</p> + +<p>"The whole affair began to amuse me, and I must confess that I was +rather taken with her, for she had a beautiful figure and complexion, +and I was hoping that the Commissary would not come directly, when there +was a loud rapping at the door.</p> + +<p>"She sat up with a start, and grew so pale that one would have said she +was about to faint.</p> + +<p>"'What a set of pigs, to come and interrupt people like this!' she +muttered between her teeth; while I affected the most complete calm.</p> + +<p>"'Somebody who has made a mistake in the room, my dear,' I said.</p> + +<p>"But this noise increased, and suddenly I heard a man's voice saying +clearly and authoritatively:</p> + +<p>"'Open the door, in the name of the law!'</p> + +<p>"On hearing that, one would have thought that she had received a shock +from an electric battery, by the nimble manner in which she jumped out +of bed; and quickly putting on her stays and her dress anyhow, she +endeavored to discover a way out in every corner of the room, like a +wild beast, trying to escape from its cage. I thought that she was going +to throw herself out of the window, so I seized hold of her to prevent +her.</p> + +<p>"The unfortunate creature acted like a madwoman, and when she felt my +arm round her waist, she cried in a hoarse voice:</p> + +<p>"'I see it ... You have sold me ... You thought that I should expose +myself.... Oh! you filthy brutes—you filthy brutes!'</p> + +<p>"And suddenly, passing from abuse to entreaties, pale and with +chattering teeth, she threw herself at my feet, and said, in a low +voice:</p> + +<p>"'Listen to me, my dear: you don't look a bad sort of fellow, and you +would not like them to lock me up. I have a kid and the old woman to +keep. Hide me behind the bed, do, and please don't give me up.... I +will make it up to you, and you shall have no cause for grumbling....'</p> + +<p>"At that moment however, the lock which they had unscrewed fell onto the +floor with a metallic sound, and Madame de Laurière and the Police +Commissary, wearing his tricolored scarf, appeared in the door, while +behind them the heads of the uncle and of the lawyer could be seen +indistinctly in the background.</p> + +<p>"The girl had uttered a cry of terror and going up to the Commissary she +said, panting:</p> + +<p>"'I swear to you that I am not guilty, that I was not ... I will tell +you everything if you will promise me not to tell them that I spilt, for +they would pay me out....'</p> + +<p>"The Commissary, who was surprised, but who guessed that there was +something which was not quite clear behind all this, forgot to draw up +his report, and so the lawyer went up to him and said:</p> + +<p>"'Well, monsieur, what are we waiting for?'</p> + +<p>"But he paid no attention to anything but the woman, and looking at her +sharply and suspiciously through his gold-rimmed spectacles, he said to +her in a hard voice:</p> + +<p>"'Your names and surnames?'</p> + +<p>"'Juliette Randal, or as I am generally called, Jujutte Pipehead.'</p> + +<p>"'So you will swear you were not—'</p> + +<p>"She interrupted him eagerly:</p> + +<p>"'I swear it, monsieur, and I know that my little man had nothing to do +with it either. He was only keeping a look-out while the others collared +the swag. ... I will swear that I can account for every moment of my +time that night. Roquin was drunk, and told me everything.... They got +five thousand francs from Daddy Zacharias, and of course Roquin had his +share, but he did not work with his partners. It was Minon Ménilmuche, +whom they call <i>Drink-without-Thirst</i>, who held the gardener's hands, +and who bled him with a blow from his knife.'</p> + +<p>"The Commissary let her run on, and when she had finished, he questioned +me, as if I had belonged to Jujutte's band.</p> + +<p>"'Your name, Christian name, and profession?'</p> + +<p>"'Marquis Sulpice de Laurièr, living on my own private income, at 24, +Rue de Galilee.'</p> + +<p>"'De Laurièr? Oh, very well.... Excuse me, monsieur, but at Madame de +Laurière's request, I declare formally before these gentlemen, who will +be able to give evidence, that the girl Juliette Randal, whom they call +<i>Jujutte Tête-de-Pipe</i>, is your mistress. You are at liberty to go, +Monsieur le Marquis, and you, girl Randal answer my questions.'</p> + +<p>"Thus, by the most extraordinary chance, our divorce suit created a +sensation which I had certainly never foreseen. I was obliged to appear +in the Assize Court as a witness in the celebrated case of those +burglars, when three of them were condemned to death, and to undergo the +questioning of the idiotic Presiding Judge, who tried by all means in +his power to make me acknowledge that I was Jujutte Tête-de-Pipe's +regular lover; and in consequence, ever since then I have passed as an +ardent seeker after novel sensations, and a man who wallows in the +lowest depths of the Parisian dunghill.</p> + +<p>"I cannot say that this unjust reputation has brought me any pleasant +love affairs. Women are so perverse, so absurd, and so curious!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_CONFESSION" id="THE_CONFESSION"></a>THE CONFESSION</h2> + + +<p>Monsieur de Champdelin had no reason to complain of his lot as a married +man; nor could he accuse destiny of having played him in a bad turn, as +it does so many others, for it would have been difficult to find a more +desirable, merrier, prettier little woman, or one who was easier to +amuse and to guide than his wife. To see the large, limpid eyes which +illuminated her fair, girlish face, one would think that her mother must +have spent whole nights before her birth, in looking dreamily at the +stars, and so had become, as it were, impregnated with their magic +brightness. And one did not know which to prefer—her bright, silky +hair, or her slightly <i>restroussé</i> nose, with its vibrating nostrils, +her red lips, which looked as alluring as a ripe peach, her beautiful +shoulders, her delicate ears, which resembled mother-of-pearl, or her +slim waist and rounded figure, which would have delighted and tempted a +sculptor.</p> + +<p>And then she was always merry, overflowing with youth and life, never +dissatisfied, only wishing to enjoy herself, to laugh, to love and be +loved, and putting all the house into a tumult, as if it had been a +great cage full of birds. In spite of all this, however, that worn out +fool, Champdelin, had never cared much about her, but had left that +charming garden lying waste, and almost immediately after their +honeymoon, he had resumed is usual bachelor habits, and had begun to +lead the same fast life that he had done of old.</p> + +<p>It was stronger than he, for his was one of those libertine natures +which are constant targets for love, and which never resign themselves +to domestic peace and happiness. The last woman who came across him, in +a love adventure, was always the one whom he loved best, and the mere +contact with a petticoat inflamed him, and made him commit the most +imprudent actions.</p> + +<p>As he was not hard to please, he fished, as it were, in troubled waters, +went after the ugly ones and the pretty ones alike, was bold even to +impudence, was not to be kept off by mistakes, nor anger, nor modesty, +nor threats, though he sometimes fell into a trap and got a thrashing +from some relative or jealous lover; he withstood all attempts to get +hush-money out of him, and became only all the more enamored of vice and +more ardent in his lures and pursuit of love affairs on that account.</p> + +<p>But the work-girls and the shop-girls and all the tradesmen's wives in +Saint Martéjoux knew him, and made him pay for their whims and their +coquetry, and had to put up with his love-making. Many of them smiled or +blushed when they saw him under the tall plane-trees in the public +garden, or met him in the unfrequented, narrow streets near the +Cathedral, with his thin, sensual face, whose looks had something +satyr-like about them, and some of them used to laugh at him and make +fun of him, though they ran away when he went up to them. And when some +friend or other, who was sorry that he could forget himself so far, used +to say to him, when he was at a loss for any other argument: "And your +wife, Champdelin? Are you not afraid that she will have her revenge and +pay you out in your own coin?" his only reply was a contemptuous and +incredulous shrug of the shoulders.</p> + +<p>She deceive him, indeed; she, who was as devout, as virtuous, and as +ignorant of forbidden things as a nun, who cared no more for love than +she did for an old slipper! She, who did not even venture on any veiled +allusions, who was always laughing, who took life as it came, who +performed her religious duties with edifying assiduity, she to pay him +back, so as to make him look ridiculous, and to gad about at night? +Never! Anyone who could think such a thing must have lost his senses.</p> + +<p>However, one summer day, when the roofs all seemed red-hot, and the +whole town appeared dead, Monsieur de Champdelin had followed two +milliner's girls, with bandboxes in their hands from street to street, +whispering nonsense to them, and promising beforehand to give them +anything they asked him for, and had gone after them as far as the +Cathedral. In their fright, they took refuge there, but he followed them +in, and, emboldened by the solitude of the nave, and by the perfect +silence in the building, he became more enterprising and bolder. They +did not know how to defend themselves, or to escape from him, and were +trembling at his daring attempts, and at his kisses, when he saw a +confessional whose doors were open, in one of the side chapels. "We +should be much more comfortable in there, my little dears," he said, +going into it, as if to get such an unexpected nest ready for them.</p> + +<p>But they were quicker than he, and throwing themselves against the +grated door, they pushed it to before he could turn round, and locked +him in. At first he thought it was only a joke, and it amused him; but +when they began to laugh heartily and putting their tongues at him, as +if he had been a monkey in a cage, and overwhelmed him with insults, he +first of all grew angry, and then humble, offering to pay well for his +ransom, and he implored them to let him out, and tried to escape like a +mouse does out of a trap. They, however, did not appear to hear him, but +naively bowed to him ceremoniously, wished him good night, and ran out +as fast as they could.</p> + +<p>Champdelin was in despair; he did not know what to do, and cursed his +bad luck. What would be the end of it? Who would deliver him from that +species of prison, and was he going to remain there all the afternoon +and night, like a portmanteau that had been forgotten at the lost +luggage office? He could not manage to force the lock, and did not +venture to knock hard against the sides of the confessional, for fear of +attracting the attention of some beadle or sacristan. Oh! those wretched +girls, and how people would make fun of him and write verses about him, +and point their fingers at him, if the joke were discovered and got +noised abroad!</p> + +<p>By and by, he heard the faint sound of prayers in the distance and +through the green serge curtain that concealed him Monsieur Champdelin +heard the rattle of the beads on the chaplets, as the women repeated +their <i>Ave Maria's</i>, and the rustle of dresses and the noise of +footsteps on the pavement.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, he felt a tickling in his throat that nearly choked him, and +he could not altogether prevent himself from coughing, and when at last +it passed off, the unfortunate man was horrified at hearing some one +come into the chapel and up to the confessional. Whoever it was, knelt +down, and gave a discreet knock at the grating which separated the +priest from his penitents, so he quickly put on the surplice and stole +which were hanging on a nail, and covering his face with his +handkerchief, and sitting back in the shade, he opened the grating.</p> + +<p>It was a woman, who was already saying her prayers and he gave the +responses as well as he could, from his boyish recollections, and was +somewhat agitated by the delicious scent that emanated from her +half-raised veil and from her bodice; but at her first words he started +so, that he almost fainted. He had recognized his wife's voice, and it +felt to him as if his seat were studded with sharp nails, that the sides +of the confessional were closing in on him, and as if the air were +growing rarified.</p> + +<p>He now collected himself, however, and regaining his self-possession, he +listened to what she had to say with increasing curiosity, and with some +uncertain, and necessary interruptions. The young woman sighed, was +evidently keeping back something, spoke about her unhappiness, her +melancholy life, her husband's neglect, the temptations by which she was +surrounded, and which she found it so difficult to resist; her +conscience seemed to be burdened by an intolerable weight, though she +hesitated to accuse herself directly. And in a low voice, with unctuous +and coaxing tones, and mastering himself, Champdelin said:</p> + +<p>"Courage, my child; tell me everything; the divine mercy is infinite; +tell me all, without hesitation."</p> + +<p>Then, all at once, she told him everything that was troubling her; how +passion and desire had thrown her into the arms of one of her husband's +best friends, the exquisite happiness that they felt when they met every +day, his delightful tenderness, which she could no longer resist, the +sin which was her joy, her only object, her consolation, her dream. She +grew excited, sobbed, seemed enervated and worn out, as if she were +still burning from her lover's kisses, hardly seemed to know what she +was saying, and begged for temporary absolution from her sins; but then +Champdelin, in his exasperation, and unable to restrain himself any +longer, interrupted her in a furious voice:</p> + +<p>"Oh! no! Oh! no; this is not at all funny ... keep such sort of things +to yourself, my dear!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Poor little Madame de Champdelin nearly went out of her mind with fright +and astonishment, and they are now waiting for the decree which will +break their chains and let them part.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="WAS_IT_A_DREAM" id="WAS_IT_A_DREAM"></a>WAS IT A DREAM?</h2> + + +<p>"I had loved her madly! Why does one love? Why does one love? How queer +it is to see only one being in the world, to have only one thought in +one's mind, only one desire in the heart, and only one name on the lips; +a name which comes up continually, which rises like the water in a +spring, from the depths of the soul, which rises to the lips, and which +one repeats over and over again which one whispers ceaselessly, +everywhere, like a prayer.</p> + +<p>"I am going to tell you our story, for love only has one, which is +always the same. I met her and loved her; that is all. And for a whole +year I have lived on her tenderness, on her caresses, in her arms, in +her dresses, on her words, so completely wrapped up, bound, imprisoned +in everything which came from her, that I no longer knew whether it was +day or night, if I was dead or alive, on this old earth of ours, or +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>"And then she died. How? I do not know. I no longer know; but one +evening she came home wet, for it was raining heavily, and the next day +she coughed, and she coughed for about a week, and took to her bed. What +happened I do not remember now, but doctors came, wrote and went away. +Medicines were brought, and some women made her drink them. Her hands +were hot, her forehead was burning, and her eyes bright and sad. When I +spoke to her, she answered me, but I do not remember what we said. I +have forgotten everything, everything, everything! She died, and I very +well remember her slight, feeble sigh. The nurse said: 'Ah! and I +understood, I understood!'</p> + +<p>"I knew nothing more, nothing. I saw a priest, who said: 'Your +mistress?' and it seemed to me as if he were insulting her. As she was +dead, nobody had the right to know that any longer, and I turned him +out. Another came who was very kind and tender, and I shed tears when he +spoke to me about her.</p> + +<p>"They consulted me about the funeral, but I do not remember anything +that they said, though I recollected the coffin, and the sound of the +hammer when they nailed her down in it. Oh! God, God!</p> + +<p>"She was buried! Buried! She! In that hole! Some people came—female +friends. I made my escape, and ran away; I ran, and then I walked +through the streets, and went home, and the next day I started on a +journey."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Yesterday I returned to Paris, and when I saw my room again—our room, +our bed, our furniture, everything that remains of the life of a human +being after death, I was seized by such a violent attack of fresh grief, +that I was very near opening the window and throwing myself out into the +street. As I could not remain any longer among these things, between +these walls which had enclosed and sheltered her, and which retained a +thousand atoms of her, of her skin and of her breath in their +imperceptible crevices, I took up my hat to make my escape, and just as +I reached the door, I passed the large glass in the hall, which she had +put there so that she might be able to look at herself every day from +head to foot as she went out, to see if her toilet looked well, and was +correct and pretty, from her little boots to her bonnet.</p> + +<p>"And I stopped short in front of that looking-glass in which she had so +often been reflected. So often, so often, that it also must have +retained her reflection. I was standing there, trembling, with my eyes +fixed on the glass—on that flat, profound, empty glass—which had +contained her entirely, and had possessed her as much as I had, as my +passionate looks had. I felt as if I loved that glass. I touched it, it +was cold. Oh! the recollection! sorrowful mirror, burning mirror, +horrible mirror, which makes us suffer such torments! Happy are the men +whose hearts forget everything that it has contained, everything that +has passed before it, everything that has looked at itself in it, that +has been reflected in its affection, in its love! How I suffer!</p> + +<p>"I went on without knowing it, without wishing it; I went towards the +cemetery. I found her simple grave, a white marble cross, with these few +words:</p> + +<p>"'<i>She loved, was loved, and died.</i>'</p> + +<p>"She is there, below, decayed! How horrible! I sobbed with my forehead +on the ground, and I stopped there for a long time, a long time. Then I +saw that it was getting dark, and a strange, a mad wish, the wish of a +despairing lover seized me. I wished to pass the night, the last night +in weeping on her grave. But I should be seen and driven out. How was I +to manage? I was cunning, and got up, and began to roam about in that +city of the dead. I walked and walked. How small this city is, in +comparison with the other, the city in which we live: And yet, how much +more numerous the dead are than the living. We want high houses, wide +streets, and much room for the four generations who see the daylight at +the same time, drink water from the spring, and wine from the vines, and +eat the bread from the plains.</p> + +<p>"And for all the generations of the dead, for all that ladder of +humanity that has descended down to us, there is scarcely anything +afield, scarcely anything! The earth takes them back, oblivion effaces +them. Adieu!</p> + +<p>"At the end of the abandoned cemetery, I suddenly perceived that the one +where those who have been dead a long time finish mingling with the +soil, where the crosses themselves decay, where the last comers will be +put to-morrow. It is full of untended roses, of strong and dark cypress +trees, a sad and beautiful garden, nourished on human flesh.</p> + +<p>"I was alone, perfectly alone, and so I crouched in a green tree, and +hid myself there completely among the thick and somber branches, and I +waited, clinging to the stem, like a shipwrecked man does to a plank.</p> + +<p>"When it was quite dark, I left my refuge and began to walk softly, +slowly, inaudibly, through that ground full of dead people, and I +wandered about for a long time, but could not find her again. I went on +with extended arms, knocking against the tombs with my hands, my feet, +my knees, my chest, even with my head, without being able to find her. I +touched and felt about like a blind man groping his way, I felt the +stones, the crosses, the iron railings, the metal wreaths, and the +wreaths of faded flowers! I read the names with my fingers, by passing +them over the letters. What a night! What a night! I could not find her +again!</p> + +<p>"There was no moon. What a night! I am frightened, horribly frightened +in these narrow paths, between two rows of graves. Graves! graves! +graves! nothing but graves! On my right, on my left, in front of me, +around me, everywhere there were graves! I sat down on one of them, for +I could not walk any longer, my knees were so weak. I could hear my +heart beat! And I could hear something else as well. What? A confused, +nameless noise. Was the noise in my head in the impenetrable night, or +beneath the mysterious earth, the earth sown with human corpses? I +looked all around me, but I cannot say how long I remained there; I was +paralyzed with terror, drunk with fright, ready to shout out, ready to +die.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly, it seemed to me as if the slab of marble on which I was +sitting, was moving. Certainly, it was moving, as if it were being +raised. With a bound, I sprang on to the neighboring tomb, and I saw, +yes, I distinctly saw the stone which I had just quitted, rise upright, +and the dead person appeared, a naked skeleton, which was pushing the +stone back with its bent back. I saw it quite clearly, although the +night was so dark. On the cross I could read:</p> + +<p>"'<i>Here lies Jacques Olivant, who died at the age of fifty-one. He loved +his family, was kind and honorable, and died in the grace of the Lord.</i>'</p> + +<p>"The dead man also read what was inscribed on his tombstone; then he +picked up a stone off the path, a little, pointed stone, and began to +scrape the letters carefully. He slowly effaced them altogether, and +with the hollows of his eyes he looked at the places where they had been +engraved, and, with the tip of the bone, that had been his forefinger, +he wrote in luminous letters, like those lines which one traces on walls +with the tip of a lucifer match:</p> + +<p>"'<i>Here reposes Jacques Olivant, who died at the age of fifty-one. He +hastened his father's death by his unkindness, as he wished to inherit +his fortune, he tortured his wife, tormented his children, deceived his +neighbors, robbed everyone he could, and died wretched.</i>'</p> + +<p>"When he had finished writing, the dead man stood motionless, looking at +his work, and on turning round I saw that all the graves were open, that +all the dead bodies had emerged from them, and that all had effaced the +lies inscribed on the gravestones by their relations, and had +substituted the truth instead. And I saw that all had been tormentors of +their neighbors—malicious, dishonest, hypocrites, liars, rogues, +calumniators, envious; that they had stolen, deceived, performed every +disgraceful, every abominable action, these good fathers, these faithful +wives, these devoted sons, these chaste daughters, these honest +tradesmen, these men and women who were called irreproachable, and they +were called irreproachable, and they were all writing at the same time, +on the threshold of their eternal abode, the truth, the terrible and the +holy truth which everybody is ignorant of, or pretends to be ignorant +of, while the others are alive.</p> + +<p>"I thought that <i>she</i> also must have written something on her tombstone, +and now, running without any fear among the half-open coffins, among the +corpses and skeletons, I went towards her, sure that I should find her +immediately. I recognized her at once, without seeing her face, which +was covered by the winding-sheet, and on the marble cross, where shortly +before I had read: '<i>She loved, was loved, and died</i>,' I now saw: +'<i>Having gone out one day, in order to deceive her lover, she caught +cold in the rain and died.</i>'"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"It appears that they found me at daybreak, lying on the grave +unconscious."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_LAST_STEP" id="THE_LAST_STEP"></a>THE LAST STEP</h2> + + +<p>Monsier de Saint-Juéry would not have deceived his old mistress for +anything in the world: perhaps from an instinctive fear that he had +heard of adventures that turn out badly, make a noise, and bring about +hateful family quarrels, crises from which one emerges enervated and +exasperated with destiny, and, as it were, with the weight of a bullet +on one's feet, and also from his requirement for a calm, sheep-like +existence, whose monotony was never disturbed by any shock, and perhaps +from the remains of the love which had so entirely made him, during the +first years of their connection, the slave of the proud, dominating +beauty, and of the enthralling charm of that woman.</p> + +<p>He kept out of the way of temptation almost timidly, and was faithful to +her, and as submissive as a spaniel. He paid her every attention, did +not appear to notice that the outlines of her figure, which had formerly +been so harmonious and supple, were getting too full and puffy, that her +face, which used to remind him of a blush rose, was getting wrinkled, +and that her eyes were getting dull. He admired her in spite of +everything, almost blindly, and clothed her with imaginary charms, with +an autumnal beauty, with the majestic and serene softness of an October +twilight, and with the last blossoms which unfold by the side of the +walks, strewn with dead leaves.</p> + +<p>But although their connection had lasted for many years, though they +were as closely bound to each other as if they had been married, and +although Charlotte Guindal pestered him with entreaties, and upset him +with continual quarrels on the subject, and, in spite of the fact that +he believed her to be absolutely faithful to him, and worthy of his most +perfect confidence and love, yet Monsieur de Saint-Juéry had never been +able to make up his mind to give her his name, and to put their false +position on a legal footing.</p> + +<p>He really suffered from this, but remained firm and defended his +position, quibbled, sought for subterfuges, replied by the eternal and +vague: "What would be the good of it," which nearly sent Charlotte mad, +made her furious and caused her to say angry and ill-tempered things. +But he remained passive and listless, with his back bent like a restive +horse under the whip.</p> + +<p>He asked her whether it was really necessary to their happiness, as they +had no children? Did not everybody think that they were married? Was not +she everywhere called Madame de Saint-Juéry, and had their servants any +doubt that they were in the service of respectable, married people? Was +not the name which had been transmitted to a man from father to son, +intact, honored, and often with a halo of glory round it, a sacred trust +which no one had a right to touch? What would she gain if she bore it +legitimately? Did she for a moment suppose that she would rise higher in +people's estimation, and be more admitted into society, or that people +would forget that she had been his regular mistress before becoming his +wife? Did not everybody know that formerly, before he rescued her from +that Bohemian life in which she had been waiting for her chance in vain, +and was losing her good looks, Charlotte Guindal frequented all the +public balls, and showed her legs liberally at the <i>Moulin-Rouge</i><a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>.</p> + +<p>Charlotte knew his crabbed, though also kindly character, which was at +the same time logical and obstinate, too well to hope that she would +ever be able to overcome his opposition and scruples, except by some +clever woman's trick, some well-acted scene in a comedy; so she appeared +to be satisfied with his reasons, and to renounce her bauble, and +outwardly she showed an equable and conciliatory temper, and no longer +worried Monsieur de Saint-Juéry with her recriminations, and thus the +time went by, in calm monotony, without fruitless battles or fierce +assaults.</p> + +<p>Charlotte Guindal's medical man was Doctor Rabatel, one of those clever +men who appear to know everything, but whom a country bone-setter would +reduce to a "why?" by a few questions; one of those men who wish to +impress everybody with their apparent value, and who make use of their +medical knowledge as if it were some productive commercial house, which +carried on a suspicious business; who can scent out those persons whom +they can manage as they please, as if they were a piece of soft wax, who +keep them in a continual state of terror, by keeping the idea of death +constantly before their eyes.</p> + +<p>They soon manage to obtain the mastery over such persons, scrutinize +their consciences as well as the cleverest priest could do, make sure of +being well paid for their complicity as soon as they have obtained a +footing anywhere, and drain their patients of their secrets, in order to +use them as a weapon for extorting money on occasions. He felt sure +immediately that this middle-aged lady wanted something of him, as by +some extraordinary perversion of taste, he was rather fond of the +remains of a good-looking woman, if they were well got up, and offered +to him; of that high flavor which arises from soft lips, which had been +made tender through years of love, from gray hair powdered with gold, +from a body engaged in its last struggle, and which dreams of one more +victory before abdicating power altogether, he did not hesitate to +become his new patient's lover.</p> + +<p>When winter came, however, a thorough change took place in Charlotte's +health, that had hitherto been so good. She had no strength left, she +felt ill after the slightest exertion, complained of internal pains, and +spent whole days lying on the couch, with set eyes and without uttering +a word, so that everybody thought that she was dying of one of those +mysterious maladies which cannot be coped with, but which, by degrees, +undermines the whole system. It was sad to see her rapidly sinking, +lying motionless on her pillows, while a mist seemed to have come over +her eyes, and her hands lay helplessly on the bed and her mouth seemed +sealed by some invisible finger. Monsieur de Saint-Juéry was in despair; +he cried like a child, and he suffered as if somebody had plunged a +knife into him, when the doctor said to him in his unctuous voice:</p> + +<p>"I know that you are a brave man, my dear sir, and I may venture to tell +you the whole truth.... Madame de Saint-Juéry is doomed, irrevocably +doomed.... Nothing but a miracle can save her, and alas! there are no +miracles in these days. The end is only a question of a few hours, and +may come quite suddenly...."</p> + +<p>Monsieur de Saint-Juéry had thrown himself into a chair, and was sobbing +bitterly, covering his face with his hands.</p> + +<p>"My poor dear, my poor darling," he said, through his tears.</p> + +<p>"Pray compose yourself, and be brave," the doctor continued, sitting +down by his side, "for I have to say something serious to you, and to +convey to you our poor patient's last wishes.... A few minutes ago, she +told me the secret of your double life, and of your connection with +her.... And now, in view of death, which she feels approaching so +rapidly, for she is under no delusion, the unhappy woman wishes to die +at peace with heaven, with the consolation of having regulated her +equivocal position, and of having become your wife."</p> + +<p>Monsieur de Saint-Juéry sat upright, with a bewildered look, while he +moved his hands nervously; in his grief he was incapable of manifesting +any will of his own, or of opposing this unexpected attack.</p> + +<p>"Oh! anything that Charlotte wishes, doctor; anything, and I will myself +go and tell her so, on my knees!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The wedding took place discreetly, with something funereal about it, in +the darkened room, where the words which were spoken had a strange +sound, almost of anguish. Charlotte, who was lying in bed, with her eyes +dilated through happiness, had put both trembling hands into those of +Monsieur de Saint-Juéry, and she seemed to expire with the word: "Yes" +on her lips. The doctor looked at the moving scene, grave and impassive, +with his chin buried in his white cravat, and his two arms resting on +the mantel-piece, while his eyes twinkled behind his glasses....</p> + +<p>The next week, Madame de Saint-Juéry began to get better, and that +wonderful recovery about which Monsieur de Saint-Juéry tells everybody +with effusive gratitude, who will listen to him, has so increased Doctor +Rabatel's reputation, that at the next election he will be made a member +of the Academy of Medicine.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_WILL" id="THE_WILL"></a>THE WILL</h2> + + +<p>I knew that tall young fellow, René de Bourneval. He was an agreeable +man, though of a rather melancholy turn of mind, who seemed prejudiced +against everything, very skeptical, and able to tear worldly hypocrisies +to pieces. He often used to say:</p> + +<p>"There are no honorable men, or at any rate, they only appear so when +compared to low people."</p> + +<p>He had two brothers, whom he never saw, the Messieurs de Courcils, and I +thought they were by another father, on account of the difference in the +name. I had frequently heard that something strange had happened in the +family, but I did not know the details.</p> + +<p>As I took a great liking to him, we soon became intimate, and one +evening, when I had been dining with him alone, I asked him by chance: +"Are you by your mother's first or second marriage?" He grew rather +pale, and then flushed, and did not speak for a few moments; he was +visibly embarrassed. Then he smiled in a melancholy and gentle manner, +which was peculiar to him, and said:</p> + +<p>"My dear friend, if it will not weary you, I can give you some very +strange particulars about my life. I know that you are a sensible man, +so I do not fear that our friendship will suffer by my revelations, and +should it suffer, I should not care about having you for my friend any +longer.</p> + +<p>"My mother, Madame de Courcils, was a poor little timid woman, whom her +husband had married for the sake of her fortune, and her whole life was +one of martyrdom. Of a loving, delicate mind, she was constantly being +ill-treated by the man who ought to have been my father, one of those +bores called country gentleman. A month after their marriage he was +living with a servant, and besides that, the wives and daughters of his +tenants were his mistresses, which did not prevent him from having three +children by his wife, or three, if you count me in. My mother said +nothing, and lived in that noisy house like a little mouse. Set aside, +disparaged, nervous, she looked at people with her bright, uneasy, +restless eyes, the eyes of some terrified creature which can never shake +off its fear. And yet she was pretty, very pretty and fair, a +gray-blonde, as if her hair had lost its color through her constant +fears.</p> + +<p>"Among Monsieur de Courcil's friends who constantly came to the +<i>château</i>, there was an ex-cavalry officer, a widower, a man who was +feared, who was at the same time tender and violent, capable of the most +energetic resolutions, Monsieur de Bourneval, whose name I bear. He was +a tall, thin man, with a heavy black moustache, and I am very like him. +He was a man who had read a great deal, and whose ideas were not like +those of most of his class. His great-grandmother had been a friend of +J.J. Rousseau's, and one might have said that he had inherited something +of this ancestral connection. He knew the <i>Contrat Social</i>, and the +<i>Nouvelle Héloîse</i> by heart, and all those philosophical books which +long beforehand prepared the overthrow of our old usages, prejudices, +superannuated laws and imbecile morality.</p> + +<p>"It seems that he loved my mother, and she loved him, but their intrigue +was carried on so secretly, that no one guessed it. The poor, neglected, +unhappy woman, must have clung to him in a despairing manner, and in her +intimacy with him must have imbibed all his ways of thinking, theories +of free thought, audacious ideas of independent love; but as she was so +timid that she never ventured to speak aloud, it was all driven back, +condensed and expressed in her heart, which never opened itself.</p> + +<p>"My two brothers were very hard towards her, like their father was, and +never gave her a caress, and, used to seeing her count for nothing in +the house, they treated her rather like a servant, and so I was the only +one of her sons who really loved her, and whom she loved.</p> + +<p>"When she died, I was seventeen, and I must add, in order that you may +understand what follows, that there had been a law suit between my +father and my mother, and that their property had been separated, to my +mother's advantage, as, thanks to the tricks of the law, and the +intelligent devotion of a lawyer to her interests, she had preserved the +right of making her will in favor of anyone she pleased.</p> + +<p>"We were told that there was a will lying at the lawyer's, and were +invited to be present at the reading of it. I can remember it, as if it +were yesterday. It was a grand, dramatic, burlesque, surprising scene, +brought about by the posthumous revolt of that dead woman, by that cry +for liberty, that claim from the depths of her tomb, of that martyred +woman who had been crushed by our habits during her life, and, who, from +her closed tomb, uttered a despairing appeal for independence.</p> + +<p>"The man who thought that he was my father, a stout, ruddy-faced man, +who gave everyone the idea of a butcher, and my brothers, two great +fellows of twenty and twenty-two, were waiting quietly in their chairs. +Monsieur de Bourneval, who had been invited to be present, came in and +stood behind me. He was very pale, and bit his moustache, which was +turning gray. No doubt he was prepared for what was going to happen, and +the lawyer double-locked the door and began to read the will, after +having opened the envelope, which was sealed with red wax, and whose +contents he was ignorant of, in our presence."</p> + +<p>My friend stopped suddenly and got up, and from his writing-table he +took an old paper, unfolded it, kissed it, and then continued: "This is +the will of my beloved mother:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'I, the undersigned, Anne Catherine-Genevieve-Mathilde de +Croixlure, the legitimate wife of Leopold-Joseph Goutran de +Courcils, sound in body and mind, here express my last wishes.</p> + +<p>"'I first of all ask God, and then my dear son René, to pardon me +for the act I am about to commit. I believe that my child's heart +is great enough to understand me, and to forgive me. I have +suffered my whole life long. I was married out of calculation, then +despised, misunderstood, oppressed and constantly deceived by my +husband.</p> + +<p>"'I forgive him, but I owe him nothing.</p> + +<p>"'My eldest sons never loved me, never spoilt me, scarcely treated +me as a mother, but during my whole life I was everything that I +ought to have been, and I owe them nothing more after my death. The +ties of blood cannot exist without daily and constant affection. An +ungrateful son is less than a stranger; he is a culprit, for he has +no right to be indifferent towards his mother.</p> + +<p>"'I have always trembled before men, before their unjust laws, +their inhuman customs, their shameful prejudices. Before God, I +have no longer any fear. Dead, I fling aside disgraceful hypocrisy; +I dare to speak my thoughts, and to avow and to sign the secret of +my heart.</p> + +<p>"'I therefore leave that part of my fortune of which the law allows +me to dispose, as a deposit with my dear lover Pierre-Gennes-Simon +de Bourneval, to revert afterwards to our dear son, René.</p> + +<p>"'(This wish is, moreover, formulated more precisely in a notarial +deed).</p> + +<p>"'And I declare before the Supreme Judge who hears me, that I +should have cursed heaven and my own existence, if I had not met my +lover's deep, devoted, tender, unshaken affection, if I had not +felt in his arms that the Creator made His creatures to love, +sustain and console each other, and to weep together in the hours +of sadness.</p> + +<p>"'Monsieur de Courcils is the father of my two eldest sons; René +alone owes his life to Monsieur de Bourneval. I pray to the Master +of men and of their destinies, to place father and son above social +prejudices, to make them love each other until they die, and to +love me also in my coffin.</p> + +<p>"'These are my last thoughts, and my last wish.</p> + +<p>"'MATHILDE DE CROIXLUCE.'"</p></div> + + +<p>"'Monsieur de Courcils had arisen and he cried:</p> + +<p>"'It is the will of a mad woman.'</p> + +<p>"Then Monsieur de Bourneval stepped forward and said in a loud and +penetrating voice: 'I, Simon de Bourneval, solemnly declare that this +writing contains nothing but the strict truth, and I am ready to prove +it by letters which I possess.'</p> + +<p>"On hearing that, Monsieur de Courcils went up to him, and I thought +they were going to collar each other. There they stood, both of them +tall, one stout and the other thin, both trembling. My mother's husband +stammered out: 'You are a worthless wretch!' And the other replied in a +loud, dry voice: 'We will meet somewhere else, monsieur. I should have +already slapped your ugly face, and challenged you a long time ago, if I +had not, before everything else, thought of the peace of mind of that +poor woman whom you made suffer so much during her lifetime.'</p> + +<p>"Then, turning to me, he said: 'You are my son; will you come with me? I +have no right to take you away, but I shall assume it, if you will +kindly come with me.' I shook his hand without replying, and we went out +together; I was certainly three parts mad.</p> + +<p>"Two days later Monsieur de Bourneval killed Monsieur de Courcils in a +duel. My brothers, fearing some terrible scandal, held their tongues, +and I offered them, and they accepted, half the fortune which my mother +had left me. I took my real father's name, renouncing that which the law +gave me, but which was not really mine. Monsieur de Bourneval died three +years afterwards, and I have not consoled myself yet."</p> + +<p>He rose from his chair, walked up and down the room, and, standing in +front of me, he said:</p> + +<p>"Well, I say that my mother's will was one of the most beautiful and +loyal, as well as one of the grandest acts that a woman could perform. +Do you not think so?"</p> + +<p>I gave him both my hands:</p> + +<p>"Most certainly I do, my friend."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_COUNTRY_EXCURSION" id="A_COUNTRY_EXCURSION"></a>A COUNTRY EXCURSION</h2> + + +<p>For five months they had been talking of going to lunch at some country +restaurant in the neighborhood of Paris, on Madame Dufour's birthday, +and as they were looking forward very impatiently to the outing, they +had got up very early that morning. Monsieur Dufour had borrowed the +milkman's tilted cart, and drove himself. It was a very tidy, +two-wheeled conveyance, with a hood, and in it the wife, resplendent in +a wonderful, sherry-colored, silk dress, sat by the side of her husband.</p> + +<p>The old grandmother and a girl were accommodated with two chairs, and a +boy with yellow hair was lying at the bottom of the trap, of whom +however, nothing was to be seen except his head.</p> + +<p>When they got to the bridge of Neuilly, Monsieur Dufour said: "Here we +are in the country at last!" and at that signal, his wife had grown +sentimental about the beauties of nature. When they got to the cross +roads at Courbevoie, they were seized with admiration for the distant +horizon down there; on the right, was the spire of Argenteuil church, +and above it rose the hills of Sannois, and the mill of Orgemont, while +on the left, the aqueduct of Marly stood out against the clear morning +sky, and in the distance they could see the terrace of Saint-Germain; +and opposite to them, at the end of a low chain of hills, the new fort +of Cormeilles. Quite in the distance, a very long way off, beyond the +plains and villages, one could see the somber green of the forests.</p> + +<p>The sun was beginning to shine in their faces, the dust got into their +eyes, and on either side of the road there stretched an interminable +tract of bare, ugly country which smelt unpleasantly. One might have +thought that it had been ravaged by the pestilence, which had even +attacked the buildings, for skeletons of dilapidated and deserted +houses, or small cottages, which were left in an unfinished state, as +the contractors had not been paid, reared their four roofless walls on +each side.</p> + +<p>Here and there tall factory chimneys rose up from the barren soil; the +only vegetation on that putrid land, where the spring breezes wafted an +odor of petroleum and shist, which was mingled with another smell, that +was even still less agreeable. At last, however, they crossed the Seine +a second time, and it was delightful on the bridge. The river sparkled +in the sun, and they had a feeling of quiet satisfaction and enjoyment, +in drinking in the purer air, that was not impregnated by the black +smoke of factories, nor by the miasma from the deposits of night soil. A +man whom they met, told them that the name of the place was <i>Bézons</i>, +and so Monsieur Dufour pulled up, and read the attractive announcement +outside an eating-house: <i>Restaurant Poulin, stews and fried fish, +private rooms, arbors and swings.</i></p> + +<p>"Well! Madame Dufour, will this suit you? Will you make up your mind at +last?"</p> + +<p>She read the announcement in her turn, and then looked at the house for +a time.</p> + +<p>It was a white, country inn, built by the road side, and through the +open door she could see the bright zinc of the counter, at which two +workmen, out for the day, were sitting. At last she made up her mind, +and said:</p> + +<p>"Yes, this will do; and, besides, there is a view."</p> + +<p>So they drove into a large yard with trees in it, behind the inn, which +was only separated from the river by the towing-path, and got out. The +husband sprang out first, and then held out his arms for his wife, and +as the step was very high, Madame Dufour, in order to reach him, had to +show the lower part of her limbs, whose former slenderness had +disappeared in fat, the Monsieur Dufour, who was already getting excited +by the country air, pinched her calf, and then taking her in his arms, +he set her onto the ground, as if she had been some enormous bundle. She +shook the dust out of the silk dress, and then looked round, to see in +what sort of a place she was.</p> + +<p>She was a stout woman, of about thirty-six, full-blown and delightful to +look at. She could hardly breathe, as her stays were laced too tightly, +and their pressure forced the heaving mass of her superabundant bosom up +to her double chin. Next, the girl put her hand onto her father's +shoulder, and jumped lightly out. The boy with the yellow hair had got +down by stepping on the wheel, and he helped Monsieur Dufour to get his +grandmother out. Then they unharnessed the horse, which they tied up to +a tree, and the carriage fell back, with both shafts in the air. The men +took off their coats, and washed their hands in a pail of water, and +then went and joined their ladies who had already taken possession of +the swings.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle Dufour was trying to swing herself standing up, but she +could not succeed in getting a start. She was a pretty girl of about +eighteen; one of those women who suddenly excite your desire when you +meet them in the street, and who leave you with a vague feeling of +uneasiness, and of excited senses. She was tall, had a small waist and +large hips, with a dark skin, very large eyes, and very black hair. Her +dress clearly marked the outlines of her firm, full figure, which was +accentuated by the motion of her hips as she tried to swing herself +higher. Her arms were stretched over her head to hold the rope, so that +her bosom rose at every movement she made. Her hat, which a gust of wind +had blown off, was hanging behind her, and as the swing gradually rose +higher and higher, she showed her delicate limbs up to the knees each +time, and the wind from the petticoats, which was more heady than the +fumes of wine, blew into the faces of the two men, who were looking at +her and smiling.</p> + +<p>Sitting in the other swing, Madame Dufour kept saying in a monotonous +voice:</p> + +<p>"Cyprian, come and swing me; do come and swing me, Cyprian!"</p> + +<p>At last he went, and turning up his shirt sleeves as if he intended to +work very hard, he, with much difficulty set his wife in motion. She +clutched the two ropes, and held her legs out straight, so as not to +touch the ground. She enjoyed feeling giddy at the motion of the swing, +and her whole figure shook like a jelly on a dish, but as she went +higher and higher, she grew too giddy and got frightened. Every time she +was coming back she uttered a piercing scream which made all the little +urchins come round, and, down below, beneath the garden hedge, she +vaguely saw a row of mischievous heads, who made various grimaces as +they laughed.</p> + +<p>When a servant girl came out, they ordered lunch.</p> + +<p>"Some fried fish, a stewed rabbit, salad, and dessert," Madame Dufour +said, with an important air.</p> + +<p>"Bring two quarts of beer and a bottle of claret," her husband said.</p> + +<p>"We will have lunch on the grass," the girl added.</p> + +<p>The grandmother, who had an affection for cats, had been running after +one that belonged to the house, and had been bestowing the most +affectionate words on it, for the last ten minutes. The animal, which +was no doubt secretly flattered by her attentions, kept close to the +good woman, but just out of reach of her hand, and quietly walked round +the trees, against which she rubbed herself, with her tail up, and +purring with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Hulloh!" the young man with the yellow hair, who was ferreting about, +suddenly exclaimed, "here are two swell boats!" They all went to look at +them, and saw two beautiful skiffs in a wooden boat-house, which were as +beautifully finished as if they had been objects of luxury. They were +moored side by side, like two tall, slender girls, in their narrow +shining length, and excited the wish to float in them on warm summer +mornings and evenings, along the bower-covered banks of the river, where +the trees dipped their branches into the water, where the rushes are +continually rustling in the breeze, and where the swift king-fishers +dart about like flashes of blue lightning.</p> + +<p>The whole family looked at them with great respect.</p> + +<p>"Oh! They are indeed two swell boats," Monsieur Dufour repeated gravely, +and he examined them gravely, and he examined them like a connoisseur. +He had been in the habit of rowing in his younger days, he said, and +when he had that in his hands—and he went through the action of pulling +the oars—he did not care a fig for anybody. He had beaten more than one +Englishman formerly at the Joinville regattas. He grew quite excited at +last, and offered to make a bet, that in a boat like that, he could row +six leagues an hour, without exerting himself.</p> + +<p>"Lunch is ready," the waitress said, appearing at the entrance to the +boat-house, so they all hurried off, but two young men were already +lunching at the best place, which Madame Dufour had chosen in her mind +as her seat. No doubt they were the owners of the skiffs, for they were +dressed in boating costume. They were stretched out, almost lying on +chairs, and were sunburnt, and had on flannel trousers and thin cotton +jerseys, with short sleeves, which showed their bare arms, which were as +strong as blackmiths'. They were two strong fellows, who thought a great +deal of their vigor, and who showed in all their movements that +elasticity and grace of the limbs which can only be acquired by +exercise, and which is so different to the deformity with which the same +continual work stamps the mechanic.</p> + +<p>They exchanged a rapid smile when they saw the mother, and then a look +on seeing the daughter.</p> + +<p>"Let us give up our place," one of them said: "it will make us +acquainted with them."</p> + +<p>The other got up immediately, and holding his black and red boating-cap +in his hand, he politely offered the ladies the only shady place in the +garden. With many excuses they accepted, and so that it might be more +rural, they sat on the grass, without either tables or chairs.</p> + +<p>The two young men took their plates, knives, forks, etc., to a table a +little way off, and began to eat again, and their bare arms, which they +showed continually, rather embarrassed the girl. She even pretended to +turn her head aside, and not to see them, while Madame Dufour, who was +rather bolder, tempted by feminine curiosity, looked at them every +moment, and no doubt compared them with the secret unsightliness of her +husband. She had squatted herself on the ground, with her legs tucked +under her, after the manner of tailors, and she kept wriggling about +continually under the pretext that ants were crawling about her +somewhere. Monsieur Dufour, whom the presence of strangers of politeness +had put into rather a bad tempter, was trying to find a comfortable +position, which he did not, however, succeed in doing, and the young man +with the yellow hair was eating as silently as an ogre.</p> + +<p>"It is lovely weather, Monsieur," the stout lady said to one of the +boating-men. She wished to be friendly, because they had given up their +place.</p> + +<p>"It is, indeed, Madame," he replied; "do you often go into the country?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Only once or twice a year, to get a little fresh air; and you, +monsieur?"</p> + +<p>"I come and sleep here every night."</p> + +<p>"Oh! That must be very nice?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly it is, Madame." And he gave them such a practical account of +his daily life, that it gave rise in the hearts of these shop-keepers, +who were deprived of the meadows, and who longed for country walks, to +that foolish love of nature, which they all feel so strongly the whole +year round, behind the counter in their shop.</p> + +<p>The girl raised her eyes, and looked at the oarsman with emotion, and +Monsieur Dufour spoke for the first time.</p> + +<p>"It is indeed a happy life," he said. And then he added: "A little more +rabbit, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you," she replied and turning to the young men again, and +pointing to their arms asked: "Do you never feel cold like that?"</p> + +<p>They both began to laugh, and they frightened the family by the account +of the enormous fatigue they could endure, of their bathing while in a +state of tremendous perspiration, of their rowing in the fog at night, +and they struck their chests violently, to show how they sounded.</p> + +<p>"Ah! You look very strong," the husband said, who did not talk any more +of the time when he used to beat the English. The girl was looking at +them aside now, and the young fellow with the yellow hair was coughing +violently, as he had swallowed some wine the wrong way, and bespattering +Madame Dufour's cherry-colored silk dress, who got angry, and sent for +some water, to wash the spots.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile it had grown unbearably hot, the sparkling river looked like a +blaze of fire, and the fumes of the wine were getting into their heads. +Monsieur Dufour, who had a violent hiccough, had unbuttoned his +waistcoat, and the top of his trousers, while his wife, who felt +choking, was gradually unfastening her dress. The apprentice was shaking +his yellow wig in a happy frame of mind, and kept helping himself to +wine, and as the old grandmother felt drunk, she also felt very stiff +and dignified. As for the girl, she showed nothing, except a peculiar +brightness in her eyes, while the brown skin on the cheeks became more +rosy.</p> + +<p>The coffee finished them off; they spoke of singing, and each of them +sang, or repeated a couplet, which the others repeated frantically. Then +they got up with some difficulty, and while the two women, who were +rather dizzy, were getting the fresh air, the two men, who were +altogether drunk, were performing gymnastic tricks. Heavy, limp, and +with scarlet faces, they hung awkwardly onto the iron rings, without +being able to raise themselves, while their shirts were continually +threatening to leave their trousers, and to flap in the wind like flags.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the two boating-men had got their skiffs into the water, and +they came back, and politely asked the ladies whether they would like a +row.</p> + +<p>"Would you like one, Monsieur Dufour?" his wife exclaimed,—"Please +come!"</p> + +<p>He merely gave her a drunken look, without understanding what she said. +Then one of the rowers came up, with two fishing-rods in his hand; and +the hope of catching a gudgeon, that great aim of the Parisian +shop-keeper, made Dufour's dull eyes gleam, and he politely allowed them +to do whatever they liked, while he sat in the shade, under the bridge, +with his feet dangling over the river, by the side of the young man with +the yellow hair, who was sleeping soundly close to him.</p> + +<p>One of the boating men made a martyr of himself and took the mother.</p> + +<p>"Let us go to the little wood on the <i>Ile aux Anglias</i>!" he called out, +as he rowed off. The other skiff went slower, for the rower was looking +at his companion so intently, that he thought of nothing else, and his +emotion paralyzed his strength, while the girl, who was sitting on the +steerer's seat, gave herself up to the enjoyment of being on the water. +She felt disinclined to think, felt a lassitude in her limbs, and a +total abandonment of herself, as if she were intoxicated, and she had +become very flushed, and breathed shortly. The effects of the wine, +which were increased by the extreme heat, made all the trees on the bank +seem to bow, as she passed. A vague wish for enjoyment and a +fermentation for her blood, seemed to pervade her whole body, which was +excited by the heat of the day; and she was also agitated by this +<i>tête-à-tête</i> on the water, in a place which seemed depopulated by the +heat, with this young man who thought her pretty, whose looks seemed to +caress her skin, and whose looks were as penetrating and pervading as +the sun's rays.</p> + +<p>Their inability to speak, increased their emotion, and they looked about +them, but at last he made an effort and asked her name.</p> + +<p>"Henriette," she said.</p> + +<p>"Why! My name is Henri," he replied. The sound of their voices had +calmed them, and they looked at the banks. The other skiff had passed +them, and seemed to be waiting for them, and the rower called out:</p> + +<p>"We will meet you in the wood; we are going as far as <i>Robinson's</i><a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +because Madame Dufour is thirsty." Then he bent over his oars again, and +rowed off so quickly that he was soon out of sight.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, a continual roar, which they had heard for some time, came +nearer, and the river itself seemed to shiver, as if the dull noise were +rising from its depths.</p> + +<p>"What is that noise?" she asked. It was the noise of the weir, which cut +the river in two, at the island, and he was explaining it to her, when +above the noise of the waterfall, they heard the song of a bird, which +seemed a long way off.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" he said; "the nightingales are singing during the day, so the +females must be sitting."</p> + +<p>A nightingale! She had never heard one before, and the idea of listening +to one roused visions of poetic tenderness in her heart. A nightingale! +That is to say, the invisible witness of her lovers' interview which +Juliette invoked on her balcony<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>; the celestial music, which is +attuned to human kisses, that eternal inspirer of all those languorous +romances which open an ideal sky to all the poor little tender hearts of +sensitive girls!</p> + +<p>She was going to hear a nightingale.</p> + +<p>"We must not make a noise," her companion said, "and then we can go into +the wood, and sit down close to it."</p> + +<p>The skiff seemed to glide. They saw the trees on the island, whose banks +were so low, that they could look into the depths of the thickets. They +stopped, he made the boat fast, Henriette took hold of Henri's arm, and +they went beneath the trees.</p> + +<p>"Stop," he said, so she bent down, and they went into an inextricable +thicket of creepers, leaves, and reed-grass, which formed an +inpenetrable asylum, and which the young man laughingly called, "his +private room."</p> + +<p>Just above their heads, perched in one of the trees which hid them, the +bird was still singing. He uttered shakes and roulades, and then long, +vibrating sounds that filled the air, and seemed to lose themselves on +the horizon, across the level country, through that burning silence +which weighed upon the whole country round. They did not speak for fear +of frightening it away. They were sitting close together, and slowly +Henri's arm stole round the girl's waist and squeezed it gently. She +took that daring hand without any anger, and kept removing it whenever +he put it round her; without, however, feeling at all embarrassed by +this caress, just as if it had been something quite natural, which she +was resisting just as naturally.</p> + +<p>She was listening to the bird in ecstasy. She felt an infinite longing +for happiness, for some sudden demonstration of tenderness, for the +revelation of super-human poetry, and she felt such a softening at her +heart, and relaxation of her nerves, that she began to cry, without +knowing why, and now the young man was straining her close to him, and +she did not remove his arm; she did not think of it. Suddenly the +nightingale stopped, and a voice called out in the distance:</p> + +<p>"Henriette!"</p> + +<p>"Do not reply," he said in a low voice; "you will drive the bird away."</p> + +<p>But she had no idea of doing so, and they remained in the same position +for some time. Madame Dufour had sat down somewhere or other, for from +time to time they heard the stout lady break out into little bursts of +laughter.</p> + +<p>The girl was still crying; she was filled with strange sensations. +Henri's head was on her shoulder, and suddenly he kissed her on the +lips. She was surprised and angry, and, to avoid him, she stood up.</p> + +<p>They were both very pale, when they quitted their grassy retreat. The +blue sky looked dull to them, and the ardent sun was clouded over to +their eyes, but they perceived not the solitude and silence. They walked +quickly side by side, without speaking or touching each other, for they +appeared to be irreconcilable enemies, as if disgust had sprung up +between them, and hatred between their souls, and from time to time +Henriette called out: "Mamma!"</p> + +<p>By-and-bye they heard a noise in a thicket, and the stout lady appeared +looking rather confused, and her companion's face was wrinkled with +smiles which he could not check.</p> + +<p>Madame Dufour took his arm, and they returned to the boats, and Henri, +who was going on first, still without speaking, by the girl's side, and +at last they got back to Bézons. Monsieur Dufour, who had got sober, was +waiting for them very impatiently, while the young man with the yellow +hair, was having a mouthful of something to eat, before leaving the inn. +The carriage was in the yard, with the horse in, and the grandmother, +who had already got in, was very frightened at the thought of being +overtaken by night, before they got back to Paris, as the outskirts were +not safe.</p> + +<p>They shook hands, and the Dufour family drove off.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, until we meet again!" the oarsman cried, and the answer they +got was a sigh and a tear.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Two months later, as Henri was going along the <i>Rue des Martyrs</i>, he saw +<i>Dufour, Ironmonger</i> over a door, and so he went in, and saw the stout +lady sitting at the counter. They recognized each other immediately, and +after an interchange of polite greetings, he asked after them all.</p> + +<p>"And how is Mademoiselle Henriette?" he inquired, specially.</p> + +<p>"Very well, thank you; she is married."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" ... But mastering his feelings, he added: "Whom was she married +to?"</p> + +<p>"To that young man who went with us, you know, he has joined us in +business."</p> + +<p>"I remember him, perfectly."</p> + +<p>He was going out, feeling very unhappy, though scarcely knowing why, +when Madame called him back.</p> + +<p>"And how is your friend?" she asked, rather shyly.</p> + +<p>"He is very well, thank you."</p> + +<p>"Please give him our compliments, and beg him to come and call, when he +is in the neighborhood."</p> + +<p>She then added: "Tell him it will give me great pleasure."</p> + +<p>"I will be sure to do so. Adieu!"</p> + +<p>"I will not say that; come again, very soon."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The next year, one very hot Sunday, all the details of that adventure +which he had never forgotten, suddenly came back to him so clearly, that +he returned to their room in the wood, and he was overwhelmed with +astonishment when he went in. She was sitting on the grass, looking very +sad, while by her side, again in his shirt sleeves the young man with +the yellow hair was sleeping soundly, like some brute.</p> + +<p>She grew so pale when she saw Henri, that at first he thought she was +going to faint, then, however, they began to talk quite naturally. But +when he told her that he was very fond of that spot, and went there very +often on Sundays, she looked into his eyes for a long time. "I, too, +think of it," she replied.</p> + +<p>"Come, my dear," her husband said, with a yawn; "I think it is time for +us to be going."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_LANCERS_WIFE" id="THE_LANCERS_WIFE"></a>THE LANCER'S WIFE</h2> + + +<h3>I</h3> + +<p>It was after Bourbaki's defeat in the East of France. The army, broken +up, decimated and worn out, had been obliged to retreat into +Switzerland, after that terrible campaign, and it was only the short +time that it lasted, which saved a hundred and fifty thousand men from +certain death. Hunger, the terrible cold, forced marches in the snow +without boots, over bad mountainous roads, had caused us +<i>francs-tireurs</i> especially the greatest sufferings, for we were without +tents and almost without food, always in front when we were marching +towards Belfort, and in the rear, when returning by the Jura. Of our +little band that had numbered twelve hundred men on the first of +January, there remained only twenty-two pale, thin, ragged wretches, +when we at length succeeded in reaching Swiss territory.</p> + +<p>There we were safe and could rest. Everybody knows what sympathy was +shown to the unfortunate French army, and how well it was cared for. We +all gained fresh life, and those who had been rich and happy before the +war, declared that they had never experienced a greater feeling of +comfort than they did then. Just think. We actually had something to eat +every day, and could sleep every night.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the war continued in the East of France, which had been +excluded from the armistice. Besançon still kept the enemy in check, and +the latter had their revenge by ravaging the <i>Franché Comte</i>. Sometimes +we heard that they had approached quite close to the frontier, and we +saw Swiss troops, who were to form a line of observation between us and +them, set out on their march.</p> + +<p>That pained us in the end, and as we regained health and strength the +longing for fighting laid hold of us. It was disgraceful and irritating +to know that within two or three leagues of us, the Germans were +victorious and insolent, to feel that we were protected by our +captivity, and to feel that on that account we were powerless against +them.</p> + +<p>One day, our captain took five or six of us aside, and spoke to us about +it, long and furiously. He was a fine fellow that captain. He had been a +sub-lieutenant in the Zouaves, was tall and thin, and as hard as steel, +and during the whole campaign he had cut out their work for the Germans. +He fretted in inactivity and could not accustom himself to the idea of +being a prisoner and of doing nothing.</p> + +<p>"Confound it!" he said to us, "does it not pain you to know that there +is a number of Uhlans within two hours of us? Does it not almost drive +you mad to know that those beggarly wretches are walking about as +masters in our mountains, where six determined men might kill a whole +spitful any day? I cannot endure it any longer, and I must go there."</p> + +<p>"But how can you manage it, Captain?"</p> + +<p>"How? It is not very difficult! Just as if we had not done a thing or +two within the last six months, and got out of woods that were guarded +by very different men from the Swiss. The day that you wish to cross +over into France, I will undertake to get you there."</p> + +<p>"That may be; but what shall we do in France without any arms?"</p> + +<p>"Without arms? We will get them over yonder, by Jove!"</p> + +<p>"You are forgetting the treaty," another soldier said; "we shall run the +risk of doing the Swiss an injury, if Manteuffel learns that they have +allowed prisoners to return to France."</p> + +<p>"Come," said the captain, "those are all bad reasons. I mean to go and +kill some Prussians; that is all I care about. If you do not wish to do +as I do, well and good; only say so at once. I can quite well go by +myself; I do not require anybody's company."</p> + +<p>Naturally we all protested and as it was quite impossible to make the +captain alter his mind, we felt obliged to promise to go with him. We +liked him too much to leave him in the lurch, as he never failed us in +any extremity; and so the expedition was decided on.</p> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>The Captain had a plan of his own, that he had been cogitating over for +some time. A man in that part of the country, whom he knew, was going to +lend him a cart, and six suits of peasants' clothes. We could hide under +some straw at the bottom of the wagon, and it would be loaded with +Gruyère cheese, which he was supposed to be going to sell in France. The +captain told the sentinels that he was taking two friends with him, to +protect his goods, in case any one should try to rob him, which did not +seem an extraordinary precaution. A Swiss officer seemed to look at the +wagon in a knowing manner, but that was in order to impress his +soldiers. In a word, neither officers nor men could make it out.</p> + +<p>"Get on," the captain said to the horses, as he cracked his whip, while +our three men quietly smoked their pipes. I was half-suffocated in my +box, which only admitted the air through those holes in front, while at +the same time I was nearly frozen, for it was terribly cold.</p> + +<p>"Get on," the captain said again, and the wagon loaded with Gruyère +cheese entered France.</p> + +<p>The Prussian lines were very badly guarded, as the enemy trusted to the +watchfulness of the Swiss. The sergeant spoke North German, while our +captain spoke the bad German of the <i>Four Cantons</i>, and so they could +not understand each other; the sergeant, however, pretended to be very +intelligent, and in order to make us believe that he understood us, they +allowed us to continue our journey, and after traveling for seven hours, +being continually stopped in the same manner, we arrived at a small +village of the Jura, in ruins, at nightfall.</p> + +<p>What were wre going to do? Our only arms were the captain's whip, our +uniforms, our peasants' blouses, and our food our Gruyère cheese. Our +sole riches consisted in our ammunition, packets of cartridges which we +had stowed away inside some of the huge cheeses. We had about a thousand +of them, just two hundred each, but then we wanted rifles, and they must +be Chassepots; luckily, however, the captain was a bold man of an +inventive mind, and this was the plan that he hit upon.</p> + +<p>While three of us remained hidden in a cellar in the abandoned village, +he continued his journey as far as Besançon with the empty wagon and one +man. The town was invested, but one can always make one's way into a +town among the hills by crossing the table-land till within about ten +miles of the walls, and then by following paths and ravines on foot. +They left their wagon at Omans, among the Germans, and escaped out of it +at night on foot, so as to gain the heights which border the river +Doubs; the next day they entered Besançon, where there were plenty of +Chassepots. There were nearly forty thousand of them left in the +arsenal, and General Roland, a brave marine, laughed at the captain's +daring project, but let him have six rifles and wished him "good luck." +There he had also found his wife, who had been through all the war with +us before the campaign in the East, and who had been only prevented by +illness from continuing with Bourbaki's army. She had recovered, +however, in spite of the cold, which was growing more and more intense, +and in spite of the numberless privations that awaited her, she +persisted in accompanying her husband. He was obliged to give way to +her, and they all three, the captain, his wife, and our comrade, started +on their expedition.</p> + +<p>Going was nothing in comparison to returning. They were obliged to +travel by night, so as to avoid meeting anybody, as the possession of +six rifles would have made them liable to suspicion. But in spite of +everything, a week after leaving us, the captain and his <i>two men</i> were +back with us again. The campaign was about to begin.</p> + + +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>The first night of his arrival, he began it himself, and, under the +pretext of examining the country round, he went along the high road.</p> + +<p>I must tell you, that the little village which served as our fortress +was a small collection of poor, badly built houses, which had been +deserted long before. It lay on a steep slope, which terminated in a +wooded plain. The country people sell the wood; they send it down the +ravines, which are called <i>coulées</i>, locally, and which lead down to the +plain, and there they stack it into piles, which they sell thrice a year +to the wood merchants. The spot where this market is held, is indicated +by two small houses by the side of the high road, and which serve for +public-houses. The captain had gone down there by one of these +<i>coulées</i>.</p> + +<p>He had been gone about half-an-hour, and we were on the look-out at the +top of the ravine when we heard a shot. The captain had ordered us not +to stir, and only to come to him when we heard him blow his trumpet. It +was made of a goat's horn, and could be heard a league off, but it gave +no sound, and in spite of our cruel anxiety we were obliged to wait in +silence, with out rifles by our side.</p> + +<p>It is nothing to go down these <i>coulées</i>; one need only let oneself +glide down, but it is more difficult to get up again; one has to +scramble up by catching hold of the hanging branches of the trees, and +sometimes on all fours, by sheer strength. A whole mortal hour passed +and he did not come, nothing moved in the brushwood. The captain's wife +began to grow impatient; what could he be doing? Why did he not call us? +Did the shot that we had heard proceed from an enemy, and had he killed +or wounded our leader, her husband? They did not know what to think, but +I myself fancied, either that he was dead, or that his enterprise was +successful, and I was merely anxious and curious to know what he had +done.</p> + +<p>Suddenly we heard the sound of his trumpet, and we were much surprised +that instead of coming from below, as we had expected, it came from the +village behind us. What did that mean? It was a mystery to us, but the +same idea struck us all, that he had been killed, and that the Prussians +were blowing the trumpet to draw us into an ambush. We therefore +returned to the cottage, keeping a careful look out, with our fingers on +the trigger, and hiding under the branches, but his wife, in spite of +our entreaties, rushed on, leaping like a tigress. She thought that she +had to avenge her husband, and had fixed the bayonet to her rifle, and +we lost sight of her at the moment that we heard the trumpet again, and +a few moments later we heard her calling out to us:</p> + +<p>"Come on! come on! he is alive! it is he!"</p> + +<p>We hastened on, and saw the captain smoking his pipe at the entrance of +the village, but strangely enough he was on horseback.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Ah!" he said to us, "you see that there is something to be done +here. Here I am on horseback already. I knocked over a uhlan yonder, and +took his horse; I suppose they were guarding the wood, but it was by +drinking and swilling in clover. One of them, the sentry at the door, +had not time to see me before I gave him a sugar plum in his stomach, +and then, before the others could come out, I jumped on to the horse and +was off like a shot. Eight or ten of them followed me, I think, but I +took the cross-roads through the woods; I have got scratched and torn a +bit, but here I am, and now, my good fellows, attention, and take care! +Those brigands will not rest until they have caught us, and we must +receive them with rifle bullets. Come along; let us take up our posts!"</p> + +<p>We set out. One of us took up his position a good way from the village +of the cross-roads; I was posted at the entrance of the main street, +where the road from the level country enters the village, while the two +others, the captain and his wife were in the middle of the village, near +the church, whose tower served for an observatory and citadel.</p> + +<p>We had not been in our places long before we heard a shot followed by +another, and then two, then three. The first was evidently a chassepot; +one recognized it by the sharp report, which sounds like the crack of a +whip, while the other three came from the lancers' carbines.</p> + +<p>The captain was furious. He had given orders to the outpost to let the +enemy pass and merely to follow them at a distance, if they marched +towards the village, and to join me when they had gone well between the +houses. Then they were to appear suddenly, take the patrol between two +fires, and not allow a single man to escape, for posted as we were, the +six of us could have hemmed in ten Prussians, if needful.</p> + +<p>"That confounded Piédelot has roused them," the captain said, "and they +will not venture to come on blindfold any longer. And then I am quite +sure that he has managed to get a shot into himself somewhere or other, +for we hear nothing of him. It serves him right; why did he not obey +orders?" And then, after a moment, he grumbled in his beard: "After all, +I am sorry for the poor fellow, he is so brave and shoots so well!"</p> + +<p>The captain was right in his conjectures. We waited until evening, +without seeing the uhlans: they had retreated after the first attack, +but unfortunately we had not seen Piédelot either. Was he dead or a +prisoner? When night came, the captain proposed that we should go out +and look for him, and so the three of us started. At the cross-roads we +found a broken rifle and some blood, while the ground was trampled down, +but we did not find either a wounded man or a dead body, although we +searched every thicket, and at midnight we returned without having +discovered anything of our unfortunate comrade.</p> + +<p>"It is very strange," the captain growled. "They must have killed him +and thrown him into the bushes somewhere; they cannot possibly have +taken him prisoner, as he would have called out for help. I cannot +understand it all." Just as he said that, bright, red flames shot up in +the direction of the inn on the high road, which illuminated the sky.</p> + +<p>"Scoundrels! cowards!" he shouted. "I will bet they have set fire to the +two houses on the market-place, in order to have their revenge and then +they will scuttle off without saying a word. They will be satisfied with +having killed a man and setting fire to two houses. All right. It shall +not pass over like that. We must go for them; they will not like to +leave their illuminations in order to fight."</p> + +<p>"It would be a great stroke of luck, if we could set Piédelot free at +the same time," some one said.</p> + +<p>The five of us set off, full of rage and hope. In twenty minutes we had +got to the bottom of the <i>coulée</i>, and we had not yet seen anyone, when +we had got within a hundred yards of the inn. The fire was behind the +house, and so all that we saw of it was the reflection above the roof. +However, we were walking rather slowly, as we were afraid of a trap, +when suddenly we heard Piédelot's well-known voice. It had a strange +sound, however, for it was at the same time dull and vibrating, stifled +and clear, as if he was calling out as loud as he could with a bit of +rag stuffed into his mouth. He seemed to be hoarse and panting, and the +unlucky fellow kept exclaiming: "Help! Help!"</p> + +<p>We sent all thoughts of prudence to the devil, and in two bounds we were +at the back of the inn, where a terrible sight met our eyes.</p> + + +<h3>IV</h3> + +<p>Piédelot was being burnt alive. He was writhing in the middle of a heap +of fagots, against a stake to which they had fastened him, and the +flames were licking him with their sharp tongues. When he saw us, his +tongue seemed to stick in his throat, he drooped his head, and seemed as +if he were going to die. It was only the affair of a moment to upset the +burning pile, to scatter the embers, and to cut the ropes that fastened +him.</p> + +<p>Poor fellow! In what a terrible state we found him. The evening before, +he had had his left arm broken, and it seemed as if he had been badly +beaten since then, for his whole body was covered with wounds, bruises, +and blood. The flames had also begun their work on him, and he had two +large burns, one on his loins, and the other on his right thigh, and his +beard and his hair were scorched. Poor Piédelot!</p> + +<p>Nobody knows the terrible rage we felt at this sight! We would have +rushed headlong at a hundred thousand Prussians. Our thirst for +vengeance was intense but the cowards had run away, leaving their crime +behind them. Where could we find them now? Meanwhile, however, the +captain's wife was looking after Piédelot, and dressing his wounds as +best she could, while the captain himself shook hands with him excitedly +and in a few minutes he came to himself.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, captain, good morning, all of you," he said. "Ah! the +scoundrels, the wretches! Why twenty of them came to surprise us."</p> + +<p>"Twenty, do you say?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, there was a whole band of them, and that is why I disobeyed +orders, captain, and fired on them, for they would have killed you all, +so I preferred to stop them. That frightened them, and they did not +venture to go further than the cross-roads. They were such cowards. Four +of them shot at me at twenty yards, as if I had been a target, and then +they slashed me with their swords. My arm was broken so that I could +only use my bayonet with one hand."</p> + +<p>"But why did you not call for help?"</p> + +<p>"I took good care not to do that, for you would all have come, and you +would neither have been able to defend me nor yourselves, being only +five against twenty."</p> + +<p>"You know that we should not have allowed you to have been taken, poor +old fellow."</p> + +<p>"I preferred to die by myself, don't you see! I did not want to bring +you there, for it would have been a mere ambush."</p> + +<p>"Well, we will not talk about it any more. Do you feel rather easier?"</p> + +<p>"No, I am suffocating. I know that I cannot live much longer. The +brutes! They tied me to a tree, and beat me till I felt half dead, and +then they shook my broken arm, but I did not make a sound. I would +rather have bitten my tongue out than have called out before them.... +Now I can say what I am suffering and shed tears; it does one good. +Thank you, my kind friends."</p> + +<p>"Poor Piédelot! But we will avenge you, you may be sure!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, I want you to do that. Especially, there is a woman among +them, who passes as the wife of the lancer whom the captain killed +yesterday. She is dressed like a lancer, and she tortured me the most +yesterday, and suggested burning me, and it was she who set fire to the +wood. Oh! the wretch, the brute.... Ah! how I am suffering! My loins, my +arms!" and he fell back panting and exhausted, writhing in his terrible +agony, while the captain's wife wiped the perspiration from his +forehead, and we all shed tears of grief and rage, as if we had been +children. I will not describe the end to you; he died half-an-hour +later, but before that he told us in which direction the enemy had gone. +When he was dead, we gave ourselves time to bury him, and then we set +out in pursuit of them, with our hearts full of fury and hatred.</p> + +<p>"We will throw ourselves on the whole Prussian army, if it be needful," +the captain said, "but we will avenge Piédelot. We must catch those +scoundrels. Let us swear to die, rather than not to find them, and if I +am killed first, these are my orders: all the prisoners that you make +are to be shot immediately, and as for the lancer's wife, she is to be +violated before she is put to death."</p> + +<p>"She must not be shot, because she is a woman," the captain's wife said. +"If you survive, I am sure that you would not shoot a woman. Outraging +her will be quite sufficient; but if you are killed in this pursuit, I +want one thing, and that is to fight with her; I will kill her with my +own hands, and the others can do what they like with her if she kills +me.</p> + +<p>"We will outrage her! We will burn her! We will tear her to pieces! +Piédelot shall be avenged, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!"</p> + + +<h3>V</h3> + +<p>The next morning we unexpectedly fell on an outpost of uhlans four +leagues away. Surprised by our sudden attack, they were not able to +mount their horses, nor even to defend themselves, and in a few moments +we had five prisoners, corresponding to our own number. The captain +questioned them, and from their answers we felt certain that they were +the same whom we had encountered the previous day, then a very curious +operation took place. One of us was told off to ascertain their sex, and +nothing can depict our joy when we discovered what we were seeking among +them, the female executioner who had tortured our friend.</p> + +<p>The four others were shot on the spot, with their backs towards us, and +close to the muzzles of our rifles, and then we turned our attention to +the woman; what were we going to do with her? I must acknowledge that we +were all of us in favor of shooting her. Hatred, and the wish to avenge +Piédelot had extinguished all pity in us, and we had forgotten that we +were going to shoot a woman, but a woman reminded us of it, the +captain's wife; at her entreaties, therefore, we determined to keep her +prisoner.</p> + +<p>The captain's poor wife was to be severely punished for this act of +clemency.</p> + +<p>The next day we heard that the armistice had been extended to the +Eastern part of France, and we had to put an end to our little campaign. +Two of us, who belonged to the neighborhood, returned home, so there +were only four of us, all told; the captain, his wife, and two men. We +belonged to Besançon, which was still being besieged in spite of the +armistice.</p> + +<p>"Let us stop here," said the captain. "I cannot believe that the war is +going to end like this. The devil take it. Surely there are men still +left in France, and now is the time to prove what they are made of. The +spring is coming on, and the armistice is only a trap laid for the +Prussians. During the time that it lasts, a new army will be formed, and +some fine morning we shall fall upon them again. We shall be ready, and +we have a hostage—let us remain here."</p> + +<p>We fixed our quarters there. It was terribly cold, and we did not go out +much, and somebody had always to keep the female prisoner in sight.</p> + +<p>She was sullen and never said anything, or else spoke of her husband, +whom the captain had killed. She looked at him continually with fierce +eyes, and we felt that she was tortured by a wild longing for revenge. +That seemed to us to be the most suitable punishment for the terrible +torments that she had made Piédelot suffer, for impotent vengeance is +such intense pain!</p> + +<p>Alas! we who knew how to avenge our comrade, ought to have thought that +this woman would know how to avenge her husband, and have been on our +guard. It is true that one of us kept watch every night, and that at +first we tied her by a long rope to the great oak bench that was +fastened to the wall. But, by and by, as she had never tried to escape, +in spite of her hatred for us, we relaxed our extreme prudence, and +allowed her to sleep somewhere else except on the bench, and without +being tied. What had we to fear? She was at the end of the room, a man +was on guard at the door, and between her and the sentinel the captain's +wife and two other men used to lie. She was alone and unarmed against +four, so there could be no danger.</p> + +<p>One night when we were asleep, and the captain was on guard, the +lancer's wife was lying more quietly in her corner than usual, and she +had even smiled for the first time since she had been our prisoner, +during the evening. Suddenly, however, in the middle of the night, we +were all awakened by a terrible cry. We got up, groping about and +scarcely were we up when we stumbled over a furious couple who were +rolling about and fighting on the ground. It was the captain and the +lancer's wife. We threw ourselves on to them, and separated them in a +moment. She was shouting and laughing, and he seemed to have the death +rattle. All this took place in the dark. Two of us held her, and when a +light was struck, a terrible sight met our eyes. The captain was lying +on the floor in a pool of blood, with an enormous wound in his throat, +and his sword bayonet that had been taken from his rifle, was sticking +in the red, gaping wound. A few minutes afterwards he died, without +having been able to utter a word.</p> + +<p>His wife did not shed a tear. Her eyes were dry, her throat was +contracted, and she looked at the lancer's wife steadfastly, and with a +calm ferocity that inspired fear.</p> + +<p>"This woman belongs to me," she said to us suddenly. "You swore to me +not a week ago, to let me kill her as I chose, if she killed my husband, +and you must keep your oath. You must fasten her securely to the +fireplace, upright against the back of it, and then you can go where you +like, but far from here. I will take my revenge on her to myself. Leave +the captain's body, and we three, he, she, and I, will remain here."</p> + +<p>We obeyed and went away. She promised to write to us to Geneva, as we +were returning there.</p> + + +<h3>VI</h3> + +<p>Two days later, I received the following letter, dated the day after we +had left, and that had been written at an inn on the high road:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"MY FRIEND,</p> + +<p>"I am writing to you, according to my promise. For the moment I am +at the inn, where I have just handed my prisoner over to a Prussian +officer.</p> + +<p>"I must tell you, my friend, that this poor woman has left two +children in Germany. She had followed her husband whom she adored, +as she did not wish him to be exposed to the risks of war by +himself, and as her children were with their grandparents. I have +learnt all this since yesterday, and it has turned my ideas of +vengeance into more humane feelings. At the very moment when I felt +pleasure in insulting this woman, and in threatening her with the +most fearful torments, in recalling Piédelot, who had been burnt +alive, and in threatening her with a similar death, she looked at +me coldly, and said:</p> + +<p>"'What have you got to reproach me with, Frenchwoman? You think +that you will do right in avenging your husband's death, is not +that so?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, I replied.'</p> + +<p>"'Very well then; in killing him, I did what you are going to do in +burning me. I avenged my husband, for your husband killed him.'</p> + +<p>"'Well,' I replied, 'as you approve of this vengeance, prepare to +endure it.'</p> + +<p>"'I do not fear it.'</p> + +<p>"And in fact she did not seem to have lost courage. Her face was +calm, and she looked at me without trembling, while I brought wood +and dried leaves together, and feverishly threw on to them the +powder from some cartridges, which was to make her funeral pile the +more cruel.</p> + +<p>"I hesitated in my thoughts of persecution for a moment. But the +captain was there, pale and covered with blood, and he seemed to be +looking at me with his large, glassy eyes, and I applied myself to +my work again after kissing his pale lips. Suddenly, however, on +raising my head, I saw that she was crying, and I felt rather +surprised.</p> + +<p>"'So you are frightened?' I said to her.</p> + +<p>"'No, but when I saw you kiss your husband, I thought of mine, of +all whom I love."</p> + +<p>"She continued to sob, but stopping suddenly she said to me in +broken words, and in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"'Have you any children?'</p> + +<p>"A shiver ran over me, for I guessed that this poor woman had some. +She asked me to look in a pocketbook which was in her bosom, and in +it I saw two photographs of quite young children, a boy and a girl, +with those kind, gentle, chubby faces that German children have. In +it there were also two locks of light hair and a letter in a large +childish hand, and beginning with German words which meant: 'My +dear little mother.'</p> + +<p>"I could not restrain my tears, my dear friend, and so I untied +her, and without venturing to look at the face of my poor, dead +husband, who was not to be avenged, I went with her as far as the +inn. She is free; I have just left her, and she kissed me with +tears. I am going upstairs to my husband; come as soon as possible, +my dear friend, to look for our two bodies."</p></div> + +<p>I set off with all speed, and when I arrived, there was a Prussian +patrol at the cottage, and when I asked what it all meant, I was told +that there was a captain of <i>Franc-tireurs</i> and his wife inside, both +dead. I gave their names; they saw that I knew them, and I begged to be +allowed to undertake their funeral.</p> + +<p>"Somebody has already undertaken it," was the reply. "Go in if you wish +to, as you knew them. You can settle about their funeral with their +friend."</p> + +<p>I went in. The captain and his wife were lying side by side on a bed, +and were covered by a sheet. I raised it, and saw that the woman had +inflicted a similar wound in her throat to that from which her husband +had died.</p> + +<p>At the side of the bed there sat, watching and weeping, the woman who +had been mentioned to me as their best friend. It was the lancer's wife.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_COLONELS_IDEAS" id="THE_COLONELS_IDEAS"></a>THE COLONEL'S IDEAS</h2> + + +<p>"Upon my word," Colonel Laporte said, "I am old and gouty, my legs are +as stiff as two pieces of wood, and yet if a pretty woman were to tell +me to go through the eye of a needle, I believe I should take a jump at +it, like a clown through a hoop. I shall die like that; it is in the +blood. I am an old beau, one of the old school, and the sight of a +woman, a pretty woman, stirs me to the tips of my toes. There!</p> + +<p>"And then, we are all very much alike in France; we remain cavaliers, +cavaliers of love and fortune, since God has been abolished, whose +body-guard we really were. But nobody will ever get a woman out of our +hearts; there she is, and there she will remain, and we love her, and +shall continue to love her, and go on committing all kinds of frolics on +her account, as long as there is a France on the map of Europe, and even +if France were to be wiped off the map, there would always be Frenchmen +left.</p> + +<p>"When I am in the presence of a woman, of a pretty woman, I feel capable +of anything. By Jove! When I feel her looks penetrating me, her +confounded looks which set your blood on fire, I should like to do I +don't know what; to fight a duel, to have a row, to smash the furniture, +in order to show that I am the strongest, the bravest, the most daring, +and the most devoted of men.</p> + +<p>"But I am not the only one, certainly not; the whole French army is like +me, that I will swear to you. From the common soldier to the general, we +all go forward, and to the very end, when there is a woman in the case, +a pretty woman. Remember what Joan of Arc made us do formerly! Come, I +will make a bet that if a pretty woman had taken command of the army on +the eve of Sedan, when Marshal Mac-Mahon was wounded, we should have +broken through the Prussian lines, by Jove! and have had a drink out of +their guns.</p> + +<p>"It was not Trochu, but Saint-Geneviève, who was required in Paris, and +I remember a little anecdote of the war which proves that we are capable +of everything in the presence of a woman.</p> + +<p>"I was a captain, a simple captain, at the time, and I was in command of +a detachment of scouts, who were retreating through a district which +swarmed with Prussians. We were surrounded, pursued, tired out, and half +dead with fatigue and hunger, and by the next day we were bound to reach +Bar-sur-Tain, otherwise we should be done for, cut off from the main +body and killed. I do not know how we managed to escape so far. However, +we had ten leagues to go during the night, ten leagues through the snow, +and with empty stomachs, and I thought to myself:</p> + +<p>"'It is all over; my poor devils of fellows will never be able to do +it.'</p> + +<p>"We had eaten nothing since the day before, and the whole day long we +remained hidden in a barn, and huddled close together, so as not to feel +the cold so much; we did not venture to speak or even move, and we slept +by fits and starts, like one sleeps when one is worn out with fatigue.</p> + +<p>"It was dark by five o'clock; that wan darkness caused by the snow, and +I shook my men. Some of them would not get up; they were almost +incapable oí moving or of standing upright, and their joints were stiff +from the cold and want of motion.</p> + +<p>"In front of us, there was a large expanse of flat, bare country; the +snow was still falling like a curtain, in large, white flakes, which +concealed everything under a heavy, thick, frozen mantle, a mattress of +ice. One might have thought that it was the end of the world.</p> + +<p>"'Come, my lads, let us start.'</p> + +<p>"They looked at the thick, white dust which was coming down, and they +seemed to think: 'We have had enough of this; we may just as well die +here!' Then I took out my revolver, and said:</p> + +<p>"'I will shoot the first man who flinches.' And so they set off, but +very slowly, like men whose legs were of very little use to them, and I +sent four of them three hundred yards ahead, to scout, and the others +followed pell-mell, walking at random and without any order. I put the +strongest in the rear, with orders to quicken the pace of the sluggards +with the points of their bayonets... in the back.</p> + +<p>"The snow seemed as if it were going to bury us alive; it powdered our +<i>kepis</i><a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and cloaks without melting, and made phantoms of us, a +species of specters of dead soldiers, who were very tired, and I said to +myself: 'We shall never get out of this, except by a miracle.'</p> + +<p>"Sometimes we had to stop for a few minutes, on account of those who +could not follow us, and then we heard nothing except the falling snow, +that vague, almost indiscernible sound which all those flakes make, as +they come down together. Some of the men shook themselves, but others +did not move, and so I gave the order to set off again; they shouldered +their rifles, and with weary feet we set out, when suddenly the scouts +fell back. Something had alarmed them; they had heard voices in front of +them, and so I sent six men and a sergeant on ahead, and waited.</p> + +<p>"All at once a shrill cry, a woman's cry, pierced through the heavy +silence of the snow, and in a few minutes they brought back two +prisoners, an old man and a girl, and I questioned them in a low voice. +They were escaping from the Prussians, who had occupied their house +during the evening, and who had got drunk, The father had become alarmed +on his daughter's account, and, without even telling their servants, +they had made their escape into the darkness. I saw immediately that +they belonged to the upper classes, and, as I should have done in any +case, I invited them to come with us, and we started off together, and +as the old man knew the road, he acted as our guide.</p> + +<p>"It had ceased snowing; the stars appeared, and the cold became intense. +The girl, who was leaning on her father's arm, walked wrearily, and with +jerks, and several times she murmured:</p> + +<p>"'I have no feeling at all in my feet;' and I suffered more than she +did, I believe, to see that poor little woman dragging herself like that +through the snow. But suddenly she stopped, and said:</p> + +<p>"'Father, I am so tired that I cannot go any further ther,'</p> + +<p>"The old man wanted to carry her, but he could not even lift her up, and +she fell on the ground, with a deep sigh. We all came round her, and as +for me, I stamped on the ground, not knowing what to do, and quite +unable to make up my mind to abandon that man and girl like that, when +suddenly one of the soldiers, a Parisian, whom they had nicknamed +<i>Pratique</i>, said:</p> + +<p>"'Come, comrades, we must carry the young lady, otherwise we shall not +show ourselves Frenchmen, confound it!'</p> + +<p>"I really believe that I swore with pleasure, and said: 'That is very +good of you, my children, and I will take my share of the burden.'</p> + +<p>"We could indistinctly see the trees of a little wood on the left, +through the darkness, and several men went into it, and soon came back +with a bundle of branches twisted into a litter.</p> + +<p>"'Who will lend his cloak? It is for a pretty girl, comrades,' Pratique +said, and ten cloaks were thrown to him. In a moment, the girl was +lying, warm and comfortable, among them, and was raised upon six +shoulders. I placed myself at their head, on the right, and very pleased +I was with my charge.</p> + +<p>"We started off much more briskly, as if we had been having a drink of +wine, and I even heard a few jokes. A woman is quite enough to electrify +Frenchmen, you see. The soldiers, who were reanimated and warm, had +almost reformed their ranks, and an old <i>franc-tireur</i><a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> I who was +following the litter, waiting for his turn to replace the first of his +comrades who might give in, said to one of his neighbors, loud enough +for me to hear:</p> + +<p>"'I am not a young man, now; but by ——, there is nothing like the +women to make you feel queer from head to foot!'"</p> + +<p>"We went on, almost without stopping, until three o'clock in the +morning, when suddenly our scouts fell back again, and soon the whole +detachment showed nothing but a vague shadow on the ground, as the men +lay on the snow, and I gave my orders in a low voice, and heard the +harsh, metallic sound of the cocking of rifles. For there, in the middle +of the plain, some strange object was moving about. It might have been +taken for some enormous animal running about, which unfolded itself like +a serpent, or came together into a coil, suddenly went quickly to the +right or left, stopped, and then went on again. But presently that +wandering shape came near, and I saw a dozen lancers, one behind the +other, who were trying to find their way, which they had lost."</p> + +<p>"They were so near by that time, that I could hear the panting of the +horses, the clink of their swords, and the creaking of their saddles, +and so cried: 'Fire!'"</p> + +<p>"Fifty rifle shots broke the stillness of the night, then there were +four or five reports, and at last one single shot was heard, and when +the smoke had cleared away, we saw that the twelve men and nine horses +had fallen. Three of the animals were galloping away at a furious pace, +and one of them was dragging the body of its rider, which rebounded from +the ground in a terrible manner, whose foot had caught in the stirrup +behind it."</p> + +<p>"One of the soldiers behind me gave a terrible laugh, and said: 'There +are a number of widows there!'"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he was married. And a third added: 'It did not take long!'"</p> + +<p>"A head was put out of the litter:</p> + +<p>"'What is the matter?' she asked; 'you are fighting?'"</p> + +<p>"'It is nothing, Mademoiselle,' I replied; 'we have got rid of a dozen +Prussians!'"</p> + +<p>"'Poor fellows!' she said. But as she was cold, she quickly disappeared +beneath the cloaks again, and we started off once more. We marched on +for a long time, and at last the sky began to grow pale. The snow became +quite clear, luminous and bright, and a rosy tint appeared in the East, +and suddenly a voice in the distance cried:</p> + +<p>"'Who goes there?'"</p> + +<p>"The whole detachment halted, and I advanced to say who we were. We had +reached the French lines, and as my men defiled before the outpost, a +commandant on horseback, whom I had informed of what had taken place, +asked in a sonorous voice, as he saw the litter pass him: 'What have you +there?'"</p> + +<p>"And immediately, a small head, covered with light hair, appeared, +disheveled and smiling, and replied:"</p> + +<p>"'It is I, Monsieur.'"</p> + +<p>"At this, the men raised a hearty laugh, and we felt quite +light-hearted, while Pratique, who was walking by the side of the +litter, waved his kepi, and shouted:"</p> + +<p>"'Vive la France!' And I felt really moved. I do not know why, except +that I thought it a pretty and gallant thing to say."</p> + +<p>"It seemed to me as if we had just saved the whole of France, and had +done something that other men could not have done, something simple and +really patriotic. I shall never forget that little face, you may be +sure, and if I had to give my opinion about abolishing drums, trumpets, +and bugles, I should propose to replace them in every regiment by a +pretty girl, and that would be even better than playing the +<i>Marseillaise</i>. By Jove! It would put some spirit into a trooper to have +a Madonna like that, a living Madonna, by the colonel's side."</p> + +<p>He was silent for a few moments, and then continued, with an air of +conviction, and jerking his head:</p> + +<p>"All the same, we are very fond of women, we Frenchmen!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ONE_EVENING" id="ONE_EVENING"></a>ONE EVENING</h2> + + +<p>The steamboat <i>Kleber</i> had stopped, and I was admiring the beautiful bay +of Bougie, that was opened out before us. The high hills were covered +with forests, and in the distance the yellow sands formed a beach of +powdered gold, while the sun shed its fiery rays on the white houses of +the town.</p> + +<p>The warm African breeze blew the odor of that great, mysterious +continent into which men of the Northern races but rarely penetrate, +into my face. For three months I had been wandering on the borders of +that great, unknown world, on the outskirts of that strange world of the +ostrich, the camel, the gazelle, the hippopotamus, the gorilla, the lion +and the tiger, and the negro. I had seen the Arab galloping like the +wind, and passing like a floating standard, and I had slept under those +brown tents, the moving habitation of those white birds of the desert, +and I felt, as it were, intoxicated with light, with fancy, and with +space.</p> + +<p>But now, after this final excursion, I should have to start, to return +to France and to Paris, that city of useless chatter, of commonplace +cares, and of continual hand-shaking, and I should bid adieu to all that +I had got to like so much, which was so new to me, which I had scarcely +had time to see thoroughly, and which I so much regretted to leave.</p> + +<p>A fleet of small boats surrounded the steamer, and, jumping into one +rowed by a negro lad, I soon reached the quay near the old Saracen gate, +whose gray ruins at the entrance of the Kabyle town, looked like an old +escutcheon of nobility. While I was standing by the side of my +portmanteau, looking at the great steamer lying at anchor in the roads, +and filled with admiration at that unique shore, and that semi-circle of +hills, bathed in blue light, which were more beautiful than those of +Ajaccio, or of Porto, in Corsica, a heavy hand was laid on my shoulder, +and on turning round I saw a tall man with a long beard, dressed in +white flannel, and wearing a straw hat, standing by my side, and looking +at me with his blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"Are you not an old school-fellow of mine?" he said.</p> + +<p>"It is very possible. What is your name?"</p> + +<p>"Trémoulin."</p> + +<p>"By Jove! You were in the same class as I was."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Old fellow, I recognized you immediately."</p> + +<p>He seemed so pleased, so happy at seeing me, that in an outburst of +friendly selfishness, I shook both the hands of my former school-fellow +heartily, and felt very pleased at meeting him thus.</p> + +<p>For four years Trémoulin had been one of the best and most intimate +school friends, one of those whom we are too apt to forget as soon as we +leave. In those days he had been a tall, thin fellow, whose head seemed +to be too heavy for his body; it was a large, round head, and hung +sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, onto his chest. +Trémoulin was very clever, however, and had a marvelous aptitude for +learning, and had an instinctive intuition for all literary studies, and +gained nearly all the prizes in our class.</p> + +<p>We were fully convinced at school, that he would turn out a celebrated +man, a poet, no doubt, for he wrote verses, and was full of ingeniously +sentimental ideas. His father, who kept a chemist's shop near the +<i>Panthéon</i>, was not supposed to be very well off, and I had lost sight +of him as soon as he had taken his bachelor's degree, and now I +naturally asked him what he was doing there.</p> + +<p>"I am a planter," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Bah! You really plant?"</p> + +<p>"And I have my harvest."</p> + +<p>"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Grapes, from which I make wine."</p> + +<p>"Is your wine-growing a success?"</p> + +<p>"A great success."</p> + +<p>"So much the better, old fellow."</p> + +<p>"Were you going to the hotel?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I was."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, you must just come home with me, instead!"</p> + +<p>"But! ..."</p> + +<p>"The matter is settled."</p> + +<p>And he said to the young negro who was watching our movements: "Take +that home, Al."</p> + +<p>And the lad put my portmanteau on his shoulder, and set off, raising the +dust with his black feet, while Trémoulin took my arm and led me off. +First of all, he asked me about my journey, and what impressions it had +had on me, and seeing how enthusiastic I was about it, he seemed to like +me better than ever. He lived in an old Moorish house, with an interior +courtyard, without any windows looking into the street, and commanded by +a terrace, which, in its turn, commanded those of the neighboring +houses, as well as the bay, and the forests, the hill, and the open sea, +and I could not help exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Ah! That is what I like; the whole of the East lays hold of me in this +place. You are indeed lucky to be living here! What nights you must +spend upon that terrace! Do you sleep there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, in the summer. We will go onto it this evening. Are you fond of +fishing?"</p> + +<p>"What kind of fishing?"</p> + +<p>"Fishing by torchlight."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am particularly fond of it."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, we will go after dinner, and we will come back and +drink sherbet on my roof."</p> + +<p>After I had had a bath, he took me to see the charming Kabyle town, a +veritable cascade of white houses toppling down to the sea, and then, +when it was getting dusk, we went in, and after an excellent dinner, we +went down to the quay, and we saw nothing except the fires and the +stars, those large, bright, scintillating African stars. A boat was +waiting for us, and as soon as we had got in, a man whose face I could +not distinguish, began to row, while my friend was getting ready the +brazier which he would light later, and he said to me: "You know I have +a mania for a fish-spear, and nobody can handle it better than I can."</p> + +<p>"Allow me to compliment you on your skill." We had rowed round a kind of +mole, and now we were in a small bay full of high rocks, whose shadows +looked like towers built in the water, and I suddenly perceived that the +sea was phosphorescent, and as the oars moved gently, they seemed to +light up moving flames, that followed in our wake, and then died out, +and I leant over the side of the boat and watched it, as we glided over +that glimmer in the darkness.</p> + +<p>Where were we going to? I could not see my neighbors; in fact, I could +see nothing but the luminous ripple, and the sparks of water dropping +from the oars; it was hot, very hot, and the darkness seemed as hot as a +furnace, and this mysterious motion with these two men in that silent +boat, had a peculiar effect upon me.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the rower stopped. Where were we? I heard a slight scratching +noise close to me, and I saw a hand, nothing but a hand applying a +lighted match to the iron grating which was fastened over the bows of +the boat, which was covered with wood, as if it had been a floating +funeral pile, and which soon was blazing brightly and illuminating the +boat and the two men, an old, thin, pale, wrinkled sailor, with a +pocket-handkerchief tied round his head, instead of a cap, and +Trémoulin, whose fair beard glistened in the light.</p> + +<p>The other began to row again, while Trémoulin kept throwing wood onto +the brazier, which burnt red and brightly. I leant over the side again, +and could see the bottom, and a few feet below us there was that strange +country of the water, which vivifies plants and animals, just like the +air of heaven does. Trémoulin, who was standing in the bows with his +body bent forward, and holding the sharp-pointed trident in his hand, +was on the look-out with the ardent gaze of a beast of prey watching for +its spoil, and, suddenly, with a swift movement, he darted his forked +weapon into the sea so vigorously that it secured a large fish swimming +near the bottom. It was a conger eel, which managed to wriggle, half +dead as it was, into a puddle of the brackish water.</p> + +<p>Trémoulin again threw his spear, and when he pulled it up, I saw a great +lump of red flesh which palpitated, moved, rolled and unrolled, long, +strong, soft feelers round the handle of the trident. It was an octopus, +and Trémoulin opened his knife, and with a swift movement plunged it +between the eyes, and killed it. And so our fishing continued until the +wood began to run short. When there was not enough left to keep up the +fire, Trémoulin dipped the braziers into the sea, and we were again +buried in darkness.</p> + +<p>The old sailor began to row again, slowly and regularly, though I could +not tell where the land or where the port was. By-and-bye, however, I +saw lights. We were nearing the harbor.</p> + +<p>"Are you sleepy?" my friend said to me.</p> + +<p>"Not the slightest."</p> + +<p>"Then we will go and have a chat on the roof."</p> + +<p>"I shall be delighted."</p> + +<p>Just as we got onto the terrace, I saw the crescent moon rising behind +the mountains, and around us, the white houses, with their flat roofs, +descending down towards the sea, while human forms were standing or +lying on them, sleeping or dreaming under the stars; whole families +wrapped in long gowns, and resting in the calm night, after the heat of +the day.</p> + +<p>It suddenly seemed to me as if the Eastern mind were taking possession +of me, the poetical and legendary spirit of a people with simply and +flowery thoughts. My head was full of the Bible and of <i>The Arabian +Nights</i>; I could hear the prophets proclaiming miracles, and I could see +princesses wearing silk drawers on the roofs of the palaces, while +delicate perfumes, whose smoke assumed the forms of genii, were burning +on silver dishes, and I said to Trémoulin:</p> + +<p>"You are very fortunate in living here."</p> + +<p>"I came here quite by accident," he replied.</p> + +<p>"By accident?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, accident and unhappiness brought me here."</p> + +<p>"You have been unhappy?"</p> + +<p>"Very unhappy."</p> + +<p>He was standing in front of me, wrapped in his bournoose, and his voice +had such a painful ring in it that it almost made me shiver; after a +moment's silence, he continued:</p> + +<p>"I will tell you what my troubles have been; perhaps it will do me good +to speak about them."</p> + +<p>"Let me hear them."</p> + +<p>"Do you really wish it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then. You remember what I was at school; a sort of poet, +brought up in a chemist's shop. I dreamt of writing books, and I tried +it, after taking my degree, but I did not succeed. I published a volume +of verse, and then a novel, and neither of them sold, and then I wrote a +play, which was never acted."</p> + +<p>"Next, I lost my heart, but I will not give you an account of my +passion. Next door to my father's shop, there was a tailor's, who had a +daughter, with whom I fell in love. She was very clever, and had +obtained her certificates for higher education, and her mind was bright +and active, quite in keeping indeed with her body. She might have been +taken for fifteen, although she was two-and-twenty. She was very small, +with delicate features, outlines and tints, just like some beautiful +water color. Her nose, her mouth, her blue eyes, her light hair, her +smile, her waist, her hands, all looked as if they were fit for a +stained window, and not for everyday life, but she was lively, supple, +and incredibly active, and I was very much in love with her. I remember +two or three walks in the Luxembourg Garden, near the <i>Medices</i> +fountain, which were certainly the happiest hours of my life. I dare say +you have known that foolish condition of tender madness, which causes us +to think of nothing but of acts of adoration! One really becomes +possessed, haunted by a woman, and nothing exists for us, by the side of +her.</p> + +<p>"We soon became engaged, and I told her my projects of the future, which +she did not approve of. She did not believe that I was either a poet, a +novelist, or a dramatic author, and thought a prosperous business could +afford perfect happiness. So I gave up the idea of writing books, and +resigned myself to selling them, and I bought a bookseller's business at +Marseilles, the owner of which had just died.</p> + +<p>"I had three very prosperous years. We had made our shop into a sort of +literary drawing-room, where all the men of letters in the town used to +come and talk. They came in, as if it had been a club, and exchanged +ideas on books, on poets, and especially on politics. My wife, who took +a very active part in the business, enjoyed quite a reputation in the +town, but, as for me, while they were all talking downstairs, I was +working in my studio upstairs, which communicated with the shop by a +winding staircase. I could hear their voices, their laughter, and their +discussions, and sometimes I left off writing in order to listen. I kept +in my own room to write a novel—which I never finished.</p> + +<p>"The most regular frequenters of the shop were Monsieur Montina, a man +of good private means, a tall, handsome man, like one meets with in the +South of France, with an olive skin, and dark, expressive eyes; Monsieur +Barbet, a magistrate; two merchants, who were partners, Messrs. Faucil +and Labarrègue, and General, the Marquis de la Flèche, the head of the +Royalist party, the principal man in the whole district, an old fellow +of sixty-six.</p> + +<p>"My business prospered, and I was happy, very happy. One day, however, +about three o'clock, when I was out on business, as I was going through +the <i>Rue Saint Ferréol</i>, I suddenly saw a woman come out of a house, +whose figure and appearance were so much like my wife's that I should +have said to myself: 'There she is!' if I had not left her in the shop +half an hour before, suffering from a headache. She was walking quickly +on before me, without turning round, and, in spite of myself, I followed +her, as I felt surprised and uneasy. I said to myself: 'It it she; no, +it is quite impossible, as she has a sick headache. And then, what could +she have to do in that house?' However, as I wished to have the matter +cleared up, I made haste after her. I do not know whether she felt or +guessed that I was behind her, or whether she recognized my step, but +she turned round suddenly. It was she! When she saw me, she grew very +red and stopped, and then, with a smile, she said: 'Oh! Here you are!' I +felt choking.</p> + +<p>"'Yes; so you have come out? And how is your headache?'</p> + +<p>"'It is better, and I have been out on an errand.'</p> + +<p>"'Where?'</p> + +<p>"'To Lacaussade's, in the Rue Cassinelli, to order some pencils,'</p> + +<p>"She looked me full in the face. She was not flushed now, but rather +pale, on the contrary. Her clear, limpid eyes—ah! those women's +eyes!—appeared to be full of truth, but I felt vaguely and painfuly +that they were full of lies. I was much more confused and embarrassed +than she was herself, without venturing to suspect, but sure that she +was lying, though I did not know why, and so I merely said:</p> + +<p>"'You were quite right to go out, if you felt better.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh! yes; my head is much better.'</p> + +<p>"'Are you going home?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, of course I am.'</p> + +<p>"I left her, and wandered about the streets by myself. What was going +on? While I was talking to her, I had an intuitive feeling of her +falseness, but now I could not believe that it was so, and when I +returned home to dinner, I was angry for having suspected her, even for +a moment.</p> + +<p>"Have you ever been jealous? It does not matter whether you have or not, +but the first drop of jealousy had fallen into my heart, and that is +always like a spark of fire. It did not formulate anything, and I did +not think anything; I only knew that she had lied. You must remember +that every night, after the customers and clerks had left, we were +alone, and either strolled as far as the harbor, when it was fine, or +remained talking in my office, if the weather was bad, and I used to +open my heart to her without any reserve, because I loved her. She was +part of my life, the greater part, and all my happiness, and in her +small hands she held my trusting, faithful heart captive.</p> + +<p>"During those first days, those days of doubt, and before my suspicions +increased and assumed a precise shape, I felt as depressed and chilly as +when we are going to be seriously ill. I was continually cold, really +cold, and could neither eat nor sleep. Why had she told me a lie? What +was she doing in that house? I went there, to try and find out +something, but I could discover nothing. The man who rented the first +floor, and who was an upholsterer, had told me all about his neighbors, +but without helping me the least. A midwife had lived on the second +floor, a dressmaker and a manicure and chiropodist on the third, and two +coachmen and their families in the attics.</p> + +<p>"Why had she told me a lie? It would have been so easy for her to have +said that she had been to the dressmaker's or the chiropodist's. Oh! How +I longed to question them, also! I did not say so, for fear that she +might guess my suspicions. One thing, however, was certain; she had been +into that house, and had concealed the fact from me, so there was some +mystery in it. But what? At one moment, I thought there might be some +laudable purpose in it, some charitable deed that she wished to hide, +some information which she wished to obtain, and I found fault with +myself for suspecting her. Have not all of us the right of our little, +innocent secrets, a kind of second, interior life, for which one ought +not to be responsible to anybody? Can a man, because he has taken a girl +to be his companion through life, demand that she shall neither think +nor do anything without telling him, either before or afterwards? Does +the word marriage mean renouncing all liberty and independence? Was it +not quite possible that she was going to the dressmaker's without +telling me, or that she was going to assist the family of one of the +coachmen? Or she might have thought that I might criticize, if not +blame, her visit to the house. She knew me thoroughly, and my slightest +peculiarities, and perhaps she feared a discussion, even if she did not +think that I should find fault with her. She had very pretty hands, and +I ended by supposing that she was having them secretly attended to by +the manicure in the house which I suspected, and that she did not tell +me of it, for fear that I should think her extravagant. She was very +methodical and economical, +and looked after all her household duties +most carefully, and no doubt she thought that she should lower herself +in my eyes, were she to confess that slight piece of feminine +extravagance. Women have very many subtleties and innate tricks in their +soul!</p> + +<p>"But none of my own arguments reassured me. I was jealous, and I felt +that my suspicion was affecting me terribly, that I was being devoured +by it. I felt secret grief and anguish, and a thought which I still +veiled, and I did not dare to lift the veil, for beneath it I should +find a terrible doubt.... A lover! ... Had not she a lover? ... It was +unlikely, impossible.... A mere dream ... and yet? ...</p> + +<p>"I continually saw Montina's face before my eyes. I saw the tall, +silly-looking, handsome man, with his bright hair, smiling into her +face, and I said to myself: 'He is the one!' I concocted a story of +their intrigues. They had talked a book over together, had discussed the +love ventures it contained, had found something in it that resembled +them, and they had turned that analogy into reality. And so I watched +them, a prey to the most terrible sufferings that a man can endure. I +bought shoes with india-rubber soles, so that I might be able to walk +about the house without making any noise, and I spent half my time in +going up and down my little spiral staircase, in the hope of surprising +them, but I always found that the clerk was with them.</p> + +<p>"I lived in a constant state of suffering. I could no longer work, nor +attend to my business. As soon as I went out, as soon as I had walked a +hundred yards along the street, I said to myself: 'He is there!' and +when I found he was not there, I went out again! But almost immediately +I went back again, thinking: 'He has come now!' and that went on every +day.</p> + +<p>"At night it was still worse, for I felt her by my side in bed asleep, +or pretending to be asleep! Was she really sleeping? No, most likely +not. Was that another lie?</p> + +<p>"I remained motionless on my back, hot from the warmth of her body, +panting and tormented. Oh! how intensely I longed to get up, to get a +hammer and to split her head open, so as to be able to see inside it! I +knew that I should have seen nothing except what is to be found in every +head, and I should have discovered nothing, for that would have been +impossible. And her eyes! When she looked at me, I felt furious with +rage. I looked at her ... she looked at me! Her eyes were transparent, +candid ... and false, false! Nobody could tell what she was thinking of, +and I felt inclined to run pins into them, and to destroy those mirrors +of falseness.</p> + +<p>"Ah! how well I could understand the Inquisition! I would have applied +the torture, the boot.... Speak!...Confess!...You will not? ...Then +wait!...And I would have seized her by the throat until I choked her.... +Or else I would have held her fingers into the fire. ...Oh! how I should +have enjoyed doing it! ...Speak!...Speak!...You will not? I would have +held them on the coals, and when the tips were burnt, she would have +confessed... certainly she would have confessed!"</p> + +<p>Trémoulin was sitting up, shouting, with clenched fists. Around us, on +the neighboring roofs, people awoke and sat up, as he was disturbing +their sleep. As for me, I was moved and powerfully interested, and in +the darkness I could see that little woman, that little, fair, lively, +artful woman, as if I had known her personally. I saw her selling her +books, talking with the men whom her childish ways attracted, and in her +delicate, doll-like head, I could see little crafty ideas, silly ideas, +the dreams which a milliner smelling of musk attached to all heroes of +romantic adventures. I suspected her just like he did, I hated and +detested her, and would willingly have burnt her fingers and made her +confess.</p> + +<p>Presently, he continued more calmly: "I do not know why I have told you +all this, for I have never mentioned it to anyone, but then, I have not +seen anybody or spoken to anybody for two years! And it was seething in +my heart like a fermenting wine. I have got rid of it, and so much the +worse for you. Well, I had made a mistake, but it was worse than I +thought, much worse. Just listen. I employed the means which a man +always does under such circumstances, and pretended that I was going to +be away from home for a day, and whenever I did this my wife went out to +lunch. I need not tell you how I bribed a waiter in the restaurant to +which they used to go, so that I might surprise them.</p> + +<p>"He was to open the door of their private room for me and I arrived at +the appointed time, with the fixed determination of killing them both. I +could see the whole scene, just as if it had already occurred! I could +see myself going in. A small table covered with glasses, bottles and +plates separated her from Montina, and they would be so surprised when +they saw me, that they would not even attempt to move, and without a +word, I should bring down the loaded stick which I had in my hand, on +the man's head. Killed by one blow, he would fall with his head on the +table, and then, turning towards her, I should leave her time—a few +moments—to understand it all and to stretch out her arms towards me, +mad with terror, before dying in her turn. Oh! I was ready, strong, +determined, and pleased, madly pleased at the idea. The idea of the +terrified look that she would throw at my raised stick, of her arms that +she would stretch out to me, of her horrified cry, of her livid and +convulsed looks, avenged me beforehand. I would not kill her at one +blow! You will think me cruel, I dare say; but you do not know what a +man suffers. To think that a woman, whether she be wife or mistress, +whom one loves, gives herself to another, yields herself up to him as +she does to you, and receives kisses from his lips, as she does from +yours! It is a terrible, an atrocious thing to think of. When one feels +that torture, one is ready for anything. I only wonder that more women +are not murdered, for every man who has been deceived longs to commit +murder, has dreamt of it in the solitude of his own room, or on a +deserted road, and has been haunted by the one fixed idea of satisfied +vengeance.</p> + +<p>"I arrived at the restaurant, and asked whether they were there. The +waiter whom I had bribed replied: 'Yes, Monsieur,' and taking me +upstairs, he pointed to a door, and said: 'That is the room!' So I +grasped my stick, as if my fingers had been made of iron, and went in. I +had chosen a most appropriate moment, for they were kissing most +lovingly, but it was not Montina; it was General de la Fléche, who was +sixty-six years old, and I had so fully made up my mind that I should +find the other one there, I was motionless from astonishment.</p> + +<p>"And then ... and then, I really do not quite know what I thought; no, I +really do not know. If I had found myself face to face with the other, I +should have been convulsed with rage, but on seeing this old man, with a +fat stomach and pendulous cheeks, I was nearly choked with disgust. She, +who did not look fifteen, small and slim as she was, had given herself +to this fat man, who was nearly paralyzed, because he was a marquis and +a general, the friend and representative of dethroned kings. No, I do +not know what I felt, nor what I thought. I could not have lifted my +hand against this old man; it would have been a disgrace to me, and I no +longer felt inclined to kill my wife, but all women who could be guilty +of such things! I was no longer jealous, but felt distracted, as if I +had seen the horror of horrors!</p> + +<p>"Let people say what they like of men, they are not so vile as that! If a +man is known to have given himself up to an old woman in that fashion, +people point their fingers at him. The husband or lover of an old woman +is more despised than a thief. We men are a decent lot, as a rule, but +many women, especially in Paris, are absolutely bad. They will give +themselves to all men, old or young, from the most contemptible and +different motives, because it is their profession, their vocation, and +their function. They are the eternal, unconscious, and serene +prostitutes, who give up their bodies, because they are the merchandise +of love, which they sell or give, to the old man who frequents the +pavements with money in his pocket, or else for glory, to a lecherous +old king, or to a celebrated and disgusting old man."</p> + +<p>He vociferated like a prophet of old, in a furious voice, under the +starry sky, and with the rage of a man in despair, he repeated all the +glorified disgrace of all the mistresses of old kings, the respectable +shame of all those virgins who marry old husbands, the tolerated +disgrace of all those young women who accept old kisses with a smile.</p> + +<p>I could see them, as he evoked their memory, since the beginning of the +world, surging round us in that Eastern night, girls, beautiful girls, +with vile souls, who, like the lower animals, who know nothing of the +age of the male, are docile to senile desires. They rose up before one, +the handmaids of the patriarchs, who are mentioned in the Bible, Hagar, +Ruth, the daughters of Lot, Abigail, Abishag, the virgin of Shunam, who +reanimated David with her caresses when he was dying, and the others, +young, stout, white, patricians or plebeians, irresponsible females +belonging to a master, and submissive slaves, whether caught by the +attraction of royalty, or bought as slaves!</p> + +<p>"What did you do?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I went away," he replied simply. And we remained sitting side by side +for a long time without speaking, only dreaming! ...</p> + +<p>I have retained an impression of that evening that I can never forget. +All that I saw, felt, and heard, our fishing excursion, the octopus +also, perhaps that harrowing story, amidst those white figures on the +neighboring roofs, all seemed to concur in producing a unique sensation. +Certain meetings, certain inexplicable combinations of things, decidedly +contain a larger quantity of the secret quintessence of life, than that +which is spread over the ordinary events of our days, without anything +exceptional happening to them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_HERMAPHRODITE" id="THE_HERMAPHRODITE"></a>THE HERMAPHRODITE</h2> + + +<p>"Upon my word, I laughed at it as much as the rest," Navarette +exclaimed; "I laughed at it with that profound, cruel pitilessness which +we all of us, who are well made and vigorous, feel for those whom their +step-mother, Nature, has disfigured in some way or other, for those +laughable, feeble creatures who are, however, more to be pitied than +those poor deformed wretches from whom we turn away in spite of +ourselves.</p> + +<p>"I had been the first to make fun of him at the club, to find those easy +words which are remembered, and to turn that smooth, flabby, pink, ugly +face, like that of an old woman, and of a Levantine eunuch in which the +mouth is like a piece of inert flesh, and where the small eyes glisten +with concentrated cunning, and remind us of the watchful, angry eyes of +a gorilla, at the same time, into ridicule. I knew that he was selfish, +without any affection, unreliable, full of whims, turning like a +weathercock with every wind that blows, and caring for nothing in the +world except gambling and old Dresden china.</p> + +<p>"However, our intercourse was invariably limited to a careless, 'Good +morning,' and to the usual shake of the hands which men exchange when +they meet at the theater or the club, and so I had neither to defend +him, nor to uphold him as a friend. But I can swear to you that now I +reproach myself for all these effusive jeers and bitter things, and they +weigh on my conscience now that I have been told the other side, the +equivocal enigma of that existence."</p> + +<p>"A Punch and Judy secret," Bob Shelley said, throwing the end of his +cigar into the fire.</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes; we were a hundred miles from the truth when we merely supposed +that he was unfit for service. This unhappy Lantosque, a well-born, +clever man, and very rich to boot, might have exhibited himself in some +traveling booth, for he was an hermaphrodite; do you understand? an +hermaphrodite. And his whole life was one of long, incessant torture, of +physical and moral suffering, which was more maddening than that which +Tantalus endured on the banks of the river Acheron. He had nearly +everything of the woman about him; he was a ridiculous caricature of our +sex, with his shrill voice, his large hips, his bust concealed by a +loose, wide coat, his cheeks, his chin, and upper lip without a vestige +of hair, and he had to appear like a man, to restrain and stifle his +instincts, his tastes, desires, and dreams, to fight ceaselessly against +himself, and never to allow anything of that which he endured, nor what +he longed for, nor that which was sapping his very life, to be +discovered.</p> + +<p>"Once only he was on the point of betraying himself, in spite of +himself. He ardently loved a man, as Chloe must have loved Daphnis. He +could not master himself, or calm his feverish passion, and went towards +the abyss as if seized by mental giddiness. He could imagine nothing +handsomer, more desirable, or more charming than that chance friend. He +had sudden transports, fits of surprise, tenderness, curiosity, +jealousy, the ardent longings of an old maid who is afraid of dying a +virgin, who is waiting for love as for her deliverance, who attaches +herself and devotes herself to a lover with her whole being, and who +grows emaciated and dries up, and remains misunderstood and despised.</p> + +<p>"And as they have both disappeared now, the lover dead from a sword +thrust in the middle of the chest, at Milan, on account of some ballet +girl, and as he certainly died without knowing that he had inspired such +a passion, I may tell you his name.</p> + +<p>"He was Count Sebinico, who used to deal at faro with such delicate, +white hands, and who wore rings on nearly every finger, who had such a +musical voice, and who, with his wavy hair, and his delicate profile, +looked like a handsome, Florentine Condottiere.</p> + +<p>"It must be very terrible to be thus ashamed of oneself, to have that +longing for kisses which console the most wretched in their misery, +which satisfy hunger and thirst, and assuage pain; that illusion of +delicious, intoxicating kisses, the delight and the balm of which such a +person can never know; the horror of that dishonor of being pointed at, +made fun of, driven away like unclean creatures that prostitute their +sex, and make love vile by unmentionable rites; oh! the constant +bitterness of seeing that the person we love makes fun of us, ill-uses +us, and does not show us even the slightest friendship!"</p> + +<p>"Poor devil!" Jean d'Orthyse said, in a sad and moved voice. "In his +place, I should have blown my brains out."</p> + +<p>"Everybody says that, my dear fellow, but how few there are who venture +to forestall that intruder, who always come too quickly."</p> + +<p>"Lantosque had splendid health, and declared that he had never put a +penny into a doctor's pocket, and if he had allowed himself to have been +looked after when he was confined to his bed two months before, by an +attack of influenza, we should still be hearing him propose a game of +poker before dinner, in his shrill voice. His death, however, was as +tragic and mysterious as all those tales from beyond the grave are, on +which the Invisible rests."</p> + +<p>"Although he had a cough, which threatened to tear his chest to pieces, +and although he was haunted by the fear of death, of that great depth of +darkness in which we lose ourselves in the abyss of Annihilation and +Oblivion, he obstinately refused to have his chest sounded, and repulsed +Doctor Pertuzés almost furiously, who thought he had gone out of his +mind."</p> + +<p>"He cowered down, and covered himself with the bed-clothes up to his +chin, and found strength enough to tear up the prescriptions, and to +drive everyone, whether friend or relation, who tried to make him listen +to reason, and who could not understand his attacks of rage and neurosis +from his bedside. He seemed to be possessed by some demon, like those +women in hysterical convulsions, whom the bishops used formerly to +exorcise writh much pomp. It was painful to see him."</p> + +<p>"That went on for a week, during which time the pneumonia had ample +opportunities for ravaging and giving the finishing stroke to his body, +which had been so robust and free from ailments hitherto, and he died, +trying to utter some last words which nobody understood, and endeavoring +to point out one particular article of furniture in the room."</p> + +<p>"His nearest relation was a cousin, the Marquis de Territet, a skeptic, +who lived in Burgundy, and whom all this disturbance had upset in his +habits, and whose only desire was to get it all over, the legal +formalities, the funeral, and all the rest of it, as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>"Without reflecting on the strange suggestiveness of that death-bed, and +without looking to see whether there might not be, somehow or other, a +will in which Lantosque expressed his last wishes, he wanted to spare +his corpse the contact of mercenary hands, and to lay him out himself.</p> + +<p>"You may judge of his surprise when, on throwing back the bed-clothes, +he first of all saw that Lantosque was dressed from head to foot in +tights, which accentuated, rather than otherwise, his female form.</p> + +<p>"Much alarmed, feeling that he must have been violating some supreme +order, and comprehending it all, he went to his cousin's writing-table, +opened it, and successively searched every drawer, and soon found an +envelope fastened with five seals, and addressed to him. He broke them +and read as follows, written on a sheet of black-edged paper:</p> + +<p>"'This is my only will. I leave all that I possess to my cousin, Roland +de Territet, on condition that he will undertake my funeral; that in his +own presence, he will have me wrapped up in the sheets of the bed on +which I die, and have me put into the coffin so, without any further +preparations. I wish to be cremated at <i>Père-Lachaise</i>, and not to be +subjected to any examination, or <i>post-mortem</i>, whatever may happen.'"</p> + +<p>"And how came the marquis to betray the secret?" Bob Shelley asked.</p> + +<p>"The marquis is married to a charming Parisian woman, and was any +married man, who loved his wife, ever known to keep a secret from her?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MARROCA" id="MARROCA"></a>MARROCA</h2> + + +<p>You ask me, my dear friend, to send you my impressions of Africa, my +adventures, and especially an account of my love affairs in this country +which has attracted me for so long. You laughed a great deal beforehand +at my dusky sweethearts, as you called them, and declared that you could +see me returning to France, followed by a tall, ebony-colored woman, +with a yellow silk handkerchief round her head, and wearing voluminous +bright-colored trousers.</p> + +<p>No doubt the Moorish women will have their turn, for I have seen several +of them who have made me feel very much inclined to have to fall in love +with them; but by way of making a beginning, I came across something +better, and very original.</p> + +<p>In your last letter to me, you say: "When I know how people love in a +country, I know that country well enough to describe it, although I may +never have seen it." Let me tell you, then, that here they love +furiously. From the very first moment, one feels a sort of trembling +ardor, of constant desire, to the very tips of the fingers, which +over-excites our amorous powers, and all our faculties of physical +sensation, from the simple contact of the hands, down to that unnamable +requirement which makes us commit so many follies.</p> + +<p>Do not misunderstand me. I do not know whether you call love of the +heart, love of the soul, whether sentimental idealism, Platonic love, in +a word, can exist on this earth; I doubt it, myself. But that other +love, sensual love, which has something good, a great deal of good about +it, is really terrible in this climate. The heat, the burning atmosphere +which makes you feverish, those suffocating blasts of wind from the +south, those waves of fire which come from the desert which is so near +us, that oppressive sirocco, which is more destructive and withering +than fire, that perpetual conflagration of an entire continent, that is +burnt even to its stones by a fierce and devouring sun, inflame the +blood, excite the flesh, and make brutes of us.</p> + +<p>But to come to my story, I shall not tell you about the beginning of my +stay in Africa. After going to Bona, Constantine, Biskara and Setif, I +went to Bougie through the defiles of Chabet, by an excellent road +through a large forest, which follows the sea at a height of six hundred +feet above it, as far as that wonderful bay of Bougie, which is as +beautiful as that of Naples, of Ajaccio, or of Douarnenez, which are the +most lovely that I know.</p> + +<p>Far away in the distance, before one goes round the large inlet where +the water is perfectly calm, one sees the Bougie. It is built on the +steep sides of a high hill, which is covered with trees, and forms a +white spot on that green slope; it might almost be taken for the foam of +a cascade, falling into the sea.</p> + +<p>I had no sooner set foot in that delightful, small town, than I knew +that I should stay for a long time. In all directions the eye rests on +rugged, strangely shaped hill-tops, which are so close together that one +can hardly see the open sea, so that the gulf looks like a lake. The +blue water is wonderfully transparent, and the azure sky, a deep azure, +as if it had received two coats of paint, expands its wonderful beauty +above it. They seem to be looking at themselves in a glass, and to be a +reflection of each other.</p> + +<p>Bougie is a town of ruins, and on the quay, when one arrives, one sees +such a magnificent ruin, that one might imagine one was at the opera. It +is the old Saracen Gate, overgrown with ivy, and there are ruins in all +directions on the hills round the town, fragments of Roman walls, bits +of Saracen monuments, the remains of Arabic buildings.</p> + +<p>I had taken a small, Moorish house, in the upper town. You know those +dwellings, which have been described so often. They have no windows on +the outside; but they are lighted from top to bottom, by an inner court. +On the first floor, they have a large, cool room, in which one spends +the days, and a terrace on the roof, on which one spends the nights.</p> + +<p>I at once fell in with the custom of all hot countries, that is to say, +of having a siesta after lunch. That is the hottest time in Africa, the +time when one can scarcely breathe; when the streets, the fields, and +the long, dazzling, white roads are deserted, when everyone is asleep, +or at any rate, trying to sleep, attired as scantily as possible.</p> + +<p>In my drawing-room, which had columns of Arabic architecture, I had +placed a large, soft couch, covered with a carpet from Djebel Amour, +very nearly in the costume of Assan, but I could not sleep, as I was +tortured by my continence. There are two forms of torture on this earth, +which I hope you will never know: the want of water, and the want of +women, and I do not know which is the worst. In the desert, men would +commit any infamy for the sake of a glass of clean, cold water, and what +would one not do in some of the towns of the littoral, for a handsome, +fleshy, healthy girl? For there is no lack of girls in Africa; on the +contrary, they abound, but to continue my comparison, they are as +unwholesome and decayed as the muddy water in the wells of Sahara.</p> + +<p>Well, one day when I was feeling more enervated than usual, I was trying +in vain to close my eyes. My legs twitched as if they were being +pricked, and I tossed about uneasily on my couch, until at last, unable +to bear it any longer, I got up and went out. It was a terribly hot day, +in the middle of July, and the pavement was hot enough to bake bread on. +My shirt, which was soaked with perspiration immediately, clung to my +body, and on the horizon there was a slight, white vapor, which seemed +to be palpable heat.</p> + +<p>I went down to the sea, and going round the port, I went along the shore +of the pretty bay where the baths are. There was nobody about, and +nothing was stirring; not a sound of bird or of beast was to be heard, +the very waves did not lap, and the sea appeared to be asleep in the +sun.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, behind one of the rocks, which were half covered by the silent +water, I heard a slight movement, and on turning round, I saw a tall, +naked girl, sitting up to her breasts in the water, taking a bath; no +doubt she reckoned on being alone, at that hot period of the day. Her +head was turned towards the sea, and she was moving gently up and down, +without seeing me.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more surprising than that picture of the beautiful +woman in the water, which was as clear as crystal, under a blaze of +light. For she was a marvelously beautiful woman, tall, and modeled like +a statue. She turned round, uttered a cry, and half swimming, half +walking, she went and hid altogether behind her rock; but as she must +necessarily come out, I sat down on the beach and waited. Presently, she +just showed her head, which was covered with thick black plaits. She had +a rather large mouth, with full lips, large, bold eyes, and her skin, +which was rather tanned by the climate, looked like a piece of old, +hard, polished ivory.</p> + +<p>She called out to me: "Go away!" and her full voice, which corresponded +to her strong build, had a guttural accent, and as I did not move, she +added: "It is not right of you to stop there, monsieur." I did not move, +however, and her head disappeared. Ten minutes passed, and then her +hair, then her forehead, and then her eyes reappeared, but slowly and +prudently, as if she were playing at hide-and-seek, and were looking to +see who was near. This time she was furious, and called out: "You will +make me get some illness, and I shall not come out as long as you are +there." Thereupon, I got up and went away, but not without looking round +several times. When she thought I was far enough off, she came out of +the water; bending down and turning her back to me, she disappeared in a +cavity in the rock, behind a petticoat that was hanging up in front of +it.</p> + +<p>I went back the next day. She was bathing again, but she had a bathing +costume, and she began to laugh, and showed her white teeth. A week +later we were friends, and in another week we were eager lovers. Her +name was Marroca, and she pronounced it as if there were a dozen <i>r's</i> +in it. She was the daughter of Spanish colonists, and had married a +Frenchman, whose name was Pontabeze. He was in government employ, though +I never exactly knew what his functions were. I found out that he was +always very busy, and I did not care for anything else.</p> + +<p>She then altered her time for having her bath, and came to my house +every day, to have a siesta there. What a siesta! It could scarcely be +called reposing! She was a splendid girl, of a somewhat animal, but +superb type. Her eyes were always glowing with passion; her half-open +mouth, her sharp teeth, and even her smiles, had something ferociously +loving about them; and her curious, long and straight breasts, which +were as pointed as if they had been pears of flesh, and as elastic as if +they contained steel springs, gave her whole body something of the +animal, made her a sort of inferior and magnificent being, a creature +who was destined for unbridled love, and which roused in me the idea of +those ancient deities, who gave expression to their tenderness on the +grass and under the trees.</p> + +<p>And then, her mind was as simple as two and two are four, and a sonorous +laugh served her instead of thought.</p> + +<p>Instinctively proud of her beauty, she hated the slightest covering, and +ran and frisked about my house with daring and unconscious immodesty. +When she was at last overcome and worn out by her cries and movements, +she used to sleep soundly and peacefully while the overwhelming heat +brought out minute spots of perspiration on her brown skin, and from +under her arms.</p> + +<p>Sometimes she returned in the evening, when her husband was on duty +somewhere, and we used to lie on the terrace, scarcely covered by some +fine, gauzy, Oriental fabric. When the full moon lit up the town and the +gulf, with its surrounding frame of hills, we saw on all the other +terraces what looked like an army of silent phantoms lying, who would +occasionally get up, change their places, and lie down again, in the +languorous warmths of the starry sky.</p> + +<p>But in spite of the brightness of African nights, Marroca would insist +on stripping herself almost naked in the clear rays of the moon; she did +not trouble herself much about anybody who might see us, and often, in +spite of my fears and entreaties, she uttered long, resounding cries, +which made the dogs in the distance howl.</p> + +<p>One night, when I was sleeping under the starry sky, she came and knelt +down on my carpet, and putting her lips, which curled slightly, close to +my face, she said: "You must come and stay at my house." I did not +understand her, and asked: "What do you mean?" "Yes, when my husband has +gone away; you must come and be with me."</p> + +<p>I could not help laughing, and said: "Why, as you come here?" And she +went on almost talking into my mouth, sending her hot breath into my +throat, and moistening my moustache with her lips: "I want it as a +remembrance." Still I did not grasp her meaning; she put her arms round +my neck. "When you are no longer here, I shall think of it."</p> + +<p>I was touched and amused at the same time, and said: "You must be mad. I +would much rather stop here."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, I have no liking for assignations under the +conjugal roof; they are mouse-traps, in which the unwary are always +caught. But she begged and prayed, and even cried, and at last said: +"You shall see how I will love you there." Her wish seemed so strange +that I could not explain it to myself; but on thinking it over, I +thought I could discern a profound hatred for her husband, the secret +vengeance of a woman who takes a pleasure in deceiving him, and who, +moreover, wishes to deceive him in his own house.</p> + +<p>"Is your husband very unkind to you?" I asked her. She looked vexed, and +said: "Oh! No, he is very kind." "But you are not fond of him?" She +looked at me with astonishment in her large eyes. "Indeed, I am very +fond of him, very; but not so fond as I am of you."</p> + +<p>I could not understand it all, and while I was trying to get at her +meaning, she pressed one of those kisses, whose power she knew so well, +onto my lips, and whispered: "But you will come, will you not?" I +resisted, however, and so she got up immediately, and went away; nor did +she come back for a week. On the eighth day she came back, stopped +gravely at the door of my room, and said: "Are you coming to my house +to-night? ... If you refuse, I shall go away." Eight days is a very long +time, my friend, and in Africa those eight days are as good as a month. +"Yes," I said, and opened my arms, and she threw herself into them.</p> + +<p>At night she waited for me in a neighboring street, and took me to their +house, which was very small, and near the harbor. I first of all went +through the kitchen, where they had their meals, and then into a very +tidy, whitewashed room, with photographs on the walls, and paper flowers +under a glass case. Marroca seemed beside herself with pleasure, and she +jumped about, and said: "There, you are at home, now." And I certainly +acted as though I had been, though I felt rather embarrassed and +somewhat uneasy.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a loud knocking at the door made us start, and a man's voice +called out: "Marroca, it is I." She started: "My husband! ... Here, hide +under the bed, quickly." I was distractedly looking for my overcoat, but +she gave me a push, and panted out: "Come along, come along."</p> + +<p>I lay down flat on my stomach, and crept under the bed without a word, +while she went into the kitchen. I heard her open a cupboard, and then +shut it again, and she came back into the room, carrying some object +which I could not see, but which she quickly put down; and as her +husband was getting impatient, she said, calmly: "I cannot find the +matches." Then suddenly she added: "Oh! Here they are; I will come and +let you in."</p> + +<p>The man came in, and I could see nothing of him but his feet, which were +enormous. If the rest of him was in proportion, he must have been a +giant.</p> + +<p>I heard kisses, a little pat on her naked flesh, and a laugh, and he +said, in a strong Marseilles accent: "I forgot my purse, so I was +obliged to come back; you were sound asleep, I suppose." He went to the +cupboard, and was a long time in finding what he wanted; and as Marocca +had thrown herself onto a bed, as if she were tired out, he went up to +her, and no doubt tried to caress her, for she flung a volley of angry +<i>r's</i> at him. His feet were so close to me that I felt a stupid, +inexplicable longing to catch hold of them, but I restrained myself, and +when he saw that he could not succeed in his wish, he got angry, and +said: "You are not at all nice, to-night. Good-bye." I heard another +kiss, then the big feet turned, and I saw the nails in the soles of his +shoes as he went into the next room, the front door was shut, and I was +saved!</p> + +<p>I came slowly out of my retreat, feeling rather humiliated, and while +Marroca danced a jig round me, shouting with laughter, and clapping her +hands, I threw myself heavily into a chair. But I jumped up with a +bound, for I had sat down on something cold, and as I was no more +dressed than my accomplice was, the contact made me start, and I looked +round. I had sat down on a small axe, used for cutting wood, and as +sharp as a knife. How had it got there? ... I had certainly not seen it +when I went in; but Marroca seeing me jump up, nearly choked with +laughter, and coughed with both hands on her stomach.</p> + +<p>I thought her amusement rather out of place; we had risked our lives +stupidly, and I still felt a cold shiver down my back, and I was rather +hurt at her foolish laughter. "Supposing your husband had seen me?" I +said. "There was no danger of that," she replied. "What do you mean? ... +No danger? That is a good joke! ... If he had stooped down, he must have +seen me."</p> + +<p>She did not laugh any more; she only looked at me with her large eyes, +which were bright with merriment. "He would not have stooped." "Why?" I +persisted. "Just suppose that he had let his hat fall, he would have +been sure to pick it up, and then... I was well prepared to defend +myself, in this costume!" She put her two strong, round arms about my +neck, and, lowering her voice, as she did when she said: "I <i>adorre</i> +you," she whispered: "Then he would <i>never</i> have got up again." I did +not understand her, and said: "What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>She gave me a cunning wink, and put out her hand to the chair on which I +had sat down, and her outstretched hands, her smile, her half-open lips, +her white, sharp, and ferocious teeth, all drew my attention to the +little axe which was used for cutting wood, whose sharp blade was +glistening in the candle-light, and while she put out her hand as if she +were going to take it, she put her left arm round me, and drawing me to +her, and putting her lips against mine, with her right arm she made a +motion as if she were cutting off the head of a kneeling man!</p> + +<p>This, my friend, is the manner in which people here understand conjugal +duties, love, and hospitality!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AN_ARTIFICE" id="AN_ARTIFICE"></a>AN ARTIFICE</h2> + + +<p>The old doctor and his young patient were talking by the side of the +fire. There was nothing the matter with her, except that she had one of +those little feminine ailments from which pretty women frequently +suffer; slight anaemia, nervous attack, and a suspicion of fatigue, of +that fatigue from which newly married people often suffer at the end of +the first month of their married life, when they have made a love match.</p> + +<p>She was lying on the couch and talking. "No, doctor," she said; "I shall +never be able to understand a woman deceiving her husband. Even allowing +that she does not love him, that she pays no heed to her vows and +promises, how can she give herself to another man? How can she conceal +the intrigue from other people's eyes? How can it be possible to love +amidst lies and treason?"</p> + +<p>The doctor smiled, and replied: "It is perfectly easy, and I can assure +you that a woman does not think of all those little subtle details, when +she has made up her mind to go astray. I even feel certain that no woman +is ripe for true love until she has passed through all the +promiscuousness and all the loathsomeness of married life, which, +according to an illustrious man, is nothing but an exchange of +ill-tempered words by day, and disagreeable odors at night. Nothing is +more true, for no woman can love passionately until after she has +married.</p> + +<p>"As for dissimulation, all women have plenty of it on hand on such +occasions, and the simplest of them are wonderful, and extricate +themselves from the greatest dilemmas in an extraordinary way."</p> + +<p>The young woman, however, seemed incredulous. ... "No, doctor," she +said, "one never thinks until after it has happened, of what one ought +to have done in a dangerous affair, and women are certainly more liable +than men to lose their heads on such occasions." The doctor raised his +hands. "After it has happened, you say! Now, I will tell you something +that happened to one of my female patients, whom I always considered as +an immaculate woman.</p> + +<p>"It happened in a provincial town, and one night when I was sleeping +profoundly, in that deep, first sleep from which it is so difficult to +arouse us, it seemed to me, in my dreams, as if the bells in the town +were sounding a fire alarm, and I woke up with a start. It was my own +bell, which was ringing wildly, and as my footman did not seem to be +answering the door, I, in turn, pulled the bell at the head of my bed, +and soon I heard banging, and steps in the silent house, and then Jean +came into my room, and handed me a letter which said: 'Madame Lelièvre +begs Doctor Simeon to come to her immediately.'</p> + +<p>"I thought for a few moments, and then I said to myself: 'A nervous +attack, vapors, nonsense; I am too tired.' And so I replied: 'As Doctor +Simeon is not at all well, he must beg Madame Lelièvre to be kind enough +to call in his colleague, Monsieur Bonnet.' I put the note into an +envelope, and went to sleep again, but about half an hour later the +street bell rang again, and Jean came to me and said: 'There is somebody +downstairs; I do not quite know whether it is a man or a woman, as the +individual is so wrapped up, who wishes to speak to you immediately. He +says it is a matter of life and death for two people. Whereupon, I sat +up in bed and told him to show the person in.</p> + +<p>"A kind of black phantom appeared, who raised her veil as soon as Jean +had left the room. It was Madame Berthe Lelièvre, quite a young woman, +who had been married for three years to a large shop-keeper in the town, +who was said to have married the prettiest girl in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>"She was terribly pale, her face was contracted like the faces of mad +people are, occasionally, and her hands trembled violently. Twice she +tried to speak, without being able to utter a sound, but at last she +stammered out: 'Come... quick... quick, Doctor... Come... my... my lover +has just died in my bedroom.' She stopped, half suffocated with emotion, +and then went on: 'My husband will... be coming home from the club very +soon.'</p> + +<p>"I jumped out of bed, without even considering that I was only in my +night-shirt, and dressed myself in a few moments, and then I said: 'Did +you come a short time ago?' 'No,' she said, standing like a statue +petrified with horror. 'It was my servant... she knows.' And then, after +a short silence, she went on: 'I was there... by his side.' And she +uttered a sort of cry of horror, and after a fit of choking, which made +her gasp, she wept violently, and shook with spasmodic sobs for a minute +or two. Then her tears suddenly ceased, as if by an internal fire, and +with an air of tragic calmness, she said: 'Let us make haste.'</p> + +<p>"I was ready, but I exclaimed: 'I quite forgot to order my carriage.' 'I +have one,' she said; 'it is his, which was waiting for him!' She wrapped +herself up, so as to completely conceal her face, and we started."</p> + +<p>"When she was by my side in the darkness of the carriage, she suddenly +seized my hand, and crushing it in her delicate fingers, she said, with +a shaking voice, that proceeded from a distracted heart: 'Oh! If you +only knew, if you only knew what I am suffering! I loved him, I have +loved him distractedly, like a mad woman, for the last six months.' 'Is +anyone up in your house?' I asked. 'No, nobody except Rose, who knows +everything.'</p> + +<p>"We stopped at the door, and evidently everybody was asleep, and we went +in without making any noise, by means of her latch-key, and walked +upstairs on tip-toe. The frightened servant was sitting on the top of +the stairs, with a lighted candle by her side, as she was afraid to stop +by the dead man, and I went into the room, which was turned upside down, +as if there had been a struggle in it. The bed, which was tumbled and +open, seemed to be waiting for somebody; one of the sheets was hanging +onto the floor, and wet napkins, with which they had bathed the young +man's temples, were lying on the floor, by the side of a wash-hand basin +and a glass, while a strong smell of vinegar pervaded the room."</p> + +<p>"The dead man's body was lying at full length in the middle of the room, +and I went up to it, looked at it, and touched it. I opened the eyes, +and felt the hands, and then, turning to the two women, who were shaking +as if they were frozen, I said to them: 'Help me to carry him onto the +bed.' When we had laid him gently onto it, I listened to his heart, and +put a looking-glass to his lips, and then said: 'It is all over; let us +make haste and dress him.' It was a terrible sight!</p> + +<p>"I took his limbs one by one, as if they had belonged to some enormous +doll, and held them out to the clothes which the women brought, and they +put on his socks, drawers, trousers, waistcoat, and lastly the coat, but +it was a difficult matter to get the arms into the sleeves.</p> + +<p>"When it came to buttoning his boots, the two women knelt down, while I +held the light, but as his feet were rather swollen, it was very +difficult, and as they could not find a button-hook, they had to use +their hairpins. When the terrible toilet was over, I looked at our work, +and said: 'You ought to arrange his hair a little.' The girl went and +brought her mistress's large-toothed comb and brush, but as she was +trembling, and pulling out his long, matted hair in doing it, Madame +Lelièvre took the comb out of her hand, and arranged his hair as if she +were caressing him. She parted it, brushed his beard, rolled his +moustachios gently round her fingers, as she had no doubt been in the +habit of doing, in the familiarities of their intrigue.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly, however, letting go of his hair, she took her dead lover's +inert head in her hands, and looked for a long time in despair at the +dead face, which no longer could smile at her, and then, throwing +herself onto him, she took him into her arms and kissed him ardently. +Her kisses fell like blows onto his closed mouth and eyes, onto his +forehead and temples, and then, putting her lips to his ear, as if he +could still hear her, and as if she were about to whisper something to +him, to make their embraces still more ardent, she said several times, +in a heartrending voice: 'Adieu, my darling!'</p> + +<p>"Just then the clock struck twelve, and I started up. 'Twelve o'clock!' +I exclaimed. 'That is the time when the club closes. Come, Madame, we +have not a moment to lose!' She started up, and I said: 'We must carry +him into the drawing-room.' And when we had done this, I placed him on a +sofa, and lit the chandeliers, and just then the front door was opened +and shut noisily. He had come back, and I said: Rose, bring me the basin +and the towels, and make the room look tidy. Make haste, for heaven's +sake! Monsieur Lelièvre is coming in.'</p> + +<p>"I heard his steps on the stairs, and then his hands feeling along the +walls. 'Come here, my dear fellow,' I said, 'we have had an accident.'</p> + +<p>"And the astonished husband appeared in the door with a cigar in his +mouth, and said: 'What is the matter? What is the meaning of this?' 'My +dear friend,' I said, going up to him; 'you find us in great +embarrassment. I had remained late, chatting with your wife and our +friend, who had brought me in his carriage, when he suddenly fainted, +and in spite of all we have done, he has remained unconscious for two +hours. I did not like to call in strangers, and if you will now help me +downstairs with him, I shall be able to attend to him better at his own +house.'</p> + +<p>"The husband, who was surprised, but quite unsuspicious, took off his +hat, and then he took his rival, who would be quite inoffensive for the +future, under his arms. I got between his two legs, as if I had been a +horse between the shafts, and we went downstairs, while his wife lighted +us. When we got outside, I held the body up, so as to deceive the +coachman, and said: 'Come, my friend; it is nothing; you feel better +already, I expect. Pluck up your courage, and make an attempt. It will +soon be over.' But as I felt that he was slipping out of my hands, I +gave him a slap on the shoulder, which sent him forward and made him +fall into the carriage, and then I got in after him. Monsieur Lelièvre, +who was rather alarmed, said to me: 'Do you think it is anything +serious?' To which I replied, '<i>No</i>,' with a smile, as I looked at his +wife, who had put her arm into that of her legitimate husband, and was +trying to see into the carriage.</p> + +<p>"I shook hands with them, and told my coachman to start, and during the +whole drive the dead man kept falling against me. When we got to his +house, I said that he had become unconscious on the way home, and helped +to carry him upstairs, where I certified that he was dead, and acted +another comedy to his distracted family, and at last I got back to bed, +not without swearing at lovers."</p> + +<p>The doctor ceased, though he was still smiling, and the young woman, who +was in a very nervous state, said: "Why have you told me that terrible +story?"</p> + +<p>He gave her a gallant bow, and replied:</p> + +<p>"So that I may offer you my services, if necessary."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_ASSIGNATION" id="THE_ASSIGNATION"></a>THE ASSIGNATION</h2> + + +<p>Although she had her bonnet and jacket on, with a black veil over her +face, and another in her pocket, which she would put on over the +other +as soon as she had got into the cab, she was beating +the top of her +little boot with the point of her parasol, and remained sitting in her +room, without being able to make up her mind to keep this appointment.</p> + +<p>And yet, how many times within the last two years had she dressed +herself thus, when she knew that her husband would be on the Stock +Exchange, in order to go to the bachelor chambers of her lover, the +handsome Viscount de Martelet.</p> + +<p>The clock behind her was ticking loudly, a book which she had half read +through was lying open on a little rosewood writing-table between the +windows, and a strong, sweet smell of violets from two bunches which +were in a couple of Dresden china vases, mingled with a vague smell of +verbena which came through the half-open door of her dressing-room.</p> + +<p>The clock struck three, she rose up from her chair, she turned round to +look at herself in the glass and smiled. "He is already waiting for me, +and will be getting tired."</p> + +<p>Then she left the room, told her footman that she would be back in an +hour, at the latest—which was a lie; went downstairs and ventured into +the street on foot.</p> + +<p>It was towards the end of May, that delightful time of the year, when +the spring seems to be besieging Paris, and to conquer it over its +roofs, invading the houses through their walls, and making it look gay, +shedding brightness over its stone façades, the asphalt of its +pavements, the stones on the roads, bathing it and intoxicating it with +sap, like a forest putting on its spring verdure.</p> + +<p>Madame Haggan went a few steps to the right, intending, as usual, to go +along the Parade Provence, where she would hail a cab; but the soft air, +that feeling of summer which penetrates our breast on some days, now +took possession of her so suddenly that she changed her mind, and went +down the Rue de la Chausée d'Antin, without knowing why, but vaguely +attracted by a desire to see the trees in the <i>Square de la Trinité</i>.</p> + +<p>"He may just wait ten minutes longer for me," she said to herself. And +that idea pleased her also as she walked slowly through the crowd. She +fancied that she saw him growing impatient, looking at the clock, +opening the window, listening at the door, sitting down for a few +moments, getting up again, and not daring to smoke, as she had forbidden +him to do so when she was coming to him, and throwing despairing looks +at his box of cigarettes.</p> + +<p>She walked slowly, interested in what she saw, the shops and the people +she met, walking slower and slower, and so little eager to get to her +destination that she only sought for some pretext for stopping, and at +the end of the street, in the little square, the verdure attracted her +so much, that she went in, took a chair, and, sitting down, watched the +hands of the clock as they moved.</p> + +<p>Just then, the half hour struck, and her heart beat with pleasure when +she heard the chimes. She had gained half-an-hour; then it would take +her a quarter of an hour to reach the Rue Miromesnil, and a few minutes +more in strolling along—an hour! a whole hour saved from her +<i>rendez-vous</i>! She would not stop three-quarters of an hour, and that +business would be finished once more.</p> + +<p>Oh! she disliked going there! Just like a patient going to the dentist, +so she had the intolerable recollection of all their past meetings, one +a week on an average, for the last two years; and the thought that +another was going to take place immediately made her shiver with misery +from head to foot. Not that it was exactly painful, like a visit to the +dentist, but it was wearisome, so wearisome, so complicated, so long, so +unpleasant, that anything, even a visit to the dentist would have seemed +preferable to her. She went on, however, but very slowly, stopping, +sitting down, going hither and thither, but she went. Oh! how she would +have liked to miss this meeting, but she had left the unhappy viscount +in the lurch, twice following, during the last month, and she did not +dare to do it again so soon. Why did she go to see him? Oh! why? Because +she had acquired the habit of doing it, and had no reason to give poor +Martelet when he wanted to know <i>the why</i>! Why had she begun it? Why? +She did not know herself, any longer. Had she been in love with him? +Very possibly! Not very much, but a little, a long time ago! He was very +nice, sought after, perfectly dressed, most courteous, and after the +first glance, he was a perfect lover for a fashionable woman. He had +courted her for three months—the normal period, an honorable strife and +sufficient resistances—and then she had consented, and with what +emotion, what nervousness, what terrible, delightful fear, and that +first meeting in his small, ground-floor bachelor rooms, in the Rue de +Miromesnil. Her heart? What did her little heart of a woman who had been +seduced, vanquished, conquered, feel when she for the first time entered +the door of that house which was her nightmare? She really did not know! +She had quite forgotten. One remembers a fact, a date, a thing, but one +hardly remembers, after the lapse of two years, what an emotion, which +soon vanished, because it was very slight, was like. But, oh! she had +certainly not forgotten the others, that rosary of meetings, that road +to the cross of love, and those stations, which were so monotonous, so +fatiguing, so similar to each other, that she felt a nauseating taste in +her mouth at what was going to happen so soon.</p> + +<p>And the very cabs were not like the other cabs which one makes use of +for ordinary purposes! Certainly, the cabmen guessed. She felt sure of +it, by the very way they looked at her, and the eyes of these Paris +cabmen are terrible! When one remembers they are constantly remembering, +in the Courts of Justices, after a lapse of several years, faces of +criminals whom they have only driven once, in the middle of the night, +from some street or other to a railway station, and that they have to do +with almost as many passengers as there are hours in the day, and that +their memory is good enough for them to declare: "That is the man whom I +took up in the Rues des Martyrs, and put down at the Lyons Railway +Station, at 12 o'clock at night, on July 10, last year!" Is it not +terrible when one risks what a young woman risks when she is going to +meet her lover, and has to trust her reputation to the first cabman she +meets? In two years she had employed at least a hundred to a hundred and +twenty in that drive to the Rue Miromesnil, reckoning only one a week, +and they were so many witnesses, who might appear against her at a +critical moment.</p> + +<p>As soon as she was in the cab, she took another veil, which was as thick +and dark as a domino mask, out of her pocket, and put it on. That hid +her face, but what about the rest, her dress, her bonnet, and her +parasol? They might be remarked; they might, in fact, have been seen +already. Oh! I What misery she endured in this Rue de Miromesnil! She +thought that she recognized all the foot-passengers, the servants, +everybody, and almost before the cab had stopped, she jumped out and ran +past the porter who was standing outside his lodge. He must know +everything, everything!—her address, her name, her husband's +profession—everything, for those porters are the most cunning of +policemen! For two years she had intended to bribe him, to give him (to +throw at him one day as she passed him) a hundred-franc bank-note, but +she had never once dared to do it. She was frightened! What of? She did +not know! Of his calling her back, if he did not understand? Of a +scandal? Of a crowd on the stairs? Of being arrested, perhaps? To reach +the Viscount's door, she had only to ascend a half a flight of stairs, +and it seemed to her as high as the tower of Saint Jacques' Church.</p> + +<p>As soon as she had reached the vestibule, she felt as if she were caught +in a trap, and the slightest noise before or behind her, nearly made her +faint. It was impossible for her to go back, because of that porter who +barred her retreat; and if anyone came down at that moment she would not +dare to ring at Martelet's door, but would pass it as if she had been +going elsewhere! She would have gone up, and up, and up! She would have +mounted forty flights of stairs! Then, when everything would seem quiet +again down below, she would run down, feeling terribly frightened, lest +she would not recognize the lobby.</p> + +<p>He was there in a velvet coat lined with silk, very stylish, but rather +ridiculous, and for two years he had never altered his manner of +receiving her, not in a single movement! As soon as he had shut the +door, he used to say this: "Let me kiss your hands, my dear, dear +friend!" Then he followed her into the room, when with closed shutters +and lighted candles, out of refinement, no doubt, he knelt down before +her and looked at her from head to foot with an air of adoration. On the +first occasion that had been very nice and very successful; but now it +seemed to her as if she saw Monsieur Delauney acting the last scene of a +successful piece for the hundred and twentieth time. He might really +change his manner of acting. But no, he never altered his manner of +acting, poor fellow. What a good fellow he was, but very commonplace!</p> + +<p>And how difficult it was to undress and dress without a lady's maid! +Perhaps that was the moment when she began to take a dislike to him. +When he said: "Do you want me to help you?" she could have killed him. +Certainly there were not many men as awkward as he was, or as +uninteresting. Certainly, little Baron de Isombal would never have asked +her in such a manner: "Do you want me to help you?" He would have helped +her, he was so witty, so funny, so active. But there! He was a +diplomatist, he had been about in the world, and had roamed everywhere, +and, no doubt, dressed and undressed women who were arrayed in every +possible fashion! ...</p> + +<p>The church clock struck the three-quarters, and she looked at the dial, +and said: "Oh, how agitated he will be!" and then she quickly left the +square; but she had not taken a dozen steps outside, when she found +herself face to face with a gentleman who bowed profoundly to her.</p> + +<p>"Why! Is that you, Baron?" she said, in surprise. She had just been +thinking of him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Madame." And then, after asking how she was, and a few vague +words, he continued: "Do you know that you are the only one—you will +allow me to say of my lady friends, I hope? who has not yet seen my +Japanese collection."</p> + +<p>"But my dear Baron, a lady cannot go to a bachelor's room like this."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? That is a great mistake, when it is a question of +seeing a rare collection!"</p> + +<p>"At any rate, she cannot go alone."</p> + +<p>"And why not? I have received a number of ladies alone, only for the +sake of seeing my collection! They come every day. Shall I tell you +their names? No—I will not do that; one must be discreet, even when one +it not guilty; as a matter of fact, there is nothing improper in going +to the house of a well-known serious man who holds a certain position, +unless one goes for an unavoidable reason!"</p> + +<p>"Well, what you have said is certainly correct, at bottom."</p> + +<p>"So you will come and see my collection?"</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"Well, now, immediately."</p> + +<p>"Impossible; I am in a hurry."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, you have been sitting in the square for this last half hour."</p> + +<p>"You were watching me?"</p> + +<p>"I was looking at you."</p> + +<p>"But I am sadly in a hurry."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> am sure you are not. Confess that you are in no particular hurry."</p> + +<p>Madame Haggan began to laugh, and said: "Well, ... no ... not ... +very...."</p> + +<p>A cab passed close to them, and the little Baron called out: "Cabman!" +and the vehicle stopped, and opening the door, he said: "Get in, +Madame."</p> + +<p>"But, Baron! no, it is impossible to-day; I really cannot."</p> + +<p>"Madame, you are acting very imprudently; get in! people are beginning +to look at us, and you will collect a crowd; they will think I am trying +to carry you off, and we shall both be arrested; please get in!"</p> + +<p>She got in, frightened and bewildered, and he sat down by her side, +saying to the cabman: "Rue de Provence."</p> + +<p>But suddenly she exclaimed: "Good heavens! I have forgotten a very +important telegram; please drive to the nearest telegraph office first +of all."</p> + +<p>The cab stopped a little farther on, in the Rue de Châteaudun, and she +said to the Baron: "Would you kindly get me a fifty centimes telegraph +form? I promised my husband to invite Martelet to dinner to-morrow, and +had quite forgotten it."</p> + +<p>When the Baron returned and gave her the blue telegraph form, she wrote +in pencil:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My Dear Friend: I am not at all well. I am suffering terribly from +neuralgia, which keeps me in bed. Impossible to go out. Come and +dine to-morrow night, so that I may obtain my pardon.</p> + +<p>"JEANNE."</p></div> + +<p>She wetted the gum, fastened it carefully, and addressed it to: +"Viscount de Martelet, 240 Rue Miromesnil," and then, giving it back to +the Baron, she said: "Now, will you be kind enough to throw this into +the telegram box."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AN_ADVENTURE" id="AN_ADVENTURE"></a>AN ADVENTURE</h2> + + +<p>"Come! Come!" Pierre Dufaille said, shrugging his shoulders. "What are +you talking about, when you say that there are no more adventures? Say +that there are no more adventurous men, and you will be right! Yes, +nobody ventures to trust to chance, in these days, for as soon as there +is any slight mystery, or a spice of danger, they draw back. If, +however, a man is willing to go into them blindly, and to run the risk +of anything that may happen, he can still meet with adventures, and even +I, who never look for them, met with one in my life, and a very +startling one; let me tell you.</p> + +<p>"I was staying in Florence, and was living very quietly, and all I +indulged in, in the way of adventures, was to listen occasionally to the +immoral proposals with which every stranger is beset at night on the +<i>Piazzo de la Signoria</i>, by some worthy Pandarus or other, with a head +like that of a venerable priest. These excellent fellows generally +introduce you to their families, where debauchery is carried on in a +very simple, and almost patriarchal fashion, and where one does not run +the slightest risk.</p> + +<p>"One day as I was admiring Benvenuto Cellini's wonderful Perseus, in +front of the <i>Loggia del Lanzi</i>, I suddenly felt my sleeve pulled +somewhat roughly, and on turning round, I found myself face to face with +a woman of about fifty, who said to me with a strong German accent: +'You are French, Monsieur, are you not?' 'Certainly, I am,' I replied. +'And would you like to go home with a very pretty woman?'</p> + +<p>"'Most certainly I should,' I replied, with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Nothing could have been funnier than the looks and the serious air of +the procuress, or than the strangeness of the proposal, made to broad +daylight, and in very bad French, but it was even worse when she added: +'Do you know everything they do in Paris?' 'What do you mean, my good +woman?' I asked her, rather startled. 'What is done in Paris, that is +not done everywhere else?'</p> + +<p>"However, when she explained her meaning, I replied that I certainly +could not, and as I was not quite so immodest as the lady, I blushed a +little. But not for long, for almost immediately afterwards I grew pale, +when she said: 'I want to assure myself of it, personally.' And she said +this in the same phlegmatic manner, which did not seem so funny to me +now, but, on the contrary, rather frightened me. 'What!' I said. +'Personally! You! Explain yourself!'</p> + +<p>"If I had been rather surprised before, I was altogether astonished at +her explanation. It was indeed an adventure, and was almost like a +romance. I could scarcely believe my ears, but this is what she told me.</p> + +<p>"She was the confidential attendant on a lady moving in high society, +who wished to be initiated into the most secret refinements of Parisian +high life, and who had done me the honor of choosing me for her +companion. But then, this preliminary test! 'By Jove!' I said to myself, +'this old German hag is not so stupid as she looks!' And I laughed in my +sleeve, as I listened inattentively to what she was saying to persuade +me.</p> + +<p>"'My mistress is the prettiest woman you can dream of; a real beauty; +springtime! A flower!' 'You must excuse me, but if your mistress is +really like springtime and a flower, you (pray excuse me for being so +blunt) are not exactly that, and perhaps I should not exactly be in a +mood to humor you, my dear lady, in the same way that I might her.'</p> + +<p>"She jumped back, astonished in turn: 'Why, I only want to satisfy +myself with my own eyes; not by injuring you.' And she finished her +explanation, which had been incomplete before. All she had to do was to +go with me to <i>Mother Patata's</i> well-known establishment, and there to +be present while I conversed with one of its fair and frail inhabitants.</p> + +<p>"'Oh!' I said to myself, 'I was mistaken in her tastes. She is, of +course, an old, shriveled up woman, as I guessed, but she is a +specialist. This is interesting, upon my word! I never met with such a +one before!'</p> + +<p>"Here, gentlemen, I must beg you to allow me to hide my face for a +moment. What I said was evidently not strictly correct, and I am rather +ashamed of it; my excuse must be that I was young, that <i>Patata's</i> was a +celebrated place, of which I had heard wonderful things said, but the +entry to which was barred me, on account of my small means. Five +napoleons was the price! Fancy! I could not treat myself to it, and so I +accepted the good lady's offer. I do not say that it was not +disagreeable, but what was I to do? And then, the old woman was a +German, and so her five napoleons were a slight return for our five +milliards, which we paid them as our war indemnity.</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>Patata's</i> boarder was charming, the old woman was not too +troublesome, and your humble servant did his best to sustain the ancient +glory of Frenchmen.</p> + +<p>"Let me drink my disgrace to the dregs! On the next day but one after, I +was waiting at the statue of Perseus. It was shameful, I confess, but I +enjoyed the partial restitution of the five milliards, and it is +surprising how a Frenchman loses his dignity, when he is traveling.</p> + +<p>"The good lady made her appearance at the appointed time. It was quite +dark, and I followed her without a word, for, after all, I was not very +proud of the part I was playing. But if you only knew how fair that +little girl at <i>Patata's</i> was! As I went along, I thought only of her, +and did not pay any attention to where we were going, and I was only +roused from my reverie by hearing the old woman say: 'Here we are. Try +and be as entertaining as you were the day before yesterday.'</p> + +<p>"We were not outside <i>Patata's</i> house, but in a narrow street running by +the side of a palace with high walls, and in front of us was a small +door, which the old woman opened gently.</p> + +<p>"For a moment I felt inclined to draw back. Apparently the old hag was +also ardent on her own account! She had me in a trap! No doubt she +wanted in her turn to make use of my small talents! But, no! That was +impossible!</p> + +<p>"'Go in! Go in!' she said. 'What are you afraid of? My mistress is so +pretty, so pretty, much prettier than the little girl of the other day.' +So it was really true, this story out of <i>The Arabian Nights</i>? Why not? +And after all, what was I risking? The good woman would certainly not +injure me, and so I went in, though somewhat nervously.</p> + +<p>"Oh! My friend, what an hour I spent then! Paradise! and it would be +useless, impossible to describe it to you! Apartments fit for a +princess, and one of those princesses out of fairy tales, a fairy +herself. An exquisite German woman, exquisite as German women can be, +when they try. An Undine of Heinrich Heine's, with hair like the Virgin +Mary's, innocent blue eyes, and a skin like strawberries and cream.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly, however, my Undine got up, and her face convulsed with fury +and pride. Then, she rushed behind some hangings, where she began to +give vent to a flood of German words, which I did not understand, while +I remained standing, dumbfounded. But just then, the old woman came in, +and said, shaking with fear: 'Quick, quick; dress yourself and go, if +you do not wish to be killed.'</p> + +<p>"I asked no questions, for what was the good of trying to understand? +Besides, the old woman, who grew more and more terrified, could not find +any French words, and chattered wildly. I jumped up and got into my +shoes and overcoat and ran down the stairs, and in the street.</p> + +<p>"Ten minutes later, I recovered my breath and my senses, without knowing +what streets I had been through, nor where I had come from, and I stole +furtively into my hotel, as if I had been a malefactor.</p> + +<p>"In the <i>cafés</i> the next morning, nothing was talked of except a crime +that had been committed during the night. A German baron had killed his +wife with a revolver, but he had been liberated on bail, as he had +appealed to his counsel, to whom he had given the following explanation, +to the truth of which the lady companion of the baroness had certified.</p> + +<p>"She had been married to her husband almost by force, and detested him, +and she had some particular reasons (which were not specified) for her +hatred of him. In order to have her revenge on him, she had had him +seized, bound and gagged by four hired ruffians, who had been caught, +and who had confessed everything. Thus, reduced to immobility, and +unable to help himself, the baron had been obliged to witness a +degrading scene, where his wife caressed a Frenchman, and thus outraged +conjugal fidelity and German honor at the same time. As soon as he was +set at liberty, the baron had punished his faithless wife, and was now +seeking her accomplice."</p> + +<p>"And what did you do?" someone asked Pierre Dufaille.</p> + +<p>"The only thing I could do, by George!" he replied. "I put myself at the +poor devil's disposal; it was his right, and so we fought a duel. Alas! +It was with swords, and he ran me right through the body. That was also +his right, but he exceeded his right when he called me her <i>ponce</i>. Then +I gave him his chance, and as I fell, I called out with all the strength +that remained to me: 'A Frenchman! A Frenchman! Long live France!'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_DOUBLE_PINS" id="THE_DOUBLE_PINS"></a>THE DOUBLE PINS</h2> + + +<p>"Ah; my-dear fellow, what jades women are!"</p> + +<p>"What makes you say that?"</p> + +<p>"Because they have played me an abominable trick."</p> + +<p>"You?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, me."</p> + +<p>"Women, or a woman?"</p> + +<p>"Two women."</p> + +<p>"Two women at once?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"What was the trick?"</p> + +<p>The two young men were sitting outside a <i>café</i> on the Boulevards, and +drinking liquors mixed with water, those aperients which look like +infusions of all the shades in a box of water-colors. They were nearly +the same age, twenty-five to thirty. One was dark and the other fair, +and they had the same semi-elegant look of stock-jobbers, of men who go +to the Stock Exchange, and into drawing-rooms, who are to be seen +everywhere, who live everywhere, and love everywhere. The dark one +continued.</p> + +<p>"I have told you of my connection with that little woman, a tradesman's +wife, whom I met on the beach at Dieppe?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, you know what it is. I had a mistress in Paris, whom I +loved dearly; an old friend, a good friend, and it has grown into a +habit, in fact, and I value it very much."</p> + +<p>"Your habit."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my habit, and hers also. She is married to an excellent man, whom +I also value very much, a very cordial fellow. A capital companion! I +may say, I think that my life is bound up with that house."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Well! they could not manage to leave Paris, and I found myself a +widower at Dieppe."</p> + +<p>"Why did you go to Dieppe?"</p> + +<p>"For change of air. One cannot remain on the Boulevards the whole time."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"Then I met the little woman I mentioned to you on the beach there."</p> + +<p>"The wife of that head of the public office?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; she was dreadfully dull; her husband only came every Sunday, and +he is horrible! I understand her perfectly, and we laughed and danced +together."</p> + +<p>"And the rest?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but that came later. However, we met, we liked each other. I told +her I liked her, and she made me repeat it, so that she might understand +it better, and she put no obstacles in my way."</p> + +<p>"Did you love her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a little; she is very nice."</p> + +<p>"And what about the other?"</p> + +<p>"The other was in Paris! Well, for six weeks it was very pleasant, and +wre returned here on the best of terms. Do you know how to break with a +woman, when that woman has not wronged you in any way?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, perfectly well."</p> + +<p>"How do you manage it?"</p> + +<p>"I give her up."</p> + +<p>"How do you do it?"</p> + +<p>"I do not see her any longer."</p> + +<p>"But supposing she comes to you?"</p> + +<p>"I am ... not at home."</p> + +<p>"And if she comes again?"</p> + +<p>"I say I am not well."</p> + +<p>"If she looks after you?"</p> + +<p>"I play her some dirty trick."</p> + +<p>"And if she puts up with it?"</p> + +<p>"I write to her husband anonymous letters, so that he may look after her +on the days that I expect her."</p> + +<p>"That is serious! I cannot resist, and do not know how to bring about a +rupture, and so I have a collection of mistresses. There are some whom I +do not see more than once a year, others every ten months, others on +those days when they want to dine at a restaurant, those whom I have put +at regular intervals do not worry me, but I often have great difficulty +with the fresh ones, so as to keep them at proper intervals."</p> + +<p>"And then...."</p> + +<p>"And then ... Then, this little woman was all fire and flame, without +any fault of mine, as I told you! As her husband spends all the whole +day at his office, she began to come to me unexpectedly, and twice she +nearly met my regular one on, the stairs."</p> + +<p>"The devil!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; so I gave each of them her days, regular days, to avoid confusion; +Saturday and Monday for the old one, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday for the +new one."</p> + +<p>"Why did you show her the preference?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! My dear friend, she is younger."</p> + +<p>"The devil!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; so I gave each of them her days, regular days, to avoid confusion; +Saturday and Monday for the old one, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday for the +new one."</p> + +<p>"Why did you show her the preference?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! My dear friend, she is younger."</p> + +<p>"So that only gave you two days to yourself in a week."</p> + +<p>"That is enough for one."</p> + +<p>"Allow me to compliment you on that."</p> + +<p>"Well, just fancy that the most ridiculous and most annoying thing in +the world happened to me. For four months everything had been going on +perfectly; I felt perfectly safe, and I was really very happy, when +suddenly, last Monday, the crash came.</p> + +<p>"I was expecting my regular one at the usual time, a quarter past one, +and was smoking a good cigar, and dreaming, very well satisfied with +myself, when I suddenly saw that it was past the time, at which I was +much surprised, for she is very punctual, but I thought that something +might have accidentally delayed her. However, half-an-hour passed, then +an hour, an hour and a half, and then I knew that something must have +detained her; a sick headache, perhaps, or some annoying visitor. That +sort of waiting is very vexatious, that ... useless waiting ... very +annoying and enervating. At last, I made up my mind to go out, and not +knowing what to do, I went to her and found her reading a novel."</p> + +<p>"Well!" I said to her. And she replied quite calmly:</p> + +<p>"My dear I could not come; I was hindered."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"My ... something else."</p> + +<p>"What was it?</p> + +<p>"A very annoying visit."</p> + +<p>"I saw that she would not tell me the true reason, and as she was very +calm, I did not trouble myself any more about it, and hoped to make up +for lost time with the other, the next day, and on the Tuesday, I was +very ... very excited, and amorous in expectation of the public +official's little wife, and I was surprised that she had not come before +the appointed time, and I looked at the clock every moment, and watched +the hands impatiently, but the quarter past, then the half-hour, then +two o'clock. I could not sit still any longer, and walked up and down +very soon in great strides, putting my face against the window, and my +ears to the door, to listen whether she was not coming upstairs."</p> + +<p>"Half-past two, three o'clock! I seized my hat, and rushed to her house. +She was reading a novel my dear fellow! 'Well!' I said, anxiously, and +she replied as calmly as usual: 'I was hindered, and could not come.'</p> + +<p>"'By what?'</p> + +<p>"'An annoying visit.'</p> + +<p>"Of course, I immediately thought that they both knew everything, but +she seemed so calm and quiet, that I set aside my suspicions, and +thought it was only some strange coincidence, as I could not believe in +such dissimulation on her part, and so, after half-an-hour's friendly +talk, which was, however, interrupted a dozen times by her little girl +coming in and out of the room. I went away, very much annoyed. Just +imagine the next day...."</p> + +<p>"The same thing happened?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and the next also. And that went on for three weeks without any +explanation, without anything explaining that strange conduct to me, the +secret of which I suspected, however."</p> + +<p>"They knew everything?"</p> + +<p>"I should think so, by George. But how? Ah! I had a great deal of +anxiety before I found it out."</p> + +<p>"How did you manage it at last?"</p> + +<p>"From their letters, for on the same day they both gave me their +dismissal in identical terms."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"This is how it was.... You know that women always have an array of pins +about them. I know hairpins, I doubt them, and look after them, but the +others are much more treacherous; those confounded little black-headed +pins which look all alike to us, great fools that we are, but which they +can distinguish, just as we can distinguish a horse from a dog.</p> + +<p>"Well, it appears that one day my minister's little wife left one of +those tell-tale instruments pinned to the paper, close to my +looking-glass. My usual one had immediately seen this little black +speck, no bigger than a flea, and had taken it out without saying a +word, and then had left one of her pins, which was also black, but of a +different pattern, in the same place.</p> + +<p>"The next day, the minister's wife wished to recover her property, and +immediately recognized the substitution. Then her suspicions were +aroused, and she put in two and crossed them, and my original one +replied to this telegraphic signal by three black pellets, one on the +top of the other, and as soon as this method had begun, they continued +to communicate with one another, without saying a word, only to spy on +each other. Then it appears that the regular one, being bolder, wrapped +a tiny piece of paper round the little wire point, and wrote upon it: +<i>C. D., Poste Restante, Boulevards, Malherbes</i>.</p> + +<p>"Then they wrote to each other. You understand that was not everything +that passed between them. They set to work with precaution, with a +thousand stratagems, with all the prudence that is necessary in such +cases, but the regular one did a bold stroke, and made an appointment +with the other. I do not know what they said to each other; all that I +know is, that I had to pay the costs of their interview. There you have +it all!"</p> + +<p>"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And you do not see them any more?"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon. I see them as friends, for we have not quarreled +altogether."</p> + +<p>"And have they met again?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear fellow, they have become intimate friends."</p> + +<p>"And has not that given you an idea?"</p> + +<p>"No, what idea?"</p> + +<p>"You great booby! The idea of making them put back the pins where they +found them."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="UNDER_THE_YOKE" id="UNDER_THE_YOKE"></a>UNDER THE YOKE</h2> + + +<p>As he was a man of quiet and regular habits, and of a simple and +affectionate disposition, and had nothing to disturb the even tenor of +his life, Monsieur de Loubancourt suffered more than most men do from +his widowerhood. He regretted his lost happiness, was angry with fate, +which separated united couples so brutally, and which made choice of a +tranquil existence, whose sleepy quietude had not hitherto been troubled +by any cares or chimeras, in order to rob it of its happiness.</p> + +<p>Had he been younger, he might, perhaps, have been tempted to form a new +line, to fill up the vacant place, and to marry again. But when a man is +nearly sixty, such ideas make people laugh, for they have something +ridiculous and insane about them; and so he dragged on his dull and +weary existence, escaped from all those familiar objects which +constantly recalled the past to him, and went from hotel to hotel +without taking an interest in anything, without becoming intimate with +anyone, even temporarily; inconsolable, silent, almost enigmatical, and +looking funereal in his eternal black clothes.</p> + +<p>He was generally alone, though on rare occasions he was accompanied by +his only son, who used to yawn by stealth, and who seemed to be mentally +counting the hours, as if he were performing some hateful, enforced duty +in spite of himself.</p> + +<p>Two years of this crystallization went past, and one was as monotonous, +and as void of incident, as the other.</p> + +<p>One evening, however, in a boarding-house at Cannes, where he was +staying on his wanderings, there was a young woman dressed in mourning, +among the new arrivals, who sat next to him at dinner. She had a sad, +pale face, that told of suffering, a beautiful figure, and large, blue +eyes with deep rings round them, but which, nevertheless, looked like +the first star which shines in the twilight.</p> + +<p>All remarked her, although he usually took no notice of women, no matter +whatever they were, ugly or pretty; he looked at her and listened to +her. He felt less lonely by her side, though he did not know why. He +trembled with instinctive and confused happiness, just as if in some +distant country he had found some female friend or relative, who at last +would understand him, tell him some news, and talk to him in his dear +native language about everything that a man leaves behind him when he +exiles himself from home.</p> + +<p>What strange affinity had thrown them together thus? What secret forces +had brought their grief in contact? What made him so sanguine and so +calm, and incited him to take her suddenly into his confidences, and +urged him on to resistless curiosity?</p> + +<p>She was an experienced traveler, who had no illusions, and was in search +of adventures; one of those women who frequently change their name, and +who, as they have made up their minds to swindle if luck is not on their +side, act a continual part, an adventuress, who could put on every +accent; who for the sake of her course, transformed herself into a Slav, +or into an American, or simply into a provincial; who was ready to take +part in any comedy in order to make money, and not to be obliged to +waste her strength and her brains on fruitless struggles or on wretched +expedients. Thus she immediately guessed the state of this melancholy +sexagenarian's mind, and the illusions which attracted him to her, and +scented the spoils which offered themselves to her cupidity of their own +accord, and divined under what guise she ought to show herself, to make +herself accepted and loved.</p> + +<p>She initiated him into depths of grief which were unknown to him, by +phrases which were cut short by sighs, by fragments of her story, which +she finished by a disgusted shrug of the shoulders, and a heartrending +smile, and by insensibly exciting his feelings. In a word, she triumphed +over the last remaining doubts, which might still have mingled with the +affectionate pity with which that poor, solitary heart, which, so full +of bitterness, overflowed.</p> + +<p>And so, for the first time since he had become a widower, the old man +confided in another person, poured out his old heart into that soul +which seemed to be so like his own, which seemed to offer him a refuge +where he could be cheered up, and where the wounds of his heart could be +healed, and he longed to throw himself into those sisterly arms, to dry +his tears and to exercise his grief there.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Monsieur de Loubancourt, who had married at twenty-five, as much from +love as from judgment, had lived quietly and peacefully in the country, +much more than in Paris. He was ignorant of the female wiles of +temptations, offered to creatures like Wanda Pulska, who was made up of +lies, and only cared for pleasure, a virgin soil on which any seed will +grow.</p> + +<p>She attached herself to him, became his shadow, and by degrees, part of +his life. She showed herself to be a charitable woman who devoted +herself to an unhappy man, who endeavored to console him, and who, in +spite of her youth, was willing to be the inseparable companion of the +old man in his slow, daily walks. She never appeared to tire of his +anecdotes and reminiscences, and she played cards with him. She waited +on him carefully when he was confined to his bed, appeared to have no +sex, and transformed herself; and though she handled him skillfully, she +seemed ingenuous and ignorant of evil. She acted like an innocent young +girl, who had just been confirmed; but for all that, she chose dangerous +hours and certain spots in which to be sentimental and to ask questions +which agitated and disconcerted him, and abandoned her slender fingers +to his feverish hands, which pressed and held them in a tender clasp.</p> + +<p>And then, there were wild declarations of love, prayers and sobs which +frightened her; wild <i>adieux</i>, which were not followed by his departure, +but which brought about a touching reconciliation and the first kiss, +and then, one night, while they were traveling together, he forced open +the door of her bedroom at the hotel, which she had locked, and came in +like a mad man. There was the phantom of violence, and the fallacious +submission of a woman, who was overcome by so much tenderness, who +rebelled no longer, but who accepted the yoke of her master and lover. +And then, the conquest of the body after the conquest of the heart, +which forged his chain link by link, pleasures which besot and corrupt +old men, and dry up their brains, until at last he allowed himself to be +induced, almost unconsciously, to make an odious and stupid will.</p> + +<p>Informed, perhaps, by anonymous letters, or astonished because his +father kept him altogether at a distance from him, and gave no signs of +life, Monsieur de Loubancourt's son joined them in Provence. But Wanda +Pulska, who had been preparing for that attack for a long time, waited +for it fearlessly.</p> + +<p>She did not seem disconcerted at that sudden visit, but was very +charming and affable towards the new comer, reassured him by her +careless airs of a girl, who took life as it came, and who was suffering +from the consequences of a fault, and did not trouble her head about the +future.</p> + +<p>He envied his father, and grudged him such a treasure. Although he had +come to combat her dangerous influence, and to treat the woman, who had +assumed the place of death, and who governed her lover as his sovereign +mistress, as an enemy, he shrunk from his task, panted with desire, lost +his head, and thought of nothing but treason and of an odious +partnership.</p> + +<p>She managed him even more easily than she had managed Monsieur de +Loubancourt, molded him just as she chose; made him her tool, without +even giving him the tips of her fingers, or granting him the slightest +favor, induced him to be so imprudent, that the old man grew jealous, +watched them, discovered the intrigue, and found mad letters in which +his son was angry, begged, threatened and implored.</p> + +<p>One evening, when she knew that her lover had come in, and was hiding in +a dark cupboard in order to watch them, Wanda happened to be alone in +the drawing-room, which was full of light, of beautiful flowers, with +this young fellow, five-and-twenty. He threw himself at her feet and +declared his love, and besought her to run away with him, and when she +tried to bring him to reason and repulsed him, and told him in a loud +and very distinct voice, how she loved Monsieur de Loubancourt, he +seized her wrists with brutal violence, and maddened with passion and +stammering words of love and lust, he pushed her towards one of the +couches.</p> + +<p>"Let me go," she said, "let me go immediately,... You are a brute to +take advantage of a woman like that.... Please let me go, or I shall +call the servants to my assistance."</p> + +<p>The next moment, the old man, terrible in his rage, rushed out of his +hiding place with clenched fists and a slobbering mouth, threw himself +on the startled son, and pointing to the door with a superb gesture, he +said:</p> + +<p>"You are a dirty scoundrel, sir. Get out of my house immediately, and +never let me see you again!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The comedy was over. Grateful for such fidelity and real affection, +Monsieur de Loubancourt married Wanda Pulska, whose name appeared on the +civil register—which was a detail of no importance to a man who was in +love—as Frida Krubstein; she came from Saxony, and had been a servant +at an inn. Then he disinherited his son, as far as he could.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>And now that she is a respectable and respected widow, Madame de +Loubancourt is received everywhere by society in those places of winter +resort where people's by-gone history is so rarely gone into, and where +women bear a name, who are pretty, and who can waltz—like the Germans +can, are always well received.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_READ_ONE_AND_THE_OTHER" id="THE_READ_ONE_AND_THE_OTHER"></a>THE READ ONE AND THE OTHER</h2> + + +<p>"Well, really," Chasseval said, standing with his back to the fire, +"could any of those respectable shop-keepers and wine growers have +possibly believed that that pretty little Parisian woman, with her soft +innocent eyes, like those of a Madonna, with such smiling lips and +golden hair, and who always dressed so simple, was their candidate's +mistress?"</p> + +<p>She was a wonderful help to him, and accompanied him even to the most +outlying farms; went to the meetings in the small village <i>cafés</i> and +had a pleasant and suitable word for every one, and did not recoil at a +glass of mulled wine or a grip of the hand, and was always ready to join +in <i>farandole</i>.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> She seemed to be so in love with Eliénne Rulhiére, +to trust him so entirely, to be so proud of forming half of his life, +and of belonging to him, gave him such looks full of pleasure and of +hope, and listened to all he said so intently, that voters who might +have hesitated, allowed themselves by degrees to be talked over and +persuaded; and promised their votes to the young doctor, whose name they +never heard mentioned in the district before.</p> + +<p>That electoral campaign had been like a truant's escapade for Jane +Dardenne; it was a delightful and unexpected holiday, and as she was an +actress at heart, she played her part seriously, and threw herself into +her character, and enjoyed herself more than she ever enjoyed herself in +her most adventurous outings.</p> + +<p>And then there came in the pleasure of being taken for a woman of the +world, of being flattered, respected and envied, and of getting out of +the usual groove for a time, and also the dream that this journey of a +few weeks would have the sequence, that her lover would not separate +from her on their return, but would sacrifice the woman whom he no +longer loved, and whom he ironically used to call his <i>Cinderella</i>, to +her.</p> + +<p>At night, when they had laid aside all pretense, and when they were +alone in their room in the hotel, she coaxed him and flattered him, +spurred his ambition on, threw her quivering arms around him, and amidst +her kisses, whispered those words to him, which make a man proud and +warm his heart, and give him strength, like a stout dram of alcohol.</p> + +<p>The two between them captured the district, and won the election easily, +and in spite of his youth, Eliénne Rulhiére was chosen by a majority of +five thousand. Then, of course, there were more fetes and banquets, at +which Jane was present, and where she was received with enthusiastic +shouts; there were fireworks, when she was obliged to set light to the +first rocket, and balls at which she astonished those worthy people by +her affability. And when they left, three little girls dressed in white, +as if they were going to be confirmed, came onto the platform and +recited some complimentary verses to her while the band played the +<i>Marseillaise</i>, the women waved their pocket-handkerchiefs, and the men +their hats, and leaning out of the carriage window, looking charming in +her traveling costume, with a smile on her lips, and with moist eyes, as +was fitting at such a pathetic leave-taking, actress as she was, with a +sudden and childlike gesture, she blew kisses to them from the tips of +her fingers, and said:</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, my friends, good-bye, only for the present; I shall never +forget you!"</p> + +<p>The deputy, who was also very effusive, had invited his principal +supporters to come and see him in Paris as there were plenty of +excursion trains. They all took him at his word, and Rulhière was +obliged to invite them all to dinner.</p> + +<p>In order to avoid any possible mishaps, he gave his wife a foretaste of +their guests. He told her that they were rather noisy, talkative, and +unpolished, and that they would, no doubt, astonish her by their manners +and their accent, but that, as they had great influence, and were +excellent men, they deserved a good reception. It was a very useful +precaution, for when they came into the drawing-room in their new +clothes, expanding with pleasure, and with their hair pomatumed as if +they had been going to a country wedding, they felt inclined to fall +down before the new Madame Rulhière to whom the deputy introduced them, +and who seemed to be perfectly at home there.</p> + +<p>At first they were embarrassed, felt uncomfortable and out of place, did +not know what to say, and had to seek their words; they buttoned and +unbuttoned their gloves, answered her questions at random, and racked +their brains to discover the solution of the enigma. Captain Mouredus +looked at the fire, with the fixed gaze of a somnambulist, Marius +Barbaste scratched his fingers mechanically, while the three others, the +factory manager, Casemajel, Roquetton, the lawyer, and Dustugue, the +hotel proprietor, looked at Rulhière anxiously.</p> + +<p>The lawyer was the first to recover himself. He got up from his arm +chair laughing heartily, dug the deputy in the ribs with his elbow, and +said:</p> + +<p>"I understand it all, I understand it; you thought that people do not +come to Paris to be bored, eh? Madame is delightful, and I congratulate +you, Monsieur."</p> + +<p>He gave a wink, and made signs behind his back to his friends, and then +the captain had his turn.</p> + +<p>"We are not boobies, and that fellow Roquetton is the most knowing of +the lot of us.... Ah! Monsieur Rulhière, without any exaggeration, you +are the cream of good fellows."</p> + +<p>And with a flushed face, and expanding his chest, he said sonorously:</p> + +<p>"They certainly turn them out very pretty in your part of the country, +my little lady!"</p> + +<p>Madame Rulhière, who did not know what to say, had gone up to her +husband for protection; but she felt much inclined to go to her own room +under some pretext or other, in order to escape from her intolerable +task. She kept her ground, however, during the whole of dinner, which +was a noisy, jovial meal, during which the five electors, with their +elbows on the table, and their waistcoats unbuttoned, and half drunk, +told coarse stories, and swore like troopers. But as the coffee and the +liquors were served in the smoking room, she took leave of her guests in +an impatient voice, and went to her own room with the hasty step of an +escaped prisoner, who is afraid of being retaken.</p> + +<p>The electors sat staring after her with gaping mouths, and Mouredus lit +a cigar, and said:</p> + +<p>"Just listen to me, Monsieur Rulhiére; it was very kind of you to invite +us here, to your little quiet establishment, but to speak to you +frankly, I should not, in your place, wrong my lawful wife for such a +stuck-up piece of goods as this one is."</p> + +<p>"The captain is quite right," Roquetton the notary opined; "Madame +Rulhiére, the lawful Madame Rulhiére, is much more amiable, and +altogether nicer. You are a scoundrel to deceive her; but when may we +hope to see her?"</p> + +<p>And with a paternal grimace, he added:</p> + +<p>"But do not be uneasy; we will all hold our tongue; it would be too sad +if she were to find it out."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_UPSTART" id="THE_UPSTART"></a>THE UPSTART</h2> + + +<p>You know good-natured, stout Dupontel, who looks like the type of a +happy man, with his fat cheeks that are the color of ripe apples, his +small, reddish moustache, turned up over his thick lips, with his +prominent eyes, which never know any emotion or sorrow, which remind one +of the calm eyes of cows and oxen, and his long back fixed onto two +little wriggling, crooked legs, which obtained for him the nickname of +corkscrew from some nymph of the ballet.</p> + +<p>Dupontel, who had taken the trouble to be born, but not like the grand +seigneurs whom Beaumarchais made fun of once upon a time, was ballasted +with a respectable number of millions, as is becoming in the sole heir +of a house that had sold household utensils and appliances for over a +century.</p> + +<p>Naturally, like every other upstart who respects himself, he wished to +appear something, to play at being a clubman, and also to play to the +gallery, because he had been educated at Vangirard and knew a little +English; because he had gone through his voluntary service in the army +for twelve months<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> at Rouen; because he was a tolerable singer, could +drive four-in-hands, and play lawn-tennis.</p> + +<p>Always studiedly well-dressed, too correct in every way, copying his way +of speaking, his hats and his trousers from the three or four snobs who +set the fashion, reproducing other people's witticisms, learning +anecdotes and jokes by heart, like a lesson, to use them again at small +parties, constantly laughing, without knowing why his friends burst into +roars of merriment, and was in the habit of keeping pretty girls for the +pleasure of his best friends. Of course he was a perfect fool, but after +all, a capital fellow, to whom it was only right to extend a good deal +of indulgence.</p> + +<p>When he had taken his thirty-first mistress, and had made the discovery +that in love, money does not create happiness two-thirds of the time, +that they had all deceived him, and made him perfectly ridiculous at the +end of the week, Charles Dupontel made up his mind to settle down as a +respectable married man, and to marry, not from calculation or from +reason, but for love.</p> + +<p>One autumn afternoon at Auteuil, he noticed in front of the club stand, +among the number of pretty women who were standing round the braziers, a +girl with such lovely delicate complexion that it looked like an apple +blossom; her hair was like threads of gold, and she was so slight and +supple that she reminded him of those outlines of saints which one sees +in old stained-glass church windows. There was also something +enigmatical about her, for she had at the same time the delightfully +ingenuous look of a school girl during the holidays, and also of some +enlightened young lady, who already knew the how and the why of +everything, who is exuberant with youth and life, and who is eagerly +waiting for the moment when marriage will at length allow her to say and +to do everything that comes into her head, and to amuse herself to +satiety.</p> + +<p>Then she had such small feet that they would have gone into a woman's +hand, a waist that could have been clasped by a bracelet, turned up +eyelashes, which fluttered like the wings of a butterfly, close on an +impudent and sensual nose, and a vague, mocking smile that made folds in +her lips, like the petals of a rose.</p> + +<p>Her father was a member of the Jockey Club, who was generally <i>cleared +out</i>, as they call it, in the great races, but who yet defended his +position bravely, and continued that, and who kept himself afloat by +prodigies of coolness and skill. He belonged to a race which could prove +that his ancestors had been at the court of Charlemagne, and not as +musicians or cooks, as some people declared.</p> + +<p>Her youth and beauty and her father's pedigree dazzled Dupontel, upset +his brain, and altogether turned him upside down, and combined they +seemed to him to be a mirage of happiness and of pride of family.</p> + +<p>He got introduced to her father, at the end of a game of baccarat, +invited him to shoot with him, and a month later, as if it were an +affair to be hurried over, he asked for and obtained the hand of +Mademoiselle Therése de Montsaigne, and felt as happy as a miner who has +discovered a vein of precious metal.</p> + +<p>The young woman did not require more than twenty-four hours to discover +that her husband was nothing but a ridiculous puppet, and immediately +set about to consider how she might best escape from her cage, and +befool the poor fellow, who loved her with all his heart.</p> + +<p>And she deceived him without the least pity or the slightest scruple; +she did it as if it were from instinctive hatred, as if it were a +necessity for her not only to make him ridiculous, but also to forget +that she ought to sacrifice her virgin dreams to him, to belong to him, +and to submit to his hateful caresses without being able to defend +himself and to repel him.</p> + +<p>She was cruel, as all women are when they do not love, delighted in +doing audacious and absurd things, and in visiting everything, and in +braving danger. She seemed like a young colt, that is intoxicated with +the sun, the air and its liberty, and which gallops wildly across the +meadows, jumps hedges and ditches, kicks, and whinnies joyously, and +rolls about in the long, sweet grass.</p> + +<p>But Dupontel remained quite imperturbable; he had not the slightest +suspicion, and was the first to laugh when anybody told him some good +story of a husband who had been cuckolded, although his wife repelled +him, quarreled with him, and constantly pretended to be out of sorts or +tired out, in order to escape from him. She seemed to take a malicious +pleasure in checkmating him by her personal remarks, her disenchanting +answers, and her apparent listlessness.</p> + +<p>They saw a great deal of company, and he called himself Du Pontel now, +and he even had thoughts of buying a title from the Pope; he only read +certain newspapers, kept up a regular correspondence with the Orleans +Princes, was thinking of starting a racing stable, and finished up by +believing that he really was a fashionable man, and strutted about, and +was puffed out with conceit, as he had probably never read La Fontaine's +fable, in which he tells the story of the ass that is laden with relics +which people salute, and so takes their bows to himself.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, however, anonymous letters disturbed his quietude, and tore +the bandage from his eyes.</p> + +<p>At first he tore them up without reading them, and shrugged his +shoulders disdainfully; but he received so many of them, and the writer +seemed so determined to dot his <i>i's</i> and cross his <i>t's</i> and to clear +his brain for him, that the unhappy man began to grow disturbed, and to +watch and to ferret about. He instituted minute inquiries, and arrived +at the conclusion that he no longer had the right to make fun of other +husbands, and that he was the perfect counterpart of <i>Sganarelle</i><a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>.</p> + +<p>Furious at having been duped, he set a whole private inquiry agency to +work, continually acted a part, and one evening appeared unexpectedly +with a commissary of police in the snug little bachelor's quarters which +concealed his wife's escapades.</p> + +<p>Therése, who was terribly frightened, and at her wits' end at being thus +surprised in all the disorder of her lover's apartments, and pale with +shame and terror, hid herself behind the bed curtains, while he, who was +an officer of dragoons, very much vexed at being mixed up in such a +pinchbeck scandal, and at being caught in a silk shirt by these men who +were so correctly dressed in frock coats, frowned angrily, and had to +restrain himself so as not to fling his victim out of a window.</p> + +<p>The police commissary, who was calmly looking at this little scene with +the coolness of an amateur, prepared to verify the fact that they were +caught <i>flagrante delicto</i>, and in an ironical voice said to her +husband, who had claimed his services:</p> + +<p>"I must ask for your name in full, Monsieur?"</p> + +<p>"Charles Joseph Edward Dupontel," was the answer. And as the commissary +was writing it down from his dictation, he added suddenly: "Du Pontel in +two words, if you please, Monsieur le Commissionaire!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_CARTERS_WENCH" id="THE_CARTERS_WENCH"></a>THE CARTER'S WENCH</h2> + + +<p>The driver, who had jumped from his box, and was now walking slowly by +the side of his thin horses, waking them up every moment by a cut of the +whip, or a coarse oath, pointed to the top of the hill, where the +windows of a solitary house, in which the inhabitants were still up, +although it was very late and quite dark, were shining like yellow +lamps, and said to me:</p> + +<p>"One gets a good drop there, Monsieur, and well served, by George."</p> + +<p>And his eyes flashed in his thin, sunburnt face, which was of a deep +brickdust color, while he smacked his lips like a drunkard, who +remembers a bottle of good liquor that he has lately drunk, and drawing +himself up in a blouse like a vulgar swell, he shivered like the back of +an ox, when it is sharply pricked with the goad.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and well served by a wench who will turn your head for you before +you have tilted your elbow and drank a glass!"</p> + +<p>The moon was rising behind the snow-covered mountain peaks, which looked +almost like blood under its rays, and which were crowned by dark, broken +clouds, which whirled about and floated, and reminded the passenger of +some terrible Medusa's head. The gloomy plains of Capsir, which were +traversed by torrents, extensive meadows in which undefined forms were +moving about, fields of rye, like huge golden table-covers, and here and +there wretched villagers, and broad sheets of water, into which the +stars seemed to look in a melancholy manner, opened out to the view. +Damp gusts of winds swept along the road, bringing a strong smell of +hay, of resin of unknown flowers, with them, and erratic pieces of rock, +which were scattered on the surface like huge boundary stones, had +spectral outlines.</p> + +<p>The driver pulled his broad-brimmed felt hat over his eyes, twirled his +large moustache, and said in an obsequious voice:</p> + +<p>"Does Monsieur wish to stop here? This is the place!"</p> + +<p>It was a wretched wayside public-house, with a reddish slate roof, that +looked as if it were suffering from leprosy, and before the door there +stood three wagons drawn by mules, and loaded with huge stems of trees, +and which took up nearly the whole of the road; the animals, which were +used to halting there, were dozing, and their heavy loads exhaled a +smell of a pillaged forest.</p> + +<p>Inside, three wagoners, one of whom was an old man, while the other two +were young, were sitting in front of the fire, which cackled loudly, +with bottles and glasses on a large round-table by their side, and were +singing and laughing boisterously. A woman with large round hips, and +with a lace cap pinned onto her hair, in the Catalan fashion, who looked +strong and bold, and who had a certain amount of gracefulness about her, +and with a pretty, but untidy head, was urging them to undo the strings +of their great leather purses, and replied to their somewhat indelicate +jokes in a shrill voice, as she sat on the knee of the youngest, and +allowed him to kiss her and to fumble in her bodice, without any signs +of shame.</p> + +<p>The coachman pushed open the door, like a man who knows that he is at +home.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, Glaizette, and everybody; there is room for two more, I +suppose?"</p> + +<p>The wagoners did not speak, but looked at us cunningly and angrily, like +dogs whose food had been taken from them, and who showed their teeth, +ready to bite, while the girl shrugged her shoulders and looked into +their eyes like some female wild beast tamer; and then she asked us with +a strange smile:</p> + +<p>"What am I to get you?"</p> + +<p>"Two glasses of cognac, and the best you have in the cupboard," +Glaizette, the coachman replied, rolling a cigarette.</p> + +<p>While she was uncorking the bottle I noticed how green her eyeballs +were; it was a fascinating, tempting green, like that of the great green +grasshopper; and also how small her hands were, which showed that she +did not use them much; how white her teeth were, and how her voice, +which was rather rough, though cooing, had a cruel, and at the same +time, a coaxing sound. I fancied I saw her, as in a mirage, reclining +triumphantly on a couch, indifferent to the fights which were going on +about her, always waiting—longing for him who would prove himself the +stronger, and who would prove victorious. She was, in short, the +hospitable dispenser of love, by the side of that difficult, stony road, +who opened her arms to poor men, and who made them forget everything in +the profusion of her kisses. She knew dark matters, which nobody in the +world besides herself should know, which her sealed lips would carry +away inviolate to the other world. She had never yet loved, and would +never really love, because she was vowed to passing kisses which were so +soon forgotten.</p> + +<p>I was anxious to escape from her as soon as possible; no longer to see +her pale, green eyes, and her mouth that bestowed caresses from pure +charity; no longer to feel the woman with her beautiful, white hands, so +near one; so I threw her a piece of gold and made my escape without +saying a word to her, without waiting for any change, and without even +wishing her good-night, for I felt the caress of her smile, and the +disdainful restlessness of her looks.</p> + +<p>The carriage started off at a gallop to Formiguéres, amidst a furious +jingling of bells. I could not sleep any more; I wanted to know where +that woman came from, but I was ashamed to ask the driver and to show +any interest in such a creature, and when he began to talk, as we were +going up another hill, as if he had guessed my sweet thoughts, he told +me all he knew about Glaizette. I listened to him with the attention of +a child, to whom somebody is telling some wonderful fairy tale.</p> + +<p>She came from Fontpédrouze, a muleteers' village, where the men spend +their time in drinking and gambling at the inn when they are not +traveling on the high roads with their mules, while the women do all the +field work, carry the heaviest loads on their back, and lead a life of +pain and misery.</p> + +<p>Her father kept an inn; the girl grew up very happy; she was courted +before she was fifteen, and was so coquettish that she was certain to be +almost always found in front of her looking-glass, smiling at her own +beauty, arranging her hair, trying to make herself like a young lady on +the <i>prado</i>. And now, as none of the family knew how to keep a +halfpenny, but spent more than they earned, and were like cracked jugs, +from which the water escapes drop by drop, they found themselves ruined +one fine day, just as if they had been at the bottom of a blind alley. +So on the "Feast of Our Lady of Succor," when people go on a pilgrimage +to Font Romea, and the villages are consequently deserted, the +inn-keeper set fire to the house. The crime was discovered through <i>la +Glaizette</i>, who could not make up her mind to leave the looking-glass, +with which her room was adorned, behind her, and so had carried it off +under her petticoat.</p> + +<p>The parents were sentenced to many years' imprisonment, and being let +loose to live as best she could, the girl became a servant, passed from +hand to hand, inherited some property from an old farmer, whom she had +caught, as if she had been a thrush on a twig covered with bird-lime, +and with the money she had built this public-house on the new road which +was being built across the Capsir.</p> + +<p>"A regular bad one, Monsieur," the coachman said in conclusion, "a vixen +such as one does not see now in the worst garrison towns, and who would +open the door to the whole fraternity, and not at all avaricious, but +thoroughly honest...."</p> + +<p>I interrupted him in spite of myself, as if his words had pained me, and +I thought of those pale green eyes, those magic eyes, eyes to be dreamt +about, which were the color of grasshoppers, and I looked for them, and +saw them in the darkness; they danced before me like phosphorescent +lights, and I would have given then the whole contents of my purse to +that man if he would only have been silent and urged his horses on to +full speed, so that their mad gallop might carry me off quickly, quickly +and far, and continually further from that girl.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_MARQUIS" id="THE_MARQUIS"></a>THE MARQUIS</h2> + + +<p>It was quite useless to expostulate when that obstinate little Sonia, +with a Russian name and Russian caprices, had said: "I choose to do it." +She was so delicate and pretty also, with her slightly turned-up nose, +and her rosy and childish cheeks, while every female perversity was +reflected in the depths of her strange eyes, which were the color of the +sea on a stormy evening. Yes, she was very charming, very fantastic, and +above all, so Russian, so deliciously and imperiously Russian, and all +the more Russian, as she came from Montmarte, and in spite of this, not +one of her seven lovers who composed her usual menagerie had laughed +when their enslaver said one day:</p> + +<p>"You know my feudal castle at Pludun-Herlouët, near Saint +Jacut-de-la-Mer, which I bought two years ago, and in which I have not +yet set foot? Very well, then! The day after to-morrow, which is the +first of May, we will have a house-warming there."</p> + +<p>The seven had not asked for any further explanation, but had accompanied +little Sonia, and were now ready to sit down to dinner under her +presidency in the dining-room of the old castle, which was situated ten +hours from Paris. They had arrived there that morning; they were going +to have dinner and supper together, and start off again at daybreak next +morning; such were Sonia's orders, and nobody had made the slightest +objection.</p> + +<p>Two of her admirers, however, who were not yet used to her sudden whims, +had felt some surprise, which was quickly checked by expressions of +enthusiastic pleasure on the part of the others.</p> + +<p>"What a delightful, original idea! Nobody else would have thought of +such things! Positively, nobody else. Oh! these Russians!" But those who +had known her for some time, and who had been consequently educated not +to be surprised at anything, found it all quite natural.</p> + +<p>It was half-past six in the evening, and the gentlemen were going to +dress. Sonia had made up her mind to keep on her morning-gown, or if she +dressed, she would do so later. Just then she was not inclined to move +out of her great rocking-chair, from which she could see the sun setting +over the sea. The sight always delighted her very much. It might have +been taken for a large red billiard ball, rebounding from the green +cloth. How funny it was! And how lucky that she was all alone to look at +it, for those seven would not have understood it at all! Those men never +have any soul, have they?</p> + +<p>Certainly, the sunset was strange at first, but at length it made her +sad, and just now Sonia's heart felt almost heavy, though the very +sadness was sweet. She was congratulating herself more than ever on +being alone, so as to enjoy that languor, which was almost like a gentle +dream, when, in perfect harmony with that melancholy and sweet +sensation, a voice rose from the road, which was overhung by the +terrace; a tremulous, but fresh and pure voice sang the following words +to a slow melody:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Walking in Paris,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Having my drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A friend of mine whispered:<br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>What do you think?</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>If love makes you thirsty,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Then wine makes you lusty</i>."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sound died away, as the singer continued on his way, and Sonia was +afraid that she should not hear the rest; it was really terrible; so she +jumped out of the rocking-chair, ran to the balustrade of terrace, and +leaning over it, she called out: "Sing it again! I insist on it. The +song, the whole song!"</p> + +<p>On hearing this, the singer looked round and then came back, without +hurrying, however, and as if he were prompted by curiosity, rather than +by any desire to comply with her order, and holding his hand over his +eyes, he looked at Sonia attentively, who, on her part, had plenty of +time to look closely at him.</p> + +<p>He was an old man of about sixty-five, and his rags and the wallet over +his shoulder denoted a beggar, but Sonia immediately noticed that there +was a certain amount of affectation in his wretchedness. His hair and +beard were not shaggy and ragged, like such men usually wear them, and +evidently he had his hair cut occasionally, and he had a fine, and even +<i>distinguished</i> face, as Sonia said to herself. But she did not pay much +attention to that, as for some time she had noticed that old men at the +seaside nearly all looked like gentlemen.</p> + +<p>When he got to the foot of the terrace, the beggar stopped, and wagged +his head and said: "Pretty! The little woman is very pretty!" But he did +not obey Sonia's order, who repeated it, almost angrily this time, +beating a violent tattoo on the stone-work. "The song, the whole song!"</p> + +<p>He did not seem to hear, but stood there gaping, with a vacant smile on +his face, and as his head was rather inclined towards his left shoulder, +a thin stream of saliva trickled from his lips onto his beard, and his +looks became more and more ardent. "How stupid I am!" Sonia suddenly +thought. "Of course he is waiting for something." She felt in her +pocket, in which she always carried some gold by way of half-pence, took +out a twenty-franc piece and threw it down to the old man. He, however, +did not take any notice of it, but continued looking at her +ecstatically, and was only roused from his state of bliss by receiving a +handful of gravel which she threw at him, right in his face.</p> + +<p>"Do sing!" she exclaimed. "You must; I will have it; I have paid you." +And then, still smiling, he picked up the napoleon and threw it back +onto the terrace, and then he said proudly, though in a very gentle +voice: "I do not ask for charity, little lady; but if it gives you +pleasure, I will sing you the whole song, the whole of it, as often as +you please." And he began the song again, in his tremulous voice, which +was more tremulous than it had been before, as if he were much touched.</p> + +<p>Sonia was overcome, and without knowing was moved into tears; delighted +because the man had spoken to her so familiarly, and rather ashamed at +having treated him as a beggar; and now her whole being was carried away +by the slow rhythm of the melody, which related an old love story, and +when he had done he again looked at her with a smile, and as she was +crying, he said to her: "I dare say you have a beautiful horse, or a +little dog that you are very fond of, which is ill. Take me to it, and I +will cure it: I understand it thoroughly. I will do it <i>gratis</i>, because +you are so pretty."</p> + +<p>She could not help laughing. "You must not laugh," he said. "What are +you laughing at? Because I am poor? But I am not, for I had work +yesterday, and again to-day. I have a bag full. See, look here!" And +from his belt he drew a leather purse in which coppers rattled. He +poured them out into the palm of his hand, and said merrily: "You see, +little one, I have a purse. Forty-seven sous; forty-seven!" "So you will +not take my napoleon?" Sonia said. "Certainly not," he replied. "I do +not want it; and then, I tell you again, I will not accept alms. So you +do not know me?" "No, I do not." "Very well, ask anyone in the +neighborhood. Everybody will tell you that the Marquis does not live on +charity."</p> + +<p>The Marquis! At that name she suddenly remembered that two years ago she +had heard his story. It was at the time that she bought the property, +and the vendor had mentioned the <i>Marquis</i> as one of the curiosities of +the soil. He was said to be half silly, at any rate an original, almost +in his dotage, living by any lucky bits that he could make as +horse-coper and veterinary. The peasants gave him a little work, as they +feared that he might throw spells over anyone who refused to employ him. +They also respected him on account of his former wealth and of his +title, for he had been rich, very rich, and they said that he really was +a marquis, and it was said that he had ruined himself in Paris by +speculating. The reason, of course, <i>was women</i>!</p> + +<p>At that moment the dinner bell began to ring, and a wild idea entered +Sonia's head. She ran to the little door that opened onto the terrace, +overtook the musician, and with a ceremonious bow she said to him: "Will +you give me the pleasure and the honor of dining with me, Marquis?"</p> + +<p>The old man left off smiling and grew serious; he put his hand to his +forehead, as if to bring old recollections back, and then with a very +formal, old-fashioned bow, he said: "With pleasure, my dear." And +letting his wallet drop, he offered Sonia his arm.</p> + +<p>When she introduced this new guest to them, all the seven, even to the +best drilled, started. "I see what disturbs you," she said. "It is his +dress. Well! It really leaves much to be desired. But wait a moment; +that can soon be arranged."</p> + +<p>She rang for her lady's maid and whispered something to her, and then +she said: "Marquis, your bath is ready in your dressing-room. If you +will follow Sabina, she will show you to it. These gentlemen and I will +wait dinner for you." And as soon as he had gone out, she said to the +youngest there: "And now, Ernest, go upstairs and undress; I will allow +you to dine in your morning coat, and you will give your dress coat and +the rest to Sabina, for the Marquis."</p> + +<p>Ernest was delighted at having to play a part in the piece, and the six +others clapped their hands. "Nobody else could think of such things; +nobody, nobody!"</p> + +<p>Half an hour later they were sitting at dinner, the Marquis in a dress +coat on Sonia's left, and it was a great deception for the seven. They +had reckoned on having some fun with him, and especially Ernest, who set +up as a wit, had intended to <i>draw him</i>. But at the first attempt of +this sort, Sonia had given him a look which they all understood, and +dinner began very ceremoniously for the seven, but merrily and without +restraint between Sonia and the old man.</p> + +<p>They cut very long faces, those seven, but inwardly, if one can say so, +for of course they could not dream of showing how put out they were, and +those inward long faces grew longer still when Sonia said to the old +fellow, quite suddenly: "I say, how stupid these gentlemen are! Suppose +we leave them to themselves?"</p> + +<p>The Marquis rose, offered her his arm again, and said: "Where shall we +go to?" But Sonia's only reply was to sing the couplet of that song +which she had remembered:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"For three years I passed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The nights with my love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In a beautiful bed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In a splendid alcove.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though wine makes me sleepy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet love keeps me frisky."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And the seven, who were altogether dumbfounded this time, and who could +not conceal their vexation, saw the couple disappear out of the door +which led to Sonia's apartments. "Hum!" Ernest ventured to say, "this is +really rather strong!" "Yes," the eldest of the menagerie replied. "It +certainly is rather strong, but it will do! You know, there is nobody +like her for thinking of such things!"</p> + +<p>The next morning, the <i>château</i> bell woke them up at six o'clock, when +they had agreed to return to Paris, and the seven men asked each other +whether they should go and wish Sonia good-morning, as usual, before she +was out of her room. Ernest hesitated more than any of them about it, +and it was not until Sabina, her maid, came and told them that her +mistress insisted upon it, that they could make up their minds to do so, +and they were surprised to find Sonia in bed by herself.</p> + +<p>"Well!" Ernest asked boldly, "and what about the Marquis?" "He left very +early," Sonia replied. "A queer sort of marquis, I must say!" Ernest +observed contemptuously, and growing bolder. "Why, I should like to +know?" Sonia replied, drawing herself up. "The man has his own habits, I +suppose!" "Do you know, Madame," Sabina observed, "that he came back +half an hour after he left?" "Ah!" Sonia said, getting up and walking +about the room. "He came back? What did he want, I wonder?" "He did not +say, Madame. He merely went upstairs to see you. He was dressed in his +old clothes again."</p> + +<p>And suddenly Sonia uttered a loud cry, and clapped her hands, and the +seven came round to see what had caused her emotion. "Look here! Just +look here!" she cried. "Do look on the mantel-piece! It is really +charming! Do look!"</p> + +<p>And with a smiling, and yet somewhat melancholy expression in her eyes, +with a tender look which they could not understand, she showed them a +small bunch of wild flowers, by the side of a heap of half-pennies. +Mechanically she took them up and counted them, and then began to cry.</p> + +<p>There were forty-seven of them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_BED" id="THE_BED"></a>THE BED</h2> + + +<p>On a hot afternoon during last summer, the large auction rooms seemed +asleep, and the auctioneers were knocking down the various lots in a +listless manner. In a back room, on the first floor, two or three lots +of old silk, ecclesiastical vestments, were lying in a corner.</p> + +<p>They were copes for solemn occasions, and graceful chasubles on which +embroidered flowers surrounded symbolic letters on a yellowish ground, +which had become cream-colored, although it had originally been white. +Some second-hand dealers were there, two or three men with dirty beards, +and a fat woman with a big stomach, one of those women who deal in +second-hand finery, and who also manage illicit love affairs, who are +brokers in old and young human flesh, just as much as they are in new +and old clothes.</p> + +<p>Presently a beautiful Louis XV. chasuble was put up for sale, which was +as pretty as the dress of a marchioness of that period; it had retained +all its colors, and was embroidered with lilies of the valley round the +cross, and long blue iris, which came up to the foot of the sacred +emblem, and wreaths of roses in the corners. When I had bought it, I +noticed that there was a faint scent about it, as if it were permeated +with the remains of incense, or rather, as if it were still pervaded by +those delicate, sweet scents of by-gone years, which seemed to be only +the memory of perfumes, the soul of evaporated essences.</p> + +<p>When I got it home, I wished to have a small chair of the same period +covered with it; and as I was handling it in order to take the necessary +measures, I felt some paper beneath my fingers, and when I cut the +lining, some letters fell at my feet. They were yellow with age, and the +faint ink was the color of rust, and outside the sheet, which was folded +in the fashion of years long past, it was addressed in a delicate hand: +<i>To Monsieur l'Abbé d'Argence</i></p> + +<p>The first three lines merely settled places of meeting, but here is the +third:</p> + +<p>"My Friend; I am very unwell, ill in fact, and I cannot leave my bed. +The rain is beating against my windows, and I lie dreaming comfortably +and warmly on my eider-down coverlet. I have a book of which I am very +fond, and which seems as if it really applied to me. Shall I tell you +what it is? No, for you would only scold me. Then, when I have read a +little, I think, and will tell you what about.</p> + +<p>"Having been in bed for three days, I think about my bed, and even in my +sleep I meditate on it still, and I have come to the conclusion that the +bed constitutes our whole life; for we were born in it, we live in it, +and we shall die in it. If, therefore, I had Monsieur de Crébillon's +pen, I should write the history of a bed, and what exciting and +terrible, as well as delightful moving occurrences would not such a book +contain! What lessons and what subjects for moralizing could one not +draw from it, for everyone?</p> + +<p>"You know my bed, my friend, but you will never guess how many things I +have discovered in it within the last three days, and how much more I +love it, in consequence. It seems to me to be inhabited, haunted, if I +may say so, by a number of people I never thought of, who, nevertheless, +have left something of themselves in that couch.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I cannot understand people who buy new beds, beds to which no +memories or cares are attached. Mine, ours, which is so shabby, and so +spacious, must have held many existences in it, from birth to the grave. +Think of that, my friend; think of it all; review all those lives, a +great part of which was spent between these four posts, surrounded by +these hangings embroidered by human figures, which have seen so many +things. What have they seen during the three centuries since they were +first put up?</p> + +<p>"Here is a young woman lying on this bed. From time to time she sighs, +and then she groans and cries out; her mother is with her, and presently +a little creature that makes a noise like a cat mewing, and which is all +shriveled and wrinkled, comes from her. It is a male child to which she +has given birth, and the young mother feels happy in spite of her pain; +she is nearly suffocated with joy at that first cry, and stretches out +her arms, and those around her shed tears of pleasure; for that little +morsel of humanity which has come from her means the continuation of the +family, the perpetuation of the blood, of the heart, and of the soul of +the old people, who are looking on, trembling with excitement.</p> + +<p>"And then, here are two lovers, who for the first time are flesh to +flesh together in that tabernacle of life. They tremble; but transported +with delight, they have the delicious sensation of being close together, +and by degrees their lips meet. That divine kiss makes them one, that +kiss, which is the gate of a terrestrial heaven, that kiss which speaks +of human delights, which continually promises them, announces them, and +precedes them. And their bed is agitated like the tempestuous sea, and +it bends and murmurs, and itself seems to become animated and joyous, +for the maddening mystery of love is being accomplished on it. What is +there sweeter, what more perfect in this world than those embraces, +which make one single being out of two, and which give to both of them +at the same moment the same thought, the same expectation, and the same +maddening pleasure, which descends upon them like a celestial and +devouring fire?</p> + +<p>"Do you remember those lines from some old poet, which you read to me +last year? I do not remember who wrote them, but it may have been +Rousard:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When you and I in bed shall lie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lascivious we shall be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enlaced, playing a thousand tricks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of lovers, gamesomely.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I should like to have that verse embroidered on the top of my bed, +where Pyramus and Thisbe are continually looking at me out of their +tapestry eyes.</p> + +<p>"And think of death, my friend; of all those who have breathed out their +last sigh to God in this bed. For it is also the tomb of hopes ended, +the door which closes everything, after having been the one which lets +in the world. What cries, what anguish, what sufferings, what groans, +how many arms stretched out towards the past; what appeals to happiness +that has vanished for ever; what convulsions, what death-rattles, what +gaping lips and distorted eyes have there not been in this bed, from +which I am writing to you, during the three centuries that it has +sheltered human beings!</p> + +<p>"The bed, you must remember, is the symbol of life; I have discovered +this within the last three days. There is nothing good except the bed, +and are not some of our best moments spent in sleep?</p> + +<p>"But then again, we suffer in bed! It is the refuge of those who are ill +and suffering; a place of repose and comfort for worn-out bodies, and, +in a word, the bed is part and parcel of humanity.</p> + +<p>"Many other thoughts have struck me, but I have no time to note them +down for you, and then, should I remember them all? Besides that, I am +so tired that I mean to retire to my pillows, stretch myself out at full +length, and sleep a little. But be sure and come to see me at three +o'clock to-morrow; perhaps I may be better, and able to prove it to you.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, my friend; here are my hands for you to kiss, and I also +offer you my lips."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AN_ADVENTURE_IN_PARIS" id="AN_ADVENTURE_IN_PARIS"></a>AN ADVENTURE IN PARIS</h2> + + +<p>Is there any stronger feeling than curiosity in a woman? Oh! Fancy +seeing, knowing, touching what one has dreamt about! What would a woman +not do for that? When once a woman's eager curiosity is aroused, she +will be guilty of any folly, commit any imprudence, venture upon +anything, and recoil from nothing. I am speaking of women who are really +women, who are endowed with that triple-bottomed disposition, which +appears to be reasonable and cold on the surface, but whose three secret +compartments are filled. The first, with female uneasiness, which is +always in a state of flutter; the next, with sly tricks which are +colored in imitation of good faith, with those sophistical and +formidable tricks of apparently devout women; and the last, with all +those charming, improper acts, with that delightful deceit, exquisite +perfidy, and all those wayward qualities, which drive lovers who are +stupidly credulous, to suicide; but which delight others.</p> + +<p>The woman whose adventure I am about to relate, was a little person from +the provinces, who had been insipidly chaste till then. Her life, which +was apparently so calm, was spent at home, with a busy husband and two +children, whom she brought up like an irreproachable woman. But her +heart beat with unsatisfied curiosity, and some unknown longing. She was +continually thinking of Paris, and read the fashionable papers eagerly. +The accounts of parties, of the dresses and various entertainments, +excited her longing; but, above all, she was strangely agitated by those +paragraphs which were full of double meaning, by those veils which were +half raised by clever phrases, and which gave her a glimpse of culpable +and ravishing delights, and from her country home, she saw Paris in an +apotheosis of magnificent and corrupt luxury.</p> + +<p>And during the long nights, when she dreamt, lulled by the regular +snores of her husband, who was sleeping on his back by her side, with a +silk handkerchief tied round his head, she saw in her sleep those +well-known men whose names appeared on the first page of the newspapers +as great stars in the dark skies; and she pictured to herself their life +of continual excitement, of constant debauches, of orgies such as they +indulged in in ancient Rome, which were horridly voluptuous, with +refinements of sensuality which were so complicated that she could not +even picture them to herself.</p> + +<p>The boulevards seemed to her to be a kind of abyss of human passions, +and there could be no doubt that the houses there concealed mysteries of +prodigious love. But she felt that she was growing old, and this, +without having known life, except in those regular, horridly monotonous, +everyday occupations, which constitute the happiness of the home. She +was still pretty, for she was well preserved in her tranquil existence, +like some winter fruit in a closed cupboard; but she was agitated and +devoured by her secret ardor. She used to ask herself whether she should +die without having experienced any of those damning, intoxicating joys, +without having plunged once, just once into that flood of Parisian +voluptuousness.</p> + +<p>By dint of much perseverance, she paved the way for a journey to Paris, +found a pretext, got some relations to invite her, and as her husband +could not go with her, she went alone, and as soon as she arrived, she +invented a reason for remaining for two days, or rather for two nights, +if necessary, as she told him that she had met some friends who lived a +little way out of town.</p> + +<p>And then she set out on a voyage of discovery. She went up and down the +boulevards, without seeing anything except roving and numbered vice. She +looked into the large <i>cafés</i>, and read the <i>Agony Column</i> of the +<i>Figaro</i>, which every morning seemed to her like a tocsin, a summons to +love. But nothing put her on the track of those orgies of actors and +actresses; nothing revealed to her those temples of debauchery which she +imagined opened at some magic word, like the cave in the <i>Arabian +Nights</i>, or those catacombs in Rome, where the mysteries of a persecuted +religion were secretly celebrated.</p> + +<p>Her relations, who were quite middle-class people, could not introduce +her to any of those well-known men with whose names her head was full, +and in despair she was thinking of returning, when chance came to her +aid. One day, as she was going along the <i>Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin</i>, +she stopped to look into a shop full of those colored Japanese +knick-knacks, which strike the eye on account of their color. She was +looking at the little ivory buffoons, the tall vases of flaming enamel, +and the curious bronzes, when she heard the shop-keeper dilating, with +many bows, on the value of an enormous, pot-bellied, comical figure, +which was quite unique, he said, to a little, bald-headed, gray-bearded +man.</p> + +<p>Every moment, the shop-keeper repeated his customer's name, which was a +celebrated one, in a voice like a trumpet. The other customers, young +women and well-dressed gentlemen, gave a swift and furtive, but +respectful glance at the celebrated writer, who was looking admiringly +at the china figure. They were both equally ugly, as ugly as two +brothers who had sprung from the same mother.</p> + +<p>"I will let you have it for a thousand francs, Monsieur Varin, and that +is exactly what it cost me. I should ask anybody else fifteen hundred, +but I think a great deal of literary and artistic customers, and have +special prices for them. They all come to me, Monsieur Varin. Yesterday, +Monsieur Busnach bought a large, antique goblet of me, and the other day +I sold two candelabra like this (is it not handsome?) to Monsieur +Alexander Dumas. If Monsieur Zola were to see that Japanese figure, he +would buy it immediately, Monsieur Varin."</p> + +<p>The author hesitated in perplexity, as he wanted to have the figure, but +the price was above him, and he thought no more about her looking at him +than if he had been alone in the desert. She came in trembling, with her +eyes fixed shamelessly upon him, and she did not even ask herself +whether he were good-looking, elegant or young. It was Jean Varin +himself, Jean Varin. After a long struggle, and painful hesitation, he +put the figure down onto the table. "No, it is too dear," he said. The +shop-keeper's eloquence redoubled. "Oh! Monsieur Varin, too dear? It is +worth two thousand francs, if it is worth a son." But the man of letters +replied sadly, still looking at the figure with the enameled eyes: "I do +not say it is not; but it is too dear for me." And thereupon, she, +seized by a kind of mad audacity, came forward and said: "What shall you +charge me for the figure?" The shop-keeper, in surprise, replied: +"Fifteen hundred francs, Madame." "I will take it."</p> + +<p>The writer, who had not even noticed her till that moment, turned round +suddenly; he looked at her from head to foot, with half-closed eyes, +observantly, and then he took in the details, as a connoisseur. She was +charming, suddenly animated by that flame which had hitherto been +dormant in her. And then, a woman who gives fifteen hundred francs for a +knick-knack is not to be met with every day.</p> + +<p>But she was overcome by a feeling of delightful delicacy, and turning to +him, she said in a trembling voice: "Excuse me, Monsieur; no doubt I +have been rather hasty, as perhaps you had not finally made up your +mind." He, however, only bowed, and said: "Indeed, I had, Madame." And +she, filled with emotion, continued: "Well, Monsieur, if either to-day, +or at any other time, you change your mind, you can have this Japanese +figure. I only bought it because you seemed to like it."</p> + +<p>He was visibly flattered, and smiled. "I should much like to find out +how you know who I am?" he said. Then she told him how she admired him, +and became quite eloquent as she quoted his works, and while they were +talking he rested his arms on a table, and fixed his bright eyes upon +her, trying to make out who and what she really was. But the shop-keeper, +who was pleased to have that living puff of his goods, called out, from +the other end of the shop: "Just look at this, Monsieur Varin; is it not +beautiful?"</p> + +<p>And then everyone looked round, and she almost trembled with pleasure at +being seen talking so intimately with such a well-known man.</p> + +<p>At last, however, intoxicated, as it were, by her feelings, she grew +bold, like a general does, who is going to give the order for an +assault. "Monsieur," she said, "will you do me a great, a very great +pleasure? Allow me to offer you this funny Japanese figure, as a +keepsake from a woman who admires you passionately, and whom you have +seen for ten minutes."</p> + +<p>Of course he refused, and she persisted, but still he resisted her +offer, at which he was much amused, and at which he laughed heartily; +but that only made her more obstinate, and she said: "Very well, then, I +shall take it to your house immediately. Where do you live?"</p> + +<p>He refused to give her his address, but she got it from the shop-keeper, +and when she had paid for her purchase, she ran out to take a cab. The +writer went after her, as he did not wish to accept a present for which +he could not possibly account. He reached her just as she was jumping +into the vehicle, and getting in after her, he almost fell onto her, and +then tumbled onto the bottom of the cab as it started. He picked himself +up, however, and sat down by her side, feeling very much annoyed.</p> + +<p>It was no good for him to insist and to beg her; she showed herself +intractable, and when they got to the door, she stated her conditions. +"I will undertake not to leave this with you," she said, "if you will +promise to do all I want to-day." And the whole affair seemed so funny +to him that he agreed. "What do you generally do at this time?" she +asked him; and after hesitating for a few moments, he replied: "I +generally go for a walk." "Very well, then, we will go to the <i>Bois de +Boulogne</i>!" she said, in a resolute voice, and they started.</p> + +<p>He was obliged to tell her the names of all the well-known women, pure +or impure, with every detail about them; their life, their habits, their +private affairs, and their vices; and when it was getting dusk, she said +to him: "What do you do every day at this time?" "I have some absinthe," +he replied, with a laugh. "Very well, then, Monsieur," she went on, +seriously, "let us go and have some absinthe."</p> + +<p>They went into a large <i>café</i> on the boulevard which he frequented, and +where he met some of his colleagues, whom he introduced to her. She was +half mad with pleasure, and she kept saying to herself: "At last! At +last!" But time went on, and she observed that she supposed it must be +about his dinner time, and she suggested that they should go and dine. +When they left <i>Bignon's</i>, after dinner, she wanted to know what he did +in the evening, and looking at her fixedly, he replied: "That depends; +sometimes I go to the theater." "Very well, then, Monsieur; let us go to +the theater."</p> + +<p>They went to the Vaudeville with an order, thanks to him, and, to her +great pride, the whole house saw her sitting by his side, in the balcony +stalls.</p> + +<p>When the play was over, he gallantly kissed her hand, and said: "It only +remains for me to thank you for this delightful day...." But she +interrupted him: "What do you do at this time, every night?" "Why ... +why ... I go home." She began to laugh, a little tremulous laugh. "Very +well, Monsieur ... let us go to your rooms."</p> + +<p>They did not say anything more. She shivered occasionally, from head to +foot, feeling inclined to stay, and inclined to run away, but with a +fixed determination, after all, to see it out to the end. She was so +excited that she had to hold onto the baluster as she went upstairs, and +he came up behind her, with a wax match in his hand.</p> + +<p>As soon as they were in the room, she undressed herself quickly, and +retired without saying a word, and then she waited for him, cowering +against the wall. But she was as simple as it was possible for a +provincial lawyer's wife to be, and he was more exacting than a pascha +with three tails, and so they did not at all understand each other. At +last, however, he went to sleep, and the night passed, and the silence +was only disturbed by the <i>tick-tack</i> of the clock, and she, lying +motionless, thought of her conjugal nights; and by the light of the +Chinese lantern, she looked, nearly heart-broken, at the little fat man +lying on his back, whose round stomach raised up the bed-clothes like a +balloon filled with gas. He snored with the noise of a wheezy organ +pipe, with prolonged snorts and comic chokings. His few hairs profited +by his sleep, to stand up in a very strange way, as if they were tired +of having been fastened for so long to that pate, whose bareness they +were trying to cover, and a small stream of saliva was running out of +one corner of his half-open mouth.</p> + +<p>At last the daylight appeared through the drawn blinds; so she got up +and dressed herself without making any noise, and she had already half +opened the door, when she made the lock creak, and he woke up and rubbed +his eyes. He was some moments before he quite came to himself, and then, +when he remembered all that had happened, he said: "What! Are you going +already?" She remained standing, in some confusion, and then she said, +in a hesitating voice: "Yes, of course; it is morning..."</p> + +<p>Then he sat up, and said: "Look here, I have something to ask you, in my +turn." And as she did not reply, he went on: "You have surprised me most +confoundedly since yesterday. Be open, and tell me why you did it all, +for upon my word I cannot understand it in the least." She went close up +to him, blushing like as if she had been a virgin, and said: "I wanted +to know ... what ... what vice ... really was, ... and ... well ... +well, it is not at all funny."</p> + +<p>And she ran out of the room, and downstairs into the street.</p> + +<p>A number of sweepers were busy in the streets, brushing the pavements, +the roadway, and sweeping everything on one side. With the same regular +motion, the motion of mowers in a meadow, they pushed the mud in front +of them in a semi-circle, and she met them in every street, like dancing +puppets, walking automatically with their swaying motion. And it seemed +to her as if something had been swept out of her; as if her over-excited +dreams had been pushed into the gutter, or into the drain, and so she +went home, out of breath, and very cold, and all that she could remember +was the sensation of the motion of those brooms sweeping the streets of +Paris in the early morning.</p> + +<p>As soon as she got into her room, she threw herself onto her bed and +cried.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MADAME_BAPTISTE" id="MADAME_BAPTISTE"></a>MADAME BAPTISTE</h2> + + +<p>When I went into the waiting-room at the station at Loubain, the first +thing I did was to look at the clock, and I found that I had two hours +and ten minutes to wait for the Paris express.</p> + +<p>I felt suddenly tired, as if I had walked twenty miles, and then I +looked about me as if I could find some means of killing the time on the +station walls, and at last I went out again, and stopped outside the +gates of the station, racking my brains to find something to do. The +street, which was a kind of a boulevard, planted with acacias, between +two rows of houses of unequal shape and different styles of +architecture, houses such as one only sees in a small town, ascended a +slight hill, and at the extreme end of it, there were some trees, as if +it ended in a park.</p> + +<p>From time to time, a cat crossed the street, and jumped over the +gutters, carefully. A cur sniffed at every tree, and hunted for +fragments from the kitchens, but I did not see a single human being, and +I felt listless and disheartened. What could I do with myself? I was +already thinking of the inevitable and interminable visit to the small +<i>café</i> at the railway station, where I should have to sit over a glass +of undrinkable beer and the illegible newspaper, when I saw a funeral +procession coming out of a side street into the one in which I was, and +the sight of the hearse was a relief to me. It would, at any rate, give +me something to do for ten minutes. Suddenly, however, my curiosity was +aroused. The corpse was followed by eight gentlemen, one of whom was +weeping, while the others were chatting together, but there was no +priest, and I thought to myself:</p> + +<p>"This is a non-religious funeral," but then I reflected that a town like +Loubain must contain at least a hundred free-thinkers, who would have +made a point of making a manifestation. What could it be then? The rapid +pace of the procession clearly proved that the body was to be buried +without ceremony, and, consequently, without the intervention of +religion.</p> + +<p>My idle curiosity framed the most complicated suppositions, and as the +hearse passed me, a strange idea struck me, which was to follow it, with +the eight gentlemen. That would take up my time for an hour, at least, +and I, accordingly, walked with the others, with a sad look on my face, +and on seeing this, the two last turned round in surprise, and then +spoke to each other in a low voice.</p> + +<p>No doubt they were asking each other whether I belonged to the town, and +then they consulted the two in front of them, who stared at me in turn. +This close attention which they paid me, annoyed me, and to put an end +to it, I went up to them, and, after bowing, I said:</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, gentlemen, for interrupting your conversation, but +seeing a civil funeral, I have followed it, although I did not know the +deceased gentleman whom you are accompanying."</p> + +<p>"It is a woman," one of them said.</p> + +<p>I was much surprised at hearing this, and asked:</p> + +<p>"But it is a civil funeral, is it not?"</p> + +<p>The other gentleman, who evidently wished to tell me all about it, then +said: "Yes and no. The clergy have refused to allow us the use of the +church."</p> + +<p>On hearing that I uttered a prolonged <i>A—h</i>! of astonishment. I could +not understand it at all, but my obliging neighbor continued:</p> + +<p>"It is rather a long story. This young woman committed suicide, and that +is the reason why she cannot be buried with any religious ceremony. The +gentleman who is walking first, and who is crying, is her husband."</p> + +<p>I replied with some hesitation:</p> + +<p>"You surprise and interest me very much, Monsieur. Shall I be indiscreet +if I ask you to tell me the facts of the case? If I am troubling you, +think that I have said nothing about the matter."</p> + +<p>The gentleman took my arm familiarly.</p> + +<p>"Not at all, not at all. Let us stop a little behind the others, and I +will tell it you, although it is a very sad story. We have plenty of +time before getting to the cemetery, whose trees you see up yonder, for +it is a stiff pull up this hill."</p> + +<p>And he began:</p> + +<p>"This young woman, Madame Paul Hamot, was the daughter of a wealthy +merchant in the neighborhood, Monsieur Fontanelle. When she was a mere +child of eleven, she had a terrible adventure; a footman violated her. +She nearly died, in consequence, and the wretch's brutality betrayed +him. A terrible criminal case was the result, and it was proved that for +three months the poor young martyr had been the victim of that brute's +disgraceful practices, and he was sentenced to penal servitude for life.</p> + +<p>"The little girl grew up stigmatized by disgrace, isolated without any +companions, and grown-up people would scarcely kiss her, for they +thought that they would soil their lips if they touched her forehead, +and she became a sort of monster, a phenomenon to all the town. People +said to each other in a whisper: 'You know, little Fontanelle,' and +everybody turned away in the streets when she passed. Her parents could +not even get a nurse to take her out for a walk, as the other servants +held aloof from her, as if contact with her would poison everybody who +came near her.</p> + +<p>"It was pitiable to see the poor child. She remained quite by herself, +standing by her maid, and looking at the other children amusing +themselves. Sometimes, yielding to an irresistible desire to mix with +the other children, she advanced, timidly, with nervous gestures, and +mingled with a group, with furtive steps, as if conscious of her own +infamy. And, immediately, the mothers, aunts and nurses used to come +running from every seat, who took the children entrusted to their care +by the hand and dragged them brutally away.</p> + +<p>"Little Fontanelle remained isolated, wretched, without understanding +what it meant, and then she began to cry, nearly heart-broken with +grief, and then she used to run and hide her head in her nurse's lap, +sobbing.</p> + +<p>"As she grew up, it was worse still. They kept the girls from her, as if +she were stricken with the plague. Remember that she had nothing to +learn, nothing; that she no longer had the right to the symbolical +wreath of orange-flowers; that almost before she could read, she had +penetrated that redoubtable mystery, which mothers scarcely allow their +daughters to guess, trembling as they enlighten them, on the night of +their marriage.</p> + +<p>"When she went through the streets, always accompanied by her governess, +as if her parents feared some fresh, terrible adventure, with her eyes +cast down under the load of that mysterious disgrace, which she felt was +always weighing upon her, the other girls, who were not nearly so +innocent as people thought, whispered and giggled as they looked at her +knowingly, and immediately turned their heads absently, if she happened +to look at them. People scarcely greeted her; only a few men bowed to +her, and the mothers pretended not to see her, whilst some young +blackguards called her <i>Madame Baptiste</i>, after the name of the footman +who had outraged and ruined her.</p> + +<p>"Nobody knew the secret torture of her mind, for she hardly ever spoke, +and never laughed, and her parents themselves appeared uncomfortable in +her presence, as if they bore her a constant grudge for some irreparable +fault.</p> + +<p>"An honest man would not willingly give his hand to a liberated convict, +would he, even if that convict were his own son? And Monsieur and Madame +Fontanelle looked on their daughter as they would have done on a son who +had just been released from the hulks. She was pretty and pale, tall, +slender, distinguished-looking, and she would have pleased me very much, +Monsieur, but for that unfortunate affair.</p> + +<p>"Well, when a new sub-prefect was appointed here eighteen months ago, he +brought his private secretary with him. He was a queer sort of fellow, +who had lived in the <i>Latin Quarter</i><a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a>, it appears. He saw +Mademoiselle Fontanelle, and fell in love with her, and when told of +what occurred, he merely said: 'Bah! That is just a guarantee for the +future, and I would rather it should have happened before I married her, +than afterwards. I shall sleep tranquilly with that woman.'</p> + +<p>"He paid his addresses to her, asked for her hand, and married her, and +then, not being deficient in boldness, he paid wedding-calls,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> as if +nothing had happened. Some people returned them, others did not, but, at +last, the affair began to be forgotten, and she took her proper place in +society.</p> + +<p>"She adored her husband as if he had been a god, for, you must remember, +he had restored her to honor and to social life, that he had braved +public opinion, faced insults, and, in a word, performed such a +courageous act, as few men would accomplish, and she felt the most +exalted and uneasy love for him.</p> + +<p>"When she became pregnant, and it was known, the most particular people +and the greatest sticklers opened their doors to her, as if she had been +definitely purified by maternity.</p> + +<p>"It is funny, but so it is, and thus everything was going on as well as +possible, when, the other day, was the feast of the patron saint of our +town. The Prefect, surrounded by his staff and the authorities, presided +at the musical competition, and when he had finished his speech, the +distribution of medals began, which Paul Hamot, his private secretary, +handed to those who were entitled to them.</p> + +<p>"As you know, there are always jealousies and rivalries, which make +people forget all propriety. All the ladies of the town were there on +the platform, and, in his proper turn, the bandmaster from the village +of Mourmillon came up. This band was only to receive a second-class +medal, for one cannot give first-class medals to everybody, can one? But +when the private secretary handed him his badge, the man threw it in his +face and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"'You may keep your medal for Baptiste. You owe him a first-class one, +also, just as you do me.'</p> + +<p>"There were a number of people there who began to laugh. The common herd +are neither charitable nor refined, and every eye was turned towards +that poor lady. Have you ever seen a woman going mad, Monsieur? Well, we +were present at the sight! She got up and fell back on her chair three +times following, as if she had wished to make her escape, but saw that +she could not make her way through the crowd, and then another voice in +the crowd exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"'Oh I Oh! Madame Baptiste!'</p> + +<p>"And a great uproar, partly laughter, and partly indignation, arose. The +word was repeated over and over again; people stood on tip-toe to see +the unhappy woman's face; husbands lifted their wives up in their arms, +so that they might see the unhappy woman's face, and people asked:</p> + +<p>"'Which is she? The one in blue?'</p> + +<p>"The boys crowed like cocks, and laughter was heard all over the place.</p> + +<p>"She did not move now on her state chair, just as if she had been put +there for the crowd to look at. She could not move, nor disappear, nor +hide her face. Her eyelids blinked quickly, as if a vivid light were +shining in her face, and she panted like a horse that is going up a +steep hill, so that it almost broke one's heart to see it. Meanwhile, +however, Monsieur Hamot had seized the ruffian by the throat, and they +were rolling on the ground together, amidst a scene of indescribable +confusion, and the ceremony was interrupted.</p> + +<p>"An hour later, as the Hamots were returning home, the young woman, who +had not uttered a word since the insult, but who was trembling as if all +her nerves had been set in motion by springs, suddenly sprang on the +parapet of the bridge, and threw herself into the river, before her +husband could prevent her. The water is very deep under the arches, and +it was two hours before her body was recovered. Of course, she was +dead."</p> + +<p>The narrator stopped, and then added:</p> + +<p>"It was, perhaps, the best thing she could do in her position. There are +some things which cannot be wiped out, and now you understand why the +clergy refused to have her taken into church. Ah! If it had been a +religious funeral, the whole town would have been present, but you can +understand that her suicide added to the other affair, and made families +abstain from attending her funeral; and then, it is not an easy matter, +here, to attend a funeral which is performed without religious rites."</p> + +<p>We passed through the cemetery gates and I waited, much moved by what I +had heard, until the coffin had been lowered into the grave, before I +went up to the poor fellow who was sobbing violently, to press his hand +vigorously. He looked at me in surprise through his tears, and then +said:</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Monsieur." And I was not sorry that I had followed the +funeral.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HAPPINESS" id="HAPPINESS"></a>HAPPINESS</h2> + + +<p>The sky was blue, with light clouds that looked like swans slowly +sailing on the waters of a lake, and the atmosphere was so warm, so +saturated with the subtle odors of the mimosas, that Madame de +Viellemont ordered coffee to be served on the terrace which overlooked +the sea.</p> + +<p>And while the steam rose from the delicate china cups, one felt an +almost inexpressible pleasure in looking at the sails, which were +gradually becoming lost in the mysterious distance, and at the almost +motionless sea, which had the sheen of jewels, which attracted the eyes +like the looks of a dreamy woman.</p> + +<p>Monsieur de Pardeillac, who had arrived from Paris, fresh from the +remembrance of the last election there, from that Carnival of variegated +posters, which for weeks had imparted the strange aspect of some +Oriental bazaar to the whole city, had just been relating the victory of +<i>The General</i>, and went on to say that those who had thought that the +game was lost, were beginning to hope again.</p> + +<p>After listening to him, old Count de Lancolme, who had spent his whole +life in rummaging libraries, and who had certainly compiled more +manuscripts than any Benedectine friar, shook his bald head, and +exclaimed in his shrill, rather mocking voice:</p> + +<p>"Will you allow me to tell you a very old story, which has just come +into my head, while you were speaking, my dear friend, which I read +formerly in an old Italian city, though I forget at this moment where it +was?</p> + +<p>"It happened in the fifteenth century, which is far removed from our +epoch, but you shall judge for yourselves whether it might not have +happened yesterday.</p> + +<p>"Since the day, when mad with rage and rebellion, the town had made a +bonfire of the Ducal palace, and had ignominiously expelled that +patrician who had been their <i>podestat</i><a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>, as if he had been some +vicious scoundrel, had thrust his lovely daughter into a convent, and +had forced his sons, who might have claimed their parental heritage, and +have again imposed the abhorred yoke upon them, into a monastery, the +town had never known any prosperous times. One after another the shops +closed, and money became as scarce as if there had been an invasion of +barbarian hordes, who had emptied the State treasury, and stolen the +last gold coin.</p> + +<p>"The poor people were in abject misery, and in vain held out their hands +to passers-by under the church porches, and in the squares, while only +the watchmen disturbed the silence of the starlit nights, by their +monotonous and melancholy call, which announced the flight of the hours +as they passed.</p> + +<p>"There were no more serenades; no longer did viols and flutes trouble +the slumbers of the lovers' choice; no longer were amorous arms thrown +round women's supple waists, nor were bottles of red wine put to cool in +the fountains under the trees. There were no more love adventures, to +the rhythm of laughter and of kisses; nothing but heavy, monotonous +weariness, and the anxiety as to what the next day might bring forth, +and ceaseless, unbridled ambitions and lusts.</p> + +<p>"The palaces were deserted, one by one, as if the plague were raging, +and the nobility had fled to Florence and to Rome. In the beginning, the +common people, artisans and shop-keepers had installed themselves in +power, as in a conquered city, and had seized posts of honor and +well-paid offices, and had sacked the Treasury with their greedy and +eager hands. After them, came the middle classes, and those solemn +upstarts and hypocrites, like leathern bottles blown out with wind, +acting the tyrant and lying without the least shame, disowned their +former promises, and would soon have given the finishing stroke to the +unfortunate city, which was already at its last shifts.</p> + +<p>"Discontent was increasing, and the <i>sbirri</i><a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> could scarcely find +time to tear the seditious placards, which had been posted up by unknown +hands, from the walls.</p> + +<p>"But now that the old <i>podestat</i> had died in exile, worn out with grief, +and that his children, who had been brought up under monastic rules, and +were accustomed to nothing so much as to praying, thought only of their +own salvation, there was nobody who could take his place.</p> + +<p>"And so these kinglets profited by the occasion to strut about at their +ease like great nobles, to cram themselves with luxurious meals, to +increase their property by degrees, to put everything up for sale, and +to get rid of those who, later on, could have called for accounts, and +have nailed them to the pillory by their ears.</p> + +<p>"Their arrogance knew no bounds, and when they were questioned about +their acts, they only replied by menaces or raillery, and this state of +affairs lasted for twenty years, when, as war was imminent with Lucca, +the Council raised troops and enrolled mercenaries. Several battles were +fought in which the enemy was beaten and was obliged to flee, abandoning +their colors, their arms, prisoners, and all the booty in their camp.</p> + +<p>"The man who had led the soldiers from battle, whom they had acclaimed +as triumphant and laurel-crowned Caesar, around their campfires, was a +poor <i>condottiere</i><a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>, who possessed nothing in the world except his +clothes, his buff jerkin and his heavy sword.</p> + +<p>"They called him <i>Hercules</i>, on account of his strong muscles, his +imposing build, and his large head, and also <i>Malavista</i>, because in +those butcheries he had no pity, no weakness, but seemed, with his great +murderous arms, as if he had the long reach of death itself. He had +neither title, deeds, fortune, nor relations, for he had been born one +night in the tent of a female camp follower; for a long time, an old, +broken drum had been his cradle, and he had grown up anyhow, without +knowing those maternal kisses and endearments that warm the heart, or +the pleasure of not always sleeping on a hard bed, or of always eating +tough beef, or of being obliged to tighten his sword belt when luck had +turned like a weathercock when the wind shifts, and a man would gladly +give all his share of the next booty for a moldy crust of bread and a +glass of water.</p> + +<p>"He was a simple and a brave man, whose heart was as virgin as some +virgin shore, on which no human foot has ever yet left its imprint.</p> + +<p>"The Chiefs of the Council were imprudent enough to summon Hercules +Malavista within the walls of the town, and to celebrate his arrival +with almost imperial splendor, more, however, to deceive the people and +to regain their waning popularity by means of some one else, by a +ceremony copied from those of Pagan Rome, than to honor and recompense +the services of a soldier whom they despised at the bottom of their +hearts.</p> + +<p>"The bells rang a full peal, and the archbishop and clergy and choir +boys went to meet the Captain, singing psalms and hymns of joy, as if it +might have been Easter. The streets and squares were strewn with +branches of box roses and marjoram, while the meanest homes were +decorated with flags, and hung with drapery and rich stuffs.</p> + +<p>"The conqueror came in through Trajan's gate, bare-headed, and with the +symbolical golden laurel wreath on his head; and sitting on his horse, +that was as black as a starless night, he appeared even taller, more +vigorous and more masculine than he really was. He had a joyous and +tranquil smile on his lips, and a hidden fire was burning in his eyes, +and his soldiers bore the flags and the trophies that he had gained, +before him, and behind him there was a noise of clashing partisans and +cross-bows, and of loud voices shouting <i>vivats</i> in his honor.</p> + +<p>"In this fashion he traversed all the quarters of the town, and even the +suburbs. The women thought him handsome and proud, blew kisses to him, +and held up their children so that they might see him, and he might +touch them, and the men cheered him, and looked at him with emotion, and +many of them reflected and dreamt about that bright, unknown man, who +appeared to be surrounded by a halo of glory.</p> + +<p>"The members of the Council began to perceive the extent of the almost +irreparable fault that they had committed, and did not know what to do +in order to ward off the danger by which they were menaced, and to rid +themselves of a guest who was quite ready to become their master. They +saw clearly that their hours were numbered, that they were approaching +that fatal period at which rioting becomes imminent, when the leaders +are carried away with it, like pieces of straw in a swift current.</p> + +<p>"Hercules could not show himself in public without being received with +shouts of acclamation and noisy greetings, and deputations from the +nobility, as well as from the people, came repeatedly and told him that +he had only to make a sign and to say a word, for his name to be in +every mouth, and for his authority to be accepted. They begged him on +their knees to accept the supreme authority, as though he would be +conferring a favor on them, but the free-lance did not seem to +understand them, and repelled their offers with the superb indifference +of a soldier who has nothing to do with the people or a crown.</p> + +<p>"At length, however, his resistance grew weaker; he felt the +intoxication of power, and grew accustomed to the idea of holding the +lives of thousands in his hands, of having a palace, arsenals full of +arms, chests full of gold, ships which he could send on adventurous +cruises wherever he pleased, and of governing that city, with all its +houses and all its churches, and of being a leading figure at all grand +functions in the cathedral.</p> + +<p>"The shop-keepers and merchants were overcome by terror at this, and +bowed before the shadow of that great sword, which might sweep them all +away and upset their false weights and scales. So they assembled +secretly in a monastery of the Carmelite friars outside the gates of the +city, and a short time afterwards the weaver Marconelli, and the +money-changer Rippone brought Giaconda, who was one of the most +beautiful courtesans in Venice, and who knew every secret in the <i>Art of +Love</i>, and whose kisses were a foretaste of Paradise, back with them +from that city. She soon managed to touch the soldier with her delicate, +fair skin, to make him inhale its bewitching odor in close proximity, +and to dazzle him with her large, dark eyes, in which the reflection of +stars seemed to shine, and when he had once tasted that feast of love, +and that heavy wine of kisses, when he had clasped that pink and white +body in his arms, and had listened to that voice which sounded as soft +as music, and which promised him eternities of joy, and vowed to him +eternities of pleasures, Hercules lost his head, and forgot his dreams +and his oaths.</p> + +<p>"Why lose precious hours in conspiring, in deluding himself with +chimeras; why risk his life when he loved and was loved, and when the +minutes were all too short, when he would have wished never to detach +his lips from those of the woman he loved?</p> + +<p>"And so he did whatever Gioconda demanded.</p> + +<p>"They fled from the city, without even telling the sentinels who were on +guard before his palace. They went far, far away, as they could not find +any retreat that was sufficiently unknown and hidden, and at last they +stopped at a small, quiet fishing village, where there were gardens full +of lemon trees, where the deserted beach looked as if it were covered +with gold, and where the sea was a deep blue until it was lost in the +distance. And while the captain and the courtesan loved each other and +wore themselves out with pleasure—with the enchantment of the sea close +to them—the irritated citizens, whom he had left were clamoring for +their idol, were indignant at his desertion, and tore up the paving +stones in the streets, to stone the man who had betrayed their +confidence and worship.</p> + +<p>"And they pulled his statue down from its pedestal, amidst spiteful +songs and jokes, and the members of the Council breathed again ... as +they were no longer afraid of the great sword."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Arise!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> One of Sacher-Masoch's novels.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The street where most of the best shops are to be found, +and much frequented by venial beauties.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Head of the Criminal Investigation +Department.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> A Hungarian word, meaning literally, Defender of the +Fatherland. The term <i>Honved</i> is applied to the Hungarian <i>Landnehr</i>, or Militia.—Translator.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> An Exotic Prince.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> A division of Poland, of which Warsaw is the +Capital.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> A <i>Nothing</i>.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> A lay brother in a monastery, who is devoted to the +instruction of the poor.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Egyptian dancing girl.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Written before universal service was obligatory, and when +soldiers were selected by conscription, a certain amount of those who +drew high numbers, being exempt from service.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> A café chantant, and casino.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> A well-known restaurant on the banks of the Seine, which +is much frequented by the middle classes.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene V.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Forage Caps.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Self-constituted volunteers, in the Franco-German war of +1870-71, whom the Germans often made short work of, when +caught.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> According to French law, nobody can altogether disinherit +a child, and no son or daughter can be "cut off" with a "proverbial +shilling."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> A dance in Provence in which the dancers form a chain, and +the movements are directed by the leader.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Although, in France, as in Germany, military service is +compulsory, men are allowed to serve in both countries as <i>one-year +volunteers</i>; they enjoy certain privileges, find their own uniform, &c., +and it, of course, entails considerable expense.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> The <i>Cocu Imaginaire</i> (The Imaginary Cuckold), in +Molière's play of that name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> The students' quarter in France, where so many of them +lead rackety, fast lives.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> In France and Germany, the newly-married couple pay the +wedding-calls, which is the direct opposite to our custom.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Venetian and Genoese magistrate.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Italian police officers.—TRANSLATOR</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Italian mercenary or free-lance, in the Middle +Ages.—TRANSLATOR.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT, VOLUME III (OF 8)***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 17376-h.txt or 17376-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/7/17376">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/7/17376</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume III (of 8) + The Viaticum -- The Relics -- The Thief -- A Rupture -- A Useful House -- The Accent -- Ghosts -- Crash -- An Honest Ideal -- Stable Perfume -- The Ill-Omened Groom -- An Exotic Prince -- Virtue in the Ballet -- In His Sweetheart's Livery -- Delila -- A Mesalliance -- Bertha -- Abandoned -- A Night in Whitechapel -- Countess Satan -- Kind Girls -- Profitable Business -- Violated -- Jeroboam -- The Log -- Margot's Tapers -- Caught in the Very Act -- The Confession -- Was It a Dream -- The Last Step -- The Will -- A Country Excursion -- The Lancer's Wife -- The Colonel's Ideas -- One Evening -- The Hermaphrodite -- Marroca -- An Artifice -- The Assignation -- An Adventure -- The Double Pins -- Under the Yoke -- The Real One and the Other -- The Upstart -- The Carter's Wench -- The Marquis -- The Bed -- An Adventure in Paris -- Madame Baptiste -- Happiness + + +Author: Guy de Maupassant + + + +Release Date: December 22, 2005 [eBook #17376] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT, +VOLUME III (OF 8)*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT + +VOLUME III + +The Viaticum and Other Stories + + + + + + + +National Library Company New York +Copyright, 1909, by Bigelow, Smith & Co. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + THE VIATICUM + + THE RELICS + + THE THIEF + + A RUPTURE + + A USEFUL HOUSE + + THE ACCENT + + GHOSTS + + CRASH + + AN HONEST IDEAL + + STABLE PERFUME + + THE ILL-OMENED GROOM + + AN EXOTIC PRINCE + + VIRTUE IN THE BALLET + + IN HIS SWEETHEART'S LIVERY + + DELILA + + A MESALLIANCE + + BERTHA + + ABANDONED + + A NIGHT IN WHITECHAPEL + + COUNTESS SATAN + + KIND GIRLS + + PROFITABLE BUSINESS + + VIOLATED + + JEROBOAM + + THE LOG + + MARGOT'S TAPERS + + CAUGHT IN THE VERY ACT + + THE CONFESSION + + WAS IT A DREAM + + THE LAST STEP + + THE WILL + + A COUNTRY EXCURSION + + THE LANCER'S WIFE + + THE COLONEL'S IDEAS + + ONE EVENING + + THE HERMAPHRODITE + + MARROCA + + AN ARTIFICE + + THE ASSIGNATION + + AN ADVENTURE + + THE DOUBLE PINS + + UNDER THE YOKE + + THE REAL ONE AND THE OTHER + + THE UPSTART + + THE CARTER'S WENCH + + THE MARQUIS + + THE BED + + AN ADVENTURE IN PARIS + + MADAME BAPTISTE + + HAPPINESS + + + + +THE VIATICUM + + +"After all," Count d'Avorsy said, stirring his tea with the slow +movements of a prelate, "what truth was there in anything that was said +at Court, almost without any restraint, and did the Empress, whose +beauty has been ruined by some secret grief, who will no longer see +anyone and who soothes her continual mental weariness by some journeys +without an object and without a rest, in foggy and melancholy islands, +and did she really forget Caesar's wife ought not even to be suspected, +did she really give herself to that strange and attractive corrupter, +Ladislas Ferkoz?" + +The bright night seemed to be scattering handfuls of stars into the +placid sea, which was as calm as a blue pond, slumbering in the depths +of a forest. Among the tall climbing roses, which hung a mantle of +yellow flowers to the fretted baluster of the terrace, there stood out +in the distance the illuminated fronts of the hotels and villas, and +occasionally women's laughter was heard above the dull, monotonous sound +of surf and the noise of the fog-horns. + +Then Captain Sigmund Oroshaz, whose sad and pensive face of a soldier +who has seen too much slaughter and too many charnel houses, was marked +by a large scar, raised his head and said in a grave, haughty voice: + +"Nobody has lied in accusing Maria-Gloriosa of adultery, and nobody has +calumniated the Empress and her minister, whom God has damned in the +other world. Ladislas Ferkoz was his sovereign's lover until he died, +and made his august master ridiculous and almost odious, for the man, no +matter who he be, who allows himself to be flouted by a creature who is +unworthy of bearing his name and of sharing his bread; who puts up with +such disgrace, who does not crush the guilty couple with all the weight +of his power, is not worth pity, nor does he deserve to be spared the +mockery. And if I affirm that so harshly, my dear Count--although years +and years have passed since the sponge passed over that old story--the +reason is that I saw the last chapter of it, quite in spite of myself, +however, for I was the officer who was on duty at the palace, and +obliged to obey orders, just as if I had been on the field of +battle--and on that day I was on duty near Maria-Gloriosa." + +Madame de Laumieres, who had begun an animated conversation on +crinolines, admist the fragrant odor of Russian cigarettes, and who was +making fun of the striking toilets, with which she had amused herself by +scanning through her opera glass a few hours previously at the races, +stopped, for even when she was talking most volubly she always kept her +ears open to hear what was being said around her, and as her curiosity +was aroused, she interrupted Sigmund Oroshaz. + +"Ah! Monsieur," she said, "you are not going to leave our curiosity +unsatisfied.... A story about the Empress puts all our scandals on the +beach, and all our questions of dress into the shade, and, I am sure," +she added with a smile at the corners of her mouth, "that even our +friend, Madame d'Ormonde will leave off flirting with Monsieur Le +Brassard to listen to you." + +Captain Oroshaz continued, with his large blue eyes full of +recollections: + +"It was in the middle of a grand ball that the Emperor was giving on the +occasion of some family anniversary, though I forget exactly what, and +where Maria-Gloriosa, who was in great grief, as she had heard that her +lover was ill and his life almost despaired of, far from her, was going +about with her face as pale as that of _Our Lady of Sorrows_, seemed to +be a soul in affliction, appeared to be ashamed of her bare shoulders, +as if she were being made a parade of in the light, while he, the adored +of her heart, was lying on a bed of sickness, getting weaker every +moment, longing for her and perhaps calling for her in his distress. +About midnight, when the violins were striking up the quadrille, which +the Emperor was to dance with the wife of the French Ambassador, one of +the ladies of honor, Countess Szegedin, went up to the Empress, and +whispered a few words to her, in a very low voice. Maria-Gloriosa grew +still paler, but mastered her emotion and waited until the end of the +last figure. Then, however, she could not restrain herself any longer, +and even without giving any pretext for running away in such a manner, +and leaning on the arm of her lady of honor, she made her way through +the crowd as if she were in a dream and went to her own apartments. I +told you that I was on duty that evening at the door of her rooms, and +according to etiquette, I was going to salute her respectfully, but she +did not give me time. + +"'Captain,' she said excitedly and vehemently, 'give orders for my own +private coachman, Hans Hildersheim, to get a carriage ready for me +immediately,' but thinking better of it immediately she went on: 'But +no, we should only lose time, and every minute is precious; give me a +cloak quickly, Madame, and a lace veil; we will go out of one of the +small doors in the park, and take the first conveyance we see." + +"She wrapped herself in her furs, hid her face in her mantilla, and I +accompanied her, without at first knowing what this mystery was, and +where we were going to, on this mad expedition. I hailed a cab that was +dawdling by the side of the pavement, and when the Empress gave me the +address of Ladislas Ferkoz, the Minister of State, in a low voice, in +spite of my usual phlegm, I felt a vague shiver of emotion, one of those +movements of hesitation and recoil, from which the bravest are not +exempt at times. But how could I get out of this unpleasant part of +acting as her companion, and how show want of politeness to a sovereign +who had completely lost her head? Accordingly, we started, but the +Empress did not pay any more attention to me than if I had not been +sitting by her side in that narrow conveyance, but stifled her sobs with +her pocket handkerchief, muttered a few incoherent words, and +occasionally trembled from head to foot. Her lover's name rose to her +lips as if it had been a response in a litany, and I thought that she +was praying to the Virgin that she might not arrive too late to see +Ladislas Ferkoz again in the possession of his faculties, and keep him +alive for a few hours. Suddenly, as if in reply to herself, she said: 'I +will not cry any more; he must see me looking beautiful, so that he may +remember me, even in death!' + +"When we arrived, I saw that we were expected, and that they had not +doubted that the Empress would come to close her lover's eyes with a +last kiss. She left me there, and hurried to Ladislas Ferkoz's room, +without even shutting the doors behind her, where his beautiful, +sensual, gipsy head stood out from the whiteness of the pillows; but his +face was quite bloodless, and there was no life left in it, except in +his large, strange eyes, that were striated with gold, like the eyes of +an astrologer or of a bearded vulture. + +"The cold numbness of the death struggle had already laid hold of his +robust body and paralyzed his lips and arms, and he could not reply even +by a sound of tenderness to Maria-Gloriosa's wild lamentations and +amorous cries. Neither reply nor smile, alas! But his eyes dilated, and +glistened like the last flame that shoots up from an expiring fire, and +filled them with a world of dying thoughts, of divine recollections, of +delirious love. They appeared to envelope her in kisses, they spoke to +her, they thanked her, they followed her movements, and seemed delighted +at her grief. And as if she were replying to their mute supplications, +as if she had understood them, Maria-Gloriosa suddenly tore off her +lace, threw aside her fur cloak, stood erect beside the dying man, whose +eyes were radiant, desirable in her supreme beauty with her bare +shoulders, her bust like marble and her fair hair, in which diamonds +glistened, surrounding her proud head, like that of the Goddess Diana, +the huntress, and with her arms stretched out towards him in an attitude +of love, of embrace and of blessing. He looked at her in ecstacy, he +feasted on her beauty, and seemed to be having a terrible struggle with +death, in order that he might gaze at her, that apparition of love, a +little longer, see her beyond eternal sleep and prolong this unexpected +dream. And when he felt that it was all over with him, and that even his +eyes were growing dim, two great tears rolled down his cheeks.... + +"When Maria-Gloriosa saw that he was dead, she piously and devoutly +kissed his lips and closed his eyes, like a priest who closes the gold +tabernacle after service, on an evening after benediction, and then, +without exchanging a word, we returned through the darkness to the +palace where the ball was still going on." + + * * * * * + +There was a minute's silence, and while Madame de Laumieres, who was +very much touched by this story and whose nerves were rather highly +strung, was drying her tears behind her open fan, suddenly the harsh and +shrill voices of the fast women who were returning from the Casino, by +the strange irony of fate, struck up an idiotic song which was then in +vogue: "_Oh! the poor, oh! the poor, oh! the poor, dear girl!_" + + + + +THE RELICS + + +They had given him a grand public funeral, like they do victorious +soldiers who have added some dazzling pages to the glorious annals of +their country, who have restored courage to desponding heads and cast +over other nations the proud shadow of their country's flag, like a yoke +under which those went who were no longer to have a country, or liberty. + +During a whole bright and calm night, when falling stars made people +think of unknown metamorphoses and the transmigration of souls, who +knows whether tall cavalry soldiers in their cuirasses and sitting as +motionless as statues on their horses, had watched by the dead man's +coffin, which was resting, covered with wreaths, under the porch of the +heroes, every stone of which is engraved with the name of a brave man, +and of a battle. + +The whole town was in mourning, as if it had lost the only object that +had possession of its heart, and which it loved. The crowd went silently +and thoughtfully down the avenue of the _Champs Elysees_, and they +almost fought for the commemorative medals and the common portraits +which hawkers were selling, or climbed upon the stands which street boys +had erected here and there, and whence they could see over the heads of +the crowd. The _Place de la Concorde_ had something solemn about it, +with its circle of statues hung from head to foot with long crape +coverings, which looked in the distance like widows, weeping and +praying. + +According to his last wish, Jean Ramel had been conveyed to the Pantheon +in the wretched paupers' hearse, which conveys them to the common grave +at the shambling trot of some thin and broken-winded horse. + +That dreadful, black conveyance without any drapery, without plumes and +without flowers, which was followed by Ministers and deputies, by +several regiments with their bands, and their flags flying above the +helmets and the sabers, by children from the national schools, by +delegates from the provinces, and an innumerable crowd of men in +blouses, of women, of shop-keepers from every quarter, had a most +theatrical effect, and while standing on the steps of the Pantheon, at +the foot of the massive columns of the portico, the orators successively +discanted on his apotheosis, tried to make their voices predominate over +the noise, emphasized their pompous periods, and finished the +performance by a poor third act, which makes people yawn and gradually +empties the theater, people remembered who that man had been, on whom +such posthumous honors were being bestowed, and who was having such a +funeral: it was Jean Ramel. + +Those three sonorous syllables called up a lionine head, with white hair +thrown back in disorder, like a mane, with features that looked as if +they had been cut out with a bill-hook, but which were so powerful, and +in which there lay such a flame of life, that one forgot their vulgarity +and ugliness; with black eyes under bushy eyebrows, which dilated and +flashed like lightning, now were veiled as if in tears and then were +filled with serene mildness, with a voice which now growled so as almost +to terrify its hearers, and which would have filled the hall of some +working men's club, full of the thick smoke from strong pipes without +being affected by it, and then would be soft, coaxing, persuasive and +unctuous like that of a priest who is holding out promises of Paradise, +or giving absolution for our sins. + +He had had the good luck to be persecuted, to be in the eyes of the +people, the incarnation of that lying formula which appears on every +public edifice, of those three words of the _Golden Age_, which make +those who think, those who suffer and those who govern, smile somewhat +sadly, _Liberty, Fraternity, Equality_. Luck had been kind to him, had +sustained, had pushed him on by the shoulders, and had set him up on his +pedestal again when he had fallen down, like all idols do. + +He spoke and he wrote, and always in order to announce the good news to +all the multitudes who suffered--no matter to what grade of society they +might belong--to hold out his hand to them and to defend them, to attack +the abuses of the _Code_--that book of injustice and severity--to speak +the truth boldly, even when it lashed his enemies as if it had been a +whip. + +His books were like Gospels, which are read chapter by chapter, and +warmed the most despairing and the most sorrowing hearts, and brought +comfort, hope and dreams to each. + +He had lived very modestly until the end, and appeared to spend nothing; +and he only kept one old servant, who spoke to him in the Basque +dialect. + +That chaste philosopher, who had all his life long feared women's snares +and wiles, who had looked upon love as a luxury made only for the rich +and idle, which unsettles the brain and interferes with acuteness of +thought, had allowed himself to be caught like an ordinary man, late in +life, when his hair was white and his forehead deeply wrinkled. + +It was not, however, as happens in the visions of solitary ascetics, +some strange queen or female magician, with stars in her eyes and +witchery in her voice, some loose woman who held up the symbolical lamp +immodestly, to light up her radiant nudity, and the pink and white +bouquet of her sweet-smelling skin, some woman in search of voluptuous +pleasures, whose lascivious appeals it is impossible for any man to +listen to, without being excited to the very depths of his being. +Neither a princess out of some fairy tale, nor a frail beauty who was an +expert in the art of reviving the ardor of old men, and of leading them +astray, nor a woman who was disgusted with her ideals, that always +turned out to be alike, and who dreamt of awakening the heart of one of +those men who suffer, who have afforded so much alleviation to human +misery, who seemed to be surrounded by a halo, and who never knew +anything but the true, the beautiful and the good. + +It was only a little girl of twenty, who was as pretty as a wild flower, +who had a ringing laugh, white teeth, and a mind that was as spotless as +a new mirror, in which no figure has been reflected as yet. + +He was in exile at the time for having given public expression to what +he thought, and he was living in an Italian village which was buried in +chestnut trees and situated on the shores of a lake that was narrow and +so transparent that it might have been taken for some nobleman's fish +pond that was like an emerald in a large park. The village consisted of +about twenty red-tiled houses. Several paths paved with flint led up the +side of the hill among the vines where the Madonna, full of grace and +goodness extended her indulgence. + +For the first time in his life Ramel remarked that there were some lips +that were more desirable, more smiling than others, that there was hair +in which it must be delicious to bury the fingers like in fine silk, and +which it must be delightful to kiss, and that there were eyes which +contained an infinitude of caresses, and he had spelled right through +the eclogue, which at length revealed true happiness to him, and he had +had a child, a son, by her. + +This was the only secret that Ramel jealously concealed, and which no +more than two or three of his oldest friends knew anything about, and +while he hesitated about spending twopence on himself, and went to the +Institute and to the Chamber of Deputies outside an omnibus, Pepa led +the happy life of a millionaire who is not frightened of the to-morrow, +and brought up her son like a little prince, with a tutor and three +servants, who had nothing to do but to look after him. + +All that Ramel made went into his mistress's hands, and when he felt +that his last hour was approaching, and that there was no hope of his +recovery--in full possession of his faculties and joy in his dull +eyes--he gave his name to Pepa, and made her his lawful widow, in the +presence of all his friends. She inherited everything that her former +lover left behind, a considerable income from his share of the annual +profits on his books, and also his pension, which the State continued to +pay to her. + +Little Ramel throve wonderfully amidst all this luxury, and gave free +scope to his instincts and his caprices, without his mother ever having +the courage to reprove him in the least, and he did not bear the +slightest resemblance to Jean Ramel. + +Full of pranks, effeminate, a superfine dandy, and precociously vicious, +he suggested the idea of those pages at the Court of Florence, whom we +frequently meet with in _The Decameron_, and who were the playthings for +the idle hands and tips of the patrician ladies. + +He was very ignorant and lived at a great rate, bet on races, and played +cards for heavy stakes with seasoned gamblers, old enough to be his +father. And it was distressing to hear this lad joke about the memory of +him whom he called _the old man_, and persecute his mother because of +the worship and adoration which she felt for Jean Ramel, whom she spoke +of as if he had become a demigod when he died, like in Roman theogony. + +He would have liked altogether to have altered the arrangement of that +kind of sanctuary, the drawing-room, where Pepa kept some of her +husband's manuscripts, the furniture that he had most frequently used, +the bed on which he had died, his pens, his clothes and his weapons. And +one evening, not knowing how to dress himself up more originally than +the rest for a masked ball that stout Toinette Danicheff was going to +give as her house-warming, without saying a word to his mother, he took +down the Academician's dress, the sword and cocked hat that had belonged +to Jean Ramel, and put it on as if it had been a disguise on Shrove +Tuesday. + +Slightly built and with thin arms and legs, the wide clothes hung on +him, and he was a comical sight with the embroidered skirt of his coat +sweeping the carpet, and his sword knocking against his heels. The +elbows and the collar were shiny and greasy from wear, for the _Master_ +had worn it until it was threadbare, to avoid having to buy another, and +had never thought of replacing it. + +He made a tremendous hit, and fair Liline Ablette laughed so at his +grimaces and his disguise, that that night she threw over Prince +Noureddin for him, although he had paid for her house, her horses and +everything else, and allowed her six thousand francs a month--L240--for +extras and pocket money. + + + + +THE THIEF + + +"Certainly," Dr. Sorbier exclaimed, who, while appearing to be thinking +of something else, had been listening quietly to those surprising +accounts of burglaries and of daring acts which might have been borrowed +from the trial of Cartouche; "certainly, I do not know any viler fault, +nor any meaner action than to attack a girl's innocence, to corrupt her, +to profit by a moment of unconscious weakness and of madness, when her +heart is beating like that of a frightened fawn, when her body, which +has been unpolluted up till then, is palpitating with mad desire and her +pure lips seek those of her seducer; when her whole being is feverish +and vanquished, and she abandons herself without thinking of the +irremediable stain, nor of her fall nor of the painful awakening on the +morrow. + +"The man who has brought this about slowly, viciously, and who can tell +with what science of evil, and who, in such a case, has not steadiness +and self-restraint enough to quench that flame by some icy words, who +has not sense enough for two, who cannot recover his self-possession and +master the runaway brute within him, and who loses his head on the edge +of the precipice over which she is going to fall, is as contemptible as +any man who breaks open a lock, or as any rascal on the look-out for a +house left defenseless and without protection, or for some easy and +profitable stroke of business, or as that thief whose various exploits +you have just related to us. + +"I, for my part, utterly, refuse to absolve him even when extenuating +circumstances plead in his favor, even when he is carrying on a +dangerous flirtation, in which a man tries in vain to keep his balance, +not to exceed the limits of the game, any more than at lawn tennis; even +when the parts are inverted and a man's adversary is some precocious, +curious, seductive girl, who shows you immediately that she has nothing +to learn and nothing to experience, except the last chapter of love, one +of those girls from whom may fate always preserve our sons, and whom a +psychological novel writer has christened _The Semi-Virgins_. + +"It is, of course, difficult and painful for that coarse and +unfathomable vanity which is characteristic of every man, and which +might be called _malism_, not to stir such a charming fire, to act the +Joseph and the fool, to turn away his eyes, and, as it were, to put wax +into his ears, like the companions of Ulysses did when they were +attracted by the divine, seductive songs of the sirens, just to touch +that pretty table, covered with a perfectly new cloth, at which you are +invited to take a seat before any one else, in such a suggestive voice, +and are requested to quench your thirst and to taste that new wine, +whose fresh and strange flavor you will never forget. But who would +hesitate to exercise such self-restraint if, when he rapidly examined +his conscience, in one of those instinctive returns to his sober self, +in which a man thinks clearly and recovers his head; if he were to +measure the gravity of his fault, think of his fault, think of its +consequences, of the reprisals, of the uneasiness which he would always +feel in the future, and which would destroy the repose and the happiness +of his life? + +"You may guess that behind all these moral reflections, such as a +gray-beard like myself may indulge in, there is a story hidden, and sad +as it is, I am sure it will interest you on account of the strange +heroism that it shows." + +He was silent for a few moments as if to classify recollections, and +with his elbows resting on the arms of his easy chair, and his eyes +looking into space, he continued in the slow voice of a hospital +professor, who is explaining a case to his class of medical students, at +a bedside: + +"He was one of those men who, as our grandfathers used to say, never met +with a cruel woman, the type of the adventurous knight who was always +foraging, who had something of the scamp about him, but who despised +danger and was bold even to rashness. He was ardent in the pursuit of +pleasure, and a man who had an irresistible charm about him, one of +those men in whom we excuse the greatest excesses, as the most natural +things in the world. He had run through all his money at gambling and +with pretty girls, and so became, as it were, a soldier of fortune, who +amused himself whenever and however he could, and was at that time +quartered at Versailles. + +"I knew him to the very depths of his childish heart, which was only too +easily penetrated and sounded, and I loved him like some old bachelor +uncle loves a nephew who plays him some tricks, but who knows how to +make him indulgent towards him, and how to wheedle him. He had made me +his confidant far more than his adviser, kept me informed of his +slightest tricks, though he always pretended to be speaking about one of +his friends, and not about himself, and I must confess that his youthful +impetuosity, his careless gaiety and his amorous ardor sometimes +distracted my thoughts and made me envy the handsome, vigorous young +fellow who was so happy at being alive, so that I had not the courage to +check him, to show him his right road, and to call out to him, 'Take +care!' as children do at blind man's buff. + +"And one day, after one of those interminable _cotillons_, where the +couples do not leave each other for hours, but have the bridle on their +neck and can disappear together without anybody thinking of taking +notice of it, the poor fellow at last discovered what love was, that +real love which takes up its abode in the very center of the heart and +in the brain, and is proud of being there, and which rules like a +sovereign and tyrannous master, and so he grew desperately enamored of a +pretty, but badly brought up girl, who was as disquieting and as wayward +as she was pretty. + +"She loved him, however, or rather she idolized him despotically, madly, +with all her enraptured soul, and all her excited person. Left to do as +she pleased by imprudent and frivolous parents, suffering from neurosis, +in consequence of the unwholesome friendships which she contracted at +the convent-school, instructed by what she saw and heard and knew was +going on around her, in spite of her deceitful and artificial conduct, +knowing that neither her father nor her mother, who were very proud of +their race, as well as avaricious, would ever agree to let her marry the +man whom she had taken a liking to, that handsome fellow who had little +besides visionary ideas and debts, and who belonged to the middle +classes, she laid aside all scruples, thought of nothing but of +belonging to him altogether, of taking him for her lover, and of +triumphing over his desperate resistance as an honorable man. + +"By degrees, the unfortunate man's strength gave way, his heart grew +softened, his nerves became excited, and he allowed himself to be +carried away by that current which buffeted him, surrounded him and left +him on the shore like a waif and a stray. + +"They wrote letters full of temptation and of madness to each other, and +not a day passed without their meeting, either accidentally, as it +seemed, or at parties and balls. She had given him her lips in long, +ardent caresses, and she had sealed their compact of mutual passion with +kisses of desire and of hope. And at last she brought him to her room, +almost in spite of himself." + +The doctor stopped, and his eyes suddenly filled with tears, as these +former troubles came back to his mind, and then in a hoarse voice, he +went on, full of horror of what he was going to relate: + +"For months he scaled the garden wall, and holding his breath and +listening for the slightest noise, like a burglar who is going to break +into a house, he went in by the servants' entrance, which she had left +open, went barefoot down a long passage and up the broad staircase, +which creaked occasionally, to the second story, where his mistress's +room was, and stopped there nearly the whole night. + +"One night, when it was darker than usual, and he was making haste lest +he should be later than the time agreed on, the officer knocked up +against a piece of furniture in the ante-room and upset it. It so +happened that the girl's mother had not gone to sleep yet, either +because she had a sick headache, or else because she had sat up late +over some novel, and frightened at that unusual noise which disturbed +the silence of the house, she jumped out of bed, opened the door, saw +some one, indistinctly, running away and keeping close to the wall, and, +immediately thinking that there were burglars in the house, she aroused +her husband and the servants by her frantic screams. The unfortunate man +knew what he was about, and seeing into what a terrible fix he had got, +and preferring to be taken for a common thief to dishonoring his adored +mistress and to betraying the secret of their guilty love, he ran into +the drawing-room, felt en the tables and what-nots, filled his pockets +at random with valuable gew-gaws, and then cowered down behind the grand +piano, which barred up a corner of a large room. + +"The servants who had run in with lighted candles, found him, and +overwhelming him with abuse, seized him by the collar and dragged him, +panting and appearing half dead with shame and terror, to the nearest +police station. He defended himself with intentional awkwardness when he +was brought up for trial, kept up his part with the most perfect +self-possession, and without any signs of the despair and anguish that +he felt in his heart, and condemned and degraded and made to suffer +martyrdom in his honor as a man and as a soldier, he did not protest, +but went to prison as one of those criminals whom society gets rid of, +like noxious vermin. + +"He died there of misery and of bitterness of spirit, with the name of +the fair-haired idol, for whom he had sacrificed himself, on his lips, +as if it had been an ecstatic prayer, and he entrusted his will to the +priest who administered extreme unction to him, and requested him to +give it to me. In it, without mentioning anybody, and without in the +least lifting the veil, he at last explained the enigma, and cleared +himself of those accusations, the terrible burden of which he had borne +until his last breath. + +"I have always thought myself, though I do not know why, that the girl +married and had several charming children, whom she brought up writh the +austere strictness, and in the serious piety of former days!" + + + + +A RUPTURE + + +"It is just as I tell you, my dear fellow, those two poor things whom we +all of us envied, who looked like a couple of pigeons when they are +billing and cooing, and were always spooning until they made themselves +ridiculous, now hate each other just as much as they used to adore each +other. It is a complete break, and one of those which cannot be mended +like you can an old plate! And all for a bit of nonsense, for something +so funny that it ought to have brought them closer together and have +made them amuse themselves together until they were ill. But how can a +man explain himself when he is dying of jealousy, and when he keeps +repeating to his terrified mistress, 'You are lying! you are lying!' +When he shakes her, interrupts her while she is speaking, and says such +hard things to her that at last she flies into a rage, has enough of it, +becomes hard and mad, and thinks of nothing but of giving him tit for +tat and of paying him out in his own coin; does not care a straw about +destroying his happiness, sends everything to the devil, and talks a lot +of bosh which she certainly does not believe. And then, because there is +nothing so stupid and so obstinate in the whole world as lovers, neither +he nor she will take the first steps, and own to having been in the +wrong, and regret having gone too far; but both wait and watch and do +not even write a few lines about nothing, which would restore peace. No, +they let day succeed day, and there are feverish and sleepless nights +when the bed seems so hard, so cheerless and so large, and habits get +weakened and the fire of love that was still smoldering at the bottom of +the heart evaporates in smoke. By degrees both find some reason for what +they wished to do, they think themselves idiots to lose the time which +will never return in that fashion, and so good-bye, and there you are! +That is how Josine Cadenette and that great idiot Servance separated." + +Lalie Spring had lighted a cigarette, and the blue smoke played about +her fine, fair hair, and made one think of those last rays of the +setting sun which pierce through the clouds at sunset, and resting her +elbows on her knees, and with her chin in her hand in a dreamy attitude, +she murmured: + +"Sad, isn't it?" + +"Bah!" I replied, "at their age people easily console themselves, and +everything begins over again, even love!" + +"Well, Josine had already found somebody else...." + +"And did she tell you her story?" + +"Of course she did, and it is such a joke!... You must know that +Servance is one of those fellows like one would wish to have when one +has time to amuse oneself, and so self-possessed that he would be +capable of ruining all the older ones in a girls' school, and given to +trifling as much as most men, so that Josine calls him 'perpetual +motion.' He would have liked to have gone on with his fun until the Day +of Judgment, and seemed to fancy that beds were not made to sleep in at +all, but she could not get used to being deprived of nearly all her +rest, and it really made her ill. But as she wished to be as +conciliatory as possible, and to love and to be loved as ardently as in +the past, and also to sleep off the effects of her happiness peacefully, +she rented a small room in a distant quarter, in a quiet, shady street +giving out that she had just come from the country, and put hardly any +furniture into it except a good bed and a dressing table. Then she +invented an old aunt for the occasion, who was ill and always grumbling, +and who suffered from heart disease and lived in one of the suburbs, and +so several times a week Josine took refuge in her sleeping place, and +used to sleep late there as if it had been some delicious abode where +one forgets the whole world. Sometimes they forgot to call her at the +proper time; she got back late, tired, with red and swollen eyelids, +involved herself in lies, contradicted herself and looked so much as if +she had just come from the confessional, feeling horribly ashamed of +herself, or, as if she had hurried home from some assignation, that at +last Servance worried himself about it, thought that he was being made a +fool of like so many of his comrades were, got into a rage and made up +his mind to set the matter straight, and so discover who this aunt of +his mistress's was, who had so suddenly fallen from the skies. + +"He necessarily applied to an obliging agency, where they excited his +jealousy, exasperated him day after day by making him believe that +Josine Cadenette was making an absolute fool of him, had no more a sick +aunt than she had any virtue, but that during the day she continued the +little debaucheries which she committed with him at night, and that she +shamelessly frequented some discreet bachelor's lodgings, where more +than probably one of his own best friends was amusing himself at his +expense, and having his share of the cake. He was fool enough to +believe these fellows, instead of going and watching Josine himself, +putting his nose into the business and going and knocking at the door of +her room. He wanted to hear no more, and would not listen to her. For a +trifle, in spite of her tears, he would have turned the poor thing into +the streets, as if she had been a bundle of dirty linen. You may guess +how she flew out at him and told him all sorts of things to annoy him; +she let him believe he was not mistaken, that she had had enough of his +affection, and that she was madly in love with another man. He grew very +pale when she said that, looked at her furiously, clenched his teeth and +said in a hoarse voice: + +"'Tell me his name, tell me his name!' + +"'Oh!' she said, chaffingly, 'you know him very well!' and if I had not +happened to have gone in I think there would have been a tragedy.... How +stupid they are, and they were so happy and loved each other so.... And +now Josine is living with fat Schweinsshon, a low scoundrel who will +live upon her and Servance has taken up with Sophie Labisque, who might +easily be his mother; you know her, that bundle of red and yellow, who +has been at that kind of thing for eighteen years, and whom Laglandee +has christened, '_Saecula saeculorum_!'" + +"By Jove! I should rather think I did!" + + + + +A USEFUL HOUSE + + +Royamount's fat sides shook with laughter at the mere recollection of +the funny story that he had promised to his friends, and throwing +himself back in the great arm-chair, which he completely filled, _that +picker up of bits of pinchbeck_, as they called him at the club, at last +said: + +"It is perfectly true, Bordenave does not owe anyone a penny and can go +through any street he likes and publish those famous memoirs of +sheriff's officers, which he has been writing for the last ten years, +when he did not dare to go out, and in which he carefully brought out +the characters and peculiarities of all those generous distributors of +stamped paper with whom he had had dealings, their tricks and wiles, +their weaknesses, their jokes, their manner of performing their duties, +sometimes with brutal rudeness and at others with cunning good nature, +now embarrassed and almost ashamed of their work, and again ironically +jovial, as well the artifices of their clerks to get a few crumbs from +their employer's cake. The book will soon be published and Machin, the +Vaudeville writer, has promised him a preface, so that it will be a most +amusing work. You are surprised, eh? Confess that you are absolutely +surprised, and I will lay you any bet you like that you will not guess +how our excellent friend, whose existence is an inexplicable problem, +has been able to settle with his creditors, and suddenly produce the +requisite amount." + +"Do get to the facts, confound it," Captain Hardeur said, who was +growing tired of all this verbiage. + +"All right, I will get to them as quickly as possible," Royaumont +replied, throwing the stump of his cigar into the fire. "I will clear my +throat and begin. I suppose all of you know that two better friends than +Bordenave and Quillanet do not exist; neither of them could do without +the other, and they have ended by dressing alike, by having the same +gestures, the same laugh, the same walk and the same inflections of +voice, so that one would think that some close bond united them, and +that they had been brought up together from childhood. There is, +however, this great difference between them, that Bordenave is +completely ruined and that all that he possesses are bundles of +mortgages, laughable parchments which attest his ancient race, and +chimerical hopes of inheriting money some day, though these expectations +are already heavily hypothecated. Consequently, he is always on the +look-out for some fresh expedients for raising money, though he is +superbly indifferent about everything, while Sebastien Quillanet, of the +banking house of Quillanet Brothers, must have an income of eight +thousand francs a year, but is descended from an obscure laborer who +managed to secure some of the national property, then he became an army +contractor, speculated on defeat as well as victory, and does not know +now what to do with his money. But the millionaire is timid, dull and +always bored, the ruined spendthrift amuses him by his impertinent ways, +and his libertine jokes; he prompts him when he is at a loss for an +answer, extricates him out of his difficulties, serves as his guide in +the great forests of Paris which is strewn with so many pit-falls, and +helps him to avoid those vulgar adventures which socially ruins a man, +no matter how well ballasted he may be. Then he points out to him what +women would make suitable mistresses for him, who make a man noted, and +have the effect of some rare and beautiful flower pinned into his +buttonhole. He is the confidant of his intrigues, his guest when he +gives small, special entertainments, his daily familiar table companion, +and the buffoon whose sly humor one stimulates, and whose worst +witticisms one tolerates." + +"Really, really," the captain interrupted him, "you have been going on +for more than a quarter of an hour without saying anything." + +So Royaumont shrugged his shoulders and continued: "Oh you can be very +tiresome when you please, my dear fellow!... Last year, when he was at +daggers drawn with his people, who were deafening him with their +recriminations, were worrying him and threatening him with a lot of +annoyance, Quillanet got married. A marriage of reason, and which +apparently changed his habits and his tastes, more especially as the +banker was at that time keeping a perfect little marvel of a woman, a +Parisian jewel of unspeakable attractions and of bewitching delicacy, +that adorable Suzette Marly who is just like a pocket Venus, and who in +some prior stage of her existence must have been Phryne or Lesbia. Of +course he did not get rid of her, but as he was bound to take some +judicious precautions, which are necessary for a man who is deceiving +his wife, he rented a furnished house with a courtyard in front, and a +garden at the back, which one might think had been built to shelter some +amorous folly. It was the nest that he had dreamt of, warm, snug, +elegant, the walls covered with silk hangings of subdued tints, large +pier-glasses, allegorical pictures, and filled with luxurious, low +furniture that seemed to invite caresses and embraces. Bordenave +occupied the ground floor, and the first floor served as a shrine for +the banker and his mistress. Well, just a week ago, in order to hide the +situation better, Bordenave asked Quillanet and some other friends to +one of those luncheons which he understands so well how to order, such a +delicious luncheon, that before it was quite over, every man had a woman +on his knees already, and was asking himself whether a kiss from coaxing +and naughty lips, was not a thousand times more intoxicating than the +finest old brandy or the choicest vintage wines, and was looking at the +bedroom door wishing to escape to it, although the Faculty altogether +forbids that fashion of digesting a dainty repast, when the butler came +in with an embarrassed look, and whispered something to him. + +"Tell the gentleman that he has made a mistake, and ask him to leave me +in peace," Bordenave replied to him in an angry voice. The servant went +out and returned immediately to say that the intruder was using threats, +that he refused to leave the house, and even spoke of having recourse to +the commissary of police. Bordenave frowned, threw his table napkin +down, upset two glasses and staggered out with a red face, swearing and +stammering out: + +"This is rather too much, and the fellow shall find out what going out +of the window means, if he will not leave by the door." But in the +ante-room he found himself face to face with a very cool, polite, +impassive gentleman, who said very quietly to him: + +"You are Count Robert de Bordenave, I believe. Monsieur?" + +"Yes, Monsieur." + +"And the lease that you signed at the lawyer's, Monsieur Albin Calvert, +in the _Rue du Faubourg-Poissonniere_, is in your name, I believe?" + +"Certainly, Monsieur." + +"Then I regret extremely to have to tell you that if you are not in a +position to pay the various accounts which different people have +intrusted to me for collection here, I shall be obliged to seize all the +furniture, pictures, plate, clothes etc., which are here, in the +presence of two witnesses who are waiting for me downstairs in the +street." + +"I suppose this is some joke, Monsieur?" + +"It would be a very poor joke, Monsieur le Comte, and one which I should +certainly not allow myself towards you!" + +The situation was absolutely critical and ridiculous, the more so, that +in the dining-room the women who were slightly _elevated_, were tapping +the wine glasses with their spoons, and calling for him. What could he +do except to explain his misadventure to Quillanet, who became sobered +immediately, and rather than see his shrine of love violated, his secret +sin disclosed and his pictures, ornaments and furniture sold, gave a +check in due form for the claim there and then, though with a very wry +face. And in spite of this, some people will deny that men who are +utterly cleared out, often have a stroke of luck. + + + + +THE ACCENT + + +It was a large, upholstered house, with long white terraces shaded by +vines, from which one could see the sea. Large pines stretched a dark +dome over the sacked facade, and there was a look of neglect, of want +and wretchedness about it all, such as irreparable losses, departures to +other countries, and death leave behind them. + +The interior wore a strange look, with half unpacked boxes serving for +wardrobes, piles of band boxes, and for seats there was an array of +worm-eaten armchairs, into which bits of velvet and silk, which had been +cut from old dresses, had been festooned anyhow, and along the walls +there were rows of rusty nails which made one think of old portraits and +of pictures full of associations, which had one by one been bought for a +low price by some second-hand furniture broker. + +The rooms were in disorder and furnished no matter how, while velvets +were hanging from the ceilings and in the corners, and seemed to show +that as the servants were no longer paid except by hopes, they no longer +did more than give them an accidental, careless touch with the broom +occasionally. The drawing-room, which was extremely large, was full of +useless knick-knacks, rubbish which is put up for sale at stalls at +watering places, daubs, they could not be called paintings of portraits +and of flowers, and an old piano with yellow keys. + +Such is the home where she, who had been called the handsome Madame de +Maurillac, was spending her monotonous existence, like some unfortunate +doll which inconstant, childish hands have thrown into a corner in a +loft, she who, almost passed for a professional seductress, and whose +coquetries, at least so the Faithful ones of the Party said, had been +able to excite a passing and last spark of desire in the dull eyes of +the Emperor. + +Like so many others, she and her husband had waited for his return from +Elba, had discounted a fresh, immediate chance, had kept up boldly and +spent the remains of his fortune at that game of luxury. + +On the day when the illusion vanished, and he was forced to awake from +his dream, Monsieur de Maurillac, without considering that he was +leaving his wife and daughter behind him almost penniless, but not being +able to make up his mind to come down in the world, to vegetate, to +fight against his creditors, to accept the derisive alms of some +sinecure, poisoned himself, like a shop girl who is forsaken by her +lover. + +Madame de Maurillac did not mourn for him, and as this lamentable +disaster had made her interesting, and as she was assisted and supported +by unexpected acts of kindness, and had a good adviser in one of those +old Parisian lawyers who would get anybody out of the most inextricable +difficulties, she managed to save something from the wreck, and to keep +a small income. Then reassured and emboldened, and resting her ultimate +illusions and her chimerical hopes on her daughter's radiant beauty, and +preparing for that last game in which they would risk everything, and +perhaps also hoping that she might herself marry again, the ancient +flirt arranged a double existence. + +For months and months she disappeared from the world, and as a pretext +for her isolation and for hiding herself in the country, she alleged her +daughter's delicate health, and also the important interests she had to +look after in the South of France. + +Her frivolous friends looked upon that as a great act of heroism, as +something almost super-human, and so courageous, that they tried to +distract her by their incessant letters, religiously kept her up in all +the scandal, and love adventures, in the falls, as well as in the +apotheosis of the capital. + +The difficult struggle which Madame de Maurillac had to keep up in order +to maintain her rank, was really as fine as any of those campaigns in +the twilight of glory, as those slow retreats where men only give way +inch by inch and fight until the last cartridge is expended, until at +last fresh troops arrive, reinforcement which bar the way to the enemy, +and save the threatened flag. + +Broken in by the same discipline, and haunted by the same dream, mother +and daughter lived on almost nothing in the dull, dilapidated house +which the peasants called the _chateau_, and economized like poor people +who only have a few hundred francs a year to live on. But Fabienne de +Maurillac developed well in spite of everything, and grew up into a +woman like some rare flower which is preserved from all contact with the +outer air and is reared in a hot-house. + +In order that she might not lose her Parisian accent by speaking too +much with the servants, who had remained peasants under their livery, +Madame de Maurillac, who had not been able to bring a lady's maid with +her, on account of the extra cost which her traveling expenses and wages +would have entailed, and who, moreover, was afraid that some +indiscretion might betray her maneuvers and cover her with ridicule, +made up her mind to wait on her daughter herself. And Fabienne talked +with nobody but her, saw nobody but her, and was like a little novice in +a convent. Nobody was allowed to speak to her, or to interfere with her +walks in the large garden, or on the white terraces that were reflected +in the blue water. + +As soon as the season for the country and the seaside came, however, +they packed up their trunks, and locked the doors of their house of +exile. As they were not known, and taking those terrible trains which +stop at every station, and by which travelers arrive at their +destination in the middle of the night, with the certainty that nobody +will be waiting for you, and see you get out of the carriage, they +traveled third class, so that they might have a few bank notes the more, +with which to make a show. + +A fortnight in Paris in the family house at Auteuil, a fortnight in +which to try on dresses and bonnets and to show themselves, and then +Trouville, Aix or Biarritz, the whole show complete, with parties +succeeding parties, money was spent as if they did not know its value, +balls at the Casinos, constant flirtations, compromising intimacies, and +those kind of admirers who immediately surround two pretty women, one in +the radiant beauty of her eighteen years, and the other in the +brightness of that maturity, which beautiful September days bring with +them. + +Unfortunately, however, they had to do the same thing over again every +year, and as if bad luck were continuing to follow them implacably, +Madame de Maurillac and her daughter did not succeed in their endeavors, +and did not manage during her usual absence from home, to pick up some +nice fellow who fell in love immediately, who took them seriously, and +asked for Fabienne's hand, consequently, they were very unhappy. Their +energies flagged, and their courage left them like water that escapes, +drop by drop, through a crack in a jug. They grew low-spirited and no +longer dared to be open towards each other and to exchange confidences +and projects. + +Fabienne, with her pale cheeks, her large eyes with blue circles round +them and her tight lips, looked like some captive princess who is +tormented by constant ennui, and troubled by evil suggestions; who +dreams of flight, and of escape from that prison where fate holds her +captive. + +One night, when the sky was covered with heavy thunderclouds and the +heat was most oppressive, Madame de Maurillac called her daughter whose +room was next to hers. After calling her loudly for some time in vain, +she sprang out of bed in terror and almost broke open the door with her +trembling hands. The room was empty, and the pillows untouched. + +Then, nearly mad and foreseeing some irreparable misfortune, the poor +woman ran all over the large house, and then rushed out into the garden, +where the air was heavy with the scent of flowers. She had the +appearance of some wild animal that is being pursued by a pack of +hounds, tried to penetrate the darkness with her anxious looks, and +gasped as if some one were holding her by the throat; but suddenly she +staggered, uttered a painful cry and fell down in a fit. + +There before her, in the shadow of the myrtle trees, Fabienne was +sitting on the knees of a man--of the gardener--with both her arms round +his neck and kissing him ardently, and as if to defy her, and to show +her how vain all her precautions and her vigilance had been, the girl +was telling her lover in the country dialect, and in a cooing and +delightful voice, how she adored him and that she belonged to him.... + +Madame de Maurillac is in a lunatic asylum, and Fabienne has married the +gardener. + +What could she have done better? + + + + +GHOSTS + + +Just at the time when the _Concordat_ was in its most flourishing +condition, a young man belonging to a wealthy and highly respected +middle class family went to the office of the head of the police at +P----, and begged for his help and advice, which was immediately +promised him. + +"My father threatens to disinherit me," the young man then began, +"although I have never offended against the laws of the State, of +morality or of his paternal authority, merely because I do not share his +blind reverence for the Catholic Church and her Ministers. On that +account he looks upon me, not merely as Latitudinarian, but as a perfect +Atheist, and a faithful old manservant of ours, who is much attached to +me, and who accidentally saw my father's will, told me in confidence +that he had left all his property to the Jesuits. I think this is highly +suspicious, and I fear that the priests have been maligning me to my +father. Until less than a year ago, we used to live very quietly and +happily together, but ever since he has had so much to do with the +clergy, our domestic peace and happiness are at an end." + +"What you have told me," the official replied, "is as likely as it is +regrettable, but I fail to see how I can interfere in the matter. Your +father is in the full possession of all his mental faculties, and can +dispose of all his property exactly as he pleases. I also think that +your protest is premature; you must wait until his will can legally take +effect, and then you can invoke the aid of justice; I am sorry to say +that I can do nothing for you." + +"I think you will be able to," the young man replied; "for I believe +that a very clever piece of deceit is being carried on here." + +"How? Please explain yourself more clearly." + +"When I remonstrated with him, yesterday evening, he referred to my dead +mother, and at last assured me, in a voice of the deepest conviction, +that she had frequently appeared to him, and had threatened him with all +the torments of the damned, if he did not disinherit his son, who had +fallen away from God, and leave all his property to the Church. Now I do +not believe in ghosts." + +"Neither do I," the police director replied; "but I cannot well do +anything on this dangerous ground, if I had nothing but superstitions to +go upon. You know how the Church rules all our affairs since the +_Concordat_ with Rome, and if I investigate this matter, and obtain no +results, I am risking my post. It would be very different if you could +adduce any proofs for your suspicions. I do not deny that I should like +to see the clerical party, which will, I fear, be the ruin of Austria, +receive a staggering blow; try, therefore, to get to the bottom of this +business, and then we will talk it over again." + +About a month passed, without the young Latitudinarian being heard of; +but then he suddenly came one evening, evidently in a great state of +excitement, and told him that he was in a position to expose the +priestly deceit which he had mentioned, if the authorities would assist +him. The police director asked for further information. + +"I have obtained a number of important clues," the young man said. "In +the first place, my father confessed to me, that my mother did not +appear to him in our house, but in the churchyard where she is buried. +My mother was consumptive for many years, and a few weeks before her +death she went to the village of S----, where she died and was buried. +In addition to this, I found out from our footman, that my father has +already left the house twice, late at night, in company of X----, the +Jesuit priest, and that on both occasions he did not return till +morning. Each time he was remarkably uneasy and low-spirited after his +return, and had three masses said for my dead mother. He also told me +just now, that he has to leave home this evening on business, but +immediately he told me that, our footman saw the Jesuit go out of the +house. We may, therefore, assume that he intends this evening to consult +the spirit of my dead mother again, and this would be an excellent +opportunity for getting on the track of the matter, if you do not object +to opposing the most powerful force in the Empire, for the sake of such +an insignificant individual as myself." + +"Every citizen has an equal right to the protection of the State," the +police director replied; "and I think that I have shown often enough, +that I am not wanting in courage to perform my duty, no matter how +serious the consequences may be; but only very young men act without any +prospects of success, as they are carried away by their feelings. When +you came to me the first time, I was obliged to refuse your request for +assistance, but to-day your shares have risen in value. It is now eight +o'clock, and I shall expect you in two hours' time, here in my office. +At present, all you have to do is to hold your tongue; everything else +is my affair." + +As soon as it was dark, four men got into a closed carriage in the yard +of the police office, and were driven in the direction of the village of +S----; their carriage, however, did not enter the village, but stopped +at the edge of a small wood in the immediate neighborhood. Here they all +four alighted; they were the police director, accompanied by the young +Latitudinarian, a police sergeant and an ordinary policeman, who was, +however, dressed in plain clothes. + +"The first thing for us to do is to examine the locality carefully," the +police director said; "it is eleven o'clock and the exorcisers of ghosts +will not arrive before midnight, so we have time to look round us, and +to take our measure." + +The four men went to the churchyard, which lay at the end of the +village, near the little wood. Everything was as still as death, and not +a soul was to be seen. The sexton was evidently sitting in the public +house, for they found the door of his cottage locked, as well as the +door of the little chapel that stood in the middle of the churchyard. + +"Where is your mother's grave?" the police director asked; but as there +were only a few stars visible, it was not easy to find it, but at last +they managed it, and the police director looked about in the +neighborhood of it. + +"The position is not a very favorable one for us," he said at last; +"there is nothing here, not even a shrub, behind which we could hide." + +But just then the policeman said that he had tried to get into the +sexton's hut through the door or the window, and that at last he had +succeeded in doing so by breaking open a square in a window, which had +been mended with paper, and that he had opened it and obtained +possession of the key, which he brought to the police director. + +His plans were very quickly settled. He had the chapel opened and went +in with the young Latitudinarian; then he told the police sergeant to +lock the door behind him and to put the key back where he had found it, +and to shut the window of the sexton's cottage carefully. Lastly, he +made arrangements as to what they were to do, in case anything +unforeseen should occur, whereupon the sergeant and the constable left +the churchyard, and lay down in a ditch at some distance from the gate, +but opposite to it. + +Almost as soon as the clock struck half-past eleven, they heard steps +near the chapel, whereupon the police director and the young +Latitudinarian went to the window, in order to watch the beginning of +the exorcism, and as the chapel was in total darkness, they thought that +they should be able to see, without being seen; but matters turned out +differently from what they expected. + +Suddenly, the key turned in the lock, and they barely had time to +conceal themselves behind the altar, before two men came in, one of whom +was carrying a dark lantern. One was the young man's father, an elderly +man of the middle class, who seemed very unhappy and depressed, the +other the Jesuit father K----, a tall, thin, big-boned man, with a thin, +bilious face, in which two large gray eyes shone restlessly under their +bushy, black eyebrows. He lit the tapers, which were standing on the +altar, and then began to say a _Requiem Mass_; while the old man knelt +on the altar steps and served him. + +When it was over, the Jesuit took the book of the Gospels and the holy +water sprinkler, and went slowly out of the chapel, while the old man +followed him, with the holy water basin in one hand and a taper in the +other. Then the police director left his hiding place, and stooping +down, so as not to be seen, he crept to the chapel window, where he +cowered down carefully, and the young man followed his example. They +were now looking straight on his mother's grave. + +The Jesuit, followed by the superstitious old man, walked three times +round the grave; then he remained standing before it, and by the light +of the taper, he read a few passages from the Gospel; then he dipped the +holy water sprinkler three times into the holy water basin, and +sprinkled the grave three times; then both returned to the chapel, knelt +down outside it with their faces towards the grave, and began to pray +aloud, until at last the Jesuit sprang up, in a species of wild ecstasy, +and cried out three times in a shrill voice: + +"Exsurge! Exsurge! Exsurge!"[1] + +[Footnote 1: Arise!] + +Scarcely had the last word of the exorcism died away, when thick, blue +smoke rose out of the grave, which rapidly grew into a cloud, and began +to assume the outlines of a human body, until at last a tall, white +figure stood behind the grave, and beckoned with its hand. + +"Who art thou?" the Jesuit asked solemnly, while the old man began to +cry. + +"When I was alive, I was called Anna Maria B----," the ghost replied in +a hollow voice. + +"Will you answer all my questions?" the priest continued. + +"As far as I can." + +"Have you not yet been delivered from purgatory by our prayers, and all +the masses for your soul, which we have said for you?" + +"Not yet, but soon, soon I shall be." + +"When?" + +"As soon as that blasphemer, my son, has been punished." + +"Has that not already happened? Has not your husband disinherited his +lost son, and made the Church his heir, in his place?" + +"That is not enough." + +"What must he do besides?" + +"He must deposit his will with the Judicial Authorities, as his last +will and testament, and drive the reprobate out of his house." + +"Consider well what you are saying. Must this really be?" + +"It must, or otherwise I shall have to languish in purgatory much +longer," the sepulchral voice replied with a deep sigh; but the next +moment it yelled out in terror: + +"Oh! Good Lord!" and the ghost began to run away as fast as it could. A +shrill whistle was heard, and then another, and the police director laid +his hand on the shoulder of the exorcisor, accompanied with the remark: + +"You are in custody." + +Meanwhile, the police sergeant and the policeman, who had come into the +churchyard, had caught the ghost, and dragged it forward. It was the +sexton, who had put on a flowing, white dress, and who wore a wax mask, +which bore striking resemblance to his mother, as the son declared. + +When the case was heard, it was proved that the mask had been very +skillfully made from a portrait of the deceased woman. The Government +gave orders that the matter should be investigated as secretly as +possible, and left the punishment of Father K---- to the spiritual +authorities, which was a matter of course, at a time when priests were +outside the jurisdiction of the Civil Authorities; and it is needless to +say that he was very comfortable during his imprisonment, in a monastery +in a part of the country which abounded with game and trout. + +The only valuable result of the amusing ghost story was, that it brought +about a reconciliation between father and son, and the former, as a +matter of fact, felt such deep respect for priests and their ghosts in +consequence of the apparition, that a short time after his wife had left +purgatory for the last time, in order to talk with him, he turned +_Protestant_. + + + + +CRASH + + +Love is stronger than death, and consequently also, than the greatest +crash. + +A young, and by no means bad-looking son of Palestine, and one of the +barons of the Almanac of the _Ghetto_, who had left the field covered +with wounds in the last general engagement on the Stock Exchange, used +to go very frequently to the Universal Exhibition in Vienna in 1873, in +order to divert his thoughts, and to console himself amidst the varied +scenes, and the numerous objects of attraction there. One day he met a +newly married couple in the Russian section, who had a very old coat of +arms, but on the other hand, a very modest income. + +This latter circumstance had frequently emboldened the stockbroker to +make secret overtures to the delightful little lady; overtures which +might have fascinated certain Viennese actresses, but which were sure to +insult a respectable woman. The baroness, whose name appeared in the +_Almanack de Gotha_, therefore felt something very like hatred for the +man from the _Ghetto_, and for a long time her pretty little head had +been full of various plans of revenge. + +The stockbroker, who was really, and even passionately in love with her, +got close to her in the Exhibition buildings, which he could do all the +more easily, since the little woman's husband had taken to flight, +foreseeing mischief, as soon as she went up to the show-case of a +Russian fur dealer, before which she remained standing in rapture. + +"Do look at that lovely fur," the baroness said, while her dark eyes +expressed her pleasure; "I must have it." + +But she looked at the white ticket on which the price was marked. + +"Four thousand roubles," she said in despair; "that is about six +thousand florins." + +"Certainly," he replied, "but what of that? It is a sum not worth +mentioning in the presence of such a charming lady." + +"But my husband is not in a position ..." + +"Be less cruel than usual for once," the man from the _Ghetto_ said to +the young woman in a low voice, "and allow me to lay this sable skin at +your feet." + +"I presume that you are joking." + +"Not I ..." + +"I think you must be joking, as I cannot think that you intend to insult +me." + +"But, Baroness, I love you...." + +"That is one reason more why you should not make me angry." + +"But ..." + +"Oh! I am in such a rage," the energetic little woman said; "I could +flog you like _Venus in the Fur_[2] did her slave." + +[Footnote 2: One of Sacher-Masoch's novels.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"Let me be your slave," the Stock Exchange baron replied ardently, "and +I will gladly put up with everything from you. Really, in this sable +cloak, and with a whip in your hand, you would make a most lovely +picture of the heroine of that story." + +The baroness looked at the man for a moment with a peculiar smile. + +"Then if I were to listen to you favorably, you would let me flog you?" +she said after a pause. + +"With pleasure." + +"Very well," she replied quickly. "You will let me give you twenty-five +cuts with a whip, and I will be yours after the twenty-fifth blow." + +"Are you in earnest?" + +"Fully." + +The man from the _Ghetto_ took her hand, and pressed it ardently to his +lips. + +"When may I come?" + +"To-morrow evening at eight o'clock." + +"And I may bring the sable cloak and the whip with me?" + +"No, I will see about that myself." + +The next evening the enamored stockbroker came to the house of the +charming little Baroness, and found her alone, lying on a couch, wrapped +in a dark fur, while she held a dog whip in her small hand, which the +man from the _Ghetto_ kissed. + +"You know our agreement," she began. + +"Of course I do," the Stock Exchange baron replied. "I am to allow you +to give me twenty-five cuts with the whip, and after the twenty-fifth +you will listen to me." + +"Yes, but I am going to tie your hands first of all." + +The amorous baron quietly allowed this new Delila to tie his hands +behind him, and then at her bidding, he knelt down before her, and she +raised her whip and hit him hard. + +"Oh! That hurts me most confoundedly," he exclaimed. + +"I mean it to hurt you," she said with a mocking laugh, and went on +thrashing him without mercy. At last the poor fool groaned with pain, +but he consoled himself with the thought that each blow brought him +nearer to his happiness. + +At the twenty-fourth cut, she threw the whip down. + +"That only makes twenty-four," the beaten would-be, _Don Juan_, +remarked. + +"I will make you a present of the twenty-fifth," she said with a laugh. + +"And now you are mine, altogether mine," he exclaimed ardently. + +"What are you thinking of?" + +"Have I not let you beat me?" + +"Certainly; but I promised you to grant your wish after the twenty-fifth +blow, and you have only received twenty-four," the cruel little bit of +virtue cried, "and I have witnesses to prove it." + +With these words, she drew back the curtains over the door, and her +husband, followed by two other gentlemen came out of the next room, +smiling. For a moment the stockbroker remained speechless on his knees +before the beautiful woman; then he gave a deep sigh, and sadly uttered +that one, most significant word: + +_"Crash!"_ + + + + +AN HONEST IDEAL + + +Among my numerous friends in Vienna, there is one who is an author, and +who has always amused me by his childish idealism. + +Not by his idealism from an abstract point of view, for in spite of my +Pessimism I am an absurd Idealist, and because I am perfectly well aware +of this, I as a rule never laugh at people's Idealism, but his sort of +Idealism was really too funny. + +He was a serious man of great capabilities who only just fell short of +being learned, with a clear, critical intellect; a man without any +illusions about Society, the State, Literature, or anything else, and +especially not about women; but yet he was the craziest Optimist as soon +as he got upon the subject of actresses, theatrical princesses and +heroines; he was one of those men, who, like Hacklaender, cannot discover +the Ideal of Virtue anywhere, except in a ballet girl. + +My friend was always in love with some actress or other; of course only +Platonically, and from preference with some girl of rising talent, whose +literary knight he constituted himself, until the time came when her +admirers laid something much more substantial than laurel wreaths at her +feet; then he withdrew and sought for fresh talent which would allow +itself to be patronized by him. + +He was never without the photograph of his ideal in his breast pocket, +and when he was in a good temper he used to show me one or other of +them, whom I had never seen, with a knowing smile, and once, when we +were sitting in a _cafe_ in the _Prater_, he took out a portrait without +saying a word, and laid it on the table before me. + +It was the portrait of a beautiful woman, but what struck me in it first +of all was not the almost classic cut of her features, but her white +eyes. + +"If she had not the black hair of a living woman, I should take her for +a statue," I said. + +"Certainly," my friend replied; "for a statue of Venus, perhaps for the +Venus of Milo, herself." + +"Who is she?" + +"A young actress." + +"That is a matter of course in your case; what I meant was, what is her +name?" + +My friend told me, and it was a name which is at present one of the best +known on the German stage, with which a number of terrestrial adventures +are connected, as every Viennese knows, with which those of Venus +herself were only innocent toying, but which I then heard for the first +time. + +My idealist described her as a woman of the highest talent, which I +believed, and as an angel of purity, which I did not believe; on that +particular occasion, however, I at any rate did not believe the +contrary. + +A few days later, I was accidentally turning over the leaves of the +portrait album of another intimate friend of mine, who was a thoroughly +careless, somewhat dissolute Viennese, and I came across that strange +female face with the dead eyes again. + +"How did you come by the picture of this Venus?" I asked him. + +"Well, she certainly is a Venus," he replied, "but one of that cheap +kind who are to be met with in the _Graben_[3], which is their ideal +grove...." + +[Footnote 3: The street where most of the best shops are to be found, +and much frequented by venial beauties.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"Impossible!" + +"I give you my word of honor it is so." + +I could say nothing more after that. So my intellectual friend's new +ideal, that woman of the highest dramatic talent, that wonderful woman +with the white eyes, was a street Venus! + +But my friend was right in one respect. He had not deceived himself with +regard to her wonderful dramatic gifts, and she very soon made a career +for herself; far from being a mute character on a suburban stage, she +rose in two years to be the leading actress at one of the principal +theaters. + +My friend interested himself on her behalf with the manager of it, who +was not blinded by any prejudices. She acted in a rehearsal, and pleased +him; whereupon he sent her to star in the provinces, and my friend +accompanied her, and took care she was well puffed. + +She went on the boards as Schiller's _Marie Stuart_, and achieved the +most brilliant success, and before she had finished her starring tour, +she obtained an engagement at a large theater in a Northern town, where +her appearance was the signal for a triumphant success. + +Her reputation, that is, her reputation as a most gifted actress, grew +very high in less than a year, and the manager of the Court theater +invited her to star at the Court theater. + +She was received with some suspicion at first, but she soon overcame all +prejudices and doubts; the applause grew more and more vehement at every +act, and at the close of the performance, her future was decided. She +obtained a splendid engagement, and soon afterwards became an actress at +the Court theater. + +A well-known author wrote a racy novel, of which she was the heroine; +one of the leading bankers and financiers was at her feet; she was the +most popular personage, and the lioness of the capital; she had splendid +apartments, and all her surroundings were of the most luxurious +character, and she had reached that height in her career at which my +idealistic friend, who had constituted himself her literary knight, +quietly took his leave of her, and went in search of fresh talent. + +But the beautiful woman with the dead eyes and the dead heart seemed to +be destined to be the scourge of the Idealists, quite against her will, +for scarcely had one unfolded his wings and flown away from her, than +another fell out of the nest into her net. + +A very young student, who was neither handsome, nor of good family, and +certainly not rich or even well off, but who was enthusiastic, +intellectual and impressionable, saw her as _Marie Stuart_ in _The Maid +of Orleans, The Lady with the Camelias_, and most of the plays of the +best French play writers, for the manager was making experiments with +her, and she was doing the same with her talents. + +The poor student was enraptured with the celebrated actress, and at the +same time conceived a passion for the woman, which bordered on madness. + +He saved up penny by penny, he nearly starved himself, only in order +that he might be able to pay for a seat in the gallery whenever she +acted, and be able to devour her with his eyes. He always got a seat in +the front row, for he was always outside three hours before the doors +opened, so as to be one of the first to gain his Olympus, the seat of +the theatrical enthusiasts; he grew pale, and his heart beat violently +when she appeared; he laughed when she laughed, shed tears when she +wept, applauded her, as if he had been paid to do it by the highest +favors that a woman can bestow, and yet she did not know him, and was +ignorant of his very existence. + +The regular frequenters of the Court theater noticed him at last, and +spoke about his infatuation for her, until at last she heard about him, +but still did not know him, and although he could not send her any +costly jewelry, and not even a bouquet, yet at last he succeeded in +attracting her attention. + +When she had been acting and the theater had been empty for a long time, +and she left it, wrapped in valuable furs and got into the carriage of +her banker, which was waiting for her at the stage door, he always stood +there, often up to his ankles in snow, or in the pouring rain. + +At first she did not notice him, but when her maid said something to her +in a whisper on one occasion, she looked round in surprise, and he got a +look from those large eyes, which were not dead then, but dark and +bright; a look which recompensed him for all his sufferings and filled +him with proud hopes, which constantly gained more power over the young +Idealist, who was usually so modest. + +At last there was a thorough, silent understanding between the +theatrical princess and the dumb adorer. When she put her foot on the +carriage step, she looked round at him, and every time he stood there, +devouring her with his eyes; she saw it and got contentedly into her +carriage, but she did not see how he ran after the carriage, and how he +reached her house, panting for breath, when she did, nor how he lay down +outside after the door had closed behind her. + +One stormy summer night, when the wind was howling in the chimneys, and +the rain was beating against the windows and on the pavement, the poor +student was again lying on the stone steps outside her house, when the +front door was opened very cautiously and quietly; for it was not the +banker who was leaving the house, but a wealthy young officer whom the +girl was letting out; he kissed the pretty little Cerebus as he put a +gold coin into her hand, and then accidentally trod on the Idealist, who +was lying outside. + +They all three simultaneously uttered a cry; the girl blew out the +candle, the officer instinctively half drew his sword, and the student +ran away. + +Ever since that night, the poor, crazy fellow went about with a dagger, +which he concealed in his belt, and it was his constant companion to the +theater, and the stage door, when the actress's carriage used to wait +for her, and to her house, where he nightly kept his painful watch. + +His first idea was to kill his fortunate rival, then himself, then the +theatrical princess, but at last, he lay down again outside her door, or +stood on the pavement and watched the shadows, that flitted hither and +thither on her window, turned by the magic spell of the lovely actress. + +And then, the most incredible thing happened, something which he could +never have hoped for, and which he scarcely believed when it did occur. + +One evening, when she had been playing a very important part, she kept +the carriage waiting much longer than usual; but at last she appeared, +and got into it; she did not shut the door, however, but beckoned to the +young Idealist to follow her. + +He was almost delirious with joy, just as a moment before he had been +almost mad from despair, and obeyed her immediately, and during the +drive he lay at her feet and covered her hands with kisses. She allowed +it quietly and even merrily, and when the carriage stopped at her door, +she let him lift her out of the carriage, and went upstairs leaning on +his arm. + +There, the lady's maid showed him into a luxuriously furnished +drawing-room, while the actress changed her dress. + +Presently she appeared in her dressing gown, sat down carelessly in an +easy chair, and asked him to sit down beside her. + +"You take a great interest in me?" she said. + +"You are my ideal!" the student cried enthusiastically. + +The theatrical princess smiled, and said: + +"Well, I will at any rate be an honest ideal; I will not deceive you, +and you shall not be able to say that I have misused your youthful +enthusiasm. I will give myself to you...." + +"Oh! Heavens!" the poor Idealist exclaimed, throwing himself at her +feet. + +"Wait a moment! Wait a moment!" she said with a smile. "I have not +finished yet. I can only love a man who is in a position to provide me +with all those luxuries which an actress, or, if you like, which I +cannot do without. As far as I know, you are poor, but I will belong to +you, only for to-night, however, and in return you must promise me not +to rave about me, or to follow me, from to-night. Will you do this?" + +The wretched Idealist was kneeling before her; he was having a terrible +mental struggle. + +"Will you promise me to do this?" she said again. + +"Yes," he said, almost groaning. + +The next morning a man, who had buried his Ideal, tottered downstairs. +He was pale enough; almost as pale as a corpse; but in spite of this, he +is still alive, and if he has any Ideal at all at present, it is +certainly not a theatrical princess. + + + + +STABLE PERFUME + + +Three ladies belonging to that class of society which has nothing useful +to do, and therefore does not know how to employ its time sensibly, were +sitting on a bench in the shade of some pine trees at Ischl, and were +talking incidentally of their preference for all sorts of smells. + +One of the ladies, Princess F----, a slim, handsome brunette, declared +there was nothing like the smell of Russian leather; she wore dull brown +Russian leather boots, a Russian leather dress suspender, to keep her +petticoats out of the dirt and dust, a Russian leather belt which +spanned her wasp-like waist, carried a Russian leather purse, and even +wore a brooch and bracelet of gilt Russian leather; people declared that +her bedroom was papered with Russian leather, and that her lover was +obliged to wear high Russian leather boots and tight breeches, but that +on the other hand, her husband was excused from wearing anything at all +in Russian leather. + +Countess H----, a very stout lady, who had formerly been very beautiful +and of a very loving nature, but loving after the fashion of her time _a +la_ Parthenia and Griseldis, could not get over the vulgar taste of the +young Princess. All she cared for was the smell of hay, and she it was +who brought the scent _New Mown Hay_ into fashion. Her ideal was a +freshly mown field in the moonlight, and when she rolled slowly along, +she looked like a moving haystack, and exhaled an odor of hay all about +her. + +The third lady's taste was even more peculiar than Countess H----'s, and +more vulgar than the Princess's, for the small, delicate, light-haired +Countess W---- lived only for--the smell of stables. Her friends could +absolutely not understand this; the Princess raised her beautiful, full +arm with its broad bracelet to her Grecian nose and inhaled the sweet +smell of the Russian leather, while the sentimental hay-rick exclaimed +over and over again: + +"How dreadful! What dost thou say to it, chaste moon?" + +The delicate little Countess seemed very much embarrassed at the effect +that her confession had had, and tried to justify her taste. + +"Prince T---- told me that that smell had quite bewitched him once," she +said; "it was in a Jewish town in Gallicia, where he was quartered once +with his hussar regiment, and a number of poor, ragged circus riders, +with half-starved horses came from Russia and put up a circus with a few +poles and some rags of canvas, and the Prince went to see them, and +found a woman among them, who was neither young nor beautiful, but bold +and impudent; and the impudent woman wore a faded, bright red jacket, +trimmed with old, shabby, imitation ermine, and that jacket stank of the +stable, as the Prince expressed it, and she bewitched him with that +odor, so that every time that the shameless wretch lay in his arms, and +laughed impudently, and smelled abominably of the stable, he felt as if +he were magnetized. + +"How disgusting!" both the other ladies said, and involuntarily held +their noses. + +"What dost thou say to it, chaste moon?" the haystack said with a +sigh, and the little light-haired Countess was abashed and held her +tongue. + +At the beginning of the winter season the three friends were together +again in the gay, imperial city on the blue Danube. One morning the +Princess accidentally met the enthusiast for the hay at the house of the +little light-haired Countess, and the two ladies were obliged to go +after her to her private riding-school, where she was taking her daily +lesson. As soon as she saw them, she came up, and beckoned her +riding-master to her to help her out of the saddle. He was a young man +of extremely good and athletic build, which was set off by his tight +breeches and his short velvet coat, and he ran up and took his lovely +burden into his arms with visible pleasure, to help her off the quiet, +perfectly broken horse. + +When the ladies looked at the handsome, vigorous man, it was quite +enough to explain their little friend's predilection for the smell of a +stable, but when the latter saw their looks, she blushed up to the roots +of her hair, and her only way out of the difficulty was to order the +riding-master, in a very authoritative manner, to take the horse back to +the stable. He merely bowed, with an indescribable smile, and obeyed +her. + +A few months afterwards, Viennese society was alarmed at the news that +Countess W---- had been divorced from her husband. The event was all the +more unexpected, as they had apparently always lived very happily +together, and nobody was able to mention any man on whom she had +bestowed even the most passing attention, beyond the requirements of +politeness. + +Long afterwards, however, a strange report became current. A chattering +lady's maid declared that the handsome riding-master had once so far +forgotten himself as to strike the Countess with his riding-whip; a +groom had told the Count of the occurrence, and when he was going to +call the insolent fellow to account for it, the Countess covered him +with her own body, and thus gave occasion for the divorce. + +Years had passed since then and the Countess H---- had grow stouter and +more sentimental. Ischl and hayricks were not enough for her any longer; +she spent the winter on lovely _Lago Maggoire_, where she walked among +laurel bushes and cypress trees, and was rowed about on the luke warm, +moonlight nights. + +One evening she was returning home in the company of an English lady who +was also a great lover of nature, from _Isola Bella_, when they met a +beautiful private boat in which a very unusual couple were sitting; a +small, delicate, light-haired woman, wrapped in a white burnoose, and a +handsome, athletic man, in tight, white breeches, a short, black velvet +coat trimmed with sable, a red fez on his head, and a riding whip in his +hand. + +Countess K---- involuntarily uttered a loud exclamation. + +"What is the matter with you?" the English lady asked. "Do you know +those people?" + +"Certainly! She is a Viennese lady," Countess H---- whispered; "Countess +W----." + +"Oh! Indeed you are quite mistaken; it is a Count Savelli and his wife. +They are a handsome couple, don't you think so?" + +When the boat came nearer, she saw that in spite of that, it was little +Countess W---- and that the handsome man was her former riding-master, +whom she had married, and for whom she had bought a title from the Pope; +and as the two boats passed each other, the short sable cloak, which was +thrown carelessly over his shoulders, exhaled, like the old cat's skin +jacket of that impudent female circus rider, a strong _stable perfume_. + + + + +THE ILL-OMENED GROOM + + +An impudent theft, to a very large amount, had been committed in the +Capital. Jewels, a valuable watch set with diamonds, his wife's +miniature in a frame enchased with brilliants, and a considerable sum in +money, the whole amounting in value to a hundred and fifteen thousand +florins, had been stolen. The banker himself went to the Director of +Police[4] to give notice of the robberies, but at the same time he +begged as a special favor that the investigation might be carried on as +quietly and considerately as possible, as he declared that he had not +the slightest ground for suspecting anybody in particular, and did not +wish any innocent person to be accused. + +[Footnote 4: Head of the Criminal Investigation +Department.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"First of all, give me the names of all the persons who regularly go +into your bedroom," the police director said. + +"Nobody, except my wife, my children, and Joseph, my valet, a man for +whom I would answer as I would for myself." + +"Then you think him absolutely incapable of committing such a deed?" + +"Most decidedly I do," the banker replied. + +"Very well; then can you remember whether on the day on which you first +missed the articles that have been stolen, or on any days immediately +preceding it, anybody who was not a member of your household, happened +by chance to go to your bedroom?" + +The banker thought for a moment, and then said with some hesitation: + +"Nobody, absolutely nobody." + +The experienced official, however, was struck by the banker's slight +embarrassment and momentary blush, so he took his hand, and looking him +straight in the face, he said: + +"You are not quite candid with me; somebody was with you, and you wish +to conceal the fact from me. You must tell me everything." + +"No, no; indeed there was nobody here." "Then at present, there is only +one person on whom any suspicion can rest--and that is your valet." + +"I will vouch for his honesty," the banker replied immediately. + +"You may be mistaken, and I shall be obliged to question the man." + +"May I beg you to do it with every possible consideration?" + +"You may rely upon me for that." + +An hour later, the banker's valet was in the police director's private +room, who first of all looked at his man very closely, and then came to +the conclusion that such an honest, unembarrassed face, and such quiet, +steady eyes could not possibly belong to a criminal. + +"Do you know why I have sent for you?" + +"No, your Honor." + +"A large theft has been committed in your master's house," the police +director continued, "from his bedroom. Do you suspect anybody? Who has +been into the room, within the last few days?" + +"Nobody but myself, except my master's family." + +"Do you not see, my good fellow, that by saying that, you throw +suspicion on yourself?" + +"Surely, sir," the valet exclaimed, "you do not believe..." + +"I must not believe anything; my duty is merely to investigate and to +follow up any traces that I may discover," was the reply. "If you have +been the only person to go into the room within the last few days, I +must hold you responsible." + +"My master knows me..." + +The police director shrugged his shoulders: "Your master has vouched for +your honesty, but that is not enough for me. You are the only person on +whom, at present, any suspicion rests, and therefore I must--sorry as I +am to do so--have you arrested." + +"If that is so," the man said, after some hesitation, "I prefer to speak +the truth, for my good name is more to me than my situation. Somebody +was in my master's apartments yesterday." + +"And this somebody was...?" + +"A lady." + +"A lady of his acquaintance?" + +The valet did not reply for some time. + +"It must come out," he said at length. "My master keeps a woman--you +understand, sir, a pretty, fair woman; and he has furnished a house for +her and goes to see her, but secretly of course, for if my mistress were +to find it out, there would be a terrible scene. This person was with +him yesterday." + +"Were they alone?" + +"I showed her in, and she was in his bedroom with him; but I had to call +him out after a short time, as his confidential clerk wanted to speak to +him, and so she was in the room alone for about a quarter of an hour." + +"What is her name?" + +"Caecelia K----; she is a Hungarian." At the same time the valet gave him +her address. + +Then the director of police sent for the banker, who, on being brought +face to face with his valet, was obliged to acknowledge the truth of the +facts which the latter had alleged, painful as it was for him to do so; +whereupon orders were given to take Caecelia K---- into custody. + +In less than half an hour, however, the police officer who had been +dispatched for that purpose, returned and said that she had left her +apartments, and most likely the Capital also, the previous evening. The +unfortunate banker was almost in despair. Not only had he been robbed of +a hundred and fifty thousand florins, but at the same time he had lost +the beautiful woman, whom he loved with all the passion of which he was +capable. He could not grasp the idea that a woman whom he had surrounded +with Asiatic luxury, whose strangest whims he had gratified, and whose +tyranny he had borne so patiently, could have deceived him so +shamefully, and now he had a quarrel with his wife, and an end of all +domestic peace, into the bargain. + +The only thing the police could do was to raise the hue and cry after +the lady, who had denounced herself by her flight, but it was all of no +use. In vain did the banker, in whose heart hatred and thirst for +revenge had taken the place of love, implore the Director of Police to +employ every means to bring the beautiful criminal to justice, and in +vain did he undertake to be responsible for all the costs of her +prosecution, no matter how heavy they might be. Special police officers +were told off to try and discover her, but Caecelia K---- was so rude as +not to allow herself to be caught. + +Three years had passed, and the unpleasant story appeared to have been +forgotten. The banker had obtained his wife's pardon and--what he cared +about a good deal more--he had found another charming mistress, and the +police did not appear to trouble themselves about the beautiful +Hungarian any more. + +We must now change the scene to London. A wealthy lady who created much +sensation in society, and who made many conquests both by her beauty and +her free behavior, was in want of a groom. Among the many applicants for +the situation, there was a young man, whose good looks and manners gave +people the impression that he must have been very well educated. This +was a recommendation in the eyes of the lady's maid, and she took him +immediately to her mistress's boudoir. When he entered, he saw a +beautiful, voluptuous looking woman, at most, twenty-five years of age, +with large, bright eyes and blue-black hair, which seemed to increase +the brilliancy of her fair complexion, lying on a sofa. She looked at +the young man, who also had thick black hair, and who turned his glowing +black eyes to the ground, beneath her searching gaze, with evident +satisfaction, and she seemed particularly taken with his slender, +athletic build, and then she said half lazily and half proudly: + +"What is your name?" + +"Lajos Mariassi." + +"A Hungarian?" + +And there was a strange look in her eyes. + +"Yes." + +"How did you come here?" + +"I am one of the many emigrants who have forfeited their country and +their life; and I, who come of a good family, and who was an officer of +the Honveds, must now ... go into service, and thank God if I find a +mistress who is at the same time beautiful and an aristocrat, as you +are." + +Miss Zoe--that was the lovely woman's name--smiled, and at the same time +showed two rows of pearly teeth. + +"I like your looks," she said, "and I feel inclined to take you into my +service, if you are satisfied with my terms." + +"A lady's whim," her maid said to herself, when she noticed the ardent +looks which Miss Zoe gave her manservant, "which will soon pass away." +But that experienced female was mistaken that time. + +Zoe was really in love, and the respect with which Lajos treated her, +put her into a very bad temper. One evening, when she intended to go to +the Italian Opera, she countermanded her carriage, and refused to see +her noble adorer, who wished to throw himself at her feet, and ordered +her groom to be sent up to her boudoir. + +"Lajos," she began, "I am not at all satisfied with you." + +"Why, Madame?" + +"I do not wish to have you about me any longer; here are your wages for +three months. Leave the house immediately." And she began to walk up and +down the room, impatiently. + +"I will obey you, Madame," the groom replied, "but I shall not take my +wages." + +"Why not?" she asked hastily. + +"Because then I should be under your authority for three months," Lajos +said, "and I intend to be free, this very moment, so that I may be able +to tell you that I entered your service, not for the sake of your money, +but because I love and adore a beautiful woman in you." + +"You love me!" Zoe exclaimed. "Why did you not tell me sooner? I merely +wished to banish you from my presence, because I love you, and did not +think that you loved me. But you shall smart for having tormented me so. +Come to my feet immediately." + +The groom knelt before the lovely girl, whose moist lips sought his at +the same instant. + +From that moment Lajos became her favorite. Of course he was not allowed +to be jealous, as the young lord was still her official lover, who had +the pleasure of paying everything for that licentious beauty, and +besides him, there was a whole army of so-called "good friends," who +were fortunate enough to obtain a smile now and then, and occasionally, +something more, and who, in return, had permission to present her with +rare flowers, a parrot or diamonds. + +The more intimate Zoe became with Lajos, the more uncomfortable she felt +when he looked at her, as he frequently did, with undisguised contempt. +She was wholly under his influence and was afraid of him, and one day, +while he was playing with her dark curls, he said jeeringly: + +"It is usually said that contrasts usually attract each other, and yet +you are as dark as I am." + +She smiled, and then tore off her black curls, and immediately the most +charming, fair-haired woman was sitting by the side of Lajos, who looked +at her attentively, but without any surprise. + +He left his mistress at about midnight, in order to look after the +horses, as he said, and she put on a very pretty nightdress and went to +bed. She remained awake for fully an hour, expecting her lover, and then +she went to sleep, but in two hours' time she was roused from her +slumbers, and saw a police inspector and two constables by the side of +her magnificent bed. + +"Whom do you want?" she cried. + +"Caecelia K----." + +"I am Miss Zoe." + +"Oh! I know you," the Inspector said with a smile; "be kind enough to +take off your dark locks, and you will be Caecelia K----. I arrest you in +the name of the law." + +"Good heavens!" she stammered, "Lajos has betrayed me." + +"You are mistaken, Madame," the Inspector replied; "he has merely done +his duty." + +"What? Lajos . . . my lover?" + +"No, Lajos, the detective." + +Caecelia got out of bed, and the next moment she sank fainting onto the +floor. + + + + +AN EXOTIC PRINCE + + +In the forthcoming reminiscences, a lady will frequently be mentioned +who played a great part in the annals of the police from 1848 to 1866, +and we will call her _Wanda von Chabert_. Born in Galicia of German +parents, and carefully brought up in every way, she married a rich and +handsome officer of noble birth, from love, when she was sixteen. The +young couple, however, lived beyond their means, and when her husband +died suddenly, two years after they were married, she was left anything +but well off. + +As Wanda had grown accustomed to luxury and amusement, the quiet life in +her parents' house did not suit her any longer, and even while she was +still in mourning for her husband, she allowed a Hungarian magnate to +make love to her, and she went off with him at a venture, and continued +the same extravagant life which she had led when her husband was alive, +at her own authority. At the end of two years, however, her lover left +her in a town in North Italy, almost without means, and she was thinking +of going on the stage, when chance provided her with another resource, +which enabled her to reassure her position in society. She became a +secret police agent, and soon was one of their most valuable members. In +addition to the proverbial charms and wit of a Polish woman, she also +possessed high linguistic attainments, and she spoke Polish, Russian, +French, German, English and Italian, almost equally fluently and +correctly; then she had also that encyclopaedic polish, which impresses +most people much more than the most profound learning of a specialist. +She was very attractive in appearance, and she knew how to set off her +good looks by all the arts of dress and coquetry. + +In addition to this, she was a woman of the world in the widest sense of +the term; pleasure-loving, faithless, unstable, and therefore never in +any danger of really losing her heart, and consequently her head. She +used to change the place of her abode, according to what she had to do. +Sometimes she lived in Paris among the Polish emigrants, in order to +find out what they were doing, and maintained intimate relations with +the Tuileries and the Palais Royal at the same time; then she went to +London for a short time, or hurried off to Italy, to watch the Hungarian +exiles, only to reappear suddenly in Switzerland, or at one of the +fashionable German watering-places. + +In revolutionary circles, she was looked upon as an active member of the +great _League of Freedom_, and diplomatists regarded her as an +influential friend of Napoleon III. + +She knew every one, but especially those men whose names were to be met +with every day, in the papers, and she reckoned Victor Emmanuel, Rouher, +Gladstone, and Gortschakoff among her friends, as well as Mazzini, +Kossuth, Garibaldi, Mieroslawsky and Bakunin. + +In the spring of 185- she was at Vevey, on the lovely lake of Geneva, +and went into raptures when talking to an old German diplomatist about +the beauties of nature, and about Calame, Stifter and Turgenev, whose +"Diary of a Hunter" had just become fashionable. + +One day a man appeared at the _table d'hote_, who excited unusual +attention, and hers especially, so that there was nothing strange in her +asking the proprietor of the hotel what his name was; and she was told +that he was a wealthy Brazilian, and that his name was Don Escovedo. + +Whether it was an accident, or whether he responded to the interest +which the young woman felt for him, at any rate she constantly met him +wherever she went, when she was taking a walk, or was on the lake, or +was looking at the newspapers in the reading room; and at last she was +obliged to confess to herself that he was the handsomest man she had +ever seen. Tall, slim, and yet muscular, the young, beardless Brazilian +had a head which any woman might envy him; features which were not only +beautiful and noble, but were also extremely delicate, with dark eyes +which possessed a wonderful charm, and thick, auburn curly hair, which +completed the attractiveness and the strangeness of his appearance. + +They soon became acquainted, through a Prussian officer, whom the +Brazilian had requested to introduce him to the beautiful Polish +lady--for Frau von Chabert was taken for one in Vevey--and she, cold and +designing as she was, blushed slightly when he stood before her for the +first time; and when he gave her his arm he could feel her hand tremble +slightly on it. The same evening they went out riding together, the next +he was lying at her feet, and on the third she was his. For four weeks +the lovely Wanda and the Brazilian lived together as if they had been in +Paradise, but he could not deceive her searching eyes any longer. + +For her sharp and practiced gaze had already discovered in him that +indefinable something which makes a man appear a suspicious character. +Any other woman would have been pained and horrified at such a +discovery, but she found the strange consolation in it, that her +handsome adorer had promised also to become a very interesting object +for her pursuit, and so she began systematically to watch the man who +lay unsuspectingly at her feet. + +She soon found out that he was no conspirator, but she asked herself in +vain whether she was to look for a common swindler, an impudent +adventurer or perhaps even a criminal in him. The day that she had +foreseen soon came; the Brazilian's banker "unaccountably" had omitted +to send him any money, and so he borrowed some of her. "So he is a male +courtesan," she said to herself; and the handsome man soon required +money again, and she lent it to him, until at last he left suddenly, and +nobody knew where he had gone to; only this much, that he had left Vevey +as the companion of an old but wealthy Wallachian lady; and so this +time, clever Wanda was duped. + +A year afterwards she met the Brazilian unexpectedly at Lucca, with an +insipid-looking, light-haired, thin Englishwoman on his arm. Wanda stood +still and looked at him steadily, but he glanced at her quite +indifferently; he did not choose to know her again. + +The next morning, however, his valet brought her a letter from him, +which contained the amount of his debt in Italian hundred liri notes, +which were accompanied by a very cool excuse. Wanda was satisfied, but +she wished to find out who the lady was, in whose company she constantly +saw Don Escovedo. + +"Don Escovedo." + +An Austrian count, who had a loud and silly laugh, said: + +"Who has saddled you with that yarn? The lady is Lady Nitingsdale, and +his name is Romanesco." + +"Romanesco?" + +"Yes, he is a rich Boyar from Moldavia, where he has extensive estates." + +Romanesco kept a faro bank in his apartments, and he certainly cheated, +for he nearly always won; it was not long, therefore, before other +people in good society at Lucca shared Madame von Chabert's suspicions, +and consequently Romanesco thought it advisable to vanish as suddenly +from Lucca as Escovedo had done from Vevey, and without leaving any more +traces behind him. + +Some time afterwards, Madame von Chabert was on the island of +Heligoland, for the sea-bathing; and one day she saw Escovedo-Romanesco +sitting opposite to her at the _table d'hote_, in very animated +conversation with a Russian lady; only his hair had turned black since +she had seen him last. Evidently his light hair had become too +compromising for him. + +"The sea water seems to have a very remarkable effect upon your hair," +Wanda said to him spitefully, in a whisper. + +"Do you think so?" he replied, condescendingly. + +"I fancy that at one time your hair was fair." + +"You are mistaking me for somebody else," the Brazilian replied, +quietly. + +"I am not." + +"For whom do you take me, pray?" he said with an insolent smile. + +"For Don Escovedo." + +"I am Count Dembizki from Valkynia," the former Brazilian said with a +bow; "perhaps you would like to see my passport." + +"Well, perhaps...." + +And at last, he had the impudence to show her his false passport. + +A year afterwards, Wanda met Count Dembizki in Baden, near Vienna. His +hair was still black, but he had a magnificent, full, black beard; he +had become a Greek prince, and his name was Anastasio Maurokordatos. She +met him once in one of the side walks in the park, where he could not +avoid her. "If it goes on like this," she called out to him in a mocking +voice, "the next time I see you, you will be king of some negro tribe or +other." + +That time, however, the Brazilian did not deny his identity; on the +contrary, he surrendered at discretion, and implored her not to betray +him, and as she was not revengeful, she pardoned him, after enjoying his +terror for a time, and promised him that she would hold her tongue, as +long as he did nothing contrary to the laws. + +"First of all, I must beg you not to gamble." + +"You have only to command; and we do not know each other in future?" + +"I must certainly insist on that," she said maliciously. + +The Exotic Prince had, however, made the conquest of the charming +daughter of a wealthy Austrian Count, and had cut out an excellent young +officer who was wooing her; and he, in his despair began to make love to +Frau von Chabert, and at last told her he loved her, but she only +laughed at him. + +"You are very cruel," he stammered in confusion. + +"I? What are you thinking about?" Wanda replied, still smiling; "all I +mean is, that you have directed your love to the wrong address, for +Countess...." + +"Do not speak of her; she is engaged to another man." + +"As long as I choose to permit it," she said; "but what will you do, if +I bring her back to your arms? Will you still call me cruel?" + +"Can you do this?" the young officer asked, in great excitement. + +"Well, supposing I can do it, what shall I be then?" + +"An angel, whom I shall thank on my knees." + +A few days later, the rivals met at a coffee house; the Greek prince +began to lie and boast, and the Austrian officer gave him the lie +direct, and in consequence, it was arranged that they should fight a +duel with pistols next morning in a wood close to Baden. But as the +officer was leaving the house with his second the next morning, a Police +Commissary came up to him and begged him not to trouble himself any +further about the matter, but another time to be more careful before +accepting a challenge. + +"What does it mean?" the officer asked, in some surprise. + +"It means that this Maurokordatos is a dangerous swindler and +adventurer, whom we have just taken into custody." + +"He is not a prince?" + +"No; a circus rider." + +An hour later the officer received a letter from the charming Countess, +in which she humbly begged for pardon; the happy lover set off to go and +see her immediately, but on the way a sudden thought struck him, and so +he turned back in order to thank beautiful Wanda, as he had promised, on +his knees. + + + + +VIRTUE IN THE BALLET + + +It is a strange feeling of pleasure that the writer about the stage and +the characters of the theatrical feels, when he occasionally discovers a +good, honest human heart in the twilight behind the scenes. Of all the +witches and semi-witches of that eternal _Walpurgis night_, whose boards +represent the world, the ladies of the ballet have at all times and in +all places been regarded at least like saints, although Hacklaender +repeatedly told in vain in his earlier novels, to convince us that true +virtue appears in tights and short petticoats and is only to be found in +ballet girls. I fear that the popular voice is right as a general rule, +but is equally true that here and there one finds a pearl in the dust, +and even in the dirt, and the short story that I am about to relate, +will best illustrate my assertion. + +Whenever a new, youthful dancer appeared at the Vienna Opera House, the +_habitues_ began to go after her, and did not rest, until the fresh +young rose had been plucked by some hand or other, though often it was +old and trembling. For how could those young and pretty, sometimes even +beautiful girls who, with every right to life, love and pleasure, were +poor and had to subsist on a very small salary, resist the seduction of +the smell of flowers and of the flash of diamonds? And if one resisted +it, it was love, some real, strong passion, that gave her the strength +for this, generally, however, only to go after luxury all the more +shamelessly and selfishly, when her lover forsook her. + +At the beginning of the winter season of 185--the pleasing news was +spread among the _habitues_, that a girl of dazzling beauty was going to +appear very shortly in the ballet at the Court Theater. When the evening +came, nobody had yet seen that much discussed phenomenon, but report +spread her name from mouth to mouth; it was Satanella. The moment when +the troop of elastic figures in fluttering petticoats jumped onto the +stage, every opera-glass in the boxes and stalls was directed on the +stage, and at the same instant the new dancer was discovered, although +she timidly kept in the background. + +She was one of those girls who are surrounded by the bright halo of +virginity, but who at the same time present a splendid type of +womanhood; she had the voluptuous form of Rubens' second wife, whom they +called, not untruly, the risen Green Helen, and her head with its +delicate nose, its small full mouth, and its dark inquiring eyes, +reminded people of the celebrated picture of the Flemish Venus in the +_Belvedere_ in Vienna. + +She took the old guard of the Vienna Court Theater by storm, and the +very next morning a perfect shower of _billets doux_, jewels and +bouquets fell into the poor ballet girl's attic. For a moment she was +dazzled by all this splendor and looked at the gold bracelets, the +brooches set with rubies and emeralds, and at the sparkling earrings, +with flushed cheeks, but then an unspeakable terror of being lost and of +sinking into degradation, seized her, and she pushed the jewels away and +was about to send them back. But as is usual in such cases, her mother +intervened in favor of _the generous gentlemen_, and so the jewels were +accepted, but the notes which accompanied them were not answered at +present. A second and a third discharge of Cupid's artillery followed, +without making any impression on that virtuous girl; in consequence a +greater number of her admirers grew quiet, though some continued to send +her presents, and to assail her with love letters, and one had the +courage to go still further. + +He was a wealthy banker, who had just called on the mother of Henrietta, +as we will call the fair-haired ballet girl, and then one evening, quite +unexpectedly, on the girl herself. He by no means met with the reception +which he had expected from the pretty girl in a faded cotton gown; +Henrietta treated him with a certain amount of good humored respect, +which had a much more unpleasant effect on him than that coldness and +prudery, which is so often synonymous with coquetry and selfish +speculation, among a certain class of women. In spite of everything, +however, he soon went to see her daily, and lavished his wealth, without +her asking him for anything, on the beautiful dancer, and he gave her no +chance of refusing, for he relied on the mother for everything. She took +pretty, small apartments for her daughter and herself in the +_Kaerntnerstrasse_ and furnished them elegantly, hired a cook and +housemaid, made an arrangement with a fly-driver, and lastly clothed her +daughter's lovely limbs in silk, velvet and valuable lace. + +Henrietta persistently held her tongue at all this; only once she said +to her mother in the presence of the Stock Exchange _Jupiter_: + +"Have you won a prize in the lottery?" + +"Of course, I have," her mother replied with a laugh. + +The girl, however, had given away her heart long before, and quite +contrary to all precedent, to a man whose very name she was ignorant of, +and who sent her no diamonds, and not even any flowers. But he was young +and good-looking, and stood so retiringly, and so evidently in love, at +the small side door of the Opera House every night, when she got out of +her antediluvian rickety fly, and also when she got into it again after +the performance, that she could not help noticing him. Soon, he began to +follow her wherever she went, and once he summoned up courage to speak +to her, when she had been to see a friend in a remote suburb. He was +very nervous, but she thought all that he said very clear and logical, +and she did not hesitate for a moment to confess that she returned his +love. + +"You have made me the happiest, and at the same time the most wretched +of men," he said after a pause. + +"What do you mean?" she said innocently. + +"Do you not belong to another man?" he asked her in a sad voice. + +She shook her abundant, light curls. + +"Up till now, I have belonged to myself alone, and I will prove it to +you, by requesting you to call upon me frequently and without restraint. +Everyone shall know that we are lovers. I am not ashamed of belonging to +an honorable man, but I will not sell myself." + +"But your splendid apartments, and your dresses," her lover interposed +shyly, "you cannot pay for them out of your salary." + +"My mother has won a large prize in the lottery, or made a hit on the +Stock Exchange." And with these words, the determined girl cut short all +further explanations. + +That same evening the young man paid his first visit, to the horror of +the girl's mother, who was so devoted to the Stock Exchange, and he came +again the next day, and nearly every day. Her mother's reproaches were +of no more avail than Jupiter's furious looks, and when the latter one +day asked for an explanation as to _certain visits_, the girl said +proudly: + +"That is very soon explained. He loves me as I love him, and I presume +you can guess the rest." + +And he certainly did guess the rest, and disappeared, and with him the +shower of gold ceased. + +The mother cried and the daughter laughed. "I never gave the worn out +old rake any hopes, and what does it matter to me, what bargain you made +with him? I always thought that you had been lucky on the Stock +Exchange. Now, however, we must seriously consider about giving up our +apartments, and make up our minds to live as we did before." + +"Are you really capable of making such a sacrifice for me, to renounce +luxury and to have my poverty?" her lover said. + +"Certainly I am! Is not that a matter of course when one loves?" the +ballet girl replied in surprise. + +"Then let me inform you, my dear Henrietta," he said, "that I am not so +poor as you think; I only wished to find out, whether I could make +myself loved for my own sake, I have done so. I am Count L----, and +though I am a minor and dependent on my parents, yet I have enough to be +able to retain your pretty rooms for you, and to offer you, if not a +luxurious, at any rate a comfortable existence." + +On hearing this, Mamma dried her tears immediately. Count L---- became +the girl's acknowledged lover, and they passed the happiest hours +together. Unselfish as the girl was, she was yet such a thoroughly +ingenuous Viennese, that, whenever she saw anything that took her fancy, +whether it was a dress, a cloak or one of those pretty little ornaments +for a side table, she used to express her admiration in such terms, as +forced her lover to make her a present of the object in question. In +this way, Count L---- incurred enormous debts, which his father paid +repeatedly; at last, however, he inquired into the cause of all this +extravagance, and when he discovered it, he gave his son the choice of +giving up his connection with the dancer, or of relinquishing all claims +on the paternal money box. + +It was a sorrowful evening, when Count L---- told his mistress of his +father's determination. + +"If I do not give you up, I shall be able to do nothing for you," he +said at last, "and I shall not even know how I should manage to live +myself, for my father is just the man to allow me to want, if I defy +him. That, however, is a very secondary consideration; but as a man of +honor, I cannot bind you, who have every right to luxury and enjoyment, +to myself, from the moment when I cannot even keep you from want, and so +I must set you at liberty." + +"But I will not give you up," Henrietta said proudly. + +The young Count shook his head sadly. + +"Do you love me?" the ballet girl said, quickly. + +"More than my life." + +"Then we will not separate, as long as I have anything," she continued. + +And she would not give up her connection with him, and when his father +actually turned Count L---- into the street, she took her lover into her +own lodgings. He obtained a situation as a copyist clerk in a lawyer's +office, and she sold her valuable dresses and jewels, and so they lived +for more than a year. + +The young man's father did not appear to trouble his head about them, +but nevertheless he knew everything that went on in their small home, +and knew every article that the ballet girl sold; until at last, +softened by such love and strength of character, he himself made the +first advances to a reconciliation with his son. + +At the present time, Henrietta wears the diamonds which formerly +belonged to the old Countess, and it is long since she was a ballet +girl, for now she sits by the side of her husband in a carriage on whose +panels their armorial bearings are painted. + + + + +IN HIS SWEETHEART'S LIVERY + + +At present she is a great lady, an elegant, intellectual woman, a +celebrated actress; but in the year 1847, when our story begins, she was +a beautiful, but not very moral girl, and then it was that the young, +talented Hungarian poet, who was the first to discover her gifts for the +stage, made her acquaintance. + +The slim, ardent girl, with her bright, brown hair and her large blue +eyes, attracted the careless poet, and he loved her, and all that was +good and noble in her nature, put forth fresh buds and blossoms in the +sunshine of his poetic love. + +They lived in an attic in the old Imperial city on the Danube, and she +shared his poverty, his triumphs and his pleasures, and she would have +become his true and faithful wife, if the Hungarian revolution had not +torn him from her arms. + +The poet became the soldier of freedom, and followed the Magyar +tricolor, and the Honved drums, while she was carried away by the +current of the movement in the capital, and she might have been seen +discharging her musket, like a brave Amazon, at the Croats, who were +defending the town against Goergey's assaulting battalions. + +But at last Hungary was subdued, and was governed as if it had been a +conquered country. + +It was said that the young poet had fallen at Temesvar, and his mistress +wept for him, and married another man, which was nothing either new or +extraordinary. Her name was now Frau von Kubinyi, but her married life +was not happy; and one day it occurred to her that her lover had told +her that she had talent for the stage, and whatever he said, had always +proved correct, so she separated from her husband, studied a few parts, +appeared on the stage, and the public, the critics, actors and +literature were lying at her feet. + +She obtained a very profitable engagement, and her reputation increased +with every part she played; and before the end of a year after her first +appearance, she was the lioness of society. Everybody paid homage to +her, and the wealthiest men tried to obtain her favors; but she remained +cold and reserved, until the General commanding the district, who was a +handsome man of noble bearing, and a gentleman in the highest sense of +the word, approached her. + +Whether she was flattered at seeing that powerful man, before whom +millions trembled, and who had to decide over the life and death, the +honor and happiness of so many thousands, fettered by her soft curls, or +whether her enigmatical heart for once really felt what true love was, +suffice it to say, that in a short time she was his acknowledged +mistress, and her princely lover surrounded her with the luxury of an +Eastern queen. + +But just then a miracle occurred--the resurrection of a dead man. Frau +von Kubinyi was driving through the _Corso_ in the General's carriage; +she was lying back negligently in the soft cushions, and looking +carelessly at the crowd on the pavement. Then, she caught sight of a +common Austrian soldier and screamed out aloud. + +Nobody heard that cry, which came from the depths or a woman's heart, +nobody saw how pale and how excited that woman was, who usually seemed +made of marble, not even the soldier who was the cause of it. He was a +Hungarian poet, who, like so many other _Honveds_[5], now wore the +uniform of an Austrian soldier. + +[Footnote 5: A Hungarian word, meaning literally, Defender of the +Fatherland. The term _Honved_ is applied to the Hungarian _Landnehr_, or +Militia.--Translator.] + +Two days later, to his no small surprise he was told to go to the +General in command, as orderly, and when he reported himself to the +adjutant, he told him to go to Frau von Kubinyi's, and to await her +orders. + +Our poet only knew her by report, but he hated and despised the +beautiful woman, who had sold herself to the enemy of the country, most +intensely; he had no choice, however, but to obey. + +When he arrived at her house, he seemed to be expected, for the porter +knew his name, took him into his lodge, and without any further +explanation, told him immediately to put on the livery of his mistress, +which was lying there ready for him. He ground his teeth, but resigned +himself without a word to his wretched, though laughable fate; it was +quite clear that the actress had some purpose in making the poet wear +her livery. He tried to remember whether he could formerly have offended +her by his notices as a theatrical critic, but before he could arrive at +any conclusion, he was told to go and show himself to Frau von Kubinyi. + +She evidently wished to enjoy his humiliation. + +He was shown into a small drawing-room, which was furnished with an +amount of taste and magnificence such as he had never seen before, and +was told to wait. But he had not been alone many minutes, before the +door-curtains were parted and Frau von Kubinyi came in, calm but deadly +pale, in a splendid dressing gown of some Turkish material, and he +recognized his former mistress. + +"Irma!" he exclaimed. + +The cry came from his heart, and it also affected the heart of the +woman, who was surfeited with pleasure, so greatly that the next moment +she was lying on the breast of the man whom she had believed to be dead, +but only for a moment, and then he freed himself from her. + +"We are fated to meet again thus!" she began. + +"Not through any fault of mine," he replied bitterly. + +"And not through mine either," she said quickly; "everybody thought that +you were dead, and I wept for you; that is my justification." + +"You are really too kind," he replied sarcastically. "How can you +condescend to make any excuses to me? I wear your livery, and you have +to order, and I have to obey; our relative positions are clear enough." + +Frau von Kubinyi turned away to hide her tears. + +"I did not intend to hurt your feelings," he continued: "but I must +confess that it would have been better for both of us, if we had not met +again. But what do you mean by making me wear your livery? It is not +enough that I have been robbed of my happiness? Does it afford you any +pleasure to humiliate me as well?" + +"How can you think that?" the actress exclaimed. "Oh! Ever since I have +discovered your unhappy lot, I have thought of nothing but the means of +delivering you from it, and until I succeed in doing this, however, I +can at least make it more bearable for you." + +"I understand," the unhappy poet said with a sneer. "And in order to do +this, you have begged your present worshiper, to turn your former lover +into a footman." + +"What a thing to say to me!" + +"Can you find any other plea?" + +"You wish to punish me for having loved you, idolized you, I suppose?" +the painter continued. "So exactly like a woman! But I can perfectly +well understand that the situation promises to have a fresh charm for +you..." + +Before he could finish what he was saying, the actress quickly left the +room; he could hear her sobbing, but he did not regret his words, and +his contempt and hatred for her only increased, when he saw the +extravagance and the princely luxury with which she was surrounded. But +what was the use of his indignation? He was wearing her livery, he was +obliged to wait upon her and to obey her, for she had the corporal's +cane at her command, and it really seemed as if he incurred the +vengeance of the offended woman; as if the General's insolent mistress +wished to make him feel her whole power; as if he were not to be spared +the deepest humiliation. + +The General and two of Frau von Kubinyi's friends, who were servants of +the Muses like she was, for one was a ballet dancer, and the two others +were actresses, had come to tea, and he was to wait on them. + +While it was getting ready, he heard them laughing in the next room, and +the blood flew to his head, and when the butler opened the door Frau von +Kubinyi appeared on the General's arm; she did not, however, look at her +new footman, her former lover, triumphantly or contemptuously, but she +gave him a glance of the deepest commiseration. + +Could he after all have wronged her? + +Hatred and love, contempt and jealousy were struggling in his breast, +and when he had to fill the glasses, the bottle shook in his hand. + +"Is this the man?" the General said, looking at him closely. + +Frau von Kubinyi nodded. + +"He was evidently not born for a footman," the General added. + +"And still less for a soldier," the actress observed. + +These words fell heavily on the unfortunate poet's heart, but she was +evidently taking his part, and trying to rescue him from his terrible +position. + +Suspicion, however, once more gained the day. + +"She is tired of all pleasures, and satisfied with enjoyment," he said +to himself; "she requires excitement and it amuses her to see the man +whom she formerly loved, and who, as she knows, still loves her, tremble +before her. And when she pleases she can see me tremble; not for my +life, but for fear of the disgrace which she can inflict upon me at the +moment if it should give her any pleasure." + +But suddenly the actress gave him a look which was so sad and so +imploring, that he looked down in confusion. + +From that time he remained in her house without performing any duties, +and without receiving any orders from her; in fact he never saw her, and +did not venture to ask after her, and two months had passed in this way, +when the General unexpectedly sent for him. He waited, with many others, +in the ante-room, and when the General came back from parade, he saw him +and beckoned him to follow, and as soon as they were alone, he said: + +"You are free, as you have been allowed to purchase your discharge." + +"Good heavens!" the poet stammered, "how am I to ..." + +"That is already done," the General replied. "You are free." + +"How is it possible? How can I thank your Excellency!" + +"You owe me no thanks," he replied; "Frau von Kubinyi bought you out." + +The poor poet's heart seemed to stop; he could not speak, nor even +stammer a word; but with a low bow, he rushed out and tore wildly +through the streets, until he reached the mansion of the woman whom he +had so misunderstood, quite out of breath; he must see her again, and +throw himself at her feet. + +"Where are you going to?" the porter asked him. + +"To Frau von Kubinyi's." + +"She is not here." + +"Not here?" + +"She has gone away." + +"Gone away? Where to?" + +"She started for Paris two hours ago." + + + + +DELILA + + +In a former reminiscence,[6] we made the acquaintance of a lady, who had +done the police many services in former years, and whom we called Wanda +von Chabert. It is no exaggeration, if we say that she was at the same +time the cleverest, the most charming and the most selfish woman whom +one could possibly meet. She was certainly not exactly what is called +beautiful, for neither her face nor her figure were symmetrical enough +for that, but if her head was not beautiful in the style of the antique, +neither like the _Venus_ of Milo nor Ludoirsi's _Juno_, it was, on the +other hand, in the highest sense delightful like the ladies whom Wateau +and Mignard painted. Everything in her little face, and in its frame of +soft brown hair was attractive and seductive, her low, Grecian forehead, +her bright, almond shaped eyes, her small nose, and her full, voluptuous +lips, her middling height and her small waist with its, perhaps, almost +too full bust, and above all her walk, that half indolent, half +coquettish swaying of her broad hips, were all maddeningly alluring. + +[Footnote 6: An Exotic Prince.] + +And this woman, who was born for love, was as eager for pleasure and as +amorous as few other women have even been, but for that very reason she +never ran any danger of allowing her victims to escape her from pity; on +the contrary, she soon grew tired of each of her favorites, and her +connection with the police was then extremely useful to her, in order to +get rid of an inconvenient, or jealous lover. + +Before the war between Austria and Italy in 1859, Frau von Chabert was +in London, where she lived alone in a small, one-storied house with her +servants, and was in constant communication with emigrants from all +countries. + +She herself was thought to be a Polish refugee, and the luxury by which +she was surrounded, and a fondness for sport, and above all for horses, +which was remarkable even in England, made people give her the title of +Countess. At that period Count T---- was one of the most prominent +members of the Hungarian propaganda, and Frau von Chabert was +commissioned to pay particular attention to all he said and did; but in +spite of all the trouble she took, she had not hitherto even succeeded +in making his acquaintance. He lived the life of a misanthrope, quite +apart from the great social stream of London, and he was not believed to +be either gallant, or ardent in love. Fellow-countrymen of his, who had +known him formerly, during the Magyar revolution, described him as very +cautious, cold and silent, so that if any man possessed a charm against +the toils, which she set for him, it was he. + +Just then it happened that as Wanda was riding in Hyde Park quite early +one morning before there were many people about, her thoroughbred +English mare took fright, and threatened to throw the plucky rider, who +did not for a moment lose her presence of mind, from the saddle. Before +her groom had time to come to her assistance, a man in a Hungarian +braided coat rushed from the path, and caught hold of the animal's +reins. When the mare had grown quite quiet, he was about to go away with +a slight bow, but Frau von Chabert detained him, so that she might thank +him, and so had leisure to examine him more closely. He was neither +young nor handsome, but was well-made, like all Hungarians are, and had +an interesting and very expressive face. He had a sallow complexion, +which was set off by a short, black full beard, and he looked as if he +were suffering, while he fixed two, great, black fanatical eyes on the +beautiful young woman, who was smiling at him so amiably, and it was the +strange look in those large eyes which aroused in the soul of the woman +who was so excitable, that violent, but passing feeling which she called +_love_. She turned her horse and accompanied the stranger on his side, +and he seemed to be even more charmed by her chatter than by her +appearance, for his grave face grew more and more animated, and at last +he himself became quite friendly and talkative. When he took leave of +her, Wanda gave him her card, on the back of which her address was +written, and he immediately gave her his in return. + +She thanked him and rode off, looking at his name as she did so; it was +Count T----. + +She felt inclined to give a shout of pleasure when she found that the +noble quarry, which she had been hunting so long, had at last come into +her preserves, but she did not even turn her head round to look at him, +such was the command which that woman had over herself and her +movements. + +Count T---- called upon her the very next day, soon he came every day, +and in less than a month after that innocent adventure in Hyde Park, he +was at her feet; for when Frau von Chabert made up her mind to be loved, +nobody was able to withstand her. She became the Count's confidante +almost as speedily as she had become his mistress, and every day, and +almost every hour, she, with the most delicate coquetry, laid fresh +fetters on the Hungarian Samson. Did she love him? + +Certainly she did, after her own fashion, and at first she had not the +remotest idea of betraying him; she even succeeded in completely +concealing her connection with him, not only in London but also in +Vienna. + +Then the war of 1859 broke out, and like most Hungarian and Polish +refugees, Count T---- hurried off to Italy, in order to place himself at +the disposal of that great and patriotic Piedmontese statesman, Cavour. + +Wanda went with him, and took the greatest interest in his revolutionary +intrigues in Turin; for some time she seemed to be his right hand, and +it looked as if she had become unfaithful to her present patrons. +Through his means, she soon became on intimate terms with Piedmontese +government circles, and that was his destruction. + +A young Italian diplomatist, who frequently negotiated with Count T----, +or in his absence, with Wanda, fell madly in love with the charming +Polish woman, and she, who was never cruel, more especially when she +herself had caught fire, allowed herself to be conquered by the +handsome, intellectual, daring man. In measure as her passion for the +Italian increased, so her feelings for Count T---- declined, and at last +she felt that her connection with him was nothing but a hindrance and a +burden, and as soon as Wanda had reached that point, her adorer was as +good as lost. + +Count T---- was not a man whom she could just coolly dismiss, or with +whom she might venture to trifle, and that she knew perfectly well; so +in order to avoid a catastrophe, the consequences of which might be +incalculable for her, she did not let him notice the change in her +feelings towards him at first, and kept the Italian, who belonged to +her, at a proper distance. + +When peace had been concluded, and the great, peaceful revolution, which +found its provisional settlement in the Constitution of February and in +the Hungarian agreement, began in Austria, the Hungarian refugees +determined to send Count T---- to Hungary, that he might assume the +direction of affairs there. But as he was still an outlaw, and as the +death sentence of Arab hung over his head like the sword of Damocles, he +consulted with Wanda about the ways and means of reaching his fatherland +unharmed and of remaining there undiscovered. Although that clever woman +thought of a plan immediately, yet she told Count T---- that she would +think the matter over, and she did not bring forward her proposition for +a few days, which was then, however, received by the Count and his +friends with the highest approval, and was immediately carried into +execution. Frau von Chabert went to Vienna as Marchioness Spinola, and +T---- accompanied her as her footman; he had cut his hair short, and +shaved off his beard; so that in his livery, he was quite +unrecognizable. They passed the frontier in safety, and reached Vienna +without any interference from the authorities; and there they first of +all went to a small hotel, but soon took a small, handsome flat in the +center of the town. Count T---- immediately hunted up some members of his +party, who had been in constant communication with the emigrants, since +Vilagos, and the conspiracy was soon in excellent train, while Wanda +whiled away her time with a hussar officer, without, however, losing +sight of her lover and of his dangerous activity, for a moment, on that +account. + +And at last, when the fruit was ripe for falling into her lap, she was +sitting in the private room of the Minister of Police, opposite to the +man with whom she was going to make the evil compact. + +"The emigrants must be very uneasy and disheartened at an agreement +with, and reconciliation to, Hungary," he began. + +"Do not deceive yourself," Frau von Chabert replied; "nothing is more +dangerous in politics than optimism, and the influence of the +revolutionary propaganda was never greater than it is at present. Do not +hope to conciliate the Magyars by half concessions, and, above all +things, do not underestimate the movement, which is being organized +openly, in broad daylight." + +"You are afraid of a revolution?" + +"I know that they are preparing for one, and that they expect everything +from that alone." + +The skeptical man smiled. + +"Give me something besides views and opinions, and then I will +believe..." + +"I will give you the proof," Wanda said, "but before I do you the +greatest service that lies in my power, I must be sure that I shall be +rewarded for all my skill and trouble." + +"Can you doubt it?" + +"I will be open with you," Wanda continued. + +"During the insurrectionary war in Transylvania, Urban had excellent +spies, but they have not been paid to this day. I want money...." + +"How much?" + +With inimitable ease, the beautiful woman mentioned a very considerable +sum. The skeptical man got up to give a few orders, and a short time +afterwards the money was in Wanda's hands. + +"Well?" + +"The emigrants have sent one of their most influential and talented +members to organize the revolution in Hungary." + +"Have they sent him already?" + +"More than that, for Count T---- is in Vienna at this moment." + +"Do you know where he is hiding?" + +"Yes." + +"And you are sure that you are not mistaken?" + +"I am most assuredly not mistaken," she replied with a frivolous laugh; +"Count T----, who was my admirer in London and Turin, is here in my +house, as my footman." + +An hour later, the Count was arrested. But Wanda only wished to get rid +of her tiresome adorer, and not to destroy him. She had been on the most +intimate terms with him long enough, and had taken part in his political +plans and intrigues, to be able to give the most reliable information +about him personally, as well as about his intentions, and that +information was such that, in spite of the past, and of the Count's +revolutionary standpoint, they thought they had discovered in him the +man who was capable of bringing about a real reconciliation between the +monarch and his people. In consequence of this, T----, who thought that +he had incurred the gallows, stood in the Emperor's presence, and the +manner in which the latter expressed his generous intentions with regard +to Hungary, carried the old rebel away, and he gave him his word of +honor that he would bring the nation back to him, reconciled. And he +kept his word, although, perhaps, not exactly in the sense in which he +gave it. + +He was allowed full liberty in going to Hungary, and Wanda accompanied +him. He had no suspicion that even in his mistress's arms he was under +police supervision, and from the moment when he made his appearance in +his native land officially, as the intermediary between the crown and +the people, she had a fresh interest in binding a man of such +importance, whom everybody regarded as Hungary's future +Minister-President, to herself. + +He began to negotiate, and at first everything went well, but soon the +yielding temper of the government gave rise continually to fresh +demands, and before long, what one side offered and the other side +demanded, was so far apart, that no immediate agreement could be thought +of. The Count's position grew more painful every day; he had pledged +himself too deeply to both sides, and in vain he sought for a way out of +the difficulty. + +Then one day the Minister of Police unexpectedly received a letter from +Wanda, in which she told him that T----, urged on by his +fellow-countrymen, and branded as a traitor by the emigrants, was on the +point of heading a fresh conspiracy. + +Thereupon, the government energetically reminded that thoroughly honest +and noble man of his word of honor, and T----, who saw that he was +unable to keep it, ended his life by a pistol bullet. + +Frau von Chabert left Hungary immediately after the sad catastrophe, and +went to Turin, where new lovers, new splendors and new laurels awaited +her. + +We may, perhaps, hear more of her. + + + + +A MESALLIANCE + + +It is a generally acknowledged truth, that the prerogatives of the +nobility are only maintained at the present time through the weakness of +the middle classes, and many of these who have established themselves +and their families by their intellect, industry and struggles, get into +a state of bliss, which reminds those who see it, of intoxication, as +soon as they are permitted to enter aristocratic circles, or can be seen +in public with barons and counts; and above all, when these treat them +in a friendly manner, no matter from what motive, or when they see a +prospect of a daughter of theirs driving in a carriage with armorial +bearings on the panels, as a countess. + +Many women and girls of the citizen class would not hesitate for a +moment to refuse an honorable, good-looking man of their own class, in +order to go to the altar with the oldest, ugliest and stupidest dotard +among the aristocracy. + +I shall never forget saying in a joke to a young, well-educated girl of +a wealthy, middle-class family, who had the figure and bearing of a +queen, shortly before her marriage, not to forget an ermine cloak in her +trousseau. + +"I know it would suit me capitally," she replied in all seriousness, +"and I should certainly have worn one, if I had married Baron R----, +which I was nearly doing, as you know, but it is not suitable for the +wife of a government official." + +When a girl of the middle classes wanders from the paths of virtue, her +fall may, as a rule, be rightly ascribed to her hankering after the +nobility. + +In a small German town there lived, some years ago, a tailor, whom we +will call Loewenfuss, a man who, like all knights of the shears, was +equally full of aspirations after culture and liberty. After working for +one master for some time as a poor journeyman, he married his daughter, +and after his father-in-law's death, he succeeded to his business, and +as he was industrious, lucky and managed it well, he soon grew very well +off, and was in a position to give his daughters an education, for which +many a nobleman's daughters might have envied them; for they learned, +not only French and music, but had also acquired many more solid +branches of knowledge, and as they were both pretty and charming girls, +they soon became very much thought of and sought after. + +Fanny, the eldest, especially, was her father's pride and the favorite +of society; she was of middle height, slim, with a thoroughly maidenly +figure, and with almost an Italian face, in which two large, dark eyes +seemed to ask for love and submission at the same time; and yet the girl +with the plentiful, black hair was not in the least intended to command, +for she was one of those romantic women who will give themselves, or +even throw themselves, away, but who can never be subjugated. A young +physician fell in love with her, and wished to marry her; Fanny returned +his love, and her parents gladly accepted him as a son-in-law, but she +made it a condition that he should visit her freely and frequently for +two years, before she would consent to become his wife, and she declared +that she would not go to the altar with him, until she was convinced +that not only their hearts, but also that their characters harmonized. +He agreed to her wish, and became a regular visitor at the house of the +educated tailor; they were happy hours for the lovers; they played, sang +and read together, and he told the girl some things from his medical +experiences, which excited and moved her. + +Just then, one day an officer went to the tailor's house, to order some +civilian's clothes. This was not an unusual event in itself, but it was +soon to be the cause of one; for accidentally the daughter of _the +artist in clothes_ came into the shop, just as the officer was leaving +it, and on seeing her, he let go of the door-handle, and asked the +tailor who the young lady was. + +"My daughter," the tailor said, proudly. + +"May I beg you to introduce me to the young lady, Herr Loewenfuss?" the +hussar said. + +"I feel flattered at the honor you are doing me," the tailor replied, +with evident pleasure. + +"Fanny, the Captain wishes to make your acquaintance; this is my +daughter, Fanny, Captain ..." + +"Captain Count Kasimir W----," the hussar interrupted him, as he went up +to the pretty girl, and paid her a compliment or two. They were very +commonplace, stale, everyday phrases, but in spite of this, they +flattered the girl, intelligent as she was, extremely, because it was a +cavalry officer and a Count to boot who addressed them to her. And when, +at last, the Captain, in the most friendly manner, asked the tailor's +permission to be allowed to visit at the house, both father and daughter +granted it to him most readily. + +The very next day Count W---- paid his visit, in full dress uniform, and +when Mamma Loewenfuss made some observations about it, how handsome it +was, and how well it became him, he told them that he should not wear it +much longer, as he intended to quit the service soon, and to look for a +wife, in whom birth and wealth were matters of secondary consideration, +while a good education and a knowledge of domestic matters were of +paramount importance; adding that as soon as he had found one, he meant +to retire to his estates. + +From that moment, Papa and Mamma Loewenfuss looked upon the Count as +their daughter's suitor; it is certain that he was madly in love with +Fanny; he used to go to their house every evening, and made himself so +liked by all of them, that the young doctor soon felt himself to be +superfluous, and so his visits became rarer and rarer. The Count +confessed his love to Fanny on a moonlight night, while they were +sitting in an arbor covered with honeysuckle, which formed nearly the +whole of Herr Loewenfuss' garden; he swore that he loved, that he adored +her, and when at last she lay trembling in his arms he tried to take her +by storm, but that bold cavalry-exploit did not succeed, and the +good-looking hussar found out, for the first time in his life, that a +woman can at the same time be romantic, passionately in love, and yet +virtuous. + +The next morning, the tailor called on the Count, and begged him very +humbly to state what his intentions with regard to Fanny were. The +enamored hussar declared that he was determined to make the tailor's +little daughter, Countess W----. Herr Loewenfuss was so much overcome by +his feelings, that he showed great inclination to embrace his future +son-in-law, The Count, however, laid down certain conditions. The whole +matter must be kept a profound secret, for he had every prospect of +inheriting half a million of florins, on the death of an aunt, who was +already eighty years old, which he should risk by a mesalliance. + +When they heard this, the girl's parents certainly hesitated for a time, +to give their consent to the marriage, but the handsome hussar, whose +ardent passion carried Fanny away, at last gained the victory. The +doctor received a pretty little note from the tailor's daughter, in +which she told him that she gave him back his promise, as she had not +found her ideal in him. Fanny then signed a deed, by which she formerly +renounced all claims to her father's property, in favor of her sister, +and left her home and her father's house with the Count under cover of +the night, in order to accompany him to Poland, where the marriage was +to take place in his castle. + +Of course malicious tongues declared that the hussar had abducted Fanny, +but her parents smiled at such reports, for they knew better, and the +moment when their daughter would return as Countess W---- would amply +recompense them for everything. + +Meanwhile, the Polish Count and the romantic German girl were being +carried by the train through the dreary plains of Masovia.[7] They +stopped in a large town to make some purchases, and the Count, who was +very wealthy and liberal, provided his future wife with everything that +befits a Countess, and which a girl could fancy, and then they continued +their journey. The country grew more picturesque, but more melancholy, +as they went further East; the somber Carpathians rose from the +snow-covered plains and villages, surrounded by white glistening walls, +and stunted willows stood by the side of the roads, ravens sailed +through the white sky, and here and there a small peasant's sledge shot +by, drawn by two thin horses. + +[Footnote 7: A division of Poland, of which Warsaw is the +Capital.--TRANSLATOR.] + +At last they reached the station, where the Count's steward was waiting +for them with a carriage and four, which brought them to their +destination almost as swiftly as the iron steed. + +The numerous servants were drawn up in the yard of the ancient castle to +receive their master and mistress, and they gave loud cheers for her, +for which she thanked them smilingly. When she went into the dim, arched +passages, and the large rooms, for a moment she felt a strange feeling +of fear, but she quickly checked it, for was not her most ardent wish to +be fulfilled in a couple of hours? + +She put on her bridal attire, in which a half comical, half +sinister-looking old woman with a toothless mouth and a nose like an +owl's, assisted her, and just as she was fixing the myrtle wreath onto +her dark curls, the bell began to ring, which summoned her to her +wedding. The Count himself, in full uniform, led her to the chapel of +the castle, where the priest, with the steward and the castellan as +witnesses, and the footmen in grand liveries, were awaiting the handsome +young couple. + +After the wedding, the marriage certificate was signed in the vestry, +and a groom was sent to the station, where he dispatched a telegram to +her parents, to the effect that the hussar had kept his word, and that +Fanny Loewenfuss had become Countess Faniska W----. + +Then the newly-married couple sat down to a beautiful little dinner in +company of the chaplain, the steward and the castellan; the champagne +made them all very cheerful, and at last the Count knelt down before his +young and beautiful wife, boldly took her white satin slipper off her +foot, filled it with wine, and emptied it to her health. + +At length night came, a thorough, Polish wedding night, and Faniska had +just finished dressing and was looking at herself with proud +satisfaction in the great mirror that was fastened into the wall, from +top to bottom. A white satin train flowed down behind her like rays from +the moon, a half-open jacket of bright green velvet, trimmed with +valuable ermine, covered her voluptuous, virgin bust and her classic +arms, only to show them all the more seductively at the slightest +motion, while the wealth of her dark hair, in which diamonds hung here +and there like glittering dew-drops, fell down her neck and mingled with +the white fur. The Count came in a red velvet dressing gown trimmed with +sable; at a sign from him, the old woman who was waiting on his wife's +divinity left the room, and the next moment he was lying like a slave at +the feet of his lovely young wife, who raised him up, and was pressing +him to her heaving bosom, when a noise which she had never heard before, +a wild howling, startled the loving woman in the midst of her highest +bliss. + +"What was that?" she asked, trembling. + +The Count went to the window without speaking, and she followed him, +with her arms round him, and looked half timidly, half curiously out +into the darkness, where large bright spots were moving about in pairs, +in the park at her feet. + +"Are they will-o'-the-wisps?" she whispered. + +"No, my child, they are wolves," the Count replied, fetching his +double-barreled gun, which he loaded, and went out on the snow-covered +balcony, while she drew the fur more closely over her bosom, and +followed him. + +"Will you shoot?" the Count asked her in a whisper, and when she nodded, +he said: "Aim straight at the first pair of bright spots that you see; +they are the eyes of those amiable brutes." + +Then he handed her the gun and pointed it for her. + +"That is the way--are you pointing straight?" + +"Yes." + +"Then fire." + +A flash, a report, which the echo from the hills repeats four times, and +two of the unpleasant-looking lights had vanished. + +Then the Count fired, and by that time their people were all awake; they +drove away the wolves with torches and shouts, and laid the two large +animals, the spoils of a Polish wedding night, at the feet of their +young mistress. + +And the days that followed resembled that night. The Count showed +himself the most attentive husband, as his wife's knight and slave, and +she felt quite at home in that dull castle; she rode, drove, smoked, +read French novels and beat her servants as well as any Polish Countess +could have done. In the course of a few years, she presented the Count +with two children, and although he appeared very happy at that, yet, +like most husbands, he grew continually cooler, more indolent, and +neglectful of her. From time to time he left the castle, to see after +his affairs in the capital, and the intervals between those journeys +became continually shorter. Faniska felt that her husband was tired of +her, and much as it grieved her, she did not let him notice it; she was +always the same. + +But at last the Count remained away altogether; at first he used to +write, but at last the poor, weeping woman did not even receive letters +to comfort her in her unhappy solitude, and his lawyer sent the money +that she and her children required. + +She conjectured, hoped and doubted, suffered and wept for more than a +year; then she suddenly went to the capital and appeared unexpectedly in +his apartments. Painful explanations followed, until at last the Count +told her that he no longer loved her, and could not live with her for +the future, and when she wished to make him do so by legal means, and +entrusted her case to a celebrated lawyer, _the Count denied that she +was his wife_. She produced her marriage certificate, when the most +infamous fraud came to light. A confidential servant of the Count had +acted the part of the priest, and the tailor's beautiful daughter had, +as a matter of fact, merely been the Count's mistress, and her children +were bastards. + +The virtuous woman then saw, when it was too late, that it was _she_ who +had formed a mesalliance. Her parents would have nothing to do with her, +and at last it turned out in the bargain that the Count was married long +before he knew her, but that he did not live with his wife. + +Then Fanny applied to the police magistrates; she wanted to appeal to +justice, but she was dissuaded from taking criminal proceedings; for +although they would certainly lead to the punishment of her daring +seducer, they would also bring about her own total ruin. + +At last, however, her lawyer effected a settlement between them, which +was favorable to Fanny, and which she accepted for the sake of her +children. The Count paid her a considerable sum down, and gave her the +gloomy castle to live in. Thither she returned with a broken heart, and +from that time she lived alone, a sullen misanthrope, a fierce despot. + +From time to time, a stranger wandering through the Carpathians, meets a +pale woman of demonic beauty, wearing a magnificent sable skin jacket +and with a gun over her shoulder, in the forest, or in the winter in a +sledge, driving her foaming horses until they nearly drop from fatigue, +while the sleigh bells utter a melancholy sound, and at last die away in +the distance, like the weeping of a solitary, deserted human heart. + + + + +BERTHA + + +My old friend (one has friends occasionally who are much older than +oneself), my old friend Doctor Bonnet, had often invited me to spend +some time with him at Riom, and as I did not know Auvergne, I made up my +mind to go in the summer of 1876. + +I got there by the morning train, and the first person I saw on the +platform was the doctor. He was dressed in a gray suit, and wore a soft, +black, wide-brimmed, high-crowned felt hat, which was narrow at the top +like a chimney pot, a hat which hardly any one except an Auvergnat would +wear, and which smacked of the charcoal burner. Dressed like that, the +doctor had the appearance of an old young man, with his spare body under +his thin coat, and his large head covered with white hair. + +He embraced me with that evident pleasure which country people feel when +they meet long-expected friends, and stretching out his arm, he said +proudly: + +"This is Auvergne!" I saw nothing except a range of mountains before me, +whose summits, which resembled truncated cones, must have been extinct +volcanoes. + +Then, pointing to the name of the station, he said: + +"_Riom_, the fatherland of magistrates, the pride of the magistracy, and +which ought rather to be the fatherland of doctors." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"Why?" he replied with a laugh. "If you transpose the letters, you have +the Latin word _mori_, to die.... That is the reason why I settled here, +my young friend." + +And delighted at his own joke, he carried me off, rubbing his hands. + +As soon as I had swallowed a cup of coffee, he made me go and see the +town. I admired the chemist's house, and the other celebrated houses, +which were all black, but as pretty as knick-nacks, with facades of +sculptured stone. I admired the statue of the Virgin, the patroness of +butchers, and he told me an amusing story about this, which I will +relate some other time, and then Doctor Bonnet said to me: + +"I must beg you to excuse me for a few minutes while I go and see a +patient, and then I will take you to Chatel-Guyon, so as to show you the +general aspect of the town, and all the mountain chain of the +Puy-de-Dome, before lunch. You can wait for me outside; I shall only go +upstairs and come down immediately." + +He left me outside one of those old, gloomy, silent, melancholy houses, +which one sees in the provinces, and this one appeared to look +particularly sinister, and I soon discovered the reason. All the large +windows on the first floor were half boarded up with wooden shutters. +The upper part of them alone could be opened, as if one had wished to +prevent the people who were locked up in that huge stone trunk from +looking into the street. + +When the doctor came down again, I told him how it had struck me, and he +replied: + +"You are quite right; the poor creature who is living there must never +see what is going on outside. She is a mad woman, or rather an idiot, +what you Normans would call a _Niente_[8]. It is a miserable story, but +a very singular pathological case at the same time. Shall I tell you?" + +[Footnote 8: A _Nothing_.--TRANSLATOR.] + +I begged him to do so, and he continued: + +"Twenty years ago, the owners of this house, who were my patients, had a +daughter who was like all other girls, but I soon discovered that while +her body became admirably developed, her intellect remained stationary. + +"She began to walk very early, but she could not talk. At first I +thought she was deaf, but I soon discovered that although she heard +perfectly, she did not understand anything that was said to her. Violent +noises made her start and frightened her, without her understanding how +they were caused. + +"She grew up into a superb woman, but she was dumb, from an absolute +want of intellect. I tried all means to introduce a gleam of sense into +her head, but nothing succeeded. I thought that I noticed that she knew +her nurse, though as soon as she was weaned, she failed to recognize her +mother. She could never pronounce that word, which is the first that +children utter, and the last which soldiers murmur when they are dying +on the field of battle. She sometimes tried to talk, but she produced +nothing but incoherent sounds. + +"When the weather was fine, she laughed continually, and emitted some +low cries which might be compared to the twittering of birds; when it +rained she cried and moaned in a mournful, terrifying manner, which +sounded like the howling of a dog when a death occurs in a house. + +"She was fond of rolling on the grass, like young animals do, and of +running about madly, and she used to clap her hands every morning, when +the sun shone into her room, and would jump out of bed and insist by +signs, on being dressed as quickly as possible, so that she might get +out. + +"She did not appear to distinguish between people, between her mother +and her nurse, or between her father and me, or between the coachman and +the cook. I liked her parents, who were very unhappy on her account, +very much, and went to see them nearly every day. I dined with them +tolerably frequently, which enabled me to remark that Bertha (they had +called her Bertha), seemed to recognize the various dishes, and to +prefer some to others. At that time she was twelve years old, but as +fully formed in figure as a girl of eighteen, and taller than I was. +Then, the idea struck me of developing her greediness, and by these +means to try and produce some slight powers of distinguishing into her +mind, and to force her, by the diversity of flavors, if not to reason, +at any rate to arrive at instinctive distinctions, which would of +themselves constitute a species of work that was material to thought. +Later on, by appealing to her passions, and by carefully making use of +those which could serve us, we might hope to obtain a kind of reaction +on her intellect, and by degrees increase the insensible action of her +brain. + +"One day I put two plates before her, one of soup, and the other of very +sweet vanilla cream. I made her taste each of them successively, and +then I let her choose for herself, and she ate the plate of cream. In a +short time I made her very greedy, so greedy that it appeared as if the +only idea she had in her head was the desire for eating. She perfectly +recognized the various dishes, and stretched out her hands towards those +that she liked, and took hold of them eagerly, and she used to cry when +they were taken from her. Then I thought I would try and teach her to +come to the dining room when the dinner bell rang. It took a long time, +but I succeeded in the end. In her vacant intellect, there was a fixed +correlation between the sound and her taste, a correspondence between +two senses, an appeal from one to the other, and consequently a sort of +connection of ideas--if one can call that kind of instinctive hyphen +between two organic functions an idea--and so I carried my experiments +further, and taught her, with much difficulty, to recognize meal times +on the face of the clock. + +"It was impossible for me for a long time to attract her attention to +the hands, but I succeeded in making her remark the clockwork and the +striking apparatus. The means I employed were very simple; I asked them +not to have the bell rung for lunch, and everybody got up and went into +the dining room, when the little brass hammer struck twelve o'clock, but +I found great difficulty in making her learn to count the strokes. She +ran to the door each time she heard the clock strike, but by degrees she +learned that all the strokes had not the same value as far as regarded +meals, and she frequently fixed her eyes, guided by her ears, on the +dial of the clock. + +"When I noticed that, I took care, every day at twelve and at six +o'clock to place my fingers on the figures twelve and six, as soon as +the moment she was waiting for, had arrived, and I soon noticed that she +attentively followed the motion of the small brass hands, which I had +often turned in her presence. + +"She had understood! Perhaps I ought rather to say that she had seized +the idea. I had succeeded in getting the knowledge, or rather the +sensation of the time into her, just as is the case with carp, who +certainly have no clocks, when they are fed every day exactly at the +same time. + +"When once I had obtained that result, all the clocks and watches in the +house occupied her attention almost exclusively. She spent her time in +looking at them, in listening to them and in waiting for meal times, and +once something very funny happened. The striking apparatus of a pretty +little Louis XVI. clock that hung at the head of her bed, having got out +of order, she noticed it. She sat for twenty minutes, with her eyes on +the hands, waiting for it to strike ten, but when the hand passed the +figure, she was astonished at not hearing anything; so stupefied was +she, indeed, that she sat down, no doubt overwhelmed by a feeling of +violent emotion, such as attacks us in the face of some terrible +catastrophe. And she had the wonderful patience to wait until eleven +o'clock, in order to see what would happen, and as she naturally heard +nothing, she was suddenly either seized with a wild fit of rage at +having been deceived, and imposed upon by appearances, or else overcome +by that fear which some frightened creature feels at some terrible +mystery, and by the furious impatience of a passionate individual who +meets with some obstacle, she took up the tongs from the fireplace and +struck the clock so violently that she broke it to pieces in a moment. + +"It was evident, therefore, that her brain did act and calculate, +obscurely it is true, and within very restricted limits, for I could +never succeed in making her distinguish persons as she distinguished the +time; and to stir her intellect, it was necessary to appeal to her +passions, in the material sense of the word, and we soon had another, +and alas! a very terrible proof of this!" + + * * * * * + +"She had grown up into a splendid girl; a perfect type of a race, a sort +of lovely and stupid Venus. She was sixteen, and I have rarely seen such +perfection of form, such suppleness and such regular features. I said +she was a Venus; yes, a fair, stout, vigorous Venus, with large, bright, +vacant eyes, which were as blue as the flowers of the flax plant; she +had a large mouth with full lips, the mouth of a glutton, of a +sensualist, a mouth made for kisses. Well, one morning her father came +into my consulting room, with a strange look on his face, and, sitting +down, without even replying to my greeting, he said: + +"'I want to speak to you about a very serious matter.... Would it be +possible ... would it be possible for Bertha to marry?' + +"'Bertha to marry!... Why, it is quite impossible!' + +"'Yes, I know, I know,' he replied.... 'But reflect, Doctor ... don't +you think ... perhaps ... we hoped ... if she had children ... it would +be a great shock to her, but a great happiness, and ... who knows +whether maternity might not rouse her intellect...?' + +"I was in a state of great perplexity. He was right, and it was possible +that such a new situation, and that wonderful instinct of maternity +which beats in the hearts of the lower animals, as it does in the heart +of a woman, which makes the hen fly at a dog's jaws to defend her +chickens, might bring about a revolution, an utter change in her vacant +mind, and set the motionless mechanism of her thoughts into movement. +And then, moreover, I immediately remembered a personal instance. Some +years previously I had possessed a spaniel bitch who was so stupid that +I could do nothing with her, but when she had had pups she became, if +not exactly intelligent, yet almost like many other dogs who have not +been thoroughly broken. + +"As soon as I foresaw the possibility of this, the wish to get Bertha +married grew in me, not so much out of friendship for her and her poor +parents, as from scientific curiosity. What would happen? It was a +singular problem, and I said to her father: + +"'Perhaps you are right ... You might make the attempt ... but ... but +you will never find a man to consent to marry her.' + +"'I have found somebody,' he said in a low voice. + +"I was dumbfounded, and said: 'Somebody really suitable? ... Some one of +your own rank and position in society?' + +"'Decidedly,' he replied. + +"'Oh! And may I ask his name?' + +"'I came on purpose to tell you, and to consult you. It is Monsieur +Gaston du Boys de Lucelles.' + +"I felt inclined to exclaim: 'What a wretch,' but I held my tongue, and +after a few moments' silence, I said: + +"'Oh! Very good. I see nothing against it.' + +"The poor man shook me heartily by the hand. + +"'She is to be married next month,' he said." + + * * * * * + +"Monsieur Gaston du Boys de Lucelles was a scape-grace of good family, +who, after having spent all that he had inherited from his father, and +having incurred debts by all kinds of doubtful means, had been trying to +discover some other way of obtaining money, and he had discovered this +method. He was a good-looking young fellow, and in capital health, but +fast; one of those odious race of provincial fast men, and he appeared +to me to be a sufficient sort of a husband, who could be got rid of +later, by making him an allowance. He came to the house to pay his +addresses, and to strut about before the idiot girl, who, however, +seemed to please him. He brought her flowers, kissed her hands, sat at +her feet and looked at her with affectionate eyes; but she took no +notice of any of his attentions, and did not make any distinction +between him and the other persons who were about her. + +"However, the marriage took place, and you may guess how excited my +curiosity was. I went to see Bertha the next day, to try and discover +from her looks whether any feelings had been roused in her, but I found +her just the same as she was every day, wholly taken up with the clock +and dinner, while he, on the contrary, appeared really in love, and +tried to rouse his wife's spirits and affections by little endearments, +and such caresses as one bestows on a kitten. He could think of nothing +better. + +"I called upon the married couple pretty frequently, and I soon +perceived that the young woman knew her husband, and gave him those +eager looks which she had hitherto bestowed only on sweet dishes. + +"She followed his movements, knew his step on the stairs or in the +neighboring rooms, clapped her hands when he came in, and her face was +changed, and brightened by the flames of profound happiness, and of +desire. + +"She loved him with her whole body, and with all her soul, to the very +depths of her poor, weak soul, and with all her heart, that poor heart +of some grateful animal. It was really a delightful and innocent picture +of simple passion, of carnal and yet modest passion, such as nature had +implanted into mankind, before man had complicated and disfigured it, by +all the various shades of sentiment. But he soon grew tired of this +ardent, beautiful, dumb creature, and did not spend more than an hour a +day with her, thinking it sufficient to devote his rights to her, and +she began to suffer in consequence. She used to wait for him from +morning till night, with her eyes on the clock; she did not even look +after the meals now, for he took all his away from home, _Clermont, +Chatel-Guyon, Royat_, no matter where, as long as he was not obliged +to come home. + +"She began to grow thin; every other thought, every other wish, every +other expectation and every other confused hope, disappeared from her +mind, and the hours during which she did not see him, became hours of +terrible suffering to her. Soon he used frequently not to come home at +night; he spent them with women at the casino at _Royat_, and did not +come home until daybreak. But she never went to bed before he returned. +She remained sitting motionless in an easy chair, with her eyes fixed on +the clock, which turned so slowly and regularly round the china face, on +which the hours were painted. + +"She heard the trot of his horse in the distance, and sat up with a +start, and when he came into the room, she got up with the movements of +a phantom, and pointed to the clock, as if to say to him: 'Look how late +it is!' + +"And he began to be afraid of this amorous and jealous, half-witted +woman, and flew into a rage, like brutes do; and one night, he even went +so far as to strike her, so they sent for me. When I arrived she was +writhing and screaming, in a terrible crisis of pain, anger, passion, +how do I know what? Can one tell what goes on in such undeveloped +brains? + +"I calmed her by subcutaneous injections of morphine, and forbade her to +see that man again, for I saw clearly that marriage would infallibly +kill her, by degrees." + + * * * * * + +"Then she went mad! Yes, my dear friend, that idiot has gone mad. She is +always thinking of him and waiting for him; she waits for him all day +and night, awake or asleep, at this very moment, ceaselessly. When I saw +her getting thinner and thinner, and as she persisted in never taking +her eyes off the clocks, I had them removed from the house. I thus made +it impossible for her to count the hours, and to try to remember, from +her indistinct reminiscences, at what time he used to come home, +formerly. I hope to destroy the recollection of it in time, and to +extinguish that ray of thought which I kindled with so much difficulty. + +"The other day, I tried an experiment. I offered her my watch; she took +it and looked at it for some time; then she began to scream terribly, as +if the sight of that little object had suddenly aroused her +recollection, which was beginning to grow indistinct. She is pitiably +thin now, with hollow cheeks and brilliant eyes, and she walks up and +down ceaselessly, like a wild beast does in its cage; I have had bars +put to the windows, and have had the seats fixed to the floor, so as to +prevent her from looking to see whether he is coming. + +"Oh! her poor parents! What a life they must lead!" + +We had got to the top of the hill, and the doctor turned round and said +to me: + +"Look at Riom from here." + +The gloomy town looked like some ancient city. Behind it, a green, +wooded plain studded with towns and villages, and bathed in a soft blue +haze, extended, until it was lost in the distance. Far away, on my +right, there was a range of lofty mountains with round summits, or else +cut off flat, as if with a sword, and the doctor began to enumerate the +villages, towns and hills, and to give me the history of all of them. +But I did not listen to him; I was thinking of nothing but the mad +woman, and I only saw her. She seemed to be hovering over that vast +extent of country like a mournful ghost, and I asked him abruptly: + +"What has become of the husband?" + +My friend seemed rather surprised, but after a few moments' hesitation, +he replied: + +"He is living at Royat, on an allowance that they make, and is quite +happy; he leads a very fast life." + +As we were slowly going back, both of us silent and rather low-spirited, +an English dog cart, drawn by a thoroughbred horse, came up behind us, +and passed us rapidly. The doctor took me by the arm. + +"There he is," he said. + +I saw nothing except a gray felt hat, cocked over one ear, above a pair +of broad shoulders, driving off in a cloud of dust. + + + + +ABANDONED + + +"I really think you must be mad, my dear, to go for a country walk in +such weather as this. You have had some very strange ideas for the last +two months. You take me to the sea side in spite of myself, when you +have never once had such a whim during all the forty-four years that we +have been married. You chose Fecamp, which is a very dull town, without +consulting me in the matter, and now you are seized with such a rage for +walking, you who hardly ever stir out on foot, that you want to go into +the country on the hottest day in the year. Ask d'Apreval to go with +you, as he is ready to gratify all your fancies. As for me, I am going +back to have a nap." + +Madame de Cadour turned to her old friend and said: + +"Will you come with me, Monsieur d'Apreval?" + +He bowed with a smile, and with all the gallantry of by-gone years: + +"I will go wherever you go," he replied. + +"Very well, then, go and get a sunstroke," Monsieur de Cadour said; and +he went back to the _Hotel des Bains_, to lie down on his bed for an +hour or two. + +As soon as they were alone, the old lady and her old companion set off, +and she said to him in a low voice, squeezing his hand: + +"At last! at last!" + +"You are mad," he said in a whisper. "I assure you that you are mad. +Think of the risk you are running. If that man ..." + +She started. + +"Oh! Henri, do not say _that man_, when you are speaking of him." + +"Very well," he said abruptly, "if our son guesses anything, if he has +any suspicions, he will have you, he will have us both in his power. You +have got on without seeing him for the last forty years; what is the +matter with you to-day?" + +They had been going up the long street that leads from the sea to the +town, and now they turned to the right, to go to Etretat. The white road +extended in front of them, under a blaze of brilliant sunshine, so they +went on slowly in the burning heat. She had taken her old friend's arm, +and was looking straight in front of her, with a fixed and haunted gaze, +and at last she said: + +"And so you have not seen him again, either?" + +"No, never." + +"Is it possible?" + +"My dear friend, do not let us begin that discussion again. I have a +wife and children and you have a husband, so we both of us have much to +fear from other people's opinion." + +She did not reply; she was thinking of her long-past youth, and of many +sad things that had occurred. She had been married as girls are married; +she hardly knew her betrothed, who was a diplomatist, and later, she +lived the same life with him that all women of the world live with their +husbands. But Monsieur d'Apreval, who was also married, loved her with a +profound passion, and while Monsieur de Cadour was absent in India, on a +political mission for a long time, she succumbed. Could she possibly +have resisted, have refused to give herself? Could she have had the +strength and courage not to have yielded, as she loved him also? No, +certainly not; it would have been too hard; she would have suffered too +much! How cruel and deceitful life is! Is it possible to avoid certain +attacks of fate, or can one escape from one's destiny? When a solitary, +abandoned woman, without children and with a careless husband, always +escapes from the passion which a man feels for her, as she would escape +from the sun, in order to live in darkness until she dies? + +How well she recalled all the details, his kisses, his smiles, the way +he used to stop, in order to watch her until she was indoors. What happy +days they were; the only really delicious days she had ever enjoyed; and +how quickly they were over! + +And then she discovered that she was pregnant! What anguish! + +Oh! that journey to the South, that long journey, her sufferings, her +constant terror, that secluded life in the small, solitary house on the +shores of the Mediterranean, at the bottom of a garden, which she did +not venture to leave. How well she remembered those long days which she +spent lying under an orange tree, looking up at the round, red fruit, +amidst the green leaves. How she used to long to go out, as far as the +sea, whose fresh breezes came to her over the wall, and whose small +waves she could hear lapping on the beach. She dreamt of its immense +blue expanse sparkling under the sun, with the white sails of the small +vessels, and a mountain on the horizon. But she did not dare to go +outside the gate; suppose anybody had recognized her, unshapely as she +was, and showing her disgrace by her expanded waist! + +And those days of waiting, those last days of misery and expectation! +The impending suffering and then, that terrible night! What misery she +had endured, and what a night it was! How she had groaned and screamed! +She could still see the pale face of her lover, who kissed her hand +every moment, and the clean-shaven face of the doctor, and the nurse's +white cap. + +And what she felt when she heard the child's feeble cries, that mewling, +that first effort of a human voice! + +And the next day! the next day! the only day of her life on which she +had seen and kissed her son, for from that time, she had never even +caught a glimpse of him. + +And what a long, void existence hers had been since then, with the +thought of that child always, always floating before her. She had never +seen her son, that little creature that had been part of herself, even +once since then; they had taken him from her, carried him away and +hidden him. All she knew was, that he had been brought up by some +peasants in Normandy, that he had become a peasant himself, had married +well, and that his father, whose name he did not know, had settled a +handsome sum of money on him. + +How often during the last forty years had she wished to go and see him, +and to embrace him. She could not imagine to herself that he had grown! +She always thought of that small, human _larva_, which she had held in +her arms and pressed to her side for a day. + +How often she had said to her lover: "I cannot bear it any longer; I +must go and see him." + +But he had always stopped her, and kept her from going. She would not be +able to restrain and to master herself; their son would guess it and +take advantage of her, blackmail her; she would be lost. + + * * * * * + +"What is he like?" she said. + +"I do not know; I have not seen him again, either." + +"Is it possible? To have a son, and not to know him; to be afraid of him +and to repulse him as if he were a disgrace! It is horrible." + +They went along the dusty road, overcome by the scorching sun, and +continually ascending that interminable hill. + +"One might take it for a punishment," she continued; "I have never had +another child, and I could no longer resist the longing to see him, +which has possessed me for forty years. You men cannot understand that. +You must remember that I shall not live much longer, and suppose I had +never seen him again! never have seen him!... Is it possible? How could +I wait so long? I have thought about him every day since, and what a +terrible existence mine has been! I have never awakened, never, do you +understand, without my first thoughts being of him, of my child. How is +he? Oh! How guilty I feel towards him! Ought one to fear what the world +may say, in a case like this? I ought to have left everything to go +after him, to bring him up and to show love for him. I should certainly +have been much happier, but I did not dare, I was a coward. How I have +suffered! Oh! How those poor, abandoned children must hate their +mothers!" + +She stopped suddenly, for she was choked by her sobs. The whole valley +was deserted and silent in the dazzling light, and the overwhelming +heat, and only the grasshoppers uttered their shrill, continuous chirp +among the sparse, yellow grass on both sides of the road. + +"Sit down a little," he said. + +She allowed herself to be led to the side of the ditch, and sank down +with her face in her hands. Her white hair, which hung in curls on both +sides of her face, had become all of a lump, and she wept, overcome by +profound grief, while he stood facing her, uneasy and not knowing what +to say, and he merely murmured: "Come, have courage." + +She got up. + +"I will," she said, and wiping her eyes, she began to walk again with +the jerky steps of an old woman. + +Rather farther on, the road passed under a clump of trees, which hid a +few houses, and they could distinguish the vibrating and regular blows +of a blacksmith's hammer on the anvil; and soon they saw a cart drawn +upon the right in front of a low cottage, and two men shoeing a horse +under a shed. + +Monsieur d'Apreval went up to them. + +"Where is Pierre Benedict's farm?" he asked. + +"Take the road on the left, close to the public house, and then go +straight on; it is the third house past Poret's. There is a small +spruce-fir close to the gate; you cannot make a mistake." + +They turned to the left; she was walking very slowly now; her legs +threatened to give way, and her heart was beating so violently that she +felt as if she should be suffocated, while at every step she murmured, +as if in prayer: + +"Oh! good heavens! good heavens!" + +Monsieur d'Apreval, who was also nervous and rather pale, said to her +somewhat gruffly: + +"If you cannot manage to command your feelings better, you will betray +yourself immediately. Do try and restrain yourself." + +"How can I?" she replied. "My child! When I think that I am going to see +my child!" + +They were going along one of those narrow country lanes between +farmyards, that are buried beneath a double row of beech trees, by the +sides of the ditches, and suddenly they found themselves in front of a +gate, over which there hung a young spruce-fir. + +"This is it," he said. + +She stopped suddenly and looked about her. The courtyard, which was +planted with apple-trees, was large and extended as far as the small, +thatched dwelling-house. Opposite to it, were the stable, the barn, the +cow-house and the poultry-house, while the gig, wagon and the manure +cart were under a slated outhouse. Four calves were grazing under the +shade of the trees, and black hens were wandering all about the +enclosure. + +All was perfectly still; the house door was open, but nobody was to be +seen, and so they went in, when immediately a large, black dog came out +of a barrel that was standing under a pear tree, and began to bark +furiously. + +There were four bee-hives on boards against the wall of the house. + +Monsieur d'Apreval stood outside and called out: + +"Is anybody at home?" + +Then a girl appeared, a little girl of about ten, dressed in a chemise +and a linen petticoat, with dirty, bare legs, and a timid and cunning +look. She remained standing in the doorway, as if to prevent any one +going in. + +"What do you want?" she asked. + +"Is your father in?" + +"No." + +"Where is he?" + +"I don't know." + +"And your mother?" + +"Gone after the cows." + +"Will she be back soon?" + +"I don't know." + +But suddenly, the old woman, as if she feared that he might force her to +return, said quickly: + +"I will not go without having seen him." + +"We will wait for him, my dear friend." + +As they turned away, they saw a peasant woman coming towards the house, +carrying two tin pails, which appeared to be heavy, and which glistened +brightly in the sunlight. + +She limped with her right leg, and in her brown, knitted jacket, that +was faded by the sun, and washed out by the rain, she looked like a +poor, wretched, dirty servant. + +"Here is Mamma," the child said. + +When she got close to the house, she looked at the strangers angrily and +suspiciously, and then she went in, as if she had not seen them. She +looked old, and had a hard, yellow, wrinkled face, one of those wooden +faces like country people so often have. + +Monsieur d'Apreval called her back. + +"I beg your pardon, Madame, but we came in to know whether you could +sell us two glasses of milk." + +She was grumbling when she reappeared in the door, after putting down +her pails. + +"I don't sell milk," she replied. + +"We are very thirsty," he said, "and Madame is old and very tired. Can +we not get something to drink?" + +The peasant woman gave them an uneasy and cunning glance, and then she +made up her mind. + +"As you are here, I will give you some," she said, going into the house, +and almost immediately the child came out and brought two chairs, which +she placed under an apple tree, and then the mother in turn brought out +two bowls of foaming milk, which she gave to the visitors. She did not +return to the house, however, but remained standing near them, as if to +watch them and to find out for what purpose they had come there. + +"You have come from Fecamp?" she said. + +"Yes," Monsieur d'Apreval replied, "we are staying at Fecamp for the +summer." + +And then after a short silence he continued: + +"Have you any fowls you could sell us, every week?" + +The woman hesitated for a moment, and then replied: + +"Yes, I think I have. I suppose you want young ones?" + +"Yes, of course." + +"What do you pay for them in the market?" + +D'Apreval, who had not the least idea, turned to his companion: + +"What are you paying for poultry in Fecamp, my dear lady?" + +"Four francs, and four francs, fifty centimes," she said with her eyes +full of tears, and the farmer's wife, who was looking at her askance, in +much surprise, asked: + +"Is the lady ill, as she is crying?" + +He did not know what to say, and replied with some hesitation: + +"No ... no ... but she lost her watch as we came, a very handsome watch, +and that troubles her. If anybody should find it, please let us know." + +Mother Benedict did not reply, as she thought it a very equivocal soft +of answer, but suddenly she exclaimed: + +"Oh! here is my husband!" + +She was the only one who had seen him, as she was facing the gate. +D'Apreval started, and Madame de Cadour nearly fell, as she turned round +suddenly on her chair. + +A man who was bent nearly double and who was panting for breath, was +there, ten yards from them, dragging a cow at the end of a rope; and +without taking any notice of the visitors, he said: + +"Confound it! What a brute!" + +And he went past them, and disappeared in the cow-house. + +Her tears had dried quickly, as she sat there startled, without a word, +and with the one thought in her mind, that this was her son, and +d'Apreval, whom the same thought had struck very unpleasantly, said in +an agitated voice: + +"Is this Monsieur Benedict?" + +"Who told you his name?" the wife asked, still rather suspiciously. + +"The blacksmith at the corner of the highroad," he replied, and then +they were all silent, with their eyes fixed on the door of the +cow-house, which formed a sort of black hole in the wall of the +building. Nothing could be seen inside, but they heard a vague noise, +movements, and footsteps and the sound of hoofs, which were deadened by +the straw on the floor, and soon he reappeared in the door, wiping his +forehead, and went towards the house with long, slow strides. He passed +the strangers without seeming to notice them, and said to his wife: + +"Go and draw me a jug of cider; I am very thirsty." + +Then he went back into the house, while his wife went into the cellar, +and left the two Parisians alone. + +"Let us go, let us go Henri," Madame de Cadour said, nearly distracted +with grief, and so d'Apreval took her by the arm, helped her to rise, +and sustaining her with all his strength, for he felt that she was +nearly falling down, he led her out, after throwing five francs onto one +of the chairs. + +As soon as they were outside the gate, she began to sob, and said, +shaking with grief: + +"Oh! oh! is that what you have made of him?" + +He was very pale, and replied coldly: + +"I did what I could. His farm is worth eighty thousand francs, and that +is more than most of the children of the middle classes have." + +They returned slowly, without speaking a word. She was still crying; the +tears ran down her cheeks continually for a time, but by degrees they +stopped, and they went back to Fecamp, where they found Monsieur de +Cadour waiting dinner for them, and as soon as he saw them, he began to +laugh, and exclaimed: + +"So my wife has had a sunstroke, and I am very glad of it. I really +think she has lost her head for some time past!" + +Neither of them replied, and when the husband asked them rubbing his +hands: + +"Well, I hope that at least you have had a pleasant walk?" + +Monsieur d'Apreval replied: + +"A delightful walk, I assure you; perfectly delightful." + + + + +A NIGHT IN WHITECHAPEL + + +My friend Ledantec and I were twenty-five and we had come to London for +the first time in our lives. It was a Saturday evening in December, cold +and foggy, and I think that all that combined is more than enough to +explain why my friend Ledantec and I were most abominably drunk, though, +to tell the truth, we did not feel any discomfort from it. On the +contrary, we were floating in an atmosphere of perfect bliss. We did not +speak, certainly, for we were incapable of doing so, but then we had no +inclination for conversation. What would be the good of it? We could so +easily read all our thoughts in each others eyes! And all our thoughts +consisted in the sweet and unique knowledge, that we were thinking about +nothing whatever. + +It was not, however, in order to arrive at that state of delicious, +intellectual nihility, thai we had gone to mysterious Whitechapel. We +had gone into the first public-house we saw, with the firm intention of +studying manners and customs,--not to mention morals,--there as +spectators, artists and philosophers, but in the second public-house we +entered, we ourselves became like the objects of our investigations, +that is to say, sponges soaked in alcohol. Between one public-house and +the other, the outer air seemed to squeeze those sponges, which then got +just as dry as before, and thus we rolled from public-house to +public-house, until at last the sponges could not hold any more. + +Consequently, we had for some time bidden farewell to our studies in +morals, and now they were limited to two impressions: _zig-zags_ through +the darkness outside, and a gleam of light outside the public-houses. As +to the inhibition of brandies, whiskies and gins, that was done +mechanically, and our stomachs scarcely noticed it. + +But what strange beings we had elbowed with during our long stoppages! +What a number of faces to be remembered, what clothes, what attitudes, +what talk and what rags! + +At first we tried to note them exactly in our memory, but there were so +many of them, and our brain got mixed so quickly, that at present we had +no very clear recollection of anything or anybody. Even objects that +were immediately before us appeared to us in a vague, dusky +phantasmagoria and got confounded with precious objects in an +inextricable manner. The world became a sort of kaleidoscope to us, seen +in a dream through the penumbra of an aquarium. + +Suddenly we were aroused from this state of somnolence, awakened as if +by a blow in the chest, and imperiously forced to fix our attention on +what we saw, for amidst this whirl of strange sights, one stranger than +all attracted our eyes and seemed to say to us: "Look at me." + +It was at the open door of a public-house. A ray of light streamed into +the street through the half-open door, and that brutal ray fell right +onto the specter that had just risen up there, dumb and motionless. + +For it was indeed a specter, pitiful and terrible, and, above all, most +real, as it stood out boldly against the dark background of the street, +which it made darker still behind it! + +Young, yes; the woman was certainly young; there could be no doubt about +that, when one looked at her smooth skin, her smiling mouth which showed +her white teeth, and firm bust which could be plainly noted under her +thin dress. + +But then, how explain her perfectly white hair, not gray or growing +gray, but absolutely white, as white as any octogenarian's? + +And then her eyes, her eyes beneath her smooth brow, were surely the +eyes of an old woman? Certainly they were, and of a woman one could not +tell how old, for it must have taken years of trouble and sorrow, of +tears and of sleepless nights, and a whole long existence, thus to dull, +to wear out and to roughen those vitreous pupils. + +Vitreous? Not exactly that. For roughened glass still retains a dull and +milky brightness, a recollection, as it were, of its former +transparency. But her eyes seemed rather to have been made of metal, +which had turned rusty, and really if pewter could rust I should have +compared them to pewter covered with rust. They had the dead color of +pewter, and at the same time, they emitted a glance which was the color +of reddish water. + +But it was not until some time later that I tried to define them thus +approximately by retrospective analysis. At that moment, being +altogether incapable of such an effort, I could only establish in my own +mind the idea of extreme decrepitude and horrible old age, which they +produced in my imagination. + +Have I said that they were set in very puffy eyelids, which had no +lashes whatever, and on her forehead without wrinkles there was not a +vestige of eyebrow? When I tell you this, and considering their dull +look beneath the hair of an octogenarian, it is not surprising that +Ledantec and I said in a low voice at the sight of this woman, who was +evidently young: + +"Oh! poor, poor old woman!" + +Her great age was further accentuated by the terrible poverty that was +revealed by her dress. If she had been better dressed, her youthful +looks would, perhaps, have struck us more, but her thin shawl, which was +all that she had over her chemise, her single petticoat which was full +of holes, and almost in rags, and which did not nearly reach to her bare +feet, her straw hat with ragged feathers and with ribbons of no +particular color through age, it all seemed so ancient, so prodigiously +antique! + +From what remote superannuated, abolished period did they all spring? +One did not venture to guess, and by a perfectly natural association of +ideas, one seemed to infer that the unfortunate creature herself, was as +old as her clothes were. Now, by _one_, I mean by Ledantec and myself, +that is to say, by two men who were abominably drunk and who were +arguing with the special logic of intoxication. + +It was also under the softening influence of alcohol that we looked at +the vague smile on those lips with the teeth of a child, without +stopping to reflect on the beauty of those youthful teeth, and seeing +nothing except her fixed and almost idiotic smile, which no longer +contrasted with the dull expression of her looks, but, on the contrary, +strengthened them. For in spite of her teeth, it was the smile of an old +woman in our imagination, and as for me, I was really pleased at the +thought of being so acute when I inferred that this grandmother with +such pale lips, had the set of teeth of a young girl, and still, thanks +to the softening influence of alcohol, I was not angry with her for this +artifice. I even thought it particularly praiseworthy, since, after all, +the poor creature thus carried out her calling conscientiously, which +was to seduce us. For there was no possible doubt about the matter, that +this grandmother was nothing more nor less than a prostitute. + +And then, drunk! Horribly drunk, much more drunk than Ledantec and I +were, for we really could manage to say: "Oh! Pity the poor, poor old +woman!" While she was incapable of articulating a single syllable, of +making a gesture, or even of imparting a gleam of promise, a furtive +flash of allurement to her eyes. With her hands crossed on her stomach, +and resting against the front of the public-house, with her whole body +as stiff as if she had been in a state of catalepsy, she had nothing +alluring about her, except her sad smile, and that inspired us with all +the more pity because she was even more drunk than we were, and so, by +identical, spontaneous movement, we each of us seized her by an arm, to +take her into the public-house with us. + +To our great astonishment she resisted, sprang back, and so was in the +shadow again, out of the ray of light which came through the door, +while, at the same time, she began to walk through the darkness and to +drag us with her, for she was clinging to our arms. We followed her +without speaking and without knowing where we were going, but without +the least uneasiness on that score. Only, when she suddenly burst into +violent sobs as she walked, Ledantec and I began to sob in unison. + +The cold and the fog had suddenly congested our brains again, and we had +again lost all precise consciousness of our acts, of our thoughts and of +our sensations. Our sobs had nothing of grief in them, but we were +floating in an atmosphere of perfect bliss, and I can remember that at +that moment it was no longer the exterior world which seemed to me as if +I were looking at it through the penumbra of an aquarium; it was I +myself, an _I_ composed of three, which was changing into something that +was floating adrift in something, though what it was I did not know, +composed of palpable fog and intangible water, and it was exquisitely +delightful. + +From that moment I remember nothing more until what follows, and which +had the effect of a clap of thunder on me, and made me rise up from the +bottom of the depth to which I had descended. + +Ledantec was standing in front of me, his face convulsed with horror, +his hair standing on end and his eyes staring out of his head, and he +shouted to me:-- + +"Let us escape! Let us escape!" Whereupon I opened my eyes wide, and +found myself lying on the ground, in a room into which daylight was +shining. I saw some rags hanging against the wall, two chairs, a broken +jug lying on the floor by my side, and in a corner a wretched bed on +which a woman was lying, who was no doubt dead, for her head was hanging +over the side, and her long white hair reached almost to my feet. + +With a bound I was up, like Ledantec. + +"What!" I said to him, while my teeth chattered: "Did you kill her?" + +"No, no," he replied. "But that makes no difference; let us be off." + +I felt completely sober by that time, but I did think that he was still +suffering somewhat from the effects of last night's drunk; otherwise, +why should he wish to escape? while the remains of pity for the +unfortunate woman forced me to say:-- + +"What is the matter with her? If she is ill, we must look after her." + +And I went to the wretched bed, in order to put her head back on the +pillow, but I discovered that she was neither dead nor ill, but only +sound asleep, and I also noticed that she was quite young. She still +wore that idiotic smile, but her teeth were her own and those of a girl. +Her smooth skin and her firm bust showed that she was not more than +sixteen; perhaps not so much. + +"There! You see it, you can see it!" Ledantec said. "Let us be off." + +He tried to drag me out, and he was still drunk; I could see it by his +feverish movements, his trembling hands and his nervous looks. Then he +implored me and said:-- + +"I slept beside the old woman; but she is not old. Look at her; look at +her; yes, she is old after all!" + +And he lifted up her long hair by handfuls; it was like handfuls of +white silk, and then he added, evidently in a sort of delirium, which +made me fear an attack of _delirium tremens_: "To think that I have +begotten children, three, four children. Who knows how many children, +all in one night! And they were born immediately, and have grown up +already! Let us be off." + +Decidedly it was an attack of madness. Poor Ledantec! What could I do +for him? I took his arm and tried to calm him, but he thought that I was +going to try and make him go to bed with her again, and he pushed me +away and exclaimed with tears in his voice: "If you do not believe me, +look under the bed; the children are there; they are there, I tell you. +Look here, just look here." + +He threw himself down, flat on his stomach, and actually pulled out one, +two, three, four children, who had hidden under the bed. I do not +exactly know whether they were boys or girls, but all, like the sleeping +woman, had white hair, the hair of an octogenarian. + +Was I still drunk, like Ledantec, or was I mad? What was the meaning of +this strange hallucination? I hesitated for a moment, and shook myself +to be sure that it was I. + +No, no, I had all my wits about me, and I in reality saw that horrible +lot of little brats; they all had their faces in their hands, and were +crying and squalling, and then suddenly one of them jumped onto the bed; +all the others followed his example, and the woman woke up. + +And then we stood, while those five pairs of eyes, without eyebrows or +eyelashes, eyes with the dull color of pewter, and whose pupils had the +color of red water, were steadily fixed on us. + +"Let us be off! let us be off!" Ledantec repeated, leaving go of me, and +at that time I paid attention to what he said, and, after throwing some +small change onto the floor, I followed him, to make him understand, +when he should be quite sober, that he saw before him a poor Albino +prostitute, who had several brothers and sisters. + + + + +COUNTESS SATAN + + +I + +They were discussing dynamite, the social revolution, Nihilism, and even +those who cared least about politics, had something to say. Some were +alarmed, others philosophized, while others again, tried to smile. + +"Bah!" N---- said, "when we are all blown up, we shall see what it is +like. Perhaps, after all, it may be an amusing sensation, provided one +goes high enough." + +"But we shall not be blown up at all," G---- the optimist, said, +interrupting him. "It is all a romance." + +"You are mistaken, my dear fellow," Jules de C---- replied. "It is like a +romance, but with that confounded Nihilism, everything seems like one, +but it would be a mistake to trust to it. Thus, I myself, the manner in +which I made Bakounine's acquaintance ..." + +They knew that he was a good narrator, and it was no secret that his +life had been an adventurous one, so they drew closer to him, and +listened religiously. This is what he told them. + + +II + +"I met Countess Nioska W----, that strange woman who was usually called +Countess Satan, in Naples; I immediately attached myself to her out of +curiosity, and I soon fell in love with her. Not that she was beautiful, +for she was a Russian who had all the bad characteristics of the Russian +type. She was thin and squat, at the same time, while her face was +sallow and puffy, with high cheek bones and a Cossack's nose. But her +conversation bewitched every one. + +"She was many-sided, learned, a philosopher, scientifically depraved, +satanic. Perhaps the word is rather pretentious, but it exactly +expresses what I want to say, for in other words, she loved evil for the +sake of evil. She rejoiced in other people's vices, and liked to sow the +seeds of evil, in order to see it flourish. And that on a fraud, on an +enormous scale. It was not enough for her to corrupt individuals; she +only did that to keep her hand in; what she wished to do, was to corrupt +the masses. By slightly altering it after her own fashion, she might +have adopted the famous saying of Caligula. She also wished that the +whole human race had but one head; but not in order that she might cut +it off, but that she might make the philosophy of _Nihility_ flourish +there. + +"What a temptation to become the lord and master of such a monster! And +I allowed myself to be tempted, and undertook the adventure. The means +came unsought for by me, and the only thing that I had to do, was to +show myself more perverted and satanical that she was herself.--And so I +played the devil. + +"'Yes,' I said, 'we writers are the best workmen for doing evil, as our +books may be bottles of poison. The so-called men of action, only turn +the handle of the mitrailleuse which we have loaded. Formulas will +destroy the world, and it is we who invent them.' + +"'That is true,' she said, 'and that is what is wanting in Bakounine, I +am sorry to say.' + +"That name was constantly in her mouth, and so I asked her for details, +which she gave me, as she knew the man intimately. + +"'After all,' she said, with a contemptuous grimace, 'he is only a kind +of Garibaldi.' + +"She told me, although she made fun of him as she did so, about his +Odyssey of the barricades and of the hulks which made up Bakounine's +legend, and which is, nevertheless, only the exact truth; his part of +chief of the insurgents, at Prague and then at Dresden; his first death +sentence; about his imprisonment at Olmuetz and in the casemates of the +fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul; in a subterranean dungeon at +Schuesselburg; about his exile to Siberia and his wonderful escape down +the river Amour, on a Japanese coasting-vessel by way of Yokohama and +San Francisco, and about his final arrival in London, whence he was +directing all the operations of Nihilism. + +"'You see,' she said, 'he is a thorough adventurer, and now all his +adventures are over. He got married at Tobolsk and became a mere +respectable, middle-class man. And then, he has no individual ideas. +Herzen, the phamphleteer of _Kolokol_ inspired him with the only fertile +phrase that he ever uttered: _Land and Liberty!_ But that is not yet the +definite formula, the general formula; what I will call, the dynamite +formula. At best, Bakounine would become an incendiary, and burn down +cities. And what is that, I ask you? Bah? A second-hand Rostopchin! He +wants a prompter, and I offered to become his but he did not take me +seriously.' ... + +"It would be useless to enter into all the Psychological details which +marked the course of my passion for the Countess, and to explain to you +more fully the attraction of curiosity which she offered me more and +more every day. It was getting exasperating, and the more so, as she +resisted me as stoutly as the shyest of innocents could have done, but +at the end of a month of mad Satanism, I saw what her game was. Do you +know what she had thought of? She meant to make me Bakounine's prompter, +or, at any rate, that is what she said. But no doubt she reserved the +right to herself, and that is how I understood her, to prompt the +prompter, and my passion for her, which she purposely left unsatisfied, +assured her that absolute power over me. + +"All this may appear madness to you, but it is, nevertheless, the exact +truth, and, in short, one morning she bluntly made the offer: 'Become +Bakounine's soul, and you shall have me.' + +"Of course, I accepted, for it was too fantastically strange to refuse; +do you think so? What an adventure! What luck! A number of letters +between the Countess and Bakounine prepared the way; I was introduced to +him at his house, and they discussed me there. I became a sort of +Western prophet, a mystic charmer who was ready to nihilate the Latin +races, the Saint Paul of the new religion of nothingness, and at last a +day was fixed for us to meet in London. He lived in a small, one-storied +house in Pimlico, with a tiny garden in front, and nothing noticeable +about it. + +"We were first of all shown into the commonplace parlor of all English +homes, and then upstairs. The room where the Countess and I were left, +was small, and very badly furnished, with a square table with writing +materials on it, in the middle. That was his sanctuary; the deity soon +appeared, and I saw him in flesh and bone; especially in flesh, for he +was enormously stout. His broad face, with prominent cheek-bones, in +spite of the fat; and with a nose like a double funnel, with small, +sharp eyes, which had a magnetic look, proclaimed the Tartar, the old +Turanian blood, which produced the Attilas, the Gengis-Khams, the +Tamerlanes. The obesity, which is characteristic of the nomad races, who +are always on horseback or driving, added to his Asiatic look. The man +was certainly not a European, a slave, a descendant of the deistic +Aryans, but a descendant of the Atheistic hordes, who had several times +already almost overrun Europe, and who, instead of any ideas of +progress, have the belief in nihility, at the bottom of their hearts. + +"I was astonished, for I had not expected that the majesty of a whole +race, could be thus revived in a man, and my stupefaction increased +after an hour's conversation. I could quite understand why such a +Colossus had not wished for the Countess as his Egeria; she was a mere +silly child to have dreamt of acting such a part to such a thinker. She +had not felt the profoundness of that horrible philosophy which was +hidden under that material activity, nor had she seen the prophet under +that man of the barricades. Or, perhaps, he had not thought it advisable +to reveal himself to her like that; but he revealed himself to me, and +inspired me with terror. + +"A prophet? Oh! yes. He thought himself an Attila, and foresaw the +consequences of his revolution; it was not only from instinct, but also +from theory that he urged a nation on to nihilism. The phrase is not +his, but Tourgueneff's, I believe, but the idea certainly belongs to +him. He got his program of agricultural communism from Herzen, and his +destructive radicalism from Pougatcheff, but he did not stop there. I +mean that he went on to evil for the sake of evil. Herzen wished for the +happiness of the Slav peasant; Pougatcheff wanted to be elected Emperor, +but all that Bakounine wanted, was to overthrow the actual order of +things, no matter by what means, and to replace social concentration by +a universal upheaval. + +"It was the dream of a Tartar; it was true nihilism pushed to extreme +practical conclusions. It was, in a word, the applied philosophy of +chance, the indeterminateism of anarchy. Monstrous it may be, but grand +in its monstrosity. + +"And you must note, that the man of action who was so despised by the +Countess, discovered in Bakounine the gigantic dreamer whom I have just +shown you, and his dream did not remain a dream, but began to be +realized. It was by the care of that organizer that the Nihilistic party +assumed a body; a party in which there is a little of everything, you +know; but on the whole, a formidable party, on account of the advanced +guard in true Nihilism, whose object is nothing less than to destroy the +Western world, to see it blossom from under the ruins of a general +dispersion, which is the last conception of modern Tartarism. + +"I never saw Bakounine again, for the Countess's conquest would have +been too dearly bought by any attempt to act a comedy with this +_Old-Man-of-the-Mountains_. And besides that, after this visit, poor +Countess Satan appeared to me quite silly. Her famous Satanism was +nothing but the flicker of a spirit-lamp, after the general +conflagration of which the other had dreamt, and she had certainly shown +herself very silly, when she could not understand that prodigious +monster. And as she had seduced me, only by her intellect and her +perversity, I was disgusted as soon as she laid aside that mask. I left +her without telling her of my intention, and never saw her again, +either. + +"No doubt they both took me for a spy from the _Third section of the +Imperial Chancellery_. In that case, they must have thought me very +strong to have resisted, and all I have to do is to look out, if any +affiliated members of their society recognize me!..." + + +III + +Then he smiled, and turning to the waiter who had just come in, he said: +"Meanwhile, open us another bottle of champagne, and make the cork pop! +It will, at any rate, somewhat accustom us to the day when we shall all +be blown up with dynamite ourselves." + + + + +KIND GIRLS + + +Every Friday, regularly, at about eleven o'clock in the morning, he came +into the courtyard, put down his soft hat at his feet, struck a few +chords on his guitar and then began a ballad in his full, rich voice. +And soon at every window in the four sides of that dull, barrack-like +building, some girls appeared, one in an elegant dressing gown, another +in a little jacket, most of them with their breasts and arms bare, all +of them just out of bed, with their hair hastily twisted up, their eyes +blinking in the sudden blaze of sunlight, their complexions dull and +their eyes still heavy from want of sleep. + +They swayed themselves backwards and forwards to his slow melody, and +gave themselves up to the enjoyment of it, and coppers, and even silver, +poured into the handsome singer's hat, and more than one of them would +have liked to have followed the penny which she threw to him, and to +have gone with the singer who had the voice of a siren, and who seemed +to say to all these amorous girls; "Come, come to my retreat, where you +will find a palace of crystal and gold, and wreaths which are always +fresh, and happiness and love which never die." + +That was what they seemed to hear, those unhappy girls, when they heard +him sing the songs of the old legends, which they had formerly believed. +That was what they understood by the foolish words of the ballad. Then +and nothing else, for how could any one doubt it, on seeing the fresh +roses on their cheeks, and the tender flame which flickered like a +mystic night-light in their eyes, which had, for the moment, become the +eyes of innocent young girls again? But of young girls, who had grown up +very quickly, alas! who were very precocious, and who very soon became +the women that they were, poor vendors of love, always in search of love +for which they were paid. + +That was why, when he had finished his second ballad, and sometimes even +sooner, concupiscent looks appeared in their eyes. The boatman of their +dreams, the water-sprite of fairy tales, vanished in the mist of their +childish recollections, and the singer re-assumed his real shape, that +of musician and strolling player, whom they wished to pay, to be their +lover. And the coppers and small silver were showered on him again, with +engaging smiles, with the leers of a street-walker, even with: "_p'st, +p'st_," which soon transformed the barrack-like courtyard into an +enormous cage full of twittering birds, while some of them could not +restrain themselves, but said aloud, rolling their eyes with desire: +"How handsome the creature is! Good heavens, how handsome he is!" + +He was really handsome, and nobody could deny it, and even too handsome, +with a regular beauty which almost palled on people. He had large, +almond-shaped, gentle eyes, a Grecian nose, a bow-shaped mouth, hidden +by a heavy moustache, and long, black, curly hair; in short, a head fit +to be put into a hair-dresser's window, or, better still, perhaps, onto +the front page of the ballads which he was singing. But what made him +still handsomer, was that his self-conceit had a look of sovereign +indifference for he was not satisfied with not replying to the smiles, +the ogles, and the _p'st, p'st's_, by taking no notice of them; but +when he had finished he shrugged his shoulders, he winked mischievously, +and turned his lips contemptuously, which said very clearly: "The stove +is not being heated for you, my little kittens!" + +Often, one might have thought that he expressly wished to show his +contempt, and that he tried to make himself thought unpoetical in the +eyes of all those amorous girls, and to check their love, for he cleared +his throat ostentatiously and offensively, more than was necessary, +after singing, as if he would have liked to spit at them. But all that +did not make him unpoetical in their eyes, and many of them, most of +them, who were absolutely mad on him, went so far as to say that _he did +it like a swell_! + +The girl, who in her enthusiasm had been the first to utter that +exclamation of intense passion, and who, after throwing him small +silver, had thrown him a twenty-franc gold piece, at last made up her +mind to have an explanation. Instead of a _p'st, p'st_, she spoke to him +boldly one morning, in the presence of all the others, who religiously +held their tongues. + +"Come up here," she called out to him, and from habit she added: "I will +be very nice, you handsome dark fellow." + +At first they were dumbfounded at her audacity, and then all their +cheeks flushed with jealousy, and the flame of mad desire shot from +their eyes, from every window there came a perfect torrent of: + +"Yes, come up, come up." "Don't go to her! Come to me." + +And, meanwhile, there was a shower of half-pence, of francs, of gold +coins, as well as of cigars and oranges, while lace pocket +handkerchiefs, silk neckties, and scarfs fluttered in the air and fell +round the singer, like a flight of many colored butterflies. + +He picked up the spoil calmly, almost carelessly, stuffed the money into +his pocket, made a bundle of the furbelows, which he tied up as if they +had been soiled linen, and then raising himself up, and putting his felt +hat on his head, he said: + +"Thank you, ladies, but indeed I cannot." + +They thought that he did not know how to satisfy so many demands at +once, and one of them said: "Let him choose." + +"Yes, yes, that is it!" they all exclaimed unanimously. + +But he repeated: "I tell you, I cannot." + +They thought he was excusing himself out of gallantry, and several of +them exclaimed, almost with tears of emotion: "Women are all heart!" And +the same voice that had spoken before, (it was one of the girls who +wished to settle the matter amicably), said: "We must draw lots." + +"Yes, yes, that is it," they all cried. And again there was a religious +silence, more religious than before, for it wras caused by anxiety, and +the beatings of their hearts may have been heard. + +The singer profited by it, to say slowly: "I cannot have that either; +nor all of you at once, nor one after the other; nothing! I tell you +that I cannot." + +"Why? Why?" And now they were almost screaming, for they were angry and +sorry at the same time. Their cheeks had gone from scarlet to livid, +their eyes flashed fire, and some shook their fists menacingly. + +"Silence!" the girl cried, who had spoken first. "Be quiet, you pack of +huzzys! Let him explain himself, and tell us why!" + +"Yes, yes, let us be quiet! Make him explain himself in God's name!" + +Then, in the fierce silence that ensued, the singer said, opening his +arms wide, with a gesture of despairing inability to do what they +wanted: + +"What do you want? It is very amusing, but I cannot do more. I have two +girls of my own already, at home." + + + + +PROFITABLE BUSINESS + + +He certainly did not think himself a saint, nor had he any hypocritical +pretensions to virtue, but, nevertheless, he thought as highly of +himself as much as he did of anybody else, and perhaps, even a trifle +more highly. And that, quite impartially, without any more self love +than was necessary, and without his having to accuse himself of being +self conceited. He did himself justice, that was all, for he had good +moral principles, and he applied them, especially, if the truth must be +told, not only to judging the conduct of others, but also, it must be +allowed, in a measure for regulating his own conduct, as he would have +been very vexed if he had been able to think of himself: + +"On the whole, I am what people call a perfectly honorable man." + +Luckily, he had never (oh! never), been obliged to doubt that excellent +opinion which he had of himself, which he liked to express thus, in his +moments of rhetorical expansion: + +"My whole life gives me the right to shake hands with myself." + +Perhaps a subtle psychologist would have found some flaws in this armor +of integrity, which was sanctimoniously satisfied with itself. It was, +for example, quite certain that our friend had no scruples in making +profit out of the vices or misfortunes of his neighbors, provided that +he was not in his own opinion, the person who was solely, or chiefly +responsible for them. But, on the whole, it was only one manner of +looking at it, nothing more, and there were plenty of materials for +casuistic arguments in it. This kind of discussion is particularly +unpleasant to such simple natures as that of his worthy fellow, who +would have replied to the psychologist. + +"Why go on a wild goose chase? As for me, I am perfectly sincere." + +You must not, however, believe that this perfect sincerity prevented him +from having elevated views. He prided himself on having a weakness for +imagination and the unforeseen, and if he would have been offended at +being called a dishonorable man, he would, perhaps have been still more +hurt if anybody had attributed middle-class tastes to him. + +Accordingly, in love affairs, he expressed a most virtuous horror of +adultery, for if he had committed it, it would not have been able to +bear that testimony to himself, which was so sweet to his conscience: + +"Ah! As for me, I can declare that I never wronged anybody!" + +While, on the other hand, he was not satisfied with pleasure which was +paid for by the hour, and which debases _the noblest desires of the +heart_, to the vulgar satisfaction of a physical requirement. What he +required, so he used to say, while lifting his eyes up to heaven was: + +"Something rather more ideal than that!" + +That search after the ideal did not, indeed, cost him any great effort, +as it was limited to not going to licensed houses of ill-fame, and to +not accosting streetwalkers with the simple words: "How much?" + +It consisted chiefly in wishing to be gallant even with such women, and +in trying to persuade himself that they liked him for his own sake, and +in preferring those whose manner, dress and looks allowed room for +suppositions and romantic illusions, such as: + +"She might be taken for a little work-girl who has not yet lost her +virtue." + +"No, I rather think she is a widow, who has met with misfortunes." + +"What if she be a fashionable lady in disguise!" + +And other nonsense, which he knew to be such, even while imagining it, +but whose imaginary flavor was very pleasant to him, all the same. + +With such tastes, it was only natural that this pilgrim followed and +pushed up against women in the large shops, and whenever there was a +crowd, and that he especially looked out for those ladies of easy +virtue, for nothing is more exciting than those half-closed shutters, +behind which a face is indistinctly seen, and from which one hears a +furtive: _"P'st! P'st!"_ + +He used to say to himself: "Who is she? Is she young and pretty? Is she +some old woman, who is terribly skillful at her business, but who yet +does not venture to show herself any longer? Or is she some new +beginner, who has not yet acquired the boldness of an old hand? In any +case, it is the unknown, perhaps, that is my ideal during the time it +takes me to find my way upstairs;" and always as he went up, his heart +beat, as it does at a first meeting with a beloved mistress. + +But he had never felt such a delicious shiver as he did on the day on +which he penetrated into that old house in the blind alley in +Menilmontant. He could not have said why, for he had often gone after +so-called love in much stranger places; but now, without any reason, he +had a presentiment that he was going to meet with an adventure, and that +gave him a delightful sensation. + +The woman who had made the sign to him, lived on the third floor, and +all the way upstairs his excitement increased, until his heart was +beating violently when he reached the landing. At the same time, he was +going up, he smelt a peculiar odor, which grew stronger and stronger, +and which he had tried in vain to analyze, though all he could arrive at +was, that it smelt like a chemist's shop. + +The door on the right, at the end of the passage, was opened as soon as +he put his foot on the landing, and the woman said, in a low voice: + +"Come in, my dear." + +A whiff of a very strong smell met his nostrils through the open door, +and suddenly he exclaimed: + +"How stupid I was! I know what it is now; it is carbolic acid, is it +not?" + +"Yes," the woman replied. "Don't you like it, dear? It is very +wholesome, you know." + +The woman was not ugly, although not young; she had very good eyes, +although they were sad and sunken in her head; evidently she had been +crying, very much quite recently, and that imparted a special spice to +the vague smile which she put on, so as to appear more amiable. + +Seized by his romantic ideas once more, and under the influence of the +presentiment which he had had just before, he thought--and the idea +filled him with pleasure: + +"She is some widow, whom poverty has forced to sell herself." + +The room was small, but very clean and tidy, and that confirmed him in +his conjecture, as he was curious to verify its truth, he went into the +three rooms which opened into one another. The bedroom, came first; +next there came a kind of a drawing-room, and then a dining-room, which +evidently served as a kitchen, for a Dutch tiled stove stood in the +middle of it, on which a stew was simmering, but the smell of carbolic +acid was even stronger in that room. He remarked on it, and added with a +laugh: + +"Do you put it with your soup?" + +And as he said this, he laid hold of the handle of the door which led +into the next room, for he wanted to see everything, even that nook, +which was apparently a store cupboard, but the woman seized him by the +arm, and pulled him violently back. + +"No, no," she said, almost in a whisper, and in a hoarse and suppliant +voice, "no, dear, not there, not there, you must not go in there." + +"Why?" he said, for his wish to go in had only become stronger. + +"Because if you go in there, you will have no inclination to remain with +me, and I so want you to stay. If you only knew!" + +"Well, what?" And with a violent movement, he opened the glazed door, +when the smell of carbolic acid seemed almost to strike him in the face, +but what he saw, made him recoil still more, for on a small iron +bedstead, lay the dead body of a woman fantastically illuminated by a +single wax candle, and in horror he turned to make his escape. + +"Stop, my dear," the woman sobbed; and clinging to him, she told him +amidst a flood of tears, that her friend had died two days previously, +and that there was no money to bury her. "Because," she said, "you can +understand that I want it to be a respectable funeral, we were so very +fond of each other! Stop here, my dear, do stop. I only want ten francs +more. Don't go away." + +They had gone back into the bedroom, and she was pushing him towards +the bed: + +"No," he said, "let me go. I will give you the ten francs, but I will +not stay here; I cannot." + +He took his purse out of his pocket, extracted a ten-franc piece, put it +on the table, and then went to the door; but when he had reached it, a +thought suddenly struck him, as if somebody were reasoning with him, +without his knowledge. + +"Why lose these ten francs? Why not profit by this woman's good +intentions. She certainly did her business bravely, and if I had not +known about the matter, I should certainly not have gone away for some +time ... Well then?" + +But other obscurer suggestions whispered to him: + +"She was her friend! ... They were so fond of each other! Was it +friendship or love? Oh! love apparently. Well, it would surely be +avenging morality, if this woman were forced to be faithless to that +monstrous love?" And suddenly the man turned round and said in a low and +trembling voice: "Look here! If I give you twenty francs instead of ten, +I suppose you could buy some flowers for her, as well?" + +The unhappy woman's face brightened with pleasure and gratitude. + +"Will you really give me twenty?" + +"Yes," he replied, "and more perhaps. It quite depends upon yourself." + +And with the quiet conscience of an honorable man who, at the same time, +is not a fool he said gravely: + +"You need only be very complaisant." + +And he added, mentally: "Especially as I deserve it, as in giving you +twenty francs I am performing a good action." + + + + +VIOLATED + + +"Really," Paul repeated, "really!" + +"Yes, I who am here before you have been violated, and violated by!... +But if I were to tell you immediately by whom, there would be no story, +eh? And as you want a story, eh? And as you want a story, I will tell +you all about it from beginning to end, and I shall begin at the +beginning. + +"I had been shooting over the waste land in the heart of Brittany for a +week, which borders on the Black Mountain. It is a desolate and wild +country, but it abounds in game. One can walk for hours without meeting +a human being, and when one meets anybody, it is just the same as if one +had not, for the people are absolutely ignorant of French, and when I +got to an inn at night, I had to employ signs to let the people know +that I wanted supper and bed. + +"As I happened to be in a melancholy frame of mind at the time, that +solitude delighted me, and my dog's companionship was quite enough for +me, and so you may guess my irritation when I perceived one morning that +I was being followed, absolutely followed, by another sportsman who +seemed to wish to enter into conversation with me. The day before, I had +already noticed him obstructing the horizon several times, and I had +attributed it to the chances of sport, which brought us both to the same +likely spots for game, but now I could not be mistaken! The fellow was +evidently following me, and was stretching his little pair of compasses +as much as he could, so as to keep up with my long strides, and took +short cuts, so as to catch me up at the half circle. + +"As he seemed bent upon the matter, I naturally grew obstinate also, and +he spent his whole day in trying to catch me up, while I spent mine in +trying to baffle him, and we seemed to be playing at _hide-and-seek_; +the consequences were, that when it was getting dark, I had completely +lost myself in the most deserted part of the moor. There was no cottage +near, and not even a church spire in the distance. The only land-mark, +was the hateful outline of that cursed man, about five hundred yards +off. + +"Of course he had won the game! I should have to put a good face on the +matter, and allow him to join me, or rather I should have to join him +myself, if I did not wish to sleep in the open air and with an empty +stomach, and so I went up to him, and asked my way in a half-surly +manner. + +"He replied very affably, that there was no inn in the neighborhood, as +the nearest village was five leagues off, but that he lived only about +an hour's walk off, and that he considered himself very fortunate in +being able to offer me hospitality. + +"I was utterly done up, and how could I refuse? So we went off through +the heather and furze; I walking slowly because I was so tired, and he +went tripping along merrily with his legs like a basset hound's, which +seemed untirable. + +"And yet he was an old man, and not strongly built, for I could have +knocked him over by blowing on him; but how he could walk, the beast! + +"But he was not a troublesome companion, as I imagined he would have +been, and he did not at all seem to wish to enter into conversation with +me, as I feared he would. When he had given his invitation, and I had +accepted it and thanked him in a few words, he did not open his lips +again, and we walked on in silence, and only his glances worried me, for +I felt them on me, as if he wished to force me into an intimacy, which +my closed lips refused. But on the whole, his tenacious looks, which I +noticed furtively, appeared sympathetic and even admiring--yes; really +admiring! + +"But I could not give him as good as he brought, for he was certainly +not handsome; his legs were short, and rather bandy and he was thin and +narrow-chested. His face was like a bit of parchment, furrowed and +wrinkled, without a hair on it to hide the folds in his skin. His hair +resembled that of an _Ignorantin_[9] brother, with its gray locks +falling onto his greasy collar; he had a nose like a ferret, and rat's +eyes, but he was able to offer me food and quarters for the night, and +it was not requisite that he should be handsome, in order to do that. + +[Footnote 9: A lay brother in a monastery, who is devoted to the +instruction of the poor.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"Capital food, and very comfortable quarters! A manorial dwelling, a +real old, well-furnished manor-house; and in the large dining-room, in +front of the huge fireplace, where a large fire was blazing, dinner was +laid; I will say no more than that! A hotch-potch, which had been +stewing since morning, no doubt! A _salmis_ of woodcock, in defense of +which angels would have taken up arms; buckwheat cakes, in cream, +flavored with aniseed, and a cheese, which is a rare thing and hardly +ever to be found in Brittany, a cheese to make any one eat a four pound +loaf if he only smelt the rind! The whole washed clown by Chambertin, +and then brandy distilled by cider, which was so good that it made a man +fancy that he had swallowed a deity in velvet breeches; not to mention +the cigars, pure, smuggled havannahs; large, strong, not dry but green, +on the contrary, which made a strong and intoxicating smoke. + +"And how the little old gentleman stuffed, and drank and smoked! He was +an ogre, a choirister, a sapper, and so was I, I must confess, and, upon +my word, I cannot remember what we talked about during our Gargantuan +feed! But we certainly talked, but what about? About shooting, +certainly, and about women most probably. Confound it! Among men, after +drinking! Yes, yes, about women, I am quite sure, and he told some funny +stories, did the little old man! Especially about a portrait which was +hanging over the large fireplace, and which represented his +grandmother, a marchioness of the old regime. She was a woman who had +certainly played some pranks, and they said that she was still frisky +and had good legs and thighs when she was seventy. + +"'It is extraordinary,' I remarked, 'how like you are to that portrait.' + +"'Yes,' the old man replied with a smile; and then he added in his +harsh, tremulous voice: 'I resemble her in everything. I am only sixty, +and I feel as if I should have lusty, hot blood in me until I am +seventy.' + +"And then suddenly, very much moved, and looking at me admiringly, as he +had done once before, he said to the portrait: + +"'I say, marchioness, what a pity that you did not know this handsome +young fellow!' + +"I remembered that apostrophe and that look very well, when I went to +bed about an hour later, nearly drunk, in the large room papered in +white and gold, to which I was shown by a tall, broad-shouldered +footman, who wished me good-night in Breton. + +"_Good-night_, yes! But that implied going to sleep, which was just what +I could not do. The Chambertin, the cider brandy and the cigars had +certainly made me drunk, but not so as to overcome me altogether. On the +contrary, I was excited, my nerves were highly strung, my blood was +heated, and I was in a half-sleep in which I felt that I was very much +alive, and my whole being was in a vibration and expansion, just as if I +had been smoking hashecah. + +"Of course! That was it; I was dreaming while I was awake; but I saw the +door open and the marchioness come in, who had stepped down, out of her +frame. She had taken off her furbelows, and was in her nightgown. Her +high head-dress was replaced by a simple knot of ribbon, which confined +her powdered hair into a small chignon, but I recognized her quite +plainly, by the trembling light of the candle which she was carrying. It +was her face with its piercing eyes, its pointed nose and its smiling +and sensual mouth. She did not look so young to me as she appeared in +her portrait. Bah! Perhaps that was merely caused by the feeble, +flickering light! But I had not even time to account for it, not to +reflect on the strangeness of the sight, nor to discuss the matter with +myself and to say: 'Am I dead drunk, or is it a ghost?' + +"No, I had no time, and that is the fact, for the candle was suddenly +blown out and the marchioness was in my bed and holding me in her arms, +and one fixed idea, the only one that I had, haunted me, which was: + +"'Had the marchioness good limbs, and was she still frisky at seventy?' +And I did not care much if she was seventy and if she was a ghost or +not; I only thought of one thing: 'Has she really good limbs?'" + +"By Jove, yes! She did not speak. Oh, marchioness! marchioness! And +suddenly in spite of myself and to convince myself that it was not a +mere fantastic dream, I exclaimed: + +"'Why, good heavens! I am not dreaming!' + +"'No, you are not dreaming,' two lips replied, trying to press +themselves against mine. + +"But, oh! horror! The mouth smelt of cigars and brandy! The voice was +that of the little old man! + +"With a bound I sent him flying on to the ground, and jumped out of bed, +shouting: + +"'Beast! beast!' + +"Then I heard the door slam, and bare feet pattering on the stairs as he +ran away; so I dressed hastily in the dark and went downstairs, still +shouting. + +"In the hall below, where I could see through the upper windows that the +dawn was breaking, I met the broad-shouldered footman, who was holding a +great cudgel in his hand. He was bawling also, in Breton, and pointed to +the open door, outside where my dog was waiting. What could I say to +this savage who did not speak French? Should I face his cudgel? There +was no reason for doing so; and besides, I was even more ashamed than +furious; so I hastily took up my gun and my game-bag, which were in the +hall, and went off without turning round. + +"Disgusted with sport in that part of the country, I returned to Brest +the same day, and there, timidly and with many precautions, I tried to +find out something about the little old man.... + +"'Oh, I know!' somebody replied at last to my question; 'you are +speaking of the manor-house at Hervenidozse, where the old countess +lives, who dresses like a man and sleeps with her coachman.' + +"And with a deep sigh of relief, and much to the astonishment of my +informant, I replied: + +"'Oh! so much the better!'" + + + + +JEROBOAM + + +Anyone who said, or even insinuated, that the Reverend William +Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, Tottenham, did not make his wife +Anna perfectly happy, would certainly have been very malicious. In their +twelve years of married life, he had honored her with twelve children, +and could anybody decently ask anything more of a saintly man? + +Saintly to heroism in truth! For his wife Anna, who was endowed with +invaluable virtues, which made her a model among wives and a paragon +among mothers, had not been equally endowed physically, for, in one +word, she was hideous. Her hair, which was coarse though it was thin, +was the color of the national _half-and-half_, but of thick +_half-and-half_ which looked as if it had been already swallowed several +times, and her complexion, which was muddy and pimply, looked as if it +were covered with sand mixed with brickdust. Her teeth, which were long +and protruding, seemed as if they were about to start out of their +sockets in order to escape from that mouth with scarcely any lips, whose +sulphurous breath had turned them yellow. They were evidently suffering +from bile. + +Her china-blue eyes looked vaguely, one very much to the right and the +other very much to the left, with a divergent and frightened squint; no +doubt in order that they might not see her nose, of which they felt +ashamed. And they were quite right! Thin, soft, long, pendant, sallow, +and ending in a violet knob, it irresistibly reminded those who saw it +of something which cannot be mentioned except in a medical treatise. Her +body, through the inconceivable irony of nature, was at the same time +thin and flabby, wooden and chubby, without having either the elegance +of slimness or the rounded gracefulness of stoutness. It might have been +taken for a body which had formerly been adipose, but which had now +grown thin, while the covering had remained floating on the framework. + +She was evidently nothing but skin and bones, but then she had too many +bones and too little skin. + +It will be seen that the reverend gentleman had done his duty, his whole +duty, more than his duty, in sacrificing a dozen times on this altar. +Yes, a dozen times bravely and loyally! A dozen times, and his wife +could not deny it nor dispute the number, because the children were +there to prove it. A dozen times, and not one less! + +And alas! not once more; and that was the reason why, in spite of +appearances, Mrs. Anna Greenfield ventured to think, in the depths of +her heart, that the Reverend William Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, +Tottenham, had not made her perfectly happy; and she thought so all the +more as, for four years now, she had been obliged to renounce all hope +of that annual sacrifice, which was so easy and so fugitive formerly, +but which had now fallen into disuse. In fact, at the birth of the +twelfth child, the reverend gentleman had expressly said to her: + +"God has greatly blessed our union, my dear Anna. We have reached the +sacred number of the twelve tribes of Israel, and were we now to +persevere in the works of the flesh, it would be mere debauchery, and I +cannot suppose that you would wish me to end my exemplary life in +lustful practices." + +His wife blushed and looked down, and the holy man, with the legitimate +pride of virtue which is its own reward, audibly thanked Heaven that he +was "not as other men are." + +A model among wives and the paragon of mothers, Anna lived with him for +four years on those terms, without complaining to anyone, and contented +herself by praying fervently to God that He would mercifully inspire her +husband with the desire to begin a second series of the twelve tribes. +At times even, in order to make her prayers more efficacious, she tried +to compass that end by culinary means. She spared no pains, and gorged +the reverend gentleman with highly-seasoned dishes. Hare soup, ox-tails +stewed in sherry, the green fat in turtle soup, stewed mushrooms, +Jerusalem artichokes, celery, and horse-radish; hot sauces, truffles, +hashes with wine and cayenne pepper in them, curried lobsters, pies made +of cocks' combs, oysters, and the soft roe of fish; and all these dishes +were washed down by strong beer and generous wines, Scotch ale, +Burgundy, dry champagne, brandy, whiskey and gin; in a word, by that +numberless array of alcoholic drinks with which the English people love +to heat their blood. + +And, as a matter of fact, the reverend gentleman's blood became very +heated, as was shown by his nose and cheeks, but in spite of this, the +powers above were inexorable, and he remained quite indifferent as +regards his wife, who was unhappy and thoughtful at the sight of that +protruding nasal appendage, which, alas! was alone in its glory. + +She became thinner, and at the same time, flabbier than ever, and almost +began to lose her trust in God, when, suddenly, she had an inspiration. +Was it not, perhaps, the work of devil? + +She did not care to inquire too closely into the matter, as she thought +it a very good idea, and it was this: + +"Go to the Universal Exhibition in Paris, and there, perhaps, you will +discover the secret to make yourself loved." + +Decidedly luck favored her, for her husband immediately gave her +permission to go, and as soon as she got into the _Esplanade des +Invalides_, she saw the Algerian dancers, and she said to herself. + +"Surely this would inspire William with the desire to be the father of +the thirteenth tribe!" + +But how could she manage to get him to be present at such abominable +orgies? For she could not hide from herself that it was an abominable +exhibition, and she knew how scandalized he would be at their voluptuous +movements. She had no doubt that the devil had led her there, but she +could not take her eyes off the scene, and it gave her an idea; and so +for nearly a fortnight you might have seen the poor, unattractive woman +sitting, and attentively and curiously watching the swaying hips of the +Algerian women. She was learning. + +The very evening of her return to London, she rushed into her husband's +bedroom, disrobed herself in an instant, except for a thin gauze +covering, and for the first time in her life appeared before him in all +the ugliness of her semi-nudity. + +"Come, come," the saintly man stammered out, "are you--are you mad, +Anna! What demon has possessed you? Why inflict the disgrace of such a +spectacle on me?" + +But she did not listen to him, and did not reply, but suddenly she also +began to sway her hips about like an almah[10]. The reverend gentleman +could not believe his eyes, and in his stupefaction, he did not think of +covering them with his hands or even of shutting them. He looked at her, +stupefied and dumbfounded, a prey to the hypnotism of ugliness. He +watched her as she came forward and retired, and went up and down, as +she skipped and wriggled, and threw herself into extraordinary +attitudes. For a long time he sat motionless and almost unable to speak. +He only said in a low voice: + +[Footnote 10: Egyptian dancing girl.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"Oh, Lord! To think that twelve times!... twelve times!... a whole +dozen!" + +However, she fell into a chair, panting and worn out, and said to +herself: + +"Thank Heaven! William looks like he used to do formerly on the days +that he honored me. Thank Heaven! There will be a thirteenth tribe, and +then a fresh series of tribes, for William is very methodical in all +that he does!" + +But William merely took a blanket off the bed and threw it over her, +saying in a voice of thunder: + +"Your name is no longer Anna, Mrs. Greenfield; for the future you shall +be called Jezabel. I only regret that I have twelve times mingled my +blood with your impure blood." And then, seized by pity, he added: "If +you were only in a state of inebriety, of intoxication, I could excuse +you." + +"Well, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, repentantly, "yes, I am in that +state ... Forgive me, William--forgive a poor drunken woman!" + +"I will forgive you, Anna," he replied, and he gave her a wash-hand +basin, saying: "Cold water will do you good, and when your head is +clear, remember the lesson which you must learn from this occurrence." + +"What lesson?" she asked, humbly. + +"That people ought never to depart from their usual habits." + +"But why, then, William," she asked, timidly, "have you changed your +habits?" + +"Hold your tongue!" he cried--"hold your tongue, Jezabel! Have you not +got over your intoxication yet? For twelve years I certainly followed +the divine precept: _increase and multiply_, once a year. But since +then, I have grown accustomed to something else, and I do not wish to +alter my habits." + +And the Reverend William Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, Tottenham, +the saintly man whose blood was inflamed by heating food and liquor, +whose ears were like full-blown poppies and who had a nose like a +tomato, left his wife and, as had been his habit for four years, went to +make love to Polly, the servant. + +"Now, Polly," he said, "you are a clever girl, and I mean, through you, +to teach Mrs. Greenfield a lesson she will never forget. I will try and +see what I can do for you." + +And in order to this, he called her his little Jezabel, and said to her, +with an unctuous smile: + +"Call me Jeroboam! You don't understand why? Neither do I, but that does +not matter. Take off all your things, Polly, and show yourself to Mrs. +Greenfield." + +The servant did as she was bidden, and the result was that Mrs. +Greenfield never again hinted to her husband the desirability of laying +the foundation of a thirteenth tribe. + + + + +THE LOG + + +It was a small drawing-room, with thick hangings, and with a faint, +judicious smell of flowers and scents about it. A large fire was burning +in the grate, while one lamp, covered with a shade of old lace, on the +corner of the mantel-piece threw a soft light onto the two persons who +were talking. + +She, the mistress of the house, was an old lady with white hair, but one +of those adorable old ladies whose unwrinkled skin is as smooth as the +finest paper, and scented, impregnated with perfume as the delicate +essences which she had used in her bath for so many years had penetrated +through the epidermis. + +He was a very old friend, who had never married, a constant friend, a +companion in the journey of life, but nothing else. + +They had not spoken for about a minute, and they were both looking at +the fire, dreaming no matter of what, in one of those moments of +friendly silence between people who have no need to be constantly +talking in order to be happy together, when suddenly a large log, a +stump covered with burning roots, fell out. It fell over the fire-dogs +into the drawing-room, and rolled onto the carpet, scattering great +sparks all round. The old lady sprang up with a little scream, as if she +was going to run away, while he kicked the log back onto the hearth and +trod out all the burning sparks with his boots. + +When the disaster was repaired, there was a strong smell of burning, and +sitting down opposite to his friend, the man looked at her with a smile, +and said, as he pointed to the log: + +"That is the reason why I never married." + +She looked at him in astonishment, with the inquisitive gaze of women +who wish to know everything, that eye which women have who are no longer +very young, in which complicated, and often malicious curiosity is +reflected, and she asked: + +"How so?" + +"Oh! that is a long story," he replied; "a rather sad and unpleasant +story." + +"My old friends were often surprised at the coldness which suddenly +sprang up between one of my best friends, whose Christian name was +Julien, and myself. They could not understand how two such intimate and +inseparable friends as we had been could suddenly become almost +strangers to one another, and I will tell you the reason of it. + +"He and I used to live together at one time. We were never apart, and +the friendship that united us seemed so strong that nothing could break +it. + +"One evening when he came home, he told me that he was going to get +married, and it gave me a shock as if he had robbed me or betrayed me. +When a man's friend marries, it is all over between them. The jealous +affection of a woman, that suspicious, uneasy, and carnal affection, +will not tolerate that sturdy and frank attachment, that attachment of +the mind, of the heart, and mutual confidence which exists between two +men. + +"You see, however great the love may be that unites them, a man and a +woman are always strangers in mind and intellect; they remain +belligerants, they belong to different races. There must always be a +conqueror and a conquered, a master and a slave; now the one, now the +other--they are never two equals. They press each other's hands, those +hands trembling with amorous passion; but they never press them with a +long, strong, loyal pressure, with that pressure which seems to open +hearts and to lay them bare in a burst of sincere, strong, manly +affection. Philosophers of old, instead of marrying and pro-creating +children who would abandon them as a consolation for their old age, +sought for a good, reliable friend, and grew old with him in that +communion of thought which can only exist between men. + +"Well, my friend Julien married. His wife was pretty, charming, a +little, light, curly-haired, plump, bright woman, who seemed to worship +him; and at first I went but rarely to their house, as I was afraid of +interfering with their affection, and afraid of being in their way. But +somehow they attracted me to their house; they were constantly inviting +me, and seemed very fond of me. Consequently, by degrees I allowed +myself to be allured by the charm of their life. I often dined with +them, and frequently, when I returned home at night, I thought that I +would do as he had done, and get married, as I now found my empty house +very dull. + +"They seemed very much in love with one another, and were never apart. + +"Well, one evening Julien wrote and asked me to go to dinner, and I +naturally went. + +"'My dear fellow,' he said, 'I must go out directly afterwards on +business, and I shall not be back until eleven o'clock, but I shall be +at eleven precisely, and I reckon you to keep Bertha company.' + +"The young woman smiled. + +"'It was my idea,' she said, 'to send for you.' + +"I held out my hand to her. + +"'You are as nice as ever,' I said, and I felt a long, friendly pressure +of my fingers, but I paid no attention to it; so we sat down to dinner, +and at eight o'clock Julien went out. + +"As soon as he had gone, a kind of strange embarrassment immediately +seemed to arise between his wife and me. We had never been alone +together yet, and in spite of our daily increasing intimacy, this +_tete-a-tete_ placed us in a new position. At first I spoke vaguely of +those indifferent matters with which one fills up an embarrassing +silence, but she did not reply, and remained opposite to me with her +head down in an undecided manner, as if she were thinking over some +difficult subject, and as I was at a loss for commonplace ideas, I held +my tongue. It is surprising how hard it is at times to find anything to +say. + +"And then, again, I felt in the air, I felt in the unseen, something +which is impossible for me to express, that mysterious premonition which +tells you beforehand of the secret intentions, be they good or evil, of +another person with respect to yourself. + +"That painful silence lasted some time, and then Bertha said to me: + +"'Will you kindly put a log on the fire, for it is going out.' + +"So I opened the box where the wood was kept, which was placed just +where yours is, took out the largest log, and put it on the top of the +others, which were three-parts burnt, and then silence reigned in the +room again. + +"In a few minutes the log was burning so brightly that it scorched our +faces, and the young woman raised her eyes to me--eyes that had a +strange look to me. + +"'It is too hot now,' she said; 'let us go and sit on the sofa over +there.' + +"So we went and sat on the sofa, and then she said suddenly, looking me +full in the face: + +"'What should you do if a woman were to tell you that she was in love +with you?' + +"'Upon my word,' I replied, very much at a loss for an answer, 'I cannot +foresee such a case; but it would very much depend upon the woman.' + +"She gave a hard, nervous, vibrating laugh; one of those false laughs +which seem as if they must break thin glasses, and then she added: 'Men +are never either venturesome nor acute.' And after a moment's silence, +she continued: 'Have you ever been in love, Monsieur Paul?' I was +obliged to acknowledge that I certainly had been, and she asked me to +tell her all about it, whereupon I made up some story or other. She +listened to me attentively with frequent sighs of approbation and +contempt, and then suddenly she said: + +"'No, you understand nothing about the subject. It seems to me, that +real love must unsettle the mind, upset the nerves and distract the +head; that it must--how shall I express it?--be dangerous, even +terrible, almost criminal and sacrilegious; that it must be a kind of +treason; I mean to say that it is almost bound to break laws, fraternal +bonds, sacred obstacles; when love is tranquil, easy, lawful and without +dangers, is it really love?' + +"I did not know what answer to give her, and I made this philosophical +reflection to myself: 'Oh! female brain, here indeed you show yourself!' + +"While speaking, she had assumed a demure, saintly air; and resting on +the cushions, she stretched herself out at full length, with her head on +my shoulder and her dress pulled up a little, so as to show her red silk +stockings, which the fire-light made look still brighter. In a minute or +two she continued: + +"'I suppose I have frightened you?' I protested against such a notion, +and she leant against my breast altogether, and without looking at me +she said: 'If I were to tell you that I love you, what would you do?' + +"And before I could think of an answer, she had thrown her arms round my +neck, had quickly drawn my head down and put her lips to mine. + +"Oh! My dear friend, I can tell you that I did not feel at all happy! +What! deceive Julien? become the lover of this little silly, +wrong-headed, cunning woman, who was no doubt terribly sensual, and for +whom her husband was already not sufficient! To betray him continually, +to deceive him, to play at being in love merely because I was attracted +by forbidden fruit, danger incurred and friendship betrayed! No, that +did not suit me, but what was I to do? To imitate Joseph, would be +acting a very stupid, and, moreover, difficult part, for this woman was +maddening in her perfidy, inflamed by audacity, palpitating and excited. +Let the man who has never felt on his lips, the warm kiss of a woman who +is ready to give herself to him, throw the first stone at me ... + +"... Well, a minute more ... you understand what I mean? A minute more +and ... I should have been ... no, she would have been ... I beg your +pardon, he would have been!... when a loud noise made us both jump up. +The log had fallen into the room, knocking over the fire-irons and the +fender, and onto the carpet which it had scorched, and had rolled under +an arm-chair, which it would certainly set alight. + +"I jumped up like a madman, and as I was replacing that log which had +saved me, on the fire, the door opened hastily, and Julien came in. + +"'I have done,' he said, in evident pleasure. 'The business was over two +hours sooner than I expected!' + +"Yes, my dear friend, without that log, I should have been caught in the +very act, and you know what the consequences would have been! + +"You may be sure that I took good care never to be overtaken in a +similar situation again; never, never. Soon afterwards I saw that Julien +was giving me the 'cold shoulder,' as they say. His wife was evidently +undermining our friendship; by degrees he got rid of me, and we have +altogether ceased to meet. + +"I have not got married which ought not to surprise you, I think." + + + + +MARGOT'S TAPERS + + +I + +Margot Fresquyl had allowed herself to be tempted for the first time by +the delicious intoxication of the mortal sin of loving, on the evening +of Midsummer Day. + +While most of the young people were holding each others' hands and +dancing in a circle round the burning logs, the girl had slyly taken the +deserted road which led to the wood, leaning on the arm of her partner, +a tall, vigorous farm servant, whose Christian name was Tiennou, which, +by the way, was the only name he had borne from his birth. For he was +entered on the register of births with this curt note: _Father and +mother unknown_; he having been found on St. Stephen's Day under a shed +on a farm, where some poor, despairing wretch had abandoned him, perhaps +even without turning her head round to look at him. + +For months Tiennou had madly worshiped that fair, pretty girl, who was +now trembling as he clasped her in his arms, under the sweet coolness of +the leaves. He religiously rememberd how she had dazzled him--like some +ecstastic vision, the recollection of which always remains imprinted on +the eyes--the first time that he saw her in her father's mill, where he +had gone to ask for work. She stood out all rosy from the warmth of the +day, amidst the impalpable clouds of flour, which diffused an indistinct +whiteness through the air. With her hair hanging about her in untidy +curls, as if she had just awakened from a profound sleep, she stretched +herself lazily, with her bare arms clasped behind her head, and yawned +so as to show her white teeth, which glistened like those of a young +wolf, and her maiden nudity appeared beneath her unbuttoned bodice with +innocent immodesty. He told her that he thought her adorable, so +stupidly, that she made fun of him and scourged him with her cruel +laughter; and, from that day he spent his life in Margot's shadow. He +might have been taken for one of those wild beasts ardent with desire, +which ceaselessly utter maddened cries to the stars on nights when the +constellations bathe the dark coverts in warm light. Margot met him +wherever she went, and seized with pity, and by degrees agitated by his +sobs, by his dumb entreaties, by the burning looks which flashed from +his large eyes, she had returned his love; she had dreamt restlessly +that during a whole night she had been in his vigorous arms which +pressed her like corn that is being crushed in the mill, that she was +obeying a man who had subdued her, and learning strange things which the +other girls talked about in a low voice when they were drawing water at +the well. + +She had, however, been obliged to wait until Midsummer Day, for the +miller watched over his heiress very carefully. + +The two lovers told each other all this as they were going along the +dark road, and innocently giving utterance to words of happiness, which +rise to the lips like the forgotten refrain of a song. At times they +were silent, not knowing what more to say, and not daring to embrace +each other any more. The night was soft and warm, the warmth of a +half-closed alcove in a bedroom, and which had the effect of a tumbler +of new wine. + +The leaves were sleeping motionless and in supreme peace, and in the +distance they could hear the monotonous sound of the brooks as they +flowed over the stones. Amidst the dull noise of the insects, the +nightingales were answering each other from tree to tree, and everything +seemed alive with hidden life, and the sky was bright with such a shower +of falling stars, that they might have been taken for white forms +wandering among the dark trunks of the trees. + +"Why have we come?" Margot asked, in a panting voice. "Do you not want +me any more, Tiennou?" + +"Alas! I dare not," he replied. "Listen: you know that I was picked up +on the high road, that I have nothing in the world except my two arms, +and that Miller Fresquyl will never let his daughter marry a poor devil +like me." + +She interrupted him with a painful gesture, and putting her lips to his, +she said: + +"What does that matter? I love you, and I want you ... Take me ..." + +And it was thus, on St. John's night, Margot Fresquyl for the first time +yielded to the mortal sin of love. + + +II + +Did the miller guess his daughter's secret, when he heard her singing +merrily from dawn till dusk, and saw her sitting dreaming at her window +instead of sewing as she was in the habit of doing? + +Did he see it when she threw ardent kisses from the tips of her fingers +to her lover at a distance? + +However that might have been, he shut poor Margot in the mill as if it +had been a prison. No more love or pleasure, no more meetings at night +at the verge of the wood. When she chatted with the passers-by, when she +tried furtively to open the gate of the enclosure and to make her +escape, her father beat her as if she had been some disobedient animal, +until she fell on her knees on the floor with clasped hands, scarcely +able to move and her whole body covered with purple bruises. + +She pretended to obey him, but she revolted in her whole being, and the +string of bitter insults which he heaped upon her rang in her head. With +clenched hands, and a gesture of terrible hatred, she cursed him for +standing in the way of her love, and at night, she rolled about on her +bed, bit the sheets, moaned, stretched herself out for imaginary +embraces, maddened by the sensual heat with which her body was still +palpitating. She called out Tiennou's name aloud, she broke the peaceful +stillness of the sleeping house with her heartrending sobs, and her +dejected voice drowned the monotonous sound of the water that was +dripping under the arch of the mill, between the immovable paddles of +the wheel. + + +III + +Then there came that terrible week in October when the unfortunate young +fellows who had drawn bad numbers had to join their regiments.[11] +Tiennou was one of them, and Margot was in despair to think that she +should not see him for five interminable years, that they could not +even, at that hour of sad farewells, be alone and exchange those +consoling words which afterwards alleviate the pain of absence. + +[Footnote 11: Written before universal service was obligatory, and when +soldiers were selected by conscription, a certain amount of those who +drew high numbers, being exempt from service.--TRANSLATOR.] + +Tiennou prowled about the house, like a starving beggar, and one +morning, while the miller was mending the wheel, he managed to see +Margot. + +"I will wait for you in the old place to-night," he whispered, in +terrible grief. "I know it is the last time ... I shall throw myself +into some deep hole in the river if you do not come! ..." + +"I will be there, Tiennou," she replied, in a bewildered manner. "I +swear I will be there ... even if I have to do something terrible to +enable me to come!" + + * * * * * + +The village was burning in the dark night, and the flames, fanned by the +wind, rose up like sinister torches. The thatched roofs, the ricks of +corn, the haystacks, and the barns fell in, and crackled like rockets, +while the sky looked as if they were illuminated by an _aurora +borealis_. Fresquyl's mill was smoking, and its calcined ruins were +reflected on the deep water. The sheep and cows were running about the +fields in terror, the dogs were howling, and the women were sitting on +the broken furniture, and were crying and wringing their hands; while +during all this time Margot was abandoning herself to her lover's ardent +caresses, and with her arms round his neck, she said to him, tenderly: + +"You see that I have kept my promise ... I set fire to the mill so that +I might be able to get out. So much the worse if all have suffered. But +I do not care as long as you are happy in having me, and love me!" + +And pointing to the fire which was still burning fiercely in the +distance, she added with a burst of savage laughter: + +"Tiennou, we shall not have such beautiful tapers at out wedding Mass +when you come back from your regiment!" + +And thus it was that for the second time Margot Fresquyl yielded to the +mortal sin of love. + + + + +CAUGHT IN THE VERY ACT + + +"It is certain," Sulpice de Laurier said, "that I had absolutely +forgotten the date on which I was to allow myself to be taken in the +very act, with a mistress for the occasion. As neither my wife nor I had +any serious nor plausible reason for a divorce, not even the slightest +incompatibility of temper, and as there is always a risk of not +softening the heart of even the most indulgent judge when he is told +that the parties have agreed to drag their load separately, each for +themselves, that they are too frisky, too fond of pleasure and of +wandering about from place to place to continue the conjugal experiment, +we between us got up the ingenious stage arrangement of, 'a serious +wrong...' + +"This was funnier than all the rest, and under any other circumstances +it would have been repugnant to me to mix up our servants in the affair +like so many others do, or to distress that pretty little, fair and +delicate Parisian woman, even though it were only in appearance and to +pass as a common _Sganarelle_ with the manners of a carter, in the eyes +of some scoundrel of a footman, or of some lady's maid. And so when +Maitre Le Chevrier, that kind lawyer who certainly knows more female +secrets than the most fashionable confessor, gave a startled exclamation +on seeing me still in my dressing-gown, and slowly smoking a cigar like +an idler who has no engagements down on his tablets, and who is quietly +waiting for the usual time for dressing and going to dine at his club, +he exclaimed: + +"'Have you forgotten that this is the day, at the _Hotel de Bade_, +between five and six o'clock? In an hour, Madame de Lauriere will be at +the office of the Police Commissary in the Rue de Provence, with her +uncle and Maitre Cantenac ...' + +"An hour; I only had an hour, sixty short minutes to dress in, to take a +room, find a woman and persuade her to go with me immediately, and to +excite her feelings, so that this extravagant adventure might not appear +too equivocal to the Commissary of Police. One hour in which to carry +out such a program was enough to make a man lose his head. And there +were no possible means of putting off that obligatory entertainment, to +let Madame Le Lauriere know in time, and to gain a few minutes more. + +"'Have you found a woman, at any rate?' Maitre de Chevrier continued +anxiously. + +"'No, my dear sir!' + +"I immediately began to think of the whole string of my dear female +friends. Should I choose Liline Ablette, who could refuse me nothing, +Blanch Rebus, who was the best comrade a man ever had, or Lalie Spring, +that luxurious creature, who was constantly in search of something new? +Neither one nor the other of them, for it was ninety-nine chances to one +that all these confounded girls were in the _Bois de Boulogne_, or at +their dressmakers!" + +"'Bah! Just pick up the first girl you meet on the pavement.' + +"And before the hour was up, I was bolting the door of a room, which +looked out onto the boulevard. + +"The woman whom I had picked up, as she was walking past the _cafes_, +from the _Vaudeville_ to _Tortoni's_, was twenty at the most. She had an +impudent, snub nose, as if it had been turned up in fun by a fillip, +large eyes with-deep rims round them; her lips were too red, and she had +the slow, indolent walk of a girl who goes in for debauchery too freely +and who began too soon, but she was pretty, and her linen was very clean +and neat. And she was evidently used to chance love-making, and had a +way of undressing herself in two or three rapid movements, of throwing +her toggery to the right and left, until she was extremely lightly clad, +and of throwing herself onto the bed which astonished me as a sight that +was well worth seeing. + +"She did not talk much, though she began by saying: 'Pay up at once, old +man ... You don't look like a fellow who would bilk a girl, but it puts +me into better trim when I have been paid.' + +"I gave her two napoleons, and she eyed me with gratitude and respect at +the same time, but also with that uneasy look of a girl who asks +herself: 'What does this tool expect for it?' + +"The whole affair began to amuse me, and I must confess that I was +rather taken with her, for she had a beautiful figure and complexion, +and I was hoping that the Commissary would not come directly, when there +was a loud rapping at the door. + +"She sat up with a start, and grew so pale that one would have said she +was about to faint. + +"'What a set of pigs, to come and interrupt people like this!' she +muttered between her teeth; while I affected the most complete calm. + +"'Somebody who has made a mistake in the room, my dear,' I said. + +"But this noise increased, and suddenly I heard a man's voice saying +clearly and authoritatively: + +"'Open the door, in the name of the law!' + +"On hearing that, one would have thought that she had received a shock +from an electric battery, by the nimble manner in which she jumped out +of bed; and quickly putting on her stays and her dress anyhow, she +endeavored to discover a way out in every corner of the room, like a +wild beast, trying to escape from its cage. I thought that she was going +to throw herself out of the window, so I seized hold of her to prevent +her. + +"The unfortunate creature acted like a madwoman, and when she felt my +arm round her waist, she cried in a hoarse voice: + +"'I see it ... You have sold me ... You thought that I should expose +myself.... Oh! you filthy brutes--you filthy brutes!' + +"And suddenly, passing from abuse to entreaties, pale and with +chattering teeth, she threw herself at my feet, and said, in a low +voice: + +"'Listen to me, my dear: you don't look a bad sort of fellow, and you +would not like them to lock me up. I have a kid and the old woman to +keep. Hide me behind the bed, do, and please don't give me up.... I +will make it up to you, and you shall have no cause for grumbling....' + +"At that moment however, the lock which they had unscrewed fell onto the +floor with a metallic sound, and Madame de Lauriere and the Police +Commissary, wearing his tricolored scarf, appeared in the door, while +behind them the heads of the uncle and of the lawyer could be seen +indistinctly in the background. + +"The girl had uttered a cry of terror and going up to the Commissary she +said, panting: + +"'I swear to you that I am not guilty, that I was not ... I will tell +you everything if you will promise me not to tell them that I spilt, for +they would pay me out....' + +"The Commissary, who was surprised, but who guessed that there was +something which was not quite clear behind all this, forgot to draw up +his report, and so the lawyer went up to him and said: + +"'Well, monsieur, what are we waiting for?' + +"But he paid no attention to anything but the woman, and looking at her +sharply and suspiciously through his gold-rimmed spectacles, he said to +her in a hard voice: + +"'Your names and surnames?' + +"'Juliette Randal, or as I am generally called, Jujutte Pipehead.' + +"'So you will swear you were not--' + +"She interrupted him eagerly: + +"'I swear it, monsieur, and I know that my little man had nothing to do +with it either. He was only keeping a look-out while the others collared +the swag. ... I will swear that I can account for every moment of my +time that night. Roquin was drunk, and told me everything.... They got +five thousand francs from Daddy Zacharias, and of course Roquin had his +share, but he did not work with his partners. It was Minon Menilmuche, +whom they call _Drink-without-Thirst_, who held the gardener's hands, +and who bled him with a blow from his knife.' + +"The Commissary let her run on, and when she had finished, he questioned +me, as if I had belonged to Jujutte's band. + +"'Your name, Christian name, and profession?' + +"'Marquis Sulpice de Laurier, living on my own private income, at 24, +Rue de Galilee.' + +"'De Laurier? Oh, very well.... Excuse me, monsieur, but at Madame de +Lauriere's request, I declare formally before these gentlemen, who will +be able to give evidence, that the girl Juliette Randal, whom they call +_Jujutte Tete-de-Pipe_, is your mistress. You are at liberty to go, +Monsieur le Marquis, and you, girl Randal answer my questions.' + +"Thus, by the most extraordinary chance, our divorce suit created a +sensation which I had certainly never foreseen. I was obliged to appear +in the Assize Court as a witness in the celebrated case of those +burglars, when three of them were condemned to death, and to undergo the +questioning of the idiotic Presiding Judge, who tried by all means in +his power to make me acknowledge that I was Jujutte Tete-de-Pipe's +regular lover; and in consequence, ever since then I have passed as an +ardent seeker after novel sensations, and a man who wallows in the +lowest depths of the Parisian dunghill. + +"I cannot say that this unjust reputation has brought me any pleasant +love affairs. Women are so perverse, so absurd, and so curious!" + + + + +THE CONFESSION + + +Monsieur de Champdelin had no reason to complain of his lot as a married +man; nor could he accuse destiny of having played him in a bad turn, as +it does so many others, for it would have been difficult to find a more +desirable, merrier, prettier little woman, or one who was easier to +amuse and to guide than his wife. To see the large, limpid eyes which +illuminated her fair, girlish face, one would think that her mother must +have spent whole nights before her birth, in looking dreamily at the +stars, and so had become, as it were, impregnated with their magic +brightness. And one did not know which to prefer--her bright, silky +hair, or her slightly _restrousse_ nose, with its vibrating nostrils, +her red lips, which looked as alluring as a ripe peach, her beautiful +shoulders, her delicate ears, which resembled mother-of-pearl, or her +slim waist and rounded figure, which would have delighted and tempted a +sculptor. + +And then she was always merry, overflowing with youth and life, never +dissatisfied, only wishing to enjoy herself, to laugh, to love and be +loved, and putting all the house into a tumult, as if it had been a +great cage full of birds. In spite of all this, however, that worn out +fool, Champdelin, had never cared much about her, but had left that +charming garden lying waste, and almost immediately after their +honeymoon, he had resumed is usual bachelor habits, and had begun to +lead the same fast life that he had done of old. + +It was stronger than he, for his was one of those libertine natures +which are constant targets for love, and which never resign themselves +to domestic peace and happiness. The last woman who came across him, in +a love adventure, was always the one whom he loved best, and the mere +contact with a petticoat inflamed him, and made him commit the most +imprudent actions. + +As he was not hard to please, he fished, as it were, in troubled waters, +went after the ugly ones and the pretty ones alike, was bold even to +impudence, was not to be kept off by mistakes, nor anger, nor modesty, +nor threats, though he sometimes fell into a trap and got a thrashing +from some relative or jealous lover; he withstood all attempts to get +hush-money out of him, and became only all the more enamored of vice and +more ardent in his lures and pursuit of love affairs on that account. + +But the work-girls and the shop-girls and all the tradesmen's wives in +Saint Martejoux knew him, and made him pay for their whims and their +coquetry, and had to put up with his love-making. Many of them smiled or +blushed when they saw him under the tall plane-trees in the public +garden, or met him in the unfrequented, narrow streets near the +Cathedral, with his thin, sensual face, whose looks had something +satyr-like about them, and some of them used to laugh at him and make +fun of him, though they ran away when he went up to them. And when some +friend or other, who was sorry that he could forget himself so far, used +to say to him, when he was at a loss for any other argument: "And your +wife, Champdelin? Are you not afraid that she will have her revenge and +pay you out in your own coin?" his only reply was a contemptuous and +incredulous shrug of the shoulders. + +She deceive him, indeed; she, who was as devout, as virtuous, and as +ignorant of forbidden things as a nun, who cared no more for love than +she did for an old slipper! She, who did not even venture on any veiled +allusions, who was always laughing, who took life as it came, who +performed her religious duties with edifying assiduity, she to pay him +back, so as to make him look ridiculous, and to gad about at night? +Never! Anyone who could think such a thing must have lost his senses. + +However, one summer day, when the roofs all seemed red-hot, and the +whole town appeared dead, Monsieur de Champdelin had followed two +milliner's girls, with bandboxes in their hands from street to street, +whispering nonsense to them, and promising beforehand to give them +anything they asked him for, and had gone after them as far as the +Cathedral. In their fright, they took refuge there, but he followed them +in, and, emboldened by the solitude of the nave, and by the perfect +silence in the building, he became more enterprising and bolder. They +did not know how to defend themselves, or to escape from him, and were +trembling at his daring attempts, and at his kisses, when he saw a +confessional whose doors were open, in one of the side chapels. "We +should be much more comfortable in there, my little dears," he said, +going into it, as if to get such an unexpected nest ready for them. + +But they were quicker than he, and throwing themselves against the +grated door, they pushed it to before he could turn round, and locked +him in. At first he thought it was only a joke, and it amused him; but +when they began to laugh heartily and putting their tongues at him, as +if he had been a monkey in a cage, and overwhelmed him with insults, he +first of all grew angry, and then humble, offering to pay well for his +ransom, and he implored them to let him out, and tried to escape like a +mouse does out of a trap. They, however, did not appear to hear him, but +naively bowed to him ceremoniously, wished him good night, and ran out +as fast as they could. + +Champdelin was in despair; he did not know what to do, and cursed his +bad luck. What would be the end of it? Who would deliver him from that +species of prison, and was he going to remain there all the afternoon +and night, like a portmanteau that had been forgotten at the lost +luggage office? He could not manage to force the lock, and did not +venture to knock hard against the sides of the confessional, for fear of +attracting the attention of some beadle or sacristan. Oh! those wretched +girls, and how people would make fun of him and write verses about him, +and point their fingers at him, if the joke were discovered and got +noised abroad! + +By and by, he heard the faint sound of prayers in the distance and +through the green serge curtain that concealed him Monsieur Champdelin +heard the rattle of the beads on the chaplets, as the women repeated +their _Ave Maria's_, and the rustle of dresses and the noise of +footsteps on the pavement. + +Suddenly, he felt a tickling in his throat that nearly choked him, and +he could not altogether prevent himself from coughing, and when at last +it passed off, the unfortunate man was horrified at hearing some one +come into the chapel and up to the confessional. Whoever it was, knelt +down, and gave a discreet knock at the grating which separated the +priest from his penitents, so he quickly put on the surplice and stole +which were hanging on a nail, and covering his face with his +handkerchief, and sitting back in the shade, he opened the grating. + +It was a woman, who was already saying her prayers and he gave the +responses as well as he could, from his boyish recollections, and was +somewhat agitated by the delicious scent that emanated from her +half-raised veil and from her bodice; but at her first words he started +so, that he almost fainted. He had recognized his wife's voice, and it +felt to him as if his seat were studded with sharp nails, that the sides +of the confessional were closing in on him, and as if the air were +growing rarified. + +He now collected himself, however, and regaining his self-possession, he +listened to what she had to say with increasing curiosity, and with some +uncertain, and necessary interruptions. The young woman sighed, was +evidently keeping back something, spoke about her unhappiness, her +melancholy life, her husband's neglect, the temptations by which she was +surrounded, and which she found it so difficult to resist; her +conscience seemed to be burdened by an intolerable weight, though she +hesitated to accuse herself directly. And in a low voice, with unctuous +and coaxing tones, and mastering himself, Champdelin said: + +"Courage, my child; tell me everything; the divine mercy is infinite; +tell me all, without hesitation." + +Then, all at once, she told him everything that was troubling her; how +passion and desire had thrown her into the arms of one of her husband's +best friends, the exquisite happiness that they felt when they met every +day, his delightful tenderness, which she could no longer resist, the +sin which was her joy, her only object, her consolation, her dream. She +grew excited, sobbed, seemed enervated and worn out, as if she were +still burning from her lover's kisses, hardly seemed to know what she +was saying, and begged for temporary absolution from her sins; but then +Champdelin, in his exasperation, and unable to restrain himself any +longer, interrupted her in a furious voice: + +"Oh! no! Oh! no; this is not at all funny ... keep such sort of things +to yourself, my dear!" + + * * * * * + +Poor little Madame de Champdelin nearly went out of her mind with fright +and astonishment, and they are now waiting for the decree which will +break their chains and let them part. + + + + +WAS IT A DREAM? + + +"I had loved her madly! Why does one love? Why does one love? How queer +it is to see only one being in the world, to have only one thought in +one's mind, only one desire in the heart, and only one name on the lips; +a name which comes up continually, which rises like the water in a +spring, from the depths of the soul, which rises to the lips, and which +one repeats over and over again which one whispers ceaselessly, +everywhere, like a prayer. + +"I am going to tell you our story, for love only has one, which is +always the same. I met her and loved her; that is all. And for a whole +year I have lived on her tenderness, on her caresses, in her arms, in +her dresses, on her words, so completely wrapped up, bound, imprisoned +in everything which came from her, that I no longer knew whether it was +day or night, if I was dead or alive, on this old earth of ours, or +elsewhere. + +"And then she died. How? I do not know. I no longer know; but one +evening she came home wet, for it was raining heavily, and the next day +she coughed, and she coughed for about a week, and took to her bed. What +happened I do not remember now, but doctors came, wrote and went away. +Medicines were brought, and some women made her drink them. Her hands +were hot, her forehead was burning, and her eyes bright and sad. When I +spoke to her, she answered me, but I do not remember what we said. I +have forgotten everything, everything, everything! She died, and I very +well remember her slight, feeble sigh. The nurse said: 'Ah! and I +understood, I understood!' + +"I knew nothing more, nothing. I saw a priest, who said: 'Your +mistress?' and it seemed to me as if he were insulting her. As she was +dead, nobody had the right to know that any longer, and I turned him +out. Another came who was very kind and tender, and I shed tears when he +spoke to me about her. + +"They consulted me about the funeral, but I do not remember anything +that they said, though I recollected the coffin, and the sound of the +hammer when they nailed her down in it. Oh! God, God! + +"She was buried! Buried! She! In that hole! Some people came--female +friends. I made my escape, and ran away; I ran, and then I walked +through the streets, and went home, and the next day I started on a +journey." + + * * * * * + +"Yesterday I returned to Paris, and when I saw my room again--our room, +our bed, our furniture, everything that remains of the life of a human +being after death, I was seized by such a violent attack of fresh grief, +that I was very near opening the window and throwing myself out into the +street. As I could not remain any longer among these things, between +these walls which had enclosed and sheltered her, and which retained a +thousand atoms of her, of her skin and of her breath in their +imperceptible crevices, I took up my hat to make my escape, and just as +I reached the door, I passed the large glass in the hall, which she had +put there so that she might be able to look at herself every day from +head to foot as she went out, to see if her toilet looked well, and was +correct and pretty, from her little boots to her bonnet. + +"And I stopped short in front of that looking-glass in which she had so +often been reflected. So often, so often, that it also must have +retained her reflection. I was standing there, trembling, with my eyes +fixed on the glass--on that flat, profound, empty glass--which had +contained her entirely, and had possessed her as much as I had, as my +passionate looks had. I felt as if I loved that glass. I touched it, it +was cold. Oh! the recollection! sorrowful mirror, burning mirror, +horrible mirror, which makes us suffer such torments! Happy are the men +whose hearts forget everything that it has contained, everything that +has passed before it, everything that has looked at itself in it, that +has been reflected in its affection, in its love! How I suffer! + +"I went on without knowing it, without wishing it; I went towards the +cemetery. I found her simple grave, a white marble cross, with these few +words: + +"'_She loved, was loved, and died._' + +"She is there, below, decayed! How horrible! I sobbed with my forehead +on the ground, and I stopped there for a long time, a long time. Then I +saw that it was getting dark, and a strange, a mad wish, the wish of a +despairing lover seized me. I wished to pass the night, the last night +in weeping on her grave. But I should be seen and driven out. How was I +to manage? I was cunning, and got up, and began to roam about in that +city of the dead. I walked and walked. How small this city is, in +comparison with the other, the city in which we live: And yet, how much +more numerous the dead are than the living. We want high houses, wide +streets, and much room for the four generations who see the daylight at +the same time, drink water from the spring, and wine from the vines, and +eat the bread from the plains. + +"And for all the generations of the dead, for all that ladder of +humanity that has descended down to us, there is scarcely anything +afield, scarcely anything! The earth takes them back, oblivion effaces +them. Adieu! + +"At the end of the abandoned cemetery, I suddenly perceived that the one +where those who have been dead a long time finish mingling with the +soil, where the crosses themselves decay, where the last comers will be +put to-morrow. It is full of untended roses, of strong and dark cypress +trees, a sad and beautiful garden, nourished on human flesh. + +"I was alone, perfectly alone, and so I crouched in a green tree, and +hid myself there completely among the thick and somber branches, and I +waited, clinging to the stem, like a shipwrecked man does to a plank. + +"When it was quite dark, I left my refuge and began to walk softly, +slowly, inaudibly, through that ground full of dead people, and I +wandered about for a long time, but could not find her again. I went on +with extended arms, knocking against the tombs with my hands, my feet, +my knees, my chest, even with my head, without being able to find her. I +touched and felt about like a blind man groping his way, I felt the +stones, the crosses, the iron railings, the metal wreaths, and the +wreaths of faded flowers! I read the names with my fingers, by passing +them over the letters. What a night! What a night! I could not find her +again! + +"There was no moon. What a night! I am frightened, horribly frightened +in these narrow paths, between two rows of graves. Graves! graves! +graves! nothing but graves! On my right, on my left, in front of me, +around me, everywhere there were graves! I sat down on one of them, for +I could not walk any longer, my knees were so weak. I could hear my +heart beat! And I could hear something else as well. What? A confused, +nameless noise. Was the noise in my head in the impenetrable night, or +beneath the mysterious earth, the earth sown with human corpses? I +looked all around me, but I cannot say how long I remained there; I was +paralyzed with terror, drunk with fright, ready to shout out, ready to +die. + +"Suddenly, it seemed to me as if the slab of marble on which I was +sitting, was moving. Certainly, it was moving, as if it were being +raised. With a bound, I sprang on to the neighboring tomb, and I saw, +yes, I distinctly saw the stone which I had just quitted, rise upright, +and the dead person appeared, a naked skeleton, which was pushing the +stone back with its bent back. I saw it quite clearly, although the +night was so dark. On the cross I could read: + +"'_Here lies Jacques Olivant, who died at the age of fifty-one. He loved +his family, was kind and honorable, and died in the grace of the Lord._' + +"The dead man also read what was inscribed on his tombstone; then he +picked up a stone off the path, a little, pointed stone, and began to +scrape the letters carefully. He slowly effaced them altogether, and +with the hollows of his eyes he looked at the places where they had been +engraved, and, with the tip of the bone, that had been his forefinger, +he wrote in luminous letters, like those lines which one traces on walls +with the tip of a lucifer match: + +"'_Here reposes Jacques Olivant, who died at the age of fifty-one. He +hastened his father's death by his unkindness, as he wished to inherit +his fortune, he tortured his wife, tormented his children, deceived his +neighbors, robbed everyone he could, and died wretched._' + +"When he had finished writing, the dead man stood motionless, looking at +his work, and on turning round I saw that all the graves were open, that +all the dead bodies had emerged from them, and that all had effaced the +lies inscribed on the gravestones by their relations, and had +substituted the truth instead. And I saw that all had been tormentors of +their neighbors--malicious, dishonest, hypocrites, liars, rogues, +calumniators, envious; that they had stolen, deceived, performed every +disgraceful, every abominable action, these good fathers, these faithful +wives, these devoted sons, these chaste daughters, these honest +tradesmen, these men and women who were called irreproachable, and they +were called irreproachable, and they were all writing at the same time, +on the threshold of their eternal abode, the truth, the terrible and the +holy truth which everybody is ignorant of, or pretends to be ignorant +of, while the others are alive. + +"I thought that _she_ also must have written something on her tombstone, +and now, running without any fear among the half-open coffins, among the +corpses and skeletons, I went towards her, sure that I should find her +immediately. I recognized her at once, without seeing her face, which +was covered by the winding-sheet, and on the marble cross, where shortly +before I had read: '_She loved, was loved, and died_,' I now saw: +'_Having gone out one day, in order to deceive her lover, she caught +cold in the rain and died._'" + + * * * * * + +"It appears that they found me at daybreak, lying on the grave +unconscious." + + + + +THE LAST STEP + + +Monsier de Saint-Juery would not have deceived his old mistress for +anything in the world: perhaps from an instinctive fear that he had +heard of adventures that turn out badly, make a noise, and bring about +hateful family quarrels, crises from which one emerges enervated and +exasperated with destiny, and, as it were, with the weight of a bullet +on one's feet, and also from his requirement for a calm, sheep-like +existence, whose monotony was never disturbed by any shock, and perhaps +from the remains of the love which had so entirely made him, during the +first years of their connection, the slave of the proud, dominating +beauty, and of the enthralling charm of that woman. + +He kept out of the way of temptation almost timidly, and was faithful to +her, and as submissive as a spaniel. He paid her every attention, did +not appear to notice that the outlines of her figure, which had formerly +been so harmonious and supple, were getting too full and puffy, that her +face, which used to remind him of a blush rose, was getting wrinkled, +and that her eyes were getting dull. He admired her in spite of +everything, almost blindly, and clothed her with imaginary charms, with +an autumnal beauty, with the majestic and serene softness of an October +twilight, and with the last blossoms which unfold by the side of the +walks, strewn with dead leaves. + +But although their connection had lasted for many years, though they +were as closely bound to each other as if they had been married, and +although Charlotte Guindal pestered him with entreaties, and upset him +with continual quarrels on the subject, and, in spite of the fact that +he believed her to be absolutely faithful to him, and worthy of his most +perfect confidence and love, yet Monsieur de Saint-Juery had never been +able to make up his mind to give her his name, and to put their false +position on a legal footing. + +He really suffered from this, but remained firm and defended his +position, quibbled, sought for subterfuges, replied by the eternal and +vague: "What would be the good of it," which nearly sent Charlotte mad, +made her furious and caused her to say angry and ill-tempered things. +But he remained passive and listless, with his back bent like a restive +horse under the whip. + +He asked her whether it was really necessary to their happiness, as they +had no children? Did not everybody think that they were married? Was not +she everywhere called Madame de Saint-Juery, and had their servants any +doubt that they were in the service of respectable, married people? Was +not the name which had been transmitted to a man from father to son, +intact, honored, and often with a halo of glory round it, a sacred trust +which no one had a right to touch? What would she gain if she bore it +legitimately? Did she for a moment suppose that she would rise higher in +people's estimation, and be more admitted into society, or that people +would forget that she had been his regular mistress before becoming his +wife? Did not everybody know that formerly, before he rescued her from +that Bohemian life in which she had been waiting for her chance in vain, +and was losing her good looks, Charlotte Guindal frequented all the +public balls, and showed her legs liberally at the _Moulin-Rouge_[12]. + +[Footnote 12: A cafe chantant, and casino.] + +Charlotte knew his crabbed, though also kindly character, which was at +the same time logical and obstinate, too well to hope that she would +ever be able to overcome his opposition and scruples, except by some +clever woman's trick, some well-acted scene in a comedy; so she appeared +to be satisfied with his reasons, and to renounce her bauble, and +outwardly she showed an equable and conciliatory temper, and no longer +worried Monsieur de Saint-Juery with her recriminations, and thus the +time went by, in calm monotony, without fruitless battles or fierce +assaults. + +Charlotte Guindal's medical man was Doctor Rabatel, one of those clever +men who appear to know everything, but whom a country bone-setter would +reduce to a "why?" by a few questions; one of those men who wish to +impress everybody with their apparent value, and who make use of their +medical knowledge as if it were some productive commercial house, which +carried on a suspicious business; who can scent out those persons whom +they can manage as they please, as if they were a piece of soft wax, who +keep them in a continual state of terror, by keeping the idea of death +constantly before their eyes. + +They soon manage to obtain the mastery over such persons, scrutinize +their consciences as well as the cleverest priest could do, make sure of +being well paid for their complicity as soon as they have obtained a +footing anywhere, and drain their patients of their secrets, in order to +use them as a weapon for extorting money on occasions. He felt sure +immediately that this middle-aged lady wanted something of him, as by +some extraordinary perversion of taste, he was rather fond of the +remains of a good-looking woman, if they were well got up, and offered +to him; of that high flavor which arises from soft lips, which had been +made tender through years of love, from gray hair powdered with gold, +from a body engaged in its last struggle, and which dreams of one more +victory before abdicating power altogether, he did not hesitate to +become his new patient's lover. + +When winter came, however, a thorough change took place in Charlotte's +health, that had hitherto been so good. She had no strength left, she +felt ill after the slightest exertion, complained of internal pains, and +spent whole days lying on the couch, with set eyes and without uttering +a word, so that everybody thought that she was dying of one of those +mysterious maladies which cannot be coped with, but which, by degrees, +undermines the whole system. It was sad to see her rapidly sinking, +lying motionless on her pillows, while a mist seemed to have come over +her eyes, and her hands lay helplessly on the bed and her mouth seemed +sealed by some invisible finger. Monsieur de Saint-Juery was in despair; +he cried like a child, and he suffered as if somebody had plunged a +knife into him, when the doctor said to him in his unctuous voice: + +"I know that you are a brave man, my dear sir, and I may venture to tell +you the whole truth.... Madame de Saint-Juery is doomed, irrevocably +doomed.... Nothing but a miracle can save her, and alas! there are no +miracles in these days. The end is only a question of a few hours, and +may come quite suddenly...." + +Monsieur de Saint-Juery had thrown himself into a chair, and was sobbing +bitterly, covering his face with his hands. + +"My poor dear, my poor darling," he said, through his tears. + +"Pray compose yourself, and be brave," the doctor continued, sitting +down by his side, "for I have to say something serious to you, and to +convey to you our poor patient's last wishes.... A few minutes ago, she +told me the secret of your double life, and of your connection with +her.... And now, in view of death, which she feels approaching so +rapidly, for she is under no delusion, the unhappy woman wishes to die +at peace with heaven, with the consolation of having regulated her +equivocal position, and of having become your wife." + +Monsieur de Saint-Juery sat upright, with a bewildered look, while he +moved his hands nervously; in his grief he was incapable of manifesting +any will of his own, or of opposing this unexpected attack. + +"Oh! anything that Charlotte wishes, doctor; anything, and I will myself +go and tell her so, on my knees!" + + * * * * * + +The wedding took place discreetly, with something funereal about it, in +the darkened room, where the words which were spoken had a strange +sound, almost of anguish. Charlotte, who was lying in bed, with her eyes +dilated through happiness, had put both trembling hands into those of +Monsieur de Saint-Juery, and she seemed to expire with the word: "Yes" +on her lips. The doctor looked at the moving scene, grave and impassive, +with his chin buried in his white cravat, and his two arms resting on +the mantel-piece, while his eyes twinkled behind his glasses.... + +The next week, Madame de Saint-Juery began to get better, and that +wonderful recovery about which Monsieur de Saint-Juery tells everybody +with effusive gratitude, who will listen to him, has so increased Doctor +Rabatel's reputation, that at the next election he will be made a member +of the Academy of Medicine. + + + + +THE WILL + + +I knew that tall young fellow, Rene de Bourneval. He was an agreeable +man, though of a rather melancholy turn of mind, who seemed prejudiced +against everything, very skeptical, and able to tear worldly hypocrisies +to pieces. He often used to say: + +"There are no honorable men, or at any rate, they only appear so when +compared to low people." + +He had two brothers, whom he never saw, the Messieurs de Courcils, and I +thought they were by another father, on account of the difference in the +name. I had frequently heard that something strange had happened in the +family, but I did not know the details. + +As I took a great liking to him, we soon became intimate, and one +evening, when I had been dining with him alone, I asked him by chance: +"Are you by your mother's first or second marriage?" He grew rather +pale, and then flushed, and did not speak for a few moments; he was +visibly embarrassed. Then he smiled in a melancholy and gentle manner, +which was peculiar to him, and said: + +"My dear friend, if it will not weary you, I can give you some very +strange particulars about my life. I know that you are a sensible man, +so I do not fear that our friendship will suffer by my revelations, and +should it suffer, I should not care about having you for my friend any +longer. + +"My mother, Madame de Courcils, was a poor little timid woman, whom her +husband had married for the sake of her fortune, and her whole life was +one of martyrdom. Of a loving, delicate mind, she was constantly being +ill-treated by the man who ought to have been my father, one of those +bores called country gentleman. A month after their marriage he was +living with a servant, and besides that, the wives and daughters of his +tenants were his mistresses, which did not prevent him from having three +children by his wife, or three, if you count me in. My mother said +nothing, and lived in that noisy house like a little mouse. Set aside, +disparaged, nervous, she looked at people with her bright, uneasy, +restless eyes, the eyes of some terrified creature which can never shake +off its fear. And yet she was pretty, very pretty and fair, a +gray-blonde, as if her hair had lost its color through her constant +fears. + +"Among Monsieur de Courcil's friends who constantly came to the +_chateau_, there was an ex-cavalry officer, a widower, a man who was +feared, who was at the same time tender and violent, capable of the most +energetic resolutions, Monsieur de Bourneval, whose name I bear. He was +a tall, thin man, with a heavy black moustache, and I am very like him. +He was a man who had read a great deal, and whose ideas were not like +those of most of his class. His great-grandmother had been a friend of +J.J. Rousseau's, and one might have said that he had inherited something +of this ancestral connection. He knew the _Contrat Social_, and the +_Nouvelle Heloise_ by heart, and all those philosophical books which +long beforehand prepared the overthrow of our old usages, prejudices, +superannuated laws and imbecile morality. + +"It seems that he loved my mother, and she loved him, but their intrigue +was carried on so secretly, that no one guessed it. The poor, neglected, +unhappy woman, must have clung to him in a despairing manner, and in her +intimacy with him must have imbibed all his ways of thinking, theories +of free thought, audacious ideas of independent love; but as she was so +timid that she never ventured to speak aloud, it was all driven back, +condensed and expressed in her heart, which never opened itself. + +"My two brothers were very hard towards her, like their father was, and +never gave her a caress, and, used to seeing her count for nothing in +the house, they treated her rather like a servant, and so I was the only +one of her sons who really loved her, and whom she loved. + +"When she died, I was seventeen, and I must add, in order that you may +understand what follows, that there had been a law suit between my +father and my mother, and that their property had been separated, to my +mother's advantage, as, thanks to the tricks of the law, and the +intelligent devotion of a lawyer to her interests, she had preserved the +right of making her will in favor of anyone she pleased. + +"We were told that there was a will lying at the lawyer's, and were +invited to be present at the reading of it. I can remember it, as if it +were yesterday. It was a grand, dramatic, burlesque, surprising scene, +brought about by the posthumous revolt of that dead woman, by that cry +for liberty, that claim from the depths of her tomb, of that martyred +woman who had been crushed by our habits during her life, and, who, from +her closed tomb, uttered a despairing appeal for independence. + +"The man who thought that he was my father, a stout, ruddy-faced man, +who gave everyone the idea of a butcher, and my brothers, two great +fellows of twenty and twenty-two, were waiting quietly in their chairs. +Monsieur de Bourneval, who had been invited to be present, came in and +stood behind me. He was very pale, and bit his moustache, which was +turning gray. No doubt he was prepared for what was going to happen, and +the lawyer double-locked the door and began to read the will, after +having opened the envelope, which was sealed with red wax, and whose +contents he was ignorant of, in our presence." + +My friend stopped suddenly and got up, and from his writing-table he +took an old paper, unfolded it, kissed it, and then continued: "This is +the will of my beloved mother: + + "'I, the undersigned, Anne Catherine-Genevieve-Mathilde de + Croixlure, the legitimate wife of Leopold-Joseph Goutran de + Courcils, sound in body and mind, here express my last wishes. + + "'I first of all ask God, and then my dear son Rene, to pardon me + for the act I am about to commit. I believe that my child's heart + is great enough to understand me, and to forgive me. I have + suffered my whole life long. I was married out of calculation, then + despised, misunderstood, oppressed and constantly deceived by my + husband. + + "'I forgive him, but I owe him nothing. + + "'My eldest sons never loved me, never spoilt me, scarcely treated + me as a mother, but during my whole life I was everything that I + ought to have been, and I owe them nothing more after my death. The + ties of blood cannot exist without daily and constant affection. An + ungrateful son is less than a stranger; he is a culprit, for he has + no right to be indifferent towards his mother. + + "'I have always trembled before men, before their unjust laws, + their inhuman customs, their shameful prejudices. Before God, I + have no longer any fear. Dead, I fling aside disgraceful hypocrisy; + I dare to speak my thoughts, and to avow and to sign the secret of + my heart. + + "'I therefore leave that part of my fortune of which the law allows + me to dispose, as a deposit with my dear lover Pierre-Gennes-Simon + de Bourneval, to revert afterwards to our dear son, Rene. + + "'(This wish is, moreover, formulated more precisely in a notarial + deed). + + "'And I declare before the Supreme Judge who hears me, that I + should have cursed heaven and my own existence, if I had not met my + lover's deep, devoted, tender, unshaken affection, if I had not + felt in his arms that the Creator made His creatures to love, + sustain and console each other, and to weep together in the hours + of sadness. + + "'Monsieur de Courcils is the father of my two eldest sons; Rene + alone owes his life to Monsieur de Bourneval. I pray to the Master + of men and of their destinies, to place father and son above social + prejudices, to make them love each other until they die, and to + love me also in my coffin. + + "'These are my last thoughts, and my last wish. + + "'MATHILDE DE CROIXLUCE.'" + + +"'Monsieur de Courcils had arisen and he cried: + +"'It is the will of a mad woman.' + +"Then Monsieur de Bourneval stepped forward and said in a loud and +penetrating voice: 'I, Simon de Bourneval, solemnly declare that this +writing contains nothing but the strict truth, and I am ready to prove +it by letters which I possess.' + +"On hearing that, Monsieur de Courcils went up to him, and I thought +they were going to collar each other. There they stood, both of them +tall, one stout and the other thin, both trembling. My mother's husband +stammered out: 'You are a worthless wretch!' And the other replied in a +loud, dry voice: 'We will meet somewhere else, monsieur. I should have +already slapped your ugly face, and challenged you a long time ago, if I +had not, before everything else, thought of the peace of mind of that +poor woman whom you made suffer so much during her lifetime.' + +"Then, turning to me, he said: 'You are my son; will you come with me? I +have no right to take you away, but I shall assume it, if you will +kindly come with me.' I shook his hand without replying, and we went out +together; I was certainly three parts mad. + +"Two days later Monsieur de Bourneval killed Monsieur de Courcils in a +duel. My brothers, fearing some terrible scandal, held their tongues, +and I offered them, and they accepted, half the fortune which my mother +had left me. I took my real father's name, renouncing that which the law +gave me, but which was not really mine. Monsieur de Bourneval died three +years afterwards, and I have not consoled myself yet." + +He rose from his chair, walked up and down the room, and, standing in +front of me, he said: + +"Well, I say that my mother's will was one of the most beautiful and +loyal, as well as one of the grandest acts that a woman could perform. +Do you not think so?" + +I gave him both my hands: + +"Most certainly I do, my friend." + + + + +A COUNTRY EXCURSION + + +For five months they had been talking of going to lunch at some country +restaurant in the neighborhood of Paris, on Madame Dufour's birthday, +and as they were looking forward very impatiently to the outing, they +had got up very early that morning. Monsieur Dufour had borrowed the +milkman's tilted cart, and drove himself. It was a very tidy, +two-wheeled conveyance, with a hood, and in it the wife, resplendent in +a wonderful, sherry-colored, silk dress, sat by the side of her husband. + +The old grandmother and a girl were accommodated with two chairs, and a +boy with yellow hair was lying at the bottom of the trap, of whom +however, nothing was to be seen except his head. + +When they got to the bridge of Neuilly, Monsieur Dufour said: "Here we +are in the country at last!" and at that signal, his wife had grown +sentimental about the beauties of nature. When they got to the cross +roads at Courbevoie, they were seized with admiration for the distant +horizon down there; on the right, was the spire of Argenteuil church, +and above it rose the hills of Sannois, and the mill of Orgemont, while +on the left, the aqueduct of Marly stood out against the clear morning +sky, and in the distance they could see the terrace of Saint-Germain; +and opposite to them, at the end of a low chain of hills, the new fort +of Cormeilles. Quite in the distance, a very long way off, beyond the +plains and villages, one could see the somber green of the forests. + +The sun was beginning to shine in their faces, the dust got into their +eyes, and on either side of the road there stretched an interminable +tract of bare, ugly country which smelt unpleasantly. One might have +thought that it had been ravaged by the pestilence, which had even +attacked the buildings, for skeletons of dilapidated and deserted +houses, or small cottages, which were left in an unfinished state, as +the contractors had not been paid, reared their four roofless walls on +each side. + +Here and there tall factory chimneys rose up from the barren soil; the +only vegetation on that putrid land, where the spring breezes wafted an +odor of petroleum and shist, which was mingled with another smell, that +was even still less agreeable. At last, however, they crossed the Seine +a second time, and it was delightful on the bridge. The river sparkled +in the sun, and they had a feeling of quiet satisfaction and enjoyment, +in drinking in the purer air, that was not impregnated by the black +smoke of factories, nor by the miasma from the deposits of night soil. A +man whom they met, told them that the name of the place was _Bezons_, +and so Monsieur Dufour pulled up, and read the attractive announcement +outside an eating-house: _Restaurant Poulin, stews and fried fish, +private rooms, arbors and swings._ + +"Well! Madame Dufour, will this suit you? Will you make up your mind at +last?" + +She read the announcement in her turn, and then looked at the house for +a time. + +It was a white, country inn, built by the road side, and through the +open door she could see the bright zinc of the counter, at which two +workmen, out for the day, were sitting. At last she made up her mind, +and said: + +"Yes, this will do; and, besides, there is a view." + +So they drove into a large yard with trees in it, behind the inn, which +was only separated from the river by the towing-path, and got out. The +husband sprang out first, and then held out his arms for his wife, and +as the step was very high, Madame Dufour, in order to reach him, had to +show the lower part of her limbs, whose former slenderness had +disappeared in fat, the Monsieur Dufour, who was already getting excited +by the country air, pinched her calf, and then taking her in his arms, +he set her onto the ground, as if she had been some enormous bundle. She +shook the dust out of the silk dress, and then looked round, to see in +what sort of a place she was. + +She was a stout woman, of about thirty-six, full-blown and delightful to +look at. She could hardly breathe, as her stays were laced too tightly, +and their pressure forced the heaving mass of her superabundant bosom up +to her double chin. Next, the girl put her hand onto her father's +shoulder, and jumped lightly out. The boy with the yellow hair had got +down by stepping on the wheel, and he helped Monsieur Dufour to get his +grandmother out. Then they unharnessed the horse, which they tied up to +a tree, and the carriage fell back, with both shafts in the air. The men +took off their coats, and washed their hands in a pail of water, and +then went and joined their ladies who had already taken possession of +the swings. + +Mademoiselle Dufour was trying to swing herself standing up, but she +could not succeed in getting a start. She was a pretty girl of about +eighteen; one of those women who suddenly excite your desire when you +meet them in the street, and who leave you with a vague feeling of +uneasiness, and of excited senses. She was tall, had a small waist and +large hips, with a dark skin, very large eyes, and very black hair. Her +dress clearly marked the outlines of her firm, full figure, which was +accentuated by the motion of her hips as she tried to swing herself +higher. Her arms were stretched over her head to hold the rope, so that +her bosom rose at every movement she made. Her hat, which a gust of wind +had blown off, was hanging behind her, and as the swing gradually rose +higher and higher, she showed her delicate limbs up to the knees each +time, and the wind from the petticoats, which was more heady than the +fumes of wine, blew into the faces of the two men, who were looking at +her and smiling. + +Sitting in the other swing, Madame Dufour kept saying in a monotonous +voice: + +"Cyprian, come and swing me; do come and swing me, Cyprian!" + +At last he went, and turning up his shirt sleeves as if he intended to +work very hard, he, with much difficulty set his wife in motion. She +clutched the two ropes, and held her legs out straight, so as not to +touch the ground. She enjoyed feeling giddy at the motion of the swing, +and her whole figure shook like a jelly on a dish, but as she went +higher and higher, she grew too giddy and got frightened. Every time she +was coming back she uttered a piercing scream which made all the little +urchins come round, and, down below, beneath the garden hedge, she +vaguely saw a row of mischievous heads, who made various grimaces as +they laughed. + +When a servant girl came out, they ordered lunch. + +"Some fried fish, a stewed rabbit, salad, and dessert," Madame Dufour +said, with an important air. + +"Bring two quarts of beer and a bottle of claret," her husband said. + +"We will have lunch on the grass," the girl added. + +The grandmother, who had an affection for cats, had been running after +one that belonged to the house, and had been bestowing the most +affectionate words on it, for the last ten minutes. The animal, which +was no doubt secretly flattered by her attentions, kept close to the +good woman, but just out of reach of her hand, and quietly walked round +the trees, against which she rubbed herself, with her tail up, and +purring with pleasure. + +"Hulloh!" the young man with the yellow hair, who was ferreting about, +suddenly exclaimed, "here are two swell boats!" They all went to look at +them, and saw two beautiful skiffs in a wooden boat-house, which were as +beautifully finished as if they had been objects of luxury. They were +moored side by side, like two tall, slender girls, in their narrow +shining length, and excited the wish to float in them on warm summer +mornings and evenings, along the bower-covered banks of the river, where +the trees dipped their branches into the water, where the rushes are +continually rustling in the breeze, and where the swift king-fishers +dart about like flashes of blue lightning. + +The whole family looked at them with great respect. + +"Oh! They are indeed two swell boats," Monsieur Dufour repeated gravely, +and he examined them gravely, and he examined them like a connoisseur. +He had been in the habit of rowing in his younger days, he said, and +when he had that in his hands--and he went through the action of pulling +the oars--he did not care a fig for anybody. He had beaten more than one +Englishman formerly at the Joinville regattas. He grew quite excited at +last, and offered to make a bet, that in a boat like that, he could row +six leagues an hour, without exerting himself. + +"Lunch is ready," the waitress said, appearing at the entrance to the +boat-house, so they all hurried off, but two young men were already +lunching at the best place, which Madame Dufour had chosen in her mind +as her seat. No doubt they were the owners of the skiffs, for they were +dressed in boating costume. They were stretched out, almost lying on +chairs, and were sunburnt, and had on flannel trousers and thin cotton +jerseys, with short sleeves, which showed their bare arms, which were as +strong as blackmiths'. They were two strong fellows, who thought a great +deal of their vigor, and who showed in all their movements that +elasticity and grace of the limbs which can only be acquired by +exercise, and which is so different to the deformity with which the same +continual work stamps the mechanic. + +They exchanged a rapid smile when they saw the mother, and then a look +on seeing the daughter. + +"Let us give up our place," one of them said: "it will make us +acquainted with them." + +The other got up immediately, and holding his black and red boating-cap +in his hand, he politely offered the ladies the only shady place in the +garden. With many excuses they accepted, and so that it might be more +rural, they sat on the grass, without either tables or chairs. + +The two young men took their plates, knives, forks, etc., to a table a +little way off, and began to eat again, and their bare arms, which they +showed continually, rather embarrassed the girl. She even pretended to +turn her head aside, and not to see them, while Madame Dufour, who was +rather bolder, tempted by feminine curiosity, looked at them every +moment, and no doubt compared them with the secret unsightliness of her +husband. She had squatted herself on the ground, with her legs tucked +under her, after the manner of tailors, and she kept wriggling about +continually under the pretext that ants were crawling about her +somewhere. Monsieur Dufour, whom the presence of strangers of politeness +had put into rather a bad tempter, was trying to find a comfortable +position, which he did not, however, succeed in doing, and the young man +with the yellow hair was eating as silently as an ogre. + +"It is lovely weather, Monsieur," the stout lady said to one of the +boating-men. She wished to be friendly, because they had given up their +place. + +"It is, indeed, Madame," he replied; "do you often go into the country?" + +"Oh! Only once or twice a year, to get a little fresh air; and you, +monsieur?" + +"I come and sleep here every night." + +"Oh! That must be very nice?" + +"Certainly it is, Madame." And he gave them such a practical account of +his daily life, that it gave rise in the hearts of these shop-keepers, +who were deprived of the meadows, and who longed for country walks, to +that foolish love of nature, which they all feel so strongly the whole +year round, behind the counter in their shop. + +The girl raised her eyes, and looked at the oarsman with emotion, and +Monsieur Dufour spoke for the first time. + +"It is indeed a happy life," he said. And then he added: "A little more +rabbit, my dear?" + +"No, thank you," she replied and turning to the young men again, and +pointing to their arms asked: "Do you never feel cold like that?" + +They both began to laugh, and they frightened the family by the account +of the enormous fatigue they could endure, of their bathing while in a +state of tremendous perspiration, of their rowing in the fog at night, +and they struck their chests violently, to show how they sounded. + +"Ah! You look very strong," the husband said, who did not talk any more +of the time when he used to beat the English. The girl was looking at +them aside now, and the young fellow with the yellow hair was coughing +violently, as he had swallowed some wine the wrong way, and bespattering +Madame Dufour's cherry-colored silk dress, who got angry, and sent for +some water, to wash the spots. + +Meanwhile it had grown unbearably hot, the sparkling river looked like a +blaze of fire, and the fumes of the wine were getting into their heads. +Monsieur Dufour, who had a violent hiccough, had unbuttoned his +waistcoat, and the top of his trousers, while his wife, who felt +choking, was gradually unfastening her dress. The apprentice was shaking +his yellow wig in a happy frame of mind, and kept helping himself to +wine, and as the old grandmother felt drunk, she also felt very stiff +and dignified. As for the girl, she showed nothing, except a peculiar +brightness in her eyes, while the brown skin on the cheeks became more +rosy. + +The coffee finished them off; they spoke of singing, and each of them +sang, or repeated a couplet, which the others repeated frantically. Then +they got up with some difficulty, and while the two women, who were +rather dizzy, were getting the fresh air, the two men, who were +altogether drunk, were performing gymnastic tricks. Heavy, limp, and +with scarlet faces, they hung awkwardly onto the iron rings, without +being able to raise themselves, while their shirts were continually +threatening to leave their trousers, and to flap in the wind like flags. + +Meanwhile, the two boating-men had got their skiffs into the water, and +they came back, and politely asked the ladies whether they would like a +row. + +"Would you like one, Monsieur Dufour?" his wife exclaimed,--"Please +come!" + +He merely gave her a drunken look, without understanding what she said. +Then one of the rowers came up, with two fishing-rods in his hand; and +the hope of catching a gudgeon, that great aim of the Parisian +shop-keeper, made Dufour's dull eyes gleam, and he politely allowed them +to do whatever they liked, while he sat in the shade, under the bridge, +with his feet dangling over the river, by the side of the young man with +the yellow hair, who was sleeping soundly close to him. + +One of the boating men made a martyr of himself and took the mother. + +"Let us go to the little wood on the _Ile aux Anglias_!" he called out, +as he rowed off. The other skiff went slower, for the rower was looking +at his companion so intently, that he thought of nothing else, and his +emotion paralyzed his strength, while the girl, who was sitting on the +steerer's seat, gave herself up to the enjoyment of being on the water. +She felt disinclined to think, felt a lassitude in her limbs, and a +total abandonment of herself, as if she were intoxicated, and she had +become very flushed, and breathed shortly. The effects of the wine, +which were increased by the extreme heat, made all the trees on the bank +seem to bow, as she passed. A vague wish for enjoyment and a +fermentation for her blood, seemed to pervade her whole body, which was +excited by the heat of the day; and she was also agitated by this +_tete-a-tete_ on the water, in a place which seemed depopulated by the +heat, with this young man who thought her pretty, whose looks seemed to +caress her skin, and whose looks were as penetrating and pervading as +the sun's rays. + +Their inability to speak, increased their emotion, and they looked about +them, but at last he made an effort and asked her name. + +"Henriette," she said. + +"Why! My name is Henri," he replied. The sound of their voices had +calmed them, and they looked at the banks. The other skiff had passed +them, and seemed to be waiting for them, and the rower called out: + +"We will meet you in the wood; we are going as far as _Robinson's_[13] +because Madame Dufour is thirsty." Then he bent over his oars again, and +rowed off so quickly that he was soon out of sight. + +[Footnote 13: A well-known restaurant on the banks of the Seine, which +is much frequented by the middle classes.--TRANSLATOR.] + +Meanwhile, a continual roar, which they had heard for some time, came +nearer, and the river itself seemed to shiver, as if the dull noise were +rising from its depths. + +"What is that noise?" she asked. It was the noise of the weir, which cut +the river in two, at the island, and he was explaining it to her, when +above the noise of the waterfall, they heard the song of a bird, which +seemed a long way off. + +"Listen!" he said; "the nightingales are singing during the day, so the +females must be sitting." + +A nightingale! She had never heard one before, and the idea of listening +to one roused visions of poetic tenderness in her heart. A nightingale! +That is to say, the invisible witness of her lovers' interview which +Juliette invoked on her balcony[14]; the celestial music, which is +attuned to human kisses, that eternal inspirer of all those languorous +romances which open an ideal sky to all the poor little tender hearts of +sensitive girls! + +[Footnote 14: Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene V.] + +She was going to hear a nightingale. + +"We must not make a noise," her companion said, "and then we can go into +the wood, and sit down close to it." + +The skiff seemed to glide. They saw the trees on the island, whose banks +were so low, that they could look into the depths of the thickets. They +stopped, he made the boat fast, Henriette took hold of Henri's arm, and +they went beneath the trees. + +"Stop," he said, so she bent down, and they went into an inextricable +thicket of creepers, leaves, and reed-grass, which formed an +inpenetrable asylum, and which the young man laughingly called, "his +private room." + +Just above their heads, perched in one of the trees which hid them, the +bird was still singing. He uttered shakes and roulades, and then long, +vibrating sounds that filled the air, and seemed to lose themselves on +the horizon, across the level country, through that burning silence +which weighed upon the whole country round. They did not speak for fear +of frightening it away. They were sitting close together, and slowly +Henri's arm stole round the girl's waist and squeezed it gently. She +took that daring hand without any anger, and kept removing it whenever +he put it round her; without, however, feeling at all embarrassed by +this caress, just as if it had been something quite natural, which she +was resisting just as naturally. + +She was listening to the bird in ecstasy. She felt an infinite longing +for happiness, for some sudden demonstration of tenderness, for the +revelation of super-human poetry, and she felt such a softening at her +heart, and relaxation of her nerves, that she began to cry, without +knowing why, and now the young man was straining her close to him, and +she did not remove his arm; she did not think of it. Suddenly the +nightingale stopped, and a voice called out in the distance: + +"Henriette!" + +"Do not reply," he said in a low voice; "you will drive the bird away." + +But she had no idea of doing so, and they remained in the same position +for some time. Madame Dufour had sat down somewhere or other, for from +time to time they heard the stout lady break out into little bursts of +laughter. + +The girl was still crying; she was filled with strange sensations. +Henri's head was on her shoulder, and suddenly he kissed her on the +lips. She was surprised and angry, and, to avoid him, she stood up. + +They were both very pale, when they quitted their grassy retreat. The +blue sky looked dull to them, and the ardent sun was clouded over to +their eyes, but they perceived not the solitude and silence. They walked +quickly side by side, without speaking or touching each other, for they +appeared to be irreconcilable enemies, as if disgust had sprung up +between them, and hatred between their souls, and from time to time +Henriette called out: "Mamma!" + +By-and-bye they heard a noise in a thicket, and the stout lady appeared +looking rather confused, and her companion's face was wrinkled with +smiles which he could not check. + +Madame Dufour took his arm, and they returned to the boats, and Henri, +who was going on first, still without speaking, by the girl's side, and +at last they got back to Bezons. Monsieur Dufour, who had got sober, was +waiting for them very impatiently, while the young man with the yellow +hair, was having a mouthful of something to eat, before leaving the inn. +The carriage was in the yard, with the horse in, and the grandmother, +who had already got in, was very frightened at the thought of being +overtaken by night, before they got back to Paris, as the outskirts were +not safe. + +They shook hands, and the Dufour family drove off. + +"Good-bye, until we meet again!" the oarsman cried, and the answer they +got was a sigh and a tear. + + * * * * * + +Two months later, as Henri was going along the _Rue des Martyrs_, he saw +_Dufour, Ironmonger_ over a door, and so he went in, and saw the stout +lady sitting at the counter. They recognized each other immediately, and +after an interchange of polite greetings, he asked after them all. + +"And how is Mademoiselle Henriette?" he inquired, specially. + +"Very well, thank you; she is married." + +"Ah!" ... But mastering his feelings, he added: "Whom was she married +to?" + +"To that young man who went with us, you know, he has joined us in +business." + +"I remember him, perfectly." + +He was going out, feeling very unhappy, though scarcely knowing why, +when Madame called him back. + +"And how is your friend?" she asked, rather shyly. + +"He is very well, thank you." + +"Please give him our compliments, and beg him to come and call, when he +is in the neighborhood." + +She then added: "Tell him it will give me great pleasure." + +"I will be sure to do so. Adieu!" + +"I will not say that; come again, very soon." + + * * * * * + +The next year, one very hot Sunday, all the details of that adventure +which he had never forgotten, suddenly came back to him so clearly, that +he returned to their room in the wood, and he was overwhelmed with +astonishment when he went in. She was sitting on the grass, looking very +sad, while by her side, again in his shirt sleeves the young man with +the yellow hair was sleeping soundly, like some brute. + +She grew so pale when she saw Henri, that at first he thought she was +going to faint, then, however, they began to talk quite naturally. But +when he told her that he was very fond of that spot, and went there very +often on Sundays, she looked into his eyes for a long time. "I, too, +think of it," she replied. + +"Come, my dear," her husband said, with a yawn; "I think it is time for +us to be going." + + + + +THE LANCER'S WIFE + + +I + +It was after Bourbaki's defeat in the East of France. The army, broken +up, decimated and worn out, had been obliged to retreat into +Switzerland, after that terrible campaign, and it was only the short +time that it lasted, which saved a hundred and fifty thousand men from +certain death. Hunger, the terrible cold, forced marches in the snow +without boots, over bad mountainous roads, had caused us +_francs-tireurs_ especially the greatest sufferings, for we were without +tents and almost without food, always in front when we were marching +towards Belfort, and in the rear, when returning by the Jura. Of our +little band that had numbered twelve hundred men on the first of +January, there remained only twenty-two pale, thin, ragged wretches, +when we at length succeeded in reaching Swiss territory. + +There we were safe and could rest. Everybody knows what sympathy was +shown to the unfortunate French army, and how well it was cared for. We +all gained fresh life, and those who had been rich and happy before the +war, declared that they had never experienced a greater feeling of +comfort than they did then. Just think. We actually had something to eat +every day, and could sleep every night. + +Meanwhile, the war continued in the East of France, which had been +excluded from the armistice. Besancon still kept the enemy in check, and +the latter had their revenge by ravaging the _Franche Comte_. Sometimes +we heard that they had approached quite close to the frontier, and we +saw Swiss troops, who were to form a line of observation between us and +them, set out on their march. + +That pained us in the end, and as we regained health and strength the +longing for fighting laid hold of us. It was disgraceful and irritating +to know that within two or three leagues of us, the Germans were +victorious and insolent, to feel that we were protected by our +captivity, and to feel that on that account we were powerless against +them. + +One day, our captain took five or six of us aside, and spoke to us about +it, long and furiously. He was a fine fellow that captain. He had been a +sub-lieutenant in the Zouaves, was tall and thin, and as hard as steel, +and during the whole campaign he had cut out their work for the Germans. +He fretted in inactivity and could not accustom himself to the idea of +being a prisoner and of doing nothing. + +"Confound it!" he said to us, "does it not pain you to know that there +is a number of Uhlans within two hours of us? Does it not almost drive +you mad to know that those beggarly wretches are walking about as +masters in our mountains, where six determined men might kill a whole +spitful any day? I cannot endure it any longer, and I must go there." + +"But how can you manage it, Captain?" + +"How? It is not very difficult! Just as if we had not done a thing or +two within the last six months, and got out of woods that were guarded +by very different men from the Swiss. The day that you wish to cross +over into France, I will undertake to get you there." + +"That may be; but what shall we do in France without any arms?" + +"Without arms? We will get them over yonder, by Jove!" + +"You are forgetting the treaty," another soldier said; "we shall run the +risk of doing the Swiss an injury, if Manteuffel learns that they have +allowed prisoners to return to France." + +"Come," said the captain, "those are all bad reasons. I mean to go and +kill some Prussians; that is all I care about. If you do not wish to do +as I do, well and good; only say so at once. I can quite well go by +myself; I do not require anybody's company." + +Naturally we all protested and as it was quite impossible to make the +captain alter his mind, we felt obliged to promise to go with him. We +liked him too much to leave him in the lurch, as he never failed us in +any extremity; and so the expedition was decided on. + + +II + +The Captain had a plan of his own, that he had been cogitating over for +some time. A man in that part of the country, whom he knew, was going to +lend him a cart, and six suits of peasants' clothes. We could hide under +some straw at the bottom of the wagon, and it would be loaded with +Gruyere cheese, which he was supposed to be going to sell in France. The +captain told the sentinels that he was taking two friends with him, to +protect his goods, in case any one should try to rob him, which did not +seem an extraordinary precaution. A Swiss officer seemed to look at the +wagon in a knowing manner, but that was in order to impress his +soldiers. In a word, neither officers nor men could make it out. + +"Get on," the captain said to the horses, as he cracked his whip, while +our three men quietly smoked their pipes. I was half-suffocated in my +box, which only admitted the air through those holes in front, while at +the same time I was nearly frozen, for it was terribly cold. + +"Get on," the captain said again, and the wagon loaded with Gruyere +cheese entered France. + +The Prussian lines were very badly guarded, as the enemy trusted to the +watchfulness of the Swiss. The sergeant spoke North German, while our +captain spoke the bad German of the _Four Cantons_, and so they could +not understand each other; the sergeant, however, pretended to be very +intelligent, and in order to make us believe that he understood us, they +allowed us to continue our journey, and after traveling for seven hours, +being continually stopped in the same manner, we arrived at a small +village of the Jura, in ruins, at nightfall. + +What were wre going to do? Our only arms were the captain's whip, our +uniforms, our peasants' blouses, and our food our Gruyere cheese. Our +sole riches consisted in our ammunition, packets of cartridges which we +had stowed away inside some of the huge cheeses. We had about a thousand +of them, just two hundred each, but then we wanted rifles, and they must +be Chassepots; luckily, however, the captain was a bold man of an +inventive mind, and this was the plan that he hit upon. + +While three of us remained hidden in a cellar in the abandoned village, +he continued his journey as far as Besancon with the empty wagon and one +man. The town was invested, but one can always make one's way into a +town among the hills by crossing the table-land till within about ten +miles of the walls, and then by following paths and ravines on foot. +They left their wagon at Omans, among the Germans, and escaped out of it +at night on foot, so as to gain the heights which border the river +Doubs; the next day they entered Besancon, where there were plenty of +Chassepots. There were nearly forty thousand of them left in the +arsenal, and General Roland, a brave marine, laughed at the captain's +daring project, but let him have six rifles and wished him "good luck." +There he had also found his wife, who had been through all the war with +us before the campaign in the East, and who had been only prevented by +illness from continuing with Bourbaki's army. She had recovered, +however, in spite of the cold, which was growing more and more intense, +and in spite of the numberless privations that awaited her, she +persisted in accompanying her husband. He was obliged to give way to +her, and they all three, the captain, his wife, and our comrade, started +on their expedition. + +Going was nothing in comparison to returning. They were obliged to +travel by night, so as to avoid meeting anybody, as the possession of +six rifles would have made them liable to suspicion. But in spite of +everything, a week after leaving us, the captain and his _two men_ were +back with us again. The campaign was about to begin. + + +III + +The first night of his arrival, he began it himself, and, under the +pretext of examining the country round, he went along the high road. + +I must tell you, that the little village which served as our fortress +was a small collection of poor, badly built houses, which had been +deserted long before. It lay on a steep slope, which terminated in a +wooded plain. The country people sell the wood; they send it down the +ravines, which are called _coulees_, locally, and which lead down to the +plain, and there they stack it into piles, which they sell thrice a year +to the wood merchants. The spot where this market is held, is indicated +by two small houses by the side of the high road, and which serve for +public-houses. The captain had gone down there by one of these +_coulees_. + +He had been gone about half-an-hour, and we were on the look-out at the +top of the ravine when we heard a shot. The captain had ordered us not +to stir, and only to come to him when we heard him blow his trumpet. It +was made of a goat's horn, and could be heard a league off, but it gave +no sound, and in spite of our cruel anxiety we were obliged to wait in +silence, with out rifles by our side. + +It is nothing to go down these _coulees_; one need only let oneself +glide down, but it is more difficult to get up again; one has to +scramble up by catching hold of the hanging branches of the trees, and +sometimes on all fours, by sheer strength. A whole mortal hour passed +and he did not come, nothing moved in the brushwood. The captain's wife +began to grow impatient; what could he be doing? Why did he not call us? +Did the shot that we had heard proceed from an enemy, and had he killed +or wounded our leader, her husband? They did not know what to think, but +I myself fancied, either that he was dead, or that his enterprise was +successful, and I was merely anxious and curious to know what he had +done. + +Suddenly we heard the sound of his trumpet, and we were much surprised +that instead of coming from below, as we had expected, it came from the +village behind us. What did that mean? It was a mystery to us, but the +same idea struck us all, that he had been killed, and that the Prussians +were blowing the trumpet to draw us into an ambush. We therefore +returned to the cottage, keeping a careful look out, with our fingers on +the trigger, and hiding under the branches, but his wife, in spite of +our entreaties, rushed on, leaping like a tigress. She thought that she +had to avenge her husband, and had fixed the bayonet to her rifle, and +we lost sight of her at the moment that we heard the trumpet again, and +a few moments later we heard her calling out to us: + +"Come on! come on! he is alive! it is he!" + +We hastened on, and saw the captain smoking his pipe at the entrance of +the village, but strangely enough he was on horseback. + +"Ah! Ah!" he said to us, "you see that there is something to be done +here. Here I am on horseback already. I knocked over a uhlan yonder, and +took his horse; I suppose they were guarding the wood, but it was by +drinking and swilling in clover. One of them, the sentry at the door, +had not time to see me before I gave him a sugar plum in his stomach, +and then, before the others could come out, I jumped on to the horse and +was off like a shot. Eight or ten of them followed me, I think, but I +took the cross-roads through the woods; I have got scratched and torn a +bit, but here I am, and now, my good fellows, attention, and take care! +Those brigands will not rest until they have caught us, and we must +receive them with rifle bullets. Come along; let us take up our posts!" + +We set out. One of us took up his position a good way from the village +of the cross-roads; I was posted at the entrance of the main street, +where the road from the level country enters the village, while the two +others, the captain and his wife were in the middle of the village, near +the church, whose tower served for an observatory and citadel. + +We had not been in our places long before we heard a shot followed by +another, and then two, then three. The first was evidently a chassepot; +one recognized it by the sharp report, which sounds like the crack of a +whip, while the other three came from the lancers' carbines. + +The captain was furious. He had given orders to the outpost to let the +enemy pass and merely to follow them at a distance, if they marched +towards the village, and to join me when they had gone well between the +houses. Then they were to appear suddenly, take the patrol between two +fires, and not allow a single man to escape, for posted as we were, the +six of us could have hemmed in ten Prussians, if needful. + +"That confounded Piedelot has roused them," the captain said, "and they +will not venture to come on blindfold any longer. And then I am quite +sure that he has managed to get a shot into himself somewhere or other, +for we hear nothing of him. It serves him right; why did he not obey +orders?" And then, after a moment, he grumbled in his beard: "After all, +I am sorry for the poor fellow, he is so brave and shoots so well!" + +The captain was right in his conjectures. We waited until evening, +without seeing the uhlans: they had retreated after the first attack, +but unfortunately we had not seen Piedelot either. Was he dead or a +prisoner? When night came, the captain proposed that we should go out +and look for him, and so the three of us started. At the cross-roads we +found a broken rifle and some blood, while the ground was trampled down, +but we did not find either a wounded man or a dead body, although we +searched every thicket, and at midnight we returned without having +discovered anything of our unfortunate comrade. + +"It is very strange," the captain growled. "They must have killed him +and thrown him into the bushes somewhere; they cannot possibly have +taken him prisoner, as he would have called out for help. I cannot +understand it all." Just as he said that, bright, red flames shot up in +the direction of the inn on the high road, which illuminated the sky. + +"Scoundrels! cowards!" he shouted. "I will bet they have set fire to the +two houses on the market-place, in order to have their revenge and then +they will scuttle off without saying a word. They will be satisfied with +having killed a man and setting fire to two houses. All right. It shall +not pass over like that. We must go for them; they will not like to +leave their illuminations in order to fight." + +"It would be a great stroke of luck, if we could set Piedelot free at +the same time," some one said. + +The five of us set off, full of rage and hope. In twenty minutes we had +got to the bottom of the _coulee_, and we had not yet seen anyone, when +we had got within a hundred yards of the inn. The fire was behind the +house, and so all that we saw of it was the reflection above the roof. +However, we were walking rather slowly, as we were afraid of a trap, +when suddenly we heard Piedelot's well-known voice. It had a strange +sound, however, for it was at the same time dull and vibrating, stifled +and clear, as if he was calling out as loud as he could with a bit of +rag stuffed into his mouth. He seemed to be hoarse and panting, and the +unlucky fellow kept exclaiming: "Help! Help!" + +We sent all thoughts of prudence to the devil, and in two bounds we were +at the back of the inn, where a terrible sight met our eyes. + + +IV + +Piedelot was being burnt alive. He was writhing in the middle of a heap +of fagots, against a stake to which they had fastened him, and the +flames were licking him with their sharp tongues. When he saw us, his +tongue seemed to stick in his throat, he drooped his head, and seemed as +if he were going to die. It was only the affair of a moment to upset the +burning pile, to scatter the embers, and to cut the ropes that fastened +him. + +Poor fellow! In what a terrible state we found him. The evening before, +he had had his left arm broken, and it seemed as if he had been badly +beaten since then, for his whole body was covered with wounds, bruises, +and blood. The flames had also begun their work on him, and he had two +large burns, one on his loins, and the other on his right thigh, and his +beard and his hair were scorched. Poor Piedelot! + +Nobody knows the terrible rage we felt at this sight! We would have +rushed headlong at a hundred thousand Prussians. Our thirst for +vengeance was intense but the cowards had run away, leaving their crime +behind them. Where could we find them now? Meanwhile, however, the +captain's wife was looking after Piedelot, and dressing his wounds as +best she could, while the captain himself shook hands with him excitedly +and in a few minutes he came to himself. + +"Good morning, captain, good morning, all of you," he said. "Ah! the +scoundrels, the wretches! Why twenty of them came to surprise us." + +"Twenty, do you say?" + +"Yes, there was a whole band of them, and that is why I disobeyed +orders, captain, and fired on them, for they would have killed you all, +so I preferred to stop them. That frightened them, and they did not +venture to go further than the cross-roads. They were such cowards. Four +of them shot at me at twenty yards, as if I had been a target, and then +they slashed me with their swords. My arm was broken so that I could +only use my bayonet with one hand." + +"But why did you not call for help?" + +"I took good care not to do that, for you would all have come, and you +would neither have been able to defend me nor yourselves, being only +five against twenty." + +"You know that we should not have allowed you to have been taken, poor +old fellow." + +"I preferred to die by myself, don't you see! I did not want to bring +you there, for it would have been a mere ambush." + +"Well, we will not talk about it any more. Do you feel rather easier?" + +"No, I am suffocating. I know that I cannot live much longer. The +brutes! They tied me to a tree, and beat me till I felt half dead, and +then they shook my broken arm, but I did not make a sound. I would +rather have bitten my tongue out than have called out before them.... +Now I can say what I am suffering and shed tears; it does one good. +Thank you, my kind friends." + +"Poor Piedelot! But we will avenge you, you may be sure!" + +"Yes, yes, I want you to do that. Especially, there is a woman among +them, who passes as the wife of the lancer whom the captain killed +yesterday. She is dressed like a lancer, and she tortured me the most +yesterday, and suggested burning me, and it was she who set fire to the +wood. Oh! the wretch, the brute.... Ah! how I am suffering! My loins, my +arms!" and he fell back panting and exhausted, writhing in his terrible +agony, while the captain's wife wiped the perspiration from his +forehead, and we all shed tears of grief and rage, as if we had been +children. I will not describe the end to you; he died half-an-hour +later, but before that he told us in which direction the enemy had gone. +When he was dead, we gave ourselves time to bury him, and then we set +out in pursuit of them, with our hearts full of fury and hatred. + +"We will throw ourselves on the whole Prussian army, if it be needful," +the captain said, "but we will avenge Piedelot. We must catch those +scoundrels. Let us swear to die, rather than not to find them, and if I +am killed first, these are my orders: all the prisoners that you make +are to be shot immediately, and as for the lancer's wife, she is to be +violated before she is put to death." + +"She must not be shot, because she is a woman," the captain's wife said. +"If you survive, I am sure that you would not shoot a woman. Outraging +her will be quite sufficient; but if you are killed in this pursuit, I +want one thing, and that is to fight with her; I will kill her with my +own hands, and the others can do what they like with her if she kills +me. + +"We will outrage her! We will burn her! We will tear her to pieces! +Piedelot shall be avenged, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!" + + +V + +The next morning we unexpectedly fell on an outpost of uhlans four +leagues away. Surprised by our sudden attack, they were not able to +mount their horses, nor even to defend themselves, and in a few moments +we had five prisoners, corresponding to our own number. The captain +questioned them, and from their answers we felt certain that they were +the same whom we had encountered the previous day, then a very curious +operation took place. One of us was told off to ascertain their sex, and +nothing can depict our joy when we discovered what we were seeking among +them, the female executioner who had tortured our friend. + +The four others were shot on the spot, with their backs towards us, and +close to the muzzles of our rifles, and then we turned our attention to +the woman; what were we going to do with her? I must acknowledge that we +were all of us in favor of shooting her. Hatred, and the wish to avenge +Piedelot had extinguished all pity in us, and we had forgotten that we +were going to shoot a woman, but a woman reminded us of it, the +captain's wife; at her entreaties, therefore, we determined to keep her +prisoner. + +The captain's poor wife was to be severely punished for this act of +clemency. + +The next day we heard that the armistice had been extended to the +Eastern part of France, and we had to put an end to our little campaign. +Two of us, who belonged to the neighborhood, returned home, so there +were only four of us, all told; the captain, his wife, and two men. We +belonged to Besancon, which was still being besieged in spite of the +armistice. + +"Let us stop here," said the captain. "I cannot believe that the war is +going to end like this. The devil take it. Surely there are men still +left in France, and now is the time to prove what they are made of. The +spring is coming on, and the armistice is only a trap laid for the +Prussians. During the time that it lasts, a new army will be formed, and +some fine morning we shall fall upon them again. We shall be ready, and +we have a hostage--let us remain here." + +We fixed our quarters there. It was terribly cold, and we did not go out +much, and somebody had always to keep the female prisoner in sight. + +She was sullen and never said anything, or else spoke of her husband, +whom the captain had killed. She looked at him continually with fierce +eyes, and we felt that she was tortured by a wild longing for revenge. +That seemed to us to be the most suitable punishment for the terrible +torments that she had made Piedelot suffer, for impotent vengeance is +such intense pain! + +Alas! we who knew how to avenge our comrade, ought to have thought that +this woman would know how to avenge her husband, and have been on our +guard. It is true that one of us kept watch every night, and that at +first we tied her by a long rope to the great oak bench that was +fastened to the wall. But, by and by, as she had never tried to escape, +in spite of her hatred for us, we relaxed our extreme prudence, and +allowed her to sleep somewhere else except on the bench, and without +being tied. What had we to fear? She was at the end of the room, a man +was on guard at the door, and between her and the sentinel the captain's +wife and two other men used to lie. She was alone and unarmed against +four, so there could be no danger. + +One night when we were asleep, and the captain was on guard, the +lancer's wife was lying more quietly in her corner than usual, and she +had even smiled for the first time since she had been our prisoner, +during the evening. Suddenly, however, in the middle of the night, we +were all awakened by a terrible cry. We got up, groping about and +scarcely were we up when we stumbled over a furious couple who were +rolling about and fighting on the ground. It was the captain and the +lancer's wife. We threw ourselves on to them, and separated them in a +moment. She was shouting and laughing, and he seemed to have the death +rattle. All this took place in the dark. Two of us held her, and when a +light was struck, a terrible sight met our eyes. The captain was lying +on the floor in a pool of blood, with an enormous wound in his throat, +and his sword bayonet that had been taken from his rifle, was sticking +in the red, gaping wound. A few minutes afterwards he died, without +having been able to utter a word. + +His wife did not shed a tear. Her eyes were dry, her throat was +contracted, and she looked at the lancer's wife steadfastly, and with a +calm ferocity that inspired fear. + +"This woman belongs to me," she said to us suddenly. "You swore to me +not a week ago, to let me kill her as I chose, if she killed my husband, +and you must keep your oath. You must fasten her securely to the +fireplace, upright against the back of it, and then you can go where you +like, but far from here. I will take my revenge on her to myself. Leave +the captain's body, and we three, he, she, and I, will remain here." + +We obeyed and went away. She promised to write to us to Geneva, as we +were returning there. + + +VI + +Two days later, I received the following letter, dated the day after we +had left, and that had been written at an inn on the high road: + + "MY FRIEND, + + "I am writing to you, according to my promise. For the moment I am + at the inn, where I have just handed my prisoner over to a Prussian + officer. + + "I must tell you, my friend, that this poor woman has left two + children in Germany. She had followed her husband whom she adored, + as she did not wish him to be exposed to the risks of war by + himself, and as her children were with their grandparents. I have + learnt all this since yesterday, and it has turned my ideas of + vengeance into more humane feelings. At the very moment when I felt + pleasure in insulting this woman, and in threatening her with the + most fearful torments, in recalling Piedelot, who had been burnt + alive, and in threatening her with a similar death, she looked at + me coldly, and said: + + "'What have you got to reproach me with, Frenchwoman? You think + that you will do right in avenging your husband's death, is not + that so?' + + "'Yes, I replied.' + + "'Very well then; in killing him, I did what you are going to do in + burning me. I avenged my husband, for your husband killed him.' + + "'Well,' I replied, 'as you approve of this vengeance, prepare to + endure it.' + + "'I do not fear it.' + + "And in fact she did not seem to have lost courage. Her face was + calm, and she looked at me without trembling, while I brought wood + and dried leaves together, and feverishly threw on to them the + powder from some cartridges, which was to make her funeral pile the + more cruel. + + "I hesitated in my thoughts of persecution for a moment. But the + captain was there, pale and covered with blood, and he seemed to be + looking at me with his large, glassy eyes, and I applied myself to + my work again after kissing his pale lips. Suddenly, however, on + raising my head, I saw that she was crying, and I felt rather + surprised. + + "'So you are frightened?' I said to her. + + "'No, but when I saw you kiss your husband, I thought of mine, of + all whom I love." + + "She continued to sob, but stopping suddenly she said to me in + broken words, and in a low voice: + + "'Have you any children?' + + "A shiver ran over me, for I guessed that this poor woman had some. + She asked me to look in a pocketbook which was in her bosom, and in + it I saw two photographs of quite young children, a boy and a girl, + with those kind, gentle, chubby faces that German children have. In + it there were also two locks of light hair and a letter in a large + childish hand, and beginning with German words which meant: 'My + dear little mother.' + + "I could not restrain my tears, my dear friend, and so I untied + her, and without venturing to look at the face of my poor, dead + husband, who was not to be avenged, I went with her as far as the + inn. She is free; I have just left her, and she kissed me with + tears. I am going upstairs to my husband; come as soon as possible, + my dear friend, to look for our two bodies." + +I set off with all speed, and when I arrived, there was a Prussian +patrol at the cottage, and when I asked what it all meant, I was told +that there was a captain of _Franc-tireurs_ and his wife inside, both +dead. I gave their names; they saw that I knew them, and I begged to be +allowed to undertake their funeral. + +"Somebody has already undertaken it," was the reply. "Go in if you wish +to, as you knew them. You can settle about their funeral with their +friend." + +I went in. The captain and his wife were lying side by side on a bed, +and were covered by a sheet. I raised it, and saw that the woman had +inflicted a similar wound in her throat to that from which her husband +had died. + +At the side of the bed there sat, watching and weeping, the woman who +had been mentioned to me as their best friend. It was the lancer's wife. + + + + +THE COLONEL'S IDEAS + + +"Upon my word," Colonel Laporte said, "I am old and gouty, my legs are +as stiff as two pieces of wood, and yet if a pretty woman were to tell +me to go through the eye of a needle, I believe I should take a jump at +it, like a clown through a hoop. I shall die like that; it is in the +blood. I am an old beau, one of the old school, and the sight of a +woman, a pretty woman, stirs me to the tips of my toes. There! + +"And then, we are all very much alike in France; we remain cavaliers, +cavaliers of love and fortune, since God has been abolished, whose +body-guard we really were. But nobody will ever get a woman out of our +hearts; there she is, and there she will remain, and we love her, and +shall continue to love her, and go on committing all kinds of frolics on +her account, as long as there is a France on the map of Europe, and even +if France were to be wiped off the map, there would always be Frenchmen +left. + +"When I am in the presence of a woman, of a pretty woman, I feel capable +of anything. By Jove! When I feel her looks penetrating me, her +confounded looks which set your blood on fire, I should like to do I +don't know what; to fight a duel, to have a row, to smash the furniture, +in order to show that I am the strongest, the bravest, the most daring, +and the most devoted of men. + +"But I am not the only one, certainly not; the whole French army is like +me, that I will swear to you. From the common soldier to the general, we +all go forward, and to the very end, when there is a woman in the case, +a pretty woman. Remember what Joan of Arc made us do formerly! Come, I +will make a bet that if a pretty woman had taken command of the army on +the eve of Sedan, when Marshal Mac-Mahon was wounded, we should have +broken through the Prussian lines, by Jove! and have had a drink out of +their guns. + +"It was not Trochu, but Saint-Genevieve, who was required in Paris, and +I remember a little anecdote of the war which proves that we are capable +of everything in the presence of a woman. + +"I was a captain, a simple captain, at the time, and I was in command of +a detachment of scouts, who were retreating through a district which +swarmed with Prussians. We were surrounded, pursued, tired out, and half +dead with fatigue and hunger, and by the next day we were bound to reach +Bar-sur-Tain, otherwise we should be done for, cut off from the main +body and killed. I do not know how we managed to escape so far. However, +we had ten leagues to go during the night, ten leagues through the snow, +and with empty stomachs, and I thought to myself: + +"'It is all over; my poor devils of fellows will never be able to do +it.' + +"We had eaten nothing since the day before, and the whole day long we +remained hidden in a barn, and huddled close together, so as not to feel +the cold so much; we did not venture to speak or even move, and we slept +by fits and starts, like one sleeps when one is worn out with fatigue. + +"It was dark by five o'clock; that wan darkness caused by the snow, and +I shook my men. Some of them would not get up; they were almost +incapable oi moving or of standing upright, and their joints were stiff +from the cold and want of motion. + +"In front of us, there was a large expanse of flat, bare country; the +snow was still falling like a curtain, in large, white flakes, which +concealed everything under a heavy, thick, frozen mantle, a mattress of +ice. One might have thought that it was the end of the world. + +"'Come, my lads, let us start.' + +"They looked at the thick, white dust which was coming down, and they +seemed to think: 'We have had enough of this; we may just as well die +here!' Then I took out my revolver, and said: + +"'I will shoot the first man who flinches.' And so they set off, but +very slowly, like men whose legs were of very little use to them, and I +sent four of them three hundred yards ahead, to scout, and the others +followed pell-mell, walking at random and without any order. I put the +strongest in the rear, with orders to quicken the pace of the sluggards +with the points of their bayonets... in the back. + +"The snow seemed as if it were going to bury us alive; it powdered our +_kepis_[15] and cloaks without melting, and made phantoms of us, a +species of specters of dead soldiers, who were very tired, and I said to +myself: 'We shall never get out of this, except by a miracle.' + +[Footnote 15: Forage Caps.] + +"Sometimes we had to stop for a few minutes, on account of those who +could not follow us, and then we heard nothing except the falling snow, +that vague, almost indiscernible sound which all those flakes make, as +they come down together. Some of the men shook themselves, but others +did not move, and so I gave the order to set off again; they shouldered +their rifles, and with weary feet we set out, when suddenly the scouts +fell back. Something had alarmed them; they had heard voices in front of +them, and so I sent six men and a sergeant on ahead, and waited. + +"All at once a shrill cry, a woman's cry, pierced through the heavy +silence of the snow, and in a few minutes they brought back two +prisoners, an old man and a girl, and I questioned them in a low voice. +They were escaping from the Prussians, who had occupied their house +during the evening, and who had got drunk, The father had become alarmed +on his daughter's account, and, without even telling their servants, +they had made their escape into the darkness. I saw immediately that +they belonged to the upper classes, and, as I should have done in any +case, I invited them to come with us, and we started off together, and +as the old man knew the road, he acted as our guide. + +"It had ceased snowing; the stars appeared, and the cold became intense. +The girl, who was leaning on her father's arm, walked wrearily, and with +jerks, and several times she murmured: + +"'I have no feeling at all in my feet;' and I suffered more than she +did, I believe, to see that poor little woman dragging herself like that +through the snow. But suddenly she stopped, and said: + +"'Father, I am so tired that I cannot go any further ther,' + +"The old man wanted to carry her, but he could not even lift her up, and +she fell on the ground, with a deep sigh. We all came round her, and as +for me, I stamped on the ground, not knowing what to do, and quite +unable to make up my mind to abandon that man and girl like that, when +suddenly one of the soldiers, a Parisian, whom they had nicknamed +_Pratique_, said: + +"'Come, comrades, we must carry the young lady, otherwise we shall not +show ourselves Frenchmen, confound it!' + +"I really believe that I swore with pleasure, and said: 'That is very +good of you, my children, and I will take my share of the burden.' + +"We could indistinctly see the trees of a little wood on the left, +through the darkness, and several men went into it, and soon came back +with a bundle of branches twisted into a litter. + +"'Who will lend his cloak? It is for a pretty girl, comrades,' Pratique +said, and ten cloaks were thrown to him. In a moment, the girl was +lying, warm and comfortable, among them, and was raised upon six +shoulders. I placed myself at their head, on the right, and very pleased +I was with my charge. + +"We started off much more briskly, as if we had been having a drink of +wine, and I even heard a few jokes. A woman is quite enough to electrify +Frenchmen, you see. The soldiers, who were reanimated and warm, had +almost reformed their ranks, and an old _franc-tireur_[16] I who was +following the litter, waiting for his turn to replace the first of his +comrades who might give in, said to one of his neighbors, loud enough +for me to hear: + +[Footnote 16: Self-constituted volunteers, in the Franco-German war of +1870-71, whom the Germans often made short work of, when +caught.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"'I am not a young man, now; but by ----, there is nothing like the +women to make you feel queer from head to foot!'" + +"We went on, almost without stopping, until three o'clock in the +morning, when suddenly our scouts fell back again, and soon the whole +detachment showed nothing but a vague shadow on the ground, as the men +lay on the snow, and I gave my orders in a low voice, and heard the +harsh, metallic sound of the cocking of rifles. For there, in the middle +of the plain, some strange object was moving about. It might have been +taken for some enormous animal running about, which unfolded itself like +a serpent, or came together into a coil, suddenly went quickly to the +right or left, stopped, and then went on again. But presently that +wandering shape came near, and I saw a dozen lancers, one behind the +other, who were trying to find their way, which they had lost." + +"They were so near by that time, that I could hear the panting of the +horses, the clink of their swords, and the creaking of their saddles, +and so cried: 'Fire!'" + +"Fifty rifle shots broke the stillness of the night, then there were +four or five reports, and at last one single shot was heard, and when +the smoke had cleared away, we saw that the twelve men and nine horses +had fallen. Three of the animals were galloping away at a furious pace, +and one of them was dragging the body of its rider, which rebounded from +the ground in a terrible manner, whose foot had caught in the stirrup +behind it." + +"One of the soldiers behind me gave a terrible laugh, and said: 'There +are a number of widows there!'" + +"Perhaps he was married. And a third added: 'It did not take long!'" + +"A head was put out of the litter: + +"'What is the matter?' she asked; 'you are fighting?'" + +"'It is nothing, Mademoiselle,' I replied; 'we have got rid of a dozen +Prussians!'" + +"'Poor fellows!' she said. But as she was cold, she quickly disappeared +beneath the cloaks again, and we started off once more. We marched on +for a long time, and at last the sky began to grow pale. The snow became +quite clear, luminous and bright, and a rosy tint appeared in the East, +and suddenly a voice in the distance cried: + +"'Who goes there?'" + +"The whole detachment halted, and I advanced to say who we were. We had +reached the French lines, and as my men defiled before the outpost, a +commandant on horseback, whom I had informed of what had taken place, +asked in a sonorous voice, as he saw the litter pass him: 'What have you +there?'" + +"And immediately, a small head, covered with light hair, appeared, +disheveled and smiling, and replied:" + +"'It is I, Monsieur.'" + +"At this, the men raised a hearty laugh, and we felt quite +light-hearted, while Pratique, who was walking by the side of the +litter, waved his kepi, and shouted:" + +"'Vive la France!' And I felt really moved. I do not know why, except +that I thought it a pretty and gallant thing to say." + +"It seemed to me as if we had just saved the whole of France, and had +done something that other men could not have done, something simple and +really patriotic. I shall never forget that little face, you may be +sure, and if I had to give my opinion about abolishing drums, trumpets, +and bugles, I should propose to replace them in every regiment by a +pretty girl, and that would be even better than playing the +_Marseillaise_. By Jove! It would put some spirit into a trooper to have +a Madonna like that, a living Madonna, by the colonel's side." + +He was silent for a few moments, and then continued, with an air of +conviction, and jerking his head: + +"All the same, we are very fond of women, we Frenchmen!" + + + + +ONE EVENING + + +The steamboat _Kleber_ had stopped, and I was admiring the beautiful bay +of Bougie, that was opened out before us. The high hills were covered +with forests, and in the distance the yellow sands formed a beach of +powdered gold, while the sun shed its fiery rays on the white houses of +the town. + +The warm African breeze blew the odor of that great, mysterious +continent into which men of the Northern races but rarely penetrate, +into my face. For three months I had been wandering on the borders of +that great, unknown world, on the outskirts of that strange world of the +ostrich, the camel, the gazelle, the hippopotamus, the gorilla, the lion +and the tiger, and the negro. I had seen the Arab galloping like the +wind, and passing like a floating standard, and I had slept under those +brown tents, the moving habitation of those white birds of the desert, +and I felt, as it were, intoxicated with light, with fancy, and with +space. + +But now, after this final excursion, I should have to start, to return +to France and to Paris, that city of useless chatter, of commonplace +cares, and of continual hand-shaking, and I should bid adieu to all that +I had got to like so much, which was so new to me, which I had scarcely +had time to see thoroughly, and which I so much regretted to leave. + +A fleet of small boats surrounded the steamer, and, jumping into one +rowed by a negro lad, I soon reached the quay near the old Saracen gate, +whose gray ruins at the entrance of the Kabyle town, looked like an old +escutcheon of nobility. While I was standing by the side of my +portmanteau, looking at the great steamer lying at anchor in the roads, +and filled with admiration at that unique shore, and that semi-circle of +hills, bathed in blue light, which were more beautiful than those of +Ajaccio, or of Porto, in Corsica, a heavy hand was laid on my shoulder, +and on turning round I saw a tall man with a long beard, dressed in +white flannel, and wearing a straw hat, standing by my side, and looking +at me with his blue eyes. + +"Are you not an old school-fellow of mine?" he said. + +"It is very possible. What is your name?" + +"Tremoulin." + +"By Jove! You were in the same class as I was." + +"Ah! Old fellow, I recognized you immediately." + +He seemed so pleased, so happy at seeing me, that in an outburst of +friendly selfishness, I shook both the hands of my former school-fellow +heartily, and felt very pleased at meeting him thus. + +For four years Tremoulin had been one of the best and most intimate +school friends, one of those whom we are too apt to forget as soon as we +leave. In those days he had been a tall, thin fellow, whose head seemed +to be too heavy for his body; it was a large, round head, and hung +sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, onto his chest. +Tremoulin was very clever, however, and had a marvelous aptitude for +learning, and had an instinctive intuition for all literary studies, and +gained nearly all the prizes in our class. + +We were fully convinced at school, that he would turn out a celebrated +man, a poet, no doubt, for he wrote verses, and was full of ingeniously +sentimental ideas. His father, who kept a chemist's shop near the +_Pantheon_, was not supposed to be very well off, and I had lost sight +of him as soon as he had taken his bachelor's degree, and now I +naturally asked him what he was doing there. + +"I am a planter," he replied. + +"Bah! You really plant?" + +"And I have my harvest." + +"What is it?" + +"Grapes, from which I make wine." + +"Is your wine-growing a success?" + +"A great success." + +"So much the better, old fellow." + +"Were you going to the hotel?" + +"Of course I was." + +"Well, then, you must just come home with me, instead!" + +"But! ..." + +"The matter is settled." + +And he said to the young negro who was watching our movements: "Take +that home, Al." + +And the lad put my portmanteau on his shoulder, and set off, raising the +dust with his black feet, while Tremoulin took my arm and led me off. +First of all, he asked me about my journey, and what impressions it had +had on me, and seeing how enthusiastic I was about it, he seemed to like +me better than ever. He lived in an old Moorish house, with an interior +courtyard, without any windows looking into the street, and commanded by +a terrace, which, in its turn, commanded those of the neighboring +houses, as well as the bay, and the forests, the hill, and the open sea, +and I could not help exclaiming: + +"Ah! That is what I like; the whole of the East lays hold of me in this +place. You are indeed lucky to be living here! What nights you must +spend upon that terrace! Do you sleep there?" + +"Yes, in the summer. We will go onto it this evening. Are you fond of +fishing?" + +"What kind of fishing?" + +"Fishing by torchlight." + +"Yes, I am particularly fond of it." + +"Very well, then, we will go after dinner, and we will come back and +drink sherbet on my roof." + +After I had had a bath, he took me to see the charming Kabyle town, a +veritable cascade of white houses toppling down to the sea, and then, +when it was getting dusk, we went in, and after an excellent dinner, we +went down to the quay, and we saw nothing except the fires and the +stars, those large, bright, scintillating African stars. A boat was +waiting for us, and as soon as we had got in, a man whose face I could +not distinguish, began to row, while my friend was getting ready the +brazier which he would light later, and he said to me: "You know I have +a mania for a fish-spear, and nobody can handle it better than I can." + +"Allow me to compliment you on your skill." We had rowed round a kind of +mole, and now we were in a small bay full of high rocks, whose shadows +looked like towers built in the water, and I suddenly perceived that the +sea was phosphorescent, and as the oars moved gently, they seemed to +light up moving flames, that followed in our wake, and then died out, +and I leant over the side of the boat and watched it, as we glided over +that glimmer in the darkness. + +Where were we going to? I could not see my neighbors; in fact, I could +see nothing but the luminous ripple, and the sparks of water dropping +from the oars; it was hot, very hot, and the darkness seemed as hot as a +furnace, and this mysterious motion with these two men in that silent +boat, had a peculiar effect upon me. + +Suddenly the rower stopped. Where were we? I heard a slight scratching +noise close to me, and I saw a hand, nothing but a hand applying a +lighted match to the iron grating which was fastened over the bows of +the boat, which was covered with wood, as if it had been a floating +funeral pile, and which soon was blazing brightly and illuminating the +boat and the two men, an old, thin, pale, wrinkled sailor, with a +pocket-handkerchief tied round his head, instead of a cap, and +Tremoulin, whose fair beard glistened in the light. + +The other began to row again, while Tremoulin kept throwing wood onto +the brazier, which burnt red and brightly. I leant over the side again, +and could see the bottom, and a few feet below us there was that strange +country of the water, which vivifies plants and animals, just like the +air of heaven does. Tremoulin, who was standing in the bows with his +body bent forward, and holding the sharp-pointed trident in his hand, +was on the look-out with the ardent gaze of a beast of prey watching for +its spoil, and, suddenly, with a swift movement, he darted his forked +weapon into the sea so vigorously that it secured a large fish swimming +near the bottom. It was a conger eel, which managed to wriggle, half +dead as it was, into a puddle of the brackish water. + +Tremoulin again threw his spear, and when he pulled it up, I saw a great +lump of red flesh which palpitated, moved, rolled and unrolled, long, +strong, soft feelers round the handle of the trident. It was an octopus, +and Tremoulin opened his knife, and with a swift movement plunged it +between the eyes, and killed it. And so our fishing continued until the +wood began to run short. When there was not enough left to keep up the +fire, Tremoulin dipped the braziers into the sea, and we were again +buried in darkness. + +The old sailor began to row again, slowly and regularly, though I could +not tell where the land or where the port was. By-and-bye, however, I +saw lights. We were nearing the harbor. + +"Are you sleepy?" my friend said to me. + +"Not the slightest." + +"Then we will go and have a chat on the roof." + +"I shall be delighted." + +Just as we got onto the terrace, I saw the crescent moon rising behind +the mountains, and around us, the white houses, with their flat roofs, +descending down towards the sea, while human forms were standing or +lying on them, sleeping or dreaming under the stars; whole families +wrapped in long gowns, and resting in the calm night, after the heat of +the day. + +It suddenly seemed to me as if the Eastern mind were taking possession +of me, the poetical and legendary spirit of a people with simply and +flowery thoughts. My head was full of the Bible and of _The Arabian +Nights_; I could hear the prophets proclaiming miracles, and I could see +princesses wearing silk drawers on the roofs of the palaces, while +delicate perfumes, whose smoke assumed the forms of genii, were burning +on silver dishes, and I said to Tremoulin: + +"You are very fortunate in living here." + +"I came here quite by accident," he replied. + +"By accident?" + +"Yes, accident and unhappiness brought me here." + +"You have been unhappy?" + +"Very unhappy." + +He was standing in front of me, wrapped in his bournoose, and his voice +had such a painful ring in it that it almost made me shiver; after a +moment's silence, he continued: + +"I will tell you what my troubles have been; perhaps it will do me good +to speak about them." + +"Let me hear them." + +"Do you really wish it?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well, then. You remember what I was at school; a sort of poet, +brought up in a chemist's shop. I dreamt of writing books, and I tried +it, after taking my degree, but I did not succeed. I published a volume +of verse, and then a novel, and neither of them sold, and then I wrote a +play, which was never acted." + +"Next, I lost my heart, but I will not give you an account of my +passion. Next door to my father's shop, there was a tailor's, who had a +daughter, with whom I fell in love. She was very clever, and had +obtained her certificates for higher education, and her mind was bright +and active, quite in keeping indeed with her body. She might have been +taken for fifteen, although she was two-and-twenty. She was very small, +with delicate features, outlines and tints, just like some beautiful +water color. Her nose, her mouth, her blue eyes, her light hair, her +smile, her waist, her hands, all looked as if they were fit for a +stained window, and not for everyday life, but she was lively, supple, +and incredibly active, and I was very much in love with her. I remember +two or three walks in the Luxembourg Garden, near the _Medices_ +fountain, which were certainly the happiest hours of my life. I dare say +you have known that foolish condition of tender madness, which causes us +to think of nothing but of acts of adoration! One really becomes +possessed, haunted by a woman, and nothing exists for us, by the side of +her. + +"We soon became engaged, and I told her my projects of the future, which +she did not approve of. She did not believe that I was either a poet, a +novelist, or a dramatic author, and thought a prosperous business could +afford perfect happiness. So I gave up the idea of writing books, and +resigned myself to selling them, and I bought a bookseller's business at +Marseilles, the owner of which had just died. + +"I had three very prosperous years. We had made our shop into a sort of +literary drawing-room, where all the men of letters in the town used to +come and talk. They came in, as if it had been a club, and exchanged +ideas on books, on poets, and especially on politics. My wife, who took +a very active part in the business, enjoyed quite a reputation in the +town, but, as for me, while they were all talking downstairs, I was +working in my studio upstairs, which communicated with the shop by a +winding staircase. I could hear their voices, their laughter, and their +discussions, and sometimes I left off writing in order to listen. I kept +in my own room to write a novel--which I never finished. + +"The most regular frequenters of the shop were Monsieur Montina, a man +of good private means, a tall, handsome man, like one meets with in the +South of France, with an olive skin, and dark, expressive eyes; Monsieur +Barbet, a magistrate; two merchants, who were partners, Messrs. Faucil +and Labarregue, and General, the Marquis de la Fleche, the head of the +Royalist party, the principal man in the whole district, an old fellow +of sixty-six. + +"My business prospered, and I was happy, very happy. One day, however, +about three o'clock, when I was out on business, as I was going through +the _Rue Saint Ferreol_, I suddenly saw a woman come out of a house, +whose figure and appearance were so much like my wife's that I should +have said to myself: 'There she is!' if I had not left her in the shop +half an hour before, suffering from a headache. She was walking quickly +on before me, without turning round, and, in spite of myself, I followed +her, as I felt surprised and uneasy. I said to myself: 'It it she; no, +it is quite impossible, as she has a sick headache. And then, what could +she have to do in that house?' However, as I wished to have the matter +cleared up, I made haste after her. I do not know whether she felt or +guessed that I was behind her, or whether she recognized my step, but +she turned round suddenly. It was she! When she saw me, she grew very +red and stopped, and then, with a smile, she said: 'Oh! Here you are!' I +felt choking. + +"'Yes; so you have come out? And how is your headache?' + +"'It is better, and I have been out on an errand.' + +"'Where?' + +"'To Lacaussade's, in the Rue Cassinelli, to order some pencils,' + +"She looked me full in the face. She was not flushed now, but rather +pale, on the contrary. Her clear, limpid eyes--ah! those women's +eyes!--appeared to be full of truth, but I felt vaguely and painfuly +that they were full of lies. I was much more confused and embarrassed +than she was herself, without venturing to suspect, but sure that she +was lying, though I did not know why, and so I merely said: + +"'You were quite right to go out, if you felt better.' + +"'Oh! yes; my head is much better.' + +"'Are you going home?' + +"'Yes, of course I am.' + +"I left her, and wandered about the streets by myself. What was going +on? While I was talking to her, I had an intuitive feeling of her +falseness, but now I could not believe that it was so, and when I +returned home to dinner, I was angry for having suspected her, even for +a moment. + +"Have you ever been jealous? It does not matter whether you have or not, +but the first drop of jealousy had fallen into my heart, and that is +always like a spark of fire. It did not formulate anything, and I did +not think anything; I only knew that she had lied. You must remember +that every night, after the customers and clerks had left, we were +alone, and either strolled as far as the harbor, when it was fine, or +remained talking in my office, if the weather was bad, and I used to +open my heart to her without any reserve, because I loved her. She was +part of my life, the greater part, and all my happiness, and in her +small hands she held my trusting, faithful heart captive. + +"During those first days, those days of doubt, and before my suspicions +increased and assumed a precise shape, I felt as depressed and chilly as +when we are going to be seriously ill. I was continually cold, really +cold, and could neither eat nor sleep. Why had she told me a lie? What +was she doing in that house? I went there, to try and find out +something, but I could discover nothing. The man who rented the first +floor, and who was an upholsterer, had told me all about his neighbors, +but without helping me the least. A midwife had lived on the second +floor, a dressmaker and a manicure and chiropodist on the third, and two +coachmen and their families in the attics. + +"Why had she told me a lie? It would have been so easy for her to have +said that she had been to the dressmaker's or the chiropodist's. Oh! How +I longed to question them, also! I did not say so, for fear that she +might guess my suspicions. One thing, however, was certain; she had been +into that house, and had concealed the fact from me, so there was some +mystery in it. But what? At one moment, I thought there might be some +laudable purpose in it, some charitable deed that she wished to hide, +some information which she wished to obtain, and I found fault with +myself for suspecting her. Have not all of us the right of our little, +innocent secrets, a kind of second, interior life, for which one ought +not to be responsible to anybody? Can a man, because he has taken a girl +to be his companion through life, demand that she shall neither think +nor do anything without telling him, either before or afterwards? Does +the word marriage mean renouncing all liberty and independence? Was it +not quite possible that she was going to the dressmaker's without +telling me, or that she was going to assist the family of one of the +coachmen? Or she might have thought that I might criticize, if not +blame, her visit to the house. She knew me thoroughly, and my slightest +peculiarities, and perhaps she feared a discussion, even if she did not +think that I should find fault with her. She had very pretty hands, and +I ended by supposing that she was having them secretly attended to by +the manicure in the house which I suspected, and that she did not tell +me of it, for fear that I should think her extravagant. She was very +methodical and economical, +and looked after all her household duties +most carefully, and no doubt she thought that she should lower herself +in my eyes, were she to confess that slight piece of feminine +extravagance. Women have very many subtleties and innate tricks in their +soul! + +"But none of my own arguments reassured me. I was jealous, and I felt +that my suspicion was affecting me terribly, that I was being devoured +by it. I felt secret grief and anguish, and a thought which I still +veiled, and I did not dare to lift the veil, for beneath it I should +find a terrible doubt.... A lover! ... Had not she a lover? ... It was +unlikely, impossible.... A mere dream ... and yet? ... + +"I continually saw Montina's face before my eyes. I saw the tall, +silly-looking, handsome man, with his bright hair, smiling into her +face, and I said to myself: 'He is the one!' I concocted a story of +their intrigues. They had talked a book over together, had discussed the +love ventures it contained, had found something in it that resembled +them, and they had turned that analogy into reality. And so I watched +them, a prey to the most terrible sufferings that a man can endure. I +bought shoes with india-rubber soles, so that I might be able to walk +about the house without making any noise, and I spent half my time in +going up and down my little spiral staircase, in the hope of surprising +them, but I always found that the clerk was with them. + +"I lived in a constant state of suffering. I could no longer work, nor +attend to my business. As soon as I went out, as soon as I had walked a +hundred yards along the street, I said to myself: 'He is there!' and +when I found he was not there, I went out again! But almost immediately +I went back again, thinking: 'He has come now!' and that went on every +day. + +"At night it was still worse, for I felt her by my side in bed asleep, +or pretending to be asleep! Was she really sleeping? No, most likely +not. Was that another lie? + +"I remained motionless on my back, hot from the warmth of her body, +panting and tormented. Oh! how intensely I longed to get up, to get a +hammer and to split her head open, so as to be able to see inside it! I +knew that I should have seen nothing except what is to be found in every +head, and I should have discovered nothing, for that would have been +impossible. And her eyes! When she looked at me, I felt furious with +rage. I looked at her ... she looked at me! Her eyes were transparent, +candid ... and false, false! Nobody could tell what she was thinking of, +and I felt inclined to run pins into them, and to destroy those mirrors +of falseness. + +"Ah! how well I could understand the Inquisition! I would have applied +the torture, the boot.... Speak!...Confess!...You will not? ...Then +wait!...And I would have seized her by the throat until I choked her.... +Or else I would have held her fingers into the fire. ...Oh! how I should +have enjoyed doing it! ...Speak!...Speak!...You will not? I would have +held them on the coals, and when the tips were burnt, she would have +confessed... certainly she would have confessed!" + +Tremoulin was sitting up, shouting, with clenched fists. Around us, on +the neighboring roofs, people awoke and sat up, as he was disturbing +their sleep. As for me, I was moved and powerfully interested, and in +the darkness I could see that little woman, that little, fair, lively, +artful woman, as if I had known her personally. I saw her selling her +books, talking with the men whom her childish ways attracted, and in her +delicate, doll-like head, I could see little crafty ideas, silly ideas, +the dreams which a milliner smelling of musk attached to all heroes of +romantic adventures. I suspected her just like he did, I hated and +detested her, and would willingly have burnt her fingers and made her +confess. + +Presently, he continued more calmly: "I do not know why I have told you +all this, for I have never mentioned it to anyone, but then, I have not +seen anybody or spoken to anybody for two years! And it was seething in +my heart like a fermenting wine. I have got rid of it, and so much the +worse for you. Well, I had made a mistake, but it was worse than I +thought, much worse. Just listen. I employed the means which a man +always does under such circumstances, and pretended that I was going to +be away from home for a day, and whenever I did this my wife went out to +lunch. I need not tell you how I bribed a waiter in the restaurant to +which they used to go, so that I might surprise them. + +"He was to open the door of their private room for me and I arrived at +the appointed time, with the fixed determination of killing them both. I +could see the whole scene, just as if it had already occurred! I could +see myself going in. A small table covered with glasses, bottles and +plates separated her from Montina, and they would be so surprised when +they saw me, that they would not even attempt to move, and without a +word, I should bring down the loaded stick which I had in my hand, on +the man's head. Killed by one blow, he would fall with his head on the +table, and then, turning towards her, I should leave her time--a few +moments--to understand it all and to stretch out her arms towards me, +mad with terror, before dying in her turn. Oh! I was ready, strong, +determined, and pleased, madly pleased at the idea. The idea of the +terrified look that she would throw at my raised stick, of her arms that +she would stretch out to me, of her horrified cry, of her livid and +convulsed looks, avenged me beforehand. I would not kill her at one +blow! You will think me cruel, I dare say; but you do not know what a +man suffers. To think that a woman, whether she be wife or mistress, +whom one loves, gives herself to another, yields herself up to him as +she does to you, and receives kisses from his lips, as she does from +yours! It is a terrible, an atrocious thing to think of. When one feels +that torture, one is ready for anything. I only wonder that more women +are not murdered, for every man who has been deceived longs to commit +murder, has dreamt of it in the solitude of his own room, or on a +deserted road, and has been haunted by the one fixed idea of satisfied +vengeance. + +"I arrived at the restaurant, and asked whether they were there. The +waiter whom I had bribed replied: 'Yes, Monsieur,' and taking me +upstairs, he pointed to a door, and said: 'That is the room!' So I +grasped my stick, as if my fingers had been made of iron, and went in. I +had chosen a most appropriate moment, for they were kissing most +lovingly, but it was not Montina; it was General de la Fleche, who was +sixty-six years old, and I had so fully made up my mind that I should +find the other one there, I was motionless from astonishment. + +"And then ... and then, I really do not quite know what I thought; no, I +really do not know. If I had found myself face to face with the other, I +should have been convulsed with rage, but on seeing this old man, with a +fat stomach and pendulous cheeks, I was nearly choked with disgust. She, +who did not look fifteen, small and slim as she was, had given herself +to this fat man, who was nearly paralyzed, because he was a marquis and +a general, the friend and representative of dethroned kings. No, I do +not know what I felt, nor what I thought. I could not have lifted my +hand against this old man; it would have been a disgrace to me, and I no +longer felt inclined to kill my wife, but all women who could be guilty +of such things! I was no longer jealous, but felt distracted, as if I +had seen the horror of horrors! + +"Let people say what they like of men, they are not so vile as that! If a +man is known to have given himself up to an old woman in that fashion, +people point their fingers at him. The husband or lover of an old woman +is more despised than a thief. We men are a decent lot, as a rule, but +many women, especially in Paris, are absolutely bad. They will give +themselves to all men, old or young, from the most contemptible and +different motives, because it is their profession, their vocation, and +their function. They are the eternal, unconscious, and serene +prostitutes, who give up their bodies, because they are the merchandise +of love, which they sell or give, to the old man who frequents the +pavements with money in his pocket, or else for glory, to a lecherous +old king, or to a celebrated and disgusting old man." + +He vociferated like a prophet of old, in a furious voice, under the +starry sky, and with the rage of a man in despair, he repeated all the +glorified disgrace of all the mistresses of old kings, the respectable +shame of all those virgins who marry old husbands, the tolerated +disgrace of all those young women who accept old kisses with a smile. + +I could see them, as he evoked their memory, since the beginning of the +world, surging round us in that Eastern night, girls, beautiful girls, +with vile souls, who, like the lower animals, who know nothing of the +age of the male, are docile to senile desires. They rose up before one, +the handmaids of the patriarchs, who are mentioned in the Bible, Hagar, +Ruth, the daughters of Lot, Abigail, Abishag, the virgin of Shunam, who +reanimated David with her caresses when he was dying, and the others, +young, stout, white, patricians or plebeians, irresponsible females +belonging to a master, and submissive slaves, whether caught by the +attraction of royalty, or bought as slaves! + +"What did you do?" I asked. + +"I went away," he replied simply. And we remained sitting side by side +for a long time without speaking, only dreaming! ... + +I have retained an impression of that evening that I can never forget. +All that I saw, felt, and heard, our fishing excursion, the octopus +also, perhaps that harrowing story, amidst those white figures on the +neighboring roofs, all seemed to concur in producing a unique sensation. +Certain meetings, certain inexplicable combinations of things, decidedly +contain a larger quantity of the secret quintessence of life, than that +which is spread over the ordinary events of our days, without anything +exceptional happening to them. + + + + +THE HERMAPHRODITE + + +"Upon my word, I laughed at it as much as the rest," Navarette +exclaimed; "I laughed at it with that profound, cruel pitilessness which +we all of us, who are well made and vigorous, feel for those whom their +step-mother, Nature, has disfigured in some way or other, for those +laughable, feeble creatures who are, however, more to be pitied than +those poor deformed wretches from whom we turn away in spite of +ourselves. + +"I had been the first to make fun of him at the club, to find those easy +words which are remembered, and to turn that smooth, flabby, pink, ugly +face, like that of an old woman, and of a Levantine eunuch in which the +mouth is like a piece of inert flesh, and where the small eyes glisten +with concentrated cunning, and remind us of the watchful, angry eyes of +a gorilla, at the same time, into ridicule. I knew that he was selfish, +without any affection, unreliable, full of whims, turning like a +weathercock with every wind that blows, and caring for nothing in the +world except gambling and old Dresden china. + +"However, our intercourse was invariably limited to a careless, 'Good +morning,' and to the usual shake of the hands which men exchange when +they meet at the theater or the club, and so I had neither to defend +him, nor to uphold him as a friend. But I can swear to you that now I +reproach myself for all these effusive jeers and bitter things, and they +weigh on my conscience now that I have been told the other side, the +equivocal enigma of that existence." + +"A Punch and Judy secret," Bob Shelley said, throwing the end of his +cigar into the fire. + +"Oh! yes; we were a hundred miles from the truth when we merely supposed +that he was unfit for service. This unhappy Lantosque, a well-born, +clever man, and very rich to boot, might have exhibited himself in some +traveling booth, for he was an hermaphrodite; do you understand? an +hermaphrodite. And his whole life was one of long, incessant torture, of +physical and moral suffering, which was more maddening than that which +Tantalus endured on the banks of the river Acheron. He had nearly +everything of the woman about him; he was a ridiculous caricature of our +sex, with his shrill voice, his large hips, his bust concealed by a +loose, wide coat, his cheeks, his chin, and upper lip without a vestige +of hair, and he had to appear like a man, to restrain and stifle his +instincts, his tastes, desires, and dreams, to fight ceaselessly against +himself, and never to allow anything of that which he endured, nor what +he longed for, nor that which was sapping his very life, to be +discovered. + +"Once only he was on the point of betraying himself, in spite of +himself. He ardently loved a man, as Chloe must have loved Daphnis. He +could not master himself, or calm his feverish passion, and went towards +the abyss as if seized by mental giddiness. He could imagine nothing +handsomer, more desirable, or more charming than that chance friend. He +had sudden transports, fits of surprise, tenderness, curiosity, +jealousy, the ardent longings of an old maid who is afraid of dying a +virgin, who is waiting for love as for her deliverance, who attaches +herself and devotes herself to a lover with her whole being, and who +grows emaciated and dries up, and remains misunderstood and despised. + +"And as they have both disappeared now, the lover dead from a sword +thrust in the middle of the chest, at Milan, on account of some ballet +girl, and as he certainly died without knowing that he had inspired such +a passion, I may tell you his name. + +"He was Count Sebinico, who used to deal at faro with such delicate, +white hands, and who wore rings on nearly every finger, who had such a +musical voice, and who, with his wavy hair, and his delicate profile, +looked like a handsome, Florentine Condottiere. + +"It must be very terrible to be thus ashamed of oneself, to have that +longing for kisses which console the most wretched in their misery, +which satisfy hunger and thirst, and assuage pain; that illusion of +delicious, intoxicating kisses, the delight and the balm of which such a +person can never know; the horror of that dishonor of being pointed at, +made fun of, driven away like unclean creatures that prostitute their +sex, and make love vile by unmentionable rites; oh! the constant +bitterness of seeing that the person we love makes fun of us, ill-uses +us, and does not show us even the slightest friendship!" + +"Poor devil!" Jean d'Orthyse said, in a sad and moved voice. "In his +place, I should have blown my brains out." + +"Everybody says that, my dear fellow, but how few there are who venture +to forestall that intruder, who always come too quickly." + +"Lantosque had splendid health, and declared that he had never put a +penny into a doctor's pocket, and if he had allowed himself to have been +looked after when he was confined to his bed two months before, by an +attack of influenza, we should still be hearing him propose a game of +poker before dinner, in his shrill voice. His death, however, was as +tragic and mysterious as all those tales from beyond the grave are, on +which the Invisible rests." + +"Although he had a cough, which threatened to tear his chest to pieces, +and although he was haunted by the fear of death, of that great depth of +darkness in which we lose ourselves in the abyss of Annihilation and +Oblivion, he obstinately refused to have his chest sounded, and repulsed +Doctor Pertuzes almost furiously, who thought he had gone out of his +mind." + +"He cowered down, and covered himself with the bed-clothes up to his +chin, and found strength enough to tear up the prescriptions, and to +drive everyone, whether friend or relation, who tried to make him listen +to reason, and who could not understand his attacks of rage and neurosis +from his bedside. He seemed to be possessed by some demon, like those +women in hysterical convulsions, whom the bishops used formerly to +exorcise writh much pomp. It was painful to see him." + +"That went on for a week, during which time the pneumonia had ample +opportunities for ravaging and giving the finishing stroke to his body, +which had been so robust and free from ailments hitherto, and he died, +trying to utter some last words which nobody understood, and endeavoring +to point out one particular article of furniture in the room." + +"His nearest relation was a cousin, the Marquis de Territet, a skeptic, +who lived in Burgundy, and whom all this disturbance had upset in his +habits, and whose only desire was to get it all over, the legal +formalities, the funeral, and all the rest of it, as soon as possible. + +"Without reflecting on the strange suggestiveness of that death-bed, and +without looking to see whether there might not be, somehow or other, a +will in which Lantosque expressed his last wishes, he wanted to spare +his corpse the contact of mercenary hands, and to lay him out himself. + +"You may judge of his surprise when, on throwing back the bed-clothes, +he first of all saw that Lantosque was dressed from head to foot in +tights, which accentuated, rather than otherwise, his female form. + +"Much alarmed, feeling that he must have been violating some supreme +order, and comprehending it all, he went to his cousin's writing-table, +opened it, and successively searched every drawer, and soon found an +envelope fastened with five seals, and addressed to him. He broke them +and read as follows, written on a sheet of black-edged paper: + +"'This is my only will. I leave all that I possess to my cousin, Roland +de Territet, on condition that he will undertake my funeral; that in his +own presence, he will have me wrapped up in the sheets of the bed on +which I die, and have me put into the coffin so, without any further +preparations. I wish to be cremated at _Pere-Lachaise_, and not to be +subjected to any examination, or _post-mortem_, whatever may happen.'" + +"And how came the marquis to betray the secret?" Bob Shelley asked. + +"The marquis is married to a charming Parisian woman, and was any +married man, who loved his wife, ever known to keep a secret from her?" + + + + +MARROCA + + +You ask me, my dear friend, to send you my impressions of Africa, my +adventures, and especially an account of my love affairs in this country +which has attracted me for so long. You laughed a great deal beforehand +at my dusky sweethearts, as you called them, and declared that you could +see me returning to France, followed by a tall, ebony-colored woman, +with a yellow silk handkerchief round her head, and wearing voluminous +bright-colored trousers. + +No doubt the Moorish women will have their turn, for I have seen several +of them who have made me feel very much inclined to have to fall in love +with them; but by way of making a beginning, I came across something +better, and very original. + +In your last letter to me, you say: "When I know how people love in a +country, I know that country well enough to describe it, although I may +never have seen it." Let me tell you, then, that here they love +furiously. From the very first moment, one feels a sort of trembling +ardor, of constant desire, to the very tips of the fingers, which +over-excites our amorous powers, and all our faculties of physical +sensation, from the simple contact of the hands, down to that unnamable +requirement which makes us commit so many follies. + +Do not misunderstand me. I do not know whether you call love of the +heart, love of the soul, whether sentimental idealism, Platonic love, in +a word, can exist on this earth; I doubt it, myself. But that other +love, sensual love, which has something good, a great deal of good about +it, is really terrible in this climate. The heat, the burning atmosphere +which makes you feverish, those suffocating blasts of wind from the +south, those waves of fire which come from the desert which is so near +us, that oppressive sirocco, which is more destructive and withering +than fire, that perpetual conflagration of an entire continent, that is +burnt even to its stones by a fierce and devouring sun, inflame the +blood, excite the flesh, and make brutes of us. + +But to come to my story, I shall not tell you about the beginning of my +stay in Africa. After going to Bona, Constantine, Biskara and Setif, I +went to Bougie through the defiles of Chabet, by an excellent road +through a large forest, which follows the sea at a height of six hundred +feet above it, as far as that wonderful bay of Bougie, which is as +beautiful as that of Naples, of Ajaccio, or of Douarnenez, which are the +most lovely that I know. + +Far away in the distance, before one goes round the large inlet where +the water is perfectly calm, one sees the Bougie. It is built on the +steep sides of a high hill, which is covered with trees, and forms a +white spot on that green slope; it might almost be taken for the foam of +a cascade, falling into the sea. + +I had no sooner set foot in that delightful, small town, than I knew +that I should stay for a long time. In all directions the eye rests on +rugged, strangely shaped hill-tops, which are so close together that one +can hardly see the open sea, so that the gulf looks like a lake. The +blue water is wonderfully transparent, and the azure sky, a deep azure, +as if it had received two coats of paint, expands its wonderful beauty +above it. They seem to be looking at themselves in a glass, and to be a +reflection of each other. + +Bougie is a town of ruins, and on the quay, when one arrives, one sees +such a magnificent ruin, that one might imagine one was at the opera. It +is the old Saracen Gate, overgrown with ivy, and there are ruins in all +directions on the hills round the town, fragments of Roman walls, bits +of Saracen monuments, the remains of Arabic buildings. + +I had taken a small, Moorish house, in the upper town. You know those +dwellings, which have been described so often. They have no windows on +the outside; but they are lighted from top to bottom, by an inner court. +On the first floor, they have a large, cool room, in which one spends +the days, and a terrace on the roof, on which one spends the nights. + +I at once fell in with the custom of all hot countries, that is to say, +of having a siesta after lunch. That is the hottest time in Africa, the +time when one can scarcely breathe; when the streets, the fields, and +the long, dazzling, white roads are deserted, when everyone is asleep, +or at any rate, trying to sleep, attired as scantily as possible. + +In my drawing-room, which had columns of Arabic architecture, I had +placed a large, soft couch, covered with a carpet from Djebel Amour, +very nearly in the costume of Assan, but I could not sleep, as I was +tortured by my continence. There are two forms of torture on this earth, +which I hope you will never know: the want of water, and the want of +women, and I do not know which is the worst. In the desert, men would +commit any infamy for the sake of a glass of clean, cold water, and what +would one not do in some of the towns of the littoral, for a handsome, +fleshy, healthy girl? For there is no lack of girls in Africa; on the +contrary, they abound, but to continue my comparison, they are as +unwholesome and decayed as the muddy water in the wells of Sahara. + +Well, one day when I was feeling more enervated than usual, I was trying +in vain to close my eyes. My legs twitched as if they were being +pricked, and I tossed about uneasily on my couch, until at last, unable +to bear it any longer, I got up and went out. It was a terribly hot day, +in the middle of July, and the pavement was hot enough to bake bread on. +My shirt, which was soaked with perspiration immediately, clung to my +body, and on the horizon there was a slight, white vapor, which seemed +to be palpable heat. + +I went down to the sea, and going round the port, I went along the shore +of the pretty bay where the baths are. There was nobody about, and +nothing was stirring; not a sound of bird or of beast was to be heard, +the very waves did not lap, and the sea appeared to be asleep in the +sun. + +Suddenly, behind one of the rocks, which were half covered by the silent +water, I heard a slight movement, and on turning round, I saw a tall, +naked girl, sitting up to her breasts in the water, taking a bath; no +doubt she reckoned on being alone, at that hot period of the day. Her +head was turned towards the sea, and she was moving gently up and down, +without seeing me. + +Nothing could be more surprising than that picture of the beautiful +woman in the water, which was as clear as crystal, under a blaze of +light. For she was a marvelously beautiful woman, tall, and modeled like +a statue. She turned round, uttered a cry, and half swimming, half +walking, she went and hid altogether behind her rock; but as she must +necessarily come out, I sat down on the beach and waited. Presently, she +just showed her head, which was covered with thick black plaits. She had +a rather large mouth, with full lips, large, bold eyes, and her skin, +which was rather tanned by the climate, looked like a piece of old, +hard, polished ivory. + +She called out to me: "Go away!" and her full voice, which corresponded +to her strong build, had a guttural accent, and as I did not move, she +added: "It is not right of you to stop there, monsieur." I did not move, +however, and her head disappeared. Ten minutes passed, and then her +hair, then her forehead, and then her eyes reappeared, but slowly and +prudently, as if she were playing at hide-and-seek, and were looking to +see who was near. This time she was furious, and called out: "You will +make me get some illness, and I shall not come out as long as you are +there." Thereupon, I got up and went away, but not without looking round +several times. When she thought I was far enough off, she came out of +the water; bending down and turning her back to me, she disappeared in a +cavity in the rock, behind a petticoat that was hanging up in front of +it. + +I went back the next day. She was bathing again, but she had a bathing +costume, and she began to laugh, and showed her white teeth. A week +later we were friends, and in another week we were eager lovers. Her +name was Marroca, and she pronounced it as if there were a dozen _r's_ +in it. She was the daughter of Spanish colonists, and had married a +Frenchman, whose name was Pontabeze. He was in government employ, though +I never exactly knew what his functions were. I found out that he was +always very busy, and I did not care for anything else. + +She then altered her time for having her bath, and came to my house +every day, to have a siesta there. What a siesta! It could scarcely be +called reposing! She was a splendid girl, of a somewhat animal, but +superb type. Her eyes were always glowing with passion; her half-open +mouth, her sharp teeth, and even her smiles, had something ferociously +loving about them; and her curious, long and straight breasts, which +were as pointed as if they had been pears of flesh, and as elastic as if +they contained steel springs, gave her whole body something of the +animal, made her a sort of inferior and magnificent being, a creature +who was destined for unbridled love, and which roused in me the idea of +those ancient deities, who gave expression to their tenderness on the +grass and under the trees. + +And then, her mind was as simple as two and two are four, and a sonorous +laugh served her instead of thought. + +Instinctively proud of her beauty, she hated the slightest covering, and +ran and frisked about my house with daring and unconscious immodesty. +When she was at last overcome and worn out by her cries and movements, +she used to sleep soundly and peacefully while the overwhelming heat +brought out minute spots of perspiration on her brown skin, and from +under her arms. + +Sometimes she returned in the evening, when her husband was on duty +somewhere, and we used to lie on the terrace, scarcely covered by some +fine, gauzy, Oriental fabric. When the full moon lit up the town and the +gulf, with its surrounding frame of hills, we saw on all the other +terraces what looked like an army of silent phantoms lying, who would +occasionally get up, change their places, and lie down again, in the +languorous warmths of the starry sky. + +But in spite of the brightness of African nights, Marroca would insist +on stripping herself almost naked in the clear rays of the moon; she did +not trouble herself much about anybody who might see us, and often, in +spite of my fears and entreaties, she uttered long, resounding cries, +which made the dogs in the distance howl. + +One night, when I was sleeping under the starry sky, she came and knelt +down on my carpet, and putting her lips, which curled slightly, close to +my face, she said: "You must come and stay at my house." I did not +understand her, and asked: "What do you mean?" "Yes, when my husband has +gone away; you must come and be with me." + +I could not help laughing, and said: "Why, as you come here?" And she +went on almost talking into my mouth, sending her hot breath into my +throat, and moistening my moustache with her lips: "I want it as a +remembrance." Still I did not grasp her meaning; she put her arms round +my neck. "When you are no longer here, I shall think of it." + +I was touched and amused at the same time, and said: "You must be mad. I +would much rather stop here." + +As a matter of fact, I have no liking for assignations under the +conjugal roof; they are mouse-traps, in which the unwary are always +caught. But she begged and prayed, and even cried, and at last said: +"You shall see how I will love you there." Her wish seemed so strange +that I could not explain it to myself; but on thinking it over, I +thought I could discern a profound hatred for her husband, the secret +vengeance of a woman who takes a pleasure in deceiving him, and who, +moreover, wishes to deceive him in his own house. + +"Is your husband very unkind to you?" I asked her. She looked vexed, and +said: "Oh! No, he is very kind." "But you are not fond of him?" She +looked at me with astonishment in her large eyes. "Indeed, I am very +fond of him, very; but not so fond as I am of you." + +I could not understand it all, and while I was trying to get at her +meaning, she pressed one of those kisses, whose power she knew so well, +onto my lips, and whispered: "But you will come, will you not?" I +resisted, however, and so she got up immediately, and went away; nor did +she come back for a week. On the eighth day she came back, stopped +gravely at the door of my room, and said: "Are you coming to my house +to-night? ... If you refuse, I shall go away." Eight days is a very long +time, my friend, and in Africa those eight days are as good as a month. +"Yes," I said, and opened my arms, and she threw herself into them. + +At night she waited for me in a neighboring street, and took me to their +house, which was very small, and near the harbor. I first of all went +through the kitchen, where they had their meals, and then into a very +tidy, whitewashed room, with photographs on the walls, and paper flowers +under a glass case. Marroca seemed beside herself with pleasure, and she +jumped about, and said: "There, you are at home, now." And I certainly +acted as though I had been, though I felt rather embarrassed and +somewhat uneasy. + +Suddenly a loud knocking at the door made us start, and a man's voice +called out: "Marroca, it is I." She started: "My husband! ... Here, hide +under the bed, quickly." I was distractedly looking for my overcoat, but +she gave me a push, and panted out: "Come along, come along." + +I lay down flat on my stomach, and crept under the bed without a word, +while she went into the kitchen. I heard her open a cupboard, and then +shut it again, and she came back into the room, carrying some object +which I could not see, but which she quickly put down; and as her +husband was getting impatient, she said, calmly: "I cannot find the +matches." Then suddenly she added: "Oh! Here they are; I will come and +let you in." + +The man came in, and I could see nothing of him but his feet, which were +enormous. If the rest of him was in proportion, he must have been a +giant. + +I heard kisses, a little pat on her naked flesh, and a laugh, and he +said, in a strong Marseilles accent: "I forgot my purse, so I was +obliged to come back; you were sound asleep, I suppose." He went to the +cupboard, and was a long time in finding what he wanted; and as Marocca +had thrown herself onto a bed, as if she were tired out, he went up to +her, and no doubt tried to caress her, for she flung a volley of angry +_r's_ at him. His feet were so close to me that I felt a stupid, +inexplicable longing to catch hold of them, but I restrained myself, and +when he saw that he could not succeed in his wish, he got angry, and +said: "You are not at all nice, to-night. Good-bye." I heard another +kiss, then the big feet turned, and I saw the nails in the soles of his +shoes as he went into the next room, the front door was shut, and I was +saved! + +I came slowly out of my retreat, feeling rather humiliated, and while +Marroca danced a jig round me, shouting with laughter, and clapping her +hands, I threw myself heavily into a chair. But I jumped up with a +bound, for I had sat down on something cold, and as I was no more +dressed than my accomplice was, the contact made me start, and I looked +round. I had sat down on a small axe, used for cutting wood, and as +sharp as a knife. How had it got there? ... I had certainly not seen it +when I went in; but Marroca seeing me jump up, nearly choked with +laughter, and coughed with both hands on her stomach. + +I thought her amusement rather out of place; we had risked our lives +stupidly, and I still felt a cold shiver down my back, and I was rather +hurt at her foolish laughter. "Supposing your husband had seen me?" I +said. "There was no danger of that," she replied. "What do you mean? ... +No danger? That is a good joke! ... If he had stooped down, he must have +seen me." + +She did not laugh any more; she only looked at me with her large eyes, +which were bright with merriment. "He would not have stooped." "Why?" I +persisted. "Just suppose that he had let his hat fall, he would have +been sure to pick it up, and then... I was well prepared to defend +myself, in this costume!" She put her two strong, round arms about my +neck, and, lowering her voice, as she did when she said: "I _adorre_ +you," she whispered: "Then he would _never_ have got up again." I did +not understand her, and said: "What do you mean?" + +She gave me a cunning wink, and put out her hand to the chair on which I +had sat down, and her outstretched hands, her smile, her half-open lips, +her white, sharp, and ferocious teeth, all drew my attention to the +little axe which was used for cutting wood, whose sharp blade was +glistening in the candle-light, and while she put out her hand as if she +were going to take it, she put her left arm round me, and drawing me to +her, and putting her lips against mine, with her right arm she made a +motion as if she were cutting off the head of a kneeling man! + +This, my friend, is the manner in which people here understand conjugal +duties, love, and hospitality! + + + + +AN ARTIFICE + + +The old doctor and his young patient were talking by the side of the +fire. There was nothing the matter with her, except that she had one of +those little feminine ailments from which pretty women frequently +suffer; slight anaemia, nervous attack, and a suspicion of fatigue, of +that fatigue from which newly married people often suffer at the end of +the first month of their married life, when they have made a love match. + +She was lying on the couch and talking. "No, doctor," she said; "I shall +never be able to understand a woman deceiving her husband. Even allowing +that she does not love him, that she pays no heed to her vows and +promises, how can she give herself to another man? How can she conceal +the intrigue from other people's eyes? How can it be possible to love +amidst lies and treason?" + +The doctor smiled, and replied: "It is perfectly easy, and I can assure +you that a woman does not think of all those little subtle details, when +she has made up her mind to go astray. I even feel certain that no woman +is ripe for true love until she has passed through all the +promiscuousness and all the loathsomeness of married life, which, +according to an illustrious man, is nothing but an exchange of +ill-tempered words by day, and disagreeable odors at night. Nothing is +more true, for no woman can love passionately until after she has +married. + +"As for dissimulation, all women have plenty of it on hand on such +occasions, and the simplest of them are wonderful, and extricate +themselves from the greatest dilemmas in an extraordinary way." + +The young woman, however, seemed incredulous. ... "No, doctor," she +said, "one never thinks until after it has happened, of what one ought +to have done in a dangerous affair, and women are certainly more liable +than men to lose their heads on such occasions." The doctor raised his +hands. "After it has happened, you say! Now, I will tell you something +that happened to one of my female patients, whom I always considered as +an immaculate woman. + +"It happened in a provincial town, and one night when I was sleeping +profoundly, in that deep, first sleep from which it is so difficult to +arouse us, it seemed to me, in my dreams, as if the bells in the town +were sounding a fire alarm, and I woke up with a start. It was my own +bell, which was ringing wildly, and as my footman did not seem to be +answering the door, I, in turn, pulled the bell at the head of my bed, +and soon I heard banging, and steps in the silent house, and then Jean +came into my room, and handed me a letter which said: 'Madame Lelievre +begs Doctor Simeon to come to her immediately.' + +"I thought for a few moments, and then I said to myself: 'A nervous +attack, vapors, nonsense; I am too tired.' And so I replied: 'As Doctor +Simeon is not at all well, he must beg Madame Lelievre to be kind enough +to call in his colleague, Monsieur Bonnet.' I put the note into an +envelope, and went to sleep again, but about half an hour later the +street bell rang again, and Jean came to me and said: 'There is somebody +downstairs; I do not quite know whether it is a man or a woman, as the +individual is so wrapped up, who wishes to speak to you immediately. He +says it is a matter of life and death for two people. Whereupon, I sat +up in bed and told him to show the person in. + +"A kind of black phantom appeared, who raised her veil as soon as Jean +had left the room. It was Madame Berthe Lelievre, quite a young woman, +who had been married for three years to a large shop-keeper in the town, +who was said to have married the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. + +"She was terribly pale, her face was contracted like the faces of mad +people are, occasionally, and her hands trembled violently. Twice she +tried to speak, without being able to utter a sound, but at last she +stammered out: 'Come... quick... quick, Doctor... Come... my... my lover +has just died in my bedroom.' She stopped, half suffocated with emotion, +and then went on: 'My husband will... be coming home from the club very +soon.' + +"I jumped out of bed, without even considering that I was only in my +night-shirt, and dressed myself in a few moments, and then I said: 'Did +you come a short time ago?' 'No,' she said, standing like a statue +petrified with horror. 'It was my servant... she knows.' And then, after +a short silence, she went on: 'I was there... by his side.' And she +uttered a sort of cry of horror, and after a fit of choking, which made +her gasp, she wept violently, and shook with spasmodic sobs for a minute +or two. Then her tears suddenly ceased, as if by an internal fire, and +with an air of tragic calmness, she said: 'Let us make haste.' + +"I was ready, but I exclaimed: 'I quite forgot to order my carriage.' 'I +have one,' she said; 'it is his, which was waiting for him!' She wrapped +herself up, so as to completely conceal her face, and we started." + +"When she was by my side in the darkness of the carriage, she suddenly +seized my hand, and crushing it in her delicate fingers, she said, with +a shaking voice, that proceeded from a distracted heart: 'Oh! If you +only knew, if you only knew what I am suffering! I loved him, I have +loved him distractedly, like a mad woman, for the last six months.' 'Is +anyone up in your house?' I asked. 'No, nobody except Rose, who knows +everything.' + +"We stopped at the door, and evidently everybody was asleep, and we went +in without making any noise, by means of her latch-key, and walked +upstairs on tip-toe. The frightened servant was sitting on the top of +the stairs, with a lighted candle by her side, as she was afraid to stop +by the dead man, and I went into the room, which was turned upside down, +as if there had been a struggle in it. The bed, which was tumbled and +open, seemed to be waiting for somebody; one of the sheets was hanging +onto the floor, and wet napkins, with which they had bathed the young +man's temples, were lying on the floor, by the side of a wash-hand basin +and a glass, while a strong smell of vinegar pervaded the room." + +"The dead man's body was lying at full length in the middle of the room, +and I went up to it, looked at it, and touched it. I opened the eyes, +and felt the hands, and then, turning to the two women, who were shaking +as if they were frozen, I said to them: 'Help me to carry him onto the +bed.' When we had laid him gently onto it, I listened to his heart, and +put a looking-glass to his lips, and then said: 'It is all over; let us +make haste and dress him.' It was a terrible sight! + +"I took his limbs one by one, as if they had belonged to some enormous +doll, and held them out to the clothes which the women brought, and they +put on his socks, drawers, trousers, waistcoat, and lastly the coat, but +it was a difficult matter to get the arms into the sleeves. + +"When it came to buttoning his boots, the two women knelt down, while I +held the light, but as his feet were rather swollen, it was very +difficult, and as they could not find a button-hook, they had to use +their hairpins. When the terrible toilet was over, I looked at our work, +and said: 'You ought to arrange his hair a little.' The girl went and +brought her mistress's large-toothed comb and brush, but as she was +trembling, and pulling out his long, matted hair in doing it, Madame +Lelievre took the comb out of her hand, and arranged his hair as if she +were caressing him. She parted it, brushed his beard, rolled his +moustachios gently round her fingers, as she had no doubt been in the +habit of doing, in the familiarities of their intrigue. + +"Suddenly, however, letting go of his hair, she took her dead lover's +inert head in her hands, and looked for a long time in despair at the +dead face, which no longer could smile at her, and then, throwing +herself onto him, she took him into her arms and kissed him ardently. +Her kisses fell like blows onto his closed mouth and eyes, onto his +forehead and temples, and then, putting her lips to his ear, as if he +could still hear her, and as if she were about to whisper something to +him, to make their embraces still more ardent, she said several times, +in a heartrending voice: 'Adieu, my darling!' + +"Just then the clock struck twelve, and I started up. 'Twelve o'clock!' +I exclaimed. 'That is the time when the club closes. Come, Madame, we +have not a moment to lose!' She started up, and I said: 'We must carry +him into the drawing-room.' And when we had done this, I placed him on a +sofa, and lit the chandeliers, and just then the front door was opened +and shut noisily. He had come back, and I said: Rose, bring me the basin +and the towels, and make the room look tidy. Make haste, for heaven's +sake! Monsieur Lelievre is coming in.' + +"I heard his steps on the stairs, and then his hands feeling along the +walls. 'Come here, my dear fellow,' I said, 'we have had an accident.' + +"And the astonished husband appeared in the door with a cigar in his +mouth, and said: 'What is the matter? What is the meaning of this?' 'My +dear friend,' I said, going up to him; 'you find us in great +embarrassment. I had remained late, chatting with your wife and our +friend, who had brought me in his carriage, when he suddenly fainted, +and in spite of all we have done, he has remained unconscious for two +hours. I did not like to call in strangers, and if you will now help me +downstairs with him, I shall be able to attend to him better at his own +house.' + +"The husband, who was surprised, but quite unsuspicious, took off his +hat, and then he took his rival, who would be quite inoffensive for the +future, under his arms. I got between his two legs, as if I had been a +horse between the shafts, and we went downstairs, while his wife lighted +us. When we got outside, I held the body up, so as to deceive the +coachman, and said: 'Come, my friend; it is nothing; you feel better +already, I expect. Pluck up your courage, and make an attempt. It will +soon be over.' But as I felt that he was slipping out of my hands, I +gave him a slap on the shoulder, which sent him forward and made him +fall into the carriage, and then I got in after him. Monsieur Lelievre, +who was rather alarmed, said to me: 'Do you think it is anything +serious?' To which I replied, '_No_,' with a smile, as I looked at his +wife, who had put her arm into that of her legitimate husband, and was +trying to see into the carriage. + +"I shook hands with them, and told my coachman to start, and during the +whole drive the dead man kept falling against me. When we got to his +house, I said that he had become unconscious on the way home, and helped +to carry him upstairs, where I certified that he was dead, and acted +another comedy to his distracted family, and at last I got back to bed, +not without swearing at lovers." + +The doctor ceased, though he was still smiling, and the young woman, who +was in a very nervous state, said: "Why have you told me that terrible +story?" + +He gave her a gallant bow, and replied: + +"So that I may offer you my services, if necessary." + + + + +THE ASSIGNATION + + +Although she had her bonnet and jacket on, with a black veil over her +face, and another in her pocket, which she would put on over the +other +as soon as she had got into the cab, she was beating +the top of her +little boot with the point of her parasol, and remained sitting in her +room, without being able to make up her mind to keep this appointment. + +And yet, how many times within the last two years had she dressed +herself thus, when she knew that her husband would be on the Stock +Exchange, in order to go to the bachelor chambers of her lover, the +handsome Viscount de Martelet. + +The clock behind her was ticking loudly, a book which she had half read +through was lying open on a little rosewood writing-table between the +windows, and a strong, sweet smell of violets from two bunches which +were in a couple of Dresden china vases, mingled with a vague smell of +verbena which came through the half-open door of her dressing-room. + +The clock struck three, she rose up from her chair, she turned round to +look at herself in the glass and smiled. "He is already waiting for me, +and will be getting tired." + +Then she left the room, told her footman that she would be back in an +hour, at the latest--which was a lie; went downstairs and ventured into +the street on foot. + +It was towards the end of May, that delightful time of the year, when +the spring seems to be besieging Paris, and to conquer it over its +roofs, invading the houses through their walls, and making it look gay, +shedding brightness over its stone facades, the asphalt of its +pavements, the stones on the roads, bathing it and intoxicating it with +sap, like a forest putting on its spring verdure. + +Madame Haggan went a few steps to the right, intending, as usual, to go +along the Parade Provence, where she would hail a cab; but the soft air, +that feeling of summer which penetrates our breast on some days, now +took possession of her so suddenly that she changed her mind, and went +down the Rue de la Chausee d'Antin, without knowing why, but vaguely +attracted by a desire to see the trees in the _Square de la Trinite_. + +"He may just wait ten minutes longer for me," she said to herself. And +that idea pleased her also as she walked slowly through the crowd. She +fancied that she saw him growing impatient, looking at the clock, +opening the window, listening at the door, sitting down for a few +moments, getting up again, and not daring to smoke, as she had forbidden +him to do so when she was coming to him, and throwing despairing looks +at his box of cigarettes. + +She walked slowly, interested in what she saw, the shops and the people +she met, walking slower and slower, and so little eager to get to her +destination that she only sought for some pretext for stopping, and at +the end of the street, in the little square, the verdure attracted her +so much, that she went in, took a chair, and, sitting down, watched the +hands of the clock as they moved. + +Just then, the half hour struck, and her heart beat with pleasure when +she heard the chimes. She had gained half-an-hour; then it would take +her a quarter of an hour to reach the Rue Miromesnil, and a few minutes +more in strolling along--an hour! a whole hour saved from her +_rendez-vous_! She would not stop three-quarters of an hour, and that +business would be finished once more. + +Oh! she disliked going there! Just like a patient going to the dentist, +so she had the intolerable recollection of all their past meetings, one +a week on an average, for the last two years; and the thought that +another was going to take place immediately made her shiver with misery +from head to foot. Not that it was exactly painful, like a visit to the +dentist, but it was wearisome, so wearisome, so complicated, so long, so +unpleasant, that anything, even a visit to the dentist would have seemed +preferable to her. She went on, however, but very slowly, stopping, +sitting down, going hither and thither, but she went. Oh! how she would +have liked to miss this meeting, but she had left the unhappy viscount +in the lurch, twice following, during the last month, and she did not +dare to do it again so soon. Why did she go to see him? Oh! why? Because +she had acquired the habit of doing it, and had no reason to give poor +Martelet when he wanted to know _the why_! Why had she begun it? Why? +She did not know herself, any longer. Had she been in love with him? +Very possibly! Not very much, but a little, a long time ago! He was very +nice, sought after, perfectly dressed, most courteous, and after the +first glance, he was a perfect lover for a fashionable woman. He had +courted her for three months--the normal period, an honorable strife and +sufficient resistances--and then she had consented, and with what +emotion, what nervousness, what terrible, delightful fear, and that +first meeting in his small, ground-floor bachelor rooms, in the Rue de +Miromesnil. Her heart? What did her little heart of a woman who had been +seduced, vanquished, conquered, feel when she for the first time entered +the door of that house which was her nightmare? She really did not know! +She had quite forgotten. One remembers a fact, a date, a thing, but one +hardly remembers, after the lapse of two years, what an emotion, which +soon vanished, because it was very slight, was like. But, oh! she had +certainly not forgotten the others, that rosary of meetings, that road +to the cross of love, and those stations, which were so monotonous, so +fatiguing, so similar to each other, that she felt a nauseating taste in +her mouth at what was going to happen so soon. + +And the very cabs were not like the other cabs which one makes use of +for ordinary purposes! Certainly, the cabmen guessed. She felt sure of +it, by the very way they looked at her, and the eyes of these Paris +cabmen are terrible! When one remembers they are constantly remembering, +in the Courts of Justices, after a lapse of several years, faces of +criminals whom they have only driven once, in the middle of the night, +from some street or other to a railway station, and that they have to do +with almost as many passengers as there are hours in the day, and that +their memory is good enough for them to declare: "That is the man whom I +took up in the Rues des Martyrs, and put down at the Lyons Railway +Station, at 12 o'clock at night, on July 10, last year!" Is it not +terrible when one risks what a young woman risks when she is going to +meet her lover, and has to trust her reputation to the first cabman she +meets? In two years she had employed at least a hundred to a hundred and +twenty in that drive to the Rue Miromesnil, reckoning only one a week, +and they were so many witnesses, who might appear against her at a +critical moment. + +As soon as she was in the cab, she took another veil, which was as thick +and dark as a domino mask, out of her pocket, and put it on. That hid +her face, but what about the rest, her dress, her bonnet, and her +parasol? They might be remarked; they might, in fact, have been seen +already. Oh! I What misery she endured in this Rue de Miromesnil! She +thought that she recognized all the foot-passengers, the servants, +everybody, and almost before the cab had stopped, she jumped out and ran +past the porter who was standing outside his lodge. He must know +everything, everything!--her address, her name, her husband's +profession--everything, for those porters are the most cunning of +policemen! For two years she had intended to bribe him, to give him (to +throw at him one day as she passed him) a hundred-franc bank-note, but +she had never once dared to do it. She was frightened! What of? She did +not know! Of his calling her back, if he did not understand? Of a +scandal? Of a crowd on the stairs? Of being arrested, perhaps? To reach +the Viscount's door, she had only to ascend a half a flight of stairs, +and it seemed to her as high as the tower of Saint Jacques' Church. + +As soon as she had reached the vestibule, she felt as if she were caught +in a trap, and the slightest noise before or behind her, nearly made her +faint. It was impossible for her to go back, because of that porter who +barred her retreat; and if anyone came down at that moment she would not +dare to ring at Martelet's door, but would pass it as if she had been +going elsewhere! She would have gone up, and up, and up! She would have +mounted forty flights of stairs! Then, when everything would seem quiet +again down below, she would run down, feeling terribly frightened, lest +she would not recognize the lobby. + +He was there in a velvet coat lined with silk, very stylish, but rather +ridiculous, and for two years he had never altered his manner of +receiving her, not in a single movement! As soon as he had shut the +door, he used to say this: "Let me kiss your hands, my dear, dear +friend!" Then he followed her into the room, when with closed shutters +and lighted candles, out of refinement, no doubt, he knelt down before +her and looked at her from head to foot with an air of adoration. On the +first occasion that had been very nice and very successful; but now it +seemed to her as if she saw Monsieur Delauney acting the last scene of a +successful piece for the hundred and twentieth time. He might really +change his manner of acting. But no, he never altered his manner of +acting, poor fellow. What a good fellow he was, but very commonplace! + +And how difficult it was to undress and dress without a lady's maid! +Perhaps that was the moment when she began to take a dislike to him. +When he said: "Do you want me to help you?" she could have killed him. +Certainly there were not many men as awkward as he was, or as +uninteresting. Certainly, little Baron de Isombal would never have asked +her in such a manner: "Do you want me to help you?" He would have helped +her, he was so witty, so funny, so active. But there! He was a +diplomatist, he had been about in the world, and had roamed everywhere, +and, no doubt, dressed and undressed women who were arrayed in every +possible fashion! ... + +The church clock struck the three-quarters, and she looked at the dial, +and said: "Oh, how agitated he will be!" and then she quickly left the +square; but she had not taken a dozen steps outside, when she found +herself face to face with a gentleman who bowed profoundly to her. + +"Why! Is that you, Baron?" she said, in surprise. She had just been +thinking of him. + +"Yes, Madame." And then, after asking how she was, and a few vague +words, he continued: "Do you know that you are the only one--you will +allow me to say of my lady friends, I hope? who has not yet seen my +Japanese collection." + +"But my dear Baron, a lady cannot go to a bachelor's room like this." + +"What do you mean? That is a great mistake, when it is a question of +seeing a rare collection!" + +"At any rate, she cannot go alone." + +"And why not? I have received a number of ladies alone, only for the +sake of seeing my collection! They come every day. Shall I tell you +their names? No--I will not do that; one must be discreet, even when one +it not guilty; as a matter of fact, there is nothing improper in going +to the house of a well-known serious man who holds a certain position, +unless one goes for an unavoidable reason!" + +"Well, what you have said is certainly correct, at bottom." + +"So you will come and see my collection?" + +"When?" + +"Well, now, immediately." + +"Impossible; I am in a hurry." + +"Nonsense, you have been sitting in the square for this last half hour." + +"You were watching me?" + +"I was looking at you." + +"But I am sadly in a hurry." + +"_I_ am sure you are not. Confess that you are in no particular hurry." + +Madame Haggan began to laugh, and said: "Well, ... no ... not ... +very...." + +A cab passed close to them, and the little Baron called out: "Cabman!" +and the vehicle stopped, and opening the door, he said: "Get in, +Madame." + +"But, Baron! no, it is impossible to-day; I really cannot." + +"Madame, you are acting very imprudently; get in! people are beginning +to look at us, and you will collect a crowd; they will think I am trying +to carry you off, and we shall both be arrested; please get in!" + +She got in, frightened and bewildered, and he sat down by her side, +saying to the cabman: "Rue de Provence." + +But suddenly she exclaimed: "Good heavens! I have forgotten a very +important telegram; please drive to the nearest telegraph office first +of all." + +The cab stopped a little farther on, in the Rue de Chateaudun, and she +said to the Baron: "Would you kindly get me a fifty centimes telegraph +form? I promised my husband to invite Martelet to dinner to-morrow, and +had quite forgotten it." + +When the Baron returned and gave her the blue telegraph form, she wrote +in pencil: + + "My Dear Friend: I am not at all well. I am suffering terribly from + neuralgia, which keeps me in bed. Impossible to go out. Come and + dine to-morrow night, so that I may obtain my pardon. + + "JEANNE." + +She wetted the gum, fastened it carefully, and addressed it to: +"Viscount de Martelet, 240 Rue Miromesnil," and then, giving it back to +the Baron, she said: "Now, will you be kind enough to throw this into +the telegram box." + + + + +AN ADVENTURE + + +"Come! Come!" Pierre Dufaille said, shrugging his shoulders. "What are +you talking about, when you say that there are no more adventures? Say +that there are no more adventurous men, and you will be right! Yes, +nobody ventures to trust to chance, in these days, for as soon as there +is any slight mystery, or a spice of danger, they draw back. If, +however, a man is willing to go into them blindly, and to run the risk +of anything that may happen, he can still meet with adventures, and even +I, who never look for them, met with one in my life, and a very +startling one; let me tell you. + +"I was staying in Florence, and was living very quietly, and all I +indulged in, in the way of adventures, was to listen occasionally to the +immoral proposals with which every stranger is beset at night on the +_Piazzo de la Signoria_, by some worthy Pandarus or other, with a head +like that of a venerable priest. These excellent fellows generally +introduce you to their families, where debauchery is carried on in a +very simple, and almost patriarchal fashion, and where one does not run +the slightest risk. + +"One day as I was admiring Benvenuto Cellini's wonderful Perseus, in +front of the _Loggia del Lanzi_, I suddenly felt my sleeve pulled +somewhat roughly, and on turning round, I found myself face to face with +a woman of about fifty, who said to me with a strong German accent: +'You are French, Monsieur, are you not?' 'Certainly, I am,' I replied. +'And would you like to go home with a very pretty woman?' + +"'Most certainly I should,' I replied, with a laugh. + +"Nothing could have been funnier than the looks and the serious air of +the procuress, or than the strangeness of the proposal, made to broad +daylight, and in very bad French, but it was even worse when she added: +'Do you know everything they do in Paris?' 'What do you mean, my good +woman?' I asked her, rather startled. 'What is done in Paris, that is +not done everywhere else?' + +"However, when she explained her meaning, I replied that I certainly +could not, and as I was not quite so immodest as the lady, I blushed a +little. But not for long, for almost immediately afterwards I grew pale, +when she said: 'I want to assure myself of it, personally.' And she said +this in the same phlegmatic manner, which did not seem so funny to me +now, but, on the contrary, rather frightened me. 'What!' I said. +'Personally! You! Explain yourself!' + +"If I had been rather surprised before, I was altogether astonished at +her explanation. It was indeed an adventure, and was almost like a +romance. I could scarcely believe my ears, but this is what she told me. + +"She was the confidential attendant on a lady moving in high society, +who wished to be initiated into the most secret refinements of Parisian +high life, and who had done me the honor of choosing me for her +companion. But then, this preliminary test! 'By Jove!' I said to myself, +'this old German hag is not so stupid as she looks!' And I laughed in my +sleeve, as I listened inattentively to what she was saying to persuade +me. + +"'My mistress is the prettiest woman you can dream of; a real beauty; +springtime! A flower!' 'You must excuse me, but if your mistress is +really like springtime and a flower, you (pray excuse me for being so +blunt) are not exactly that, and perhaps I should not exactly be in a +mood to humor you, my dear lady, in the same way that I might her.' + +"She jumped back, astonished in turn: 'Why, I only want to satisfy +myself with my own eyes; not by injuring you.' And she finished her +explanation, which had been incomplete before. All she had to do was to +go with me to _Mother Patata's_ well-known establishment, and there to +be present while I conversed with one of its fair and frail inhabitants. + +"'Oh!' I said to myself, 'I was mistaken in her tastes. She is, of +course, an old, shriveled up woman, as I guessed, but she is a +specialist. This is interesting, upon my word! I never met with such a +one before!' + +"Here, gentlemen, I must beg you to allow me to hide my face for a +moment. What I said was evidently not strictly correct, and I am rather +ashamed of it; my excuse must be that I was young, that _Patata's_ was a +celebrated place, of which I had heard wonderful things said, but the +entry to which was barred me, on account of my small means. Five +napoleons was the price! Fancy! I could not treat myself to it, and so I +accepted the good lady's offer. I do not say that it was not +disagreeable, but what was I to do? And then, the old woman was a +German, and so her five napoleons were a slight return for our five +milliards, which we paid them as our war indemnity. + +"Well, _Patata's_ boarder was charming, the old woman was not too +troublesome, and your humble servant did his best to sustain the ancient +glory of Frenchmen. + +"Let me drink my disgrace to the dregs! On the next day but one after, I +was waiting at the statue of Perseus. It was shameful, I confess, but I +enjoyed the partial restitution of the five milliards, and it is +surprising how a Frenchman loses his dignity, when he is traveling. + +"The good lady made her appearance at the appointed time. It was quite +dark, and I followed her without a word, for, after all, I was not very +proud of the part I was playing. But if you only knew how fair that +little girl at _Patata's_ was! As I went along, I thought only of her, +and did not pay any attention to where we were going, and I was only +roused from my reverie by hearing the old woman say: 'Here we are. Try +and be as entertaining as you were the day before yesterday.' + +"We were not outside _Patata's_ house, but in a narrow street running by +the side of a palace with high walls, and in front of us was a small +door, which the old woman opened gently. + +"For a moment I felt inclined to draw back. Apparently the old hag was +also ardent on her own account! She had me in a trap! No doubt she +wanted in her turn to make use of my small talents! But, no! That was +impossible! + +"'Go in! Go in!' she said. 'What are you afraid of? My mistress is so +pretty, so pretty, much prettier than the little girl of the other day.' +So it was really true, this story out of _The Arabian Nights_? Why not? +And after all, what was I risking? The good woman would certainly not +injure me, and so I went in, though somewhat nervously. + +"Oh! My friend, what an hour I spent then! Paradise! and it would be +useless, impossible to describe it to you! Apartments fit for a +princess, and one of those princesses out of fairy tales, a fairy +herself. An exquisite German woman, exquisite as German women can be, +when they try. An Undine of Heinrich Heine's, with hair like the Virgin +Mary's, innocent blue eyes, and a skin like strawberries and cream. + +"Suddenly, however, my Undine got up, and her face convulsed with fury +and pride. Then, she rushed behind some hangings, where she began to +give vent to a flood of German words, which I did not understand, while +I remained standing, dumbfounded. But just then, the old woman came in, +and said, shaking with fear: 'Quick, quick; dress yourself and go, if +you do not wish to be killed.' + +"I asked no questions, for what was the good of trying to understand? +Besides, the old woman, who grew more and more terrified, could not find +any French words, and chattered wildly. I jumped up and got into my +shoes and overcoat and ran down the stairs, and in the street. + +"Ten minutes later, I recovered my breath and my senses, without knowing +what streets I had been through, nor where I had come from, and I stole +furtively into my hotel, as if I had been a malefactor. + +"In the _cafes_ the next morning, nothing was talked of except a crime +that had been committed during the night. A German baron had killed his +wife with a revolver, but he had been liberated on bail, as he had +appealed to his counsel, to whom he had given the following explanation, +to the truth of which the lady companion of the baroness had certified. + +"She had been married to her husband almost by force, and detested him, +and she had some particular reasons (which were not specified) for her +hatred of him. In order to have her revenge on him, she had had him +seized, bound and gagged by four hired ruffians, who had been caught, +and who had confessed everything. Thus, reduced to immobility, and +unable to help himself, the baron had been obliged to witness a +degrading scene, where his wife caressed a Frenchman, and thus outraged +conjugal fidelity and German honor at the same time. As soon as he was +set at liberty, the baron had punished his faithless wife, and was now +seeking her accomplice." + +"And what did you do?" someone asked Pierre Dufaille. + +"The only thing I could do, by George!" he replied. "I put myself at the +poor devil's disposal; it was his right, and so we fought a duel. Alas! +It was with swords, and he ran me right through the body. That was also +his right, but he exceeded his right when he called me her _ponce_. Then +I gave him his chance, and as I fell, I called out with all the strength +that remained to me: 'A Frenchman! A Frenchman! Long live France!'" + + + + +THE DOUBLE PINS + + +"Ah; my-dear fellow, what jades women are!" + +"What makes you say that?" + +"Because they have played me an abominable trick." + +"You?" + +"Yes, me." + +"Women, or a woman?" + +"Two women." + +"Two women at once?" + +"Yes." + +"What was the trick?" + +The two young men were sitting outside a _cafe_ on the Boulevards, and +drinking liquors mixed with water, those aperients which look like +infusions of all the shades in a box of water-colors. They were nearly +the same age, twenty-five to thirty. One was dark and the other fair, +and they had the same semi-elegant look of stock-jobbers, of men who go +to the Stock Exchange, and into drawing-rooms, who are to be seen +everywhere, who live everywhere, and love everywhere. The dark one +continued. + +"I have told you of my connection with that little woman, a tradesman's +wife, whom I met on the beach at Dieppe?" + +"Yes." + +"My dear fellow, you know what it is. I had a mistress in Paris, whom I +loved dearly; an old friend, a good friend, and it has grown into a +habit, in fact, and I value it very much." + +"Your habit." + +"Yes, my habit, and hers also. She is married to an excellent man, whom +I also value very much, a very cordial fellow. A capital companion! I +may say, I think that my life is bound up with that house." + +"Well?" + +"Well! they could not manage to leave Paris, and I found myself a +widower at Dieppe." + +"Why did you go to Dieppe?" + +"For change of air. One cannot remain on the Boulevards the whole time." + +"And then?" + +"Then I met the little woman I mentioned to you on the beach there." + +"The wife of that head of the public office?" + +"Yes; she was dreadfully dull; her husband only came every Sunday, and +he is horrible! I understand her perfectly, and we laughed and danced +together." + +"And the rest?" + +"Yes, but that came later. However, we met, we liked each other. I told +her I liked her, and she made me repeat it, so that she might understand +it better, and she put no obstacles in my way." + +"Did you love her?" + +"Yes, a little; she is very nice." + +"And what about the other?" + +"The other was in Paris! Well, for six weeks it was very pleasant, and +wre returned here on the best of terms. Do you know how to break with a +woman, when that woman has not wronged you in any way?" + +"Yes, perfectly well." + +"How do you manage it?" + +"I give her up." + +"How do you do it?" + +"I do not see her any longer." + +"But supposing she comes to you?" + +"I am ... not at home." + +"And if she comes again?" + +"I say I am not well." + +"If she looks after you?" + +"I play her some dirty trick." + +"And if she puts up with it?" + +"I write to her husband anonymous letters, so that he may look after her +on the days that I expect her." + +"That is serious! I cannot resist, and do not know how to bring about a +rupture, and so I have a collection of mistresses. There are some whom I +do not see more than once a year, others every ten months, others on +those days when they want to dine at a restaurant, those whom I have put +at regular intervals do not worry me, but I often have great difficulty +with the fresh ones, so as to keep them at proper intervals." + +"And then...." + +"And then ... Then, this little woman was all fire and flame, without +any fault of mine, as I told you! As her husband spends all the whole +day at his office, she began to come to me unexpectedly, and twice she +nearly met my regular one on, the stairs." + +"The devil!" + +"Yes; so I gave each of them her days, regular days, to avoid confusion; +Saturday and Monday for the old one, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday for the +new one." + +"Why did you show her the preference?" + +"Ah! My dear friend, she is younger." + +"The devil!" + +"Yes; so I gave each of them her days, regular days, to avoid confusion; +Saturday and Monday for the old one, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday for the +new one." + +"Why did you show her the preference?" + +"Ah! My dear friend, she is younger." + +"So that only gave you two days to yourself in a week." + +"That is enough for one." + +"Allow me to compliment you on that." + +"Well, just fancy that the most ridiculous and most annoying thing in +the world happened to me. For four months everything had been going on +perfectly; I felt perfectly safe, and I was really very happy, when +suddenly, last Monday, the crash came. + +"I was expecting my regular one at the usual time, a quarter past one, +and was smoking a good cigar, and dreaming, very well satisfied with +myself, when I suddenly saw that it was past the time, at which I was +much surprised, for she is very punctual, but I thought that something +might have accidentally delayed her. However, half-an-hour passed, then +an hour, an hour and a half, and then I knew that something must have +detained her; a sick headache, perhaps, or some annoying visitor. That +sort of waiting is very vexatious, that ... useless waiting ... very +annoying and enervating. At last, I made up my mind to go out, and not +knowing what to do, I went to her and found her reading a novel." + +"Well!" I said to her. And she replied quite calmly: + +"My dear I could not come; I was hindered." + +"How?" + +"My ... something else." + +"What was it? + +"A very annoying visit." + +"I saw that she would not tell me the true reason, and as she was very +calm, I did not trouble myself any more about it, and hoped to make up +for lost time with the other, the next day, and on the Tuesday, I was +very ... very excited, and amorous in expectation of the public +official's little wife, and I was surprised that she had not come before +the appointed time, and I looked at the clock every moment, and watched +the hands impatiently, but the quarter past, then the half-hour, then +two o'clock. I could not sit still any longer, and walked up and down +very soon in great strides, putting my face against the window, and my +ears to the door, to listen whether she was not coming upstairs." + +"Half-past two, three o'clock! I seized my hat, and rushed to her house. +She was reading a novel my dear fellow! 'Well!' I said, anxiously, and +she replied as calmly as usual: 'I was hindered, and could not come.' + +"'By what?' + +"'An annoying visit.' + +"Of course, I immediately thought that they both knew everything, but +she seemed so calm and quiet, that I set aside my suspicions, and +thought it was only some strange coincidence, as I could not believe in +such dissimulation on her part, and so, after half-an-hour's friendly +talk, which was, however, interrupted a dozen times by her little girl +coming in and out of the room. I went away, very much annoyed. Just +imagine the next day...." + +"The same thing happened?" + +"Yes, and the next also. And that went on for three weeks without any +explanation, without anything explaining that strange conduct to me, the +secret of which I suspected, however." + +"They knew everything?" + +"I should think so, by George. But how? Ah! I had a great deal of +anxiety before I found it out." + +"How did you manage it at last?" + +"From their letters, for on the same day they both gave me their +dismissal in identical terms." + +"Well?" + +"This is how it was.... You know that women always have an array of pins +about them. I know hairpins, I doubt them, and look after them, but the +others are much more treacherous; those confounded little black-headed +pins which look all alike to us, great fools that we are, but which they +can distinguish, just as we can distinguish a horse from a dog. + +"Well, it appears that one day my minister's little wife left one of +those tell-tale instruments pinned to the paper, close to my +looking-glass. My usual one had immediately seen this little black +speck, no bigger than a flea, and had taken it out without saying a +word, and then had left one of her pins, which was also black, but of a +different pattern, in the same place. + +"The next day, the minister's wife wished to recover her property, and +immediately recognized the substitution. Then her suspicions were +aroused, and she put in two and crossed them, and my original one +replied to this telegraphic signal by three black pellets, one on the +top of the other, and as soon as this method had begun, they continued +to communicate with one another, without saying a word, only to spy on +each other. Then it appears that the regular one, being bolder, wrapped +a tiny piece of paper round the little wire point, and wrote upon it: +_C. D., Poste Restante, Boulevards, Malherbes_. + +"Then they wrote to each other. You understand that was not everything +that passed between them. They set to work with precaution, with a +thousand stratagems, with all the prudence that is necessary in such +cases, but the regular one did a bold stroke, and made an appointment +with the other. I do not know what they said to each other; all that I +know is, that I had to pay the costs of their interview. There you have +it all!" + +"Is that all?" + +"Yes." + +"And you do not see them any more?" + +"I beg your pardon. I see them as friends, for we have not quarreled +altogether." + +"And have they met again?" + +"Yes, my dear fellow, they have become intimate friends." + +"And has not that given you an idea?" + +"No, what idea?" + +"You great booby! The idea of making them put back the pins where they +found them." + + + + +UNDER THE YOKE + + +As he was a man of quiet and regular habits, and of a simple and +affectionate disposition, and had nothing to disturb the even tenor of +his life, Monsieur de Loubancourt suffered more than most men do from +his widowerhood. He regretted his lost happiness, was angry with fate, +which separated united couples so brutally, and which made choice of a +tranquil existence, whose sleepy quietude had not hitherto been troubled +by any cares or chimeras, in order to rob it of its happiness. + +Had he been younger, he might, perhaps, have been tempted to form a new +line, to fill up the vacant place, and to marry again. But when a man is +nearly sixty, such ideas make people laugh, for they have something +ridiculous and insane about them; and so he dragged on his dull and +weary existence, escaped from all those familiar objects which +constantly recalled the past to him, and went from hotel to hotel +without taking an interest in anything, without becoming intimate with +anyone, even temporarily; inconsolable, silent, almost enigmatical, and +looking funereal in his eternal black clothes. + +He was generally alone, though on rare occasions he was accompanied by +his only son, who used to yawn by stealth, and who seemed to be mentally +counting the hours, as if he were performing some hateful, enforced duty +in spite of himself. + +Two years of this crystallization went past, and one was as monotonous, +and as void of incident, as the other. + +One evening, however, in a boarding-house at Cannes, where he was +staying on his wanderings, there was a young woman dressed in mourning, +among the new arrivals, who sat next to him at dinner. She had a sad, +pale face, that told of suffering, a beautiful figure, and large, blue +eyes with deep rings round them, but which, nevertheless, looked like +the first star which shines in the twilight. + +All remarked her, although he usually took no notice of women, no matter +whatever they were, ugly or pretty; he looked at her and listened to +her. He felt less lonely by her side, though he did not know why. He +trembled with instinctive and confused happiness, just as if in some +distant country he had found some female friend or relative, who at last +would understand him, tell him some news, and talk to him in his dear +native language about everything that a man leaves behind him when he +exiles himself from home. + +What strange affinity had thrown them together thus? What secret forces +had brought their grief in contact? What made him so sanguine and so +calm, and incited him to take her suddenly into his confidences, and +urged him on to resistless curiosity? + +She was an experienced traveler, who had no illusions, and was in search +of adventures; one of those women who frequently change their name, and +who, as they have made up their minds to swindle if luck is not on their +side, act a continual part, an adventuress, who could put on every +accent; who for the sake of her course, transformed herself into a Slav, +or into an American, or simply into a provincial; who was ready to take +part in any comedy in order to make money, and not to be obliged to +waste her strength and her brains on fruitless struggles or on wretched +expedients. Thus she immediately guessed the state of this melancholy +sexagenarian's mind, and the illusions which attracted him to her, and +scented the spoils which offered themselves to her cupidity of their own +accord, and divined under what guise she ought to show herself, to make +herself accepted and loved. + +She initiated him into depths of grief which were unknown to him, by +phrases which were cut short by sighs, by fragments of her story, which +she finished by a disgusted shrug of the shoulders, and a heartrending +smile, and by insensibly exciting his feelings. In a word, she triumphed +over the last remaining doubts, which might still have mingled with the +affectionate pity with which that poor, solitary heart, which, so full +of bitterness, overflowed. + +And so, for the first time since he had become a widower, the old man +confided in another person, poured out his old heart into that soul +which seemed to be so like his own, which seemed to offer him a refuge +where he could be cheered up, and where the wounds of his heart could be +healed, and he longed to throw himself into those sisterly arms, to dry +his tears and to exercise his grief there. + + * * * * * + +Monsieur de Loubancourt, who had married at twenty-five, as much from +love as from judgment, had lived quietly and peacefully in the country, +much more than in Paris. He was ignorant of the female wiles of +temptations, offered to creatures like Wanda Pulska, who was made up of +lies, and only cared for pleasure, a virgin soil on which any seed will +grow. + +She attached herself to him, became his shadow, and by degrees, part of +his life. She showed herself to be a charitable woman who devoted +herself to an unhappy man, who endeavored to console him, and who, in +spite of her youth, was willing to be the inseparable companion of the +old man in his slow, daily walks. She never appeared to tire of his +anecdotes and reminiscences, and she played cards with him. She waited +on him carefully when he was confined to his bed, appeared to have no +sex, and transformed herself; and though she handled him skillfully, she +seemed ingenuous and ignorant of evil. She acted like an innocent young +girl, who had just been confirmed; but for all that, she chose dangerous +hours and certain spots in which to be sentimental and to ask questions +which agitated and disconcerted him, and abandoned her slender fingers +to his feverish hands, which pressed and held them in a tender clasp. + +And then, there were wild declarations of love, prayers and sobs which +frightened her; wild _adieux_, which were not followed by his departure, +but which brought about a touching reconciliation and the first kiss, +and then, one night, while they were traveling together, he forced open +the door of her bedroom at the hotel, which she had locked, and came in +like a mad man. There was the phantom of violence, and the fallacious +submission of a woman, who was overcome by so much tenderness, who +rebelled no longer, but who accepted the yoke of her master and lover. +And then, the conquest of the body after the conquest of the heart, +which forged his chain link by link, pleasures which besot and corrupt +old men, and dry up their brains, until at last he allowed himself to be +induced, almost unconsciously, to make an odious and stupid will. + +Informed, perhaps, by anonymous letters, or astonished because his +father kept him altogether at a distance from him, and gave no signs of +life, Monsieur de Loubancourt's son joined them in Provence. But Wanda +Pulska, who had been preparing for that attack for a long time, waited +for it fearlessly. + +She did not seem disconcerted at that sudden visit, but was very +charming and affable towards the new comer, reassured him by her +careless airs of a girl, who took life as it came, and who was suffering +from the consequences of a fault, and did not trouble her head about the +future. + +He envied his father, and grudged him such a treasure. Although he had +come to combat her dangerous influence, and to treat the woman, who had +assumed the place of death, and who governed her lover as his sovereign +mistress, as an enemy, he shrunk from his task, panted with desire, lost +his head, and thought of nothing but treason and of an odious +partnership. + +She managed him even more easily than she had managed Monsieur de +Loubancourt, molded him just as she chose; made him her tool, without +even giving him the tips of her fingers, or granting him the slightest +favor, induced him to be so imprudent, that the old man grew jealous, +watched them, discovered the intrigue, and found mad letters in which +his son was angry, begged, threatened and implored. + +One evening, when she knew that her lover had come in, and was hiding in +a dark cupboard in order to watch them, Wanda happened to be alone in +the drawing-room, which was full of light, of beautiful flowers, with +this young fellow, five-and-twenty. He threw himself at her feet and +declared his love, and besought her to run away with him, and when she +tried to bring him to reason and repulsed him, and told him in a loud +and very distinct voice, how she loved Monsieur de Loubancourt, he +seized her wrists with brutal violence, and maddened with passion and +stammering words of love and lust, he pushed her towards one of the +couches. + +"Let me go," she said, "let me go immediately,... You are a brute to +take advantage of a woman like that.... Please let me go, or I shall +call the servants to my assistance." + +The next moment, the old man, terrible in his rage, rushed out of his +hiding place with clenched fists and a slobbering mouth, threw himself +on the startled son, and pointing to the door with a superb gesture, he +said: + +"You are a dirty scoundrel, sir. Get out of my house immediately, and +never let me see you again!" + + * * * * * + +The comedy was over. Grateful for such fidelity and real affection, +Monsieur de Loubancourt married Wanda Pulska, whose name appeared on the +civil register--which was a detail of no importance to a man who was in +love--as Frida Krubstein; she came from Saxony, and had been a servant +at an inn. Then he disinherited his son, as far as he could.[17] + +[Footnote 17: According to French law, nobody can altogether disinherit +a child, and no son or daughter can be "cut off" with a "proverbial +shilling."] + +And now that she is a respectable and respected widow, Madame de +Loubancourt is received everywhere by society in those places of winter +resort where people's by-gone history is so rarely gone into, and where +women bear a name, who are pretty, and who can waltz--like the Germans +can, are always well received. + + + + +THE READ ONE AND THE OTHER + + +"Well, really," Chasseval said, standing with his back to the fire, +"could any of those respectable shop-keepers and wine growers have +possibly believed that that pretty little Parisian woman, with her soft +innocent eyes, like those of a Madonna, with such smiling lips and +golden hair, and who always dressed so simple, was their candidate's +mistress?" + +She was a wonderful help to him, and accompanied him even to the most +outlying farms; went to the meetings in the small village _cafes_ and +had a pleasant and suitable word for every one, and did not recoil at a +glass of mulled wine or a grip of the hand, and was always ready to join +in _farandole_.[18] She seemed to be so in love with Elienne Rulhiere, +to trust him so entirely, to be so proud of forming half of his life, +and of belonging to him, gave him such looks full of pleasure and of +hope, and listened to all he said so intently, that voters who might +have hesitated, allowed themselves by degrees to be talked over and +persuaded; and promised their votes to the young doctor, whose name they +never heard mentioned in the district before. + +[Footnote 18: A dance in Provence in which the dancers form a chain, and +the movements are directed by the leader.--TRANSLATOR.] + +That electoral campaign had been like a truant's escapade for Jane +Dardenne; it was a delightful and unexpected holiday, and as she was an +actress at heart, she played her part seriously, and threw herself into +her character, and enjoyed herself more than she ever enjoyed herself in +her most adventurous outings. + +And then there came in the pleasure of being taken for a woman of the +world, of being flattered, respected and envied, and of getting out of +the usual groove for a time, and also the dream that this journey of a +few weeks would have the sequence, that her lover would not separate +from her on their return, but would sacrifice the woman whom he no +longer loved, and whom he ironically used to call his _Cinderella_, to +her. + +At night, when they had laid aside all pretense, and when they were +alone in their room in the hotel, she coaxed him and flattered him, +spurred his ambition on, threw her quivering arms around him, and amidst +her kisses, whispered those words to him, which make a man proud and +warm his heart, and give him strength, like a stout dram of alcohol. + +The two between them captured the district, and won the election easily, +and in spite of his youth, Elienne Rulhiere was chosen by a majority of +five thousand. Then, of course, there were more fetes and banquets, at +which Jane was present, and where she was received with enthusiastic +shouts; there were fireworks, when she was obliged to set light to the +first rocket, and balls at which she astonished those worthy people by +her affability. And when they left, three little girls dressed in white, +as if they were going to be confirmed, came onto the platform and +recited some complimentary verses to her while the band played the +_Marseillaise_, the women waved their pocket-handkerchiefs, and the men +their hats, and leaning out of the carriage window, looking charming in +her traveling costume, with a smile on her lips, and with moist eyes, as +was fitting at such a pathetic leave-taking, actress as she was, with a +sudden and childlike gesture, she blew kisses to them from the tips of +her fingers, and said: + +"Good-bye, my friends, good-bye, only for the present; I shall never +forget you!" + +The deputy, who was also very effusive, had invited his principal +supporters to come and see him in Paris as there were plenty of +excursion trains. They all took him at his word, and Rulhiere was +obliged to invite them all to dinner. + +In order to avoid any possible mishaps, he gave his wife a foretaste of +their guests. He told her that they were rather noisy, talkative, and +unpolished, and that they would, no doubt, astonish her by their manners +and their accent, but that, as they had great influence, and were +excellent men, they deserved a good reception. It was a very useful +precaution, for when they came into the drawing-room in their new +clothes, expanding with pleasure, and with their hair pomatumed as if +they had been going to a country wedding, they felt inclined to fall +down before the new Madame Rulhiere to whom the deputy introduced them, +and who seemed to be perfectly at home there. + +At first they were embarrassed, felt uncomfortable and out of place, did +not know what to say, and had to seek their words; they buttoned and +unbuttoned their gloves, answered her questions at random, and racked +their brains to discover the solution of the enigma. Captain Mouredus +looked at the fire, with the fixed gaze of a somnambulist, Marius +Barbaste scratched his fingers mechanically, while the three others, the +factory manager, Casemajel, Roquetton, the lawyer, and Dustugue, the +hotel proprietor, looked at Rulhiere anxiously. + +The lawyer was the first to recover himself. He got up from his arm +chair laughing heartily, dug the deputy in the ribs with his elbow, and +said: + +"I understand it all, I understand it; you thought that people do not +come to Paris to be bored, eh? Madame is delightful, and I congratulate +you, Monsieur." + +He gave a wink, and made signs behind his back to his friends, and then +the captain had his turn. + +"We are not boobies, and that fellow Roquetton is the most knowing of +the lot of us.... Ah! Monsieur Rulhiere, without any exaggeration, you +are the cream of good fellows." + +And with a flushed face, and expanding his chest, he said sonorously: + +"They certainly turn them out very pretty in your part of the country, +my little lady!" + +Madame Rulhiere, who did not know what to say, had gone up to her +husband for protection; but she felt much inclined to go to her own room +under some pretext or other, in order to escape from her intolerable +task. She kept her ground, however, during the whole of dinner, which +was a noisy, jovial meal, during which the five electors, with their +elbows on the table, and their waistcoats unbuttoned, and half drunk, +told coarse stories, and swore like troopers. But as the coffee and the +liquors were served in the smoking room, she took leave of her guests in +an impatient voice, and went to her own room with the hasty step of an +escaped prisoner, who is afraid of being retaken. + +The electors sat staring after her with gaping mouths, and Mouredus lit +a cigar, and said: + +"Just listen to me, Monsieur Rulhiere; it was very kind of you to invite +us here, to your little quiet establishment, but to speak to you +frankly, I should not, in your place, wrong my lawful wife for such a +stuck-up piece of goods as this one is." + +"The captain is quite right," Roquetton the notary opined; "Madame +Rulhiere, the lawful Madame Rulhiere, is much more amiable, and +altogether nicer. You are a scoundrel to deceive her; but when may we +hope to see her?" + +And with a paternal grimace, he added: + +"But do not be uneasy; we will all hold our tongue; it would be too sad +if she were to find it out." + + + + +THE UPSTART + + +You know good-natured, stout Dupontel, who looks like the type of a +happy man, with his fat cheeks that are the color of ripe apples, his +small, reddish moustache, turned up over his thick lips, with his +prominent eyes, which never know any emotion or sorrow, which remind one +of the calm eyes of cows and oxen, and his long back fixed onto two +little wriggling, crooked legs, which obtained for him the nickname of +corkscrew from some nymph of the ballet. + +Dupontel, who had taken the trouble to be born, but not like the grand +seigneurs whom Beaumarchais made fun of once upon a time, was ballasted +with a respectable number of millions, as is becoming in the sole heir +of a house that had sold household utensils and appliances for over a +century. + +Naturally, like every other upstart who respects himself, he wished to +appear something, to play at being a clubman, and also to play to the +gallery, because he had been educated at Vangirard and knew a little +English; because he had gone through his voluntary service in the army +for twelve months[19] at Rouen; because he was a tolerable singer, could +drive four-in-hands, and play lawn-tennis. + +[Footnote 19: Although, in France, as in Germany, military service is +compulsory, men are allowed to serve in both countries as _one-year +volunteers_; they enjoy certain privileges, find their own uniform, &c., +and it, of course, entails considerable expense.--TRANSLATOR.] + +Always studiedly well-dressed, too correct in every way, copying his way +of speaking, his hats and his trousers from the three or four snobs who +set the fashion, reproducing other people's witticisms, learning +anecdotes and jokes by heart, like a lesson, to use them again at small +parties, constantly laughing, without knowing why his friends burst into +roars of merriment, and was in the habit of keeping pretty girls for the +pleasure of his best friends. Of course he was a perfect fool, but after +all, a capital fellow, to whom it was only right to extend a good deal +of indulgence. + +When he had taken his thirty-first mistress, and had made the discovery +that in love, money does not create happiness two-thirds of the time, +that they had all deceived him, and made him perfectly ridiculous at the +end of the week, Charles Dupontel made up his mind to settle down as a +respectable married man, and to marry, not from calculation or from +reason, but for love. + +One autumn afternoon at Auteuil, he noticed in front of the club stand, +among the number of pretty women who were standing round the braziers, a +girl with such lovely delicate complexion that it looked like an apple +blossom; her hair was like threads of gold, and she was so slight and +supple that she reminded him of those outlines of saints which one sees +in old stained-glass church windows. There was also something +enigmatical about her, for she had at the same time the delightfully +ingenuous look of a school girl during the holidays, and also of some +enlightened young lady, who already knew the how and the why of +everything, who is exuberant with youth and life, and who is eagerly +waiting for the moment when marriage will at length allow her to say and +to do everything that comes into her head, and to amuse herself to +satiety. + +Then she had such small feet that they would have gone into a woman's +hand, a waist that could have been clasped by a bracelet, turned up +eyelashes, which fluttered like the wings of a butterfly, close on an +impudent and sensual nose, and a vague, mocking smile that made folds in +her lips, like the petals of a rose. + +Her father was a member of the Jockey Club, who was generally _cleared +out_, as they call it, in the great races, but who yet defended his +position bravely, and continued that, and who kept himself afloat by +prodigies of coolness and skill. He belonged to a race which could prove +that his ancestors had been at the court of Charlemagne, and not as +musicians or cooks, as some people declared. + +Her youth and beauty and her father's pedigree dazzled Dupontel, upset +his brain, and altogether turned him upside down, and combined they +seemed to him to be a mirage of happiness and of pride of family. + +He got introduced to her father, at the end of a game of baccarat, +invited him to shoot with him, and a month later, as if it were an +affair to be hurried over, he asked for and obtained the hand of +Mademoiselle Therese de Montsaigne, and felt as happy as a miner who has +discovered a vein of precious metal. + +The young woman did not require more than twenty-four hours to discover +that her husband was nothing but a ridiculous puppet, and immediately +set about to consider how she might best escape from her cage, and +befool the poor fellow, who loved her with all his heart. + +And she deceived him without the least pity or the slightest scruple; +she did it as if it were from instinctive hatred, as if it were a +necessity for her not only to make him ridiculous, but also to forget +that she ought to sacrifice her virgin dreams to him, to belong to him, +and to submit to his hateful caresses without being able to defend +himself and to repel him. + +She was cruel, as all women are when they do not love, delighted in +doing audacious and absurd things, and in visiting everything, and in +braving danger. She seemed like a young colt, that is intoxicated with +the sun, the air and its liberty, and which gallops wildly across the +meadows, jumps hedges and ditches, kicks, and whinnies joyously, and +rolls about in the long, sweet grass. + +But Dupontel remained quite imperturbable; he had not the slightest +suspicion, and was the first to laugh when anybody told him some good +story of a husband who had been cuckolded, although his wife repelled +him, quarreled with him, and constantly pretended to be out of sorts or +tired out, in order to escape from him. She seemed to take a malicious +pleasure in checkmating him by her personal remarks, her disenchanting +answers, and her apparent listlessness. + +They saw a great deal of company, and he called himself Du Pontel now, +and he even had thoughts of buying a title from the Pope; he only read +certain newspapers, kept up a regular correspondence with the Orleans +Princes, was thinking of starting a racing stable, and finished up by +believing that he really was a fashionable man, and strutted about, and +was puffed out with conceit, as he had probably never read La Fontaine's +fable, in which he tells the story of the ass that is laden with relics +which people salute, and so takes their bows to himself. + +Suddenly, however, anonymous letters disturbed his quietude, and tore +the bandage from his eyes. + +At first he tore them up without reading them, and shrugged his +shoulders disdainfully; but he received so many of them, and the writer +seemed so determined to dot his _i's_ and cross his _t's_ and to clear +his brain for him, that the unhappy man began to grow disturbed, and to +watch and to ferret about. He instituted minute inquiries, and arrived +at the conclusion that he no longer had the right to make fun of other +husbands, and that he was the perfect counterpart of _Sganarelle_.[20] + +[Footnote 20: The _Cocu Imaginaire_ (The Imaginary Cuckold), in +Moliere's play of that name.] + +Furious at having been duped, he set a whole private inquiry agency to +work, continually acted a part, and one evening appeared unexpectedly +with a commissary of police in the snug little bachelor's quarters which +concealed his wife's escapades. + +Therese, who was terribly frightened, and at her wits' end at being thus +surprised in all the disorder of her lover's apartments, and pale with +shame and terror, hid herself behind the bed curtains, while he, who was +an officer of dragoons, very much vexed at being mixed up in such a +pinchbeck scandal, and at being caught in a silk shirt by these men who +were so correctly dressed in frock coats, frowned angrily, and had to +restrain himself so as not to fling his victim out of a window. + +The police commissary, who was calmly looking at this little scene with +the coolness of an amateur, prepared to verify the fact that they were +caught _flagrante delicto_, and in an ironical voice said to her +husband, who had claimed his services: + +"I must ask for your name in full, Monsieur?" + +"Charles Joseph Edward Dupontel," was the answer. And as the commissary +was writing it down from his dictation, he added suddenly: "Du Pontel in +two words, if you please, Monsieur le Commissionaire!" + + + + +THE CARTER'S WENCH + + +The driver, who had jumped from his box, and was now walking slowly by +the side of his thin horses, waking them up every moment by a cut of the +whip, or a coarse oath, pointed to the top of the hill, where the +windows of a solitary house, in which the inhabitants were still up, +although it was very late and quite dark, were shining like yellow +lamps, and said to me: + +"One gets a good drop there, Monsieur, and well served, by George." + +And his eyes flashed in his thin, sunburnt face, which was of a deep +brickdust color, while he smacked his lips like a drunkard, who +remembers a bottle of good liquor that he has lately drunk, and drawing +himself up in a blouse like a vulgar swell, he shivered like the back of +an ox, when it is sharply pricked with the goad. + +"Yes, and well served by a wench who will turn your head for you before +you have tilted your elbow and drank a glass!" + +The moon was rising behind the snow-covered mountain peaks, which looked +almost like blood under its rays, and which were crowned by dark, broken +clouds, which whirled about and floated, and reminded the passenger of +some terrible Medusa's head. The gloomy plains of Capsir, which were +traversed by torrents, extensive meadows in which undefined forms were +moving about, fields of rye, like huge golden table-covers, and here and +there wretched villagers, and broad sheets of water, into which the +stars seemed to look in a melancholy manner, opened out to the view. +Damp gusts of winds swept along the road, bringing a strong smell of +hay, of resin of unknown flowers, with them, and erratic pieces of rock, +which were scattered on the surface like huge boundary stones, had +spectral outlines. + +The driver pulled his broad-brimmed felt hat over his eyes, twirled his +large moustache, and said in an obsequious voice: + +"Does Monsieur wish to stop here? This is the place!" + +It was a wretched wayside public-house, with a reddish slate roof, that +looked as if it were suffering from leprosy, and before the door there +stood three wagons drawn by mules, and loaded with huge stems of trees, +and which took up nearly the whole of the road; the animals, which were +used to halting there, were dozing, and their heavy loads exhaled a +smell of a pillaged forest. + +Inside, three wagoners, one of whom was an old man, while the other two +were young, were sitting in front of the fire, which cackled loudly, +with bottles and glasses on a large round-table by their side, and were +singing and laughing boisterously. A woman with large round hips, and +with a lace cap pinned onto her hair, in the Catalan fashion, who looked +strong and bold, and who had a certain amount of gracefulness about her, +and with a pretty, but untidy head, was urging them to undo the strings +of their great leather purses, and replied to their somewhat indelicate +jokes in a shrill voice, as she sat on the knee of the youngest, and +allowed him to kiss her and to fumble in her bodice, without any signs +of shame. + +The coachman pushed open the door, like a man who knows that he is at +home. + +"Good evening, Glaizette, and everybody; there is room for two more, I +suppose?" + +The wagoners did not speak, but looked at us cunningly and angrily, like +dogs whose food had been taken from them, and who showed their teeth, +ready to bite, while the girl shrugged her shoulders and looked into +their eyes like some female wild beast tamer; and then she asked us with +a strange smile: + +"What am I to get you?" + +"Two glasses of cognac, and the best you have in the cupboard," +Glaizette, the coachman replied, rolling a cigarette. + +While she was uncorking the bottle I noticed how green her eyeballs +were; it was a fascinating, tempting green, like that of the great green +grasshopper; and also how small her hands were, which showed that she +did not use them much; how white her teeth were, and how her voice, +which was rather rough, though cooing, had a cruel, and at the same +time, a coaxing sound. I fancied I saw her, as in a mirage, reclining +triumphantly on a couch, indifferent to the fights which were going on +about her, always waiting--longing for him who would prove himself the +stronger, and who would prove victorious. She was, in short, the +hospitable dispenser of love, by the side of that difficult, stony road, +who opened her arms to poor men, and who made them forget everything in +the profusion of her kisses. She knew dark matters, which nobody in the +world besides herself should know, which her sealed lips would carry +away inviolate to the other world. She had never yet loved, and would +never really love, because she was vowed to passing kisses which were so +soon forgotten. + +I was anxious to escape from her as soon as possible; no longer to see +her pale, green eyes, and her mouth that bestowed caresses from pure +charity; no longer to feel the woman with her beautiful, white hands, so +near one; so I threw her a piece of gold and made my escape without +saying a word to her, without waiting for any change, and without even +wishing her good-night, for I felt the caress of her smile, and the +disdainful restlessness of her looks. + +The carriage started off at a gallop to Formigueres, amidst a furious +jingling of bells. I could not sleep any more; I wanted to know where +that woman came from, but I was ashamed to ask the driver and to show +any interest in such a creature, and when he began to talk, as we were +going up another hill, as if he had guessed my sweet thoughts, he told +me all he knew about Glaizette. I listened to him with the attention of +a child, to whom somebody is telling some wonderful fairy tale. + +She came from Fontpedrouze, a muleteers' village, where the men spend +their time in drinking and gambling at the inn when they are not +traveling on the high roads with their mules, while the women do all the +field work, carry the heaviest loads on their back, and lead a life of +pain and misery. + +Her father kept an inn; the girl grew up very happy; she was courted +before she was fifteen, and was so coquettish that she was certain to be +almost always found in front of her looking-glass, smiling at her own +beauty, arranging her hair, trying to make herself like a young lady on +the _prado_. And now, as none of the family knew how to keep a +halfpenny, but spent more than they earned, and were like cracked jugs, +from which the water escapes drop by drop, they found themselves ruined +one fine day, just as if they had been at the bottom of a blind alley. +So on the "Feast of Our Lady of Succor," when people go on a pilgrimage +to Font Romea, and the villages are consequently deserted, the +inn-keeper set fire to the house. The crime was discovered through _la +Glaizette_, who could not make up her mind to leave the looking-glass, +with which her room was adorned, behind her, and so had carried it off +under her petticoat. + +The parents were sentenced to many years' imprisonment, and being let +loose to live as best she could, the girl became a servant, passed from +hand to hand, inherited some property from an old farmer, whom she had +caught, as if she had been a thrush on a twig covered with bird-lime, +and with the money she had built this public-house on the new road which +was being built across the Capsir. + +"A regular bad one, Monsieur," the coachman said in conclusion, "a vixen +such as one does not see now in the worst garrison towns, and who would +open the door to the whole fraternity, and not at all avaricious, but +thoroughly honest...." + +I interrupted him in spite of myself, as if his words had pained me, and +I thought of those pale green eyes, those magic eyes, eyes to be dreamt +about, which were the color of grasshoppers, and I looked for them, and +saw them in the darkness; they danced before me like phosphorescent +lights, and I would have given then the whole contents of my purse to +that man if he would only have been silent and urged his horses on to +full speed, so that their mad gallop might carry me off quickly, quickly +and far, and continually further from that girl. + + + + +THE MARQUIS + + +It was quite useless to expostulate when that obstinate little Sonia, +with a Russian name and Russian caprices, had said: "I choose to do it." +She was so delicate and pretty also, with her slightly turned-up nose, +and her rosy and childish cheeks, while every female perversity was +reflected in the depths of her strange eyes, which were the color of the +sea on a stormy evening. Yes, she was very charming, very fantastic, and +above all, so Russian, so deliciously and imperiously Russian, and all +the more Russian, as she came from Montmarte, and in spite of this, not +one of her seven lovers who composed her usual menagerie had laughed +when their enslaver said one day: + +"You know my feudal castle at Pludun-Herlouet, near Saint +Jacut-de-la-Mer, which I bought two years ago, and in which I have not +yet set foot? Very well, then! The day after to-morrow, which is the +first of May, we will have a house-warming there." + +The seven had not asked for any further explanation, but had accompanied +little Sonia, and were now ready to sit down to dinner under her +presidency in the dining-room of the old castle, which was situated ten +hours from Paris. They had arrived there that morning; they were going +to have dinner and supper together, and start off again at daybreak next +morning; such were Sonia's orders, and nobody had made the slightest +objection. + +Two of her admirers, however, who were not yet used to her sudden whims, +had felt some surprise, which was quickly checked by expressions of +enthusiastic pleasure on the part of the others. + +"What a delightful, original idea! Nobody else would have thought of +such things! Positively, nobody else. Oh! these Russians!" But those who +had known her for some time, and who had been consequently educated not +to be surprised at anything, found it all quite natural. + +It was half-past six in the evening, and the gentlemen were going to +dress. Sonia had made up her mind to keep on her morning-gown, or if she +dressed, she would do so later. Just then she was not inclined to move +out of her great rocking-chair, from which she could see the sun setting +over the sea. The sight always delighted her very much. It might have +been taken for a large red billiard ball, rebounding from the green +cloth. How funny it was! And how lucky that she was all alone to look at +it, for those seven would not have understood it at all! Those men never +have any soul, have they? + +Certainly, the sunset was strange at first, but at length it made her +sad, and just now Sonia's heart felt almost heavy, though the very +sadness was sweet. She was congratulating herself more than ever on +being alone, so as to enjoy that languor, which was almost like a gentle +dream, when, in perfect harmony with that melancholy and sweet +sensation, a voice rose from the road, which was overhung by the +terrace; a tremulous, but fresh and pure voice sang the following words +to a slow melody: + + "Walking in Paris, + Having my drink, + A friend of mine whispered: + _What do you think? + If love makes you thirsty, + Then wine makes you lusty_." + +The sound died away, as the singer continued on his way, and Sonia was +afraid that she should not hear the rest; it was really terrible; so she +jumped out of the rocking-chair, ran to the balustrade of terrace, and +leaning over it, she called out: "Sing it again! I insist on it. The +song, the whole song!" + +On hearing this, the singer looked round and then came back, without +hurrying, however, and as if he were prompted by curiosity, rather than +by any desire to comply with her order, and holding his hand over his +eyes, he looked at Sonia attentively, who, on her part, had plenty of +time to look closely at him. + +He was an old man of about sixty-five, and his rags and the wallet over +his shoulder denoted a beggar, but Sonia immediately noticed that there +was a certain amount of affectation in his wretchedness. His hair and +beard were not shaggy and ragged, like such men usually wear them, and +evidently he had his hair cut occasionally, and he had a fine, and even +_distinguished_ face, as Sonia said to herself. But she did not pay much +attention to that, as for some time she had noticed that old men at the +seaside nearly all looked like gentlemen. + +When he got to the foot of the terrace, the beggar stopped, and wagged +his head and said: "Pretty! The little woman is very pretty!" But he did +not obey Sonia's order, who repeated it, almost angrily this time, +beating a violent tattoo on the stone-work. "The song, the whole song!" + +He did not seem to hear, but stood there gaping, with a vacant smile on +his face, and as his head was rather inclined towards his left shoulder, +a thin stream of saliva trickled from his lips onto his beard, and his +looks became more and more ardent. "How stupid I am!" Sonia suddenly +thought. "Of course he is waiting for something." She felt in her +pocket, in which she always carried some gold by way of half-pence, took +out a twenty-franc piece and threw it down to the old man. He, however, +did not take any notice of it, but continued looking at her +ecstatically, and was only roused from his state of bliss by receiving a +handful of gravel which she threw at him, right in his face. + +"Do sing!" she exclaimed. "You must; I will have it; I have paid you." +And then, still smiling, he picked up the napoleon and threw it back +onto the terrace, and then he said proudly, though in a very gentle +voice: "I do not ask for charity, little lady; but if it gives you +pleasure, I will sing you the whole song, the whole of it, as often as +you please." And he began the song again, in his tremulous voice, which +was more tremulous than it had been before, as if he were much touched. + +Sonia was overcome, and without knowing was moved into tears; delighted +because the man had spoken to her so familiarly, and rather ashamed at +having treated him as a beggar; and now her whole being was carried away +by the slow rhythm of the melody, which related an old love story, and +when he had done he again looked at her with a smile, and as she was +crying, he said to her: "I dare say you have a beautiful horse, or a +little dog that you are very fond of, which is ill. Take me to it, and I +will cure it: I understand it thoroughly. I will do it _gratis_, because +you are so pretty." + +She could not help laughing. "You must not laugh," he said. "What are +you laughing at? Because I am poor? But I am not, for I had work +yesterday, and again to-day. I have a bag full. See, look here!" And +from his belt he drew a leather purse in which coppers rattled. He +poured them out into the palm of his hand, and said merrily: "You see, +little one, I have a purse. Forty-seven sous; forty-seven!" "So you will +not take my napoleon?" Sonia said. "Certainly not," he replied. "I do +not want it; and then, I tell you again, I will not accept alms. So you +do not know me?" "No, I do not." "Very well, ask anyone in the +neighborhood. Everybody will tell you that the Marquis does not live on +charity." + +The Marquis! At that name she suddenly remembered that two years ago she +had heard his story. It was at the time that she bought the property, +and the vendor had mentioned the _Marquis_ as one of the curiosities of +the soil. He was said to be half silly, at any rate an original, almost +in his dotage, living by any lucky bits that he could make as +horse-coper and veterinary. The peasants gave him a little work, as they +feared that he might throw spells over anyone who refused to employ him. +They also respected him on account of his former wealth and of his +title, for he had been rich, very rich, and they said that he really was +a marquis, and it was said that he had ruined himself in Paris by +speculating. The reason, of course, _was women_! + +At that moment the dinner bell began to ring, and a wild idea entered +Sonia's head. She ran to the little door that opened onto the terrace, +overtook the musician, and with a ceremonious bow she said to him: "Will +you give me the pleasure and the honor of dining with me, Marquis?" + +The old man left off smiling and grew serious; he put his hand to his +forehead, as if to bring old recollections back, and then with a very +formal, old-fashioned bow, he said: "With pleasure, my dear." And +letting his wallet drop, he offered Sonia his arm. + +When she introduced this new guest to them, all the seven, even to the +best drilled, started. "I see what disturbs you," she said. "It is his +dress. Well! It really leaves much to be desired. But wait a moment; +that can soon be arranged." + +She rang for her lady's maid and whispered something to her, and then +she said: "Marquis, your bath is ready in your dressing-room. If you +will follow Sabina, she will show you to it. These gentlemen and I will +wait dinner for you." And as soon as he had gone out, she said to the +youngest there: "And now, Ernest, go upstairs and undress; I will allow +you to dine in your morning coat, and you will give your dress coat and +the rest to Sabina, for the Marquis." + +Ernest was delighted at having to play a part in the piece, and the six +others clapped their hands. "Nobody else could think of such things; +nobody, nobody!" + +Half an hour later they were sitting at dinner, the Marquis in a dress +coat on Sonia's left, and it was a great deception for the seven. They +had reckoned on having some fun with him, and especially Ernest, who set +up as a wit, had intended to _draw him_. But at the first attempt of +this sort, Sonia had given him a look which they all understood, and +dinner began very ceremoniously for the seven, but merrily and without +restraint between Sonia and the old man. + +They cut very long faces, those seven, but inwardly, if one can say so, +for of course they could not dream of showing how put out they were, and +those inward long faces grew longer still when Sonia said to the old +fellow, quite suddenly: "I say, how stupid these gentlemen are! Suppose +we leave them to themselves?" + +The Marquis rose, offered her his arm again, and said: "Where shall we +go to?" But Sonia's only reply was to sing the couplet of that song +which she had remembered: + + "For three years I passed + The nights with my love, + In a beautiful bed + In a splendid alcove. + Though wine makes me sleepy, + Yet love keeps me frisky." + +And the seven, who were altogether dumbfounded this time, and who could +not conceal their vexation, saw the couple disappear out of the door +which led to Sonia's apartments. "Hum!" Ernest ventured to say, "this is +really rather strong!" "Yes," the eldest of the menagerie replied. "It +certainly is rather strong, but it will do! You know, there is nobody +like her for thinking of such things!" + +The next morning, the _chateau_ bell woke them up at six o'clock, when +they had agreed to return to Paris, and the seven men asked each other +whether they should go and wish Sonia good-morning, as usual, before she +was out of her room. Ernest hesitated more than any of them about it, +and it was not until Sabina, her maid, came and told them that her +mistress insisted upon it, that they could make up their minds to do so, +and they were surprised to find Sonia in bed by herself. + +"Well!" Ernest asked boldly, "and what about the Marquis?" "He left very +early," Sonia replied. "A queer sort of marquis, I must say!" Ernest +observed contemptuously, and growing bolder. "Why, I should like to +know?" Sonia replied, drawing herself up. "The man has his own habits, I +suppose!" "Do you know, Madame," Sabina observed, "that he came back +half an hour after he left?" "Ah!" Sonia said, getting up and walking +about the room. "He came back? What did he want, I wonder?" "He did not +say, Madame. He merely went upstairs to see you. He was dressed in his +old clothes again." + +And suddenly Sonia uttered a loud cry, and clapped her hands, and the +seven came round to see what had caused her emotion. "Look here! Just +look here!" she cried. "Do look on the mantel-piece! It is really +charming! Do look!" + +And with a smiling, and yet somewhat melancholy expression in her eyes, +with a tender look which they could not understand, she showed them a +small bunch of wild flowers, by the side of a heap of half-pennies. +Mechanically she took them up and counted them, and then began to cry. + +There were forty-seven of them. + + + + +THE BED + + +On a hot afternoon during last summer, the large auction rooms seemed +asleep, and the auctioneers were knocking down the various lots in a +listless manner. In a back room, on the first floor, two or three lots +of old silk, ecclesiastical vestments, were lying in a corner. + +They were copes for solemn occasions, and graceful chasubles on which +embroidered flowers surrounded symbolic letters on a yellowish ground, +which had become cream-colored, although it had originally been white. +Some second-hand dealers were there, two or three men with dirty beards, +and a fat woman with a big stomach, one of those women who deal in +second-hand finery, and who also manage illicit love affairs, who are +brokers in old and young human flesh, just as much as they are in new +and old clothes. + +Presently a beautiful Louis XV. chasuble was put up for sale, which was +as pretty as the dress of a marchioness of that period; it had retained +all its colors, and was embroidered with lilies of the valley round the +cross, and long blue iris, which came up to the foot of the sacred +emblem, and wreaths of roses in the corners. When I had bought it, I +noticed that there was a faint scent about it, as if it were permeated +with the remains of incense, or rather, as if it were still pervaded by +those delicate, sweet scents of by-gone years, which seemed to be only +the memory of perfumes, the soul of evaporated essences. + +When I got it home, I wished to have a small chair of the same period +covered with it; and as I was handling it in order to take the necessary +measures, I felt some paper beneath my fingers, and when I cut the +lining, some letters fell at my feet. They were yellow with age, and the +faint ink was the color of rust, and outside the sheet, which was folded +in the fashion of years long past, it was addressed in a delicate hand: +_To Monsieur l'Abbe d'Argence_ + +The first three lines merely settled places of meeting, but here is the +third: + +"My Friend; I am very unwell, ill in fact, and I cannot leave my bed. +The rain is beating against my windows, and I lie dreaming comfortably +and warmly on my eider-down coverlet. I have a book of which I am very +fond, and which seems as if it really applied to me. Shall I tell you +what it is? No, for you would only scold me. Then, when I have read a +little, I think, and will tell you what about. + +"Having been in bed for three days, I think about my bed, and even in my +sleep I meditate on it still, and I have come to the conclusion that the +bed constitutes our whole life; for we were born in it, we live in it, +and we shall die in it. If, therefore, I had Monsieur de Crebillon's +pen, I should write the history of a bed, and what exciting and +terrible, as well as delightful moving occurrences would not such a book +contain! What lessons and what subjects for moralizing could one not +draw from it, for everyone? + +"You know my bed, my friend, but you will never guess how many things I +have discovered in it within the last three days, and how much more I +love it, in consequence. It seems to me to be inhabited, haunted, if I +may say so, by a number of people I never thought of, who, nevertheless, +have left something of themselves in that couch. + +"Ah! I cannot understand people who buy new beds, beds to which no +memories or cares are attached. Mine, ours, which is so shabby, and so +spacious, must have held many existences in it, from birth to the grave. +Think of that, my friend; think of it all; review all those lives, a +great part of which was spent between these four posts, surrounded by +these hangings embroidered by human figures, which have seen so many +things. What have they seen during the three centuries since they were +first put up? + +"Here is a young woman lying on this bed. From time to time she sighs, +and then she groans and cries out; her mother is with her, and presently +a little creature that makes a noise like a cat mewing, and which is all +shriveled and wrinkled, comes from her. It is a male child to which she +has given birth, and the young mother feels happy in spite of her pain; +she is nearly suffocated with joy at that first cry, and stretches out +her arms, and those around her shed tears of pleasure; for that little +morsel of humanity which has come from her means the continuation of the +family, the perpetuation of the blood, of the heart, and of the soul of +the old people, who are looking on, trembling with excitement. + +"And then, here are two lovers, who for the first time are flesh to +flesh together in that tabernacle of life. They tremble; but transported +with delight, they have the delicious sensation of being close together, +and by degrees their lips meet. That divine kiss makes them one, that +kiss, which is the gate of a terrestrial heaven, that kiss which speaks +of human delights, which continually promises them, announces them, and +precedes them. And their bed is agitated like the tempestuous sea, and +it bends and murmurs, and itself seems to become animated and joyous, +for the maddening mystery of love is being accomplished on it. What is +there sweeter, what more perfect in this world than those embraces, +which make one single being out of two, and which give to both of them +at the same moment the same thought, the same expectation, and the same +maddening pleasure, which descends upon them like a celestial and +devouring fire? + +"Do you remember those lines from some old poet, which you read to me +last year? I do not remember who wrote them, but it may have been +Rousard: + + "When you and I in bed shall lie, + Lascivious we shall be, + Enlaced, playing a thousand tricks, + Of lovers, gamesomely. + +"I should like to have that verse embroidered on the top of my bed, +where Pyramus and Thisbe are continually looking at me out of their +tapestry eyes. + +"And think of death, my friend; of all those who have breathed out their +last sigh to God in this bed. For it is also the tomb of hopes ended, +the door which closes everything, after having been the one which lets +in the world. What cries, what anguish, what sufferings, what groans, +how many arms stretched out towards the past; what appeals to happiness +that has vanished for ever; what convulsions, what death-rattles, what +gaping lips and distorted eyes have there not been in this bed, from +which I am writing to you, during the three centuries that it has +sheltered human beings! + +"The bed, you must remember, is the symbol of life; I have discovered +this within the last three days. There is nothing good except the bed, +and are not some of our best moments spent in sleep? + +"But then again, we suffer in bed! It is the refuge of those who are ill +and suffering; a place of repose and comfort for worn-out bodies, and, +in a word, the bed is part and parcel of humanity. + +"Many other thoughts have struck me, but I have no time to note them +down for you, and then, should I remember them all? Besides that, I am +so tired that I mean to retire to my pillows, stretch myself out at full +length, and sleep a little. But be sure and come to see me at three +o'clock to-morrow; perhaps I may be better, and able to prove it to you. + +"Good-bye, my friend; here are my hands for you to kiss, and I also +offer you my lips." + + + + +AN ADVENTURE IN PARIS + + +Is there any stronger feeling than curiosity in a woman? Oh! Fancy +seeing, knowing, touching what one has dreamt about! What would a woman +not do for that? When once a woman's eager curiosity is aroused, she +will be guilty of any folly, commit any imprudence, venture upon +anything, and recoil from nothing. I am speaking of women who are really +women, who are endowed with that triple-bottomed disposition, which +appears to be reasonable and cold on the surface, but whose three secret +compartments are filled. The first, with female uneasiness, which is +always in a state of flutter; the next, with sly tricks which are +colored in imitation of good faith, with those sophistical and +formidable tricks of apparently devout women; and the last, with all +those charming, improper acts, with that delightful deceit, exquisite +perfidy, and all those wayward qualities, which drive lovers who are +stupidly credulous, to suicide; but which delight others. + +The woman whose adventure I am about to relate, was a little person from +the provinces, who had been insipidly chaste till then. Her life, which +was apparently so calm, was spent at home, with a busy husband and two +children, whom she brought up like an irreproachable woman. But her +heart beat with unsatisfied curiosity, and some unknown longing. She was +continually thinking of Paris, and read the fashionable papers eagerly. +The accounts of parties, of the dresses and various entertainments, +excited her longing; but, above all, she was strangely agitated by those +paragraphs which were full of double meaning, by those veils which were +half raised by clever phrases, and which gave her a glimpse of culpable +and ravishing delights, and from her country home, she saw Paris in an +apotheosis of magnificent and corrupt luxury. + +And during the long nights, when she dreamt, lulled by the regular +snores of her husband, who was sleeping on his back by her side, with a +silk handkerchief tied round his head, she saw in her sleep those +well-known men whose names appeared on the first page of the newspapers +as great stars in the dark skies; and she pictured to herself their life +of continual excitement, of constant debauches, of orgies such as they +indulged in in ancient Rome, which were horridly voluptuous, with +refinements of sensuality which were so complicated that she could not +even picture them to herself. + +The boulevards seemed to her to be a kind of abyss of human passions, +and there could be no doubt that the houses there concealed mysteries of +prodigious love. But she felt that she was growing old, and this, +without having known life, except in those regular, horridly monotonous, +everyday occupations, which constitute the happiness of the home. She +was still pretty, for she was well preserved in her tranquil existence, +like some winter fruit in a closed cupboard; but she was agitated and +devoured by her secret ardor. She used to ask herself whether she should +die without having experienced any of those damning, intoxicating joys, +without having plunged once, just once into that flood of Parisian +voluptuousness. + +By dint of much perseverance, she paved the way for a journey to Paris, +found a pretext, got some relations to invite her, and as her husband +could not go with her, she went alone, and as soon as she arrived, she +invented a reason for remaining for two days, or rather for two nights, +if necessary, as she told him that she had met some friends who lived a +little way out of town. + +And then she set out on a voyage of discovery. She went up and down the +boulevards, without seeing anything except roving and numbered vice. She +looked into the large _cafes_, and read the _Agony Column_ of the +_Figaro_, which every morning seemed to her like a tocsin, a summons to +love. But nothing put her on the track of those orgies of actors and +actresses; nothing revealed to her those temples of debauchery which she +imagined opened at some magic word, like the cave in the _Arabian +Nights_, or those catacombs in Rome, where the mysteries of a persecuted +religion were secretly celebrated. + +Her relations, who were quite middle-class people, could not introduce +her to any of those well-known men with whose names her head was full, +and in despair she was thinking of returning, when chance came to her +aid. One day, as she was going along the _Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin_, +she stopped to look into a shop full of those colored Japanese +knick-knacks, which strike the eye on account of their color. She was +looking at the little ivory buffoons, the tall vases of flaming enamel, +and the curious bronzes, when she heard the shop-keeper dilating, with +many bows, on the value of an enormous, pot-bellied, comical figure, +which was quite unique, he said, to a little, bald-headed, gray-bearded +man. + +Every moment, the shop-keeper repeated his customer's name, which was a +celebrated one, in a voice like a trumpet. The other customers, young +women and well-dressed gentlemen, gave a swift and furtive, but +respectful glance at the celebrated writer, who was looking admiringly +at the china figure. They were both equally ugly, as ugly as two +brothers who had sprung from the same mother. + +"I will let you have it for a thousand francs, Monsieur Varin, and that +is exactly what it cost me. I should ask anybody else fifteen hundred, +but I think a great deal of literary and artistic customers, and have +special prices for them. They all come to me, Monsieur Varin. Yesterday, +Monsieur Busnach bought a large, antique goblet of me, and the other day +I sold two candelabra like this (is it not handsome?) to Monsieur +Alexander Dumas. If Monsieur Zola were to see that Japanese figure, he +would buy it immediately, Monsieur Varin." + +The author hesitated in perplexity, as he wanted to have the figure, but +the price was above him, and he thought no more about her looking at him +than if he had been alone in the desert. She came in trembling, with her +eyes fixed shamelessly upon him, and she did not even ask herself +whether he were good-looking, elegant or young. It was Jean Varin +himself, Jean Varin. After a long struggle, and painful hesitation, he +put the figure down onto the table. "No, it is too dear," he said. The +shop-keeper's eloquence redoubled. "Oh! Monsieur Varin, too dear? It is +worth two thousand francs, if it is worth a son." But the man of letters +replied sadly, still looking at the figure with the enameled eyes: "I do +not say it is not; but it is too dear for me." And thereupon, she, +seized by a kind of mad audacity, came forward and said: "What shall you +charge me for the figure?" The shop-keeper, in surprise, replied: +"Fifteen hundred francs, Madame." "I will take it." + +The writer, who had not even noticed her till that moment, turned round +suddenly; he looked at her from head to foot, with half-closed eyes, +observantly, and then he took in the details, as a connoisseur. She was +charming, suddenly animated by that flame which had hitherto been +dormant in her. And then, a woman who gives fifteen hundred francs for a +knick-knack is not to be met with every day. + +But she was overcome by a feeling of delightful delicacy, and turning to +him, she said in a trembling voice: "Excuse me, Monsieur; no doubt I +have been rather hasty, as perhaps you had not finally made up your +mind." He, however, only bowed, and said: "Indeed, I had, Madame." And +she, filled with emotion, continued: "Well, Monsieur, if either to-day, +or at any other time, you change your mind, you can have this Japanese +figure. I only bought it because you seemed to like it." + +He was visibly flattered, and smiled. "I should much like to find out +how you know who I am?" he said. Then she told him how she admired him, +and became quite eloquent as she quoted his works, and while they were +talking he rested his arms on a table, and fixed his bright eyes upon +her, trying to make out who and what she really was. But the shop-keeper, +who was pleased to have that living puff of his goods, called out, from +the other end of the shop: "Just look at this, Monsieur Varin; is it not +beautiful?" + +And then everyone looked round, and she almost trembled with pleasure at +being seen talking so intimately with such a well-known man. + +At last, however, intoxicated, as it were, by her feelings, she grew +bold, like a general does, who is going to give the order for an +assault. "Monsieur," she said, "will you do me a great, a very great +pleasure? Allow me to offer you this funny Japanese figure, as a +keepsake from a woman who admires you passionately, and whom you have +seen for ten minutes." + +Of course he refused, and she persisted, but still he resisted her +offer, at which he was much amused, and at which he laughed heartily; +but that only made her more obstinate, and she said: "Very well, then, I +shall take it to your house immediately. Where do you live?" + +He refused to give her his address, but she got it from the shop-keeper, +and when she had paid for her purchase, she ran out to take a cab. The +writer went after her, as he did not wish to accept a present for which +he could not possibly account. He reached her just as she was jumping +into the vehicle, and getting in after her, he almost fell onto her, and +then tumbled onto the bottom of the cab as it started. He picked himself +up, however, and sat down by her side, feeling very much annoyed. + +It was no good for him to insist and to beg her; she showed herself +intractable, and when they got to the door, she stated her conditions. +"I will undertake not to leave this with you," she said, "if you will +promise to do all I want to-day." And the whole affair seemed so funny +to him that he agreed. "What do you generally do at this time?" she +asked him; and after hesitating for a few moments, he replied: "I +generally go for a walk." "Very well, then, we will go to the _Bois de +Boulogne_!" she said, in a resolute voice, and they started. + +He was obliged to tell her the names of all the well-known women, pure +or impure, with every detail about them; their life, their habits, their +private affairs, and their vices; and when it was getting dusk, she said +to him: "What do you do every day at this time?" "I have some absinthe," +he replied, with a laugh. "Very well, then, Monsieur," she went on, +seriously, "let us go and have some absinthe." + +They went into a large _cafe_ on the boulevard which he frequented, and +where he met some of his colleagues, whom he introduced to her. She was +half mad with pleasure, and she kept saying to herself: "At last! At +last!" But time went on, and she observed that she supposed it must be +about his dinner time, and she suggested that they should go and dine. +When they left _Bignon's_, after dinner, she wanted to know what he did +in the evening, and looking at her fixedly, he replied: "That depends; +sometimes I go to the theater." "Very well, then, Monsieur; let us go to +the theater." + +They went to the Vaudeville with an order, thanks to him, and, to her +great pride, the whole house saw her sitting by his side, in the balcony +stalls. + +When the play was over, he gallantly kissed her hand, and said: "It only +remains for me to thank you for this delightful day...." But she +interrupted him: "What do you do at this time, every night?" "Why ... +why ... I go home." She began to laugh, a little tremulous laugh. "Very +well, Monsieur ... let us go to your rooms." + +They did not say anything more. She shivered occasionally, from head to +foot, feeling inclined to stay, and inclined to run away, but with a +fixed determination, after all, to see it out to the end. She was so +excited that she had to hold onto the baluster as she went upstairs, and +he came up behind her, with a wax match in his hand. + +As soon as they were in the room, she undressed herself quickly, and +retired without saying a word, and then she waited for him, cowering +against the wall. But she was as simple as it was possible for a +provincial lawyer's wife to be, and he was more exacting than a pascha +with three tails, and so they did not at all understand each other. At +last, however, he went to sleep, and the night passed, and the silence +was only disturbed by the _tick-tack_ of the clock, and she, lying +motionless, thought of her conjugal nights; and by the light of the +Chinese lantern, she looked, nearly heart-broken, at the little fat man +lying on his back, whose round stomach raised up the bed-clothes like a +balloon filled with gas. He snored with the noise of a wheezy organ +pipe, with prolonged snorts and comic chokings. His few hairs profited +by his sleep, to stand up in a very strange way, as if they were tired +of having been fastened for so long to that pate, whose bareness they +were trying to cover, and a small stream of saliva was running out of +one corner of his half-open mouth. + +At last the daylight appeared through the drawn blinds; so she got up +and dressed herself without making any noise, and she had already half +opened the door, when she made the lock creak, and he woke up and rubbed +his eyes. He was some moments before he quite came to himself, and then, +when he remembered all that had happened, he said: "What! Are you going +already?" She remained standing, in some confusion, and then she said, +in a hesitating voice: "Yes, of course; it is morning..." + +Then he sat up, and said: "Look here, I have something to ask you, in my +turn." And as she did not reply, he went on: "You have surprised me most +confoundedly since yesterday. Be open, and tell me why you did it all, +for upon my word I cannot understand it in the least." She went close up +to him, blushing like as if she had been a virgin, and said: "I wanted +to know ... what ... what vice ... really was, ... and ... well ... +well, it is not at all funny." + +And she ran out of the room, and downstairs into the street. + +A number of sweepers were busy in the streets, brushing the pavements, +the roadway, and sweeping everything on one side. With the same regular +motion, the motion of mowers in a meadow, they pushed the mud in front +of them in a semi-circle, and she met them in every street, like dancing +puppets, walking automatically with their swaying motion. And it seemed +to her as if something had been swept out of her; as if her over-excited +dreams had been pushed into the gutter, or into the drain, and so she +went home, out of breath, and very cold, and all that she could remember +was the sensation of the motion of those brooms sweeping the streets of +Paris in the early morning. + +As soon as she got into her room, she threw herself onto her bed and +cried. + + + + +MADAME BAPTISTE + + +When I went into the waiting-room at the station at Loubain, the first +thing I did was to look at the clock, and I found that I had two hours +and ten minutes to wait for the Paris express. + +I felt suddenly tired, as if I had walked twenty miles, and then I +looked about me as if I could find some means of killing the time on the +station walls, and at last I went out again, and stopped outside the +gates of the station, racking my brains to find something to do. The +street, which was a kind of a boulevard, planted with acacias, between +two rows of houses of unequal shape and different styles of +architecture, houses such as one only sees in a small town, ascended a +slight hill, and at the extreme end of it, there were some trees, as if +it ended in a park. + +From time to time, a cat crossed the street, and jumped over the +gutters, carefully. A cur sniffed at every tree, and hunted for +fragments from the kitchens, but I did not see a single human being, and +I felt listless and disheartened. What could I do with myself? I was +already thinking of the inevitable and interminable visit to the small +_cafe_ at the railway station, where I should have to sit over a glass +of undrinkable beer and the illegible newspaper, when I saw a funeral +procession coming out of a side street into the one in which I was, and +the sight of the hearse was a relief to me. It would, at any rate, give +me something to do for ten minutes. Suddenly, however, my curiosity was +aroused. The corpse was followed by eight gentlemen, one of whom was +weeping, while the others were chatting together, but there was no +priest, and I thought to myself: + +"This is a non-religious funeral," but then I reflected that a town like +Loubain must contain at least a hundred free-thinkers, who would have +made a point of making a manifestation. What could it be then? The rapid +pace of the procession clearly proved that the body was to be buried +without ceremony, and, consequently, without the intervention of +religion. + +My idle curiosity framed the most complicated suppositions, and as the +hearse passed me, a strange idea struck me, which was to follow it, with +the eight gentlemen. That would take up my time for an hour, at least, +and I, accordingly, walked with the others, with a sad look on my face, +and on seeing this, the two last turned round in surprise, and then +spoke to each other in a low voice. + +No doubt they were asking each other whether I belonged to the town, and +then they consulted the two in front of them, who stared at me in turn. +This close attention which they paid me, annoyed me, and to put an end +to it, I went up to them, and, after bowing, I said: + +"I beg your pardon, gentlemen, for interrupting your conversation, but +seeing a civil funeral, I have followed it, although I did not know the +deceased gentleman whom you are accompanying." + +"It is a woman," one of them said. + +I was much surprised at hearing this, and asked: + +"But it is a civil funeral, is it not?" + +The other gentleman, who evidently wished to tell me all about it, then +said: "Yes and no. The clergy have refused to allow us the use of the +church." + +On hearing that I uttered a prolonged _A--h_! of astonishment. I could +not understand it at all, but my obliging neighbor continued: + +"It is rather a long story. This young woman committed suicide, and that +is the reason why she cannot be buried with any religious ceremony. The +gentleman who is walking first, and who is crying, is her husband." + +I replied with some hesitation: + +"You surprise and interest me very much, Monsieur. Shall I be indiscreet +if I ask you to tell me the facts of the case? If I am troubling you, +think that I have said nothing about the matter." + +The gentleman took my arm familiarly. + +"Not at all, not at all. Let us stop a little behind the others, and I +will tell it you, although it is a very sad story. We have plenty of +time before getting to the cemetery, whose trees you see up yonder, for +it is a stiff pull up this hill." + +And he began: + +"This young woman, Madame Paul Hamot, was the daughter of a wealthy +merchant in the neighborhood, Monsieur Fontanelle. When she was a mere +child of eleven, she had a terrible adventure; a footman violated her. +She nearly died, in consequence, and the wretch's brutality betrayed +him. A terrible criminal case was the result, and it was proved that for +three months the poor young martyr had been the victim of that brute's +disgraceful practices, and he was sentenced to penal servitude for life. + +"The little girl grew up stigmatized by disgrace, isolated without any +companions, and grown-up people would scarcely kiss her, for they +thought that they would soil their lips if they touched her forehead, +and she became a sort of monster, a phenomenon to all the town. People +said to each other in a whisper: 'You know, little Fontanelle,' and +everybody turned away in the streets when she passed. Her parents could +not even get a nurse to take her out for a walk, as the other servants +held aloof from her, as if contact with her would poison everybody who +came near her. + +"It was pitiable to see the poor child. She remained quite by herself, +standing by her maid, and looking at the other children amusing +themselves. Sometimes, yielding to an irresistible desire to mix with +the other children, she advanced, timidly, with nervous gestures, and +mingled with a group, with furtive steps, as if conscious of her own +infamy. And, immediately, the mothers, aunts and nurses used to come +running from every seat, who took the children entrusted to their care +by the hand and dragged them brutally away. + +"Little Fontanelle remained isolated, wretched, without understanding +what it meant, and then she began to cry, nearly heart-broken with +grief, and then she used to run and hide her head in her nurse's lap, +sobbing. + +"As she grew up, it was worse still. They kept the girls from her, as if +she were stricken with the plague. Remember that she had nothing to +learn, nothing; that she no longer had the right to the symbolical +wreath of orange-flowers; that almost before she could read, she had +penetrated that redoubtable mystery, which mothers scarcely allow their +daughters to guess, trembling as they enlighten them, on the night of +their marriage. + +"When she went through the streets, always accompanied by her governess, +as if her parents feared some fresh, terrible adventure, with her eyes +cast down under the load of that mysterious disgrace, which she felt was +always weighing upon her, the other girls, who were not nearly so +innocent as people thought, whispered and giggled as they looked at her +knowingly, and immediately turned their heads absently, if she happened +to look at them. People scarcely greeted her; only a few men bowed to +her, and the mothers pretended not to see her, whilst some young +blackguards called her _Madame Baptiste_, after the name of the footman +who had outraged and ruined her. + +"Nobody knew the secret torture of her mind, for she hardly ever spoke, +and never laughed, and her parents themselves appeared uncomfortable in +her presence, as if they bore her a constant grudge for some irreparable +fault. + +"An honest man would not willingly give his hand to a liberated convict, +would he, even if that convict were his own son? And Monsieur and Madame +Fontanelle looked on their daughter as they would have done on a son who +had just been released from the hulks. She was pretty and pale, tall, +slender, distinguished-looking, and she would have pleased me very much, +Monsieur, but for that unfortunate affair. + +"Well, when a new sub-prefect was appointed here eighteen months ago, he +brought his private secretary with him. He was a queer sort of fellow, +who had lived in the _Latin Quarter_[21], it appears. He saw +Mademoiselle Fontanelle, and fell in love with her, and when told of +what occurred, he merely said: 'Bah! That is just a guarantee for the +future, and I would rather it should have happened before I married her, +than afterwards. I shall sleep tranquilly with that woman.' + +[Footnote 21: The students' quarter in France, where so many of them +lead rackety, fast lives.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"He paid his addresses to her, asked for her hand, and married her, and +then, not being deficient in boldness, he paid wedding-calls,[22] as if +nothing had happened. Some people returned them, others did not, but, at +last, the affair began to be forgotten, and she took her proper place in +society. + +[Footnote 22: In France and Germany, the newly-married couple pay the +wedding-calls, which is the direct opposite to our custom.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"She adored her husband as if he had been a god, for, you must remember, +he had restored her to honor and to social life, that he had braved +public opinion, faced insults, and, in a word, performed such a +courageous act, as few men would accomplish, and she felt the most +exalted and uneasy love for him. + +"When she became pregnant, and it was known, the most particular people +and the greatest sticklers opened their doors to her, as if she had been +definitely purified by maternity. + +"It is funny, but so it is, and thus everything was going on as well as +possible, when, the other day, was the feast of the patron saint of our +town. The Prefect, surrounded by his staff and the authorities, presided +at the musical competition, and when he had finished his speech, the +distribution of medals began, which Paul Hamot, his private secretary, +handed to those who were entitled to them. + +"As you know, there are always jealousies and rivalries, which make +people forget all propriety. All the ladies of the town were there on +the platform, and, in his proper turn, the bandmaster from the village +of Mourmillon came up. This band was only to receive a second-class +medal, for one cannot give first-class medals to everybody, can one? But +when the private secretary handed him his badge, the man threw it in his +face and exclaimed: + +"'You may keep your medal for Baptiste. You owe him a first-class one, +also, just as you do me.' + +"There were a number of people there who began to laugh. The common herd +are neither charitable nor refined, and every eye was turned towards +that poor lady. Have you ever seen a woman going mad, Monsieur? Well, we +were present at the sight! She got up and fell back on her chair three +times following, as if she had wished to make her escape, but saw that +she could not make her way through the crowd, and then another voice in +the crowd exclaimed: + +"'Oh I Oh! Madame Baptiste!' + +"And a great uproar, partly laughter, and partly indignation, arose. The +word was repeated over and over again; people stood on tip-toe to see +the unhappy woman's face; husbands lifted their wives up in their arms, +so that they might see the unhappy woman's face, and people asked: + +"'Which is she? The one in blue?' + +"The boys crowed like cocks, and laughter was heard all over the place. + +"She did not move now on her state chair, just as if she had been put +there for the crowd to look at. She could not move, nor disappear, nor +hide her face. Her eyelids blinked quickly, as if a vivid light were +shining in her face, and she panted like a horse that is going up a +steep hill, so that it almost broke one's heart to see it. Meanwhile, +however, Monsieur Hamot had seized the ruffian by the throat, and they +were rolling on the ground together, amidst a scene of indescribable +confusion, and the ceremony was interrupted. + +"An hour later, as the Hamots were returning home, the young woman, who +had not uttered a word since the insult, but who was trembling as if all +her nerves had been set in motion by springs, suddenly sprang on the +parapet of the bridge, and threw herself into the river, before her +husband could prevent her. The water is very deep under the arches, and +it was two hours before her body was recovered. Of course, she was +dead." + +The narrator stopped, and then added: + +"It was, perhaps, the best thing she could do in her position. There are +some things which cannot be wiped out, and now you understand why the +clergy refused to have her taken into church. Ah! If it had been a +religious funeral, the whole town would have been present, but you can +understand that her suicide added to the other affair, and made families +abstain from attending her funeral; and then, it is not an easy matter, +here, to attend a funeral which is performed without religious rites." + +We passed through the cemetery gates and I waited, much moved by what I +had heard, until the coffin had been lowered into the grave, before I +went up to the poor fellow who was sobbing violently, to press his hand +vigorously. He looked at me in surprise through his tears, and then +said: + +"Thank you, Monsieur." And I was not sorry that I had followed the +funeral. + + + + +HAPPINESS + + +The sky was blue, with light clouds that looked like swans slowly +sailing on the waters of a lake, and the atmosphere was so warm, so +saturated with the subtle odors of the mimosas, that Madame de +Viellemont ordered coffee to be served on the terrace which overlooked +the sea. + +And while the steam rose from the delicate china cups, one felt an +almost inexpressible pleasure in looking at the sails, which were +gradually becoming lost in the mysterious distance, and at the almost +motionless sea, which had the sheen of jewels, which attracted the eyes +like the looks of a dreamy woman. + +Monsieur de Pardeillac, who had arrived from Paris, fresh from the +remembrance of the last election there, from that Carnival of variegated +posters, which for weeks had imparted the strange aspect of some +Oriental bazaar to the whole city, had just been relating the victory of +_The General_, and went on to say that those who had thought that the +game was lost, were beginning to hope again. + +After listening to him, old Count de Lancolme, who had spent his whole +life in rummaging libraries, and who had certainly compiled more +manuscripts than any Benedectine friar, shook his bald head, and +exclaimed in his shrill, rather mocking voice: + +"Will you allow me to tell you a very old story, which has just come +into my head, while you were speaking, my dear friend, which I read +formerly in an old Italian city, though I forget at this moment where it +was? + +"It happened in the fifteenth century, which is far removed from our +epoch, but you shall judge for yourselves whether it might not have +happened yesterday. + +"Since the day, when mad with rage and rebellion, the town had made a +bonfire of the Ducal palace, and had ignominiously expelled that +patrician who had been their _podestat_[23], as if he had been some +vicious scoundrel, had thrust his lovely daughter into a convent, and +had forced his sons, who might have claimed their parental heritage, and +have again imposed the abhorred yoke upon them, into a monastery, the +town had never known any prosperous times. One after another the shops +closed, and money became as scarce as if there had been an invasion of +barbarian hordes, who had emptied the State treasury, and stolen the +last gold coin. + +[Footnote 23: Venetian and Genoese magistrate.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"The poor people were in abject misery, and in vain held out their hands +to passers-by under the church porches, and in the squares, while only +the watchmen disturbed the silence of the starlit nights, by their +monotonous and melancholy call, which announced the flight of the hours +as they passed. + +"There were no more serenades; no longer did viols and flutes trouble +the slumbers of the lovers' choice; no longer were amorous arms thrown +round women's supple waists, nor were bottles of red wine put to cool in +the fountains under the trees. There were no more love adventures, to +the rhythm of laughter and of kisses; nothing but heavy, monotonous +weariness, and the anxiety as to what the next day might bring forth, +and ceaseless, unbridled ambitions and lusts. + +"The palaces were deserted, one by one, as if the plague were raging, +and the nobility had fled to Florence and to Rome. In the beginning, the +common people, artisans and shop-keepers had installed themselves in +power, as in a conquered city, and had seized posts of honor and +well-paid offices, and had sacked the Treasury with their greedy and +eager hands. After them, came the middle classes, and those solemn +upstarts and hypocrites, like leathern bottles blown out with wind, +acting the tyrant and lying without the least shame, disowned their +former promises, and would soon have given the finishing stroke to the +unfortunate city, which was already at its last shifts. + +"Discontent was increasing, and the _sbirri_[24] could scarcely find +time to tear the seditious placards, which had been posted up by unknown +hands, from the walls. + +[Footnote 24: Italian police officers.--TRANSLATOR] + +"But now that the old _podestat_ had died in exile, worn out with grief, +and that his children, who had been brought up under monastic rules, and +were accustomed to nothing so much as to praying, thought only of their +own salvation, there was nobody who could take his place. + +"And so these kinglets profited by the occasion to strut about at their +ease like great nobles, to cram themselves with luxurious meals, to +increase their property by degrees, to put everything up for sale, and +to get rid of those who, later on, could have called for accounts, and +have nailed them to the pillory by their ears. + +"Their arrogance knew no bounds, and when they were questioned about +their acts, they only replied by menaces or raillery, and this state of +affairs lasted for twenty years, when, as war was imminent with Lucca, +the Council raised troops and enrolled mercenaries. Several battles were +fought in which the enemy was beaten and was obliged to flee, abandoning +their colors, their arms, prisoners, and all the booty in their camp. + +"The man who had led the soldiers from battle, whom they had acclaimed +as triumphant and laurel-crowned Caesar, around their campfires, was a +poor _condottiere_[25], who possessed nothing in the world except his +clothes, his buff jerkin and his heavy sword. + +[Footnote 25: Italian mercenary or free-lance, in the Middle +Ages.--TRANSLATOR.] + +"They called him _Hercules_, on account of his strong muscles, his +imposing build, and his large head, and also _Malavista_, because in +those butcheries he had no pity, no weakness, but seemed, with his great +murderous arms, as if he had the long reach of death itself. He had +neither title, deeds, fortune, nor relations, for he had been born one +night in the tent of a female camp follower; for a long time, an old, +broken drum had been his cradle, and he had grown up anyhow, without +knowing those maternal kisses and endearments that warm the heart, or +the pleasure of not always sleeping on a hard bed, or of always eating +tough beef, or of being obliged to tighten his sword belt when luck had +turned like a weathercock when the wind shifts, and a man would gladly +give all his share of the next booty for a moldy crust of bread and a +glass of water. + +"He was a simple and a brave man, whose heart was as virgin as some +virgin shore, on which no human foot has ever yet left its imprint. + +"The Chiefs of the Council were imprudent enough to summon Hercules +Malavista within the walls of the town, and to celebrate his arrival +with almost imperial splendor, more, however, to deceive the people and +to regain their waning popularity by means of some one else, by a +ceremony copied from those of Pagan Rome, than to honor and recompense +the services of a soldier whom they despised at the bottom of their +hearts. + +"The bells rang a full peal, and the archbishop and clergy and choir +boys went to meet the Captain, singing psalms and hymns of joy, as if it +might have been Easter. The streets and squares were strewn with +branches of box roses and marjoram, while the meanest homes were +decorated with flags, and hung with drapery and rich stuffs. + +"The conqueror came in through Trajan's gate, bare-headed, and with the +symbolical golden laurel wreath on his head; and sitting on his horse, +that was as black as a starless night, he appeared even taller, more +vigorous and more masculine than he really was. He had a joyous and +tranquil smile on his lips, and a hidden fire was burning in his eyes, +and his soldiers bore the flags and the trophies that he had gained, +before him, and behind him there was a noise of clashing partisans and +cross-bows, and of loud voices shouting _vivats_ in his honor. + +"In this fashion he traversed all the quarters of the town, and even the +suburbs. The women thought him handsome and proud, blew kisses to him, +and held up their children so that they might see him, and he might +touch them, and the men cheered him, and looked at him with emotion, and +many of them reflected and dreamt about that bright, unknown man, who +appeared to be surrounded by a halo of glory. + +"The members of the Council began to perceive the extent of the almost +irreparable fault that they had committed, and did not know what to do +in order to ward off the danger by which they were menaced, and to rid +themselves of a guest who was quite ready to become their master. They +saw clearly that their hours were numbered, that they were approaching +that fatal period at which rioting becomes imminent, when the leaders +are carried away with it, like pieces of straw in a swift current. + +"Hercules could not show himself in public without being received with +shouts of acclamation and noisy greetings, and deputations from the +nobility, as well as from the people, came repeatedly and told him that +he had only to make a sign and to say a word, for his name to be in +every mouth, and for his authority to be accepted. They begged him on +their knees to accept the supreme authority, as though he would be +conferring a favor on them, but the free-lance did not seem to +understand them, and repelled their offers with the superb indifference +of a soldier who has nothing to do with the people or a crown. + +"At length, however, his resistance grew weaker; he felt the +intoxication of power, and grew accustomed to the idea of holding the +lives of thousands in his hands, of having a palace, arsenals full of +arms, chests full of gold, ships which he could send on adventurous +cruises wherever he pleased, and of governing that city, with all its +houses and all its churches, and of being a leading figure at all grand +functions in the cathedral. + +"The shop-keepers and merchants were overcome by terror at this, and +bowed before the shadow of that great sword, which might sweep them all +away and upset their false weights and scales. So they assembled +secretly in a monastery of the Carmelite friars outside the gates of the +city, and a short time afterwards the weaver Marconelli, and the +money-changer Rippone brought Giaconda, who was one of the most +beautiful courtesans in Venice, and who knew every secret in the _Art of +Love_, and whose kisses were a foretaste of Paradise, back with them +from that city. She soon managed to touch the soldier with her delicate, +fair skin, to make him inhale its bewitching odor in close proximity, +and to dazzle him with her large, dark eyes, in which the reflection of +stars seemed to shine, and when he had once tasted that feast of love, +and that heavy wine of kisses, when he had clasped that pink and white +body in his arms, and had listened to that voice which sounded as soft +as music, and which promised him eternities of joy, and vowed to him +eternities of pleasures, Hercules lost his head, and forgot his dreams +and his oaths. + +"Why lose precious hours in conspiring, in deluding himself with +chimeras; why risk his life when he loved and was loved, and when the +minutes were all too short, when he would have wished never to detach +his lips from those of the woman he loved? + +"And so he did whatever Gioconda demanded. + +"They fled from the city, without even telling the sentinels who were on +guard before his palace. They went far, far away, as they could not find +any retreat that was sufficiently unknown and hidden, and at last they +stopped at a small, quiet fishing village, where there were gardens full +of lemon trees, where the deserted beach looked as if it were covered +with gold, and where the sea was a deep blue until it was lost in the +distance. And while the captain and the courtesan loved each other and +wore themselves out with pleasure--with the enchantment of the sea close +to them--the irritated citizens, whom he had left were clamoring for +their idol, were indignant at his desertion, and tore up the paving +stones in the streets, to stone the man who had betrayed their +confidence and worship. + +"And they pulled his statue down from its pedestal, amidst spiteful +songs and jokes, and the members of the Council breathed again ... as +they were no longer afraid of the great sword." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT, +VOLUME III (OF 8)*** + + +******* This file should be named 17376.txt or 17376.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/7/17376 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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